The weather had changed, and the snow, which had for the last few days been looming4 blackly in the frosty sky, fell in great feathery flakes5 against the windows, and lay piled in the little bit of garden-ground without.
The long, lonely road leading toward Audley seemed untrodden by a footstep, as Robert Audley looked out at the wintry landscape.
"Lively," he said, "for a man used to the fascinations6 of Temple Bar."
As he watched the snow-flakes falling every moment thicker and faster upon the lonely road, he was surprised by seeing a brougham driving slowly up the hill.
"I wonder what unhappy wretch7 has too restless a spirit to stop at home on such a morning as this," he muttered, as he returned to the arm-chair by the fire.
He had only reseated himself a few moments when Phoebe Marks entered the room to announce Lady Audley.
"Lady Audley! Pray beg her to come in," said Robert; and then, as Phoebe left the room to usher8 in this unexpected visitor, he muttered between his teeth—"A false move, my lady, and one I never looked for from you."
Lucy Audley was radiant on this cold and snowy January morning. Other people's noses are rudely assailed9 by the sharp fingers of the grim ice-king, but not my lady's; other people's lips turn pale and blue with the chilling influence of the bitter weather, but my lady's pretty little rosebud10 of a mouth retained its brightest coloring and cheeriest freshness.
She was wrapped in the very sables11 which Robert Audley had brought from Russia, and carried a muff that the young man thought seemed almost as big as herself.
She looked a childish, helpless, babyfied little creature; and Robert looked down upon her with some touch of pity in his eyes, as she came up to the hearth12 by which he was standing13, and warmed her tiny gloved hands at the blaze.
"What a morning, Mr. Audley!" she said, "what a morning!"
"Yes, indeed! Why did you come out in such weather?"
"Because I wished to see you—particularly."
"Indeed!"
"Yes," said my lady, with an air of considerable embarrassment14, playing with the button of her glove, and almost wrenching15 it off in her restlessness—"yes, Mr. Audley, I felt that you had not been well treated; that—that you had, in short, reason to complain; and that an apology was due to you."
"I do not wish for any apology, Lady Audley."
"But you are entitled to one," answered my lady, quietly. "Why, my dear Robert, should we be so ceremonious toward each other? You were very comfortable at Audley; we were very glad to have you there; but, my dear, silly husband must needs take it into his foolish head that it is dangerous for his poor little wife's peace of mind to have a nephew of eight or nine and twenty smoking his cigars in her boudoir, and, behold16! our pleasant little family circle is broken up."
Lucy Audley spoke17 with that peculiar18 childish vivacity19 which seemed so natural to her, Robert looking down almost sadly at her bright, animated20 face.
"Lady Audley," he said, "Heaven forbid that either you or I should ever bring grief or dishonor upon my uncle's generous heart! Better, perhaps, that I should be out of the house—better, perhaps, that I had never entered it!"
My lady had been looking at the fire while her nephew spoke, but at his last words she lifted her head suddenly, and looked him full in the face with a wondering expression—an earnest, questioning gaze, whose full meaning the young barrister understood.
"Oh, pray do not be alarmed, Lady Audley," he said, gravely. "You have no sentimental21 nonsense, no silly infatuation, borrowed from Balzac or Dumas fils, to fear from me. The benchers of the Inner Temple will tell you that Robert Audley is troubled with none of the epidemics22 whose outward signs are turn-down collars and Byronic neckties. I say that I wish I had never entered my uncle's house during the last year; but I say it with a far more solemn meaning than any sentimental one."
"If you insist on talking in enigmas24, Mr. Audley," she said, "you must forgive a poor little woman if she declines to answer them."
Robert made no reply to this speech.
"But tell me," said my lady, with an entire change of tone, "what could have induced you to come up to this dismal25 place?"
"Curiosity."
"Curiosity?"
"Yes; I felt an interest in that bull-necked man, with the dark-red hair and wicked gray eyes. A dangerous man, my lady—a man in whose power I should not like to be."
A sudden change came over Lady Audley's face; the pretty, roseate flush faded out from her cheeks, and left them waxen white, and angry flashes lightened in her blue eyes.
"What have I done to you, Robert Audley," she cried, passionately—"what have I done to you that you should hate me so?"
He answered her very gravely:
"I had a friend, Lady Audley, whom I loved very dearly, and since I have lost him I fear that my feelings toward other people are strangely embittered26."
"You mean the Mr. Talboys who went to Australia?"
"Yes, I mean the Mr. Talboys who I was told set out for Liverpool with the idea of going to Australia."
"And you do not believe in his having sailed for Australia?"
"I do not."
"But why not?"
"Forgive me, Lady Audley, if I decline to answer that question."
"As you please," she said, carelessly.
"A week after my friend disappeared," continued Robert, "I posted an advertisement to the Sydney and Melbourne papers, calling upon him if he was in either city when the advertisement appeared, to write and tell me of his whereabouts, and also calling on any one who had met him, either in the colonies or on the voyage out, to give me any information respecting him. George Talboys left Essex, or disappeared from Essex, on the 6th of September last. I ought to receive some answer to this advertisement by the end of this month. To-day is the 27th; the time draws very near."
