CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE CURTAIN RISES ON THE MIMIC STAGE.
Always, in life, little events pave the way for great catastrophes.The mine burns slowly until the explosive point is reached, and then--
Fate was taking a leisurely gait, seemingly, and moving affairs atOakley with a deliberation that was almost hesitating. Nevertheless,things were moving, and in the wake of little events, great onescould already be discerned by the plotters and counter-plotters, whowaited and watched.
Celine Leroque was in better spirits than usual, in these days.Indeed, considering how exceedingly probable it seemed that she wouldbe turned adrift at any hour by her present mistress, Celine was verycheerful.
And Miss Arthur had cause to complain. Beyond a doubt her French maidwas becoming careless, very careless. Sometimes Miss Arthur wasinclined to think that her scant locks of well-dyed hair were pulledquite unnecessarily, while her head was under Celine's hands. But thisshe endured like a Spartan, only exclaiming when the torture becameunbearable. And when she finally ventured a protest, disastrous wasthe outcome.
With many an apology, Celine fingered the curls and braids, inquiringwith every touch of the hand or adjustment of a hair-pin: "Does thathurt, mademoiselle?"
Being assured, when the hair-dressing was done, that she hadaccomplished the task without inflicting so much as a single twinge ofpain, she held open the door for her mistress, cooing her satisfactionand beaming with delight.
But alas for the poor spinster! Before she had been half an hour inthe society of her beloved _fiance_, her unfortunate habit of tossingand wriggling her head brought Celine's gingerly architecture togrief. A sudden twist tumbled down full half of the glossy "crown ofglory" from Miss Arthur's head to Mr. Percy's feet, and--we draw aveil over the confusion of the unhappy spinster.
The lady having retired to her dressing-room to relieve her feelingsand repair damages, a scene was enacted in which the lady did thehistrionics and the maid apologized and giggled alternately, until theone had exhausted her anthem of wrath and the other her accompanimentof penitence and giggles.
Then a truce was patched up, which lasted for several days.
Celine had advanced to the verge of disrespect, when speaking of Mr.Percy, on more than one occasion. Several times she had said that he"had a familiar look," and she fancied she had seen him somewhere. Butshe had always checked herself on the very border-land ofimpertinence, and never had been able to tell if she really had beforeseen the gentleman or no.
But she had put the spinster on the defensive, and had also excitedher curiosity.
During this time Mrs. John Arthur was slowly dropping into her _role_of invalid. First, she gave up her habitual walks about the groundsand on the terrace. Then, her drives became too fatiguing. Next, shefound herself too languid to appear at breakfast, and that meal wasserved in her room. She was not ill, she protested; only a trifleindisposed. Let no one be at all concerned for her; she should be aswell as usual in a few days. And Celine, who was very sympathetic, andwas the first to suggest that a physician be consulted, was laughinglyassured that if madame were sick, she, Celine, should be her headnurse.
Mrs. Arthur had been absent from the family breakfast table for twodays, when Miss Arthur met with a fresh grievance at the hands ofCeline.
Celine had been unusually garrulous, and had been regaling hermistress with descriptions of the great people, and the magnificenttoilets she had seen, while with some of her former _miladis_.Suddenly she dropped the subject of a grand ball which had transpiredin Baltimore, where her mistress was the guest of the honorablesomebody, to exclaim:
"It has just come to me, mademoiselle, where I must have seen MonsieurPercy. It was in Baltimore, and they said--" Here she became muchconfused, and pretended to be fully occupied with the folds of hermistress's dress.
Miss Arthur looked down upon her sharply, and asked, "What did theysay?"
Celine stammered: "Oh, it was only gossip, mademoiselle; nothing worthrepeating, I assure you."
The curiosity and jealousy of the spinster were fully aroused. "Don'tattempt any subterfuges, Celine," she said, in her loftiest tone. "Idesire to know what was said of my--Mr. Percy."
The girl arose to her feet, and with much apparent reluctance,replied:
"They said, mademoiselle--of course, it was only gossip--that he wasvery much of a fortune-hunter, and that he was engaged to some womanmuch older than himself, who was immensely rich."
Miss Arthur sat down and looked hard at her maid. "How do you knowthat Mr. Percy is that man?"
"Oh! I don't know, my lady--mademoiselle. I only said that I thought Ihave seen him in Baltimore; the Mr. Percy they used to talk of there,must have been another."
Miss Arthur looked like an ancient Sphinx. "Do you think that Mr.Percy is that man?" she asked.
"_Merci!_ my lady, how can I tell that? It might have been he; and theold woman there might have disappointed him, you know," artlessly.
Miss Arthur was literally speechless with rage. Without replying, sherose and swept into the adjoining room, closing the door behind herwith a bang.
Celine smiled comfortably, and went to minister unto Cora, to whom sheconfided her belief that Miss Arthur was dissatisfied with her, andmeant to discharge her. "And only think, madame," she saidplaintively, "it is all because, in an unguarded moment, I comparedher to an old woman. It is so hard to remember, always, that you mustnot tell an old woman she is not young."
