第45章

The boy was sitting on his bed.He laid down his flageolet and bowed to Stella.His long silky hair flowed to his shoulders.But one betrayal of a deranged mind presented itself in his delicate face--his large soft eyes had the glassy, vacant look which it is impossible to mistake."Do you like music, mademoiselle?" he asked, gently.Stella asked him to play his little vaudeville air again.He proudly complied with the request.His sister seemed to resent the presence of a stranger."The work is at a standstill,"she said--and passed into the front room.Her mother followed her as far as the door, to give her some necessary directions.Stella seized her opportunity.She put the bank-notes into the pocket of the boy's jacket, and whispered to him: "Give them to your mother when I have gone away." Under those circumstances, she felt sure that Madame Marillac would yield to the temptation.She could resist much--but she could not resist her son.

The boy nodded, to show that he understood her.The moment after.

he laid down his flageolet with an expression of surprise.

"You are trembling!" he said."Are you frightened?"She _was_ frightened.The mere sense of touching him had made her shudder.Did she feel a vague presentiment of some evil to come from that momentary association with him?

Madame Marillac, turning away again from her daughter, noticed Stella's agitation."Surely, my poor boy doesn't alarm you?" she said.Before Stella could answer, some one outside knocked at the door.Lady Loring's servant appeared, charged with a carefully-worded message."If you please, miss, a friend is waiting for you below." Any excuse for departure was welcome to Stella at that moment.She promised to call at the house again in a few days.Madame Marillac kissed her on the forehead as she took leave.Her nerves were still shaken by that momentary contact with the boy.Descending the stairs, she trembled so that she was obliged to hold by the servant's arm.She was not naturally timid.What did it mean?

Lady Loring's carriage was waiting at the entrance of the street, with all the children in the neighborhood assembled to admire it.

She impulsively forestalled the servant in opening the carriage door."Come in!" she cried."Oh, Stella, you don't know how you have frightened me! Good heavens, you look frightened yourself!

From what wretches have I rescued you? Take my smelling bottle, and tell me all about it."The fresh air, and the reassuring presence of her old friend, revived Stella.She was able to describe her interview with the General's family, and to answer the inevitable inquiries which the narrative called forth.Lady Loring's last question was the most important of the series: "What are you going to do about Romayne?""I am going to write to him the moment we get home."The answer seemed to alarm Lady Loring."You won't betray me?"she said.

"What do you mean?"

"You won't let Romayne discover that I have told you about the duel?""Certainly not.You shall see my letter before I send it to be forwarded."Tranquilized so far, Lady Loring bethought herself next of Major Hynd."Can we tell him what you have done?" her ladyship asked.

"Of course we can tell him," Stella replied."I shall conceal nothing from Lord Loring, and I shall beg your good husband to write to the Major.He need only say that I have made the necessary inquiries, after being informed of the circumstances by you, and that I have communicated the favorable result to Mr.

Romayne."

"It's easy enough to write the letter, my dear.But it's not so easy to say what Major Hynd may think of you.""Does it matter to me what Major Hynd thinks?"Lady Loring looked at Stella with a malicious smile."Are you equally indifferent," she said, "to what Romayne's opinion of your conduct may be?"Stella's color rose."Try to be serious, Adelaide, when you speak to me of Romayne," she answered, gravely."His good opinion of me is the breath of my life."An hour later, the important letter to Romayne was written.

Stella scrupulously informed him of all that had happened--with two necessary omissions.In the first place, nothing was said of the widow's reference to her son's death, and of the effect produced by it on his younger brother.The boy was simply described as being of weak intellect, and as requiring to be kept under competent control.In the second place, Romayne was left to infer that ordinary motives of benevolence were the only motives, on his part, known to Miss Eyrecourt.

The letter ended in these lines:

"If I have taken an undue liberty in venturing, unasked, to appear as your representative, I can only plead that I meant well.It seemed to me to be hard on these poor people, and not just to you in your absence, to interpose any needless delays in carrying out those kind intentions of yours, which had no doubt been properly considered beforehand.In forming your opinion of my conduct, pray remember that I have been careful not to com promise you in any way.You are only known to Madame Marillac as a compassionate person who offers to help her, and who wishes to give that help anonymously.If, notwithstanding this, you disapprove of what I have done, I must not conceal that it will grieve and humiliate me--I have been so eager to be of use to you, when others appeared to hesitate.I must find my consolation in remembering that I have become acquainted with one of the sweetest and noblest of women, and that I have helped to preserve her afflicted son from dangers in the future which I cannot presume to estimate.You will complete what I have only begun.Be forbearing and kind to me if I have innocently offended in this matter--and I shall gratefully remember the day when I took it on myself to be Mr.Romayne's almoner."Lady Loring read these concluding sentences twice over.

"I think the end of your letter will have its effect on him," she said.

"If it brings me a kind letter in reply," Stella answered, "it will have all the effect I hope for.""If it does anything," Lady Loring rejoined, "it will do more than that.""What more can it do?"

"My dear, it can bring Romayne back to you."Those hopeful words seemed rather to startle Stella than to encourage her.

"Bring him back to me?" she repeated "Oh, Adelaide, I wish Icould think as you do!"

"Send the letter to the post," said Lady Loring, "and we shall see."