A Laodicean : A Story of To-day

by Thomas Hardy

  X.

  Somerset was in the studio the next morning about ten o'clocksuperintending the labours of Knowles, Bowles, and Cockton, whom hehad again engaged to assist him with the drawings on his appointmentto carry out the works. When he had set them going he ascended thestaircase of the great tower for some purpose that bore upon theforthcoming repairs of this part. Passing the door of the telegraph-roomhe heard little sounds from the instrument, which somebody was working.Only two people in the castle, to the best of his knowledge, knew thetrick of this; Miss Power, and a page in her service called John. MissDe Stancy could also despatch messages, but she was at Myrtle Villa.

  The door was closed, and much as he would have liked to enter, thepossibility that Paula was not the performer led him to withhold hissteps. He went on to where the uppermost masonry had resisted the mightyhostility of the elements for five hundred years without receiving worsedilapidation than half-a-century produces upon the face of man. But hestill wondered who was telegraphing, and whether the message bore onhousekeeping, architecture, theatricals, or love.

  Could Somerset have seen through the panels of the door in passing, hewould have beheld the room occupied by Paula alone.

  It was she who sat at the instrument, and the message she wasdespatching ran as under:--

  'Can you send down a competent actress, who will undertake the part ofPrincess of France in "Love's Labour's Lost" this evening in a temporarytheatre here? Dresses already provided suitable to a lady about themiddle height. State price.'

  The telegram was addressed to a well-known theatrical agent in London.

  Off went the message, and Paula retired into the next room, leaving thedoor open between that and the one she had just quitted. Here shebusied herself with writing some letters, till in less than an hour thetelegraph instrument showed signs of life, and she hastened back to itsside. The reply received from the agent was as follows:--

  'Miss Barbara Bell of the Regent's Theatre could come. Quite competent.Her terms would be about twenty-five guineas.'

  Without a moment's pause Paula returned for answer:--

  'The terms are quite satisfactory.'

  Presently she heard the instrument again, and emerging from the nextroom in which she had passed the intervening time as before, she read:--

  'Miss Barbara Bell's terms were accidentally understated. They would beforty guineas, in consequence of the distance. Am waiting at the officefor a reply.'

  Paula set to work as before and replied:--

  'Quite satisfactory; only let her come at once.'

  She did not leave the room this time, but went to an arrow-slit hardby and gazed out at the trees till the instrument began to speak again.Returning to it with a leisurely manner, implying a full persuasion thatthe matter was settled, she was somewhat surprised to learn that,

  'Miss Bell, in stating her terms, understands that she will not berequired to leave London till the middle of the afternoon. If itis necessary for her to leave at once, ten guineas extra would beindispensable, on account of the great inconvenience of such a shortnotice.'

  Paula seemed a little vexed, but not much concerned she sent back with areadiness scarcely politic in the circumstances:--

  'She must start at once. Price agreed to.'

  Her impatience for the answer was mixed with curiosity as to whether itwas due to the agent or to Miss Barbara Bell that the prices had grownlike Jack's Bean-stalk in the negotiation. Another telegram duly came:--

  'Travelling expenses are expected to be paid.'

  With decided impatience she dashed off:--

  'Of course; but nothing more will be agreed to.'

  Then, and only then, came the desired reply:--

  'Miss Bell starts by the twelve o'clock train.'

  This business being finished, Paula left the chamber and descended intothe inclosure called the Pleasance, a spot grassed down like a lawn.Here stood Somerset, who, having come down from the tower, was lookingon while a man searched for old foundations under the sod with acrowbar. He was glad to see her at last, and noticed that she lookedserene and relieved; but could not for the moment divine the cause.Paula came nearer, returned his salutation, and regarded the man'soperations in silence awhile till his work led him to a distance fromthem.

  'Do you still wish to consult me?' asked Somerset.

  'About the building perhaps,' said she. 'Not about the play.'

  'But you said so?'

  'Yes; but it will be unnecessary.'

  Somerset thought this meant skittishness, and merely bowed.

  'You mistake me as usual,' she said, in a low tone. 'I am not going toconsult you on that matter, because I have done all you could have askedfor without consulting you. I take no part in the play to-night.'

  'Forgive my momentary doubt!'

