The Queen of Hearts

by Wilkie Collins

  CHAPTER I.

  THE first place I got when I began going out to service was not a veryprofitable one. I certainly gained the advantage of learning my businessthoroughly, but I never had my due in the matter of wages. My masterwas made a bankrupt, and his servants suffered with the rest of hiscreditors.

  My second situation, however, amply compensated me for my want of luckin the first. I had the good fortune to enter the service of Mr. andMrs. Norcross. My master was a very rich gentleman. He had the Darrockhouse and lands in Cumberland, an estate also in Yorkshire, and a verylarge property in Jamaica, which produced, at that time and for someyears afterward, a great income. Out in the West Indies he met witha pretty young lady, a governess in an English family, and, taking aviolent fancy to her, married her, though she was a good five-and-twentyyears younger than himself. After the wedding they came to England, andit was at this time that I was lucky enough to be engaged by them as aservant.

  I lived with my new master and mistress three years. They had nochildren. At the end of that period Mr. Norcross died. He was sharpenough to foresee that his young widow would marry again, and hebequeathed his property so that it all went to Mrs. Norcross first, andthen to any children she might have by a second marriage, and, failingthat, to relations and friends of his own. I did not suffer by mymaster's death, for his widow kept me in her service. I had attended onMr. Norcross all through his last illness, and had made myself usefulenough to win my mistress's favor and gratitude. Besides me she alsoretained her maid in her service--a quadroon woman named Josephine, whomshe brought with her from the West Indies. Even at that time I dislikedthe half-breed's wheedling manners, and her cruel, tawny face, andwondered how my mistress could be so fond of her as she was. Time showedthat I was right in distrusting this woman. I shall have much more tosay about her when I get further advanced with my story.

  Meanwhile I have next to relate that my mistress broke up the rest ofher establishment, and, taking me and the lady's maid with her, went totravel on the Continent.

  Among other wonderful places we visited Paris, Genoa, Venice, Florence,Rome, and Naples, staying in some of those cities for months together.The fame of my mistress's riches followed her wherever she went; andthere were plenty of gentlemen, foreigners as well as Englishmen, whowere anxious enough to get into her good graces and to prevail on her tomarry them. Nobody succeeded, however, in producing any very strong orlasting impression on her; and when we came back to England, after morethan two years of absence, Mrs. Norcross was still a widow, and showedno signs of wanting to change her condition.

  We went to the house on the Yorkshire estate first; but my mistress didnot fancy some of the company round about, so we moved again to DarrockHall, and made excursions from time to time in the lake district,some miles off. On one of these trips Mrs. Norcross met with some oldfriends, who introduced her to a gentleman of their party bearing thevery common and very uninteresting name of Mr. James Smith.

  He was a tall, fine young man enough, with black hair, which grew verylong, and the biggest, bushiest pair of black whiskers I ever saw.Altogether he had a rakish, unsettled look, and a bounceable way oftalking which made him the prominent person in company. He was poorenough himself, as I heard from his servant, but well connected--agentleman by birth and education, though his manners were so free. Whatmy mistress saw to like in him I don't know; but when she asked herfriends to stay with her at Darrock, she included Mr. James Smith inthe invitation. We had a fine, gay, noisy time of it at the Hall, thestrange gentleman, in particular, making himself as much at home as ifthe place belonged to him. I was surprised at Mrs. Norcross puttingup with him as she did, but I was fairly thunderstruck some monthsafterward when I heard that she and her free-and-easy visitor wereactually going to be married! She had refused offers by dozens abroad,from higher, and richer, and better-behaved men. It seemed next toimpossible that she could seriously think of throwing herself away uponsuch a hare-brained, headlong, penniless young gentleman as Mr. JamesSmith.

  Married, nevertheless, they were, in due course of time; and, afterspending the honeymoon abroad, they came back to Darrock Hall.

