She knocked at the door. There was no answer. She opened it. There was no one there, but the light on the terrace below, thrown from the windows of the lower room, was proof to her that Janet was in her sitting-room, and she began to descend the private stairs that led down to it. She was as light in figure and in step as ever, and her soft slippers made no noise as she went down. The door in the wainscot was open, and from the foot of the stairs she had a strange view. Janet's candle was on the chair behind her, in front of it lay half-a-dozen different keys, and she herself was kneeling before the bureau, trying one of the keys into the lock. It would not fit, and in turning to try another, she first saw the white figure, and started violently at the first moment, then, as the trembling, pleading voice said, "Janet," she started to her feet, and cried out angrily-
"Am I to be always spied and dogged?"
"Hush, Janet," said her mother, in a voice of grave reproof, "I simply came to speak to you about the distressing loss of what your father put in my charge."
"And why should I know anything about it?" demanded Janet.
"You were the last person who had access to the davenport," said her mother.
"This is that child Barbara's foolish nonsense," muttered Janet to herself.
"Barbara has nothing to do with the fact that I sent you the key of the davenport where the book was. It is now missing. Janet, it is bitterly painful to me to say so, but your endeavours to open that bureau privately have brought suspicion upon you, and I must have it opened in my presence."
"I have a full right to my own bureau."
"Of course you have; but I had these notes left in my trust. It is my duty towards your father to use every means for their recovery."
"You call it a duty to my father to shut up his discovery and keep it useless for the sake of a lot of boys who will never turn it to profit."
"Of that I am judge. My present duty is to recover it. Your conduct is such as to excite suspicion, and I therefore cannot allow you to take anything out of that bureau except in my presence, till I have satisfied myself that his memoranda are not there. I would not search your drawers in your absence, and therefore telegraphed for you."
"Thank you. Since you like to treat your daughter like a maidservant, you may go on and search my boxes," said Janet, sulkily.
"I beg your pardon, my poor child, if I am unjustly causing you this humiliation," said Caroline humbly, as Janet sullenly flumped down into a chair without answering. She took up the keys that Janet had brought with her, and tried them one by one, where Janet had been using them. The fourth turned in the lock, and the drawer was open!
"I will disarrange nothing unnecessarily," said Caroline. "Look for yourself."
Janet would not, however, move hand, foot, or eye, while her mother put in her hand and took out what lay on the top. It was the Magnum Bonum. She held it to the light and was sure of it; but she had taken up an envelope at the same time, and her eye fell on the address as she was laying it down. It was to-"James Barnes, Esq." And as her eye caught the pencilled words "My Will," a strange electric thrill went through her, as she exclaimed, "What is this, Janet? How came it here?"
"Oh! take it if you like," said Janet. "I put it there to spare you worry; but if you will pursue your researches, you must take the consequences."
Caroline, thus defied, still instinctively holding Magnum Bonum close to her, drew out the contents of the envelope, and caught in the broken handwriting of the old man, the words-"Will and Testament- George Gould-Wakefield-Elvira de Menella--whole estate." Then she saw signature, seal, witnesses-date, "April 24th, 1862."
"What is this? Where did it come from?" she asked.
"I found it-in his table drawer; I saw it was not valid, so I kept it out of the way from consideration for you," said Janet.
"How do you know it was not valid?"
"Oh-why-I didn't look much, or know much about it either," said Janet, in an alarmed voice. "I was a mere child then, you know. I saw it was only scrawled on letter-paper, and I thought it was only a rough draft, which would just make you uncomfortable."
"I hope you did, Janet. I hope you did not know what you were doing!"
"You don't mean that it has been executed?"
"Here are witnesses," said Caroline-her eyes swam too much to see their names. "It must be for better heads than ours to decide whether this is of force; but, oh, Janet! if we have been robbing the orphan all these years!"
"The orphan has been quite as well off as if it had been all hers," said Janet. "Mother, just listen! Give me the keeping of my father's secret, and-even if we lose this place-it shall make up for all-"
"You do not know what you are talking of, Janet," said Caroline, pushing back those ripples of white hair that crowned her brow, "nor indeed I either! I only know you have spoken more kindly to me, and that you are under my own roof again. Kiss me, my child, and forgive me if I have pained you. You did not know what you did about the will, and as to this book, I know you meant to put it back again."
"I did-I did, mother-if Barbara had not hidden the desk," cried Janet. And as her mother kissed her, she laid her head on her shoulder, and wept and sobbed in an hysterical manner, such as Caroline had never seen in her before. Of course she was tired out by the long journey, and the subsequent agitation; and Caroline soothed and caressed her, with the sole effect of making her cry more piteously; but she would not hear of her mother staying to undress and put her to bed, gathered herself up again as soon as she could, and when another kiss had been exchanged at her bedroom door, Caroline heard it locked after her.
