第57章

"Did the lodge-keeper's wife speak to the person when she saw her?""No, sir: she didn't get the chance, as I understand it.She is a stout woman, if you remember.The other was too quick for her-- discovered her, sir, and (as the saying is) gave her the slip.""In what part of the grounds did this happen?"The servant pointed in the direction of the side hall."In that part, sir.Either in the Dutch garden or the shrubbery.I am not sure which."It was plain, by this time, that the man's information was too imperfect to be practically of any use.Julian asked if the lodge-keeper's wife was in the house.

"No, sir.Her husband has gone out to search the grounds in her place, and she is minding the gate.They sent their boy with the message.From what I can make out from the lad, they would be thankful if they could get a word more of advice from you, sir."Julian reflected for a moment.

So far as he could estimate them, the probabilities were that the stranger from Mannheim had already made her way into the house; that she had been listening in the billiard-room; that she had found time enough to escape him on his approaching to open the door; and that she was now (in the servant's phrase) "somewhere in the grounds," after eluding the pursuit of the lodgekeeper's wife.

The matter was serious.Any mistake in dealing with it might lead to very painful results.

If Julian had correctly anticipated the nature of the confession which Mercy had been on the point of addressing to him, the person whom he had been the means of introducing into the house was--what she had vainly asserted herself to be--no other than the true Grace Roseberry.

Taking this for granted, it was of the utmost importance that he should speak to Grace privately, before she committed herself to any rashly renewed assertion of her claims, and before she could gain access to Lady Janet's adopted daughter.The landlady at her lodgings had already warned him that the object which she held steadily in view was to find her way to "Miss Roseberry" when Lady Janet was not present to take her part, and when no gentleman were at hand to protect her."Only let me meet her face to face" (she had said), "and I will make her confess herself the impostor that she is!" As matters now stood, it was impossible to estimate too seriously the mischief which might ensue from such a meeting as this.Everything now depended on Julian's skillful management of an exasperated woman; and nobody, at that moment, knew where the woman was.

In this position of affairs, as Julian understood it, there seemed to be no other alternative than to make his inquiries instantly at the lodge and then to direct the search in person.

He looked toward Mercy's chair as he arrived at this resolution.It was at a cruel sacrifice of his own anxieties and his own wishes that he deferred continuing the conversation with her from the critical point at which Lady Janet's appearance had interrupted it.

Mercy had risen while he had been questioning the servant.The attention which she had failed to accord to what had passed between his aunt and himself she had given to the imperfect statement which he had extracted from the man.Her face plainly showed that she had listened as eagerly as Lady Janet had listened; with this remarkable difference between there, that Lady Janet looked frightened, and that Lady Janet's companion showed no signs of alarm.She appeared to be interested; perhaps anxious--nothing more.

Julian spoke a parting word to his aunt.

"Pray compose yourself," he said "I have little doubt, when I can learn the particulars, that we shall easily find this person in the grounds.There is no reason to be uneasy.I am going to superintend the search myself.I will return to you as soon as possible."Lady Janet listened absently.There was a certain expression in her eyes which suggested to Julian that her mind was busy with some project of its own.He stopped as he passed Mercy, on his way out by the billiard-room door.It cost him a hard effort to control the contending emotions which the mere act of looking at her now awakened in him.His heart beat fast, his voice sank low, as he spoke to her.

"You shall see me again," he said."I never was more in earnest in promising you my truest help and sympathy than I am now."She understood him.Her bosom heaved painfully; her eyes fell to the ground--she made no reply.The tears rose in Julian's eyes as he looked at her.He hurriedly left the room.

When he turned to close the billiard-room door, he heard Lady Janet say, "I will be with you again in a moment, Grace; don't go away."Interpreting these words as meaning that his aunt had some business of her own to attend to in the library, he shut the door.He had just advanced into the smoking-room beyond, when he thought he heard the door open again.He turned round.Lady Janet had followed him.

"Do you wish to speak to me?" he asked.

"I want something of you," Lady Janet answered, "before you go.""What is it?"

"Your card."

"My card?"

"You have just told me not to be uneasy," said the old lady."I am uneasy, for all that.I don't feel as sure as you do that this woman really is in the grounds.She may be lurking somewhere in the house, and she may appear when your back in turned.Remember what you told me."Julian understood the allusion.He made no reply.