  'Somebody else will play for me--an actress from London. But on noaccount must the substitution be known beforehand or the performanceto-night will never come off: and that I should much regret.'

  'Captain De Stancy will not play his part if he knows you will not playyours--that's what you mean?'

  'You may suppose it is,' she said, smiling. 'And to guard against thisyou must help me to keep the secret by being my confederate.'

  To be Paula's confederate; to-day, indeed, time had brought himsomething worth waiting for. 'In anything!' cried Somerset.

  'Only in this!' said she, with soft severity. 'And you know what youhave promised, George! And you remember there is to be no--what wetalked about! Now will you go in the one-horse brougham to MarktonStation this afternoon, and meet the four o'clock train? Inquire for alady for Stancy Castle--a Miss Bell; see her safely into the carriage,and send her straight on here. I am particularly anxious that she shouldnot enter the town, for I think she once came to Markton in a starringcompany, and she might be recognized, and my plan be defeated.'

  Thus she instructed her lover and devoted friend; and when he could stayno longer he left her in the garden to return to his studio. As Somersetwent in by the garden door he met a strange-looking personage coming outby the same passage--a stranger, with the manner of a Dutchman, the faceof a smelter, and the clothes of an inhabitant of Guiana. The stranger,whom we have already seen sitting at the back of the theatre the nightbefore, looked hard from Somerset to Paula, and from Paula again toSomerset, as he stepped out. Somerset had an unpleasant conviction thatthis queer gentleman had been standing for some time in the doorwayunnoticed, quizzing him and his mistress as they talked together. If sohe might have learnt a secret.

  When he arrived upstairs, Somerset went to a window commanding a viewof the garden. Paula still stood in her place, and the stranger wasearnestly conversing with her. Soon they passed round the corner anddisappeared.

  It was now time for him to see about starting for Markton, anintelligible zest for circumventing the ardent and coercive captain ofartillery saving him from any unnecessary delay in the journey. He wasat the station ten minutes before the train was due; and when it drewup to the platform the first person to jump out was Captain De Stancy insportsman's attire and with a gun in his hand. Somerset nodded, and DeStancy spoke, informing the architect that he had been ten miles up theline shooting waterfowl. 'That's Miss Power's carriage, I think,' headded.

  'Yes,' said Somerset carelessly. 'She expects a friend, I believe. Weshall see you at the castle again to-night?'

  De Stancy assured him that they would, and the two men parted, CaptainDe Stancy, when he had glanced to see that the carriage was empty, goingon to where a porter stood with a couple of spaniels.

  Somerset now looked again to the train. While his back had been turnedto converse with the captain, a lady of five-and-thirty had alightedfrom the identical compartment occupied by De Stancy. She made aninquiry about getting to Stancy Castle, upon which Somerset, who had nottill now observed her, went forward, and introducing himself assistedher to the carriage and saw her safely off.

  De Stancy had by this time disappeared, and Somerset walked on
to hisrooms at the Lord-Quantock-Arms, where he remained till he had dined,picturing the discomfiture of his alert rival when there should enter tohim as Princess, not Paula Power, but Miss Bell of the Regent's Theatre,London. Thus the hour passed, till he found that if he meant to see theissue of the plot it was time to be off.

  On arriving at the castle, Somerset entered by the public door from thehall as before, a natural delicacy leading him to feel that though hemight be welcomed as an ally at the stage-door--in other words, the doorfrom the corridor--it was advisable not to take too ready an advantageof a privilege which, in the existing secrecy of his understanding withPaula, might lead to an overthrow of her plans on that point.

  Not intending to sit out the whole performance, Somerset contentedhimself with standing in a window recess near the proscenium, whence hecould observe both the stage and the front rows of spectators. He wasquite uncertain whether Paula would appear among the audience to-night,and resolved to wait events. Just before the rise of the curtain theyoung lady in question entered and sat down. When the scenery wasdisclosed and the King of Navarre appeared, what was Somerset's surpriseto find that, though the part was the part taken by De Stancy on theprevious night, the voice was that of Mr. Mild; to him, at the appointedseason, entered the Princess, namely, Miss Barbara Bell.