Very little did Caroline sleep that night. If she lost consciousness at all, it was only to know that something strange and wonderful was hanging over her. Sometimes she had a sense that her trust and mission as a rich woman had been ill-fulfilled, and therefore the opportunity was to be taken away; but more often there was a strange sense of relief from what she was unfit for. She remembered that strange dream of her children turning into statues of gold, and the Magnum Bonum disenchanting them, and a fancy came over her that this might yet be realised, a fancy to whose lulling effect she was indebted for the sleep she enjoyed in the morning, which made her unusually late, but prevented her from looking as haggard as Janet did, with eyelids swollen, as if she had cried a good deal longer last night.
The postbag was lying on the table, and directly after family prayers (which she had for some years begun when at home), Mrs. Brownlow beguiled her nervousness by opening it, and distributing the letters.
The first she opened was such a startling one, that her head seemed to reel, and she doubted whether the shock of last night was confusing her senses.
"MY DEAR MRS. BROWNLOW,-What will you think of us now that the full truth has burst on you? Of me especially, to whom you entrusted your dear daughter. I never could have thought that Nita would have lent herself to the transaction, and alas! I let the two girls take care of themselves more than was right. However, I can at least give you the comfort of knowing that it was a perfectly legal marriage, for Nita was one of the witnesses, and looked to all that-"
Here Caroline could read no more. Sick and stunned, she began to dispense her teacups, and even helped herself to some of the food that was handed round, but her hand trembled so, and she looked so white and bewildered, that Allen exclaimed-
"Mother, you are really ill. You should not have come down."
She could not bear the crowd and buzz of voices and all the anxious eyes any longer. She pushed back her chair, and as sons came hurrying round with offered arms, she took the nearest, which was Jock's, let him take her to the morning-room, and there assured him she was not ill, only she had had a letter. She wanted nothing, only that he should go back, and send her Janet. She tried once more to master the contents of Miss Ray's letter, but she was too dizzy; and when Janet came in, she could only hold it out to her.
"Oh!" said Janet, "poor old Maria has forestalled me. Yes, mother, it is what I meant to tell you, onl
y I thought you could not bear a fresh shock last night."
"Married! Oh, Janet; why thus?"
"Because we wished to avoid the gossip and conventionality. My uncle and aunt were to be avoided."
"Let me hear at once who it is," said Caroline, with the sharpness of misery.
"It is Professor Demetrius Hermann, a most able lecturer, whose course we have been following. I met him a year ago, at the table d'hote, at Zurich, where he delivered a series of lectures on physiology on a new and original system. He is now going on with them in Scotland, where his wonderful acuteness and originality have produced an immense sensation, and I have no doubt that in his hands this discovery of my father's will receive its full development."
There was no apology in her tone; it was rather that of one who was defying censure; and her mother could only gasp out-
"How long?"
"Three weeks. When we heard you were returning, we thought it would save much trouble and difficulty to secure ourselves against contingencies, and profit by Scottish facilities." Wherewith Janet handed her mother a certificate of her marriage, at Glasgow, before Jane Ray and another witness, and taking her wedding-ring from her purse, put it on, adding, "When you see him, mother, you will be more than satisfied."
"Where is he?" interrupted Caroline.
"At the Railway Hotel, waiting till you are prepared to see him. He brought me down, but he is to give a lecture at Glasgow the day after tomorrow, so we can only remain one night."
"Oh, Janet-Janet, this is very fearful!"
At that moment, Johnny strolled up to the window from the outside, and, as he greeted Janet with some surprise, he observed-
"There's a most extraordinary looking foreign fellow loitering about out here. I warned him he was on private ground, and he made me a bow, as if I, not he, were the trespasser."
On this Janet darted out at the window without another word, and John exclaiming, in dismay-
"Mother Carey! what is the matter?"
She gasped out, "Oh, Johnny! she's married to him! And the children don't know it. Send them in-Allen and Bobus I mean-make haste; I must prepare them. Take that letter, and let the others know."
John saw the truest kindness was implicit obedience; and Allen and Bobus instantly joined her, the latter asking what new tomfoolery Janet had brought home, Allen following with a cup of coffee.
Caroline's lips felt too dry to speak, and she held out the certificate.
It was received by Allen, with the exclamation-
"By Jove!"
And by Bobus, with an odd, harsh laugh-"I thought she would do something monstrous one of these days."
"Did you ever hear of him, Bobus?" she found voice to say, after swallowing a mouthful of coffee.
"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 assured 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 passively 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 aniantissement 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 classical 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 brill- iantly 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."
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