  I soon found that my new master had a very variable temper. There weresome days when he was as easy, and familiar, and pleasant with hisservants as any gentleman need be. At other times some devil withinhim seemed to get possession of his whole nature. He flew into violentpassions, and took wrong ideas into his head, which no reasoning orremonstrance could remove. It rather amazed me, considering how gayhe was in his tastes, and how restless his habits were, that he shouldconsent to live at such a quiet, dull place as Darrock. The reasonfor this, however, soon came out. Mr. James Smith was not much of asportsman; he cared nothing for indoor amusements, such as reading,music, and so forth; and he had no ambition for representing the countyin parliament. The one pursuit that he was really fond of was yachting.Darrock was within sixteen miles of a sea-port town, with an excellentharbor, and to this accident of position the Hall was entirely indebtedfor recommending itself as a place of residence to Mr. James Smith.

  He had such an untiring enjoyment and delight in cruising about at sea,and all his ideas of pleasure seemed to be so closely connected with hisremembrance of the sailing trips he had taken on board different yachtsbelonging to his friends, that I verily believe his chief object inmarrying my mistress was to get the command of money enough to keep avessel for himself. Be that as it may, it is certain that he prevailedon her, some time after their marriage, to make him a present of a fineschooner yacht, which was brought round from Cowes to our coast-town,and kept always waiting ready for him in the harbor.

  His wife required some little persuasion before she could make up hermind to let him have the vessel. She suffered so much from sea-sicknessthat pleasure-sailing was out of the question for her; and, being veryfond of her husband, she was naturally unwilling that he should engagein an amusement which took him away from her. However, Mr. James Smithused his influence over her cleverly, promising that he would nevergo away without first asking her leave, and engaging that his terms ofabsence at sea should never last for more than a week or ten days at atime. Accordingly, my mistress, who was the kindest and most unselfishwoman in the world, put her own feelings aside, and made her husbandhappy in the possession of a vessel of his own.

  While my master was away cruising, my mistress had a dull time of it atthe Hall. The few gentlefolks there were in our part of the county livedat a distance, and could only come to Darrock when they were asked tostay there for some days together. As for the village near us, there wasbut one person living in it whom my mistress could think of asking tothe Hall, and that person was the clergyman who did duty at the church.

  This gentleman's name was Mr. Meeke. He was a single man, veryyoung, and very lonely in his position. He had a mild, melancholy,pasty-looking face, and was as shy and soft-spoken as a littlegirl--altogether, what one may call, without being unjust or severe, apoor, weak creature, and, out of all sight, the very worst preacher Iever sat under in my life. The one thing he did, which, as I heard, hecould really do well, was playing on the fiddle. He was uncommonly fondof music--so much so that he often took his instrument out with him whenhe went for a walk. This taste of his was his great recommendation tomy mistress, who was a wonderfully fine player on the piano, and who wasdelighted to get such a performer as Mr. Meeke to play duets with her.Besides liking his society for this reason, she felt for him in hislonely position; naturally enough, I think, considering how often shewas left in solitude herself. Mr. Meeke, on his side, when he gotover his first shyness, was only too glad to leave his lonesome littleparsonage for the fine music-room at the Hall, and for the company ofa handsome, kind-hearted lady, who made much of him, and admired hisfiddle-playing with all her heart. Thus it happened that, whenever mymaster was away at sea, my mistress and Mr. Meeke were always together,playing duets as if they had their living to get by it. A more harmlessconnection than the connection between those two never existed in
thisworld; and yet, innocent as it was, it turned out to be the first causeof all the misfortunes that afterward happened.

  My master's treatment of Mr. Meeke was, from the first, the veryopposite of my mistress's. The restless, rackety, bounceable Mr. JamesSmith felt a contempt for the weak, womanish, fiddling little parson,and, what was more, did not care to conceal it. For this reason, Mr.Meeke (who was dreadfully frightened by my master's violent language andrough ways) very seldom visited at the Hall except when my mistress wasalone there. Meaning no wrong, and therefore stooping to no concealment,she never thought of taking any measures to keep Mr. Meeke out of theway when he happened to be with her at the time of her husband's cominghome, whether it was only from a riding excursion in the neighborhoodor from a cruise in the schooner. In this way it so turned out thatwhenever my master came home, after a long or short absence, in ninecases out of ten he found the parson at the Hall.

