CHAPTER IV.
It must be owned that my evidence at present was very shadowy. Yet tomyself I seemed slow of hand for not having grasped it before. To themind there was nothing conclusive, to the heart all was irresistible. Ihave not set down a quarter of the thoughts that now dawned upon me; andit would be waste of time to recount them, when actual proof isforthcoming. And poor Idols gave me small chance of thinking clearly,in the turbulent flood of her questions.
"And are you quite sure, quite certain, Clara darling, that I have alawful father, one who is not ashamed of me, and was not ashamed of mymother! And why did he never come for me? And do you think he willlove me? And is dear Conrad my own brother? I don't seem to understandhalf that you have told me."
At length I knelt down, and thanked God--rather late in the day, I mustown--for His wonderful guidance to me. While doing so, and remembering,as I always did then, my mother--revealed in sudden light I saw thejustice of God's Providence. Long as I had groped and groped, with redrevenge my leading star, no breath of love or mercy cheering the abruptsteps of a fatalist, so long had He vouchsafed to send me check andwarning, more than guidance. By loss of wealth and dearest friends, byblindness and desertion, and the crushing blow to maiden's pride whenher heart is flung back in her face, by sad hours of watching andweeping over the bed of sickness, by the history of another'swrongs--worse than my own, and yet forgiven--by all these means, andperhaps no less by the growth of the mind, and wider views of life, thespirit, once so indomitable, had learned to bow to its Maker. Stoopingthus it saw the path, which stiff-necked pride could not descry.
Not first and sole, as it would have been two years since, but side byside with softer thoughts, came the strong belief that now God hadrevealed to me the man who slew my father. And what humiliation to allmy boasted destiny! I had grasped the hand that did the deed, smiled tothe eyes that glared upon it, laughed at the sallies of the mind thatshaped it. Enough of this; ere it go too hard with Christian feeling.My bosom heaves, my throat swells, and my eyes flash as of old.
Before I had time to resolve what next to do (for Isola would not let methink), we had another interruption. That girl had a most ill-regulatedand illogical mind. And the fault was fundamental. If the lovelysenior sophist had ever got her degree, and worn the gown of a Maiden ofArts, it could only have come by favour, after the manner of kissing.Her enthymems were quick enough, and a great deal too quick I believe;but as for their reduction or eduction into syllogisms--we might as wellexpect her to make a telescope out of her boot-tags. And now at onceshe expected, and would not give me room for a word, that I shouldminutely detail in two sentences, with marginal annotations, andfootnotes, queries, conjectures, and various readings, all incorporatedinto the text, everything that had ever, anywhere, or by any means,befallen her "genuine father." Not being Thucydidean enough to omit thekey-word in the sentence, and mash ten thoughts into one verb, I couldnot meet the emergency; and my dear cousin lost her patience, which wasalways a very small parcel.
"At any rate, Clara, tell me one thing clearly. Are you quite certainthat Conny and I are not--not--"
"Not base-born," I said--why be mawkish in Oscan-English, when Saxon isto be had?--"No, my darling, you are as lawful as I, your cousin Clara.We Vaughans are a passionate race, but we never make wrecks of women,and scoundrels of ourselves. That we leave for Corsicans, and peoplebrought up to lies."
The sneer was most unjust, and dreadfully unkind, but far too naturalfor me, so long pent in, to resist it. I saw that I had grieved my pet,so I begged her pardon, and reviled myself, till all was right again.Then suddenly she leaped up and cried, with her hand upon her boundingheart--every look and gesture must have been like her mother's.
"Let me go now, Clara. What am I thinking of? Let me start at once.And you say my own father is very ill. He will die without seeing me.On with your things, while I run to the cab-stand. I have money enoughfor both."
She wrenched at the door-handle in her hurry, forgetting that I hadlocked it; rich colour leaped into her cheeks, and her features and formseemed to dance, like a flickering flame, with excitement. No wonderher mother had loved, and been loved, with such power of passion.
"Idols, take it easily, or I won't let you go at all. I rather fancy,we must have some evidence, before my Uncle owns a little chit picked upin London. He is a clever and cautious man, and will expect somethingmore convincing than your beautiful eyes and sweet breath. Do youexpect, you impetuous jumper, that he will know you by instinct?"
Poor little thing, how her face fell, and how the roses faded out of it!That look of hers went to my heart; but I knew what the mother had diedof, and feared lest her image and picture should perish in the samemanner. So I said again:
"Did you suppose, my dear, that your father would know you by instinct?"
"Well, perhaps I did, Clara; if I thought about it at all. I am sure Ishould know him so."
At this moment, two heavy knocks, like a postman's, but not so quick,sounded through the house. I knew what they meant, one was Balaam, theother was Balak. Isola clung to me, and turned pale; she thought it wassome one pursuing her. I told her hastily whom I expected, and sent herto Mrs. Shelfer's room. My heart beat high, when with many a scrape andbow, the worthy but not ornamental pair sidled heavily into the room.
