Magnum Bonum; Or, Mother Carey's Brood Part 75

"I fancy I have. Yes, I remember now; he was lecturing and vapouring about at Zurich; he is half Greek, I believe, and all charlatan. Well, Janet _has_ been and gone and done for herself now, and no mistake."

"But he is a professor," pleaded Caroline. "He must be of some university."

"Don't make too sure," said Allen, "A professor may mean a writing master. Good heavens! what a connection."

"It can't be so bad as that," said Caroline. "Remember, your sister is not foolish."

"Flatter an ugly woman," said Bobus, "and it's a regular case of fox and crow."

"Mercy! here they come!" cried Allen.

"Mother, do you go away! This is not work for you. Leave us to settle the rascal," said Bobus.

"No, Bobus," she said; "this ought to be settled by me. Remember that, whatever the man may be, he is Janet's husband, and she is your sister."

"Worse luck!" sighed Allen.

"And," she added, "he has to go away to-morrow, at latest," a sentence which she knew would serve to pacify Allen.

They had crossed the parterre by this time, and were almost at the window.

It was Bobus who took the initiative, bowing formally as he spoke, in German--

"Good morning, Herr Professor. You seem to have a turn for entering houses by irregular methods."

The new-comer bowed with suavity, saying, in excellent English--

"It is to your sister that in both senses I owe my entrance, and to the lady, your mother, that I owe my apology."

And before Caroline well knew what was going on, he had one knee to the ground, and was kissing her hand.

"The tableau is incomplete, Janet," said Bobus, whom Caroline heartily wished away. "You ought to be on your knees beside him."

"I have settled it with my mother already," said Janet.

Both Caroline and her eldest son were relieved by the first glance at the man. He was small, and had much more of the Greek than of the German in his aspect, with neat little features, keen dark eyes, and no vulgarity in tone or appearance. His hands were delicate; there was nothing of the "greasy foreigner" about him, but rather an air of finesse, especially in his exquisitely trimmed little moustache and pointed beard, and his voice and language were persuasive and fluent. It might have been worse, was the prominent feeling, as she hastily said--

"Stand up, Mr. Hermann; I am not used to be spoken to in that manner."

"Nor is it an ordinary occasion on which I address madame," said her new son-in-law, rising. "I am aware that I have transgressed many codes, but my anxiety to secure my treasure must plead for me; and she a.s.sured me that she might trust to the goodness of the best of mothers."

"There is such a thing as abusing such goodness," said Bobus.

"Sir," said Hermann, "I understand that you have rights as eldest son, but I await my sentence from the lips of madame herself."

"No, he is not the eldest," interrupted Janet. "This is Allen--Allen, you were always good-natured. Cannot you say one friendly word?"

Something in the more childish, eager tone of Janet's address softened Allen, and he answered--

"It is for mother to decide on what terms we are to stand, Janet, and strange as all this has been, I have no desire to be at enmity."

Caroline had by this time been able to recover herself and spoke.

"Mr. Hermann can hardly expect a welcome in the family into which he has entered so unexpectedly, and--and without any knowledge of his antecedents. But what is done cannot be undone; I don't want to be harsh and unforgiving. I should like to understand all about everything, and of course to be friends; as to the rest, it must depend on how they go on, and a great deal besides."

It was a lame and impotent conclusion, but it seemed to satisfy the gentleman, who clasped her hand and kissed it with fervour, wrung that of Allen, which was readily yielded, and would have done the same by that of Bobus, if that youth had done more than accord very stiff cold tips.

Immediately after, John said at the door--

"Aunt Caroline, my father is here. Will you see him?"

That was something to be got over at once, and she went to the Colonel, who was very kind and pitiful to her, and spared her the "I told you so." He did not even reproach her with being too lenient, in not having turned the pair at once out of her house; indeed, he was wise enough to think the extremity of a quarrel ought to be avoided, but he undertook to make every inquiry into Mr. Demetrius Hermann's history, and observed that she should be very cautious in pledging herself as to what she would do for him, since she had, as he expressed it, the whip-hand of him, since Janet was totally dependent upon her.

"Oh! but Robert, I forgot; I don't know if there is anything for anybody," she said, putting her hand to her forehead; "there's that other will! Ah! I see you think I don't know what I am saying, and my head is getting past understanding much, but I really did find the other will last night."

"What other will?"

"The one we always knew there must be, in favour of Elvira. This dreadful business put it out of my head; the children don't know it yet, and I don't seem able to think or care."