"And if you receive no answer?" asked Lady Audley.
"If I receive no answer I shall think that my fears have been not unfounded, and I shall do my best to act."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Ah, Lady Audley, you remind me how very powerless I am in this matter. My friend might have been made away with in this very inn, and I might stay here for a twelvemonth, and go away at the last as ignorant of his fate as if I had never crossed the threshold. What do we know of the mysteries that may hang about the houses we enter? If I were to go to-morrow into that commonplace, plebeian27, eight-roomed house in which Maria Manning and her husband murdered their guest, I should have no awful prescience of that bygone horror. Foul28 deeds have been done under the most hospitable29 roofs; terrible crimes have been committed amid the fairest scenes, and have left no trace upon the spot where they were done. I do not believe in mandrake, or in bloodstains that no time can efface30. I believe rather that we may walk unconsciously in an atmosphere of crime, and breathe none the less freely. I believe that we may look into the smiling face of a murderer, and admire its tranquil31 beauty."
My lady laughed at Robert's earnestness.
"You seem to have quite a taste for discussing these horrible subjects," she said, rather scornfully; "you ought to have been a detective police officer."
"I sometimes think I should have been a good one."
"Why?"
"Because I am patient."
"But to return to Mr. George Talboys, whom we lost sight of in your eloquent32 discussion. What if you receive no answer to your advertisements?"
"Yes, and then—?"
"Indeed! and what are they? Coats, waistcoats, varnished35 boots, and meerschaum pipes, I suppose," said Lady Audley, laughing.
"No; letters—letters from his friends, his old schoolfellows, his father, his brother officers."
"Yes?"
"Letters, too, from his wife."
My lady was silent for some few moments, looking thoughtfully at the fire.
"Have you ever seen any of the letters written by the late Mrs. Talboys?" she asked presently.
"Never. Poor soul! her letters are not likely to throw much light upon my friend's fate. I dare say she wrote the usual womanly scrawl36. There are very few who write so charming and uncommon37 a hand as yours, Lady Audley."
"Ah, you know my hand, of course."
"Yes, I know it very well indeed."
My lady warmed her hands once more, and then taking up the big muff which she had laid aside upon a chair, prepared to take her departure.
"You have refused to accept my apology, Mr. Audley," she said; "but I trust you are not the less assured of my feelings toward you."
"Then good-by, and let me recommend you not to stay long in this miserable39 draughty place, if you do not wish to take rheumatism40 back to Figtree Court."
"I shall return to town to-morrow morning to see after my letters."
"Then once more good-by."
She held out her hand; he took it loosely in his own. It seemed such a feeble little hand that he might have crushed it in his strong grasp, had he chosen to be so pitiless.
He attended her to her carriage, and watched it as it drove off, not toward Audley, but in the direction of Brentwood, which was about six miles from Mount Stanning.
About an hour and a half after this, as Robert stood at the door of the inn, smoking a cigar and watching the snow falling in the whitened fields opposite, he saw the brougham drive back, empty this time, to the door of the inn.
"Have you taken Lady Audley back to the Court?" he said to the coachman, who had stopped to call for a mug of hot spiced ale.
"No, sir; I've just come from the Brentwood station. My lady started for London by the 12.40 train."
"For town?"
"Yes, sir."
"My lady gone to London!" said Robert, as he returned to the little sitting-room41. "Then I'll follow her by the next train; and if I'm not very much mistaken, I know where to find her."
He packed his portmanteau, paid his bill, fastened his dogs together with a couple of leathern collars and a chain, and stepped into the rumbling42 fly kept by the Castle Inn for the convenience of Mount Stanning. He caught an express that left Brentwood at three o'clock, and settled himself comfortably in a corner of an empty first-class carriage, coiled up in a couple of railway rugs, and smoking a cigar in mild defiance43 of the authorities.
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1
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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quack
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| n.庸医；江湖医生；冒充内行的人；骗子 | |
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4
looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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5
flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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6
fascinations
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| n.魅力( fascination的名词复数 )；有魅力的东西；迷恋；陶醉 | |
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7
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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8
usher
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| n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员 | |
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9
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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10
rosebud
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| n.蔷薇花蕾，妙龄少女 | |
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11
sables
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| n.紫貂( sable的名词复数 )；紫貂皮；阴暗的；暗夜 | |
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12
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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13
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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14
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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15
wrenching
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| n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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16
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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18
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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22
epidemics
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| n．流行病 | |
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23
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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24
enigmas
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| n.难于理解的问题、人、物、情况等，奥秘( enigma的名词复数 ) | |
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25
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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26
embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
plebeian
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| adj.粗俗的；平民的；n.平民；庶民 | |
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28
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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29
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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efface
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| v.擦掉，抹去 | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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32
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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33
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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34
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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35
varnished
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| 浸渍过的，涂漆的 | |
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36
scrawl
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| vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写 | |
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37
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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38
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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39
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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40
rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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41
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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42
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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43
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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