The Bishop's Secret

by Fergus Hume

  CHAPTER XXXVIII

  EXIT MR CARGRIM

  Once informed of the welcome truth, Dr Pendle lost no time in having itverified by documents and extraneous evidence. This was not the affairof hours, but of days, since it entailed a visit to St Chad's Church atHampstead, and a rigorous examination of the original marriage and deathcertificates. Also, as Bosvile, _alias_ Krant, _alias_ Jentham was saidto be a gipsy on the authority of Miss Whichello, and as the informationthat Baltic was in the confidence of Mother Jael had trickled throughBrace and Graham to the bishop, the last named considered it advisablethat the ex-sailor should be informed of the actual truth. Now that DrPendle was personally satisfied of the legality of his marriage, he hadno hesitation in acquainting Baltic with his life-history, particularlyas the man could obtain from Mother Jael an assurance, in writing ifnecessary, that Bosvile and Jentham were one and the same. For thesatisfaction of all parties concerned, it was indispensable that proofpositive should be procured, and the matter settled beyond all doubt.The position, as affecting both the private feelings and social statusof Bishop and Mrs Pendle, was too serious a one to be dealt withotherwise than in the most circumspect manner.

  After Miss Whichello's visit and revelation, Dr Pendle immediatelysought out his wife to explain that after all doubts and difficulties,and lies and forgeries, they were as legally bound to one another as anycouple in the three Kingdoms; that their children were legitimate andcould bear their father's name, and that the evil which had survived thedeath of its author was now but shadow and wind--in a word,non-existent. Mrs Pendle, who had borne the shock of her pseudohusband's resurrection so bravely, was quite overwhelmed by the goodnews of her re-established position, and fainted outright when herhusband broke it to her. But for Lucy's sake--as the bishop did not wishLucy to know, or even suspect anything--she afterwards controlled herfeelings better, and, relieved from the apprehension of coming danger,speedily recovered her health and spirits. She was thus, at a week'send, enabled to attend in the library a council of six people summonedby her husband to adjust the situation. The good bishop was nothing ifnot methodical and thorough; and he was determined that the matter ofthe false and true marriages should be threshed out to the last grain.Therefore, the council was held _ex aequo et bono_.

  On this momentous occasion there were present the bishop himself and MrsPendle, who sat close beside his chair; also Miss Whichello, flutteredand anxious, in juxtaposition with Dr Graham; and Gabriel, who hadplaced himself near Baltic the sedate and solemn-faced. When all wereassembled, the bishop lost no time in speaking of the business which hadbrought them together. He related in detail the imposture of Jentham,the murder by Mosk, who since had taken his own life, and the revelationof Miss Whichello, ending with the production of the documents provingthe several marriages, and a short statement explaining the same.

  'Here,' said Dr Pendle, 'is the certificate of marriage between PharaohBosvile and Ann Whichello, dated December 1869. They lived together asman and wife for six months up to May 1870, after which Bosvile desertedthe unhappy lady.'

  'After spending all her money, the wretch!' put in Miss Whichello,angrily.

  'Bosvile!' continued the bishop, 'had previously made the acquaintanceof my wife, then Amy Lancaster, under the false name of Stephen Krant;and so far won her love that, thinking him a single man, she consentedto marry him.'

  'No, bishop,' contradicted Mrs Pendle, very positively, 'he did not winmy love; he fascinated me with his good looks and charming manners, forin spite of the scar on his cheek Stephen was very handsome. Some friendintroduced him to my father as a Hungarian exile hiding under the nameof Krant from Austrian vengeance; and my father, enthusiastic on thesubject of patriotism, admitted him to our house. I was then a weak,foolish girl, and his wicked brilliancy drew me towards him. When helearned that I had money of my own he proposed to marry me. My fatherobjected, but I was infatuated by Stephen's arts, and became his wife inOctober 1870.'

  'Quite so, my love,' assented her husband, mildly; 'as an inexperiencedgirl you were at the mercy of that Belial. You were married as you sayin October 1870; here, to prove that statement, is the certificate,' andthe bishop passed it to Baltic. 'But at the time of such marriage MrsBosvile was still alive. Miss Whichello can vouch for this importantfact!'

