CHAPTER XV.
It might be thought that I was too hard on my Lord Blackadder, butonly those few indeed who were unacquainted with the circumstances ofhis divorce would find fault with me. The scandal was quite recent,and the Blackadder case had been in everybody's mouth. The papers hadbeen full of it, and the proceedings were not altogether to hislordship's credit. They had been instituted by him, however, ongrounds that induced the jury to give him a verdict, and the judge hadpronounced a decree nisi on the evidence as it stood.
Yet the public sympathies were generally with the respondent, theCountess of Blackadder. It had been an unhappy marriage, anill-assorted match, mercenary, of mere convenience, forced upon aninnocent and rather weak girl by careless and callous guardians, eagerto rid themselves of responsibility for the two twin sisters, LadiesClaire and Henriette Standish, orphans, and with no near relations.
Lord Blackadder was immensely rich, but a man of indifferent moralcharacter, a _roue_ and a voluptuary, with a debilitated constitutionand an unattractive person, possessing none of the gifts that take amaiden's fancy.
Estrangement soon followed the birth of the son and heir to his titleand great estates. My lord was a great deal older than his beautifulyoung wife, and desperately jealous of her. Distrust grew into strongsuspicion, and presently consumed him when an old flame of LadyHenriette's, Charlie Forrester, of the Dark Horse, turned up fromforeign service, and their names came to be bracketed together by thesenseless gossiping busybodies ever ready to tear a pretty woman'sreputation to tatters. It was so much put about, so constantly dinnedinto Lord Blackadder's ears, that he was goaded into a perfect fury,and was at length determined, by hook or by crook, to put away hiswife, leaving it to certain astute and well-practised solicitors tomanufacture a clear, solid case against her.
Lady Blackadder, who hated and despised her lord, foolishly playedinto his hands. She never really went wrong, so her friends stoutlyaverred, especially her sister Claire, a staunch and loyal soul, butshe gave a handle to innuendo, and more than once allowed appearancesto go against her.
There was one very awkward story that could not be disproved as it wastold, and in the upshot convicted her. It was clearly shown inevidence that she had made up her mind to leave Lord Blackadder; more,that she meant to elope with Major Forrester. It was said, but not sopositively, that she had met him at Victoria Station; they were seenthere together, had travelled by the same train, and there was astrong presumption that they had arrived together at Brighton; one ortwo railway officials deposed to the fact.
Lady Blackadder denied this entirely, and gave a very differentcomplexion to the story. She had gone to Brighton; yes, but quitealone. Major Forrester had seen her off, no doubt, but they had partedat the carriage door. Her visit to Brighton had been for the purposeof seeing and staying with an old servant, once a very confidentialmaid for whom she had a great liking, and had often taken refuge withwhen worried and in trouble. She thought, perhaps, to make this thefirst stage in the rupture with my lord.
This maid had earnestly adjured her not to break with her husband, andto return to Grosvenor Square.
This flight was the head and corner-stone of Lady Blackadder'soffending. It was interpreted into guilt of the most heinous kind; theevidence in support of it seemed overwhelming. Witnesses sworepositively to the companionship of Major Forrester, both at Victoriaand Brighton, and it was to be fairly assumed that they were at thelatter place together.
No rebutting evidence was forthcoming. The maid, a woman married to anex-French or Swiss courier, by name Bruel, could not be produced,simply because she could not be found in Brighton. They were supposedto be settled there as lodging-house keepers, but they had not residedlong enough to be in the Directory, and their address was not known.Lord Blackadder's case was that they were pure myths, they had neverhad any tangible existence, but were only imported into the case tosupport an ingenious but untenable defence.
It was more than hinted that they had been spirited away, and theywere not the first material witnesses, it was hinted, in an intricatecase, conducted by Messrs. Gadecker and Gobye, who had mysteriouslydisappeared. So the plausible, nay, completely satisfactoryexplanation of Lady Blackadder's visit to Brighton could not be putforward, much less established, and there was no sort of hope for her.She lost her case in the absence of the Bruels, man and wife. Theverdict was for Lord Blackadder, and he was adjudged to have the careand custody of the child, the infant Viscount Aspdale.
I had not the smallest doubt when I realized with whom I had to dothat the unhappy mother had made a desperate effort to redress herwrongs, as she thought them, and had somehow contrived to carry offher baby before she could be deprived of it.