It was true; severe nervous headache had brought her to the state in which she could do nothing but lie pa.s.sively on her bed. The Colonel saw this, and bade her think of nothing for the present, and sent Barbara to take care of her.

She spent the rest of the day in the sort of aniantiss.e.m.e.nt which that sort of headache often produces, and in the meantime everybody held tete-a-tetes. The Colonel held his peace about the will, not half crediting such a catastrophe, and thinking one matter at a time quite enough for his brain; but he talked to the Professor, to Janet, to Allen, and to Bobus, and tried to come to a knowledge of the bridegroom's history, and to decide what course ought to be pursued, feeling as the good man always did and always would do, that he was, or ought to be, the supreme authority for his brother's widow and children.

Allen was quite placable, and ready to condone everything. He thought the Athenian Professor a very superior man, with excellent cla.s.sical taste, by which it was plain that his mosaic pavement, his old china, and his pictures had met with rare appreciation. Moreover, the Professor knew how to converse, and could be brilliantly entertaining; there was nothing to find fault with in his appearance; and if Janet was satisfied, Allen was. He knew his uncle hated foreigners, but for his own part, he thought nothing so dull as English respectability.

For once the Colonel declared that Bobus had more sense! Bobus had come to a tolerably clear comprehension of the matter, and his first impressions were confirmed by subsequent inquiries. Demetrius Hermann was the son of some lawyer of King Otho's court who had married a Greek lady. He had studied partly at Athens, partly at so many other universities, that Bobus thought it rather suspicious; while his uncle, who held that a respectable degree must be either of Oxford or Cambridge, thought this fatal to his reputation. He had studied medicine at one time, but had broached some theory which the German faculty were too narrow to appreciate; "Which means," quoth Bobus, "either that he could not get a licence to practise, or else had it revoked."

Then he had taken to lecturing. The professors.h.i.+p was obscure; he said it was Athenian, and Bobus had no immediate means of finding out whether it were so or not, nor of a.n.a.lysing the alphabet of letters that followed his name upon the advertis.e.m.e.nt of his lectures.

Apparently he was a clever lecturer, fluent and full of ill.u.s.tration, with an air of original theory that caught people's attention. He knew his ground, and where critically scientific men were near to bring him to book, was cautious to keep within the required bounds, but in the freer and less regulated places, he discoursed on new theories and strange systems connected with the mysteries of magnetism, and producing extraordinary and unexplained effects.

Robert and Jock were inclined to ascribe to some of these arts the captivation of so clever a person as their sister, by one whom they both viewed with repulsion as a mere adventurer.

They had not the clue which their mother had to the history of the matter, when the next day, though still far from well, she had an interview with her daughter and the Athenian Professor before their return to Scotland.

He knew of the Magnum Bonum matter. It seemed that Janet, as her knowledge increased, had become more sensible of the difficulties in the pursuit, and being much attracted by his graces and ability, had so put questions for her own enlightenment as to reveal to him that she possessed a secret. To cajole it from her, so far as she knew it, had been no greater difficulty than it was to the fox to get the cheese from the crow: and while to him she was the errant unprotected young lady of large and tempting fortune, he could easily make himself appear to her the missing link in the pursuit. He could do what as a woman she could not accomplish, and what her brothers were not attempting.

In that conviction, nay, even expecting her mother to be satisfied with his charms and his qualifications, she claimed that he might at least read the MS. of the book, a.s.suring her mother that all she had intended the night before was to copy out the essentials for him.

"To take the spirit and leave me the letter?" said Caroline. "O Janet, would not that have been worse than carrying off the book?"

"Well, mother, I maintain that I have a right to it," said Janet, "and that there is no justice in withholding it."

"Do you or your husband fulfil these conditions Janet?" and Caroline read from the white slate those words about the one to whom the pursuit was intrusted being a sound, religious man, who would not seek it for his own advancement but for the good of others.

Janet exultantly said that was just what Demetrius would do. As to the being a sound religious man, her mother might seek in vain for a man of real ability who held those old-fas.h.i.+oned notions. They were very well in her father's time, but what would Bobus say to them?

She evidently thought Demetrius would triumph in his private interview with her mother, but if Caroline had had any doubt before, that would have removed it. Janet honestly had a certain enthusiasm for science, beneficence, and the honour of the family, but the Professor besieged Mrs. Brownlow with his entreaties and promises just as if--she said to herself--she had been the widow of some quack doctor for whose secret he was bidding.