The Queen of Hearts

by Wilkie Collins

  CHAPTER IV.

  OUR life at the Hall soon returned to its old, dreary course. The lawyerin London wrote to my mistress to ask her to come and stay for a littlewhile with his wife; but she declined the invitation, being averse tofacing company after what had happened to her. Though she tried hardto keep the real state of her mind concealed from all about her, I,for one, could see plainly enough that she was pining under the bitterinjury that had been inflicted on her. What effect continued solitudemight have had on her spirits I tremble to think.

  Fortunately for herself, it occurred to her, before long, to send andinvite Mr. Meeke to resume his musical practicing with her at the Hall.She told him--and, as it seemed to me, with perfect truth--that anyimplied engagement which he had made with Mr. James Smith was nowcanceled, since the person so named had morally forfeited all his claimsas a husband, first, by his desertion of her, and, secondly, by hiscriminal marriage with another woman. After stating this view ofthe matter, she left it to Mr. Meeke to decide whether the perfectlyinnocent connection between them should be resumed or not. The littleparson, after hesitating and pondering in his helpless way, ended byagreeing with my mistress, and by coming back once more to the Hall withhis fiddle under his arm. This renewal of their old habits might havebeen imprudent enough, as tending to weaken my mistress's case in theeyes of the world, but, for all that, it was the most sensible courseshe could take for her own sake. The harmless company of Mr. Meeke, andthe relief of playing the old tunes again in the old way, saved her,I verily believe, from sinking altogether under the oppression of theshocking situation in which she was now placed.

  So, with the assistance of Mr. Meeke and his fiddle, my mistress gotthough the weary time. The winter passed, the spring came, and no freshtidings reached us of Mr. James Smith. It had been a long, hard winterthat year, and the spring was backward and rainy. The first really fineday we had was the day that fell on the fourteenth of March.

  I am particular in mentioning this date merely because it is fixedforever in my memory. As long as there is life in me I shall rememberthat fourteenth of March, and the smallest circumstances connected withit.

  The day began ill, with what superstitious people would think a badomen. My mistress remained late in her room in the morning, amusingherself by looking over her clothes, and by setting to rights somedrawers in her cabinet which she had not opened for some time past. Justbefore luncheon we were startled by hearing the drawing-room bellrung violently. I ran up to see what was the matter, and the quadroon,Josephine, who had heard the bell in another part of the house, hastenedto answer it also. She got into the drawing-room first, and I followedclose on her heels. My mistress was standing alone on the hearth-rug,with an appearance of great discomposure in her face and manner.

  "I have been robbed!" she said, vehemently, "I don't know when orhow; but I miss a pair of bracelets, three rings, and a quantity ofold-fashioned lace pocket-handkerchiefs."

  "If you have any suspicions, ma'am," said Josephine, in a sharp, suddenway, "say who they point at. My boxes, for one, are quite at yourdisposal."

  "Who asked about your boxes?" said my mistress, angrily. "Be a littleless ready with your answer, if you please, the next time I speak."

  She then turned to me, and began explaining the circumstances underwhich she had discovered her loss. I suggested that the missing thingsshould be well searched for first, and then, if nothing came of that,that I should go for the constable, and place the matter under hisdirection.

  My mistress agreed to this plan, and the search was undertakenimmediately. It lasted till dinner-time, and led to no results. I thenproposed going for the constable. But my mistress said it was too lateto do anything that day, and told me to wait at table as usual, and togo on my errand the first thing the next morning. Mr. Meeke was comingwith some new music in the evening, and I suspect she was not willing tobe disturbed at her favorite occupation by the arrival of the constable.

  When dinner was over the parson came, and the concert went on as usualthrough the evening. At ten o'clock I took up the tray, with the wine,and soda-water, and biscuits. Just as I was opening one of the bottlesof soda-water, there was a sound of wheels on the drive outside, and aring at the bell.

  I had unfastened the wires of the cork, and could not put the bottledown to run at once to the door. One of the female servants answeredit. I heard a sort of half scream--then the sound of a footstep that wasfamiliar to me.

  My mistress turned round from the piano, and looked me hard in the face.

  "William," she said, "do you know that step?" Before I could answer thedoor was pushed open, and Mr. James Smith walked into the room.

  He had his hat on. His long hair flowed down under it over the collarof his coat; his bright black eyes, after resting an instant on mymistress, turned to Mr. Meeke. His heavy eyebrows met together, and oneof his hands went up to one of his bushy black whiskers, and pulled atit angrily.

  "You here again!" he said, advancing a few steps toward the littleparson, who sat trembling all over, with his fiddle hugged up in hisarms as if it had been a child.

  Seeing her villainous husband advance, my mistress moved, too, so as toface him. He turned round on her at the first step she took, as quick aslightning.

  "You shameless woman!" he said. "Can you look me in the face in thepresence of that man?" He pointed, as he spoke, to Mr. Meeke.

  My mistress never shrank when he turned upon her. Not a sign of fear wasin her face when they confronted each other. Not the faintest flush ofanger came into her cheeks when he spoke. The sense of the insult andinjury that he had inflicted on her, and the consciousness of knowinghis guilty secret, gave her all her self-possession at that tryingmoment.