To my greetings they answered me never a word; but Balaam stood solemnlyat the end of the little table, and beckoned to his partner to fastenthe door. This being done with some pantomime, which meant "By yourleave, if you please, Miss," the two men, who looked none the leaner fortheir arduous exertions, stood side by side before me. Tired of thisnonsense I exclaimed impatiently,
"Be quick, if you please; what is it you have found out?"
Balaam winked at Balak, and receiving a ponderous nod, began to digestit leisurely.
"Have you brought me to London for nothing? What do you mean by all thismummery? I shall ring the bell in a moment, and have you both shownout."
Balaam's tongue revolved in his mouth, but burst not the bonds ofspeech, and he tried to look straight at both windows,--till my hand wason the bell-pull.
"Balak, I told you so. Lor, how much better it be for you to take myadvice, than for me to take yourn! Balak said, Miss, as we come along,the young lady would be sure to know what was right, and turn uphandsome afore she asked us nothing. Now, says I, that ain't thecarakter of my experience, the women most always wants--"
"Here, quick, how much do you want, before I know what you have totell?"
Here a long interchange of signals took place, and even whisperingbehind a hat.
"Well, Miss, I say ten, and that quite enough till you has time tojudge. But Balak say nothing under twenty, considering all the beer,and some of it country brewers'--"
"Your advice is better than Balak's; I agree with you on that point; andI will take it in preference. Here are ten pounds." He looked rathertaken aback, but could not well get out of it. Balak smiled grimly athim.
"If what you tell me proves really valuable, I will give you a chequefor another ninety ere long, and the residue hereafter: but not anotherfarthing, if you keep me in this suspense. Do I look likely to cheatpeople of your class?"
"No, Miss, we hopes not; nor of any other class, I dare say. Stillthere be so many rogues in the world--"
"You have taken my money; speak on."
What they told me at wearisome length, and with puzzling divergence, andquantities of self-praise, need not occupy many lines. They had tracedthe Jelly-corses, as they called Della Croce, from Somers Town to LissonGrove, where they stayed but a very short time, Lepardo Della Croce,under some fictitious name, giving lessons in French, Spanish, andItalian, at schools in Portland Town and St. John's Wood. But he onlyseemed to play with his work, though he never broke any engagement towhich he really pledged himself. He was always reserved and silent,accepted no invitations, and gathered his real subsistence by night atchess-
clubs and billiard-rooms, where his skill was unequalled. Hisonly friends were Italian refugees, his only diversion the vivisectionof animals. It must have been about this time that he saw the newspaperparagraph, and did what he did to me. Then he changed his name again,and lived awhile in Kensington; he had been in London years before, andseemed to know it well. Here a nobleman, whom he had taught some newdevice at billiards, took him up and introduced him to a higher class ofpupils, and obtained him some back-door palace appointment. He dubbedhimself "Professor," and started as Dr. Ross. But still he missed theexcitement and change of his once adventurous life, and several times hebroke loose, and left his household, for weeks and months together.Then the two lovely children, whom all admired but none were allowed tonotice, were attended wherever they went, by a dark-browed Italianwoman. Suddenly they all left Kensington, and went to live at Ball'sPond; the reason being some threatened exposure of the Professor'scat-skinning propensities. His love of vivisection had become themaster-passion, and he would gratify it at all hazards. There is tosome natures a strange fascination in the horrible cruelties perpetratedunder the name of science. Through its influence he even relaxed hisstrict reserve a little, and formed the acquaintance of a gentlemanconnected with the college at Camden Town; to which suburb after a whilehe removed, because he found it impossible to pursue his inhumanresearches under his own roof comfortably. Here, by means of his newally, who could not help admiring his infinitely superior skill, he wasappointed lecturer at several schools for young ladies, wheresmatterings of science were dealt in. And now he was highly respectedby people who did not know him, and idolised by young ladies too cleverto care for pet parsons. Of course he became conceited; for his naturewas but a shallow one, and his cunning, though sharp and poisonous, hadno solid barb at the end. So he sneered, and grimaced, and sniggered,and before an ignorant audience made learned men stammer and stutter,amazed at his bold assumptions, and too honest and large of mind tosuspect them, at short notice.
But the skill of his hands was genuine, and his power of sight mostwonderful. I have since been told--though I do not believe itpossible--that he once withdrew and bottled nearly half the lungs of adog, tubercular after distemper, while the poor sufferer still gaspedon, and tried to lick his face. Oh that I were a man! How can I hearsuch things and not swear? All animals, except one, hated him byinstinct. The only one, not sagacious enough to know him, was hisfellow-man. Men, or at any rate women, thought him a handsome, lively,playful, and brilliant being. And yet, upon the honour of a lady Ideclare--let those who know nothing of honour despise it as anafter-thought--that when he first entered my room, in his graceful andelegant way, there ran through me such a shudder as first turns theleaves towards autumn, such a chill of the spinal marrow as makes theaura of epilepsy.