And Cora laughed immoderately, for she much enjoyed hersister-in-law's discomfiture.
But Miss Arthur did not dismiss the matter from her mind, when shebanged the door upon Celine. Angry as she had been with that damsel,it was not anger alone that moved her. Jealousy was at work, andsuspicion.
That evening, sitting beside her lover, she said to him, carelessly:"By the way, Edward, were you ever in Baltimore?"
The gentleman stroked his blonde whiskers, and smiled languidly as heanswered: "In Baltimore? Oh, yes; I think there are few cities I havenot visited." And then something in the face of Miss Arthur made himinquire, with a slight acceleration of speech: "But why do you ask?"
Miss Arthur considered for a moment, and replied: "My maid, Celine,thinks that she has seen you there."
She was watching him keenly, and fancied that he looked just a trifleannoyed, even when he smiled lazily at her, saying: "Indeed! And whenis your maid supposed to have seen me there?"
"I don't know when,"--Miss Arthur was beginning to feel injured; "Isuppose you are well known in society there?"
He smiled and still caressed his chin. "So so," he said,indifferently.
"Edward!"--the spinster could not suppress the question that was heavyon her mind--"were you ever engaged to a lady in Baltimore?"
He turned his blue eyes upon her in mild surprise. "Never," he said,nonchalantly.
She looked somewhat relieved, but still anxious, and the man, aftereyeing her for a moment, placing one hand firmly upon her own, said,in a tone that was half caress, half command,
"Ellen, you have been listening to gossip about me. Now, let me hearthe whole story, for I see it has troubled you, and I will not havethat."
She, glad to unburden her mind, told him what Celine had said. PerhapsCeline had counted upon this, and was making, of the unconscious Mr.Percy, a tool that should serve her in just the way that he did. Atall events, while he listened to the spinster, he assured himself thatif the French maid were not, for some reason, an enemy, she wascertainly a meddler, and that she must quit Miss Arthur's service.
He said nothing to this end that evening. But he fully satisfied MissArthur that he was not the person referred to by the girl. And toguard against further inquiries or accidents, he told her of severalmen of the name of Percy, who were much in society, and might be, anyone of them, the man in question.
And his _fiance_ was calmed and happy once more.
She was as clay in the potter's hands, and Mr. Percy found it an easymatter to convince her,
a few days later, that her invaluable maid wasnot the proper person to have about her. Accordingly, one finemorning, Celine was informed, in the spinster's loftiest manner, thather services were no longer desired, and a month's wages were tenderedher, with the assurance that Miss Arthur "had not been blind to hersly ways, and trickery, and that she had only retained her until shecould suit herself better."
Celine took her _conge_ in demure silence, and sought Mrs. Arthurforthwith. Cora was really glad that she could at last command thegirl, for many reasons, and they quickly came to an understanding.
Great was the surprise and inward wrath of the spinster when, withinten minutes from the time Celine had left her presence, a maid withouta mistress, she appeared again before her, and laying upon thedressing case the month's wages she had received in lieu of a warning,said:
"Mademoiselle will receive back the month's wages, as I have not beenin the least a loser by her dismissal. I enter the service of madameimmediately."
And then Celine had smiled blandly, bowed, and taken her departure,leaving the spinster to wonder how on earth she should manage herhair-dressing, and to wish that Edward had not insisted upon settingthe girl adrift until a substitute had been found.
The fact that the girl was retained in the house annoyed Mr. Percy nota little. But it did not surprise him that Cora should wish to keepher. He had long before made the discovery that the sisters-in-lawwere not more fond of each other than was essential to the comfort ofboth.
Celine had been but two days in the service of her new mistress whenthat lady found herself too ill to be dressed for breakfast, even inher own room, and she kept her bed all day.
John Arthur, in some alarm, had declared his intention of calling aphysician. But Cora objected so strongly that he had refrained. Beforeevening came, however, Celine sought him, as he was sitting in what hechose to call his "study," and said:
"Pardon my intrusion, monsieur, but I am distressed about madame. Thisafternoon she is not so well, and surely she should have somemedicine."
The old man wrinkled his brows in perplexity, as he replied: "Yes,yes, girl; but she won't let me call a doctor."
Celine sighed, and moving a step nearer, murmured: "Monsieur, I willventure to repeat what madame but now said to me, if I may."
He signed her to proceed.
"Madame said that a stranger would only make her worse; that she woulddistrust anyone she did not know; but that if her dear old physician,who had attended her always in sickness, could see her, she would beglad. Alas! he was in New York, and she did not like to ask that hemight be sent for. It would seem to you childish."
Of course this speech had been made at Cora's instigation, but it hadthe desired effect. John Arthur bounded up, and bade Celine precedehim to his wife's chamber; and the result of his visit was what theinvalid had intended it to be. She was so pretty, and so pathetic, andso very ill! Celine declared that she was growing more fevered everymoment, and as for her pulse, it was like a trip-hammer.