  At first he used to laugh at this circumstance, and to amuse himselfwith some coarse jokes at the expense of his wife and her companion.But, after a while, his variable temper changed, as usual. He grewsulky, rude, angry, and, at last, downright jealous of Mr. Meeke. Thoughtoo proud to confess it in so many words, he still showed the state ofhis mind clearly enough to my mistress to excite her indignation. Shewas a woman who could be led anywhere by any one for whom she hada regard, but there was a firm spirit within her that rose at theslightest show of injustice or oppression, and that resented tyrannicalusage of any sort perhaps a little too warmly. The bare suspicion thather husband could feel any distrust of her set her all in a flame,and she took the most unfortunate, and yet, at the same time, the mostnatural way for a woman, of resenting it. The ruder her husband wasto Mr. Meeke the more kindly she behaved to him. This led to seriousdisputes and dissensions, and thence, in time, to a violent quarrel. Icould not avoid hearing the last part of the altercation between them,for it took place in the garden-walk, outside the dining-room window,while I was occupied in laying the table for lunch.

  Without repeating their words--which I have no right to do, having heardby accident what I had no business to hear--I may say generally, to showhow serious the quarrel was, that my mistress charged my master withhaving married from mercenary motives, with keeping out of her companyas much as he could, and with insulting her by a suspicion which itwould be hard ever to forgive, and impossible ever to forget. He repliedby violent language directed against herself, and by commanding hernever to open the doors again to Mr. Meeke; she, on her side, declaringthat she would never consent to insult a clergyman and a gentleman inorder to satisfy the whim of a tyrannical husband. Upon that, he calledout, with a great oath, to have his horse saddled directly, declaringthat he would not stop another instant under the same roof with a womanwho had set him at defiance, and warning his wife that he would comeback, if Mr. Meeke entered the house again, and horsewhip him, in spiteof his black coat, all through the village.

  With those words he left her, and rode away to the sea-port where hisyacht was lying. My mistress kept up her spirit till he was out ofsight, and then burst into a dreadful screaming passion of tears, whichended by leaving her so weak that she had to be carried to her bed likea woman who was at the point of death.

  The same evening my master's horse was ridden back by a messenger, whobrought a scrap of notepaper with him addressed to me. It only containedthese lines:

  "Pack up my clothes and deliver them immediately to the bearer. You maytell your mistress that I sail to-night at eleven o'clock for a cruiseto Sweden. Forward my letters to the post-office, Stockholm."

  I obeyed the orders given to me except that relating to my mistress. Thedoctor had been sent for, and was still in the house. I consulted himupon the propriety of my delivering the message. He positively forbademe to do so that night, and told me to give him the slip of paper, andleave it to his discretion to show it to her or not the next morning.

  The messenger had hardly been gone an hour when Mr. Meeke's housekeepercame to the Hall with a roll of music for my mistress. I told the womanof my master's sudden departure, and of the doctor being in the house.This news brought Mr. Meeke himself to the Hall in a great flutter.

  I felt so angry with him for being the cause--innocent as he mightbe--of the shocking scene which had taken place, that I exceededthe bounds of my duty, and told him the whole truth. The poor, weak,wavering, childish creature flushed up red in the face, then turned aspale as ashes, and dropped into one of the hall chairs crying--literallycrying fit to break his heart. "Oh, William," says he, wringing hislittle frail, trembling white hands as helpless as a baby, "oh, William,what am I to do?"

  "As you ask me that question, sir," says I, "you will excuse me, I hope,if, being a servant, I plainly speak my mind notwithstanding. I knowmy station well enough to be aware that, strictly speaking, I have donewrong, and far exceeded my duty, in telling you as much as I havetold you already; but I would go through fire and water, sir," says I,feeling my own eyes getting moist, "for my mistress's sake. She has norelation here who can speak to you; and it is even better that a servantlike me should risk being guilty of an impertinence, than that dreadfuland lasting mischief should arise from the right remedy not beingapplied at the right time. This is what I should do, sir, in your place.Saving your presence, I should leave off crying; and go back home andwrite to Mr. James Smith, saying that I would not, as a clergyman, givehim railing for railing, but would prove how unworthily he had suspectedme by ceasing to visit at the Hall from this time forth, rather thanbe a cause of dissension between man and wife. If you will put that intoproper language, sir, and will have the letter ready for me in half anhour's time, I will call for it on the fastest horse in our stables,and, at my own risk, will give it to my master before he sailsto-night. I have nothing more to say, sir, except to ask your pardonfor forgetting my proper place, and for making bold to speak on a veryserious matter as equal to equal, and as man to man."

