Thus, while longing6 with all the energies of my life to see Estelle, to be seen by her there, at a time so liable to misconception if left unexplained, might be death to my dearest hopes, and destruction to the success I had achieved.
"Why were you so agitated7 by the sight of Lady Naseby's carriage?" I asked, with an annoyance8 of tone that I cared not to conceal4.
"Giddiness, perhaps; but was I agitated?"
"Of course you were--nearly fell; would have fallen flat, indeed, but for me."
"I thank you, sir," was the gentle reply; for my asperity9 of manner was either unnoticed or unheeded by her; "but you seemed scarcely less so."
"I, madam!--why the deuce should I have been agitated?"
"Unless I greatly err10, you were, and are so still."
"Indeed!"
"Do you know the ladies?"
"Were there two?" asked I, with increased annoyance.
"The Countess and her daughter."
"I saw but one."
"And--O, pardon my curiosity, dear sir--you know them?"
"Intimately;--and what then?" I asked, with growing irritation11.
"Intimately!" she repeated, with surprise.
"There is nothing very singular in that, I suppose?"
"And, sir, you visit them?"
"I have not as yet, but hope to do soon. We were all together in the same house in North Wales."
"Ah! at Craigaderyn Court?"
"Yes; Sir Madoc Lloyd's. Do you know Sir Madoc?"
"I have not that pleasure."
"Who, then, that you are acquainted with knows him?"
"My husband."
"Your husband!" said I, glancing at the plain hoop12 on the delicate little hand, which she was now gloving nervously13.
"He was there with you; must have been conversing14 with you often. I saw you all at church together one Sunday afternoon, and frequently on the terraces and on the lawn; while!"--she covered her face with her hands--"while I loitered and lurked15 like an outcast!"
"Your husband, madam?" I queried16 again.
"Mr. Hawkesby Guilfoyle."
Whew! Here was a discovery: it quite took my breath away, and I looked with deeper interest on the sweet and pale and patient little face.
I now remembered the letter I had picked up and returned to him; his confusion about it, and the horse he alleged17 to have lost by at a race that had not come off; his irritation, the postal18 marks, and the name of Georgette.
After such a termination to his visit to Craigaderyn, I could fancy that his situation as a guest or visitor at Walcot Park, even after he found the ladies there were ignorant of the nature of Sir Madoc's curt19 note to him, must be far from enviable, for such as he must live in hourly dread20 of insult, slight, or exposure; but how was I now situated21 with regard to her I loved?
Deemed, perhaps, guilty in her eyes, and without a crime; and if aware of the situation, the malevolent22 Guilfoyle would be sure to avail himself of it to the fullest extent.
"Lady Estelle is very lovely, as I could see," said my companion.
"Very; but you saw her--when?"
"In Craigaderyn church, most fully23 and favourably24."
And now I recalled the pale-faced little woman in black, who had been pointed25 out to me by Winifred Lloyd, and who had been found in a swoon among the gravestones by old Farmer Rhuddlan.
In all this there was some mystery, which I felt curious enough to probe, as Guilfoyle had never by word or hint at any time given those among whom he moved reason to believe he was aught else than a bachelor, and a very eligible26 one, too; for if my once rival, as I believed him to be, was not a creditable, he was certainly a plausible27, one; and here lay with me the means of an exposé beyond even that which had taken place at Craigaderyn Court.
"You are his wife, madam, and yet--does he, for purposes of his own, disavow you?" said I, after a pause, not knowing very well how to put my leading question.
"It is so, sir--for infamous28 purposes of his own."
"But you have him in your power; you have all the air of a lady of birth and education--why not come forward and assert your position?"
The woman's soft gray eyes were usually filled by an expression of great and deep sadness; but there were times when, as she spoke29, they flashed with fire, and there were others, when her whole face seemed to glitter with "the white light of passion" as she thought of her wrongs. Restraining her emotion, she replied,
"To assert my claims; that is exactly what I cannot do--now at least."
"Why?"
"Because he has destroyed all the proofs that existed of our unhappy and most miserable30 marriage."
"Destroyed them! how?"
"Very simply, by putting them in the fire before my face."
"But a record--a register--must exist somewhere."
"We were married at sea, and the ship, in the chaplain's books of which the marriage I have no doubt was recorded, perished. Proofs I have none. But tell me, sir, is it true, that--that he is to be married to the daughter of Lady Naseby?"
"To Estelle Cressingham?" I exclaimed, while much of amusement mingled31 with the angry scorn of my manner.
"Yes," she replied, eagerly.
"No, certainly not; what on earth can have put such an idea into your head, my good woman?"