  'Ah! that I can,' sighed the little old lady, shaking her head. 'My poordarling sister did not die until January 1871, and I was present toclose her weary--weary eyes. Is not that the certificate of her deathyou are holding?'

  'Yes,' answered the bishop, simply, and gave the paper into heroutstretched hand. 'You can now understand, my friends,' he continued,addressing the company generally, 'that as Mrs Bosvile was alive inOctober 1870, the marriage which her husband then contracted with MissLancaster was a false one.'

  'That is clear enough,' murmured the attentive Baltic, nodding.

  'It thus appears,' resumed the bishop, concisely, 'that when Imarried--as I thought--Amy Krant, a widow, in September 1871, I reallyand truly wedded Amy Lancaster, a spinster. Therefore this lady'--andhere the bishop clasped tenderly the hand of Mrs Pendle--'is my true,dear wife, and has been legally so these many years, notwithstandingBosvile's infamous assertion to the contrary.'

  'Thank God! thank God!' cried Mrs Pendle, with joyful tears. 'Gabriel,my darling boy!' and she stretched out her disengaged hand to caress herson. Gabriel kissed it with unconcealed emotion.

  In the meantime, Dr Graham was examining the bishop's marriagecertificate with sharp attention, as he thought he espied a flaw.'Pardon me, my dear Pendle,' said he, in his crisp voice, 'but I seethat Mrs Pendle became your wife under a name which we now know was notthen her own. Does that false name vitiate the marriage?'

  'By no means,' replied the bishop, promptly. 'I took counsel's opinionon that point when I was in London. It is as follows'--and Dr Pendleread an extract from a legal-looking document. '"A marriage which ismade in ignorance in a false name is perfectly good. The law on thesubject appears to be this--If a person, to conceal his or her identity,assumes either a wrong name or description, so as to practically obtaina secret marriage, the marriage is void; but if the wrong name ordescription is adopted by accident or innocently, the marriage is good."Therefore,' added Dr Pendle, placing the paper on one side, 'Mrs Pendlewas not Bosvile's wife on two distinct grounds. Firstly, because histrue wife was alive when he married her. Secondly, because hefraudulently made her his wife by giving a false name and description.Regarding my own marriage, it is a good one in law, because Mrs Pendle'sfalse name of Krant was adopted in all innocence. There is no court inthe realm of Great Britain,' concluded the bishop, with conviction,'that would not uphold my marriage as true and lawful, and God bethanked that such is the case!'

  'God be thanked!' said Gabriel, in his turn, and said it with heartfeltearnestness. Graham, bubbling over with pleasure, jumped up in hisrestless way, and gave a friendly hand in turn to Dr Pendle and hiswife. 'I congratulate you both, my dear friends,' said he, not withoutemotion. 'You have won through your troubles at last, and can now livein much-deserved peace for the rest of your lives. _Deus nobis haec otiafecit!_ Hey, bishop, you know the Mantuan. Well, well, you have paidforfeit to the gods, Pendle, and they will no longer envy your goodfortune, or seek to destroy it.'

  'Graham, Graham,' said the bishop, with kindly tolerance, 'always thesePagan sentiments.'

  'Ay! ay! I am a Pagan suckled in a creed outworn,' quoted the doctor,rubbing his hands. 'Well, we cannot all be bishops.'

  'We can all be Christians,' said Baltic, gravely. 'Ah!' retortedGraham. 'What we should be, and what we are, Mr Baltic, are pointscapable of infinite discussion. At present we should be smiling andthankful, which,' added he, breaking off, 'Miss Whichello is not, Iregret to see.'

  'I am thinking of my poor sister,' sobbed the old lady. 'How do I knowbut that the villain did not deceive her also by making her his wifeunder a false name?'

  'No, madam!' interposed Baltic, eagerly. 'Bosvile was the man's truename
, therefore he was legally your sister's husband. I wrote down astatement by Mother Jael that Jentham was really Pharaoh Bosvile, and,at my request, she signed the same. Here it is, signed by her andwitnessed by me. I shall give it to you, my lord, that you may lock itup safely with those certificates.'

  'Thank you, Mr Baltic,' said the bishop, taking the slip of papertendered by the missionary, 'but I trust that--er--that this woman knowslittle of the truth.'