Darling Judy hated him from every bristle of his body, not only throughinstinct, but for certain excellent reasons. The monster's mostintimate friend was a gallant Polish patriot, who had sacrificed all forhis country, and lived here in dignified poverty. This gentleman andhis wife could only afford one luxury; and that, by denying themselvesmany a little comfort. They had the finest dog in London, one who hadsaved his master's life from the squat-nosed sons of the Czar. Thisglorious fellow, of Maltese family, was the father of my Giudice--whomin his puppy days the Polish exile gave to Conrad and pretty girl Isola.Slowski, now an ancient dog, had a wen behind his shoulder, which grewand grew until the Professor could scarcely keep his hands from it. Buthe knew that any operation, in so severe a case, was nearly sure to killa dog so old and weather-beaten. The owner too knew this, and would nothave it meddled with. Lepardo Della Croce swore at last that he wouldtaste no food until he had traced the roots of that wen. Judy, then apretty pup, gambolled into the room and saw his poor papa--but I willnot describe what a dog cannot even bear to think of. Poor Slowski diedthat night, and the Pole knocked down the surviving brute, who shot himnext day upon Hampstead Heath. However, the gentleman slowly recovered;but during his illness the frenzied wife overstepped the bounds ofhonour--according to their ideas; she took advantage of Cora, in theabsence of Lepardo, and learned some of his previous crimes, bypractising on the poor woman's superstition. Then she found, through thefirm of Green, Vowler, and Green, that my Uncle was still alive, tracedout the history of the atrocious deed, and wrote the letter which hadbrought me to London. Soon afterwards, when her husband recovered, shewas sorry for what she had done, and opened her lips on the subject nomore; at least in this country, which they soon forsook for America.
In this brief epitome, I have told, for the purpose of saving trouble, agreat deal more than I learned at the time, a great deal more thanBalaam and Balak would have found out in a twelvemonth. But it makes nodifference: for my conclusions and actions were just the same as theywould have been, if I had known all the above. "And so you see,Miss"--was Balaam's peroration--"we have had a downy cove to deal with,for all his furious temper. Lor now, I never believe any Bobby wouldhave discovered him; but we has ways, Miss, what with the carpets andthe sofys, and always knowing the best pump at the bar, gentlemen of ourprofession has ways that no Peeler would ever dream of. And now, Miss,the ink is on the table, and both of us wishes you joy--didn't you sayso, Balak?--if you only think we has earned that cheque for 90*l.*, andthe rest, please God, when the gentleman feel Jack Ketch."
"You shall have the money soon, if not now. For I believe you havedeserved it. But I must trouble you first to write down briefly whatyou have told me, and to sign it in full. It is not for myself. Iremember every word. It is for the satisfaction of a gentleman whocannot see you."
Balaam and Balak looked very blank, and declared it would take them aweek to write out half they had told me. This objection I soon removed,by offering to make an abstract of it, which I could do from memory, andthen let them read and sign it. By this time they were both afflictedwith thirst, which I sent them away to quench, while I drew up a roughdeposition. But first I called darling Idols, and told her that now Ihad evidence which would satisfy even a sceptical father.
"And surely, my pet, you yourself must have something; some relic, ortoken, to help us."
"No, cousin Clara, I can't think of anything, except this little charm,which has been round my neck for years, and which I have shown youbefore: but I fear it is not uncommon. He took it away from me once,but I managed to steal it back again."
The charm was a piece of chalcedony, ground into some resemblance whichI could not recognise then, and very highly polished. She said it hadbeen her brother Conrad's, and he had given it to her; hearing which Iceased to examine it.
Presently the bailiffs returned, in very high spirits indeed, and readyto sign almost anything. But I took good care to inform them that,however hard they had laboured, I had made the discovery before them;which they said was permiscuous, and not to be thought nothing of. Allthe forms being quickly despatched, I found a few minutes to think whatwas next to be done.
It is too late in my journey for dalliance and embarrassment with theheavy luggage of motives, and the bandboxes of reflections, when we arepast the last station, and flying to our terminus: enough that Iresolved to take poor little Isola home at once to the house at VaughanSt. Mary, and the arms of her longing father, that he might see herbefore he died. I hoped he might live for years, but I feared he mightdie to-morrow; so hangs over every one's mind that fatal third stroke ofparalysis. Her own entreaties and coaxing told much upon my resolution;if none could resist her when happy, who could withstand her distress?So Balaam and Balak were ordered most strictly to watch that demon'sabode, and at any risk give him in charge if he made attempt atdeparture. To ensure due vigilance, I reclaimed the 90*l.* cheque, andgave one payable three days afterwards. They grumbled and did not likeit; but in the course of all my rough usage, I had learned one greatmaxim--Never trust, beyond the length of a cork, any man who is slave tothe bottle.