I had met her in full flight upon the Engadine express.
What next? Was she to be overtaken and despoiled, legally, of course,but still cruelly, separated from her own flesh and blood? The Courtmight order such an unnatural proceeding, but I was moved by everychivalrous impulse to give her my unstinting and unhesitating supportto counteract it.
I was full of these thoughts, and still firmly resolved to help LadyBlackadder, when l'Echelle, the conductor whose services I stillretained, sought me out hurriedly, and told me that he believed theothers were on the point of leaving Brieg.
"I saw Falfani and milord poring over the pages of the _Indicateur_,and heard the word Geneva dropped in a whisper. I think they mean totake the next train along the lake shore."
"Not a doubt of it," I assented; "so will we. They must not be allowedto go beyond our reach."
When the 6.57 P.M. for Geneva was due out from Brieg, we,l'Echelle and I, appeared on the platform, and our intention to travelby it was made plain to Lord Blackadder. The effect upon him waspainfully manifest at once. He chafed, he raged up and down, grimacingand apostrophizing Falfani; once or twice he approached me withclenched fists, and I really thought would have struck me at last.Seeing me enter the same carriage with him, with the obvious intentionof keeping him under my eye, he threw himself back among the cushionsand yielded himself with the worst grace to the inevitable.
The railway journey was horribly slow, and it must have been past 11P.M. before we reached Geneva. We alighted in the Cornavinstation, and as they moved at once towards the exit I followed. Iexpected them to take a carriage and drive off, and was prepared togive chase, when I found they started on foot, evidently to somedestination close at hand. It proved to be the Cornavin Hotel, not astone's-throw from the station.
They entered, and went straight to the bureau, where the night clerkwas at his desk. I heard them ask for a person named Tiler, andwithout consulting his books the clerk replied angrily:
"Tiler! Tiler! _Ma foi_, he is of no account, your Tiler. He has goneoff from the dinner-table and without paying his bill."
"That shall be made all right," replied Lord Blackadder loftily, as hedetailed his name and quality, before which the employe bowed low."And might I ask," his lordship went on, "whether a certain Mrs.Blair, a lady with her child and its nurse, is staying in the hotel?"
"But certainly, milord. They have been here some days. Salon and suiteNo. 17."
"At any rate, that's well, Falfani," said Lord Blackadder, with a sighof satisfaction. "But what of your friend Tiler? Thick-headed dolt,unable to keep awake, I suppose."
At that moment a shabbily dressed person approached Falfani, touchedhis hat, and offered him a note, saying:
"This must be for you, monsieur. I heard your name--"
"From Tiler, my lord, aha! This explains." And he passed the scrap ofpaper on to his employer.
"I'll be hanged if I see it! He says the parties have gone, and thathe is in close attendance; yet this fellow here," pointing to theclerk, "assures us she is in this very house. I don't understand it,by Gad!"
"There is some fresh trick, my lord, you may be sure. The devilhimself isn't half so clever as this fine lady. But we'll get at thebottom of it. We shall hear more from Tiler, and we've got the ladyhere, u
nder our hand."
"Ah! but have we? This chap's as likely as not to be mistaken. How doyou know, sir," to the clerk, "that Mrs. Blair is still in the hotel?When did you come on duty? What if she left without your knowing it?"
"It could not be, milord. See, it is marked in the register. No. 17 isoccupied. I could not let it. Mrs. Blair holds it still."
"But she may not be in it, all the same. Can't you see? She may retainit, but not use it."
"Look, my lord, look, there's one of her party, anyway," interposedFalfani, and he called his attention to a female figure standing alittle aloof in the shadow of the staircase, and which I had alreadyrecognized.
It was Philpotts, "Mrs. Blair's" maid, and she was trying to attractmy attention. Lord Blackadder had not seen her, and now his eye, forthe first time, fell upon me. He turned on me furiously.
"You! You! Still at my heels? This is perfectly monstrous. It amountsto persecution. You still dare to intrude yourself. Can I have noprivacy? Take yourself off, or I will not answer for theconsequences."
I confess I only laughed and still held my ground, although my lord'soutcry had attracted much attention. Several people ran up, and theymight have sided against me, when I heard a voice whisper into my ear:
"Come, sir, come. Slip away. My lady is dying to see you. She isterribly upset."