  To do Mr. Meeke justice, he had a heart, though it was a very small one.He shook hands with me, and said he accepted my advice as the advice ofa friend, and so went back to his parsonage to write the letter. In halfan hour I called for it on horseback, but it was not ready for me. Mr.Meeke was ridiculously nice about how he should express himself when hegot a pen into his hand. I found him with his desk littered with roughcopies, in a perfect agony about how to turn his phrases delicatelyenough in referring to my mistress. Every minute being precious, Ihurried him as much as I could, without standing on any ceremony. Ittook half an hour more, with all my efforts, before he could make up hismind that the letter would do. I started off with it at a gallop, andnever drew rein till I got to the sea-port town.

  The harbor-clock chimed the quarter past eleven as I rode by it, andwhen I got down to the jetty there was no yacht to be seen. She had beencast off from her moorings ten minutes before eleven, and as the clockstruck she had sailed out of the harbor. I would have followed in aboat, but it was a fine starlight night, with a fresh wind blowing, andthe sailors on the pier laughed at me when I spoke of rowing after aschooner yacht which had got a quarter of an hour's start of us, withthe wind abeam and the tide in her favor.

  I rode back with a heavy heart. All I could do now was to send theletter to the post-office, Stockholm.

  The next day the doctor showed my mistress the scrap of paper with themessage on it from my master, and an hour or two after that, a letterwas sent to her in Mr. Meeke's handwriting, explaining the reason whyshe must not expect to see him at the Hall, and referring to me in termsof high praise as a sensible and faithful man who had spoken the rightword at the right time. I am able to repeat the substance of the letter,because I heard all about it from my mistress, under very unpleasantcircumstances so far as I was concerned.

  The news of my master's departure did not affect her as the doctor hadsupposed it would. Instead of distressing her, it roused her spiritand made her angry; her pride, as I imagine, being wounded by thecontemptuous manner in which her husband had notif
ied his intention ofsailing to Sweden at the end of a message to a servant about packing hisclothes. Finding her in that temper of mind, the letter from Mr. Meekeonly irritated her the more. She insisted on getting up, and as soonas she was dressed and downstairs, she vented her violent humor onme, reproaching me for impertinent interference in the affairs of mybetters, and declaring that she had almost made up her mind to turn meout of my place for it. I did not defend myself, because I respected hersorrows and the irritation that came from them; also, because I knew thenatural kindness of her nature well enough to be assured that she wouldmake amends to me for her harshness the moment her mind was composedagain. The result showed that I was right. That same evening she sentfor me and begged me to forgive and forget the hasty words she hadspoken in the morning with a grace and sweetness that would have won theheart of any man who listened to her.

  Weeks passed after this, till it was more than a month since the day ofmy master's departure, and no letter in his handwriting came to DarrockHall.

  My mistress, taking this treatment more angrily than sorrowfully, wentto London to consult her nearest relations, who lived there. On leavinghome she stopped the carriage at the parsonage, and went in (as Ithought, rather defiantly) to say good-by to Mr. Meeke. She hadanswered his letter, and received others from him, and had answered themlikewise. She had also, of course, seen him every Sunday at church, andhad always stopped to speak to him after the service; but this wasthe first occasion on which she had visited him at his house. Asthe carriage stopped, the little parson came out, in great hurry andagitation, to meet her at the garden gate.

  "Don't look alarmed, Mr. Meeke," says my mistress, getting out. "Thoughyou have engaged not to come near the Hall, I have made no promise tokeep away from the parsonage." With those words she went into the house.

  The quadroon maid, Josephine, was sitting with me in the rumble of thecarriage, and I saw a smile on her tawny face as the parson and hisvisitor went into the house together. Harmless as Mr. Meeke was, andinnocent of all wrong as I knew my mistress to be, I regretted that sheshould be so rash as to despise appearances, considering the situationshe was placed in. She had already exposed herself to be thought ofdisrespectfully by her own maid, and it was hard to say what worseconsequences might not happen after that.

  Half an hour later we were away on our journey. My mistress stayedin London two months. Throughout all that long time no letter from mymaster was forwarded to her from the country house.