My hauteur32 of tone passed unheeded, as she replied:
"I saw her portrait in the Royal Academy, and heard a gentleman who stood near me say to another, that it was so rumoured33; that he--Mr. Guilfoyle--had come with her from the Continent, and that he was going after her down to North Wales. He had said so at the club."
I almost ground my teeth on hearing this. That his contemptible35 name should have been linked with hers by empty gossips in public places like the Royal Academy and "his club," where none dared think of mine, was intolerable.
"I followed him to Wales," she continued. "I saw nothing at Craigaderyn church, or elsewhere, on her part to justify36 the story; when I met my husband on the lawn at the fête--for I was there, though uninvited--he laughed bitterly at the rumour34, and said she was contracted to Lord Pottersleigh, who, as I might perceive, was ever by her side. He then gave me money, which I flung on the earth; ordered me on peril2 of my life to leave the place, lest he might give notice to the police that I had no right to be there. But though I have long since ceased to love, I cannot help hovering37 near him, and from Wales I followed him here; for I know that now he is at Walcot Park."
"I can assure you, for your ease, that the Lady Estelle is engaged, but to a very different person from old Lord Pottersleigh," said I, twirling the ends of my moustache with undisguised satisfaction, if not with a little superciliousness38; "your husband, however, seems a man of means, Mrs. Guilfoyle."
She gave me a bitter smile, as she replied, "Yes, at times; and drawn39 from various resources. He laughs to scorn now my marriage ring; and yet he wears the diamond one which I gave him in the days when we were engaged lovers, and which had once been my dear father's."
The diamond which she gave him! Here, then, was another, and the most probable version of the history of that remarkable40 brilliant.
"Of what was it that he deprived you by force, before his horse leaped the wall?"
"A locket which I wore at my neck, suspended by a ribbon," said she, as her tears began to fall again.
"He has the family solicitor41 with him at Walcot Park, I understand," said I.
"They are visiting there together. Mr. Sharpus came on business, and my husband accompanied him."
"Why not appeal to this legal man?
"I have done so many times."
"And he--"
"Fears Mr. Guilfoyle and dare not move in the matter, or affects to disbelieve me."
"What power has this--your husband, over him?"
"God alone knows--I do not," she replied, clasping her hands; "but Mr. Sharpus quails42 like a criminal under the eye of Hawkesby Guilfoyle, who seems also to possess some strange power over Lady Naseby, I think."
Could such really be? It seemed impossible; everything appeared to forbid it; and yet I was not insensible to a conviction that the dowager countess was rather pleased with, than influenced by, him. Could he have acted in secret the part of lover to her, and so flattered her weakness by adulation? Old women and old men, too, are at times absurd enough for anything; and now the words of Caradoc, on the night he lost money to Guilfoyle at billiards43, recurred44 to me, when in his blunt way he averred45 they had all some secret understanding, adding, "By Jove! I can't make it out at all." My mind was a kind of chaos46 as I walked onward47 with my new friend, and leading my horse by the bridle48 we entered Whitchurch together. In the dusk I left her at the inn door, promising49 to visit her on the morrow, and consult with her on the means for farther exposing her husband; for although her story--for all I knew to the contrary--might be an entire fabrication, I was not then in a mood of mind to view it as such. As I bade her adieu, a dog-cart, driven by a servant,--whose livery was familiar to me, passed quickly. Two women were in it, one of whom mentioned my name. I looked up and recognised Mademoiselle Babette Pompon, Lady Naseby's soubrette, who had evidently been shopping; and a natural dread that she, out of a love of gossip, or the malevolence50 peculiar51 to her class, might mention having seen me at the inn porch with a fair friend, was now added to the annoyance caused by the episode at the lane end--an episode to which the said parting would seem but an addendum52 or sequel; and I galloped53 home to my quarters in a frame of thought far from enviable, and one which neither brandy nor seltzer at the mess-house could allay54.
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1
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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err
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| vi.犯错误，出差错 | |
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irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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hoop
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| n.（篮球）篮圈，篮 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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17
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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postal
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| adj.邮政的，邮局的 | |
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curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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21
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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malevolent
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| adj.有恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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favourably
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| adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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29
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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30
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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31
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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32
hauteur
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| n.傲慢 | |
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33
rumoured
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| adj.谣传的；传说的；风 | |
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rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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35
contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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36
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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37
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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38
superciliousness
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| n.高傲，傲慢 | |
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39
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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40
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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41
solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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42
quails
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| 鹌鹑( quail的名词复数 )； 鹌鹑肉 | |
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43
billiards
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| n.台球 | |
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44
recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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45
averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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46
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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47
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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48
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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49
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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50
malevolence
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| n.恶意，狠毒 | |
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51
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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52
addendum
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| n.补充，附录 | |
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53
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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54
allay
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| v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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