John Arthur had an unutterable fear of illness, and after trying invain to persuade Cora to see one of the village doctors, whom, hedeclared, were very good ones, he announced his intention to telegraphto the city for the doctor who had been her adviser in earlier days.
And to this Cora reluctantly consented. "It seems foolish," she said,plaintively, "and yet I don't think I _ought_ to refuse to send forDoctor Le Guise. I feel as if I were really about to be very ill, hardas I have tried to fight off the weakness that is coming over me."
"And madame is so flushed, and wanders so in her sleep,"--this, ofcourse, from Celine.
John Arthur arose from the side of the couch with considerablealacrity, saying: "I will telegraph at once. What is the address?"
Cora lay back among her pillows, with closed eyes, and made no signthat she heard. He spoke again, and the eyes unclosed slowly, and shesaid, with slow languor:
"Send to my brother; he will find him." Then closing her eyes, shemurmured, "I want to sleep now."
Celine turned toward him an awe-struck countenance and motioned him tobe silent. He tip-toed from the room, thoroughly frightened andnervous, and sent a message to Lucian Davlin forthwith.
When he was safely away, Cora awoke from her nap, and desired Celineto let in more light. This done, she propped herself up among herpillows, and taking from underneath one of them a novel, bade her maidtell everybody that she was not to be disturbed, while she read andlooked more comfortable than ill.
Towards evening, John Arthur looked in, or rather tried to look in,upon his wife. But Celine assured him that her mistress was sleepingfitfully and seemed much disturbed and agitated at the slightestsound, so his alarm grew and increased.
When the evening train came he hoped almost against reason that itwould bring the now eagerly looked for Dr. Le Guise.
But no one came. Later, however, a telegram from Lucian arrived, whichread as follows:
Doctor can't get off to-night. Will be down by morning train.
D----.
In the morning, Cora was much worse. She did not recognize herhusband, and called Miss Arthur, Lady Mallory, which made a greatimpression upon that spinster.
Celine, who seemed to know just what to do, turned them both out,which did not displease either greatly, as the brother and sister wereequally afraid of contagion, and were nervous in a sick-room.
At length the doctor arrived, and with him Lucian Davlin, the latterlooking very grave and anxious, the former looking very grave andwise.
Celine was summoned to prepare the patient for the coming of thephysician. When this had been done, and the wise man arose to go tohis patient, John Arthur and Lucian would have followed him. But hewaved them back, saying: "Not now, gentlemen, if you please; let meexamine my patient first. That is always safest and wisest."
So the three, Lucian, Arthur, and his sister, sat in solemn silenceawaiting the verdict of the doctor from Europe. At last he came, andthe gravity of his face was something to marvel at. Advancing towardMr. Arthur, the doctor seemed to be looking him through and through ashe asked:
"Will you tell me how lately you have been in your wife's room."
John Arthur answered him with pallid lips. "We were there thismorning, my sister and I."
The doctor turned toward Miss Arthur, looking, if possible, moreserious than ever.
"I am sorry, very sorry," he said. "And I hope you have incurred norisks. But it is my duty to tell you that Mrs. Arthur is attacked witha fever of a most malignant and contagious type, and you havecertainly been exposed."
Mr. Arthur turned the color of chalk and dropped into the nearestchair. Miss Arthur, who could not change her color, shrieked and fellupon the sofa. Lucian groaned after the most approved fashion. Andthe man of medicine continued,
"Above all things, don't agitate yourselves; be calm. I would adviseyou to retire to your own rooms, and remain there for the present. Iwill immediately prepare some powders, which you will take hourly. Wewill begin in time, and hope that you may both escape the contagion."
"I am sorry, very sorry."--page 288.]
Then he turned to Mr. Davlin. "My dear boy, you had better go back tothe city; at least go away from the house. This is no place for you."
But Lucian shook his head, and said that he would not leave while hissister was in danger.
The following morning Dr. Le Guise presented himself at the door ofMiss Arthur's dressing-room. After making many inquiries, such asdoctors are wont to terrify patients with, he pronounced upon thecase: She had thus far escaped contagion. But her system was not overstrong; in fact, was extremely delicate. If there was any place nearat hand, suited to a lady like herself, his advice was to go therewithout delay. She was not rugged enough to risk remaining where shewas.
Before sunset, Miss Arthur was quartered at the Bellair inn. She haddispatched Mr. Percy a note the day before, bidding him delay hisvisit. Now she was under the same roof with him, greatly to herdelight
, and his disgust.
John Arthur had not fared so well at the hands of the learnedphysician. He had swallowed his powders faithfully and hopefully, butthe morning found him languid and dismal, with aching brain andnauseated stomach.
The doctor shook his head, and bade him prepare for a slight attack ofthe fever. It promised to be very slight, but he must keep his room,for a few days at least, and attend to his medicine and his diet.
And so the drama had commenced in earnest.
Madeline Payne, the Detective's Daughter Page 29