  Before Somerset had recovered from his crestfallen sensation at DeStancy's elusiveness, that officer himself emerged in evening dress frombehind a curtain forming a wing to the proscenium, and Somerset remarkedthat the minor part originally allotted to him was filled by thesubaltern who had enacted it the night before. De Stancy glanced across,whether by accident or otherwise Somerset could not determine, and hisglance seemed to say he quite recognized there had been a trial of witsbetween them, and that, thanks to his chance meeting with Miss Bell inthe train, his had proved the stronger.

  The house being less crowded to-night there were one or two vacantchairs in the best part. De Stancy, advancing from where he had stoodfor a few moments, seated himself comfortably beside Miss Power.

  On the other side of her he now perceived the same queer elderlyforeigner (as he appeared) who had come to her in the garden thatmorning. Somerset was surprised to perceive also that Paula withvery little hesitation introduced him and De Stancy to each other. Aconversation ensued between the three, none the less animated for beingcarried on in a whisper, in which Paula seemed on strangely intimateterms with the stranger, and the stranger to show feelings ofgreat friendship for De Stancy, considering that they must be newacquaintances.

  The play proceeded, and Somerset still lingered in his corner. He couldnot help fancying that De Stancy's ingenious relinquishment of his part,and its obvious reason, was winning Paula's admiration. His conduct washomage carried to unscrupulous and inconvenient lengths, a sort of thingwhich a woman may chide, but which she can never resent. Who coulddo otherwise than talk kindly to a man, incline a little to him, andcondone his fault, when the sole motive of so audacious an exercise ofhis wits was to escape acting with any other heroine than herself.

  His conjectures were brought to a pause by the ending of the comedy, andthe opportunity afforded him of joining the group in front. The mass ofpeople were soon gone, and the knot of friends assembled around Paulawere discussing the merits and faults of the two days' performance.

  'My uncle, Mr. Abner Power,' said Paula suddenly to Somerset, as he camenear, presenting the stranger to the astonished young man. 'I could notsee you before the performance, as I should have liked to do. The returnof my uncle is so extraordinary that it ought to be told in a lesshurried way than this. He has been supposed dead by all of us for nearlyten years--ever since the time we last heard from him.'

  'For which I am to blame,' said Mr. Power, nodding to Paula's architect.'Yet not I, but accident and a sluggish temperament. There are times,Mr Somerset, when the human creature feels no interest in his kind,and assumes that his kind feels no interest in him. The feeling is notactive enough to make him fly from their presence; but sufficient tokeep him silent if he happens to be away. I may not have described itprecisely; but this I know, that after my long illness, and the fanciedneglect of my letters--'

  'For which my father was not to blame, since he did not receive them,'said Paula.

  'For which nobody was to blame--after that, I say, I wrote no more.'

  'You have much pleasure in returning at last, no doubt,' said Somerset.

  'Sir, as I remained away without particular pain, so I return withoutparticular joy. I speak the truth, and no compliments. I may add thatthere is one exception to this absence of feeling from my heart, namely,that I do derive great satisfaction from seeing how mightily this youngwoman has grown and prevailed.'

  This address, though delivered nominally to Somerset, was listened to byPaula, Mrs. Goodman, and De Stancy also. After uttering it, the speakerturned away, and continued his previous conversation with CaptainDe Stancy. From this time till the group parted he never again spokedirectly to Somerset, paying him barely so much attention as he mighthave expected as Paula's architect, and certainly less than he mighthave supposed his due as her accepted lover.

  The result of the appearance, as from the tomb, of this wintry man wasthat the evening ended in a frigid and formal way which gave littlesatisfaction to the sensitive Somerset, who was abstracted andconstrained by reason of thoughts on how this resuscitation of the unclewould affect his relation with Paula. It was possibly also the thoughtof two at least of the others. There had, in truth, scarcely yet beentime enough to adumbrate the possibilities opened up by this gentleman'sreturn.

  The only private word exchanged by Somerset with any one that night waswith Mrs. Goodman, in whom he always recognized a friend to his cause,though the fluidity of her character rendered her but a feeble one atthe best of times. She informed him that Mr. Power had no sort of legalcontrol over Paula, or direction in her estates; but Somerset could notdoubt that a near and only blood relation, even had he possessed buthalf the static force of character that made itself apparent in Mr.Power, might exercise considerable moral influence over the girl ifhe chose. And in view of Mr. Power's marked preference for De Stancy,Somerset had many misgivings as to its operating in a directionfavourable to himself.