  'She knows nothing, my lord, save that Bosvile, for his own purposes,took the names of Amaru and Jentham at different times. The rogue wascunning enough to keep his own counsel of his life amongst the Gentiles;of his marriages, false and true, Mother Jael is ignorant. Set your mindat rest, sir, she will never trouble you in any way.'

  'Good!' said Dr Pendle, drawing a long breath of relief. 'Then, as suchis the case, my friends, I think it advisable that we should keep ourknowledge of Bosvile's iniquities to ourselves. I do not wish my sonGeorge or my daughter Lucy to learn the sad story of the past. Suchknowledge would only vex them unnecessarily.'

  'And I'm sure I don't want Mab to know what a villain her father was,'broke in Miss Whichello. 'Thank God she is unlike him in every way, savethat she takes after him in looks. When Captain Pendle talks of Mab'srich Eastern beauty, I shiver all over; he little knows that he speaksthe truth, and that Mab has Arab blood in her veins.'

  'Not Arab blood, my dear lady,' cried Graham, alertly; 'the gipsies donot come from Arabia, but, as is believed, from the north of India. Theyappeared in Europe about the fifteenth century, calling themselves,falsely enough, Egyptians. But both Borrow and Leland are agreedthat--'

  'I don't want to hear about the gipsies,' interrupted Miss Whichello,cutting short the doctor's disquisition; 'all I know is, that if Bosvileor Jentham, or whatever he called himself, is a sample of them, they area wicked lot of Moabites. I wonder the bishop lets his son marry thechild of one, I do indeed!'

  'Dear Miss Whichello,' said Mrs Pendle, putting her arm round the poorlady's neck, 'both the bishop and myself are proud that Mab shouldbecome our daughter and George's wife. And after all,' she addednaively, 'neither of them will ever know the truth!'

  'I hope not, I'm sure,' wept Miss Whichello.' I buried that miserableman at my own expense, as he was Mab's father. And I have had a stoneput up to him, with his last name, "Jentham," inscribed on it, so thatno one might ask questions, which would have been asked had I writtenhis real name.'

  'No one will ask questions,' said the bishop, soothingly, 'and if theydo, no answers will be forthcoming; we are all agreed on that point.'

  'Quite agreed,' answered Baltic, as spokesman for the rest; 'we shalllet the dead past bury its dead, and God bless the future.'

  'Amen!' said Dr Pendle, and bowed his grey head in a silence moreeloquent than words.

  So far the rough was made smooth, with as much skill as could beexercised by mortal brains; but after Dr Pendle had dismissed hisfriends there yet remained to him an unpleasant task, the performance ofwhich, in justice to himself, could not longer be postponed. This wasthe punishment and dismissal of Michael Cargrim, who indeed meritedlittle leniency at the hands of the man whose confidence he had soshamefully abused. Serpents should be crushed, traitors should bepunished, however unpleasant may be the exercise of the judicialfunction; for to permit evil men to continue in their evil-doing is toencourage vicious habits detrimental to the well-being of humanity. Themore just the judge, the more severe should he be towards suchcalculating sinners, lest, infected by example, mankind should becomeeven more corrupt than it is. Bishop Pendle was a kindly man, who wishedto think the best of his fellow-creatures, and usually did so; but hecould not blind himself to the base and plotting nature of Cargrim; and,for the sake of his family, for the well-being of the Church, for thebenefit of the schemer himself, he summoned him to receive rebuke andpunishment. He was not now the patron, the benefactor; but the judge,the ecclesiastical superior, severe and impartial.

  Cargrim obeyed the summons unwillingly enough, as he knew very well thathe was about to receive the righteous reward of his deeds. A day or sobefore, when lamenting to Baltic that Dr Pendle had proved innocent, theman had rebuked him for his baseness, and had given him to understandthat the bishop was fully aware of the contemptible part which he hadacted. Deserted by his former ally, ignorant of Dr Pendle's secret,convinced of Mosk's guilt, the chaplain was in anything but a pleasantposition. He was reaping what he had so industriously sown; he wascaught in his own snare, and saw no way of defending his conduct. In aword, he was ruined, and now stood before his injured superior with paleface and hanging head, ready to be blamed and sentenced without utteringone word on his own behalf. Nor, had he possessed the insolence to doso, could he have thought of that one necessary word.

  'Michael,' said the bishop, mildly, 'I have been informed by Mr Balticthat you accused me of a terrible crime. May I ask on what grounds youdid so?'

