CHAPTER XVII.
EVENTS succeeded each other rapidly, after the memorable day to Isabelof the luncheon at the farm.
On the next day (the ninth of the month) Lady Lydiard sent for hersteward, and requested him to explain his conduct in repeatedly leavingthe house without assigning any reason for his absence. She did notdispute his claims to a freedom of action which would not be permittedto an ordinary servant. Her objection to his present course ofproceeding related entirely to the mystery in which it was involved, andto the uncertainty in which the household was left as to the hour ofhis return. On those grounds, she thought herself entitled to anexplanation. Moody's habitual reserve--strengthened, on this occasion,by his dread of ridicule, if his efforts to serve Isabel ended infailure--disinclined him to take Lady Lydiard into his confidence,while his inquiries were still beset with obstacles and doubts. Herespectfully entreated her Ladyship to grant him a delay of a fewweeks before he entered on his explanation. Lady Lydiard's quick temperresented his request. She told Moody plainly that he was guilty of anact of presumption in making his own conditions with his employer. Hereceived the reproof with exemplary resignation; but he held to hisconditions nevertheless. From that moment the result of the interviewwas no longer in doubt. Moody was directed to send in his accounts. Theaccounts having been examined, and found to be scrupulously correct, hedeclined accepting the balance of salary that was offered to him. Thenext day he left Lady Lydiard's service.
On the tenth of the month her Ladyship received a letter from hernephew.
The health of Felix had not improved. He had made up his mind to goabroad again towards the end of the month. In the meantime, he hadwritten to his friend in Paris, and he had the pleasure of forwarding ananswer. The letter inclosed announced that the lost five-hundred-poundnote had been made the subject of careful inquiry in Paris. It had notbeen traced. The French police offered to send to London one of theirbest men, well acquainted with the English language, if Lady Lydiard wasdesirous of employing him. He would be perfectly willing to act with anEnglish officer in conducting the investigation, should it be thoughtnecessary. Mr. Troy being consulted as to the expediency of acceptingthis proposal, objected to the pecuniary terms demanded as beingextravagantly high. He suggested waiting a little before any reply wassent to Paris; and he engaged meanwhile to consult a London solicitorwho had great experience in cases of theft, and whose advice mightenable them to dispense entirely with the services of the French police.
Being now a free man again, Moody was able to follow his owninclinations in regard to the instructions which he had received fromOld Sharon.
The course that had been recommended to him was repellent to theself-respect and the sense of delicacy which were among the inbredvirtues of Moody's character. He shrank from forcing himself as a friendon Hardyman's valet: he recoiled from the idea of tempting the man tosteal a specimen of his master's handwriting. After some consideration,he decided on applying to the agent who collected the rents atHardyman's London chambers. Being an old acquaintance of Moody's,this person would certainly not hesitate to communicate the address ofHardyman's bankers, if he knew it. The experiment, tried under thesefavoring circumstances, proved perfectly successful. Moody proceeded toSharon's lodgings the same day, with the address of the bankers in hispocketbook. The old vagabond, greatly amused by Moody's scruples,saw plainly enough that, so long as he wrote the supposed letter fromHardyman in the third person, it mattered little what handwriting wasemployed, seeing that no signature would be necessary. The letter was atonce composed, on the model which Sharon had already suggested to Moody,and a respectable messenger (so far as outward appearances went) wasemployed to take it to the bank. In half an hour the answer came back.It added one more to the difficulties which beset the inquiry after thelost money. No such sum as five hundred pounds had been paid, within thedates mentioned, to the credit of Hardyman's account.
Old Sharon was not in the least discomposed by this fresh check. "Givemy love to the dear young lady," he said with his customary impudence;"and tell her we are one degree nearer to finding the thief."
Moody looked at him, doubting whether he was in jest or in earnest.
"Must I squeeze a little more information into that thick head ofyours?" asked Sharon. With this question he produced a weekly newspaper,and pointed to a paragraph which reported, among the items of sportingnews, Hardyman's recent visit to a sale of horses at a town in the northof France. "We know he didn't pay the bank-note in to his account,"Sharon remarked. "What else did he do with it? Took it to pay for thehorses that he bought in France! Do you see your way a little plainernow? Very good. Let's try next if your money holds out. Somebody mustcross the Channel in search of the note. Which of us two is to sit inthe steam-boat with a white basin on his lap? Old Sharon, of course!" Hestopped to count the money still left, out of the sum deposited by Moodyto defray the cost of the inquiry. "All right!" he went on. "I've gotenough to pay my expenses there and back. Don't stir out of London tillyou hear from me. I can't tell how soon I may not want you. If there'sany difficulty in tracing the note, your hand will have to go into yourpocket again. Can't you get the lawyer to join you? Lord! how I shouldenjoy squandering _his_ money! It's a downright disgrace to me to haveonly got one guinea out of him. I could tear my flesh off my bones whenI think of it."
The same night Old Sharon started for France, by way of Dover andCalais.
Two days elapsed, and brought no news from Moody's agent. On the thirdday, he received some information relating to Sharon--not from the manhimself, but in a letter from Isabel Miller.
"For once, dear Robert," she wrote, "my judgment has turned out to besounder than yours. That hateful old man has confirmed my worst opinionof him. Pray have him punished. Take him before a magistrate and chargehim with cheating you out of your money. I inclose the sealed letterwhich he gave me at the farmhouse. The week's time before I was toopen it expired yesterday. Was there ever anything so impudent and soinhuman? I am too vexed and angry about the money you have wasted onthis old wretch to write more. Yours, gratefully and affectionately,Isabel."
The letter in which Old Sharon had undertaken (by way of pacifyingIsabel) to write the name of the thief, contained these lines:
"You are a charming girl, my dear; but you still want one thing to makeyou perfect--and that is a lesson in patience. I am proud and happyto teach you. The name of the thief remains, for the present, Mr. ----(Blank)."
From Moody's point of view, there was but one thing to be said of this:it was just like Old Sharon! Isabel's letter was of infinitely greaterinterest to him. He feasted his eyes on the words above the signature:she signed herself, "Yours gratefully and affectionately." Did thelast words mean that she was really beginning to be fond of him? Afterkissing the word, he wrote a comforting letter to her, in which hepledged himself to keep a watchful eye on Sharon, and to trust him withno more money until he had honestly earned it first.
A week passed. Moody (longing to see Isabel) still waited in vain fornews from France. He had just decided to delay his visit to South Mordenno longer, when the errand-boy employed by Sharon brought him thismessage: "The old 'un's at home, and waitin' to see yer."
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