  "I ask you again," he repeated, finding that she did not answer him,"how dare you look me in the face in the presence of that man?"

  She raised her steady eyes to his hat, which he still kept on his head.

  "Who has taught you to come into a room and speak to a lady with yourhat on?" she asked, in quiet, contemptuous tones. "Is that a habit whichis sanctioned by _your new wife?_"

  My eyes were on him as she said those last words. His complexion,naturally dark and swarthy, changed instantly to a livid yellow white;his hand caught at the chair nearest to him, and he dropped into itheavily.

  "I don't understand you," he said, after a moment of silence, lookingabout the room unsteadily while he spoke.

  "You do," said my mistress. "Your tongue lies, but your face speaks thetruth."

  He called back his courage and audacity by a desperate effort, andstarted up from the chair again with an oath.

  The instant before this happened I thought I heard the sound of arustling dress in the passage outside, as if one of the women servantswas stealing up to listen outside the door. I should have gone at onceto see whether this was the case or not, but my master stopped me justafter he had risen from the chair.

  "Get the bed made in the Red Room, and light a fire there directly," hesaid, with his fiercest look and in his roughest tones. "When I ring thebell, bring me a kettle of boiling water and a bottle of brandy. As foryou," he continued, turning toward Mr. Meeke, who still sat pale andspeechless with his fiddle hugged up in his arms, "leave the house, oryou won't find your cloth any protection to you."

  At this insult the blood flew into my mistress's face. Before she couldsay anything, Mr. James Smith raised his voice loud enough to drownhers.

  "I won't hear another word from you," he cried out, brutally. "You havebeen talking like a mad woman, and you look like a mad woman. You areout of your senses. As sure as you live, I'll have you examined by thedoctors to-morrow. Why the devil do you stand there, you scoundrel?"he roared, wheeling round on his heel to me. "Why don't you obey myorders?"

  I looked at my mistress. If she had directed me to knock Mr. James Smithdown, big as he was, I think at that moment I could have done it.

  "Do as he tells you, William," she said, squeezing one of her handsfirmly over her bo
som, as if she was trying to keep down the risingindignation in that way. "This is the last order of his giving that Ishall ask you to obey."

  "Do you threaten me, you mad--"

  He finished the question by a word I shall not repeat.

  "I tell you," she answered, in clear, ringing, resolute tones, "that youhave outraged me past all forgiveness and all endurance, and that youshall never insult me again as you have insulted me to-night."

  After saying those words she fixed one steady look on him, then turnedaway and walked slowly to the door.

  A minute previously Mr. Meeke had summoned courage enough to get up andleave the room quietly. I noticed him walking demurely away, close tothe wall, with his fiddle held under one tail of his long frock-coat,as if he was afraid that the savage passions of Mr. James Smith mightbe wreaked on that unoffending instrument. He got to the door before mymistress. As he softly pulled it open, I saw him start, and the rustlingof the gown caught my ear again from the outside.

  My mistress followed him into the passage, turning, however, in theopposite direction to that taken by the little parson, in order to reachthe staircase that led to her own room. I went out next, leaving Mr.James Smith alone.

  I overtook Mr. Meeke in the hall, and opened the door for him.

  "I beg your pardon, sir," I said, "but did you come upon anybodylistening outside the music-room when you left it just now?"

  "Yes, William," said Mr. Meeke, in a faint voice, "I think it wasJosephine; but I was so dreadfully agitated that I can't be quitecertain about it."

  Had she surprised our secret? That was the question I asked myself as Iwent away to light the fire in the Red Room. Calling to mind the exacttime at which I had first detected the rustling outside the door, I cameto the conclusion that she had only heard the last part of the quarrelbetween my mistress and her rascal of a husband. Those bold wordsabout the "new wife" had been assuredly spoken before I heard Josephinestealing up to the door.

  As soon as the fire was alight and the bed made, I went back to themusic-room to announce that my orders had been obeyed. Mr. James Smithwas walking up and down in a perturbed way, still keeping his hat on. Hefollowed me to the Red Room without saying a word.

  Ten minutes later he rang for the kettle and the bottle of brandy. WhenI took them in I found him unpacking a small carpet-bag, which was theonly luggage he had brought with him. He still kept silence, and didnot appear to take any notice of me. I left him immediately without ourhaving so much as exchanged a single word.

  So far as I could tell, the night passed quietly. The next morning Iheard that my mistress was suffering so severely from a nervous attackthat she was unable to rise from her bed. It was no surprise to me to betold that, knowing as I did what she had gone through the night before.

  About nine o'clock I went with the hot water to the Red Room. Afterknocking twice I tried the door, and, finding it not locked, went inwith the jug in my hand.

  I looked at the bed--I looked all round the room. Not a sign of Mr.James Smith was to be seen anywhere.

  Judging by appearances, the bed had certainly been occupied. Thrownacross the counterpane lay the nightgown he had worn. I took it up andsaw some spots on it. I looked at them a little closer. They were spotsof blood.