  Cargrim made no reply, but, flushing and paling alternately, lookedshamefaced at the carpet.

  'I must answer myself, I see,' continued Dr Pendle, after a shortsilence; 'you thought that because I met Jentham on the heath to pay himsome money I murdered him in the viciousness of my heart. Why should youthink so ill of me, my poor boy? Have I not stood in the place of yourfather? Have I not treated you as my own son? You know that I have. Andmy reward is, that these many weeks you have been secretly trying toruin me. Even had I been guilty,' cried the bishop, raising his voice,'it was not your place to proclaim the shame of one who has cherishedyou. If you had such wicked thoughts in your heart, why did you not comeboldly before me and accuse me to my face? I should then have known howto answer you. I can forgive malice--yes, even malice--but not deceit.Did you never think of my delicate wife, of my innocent family, whenplotting and scheming my ruin with a smiling face? Alas! alas! Michael,how could you act in a way so unworthy of a Christian, of a gentleman?'

  'What is the use of crying over spilt milk?' said Cargrim, doggedly.'You have the advantage now and can do what you will.'

  'What do you mean by talking like that?' said the bishop, sternly. 'Havethe advantage now indeed; I never lost the advantage, sir, so far as youare concerned. I did not murder that wretched man, for you know thatMosk confessed how he shot him for the sake of the money I gave him. Iknew of Jentham in other days, under another name, and when he asked mefor money I gave it to him. My reason for doing so I do not choose totell you, Mr Cargrim. It is not your right to question my actions. I amnot only your elder, but your ecclesiastic superior, to whom, as apriest, you are bound to yield obedience. That obedience I now exact.You must suffer for your sins.'

  'You can't hurt me,' returned Cargrim, with defiance.

  'I have no wish to hurt you,' answered the bishop, mildly; 'but for yourown good you must be punished; and punish you I will so far as lies inmy power.'

  'I am ready to be punished, my lord; you have the whip hand, so I mustsubmit.'

  'Michael, Michael, harden not your heart! Repent of your wickedness ifit is in you to do so. I cannot spare you if I would. _Bonis nocet quisquis pepercerit malis_; that is a true saying which, as a priest, Ishould obey, and which I intend to obey if only for your own benefit.After punishment comes repentance and amendment.'

  Cargrim scowled. 'It is no use talking further, my lord,' he saidroughly. 'As I have acted like a fool, I must take a fool's wages.'

  'You are indeed a fool,' rejoined the bishop, coldly, 'and an ungratefulfool to boot, or you would not thus answer one who has your interest atheart. But as you take up such a position, I shall be brief. You mustleave my house at once, and, for very shame, I should advise you toleave the Church.'

  'Leave the Church?' echoed Cargrim, in dismay.

  'I have said it. As a bishop, I cannot entrust to a guilty man the careof immortal souls.'

  'Guilty? I am guilty of nothing.'

  'Do you call malice, falsehood, dissimulation nothing?'

  'You cannot unfrock me for what I have done,' said Cargri
m, evading adirect reply. 'You may have the will, but you have not the power.'

  Dr Pendle looked at him in amazement 'Yours is indeed an evil heart,when you can use such language to me,' he said sorrowfully. 'I see thatit is useless to argue with you in your present fallen condition.'

  'Fallen condition, my lord?'

  'Yes, poor lad! fallen not only as a priest, but as a man. However, Ishall plead no more. Go where you will, do what you will, although Iadvise you once more not to insult an offended God by offering prayersfor others which you need for yourself. Yet, as I am unwilling that youshould starve, I shall instruct my banker in London to pay you a monthlysum of money until you are beyond want. Now go, Michael. I am bitterlydisappointed in you; and by your own acts you have put it out of mypower to keep you by my side. Go! Repent--and pray.'

  The chaplain, with a look of malice on his face, walked, or ratherslunk, towards the door. 'You magnify my paltry sins,' he flung back.'What of your own great ones?'

  'Dare you, wretched man, to speak against your spiritual head!'thundered the bishop, starting to his feet, vested with the imperiousauthority of the Church. 'Go! Quit my sight, lest I cast you out fromamongst us! Go!'

  Before the blaze of that righteous wrath, Cargrim, livid and trembling,crept away like a beaten hound.