CHAPTER XVI
A MATCH FOR MRS. VENABLES
That was absolutely all that happened at the Uniackes' garden-party.There was no scene, no scandal, no incident whatsoever beyond anapparently mutual recognition between Mrs. Steel and Mr. Justice Gibson.Of this there were not half-a-dozen witnesses, all of whom were givenimmediate reason to suppose that either they or the pair in question hadmade a mistake; for nothing could have surpassed the presence of mindand the kindness of heart with which Sir Baldwin Gibson chatted to thewoman whom he had tried for her life within the year. And his charitycontinued behind her back.
"Odd thing," said Sir Baldwin to his hostess, at the earliestopportunity, "but for the moment I could have sworn that woman was someone else. May I ask who she is exactly?"
"Sure, Sir Baldwin," replied Mrs. Uniacke, "and that's what I thought wewere to hear at last. It's who she is we none of us know. And what doesit matter? She's pretty and nice, and I'm just in love with her; butthen nobody knows any more about her husband, and so we talk."
A few more questions satisfied the judge that he could not possibly havebeen mistaken, and he hesitated a moment, for he was a pious man; butRachel's face, combined with her nerve, had deepended an impressionwhich was now nearly a year old, and the superfluous proximity of anangular and aquiline lady, to whom Sir Baldwin had not been introduced,but who was openly hanging upon his words, drove the good man's lastscruple to the winds.
"Very deceptive, these likenesses," said he, raising his voice for theinterloper's benefit; "in future I shall beware of them. I needn't tellyou, Mrs. Uniacke, that I never before set eyes upon the lady whom Ifear I embarrassed by behaving as though I had."
Rachel was not less fortunate in her companion of the moment which hadso nearly witnessed her undoing. Ox-eyed Hugh Woodgate saw nothinginexplicable in Mrs. Steel's behavior upon her introduction to SirBaldwin Gibson, and anything he did see he attributed to an inconvenientsense of that dignitary's greatness. He did not think the matter worthmentioning to his wife, when the Steels had dropped them at theVicarage gate, after a pleasant but somewhat silent drive. Neither didRachel see fit to speak of it to her husband. There was a certainunworthy satisfaction in her keeping something from him. But again sheunderrated his uncanny powers of observation, and yet again he turnedthe tables upon her by a sudden display of the very knowledge which shewas painfully keeping to herself.
"Of course you recognized the judge?" said Steel, following his wife foronce into her own apartments, where he immediately shut a door behindhim and another in front of Rachel, who stood at bay before the glitterin his eyes.
"Of course," she admitted, with irritating nonchalance.
"And he you?"
"I thought he did at first; afterwards I was not so sure."
"But I am!" exclaimed Steel through his teeth.
Rachel's face was a mixture of surprise and incredulity.
"How can you know?" she asked coldly. "You were at least a hundred yardsaway at the time, for I saw you with Morna Woodgate."
"And do you think my sight is not good for a hundred yards," retortedSteel, "when you are at the end of them? I saw the whole thing--hisconfusion and yours--but then I did not know who he was. He must havebeen in the house when we arrived; otherwise I should have taken goodcare that you never met. I saw enough, however, to bring me up in timeto see and hear more. I heard the way he was talking to you then; thatwas his damned good-nature, and he has us at his mercy all the same."
Rachel had never seen her husband in such a passion; indeed, she hadnever before known him in a state of mind to justify the use of such aword. He was paler than his wont, his eyes brighter, his lips morebloodless. Rachel experienced a strange sense of advantage, at onceunprecedented and unforeseen, and with it an irresistible temptation tothe sort of revenge which she knew to be petty at the time. But he hadmade her suffer; for once it was her turn. He could be cold as ice whenshe was not, could deny her his confidence when she all but fell uponher knees before him; he should learn what it was to be treated as hehad treated her.
"I'm well aware of it," said Rachel, with a harsh, dry laugh, "though inpoint of fact I don't for a moment believe that he'll give me away. Butreally I don't think it matters if he does."
Steel stared; it was wonderful to her to see his face.
"It doesn't matter?" he repeated in angry astonishment.
"Not to me," rejoined Rachel, bitterly. "You tell me nothing. What canmatter to me? When you can tell me why you felt compelled to marryme--when you have the courage to tell me that--other things may begin tomatter again!"
Steel stared harder than before; he did not flinch, but his eyes seemedto hedge together as he stared, and the glittering light in them toconcentrate in one baleful gleam. Yet it was not a cruel look; it wasthe look of a man who has sealed his lips upon one point for ever, andwho views any questioning on that point as an attempt upon his treasury.There was more of self-defence than of actual hostility in thecompressed lips, the bloodless face, the glaring eyes. Then, with ashrug, the look, the resentment, and the passion were shaken off, andSteel stepped briskly to the inner door, which he had shut in Rachel'spath. Opening it, he bowed her through with a ceremony conspicuous evenin their ceremonious relations.
But Rachel nursed her contrariety, even to the extent of a perversesatisfaction at her encounter with the judge, and a fierce enjoyment ofits still possible consequences. The mood was neither logical norgenerous, and yet it was human enough in the actual circumstances of thecase. At last she had made him feel! It had taken her the better part ofa year, but here at last was something that he really felt. And it hadto do with her; it was impending disaster to herself which had broughtabout this change in her husband; she knew him too well not to acquithim of purely selfish solicitude for his own good name and comfortablestatus in a society for which he had no real regard. There was never aman less dependent upon the good opinion of other men. In absoluteindependence of character, as in sheer strength of personality, Steelstood by himself in the estimation of his wife. But he had deceived herunnecessarily for weeks and months. He had lied to her. He had refusedher his whole confidence when she begged him for it, and when he knewhow he could trust her. There was some deep mystery underlying theirmarriage, he could not deny it, yet he would not tell her what it was.
He had made her suffer needless pain; it was his turn. And yet, with allher resentment against him, and all her grim savoring of the scandalwhich he seemed to fear so much, there ran a golden thread ofunacknowledged contentment in the conviction that those fears were allfor her.
Outwardly she was callous to the last degree, reckless as on the day shemade this marriage, and as light-hearted as it was possible to appear;but the excitement of the coming dinner-party was no small help toRachel in the maintenance of this attitude. It was to be a very largedinner-party, and Rachel's first in her own house; in any case she musthave been upon her mettle. Two dozen had accepted. The Upthorpe partywas coming in force; if anybody knew anything, it would be Mrs.Venables. What would she do or say? Mrs. Venables was capable of doingor of saying anything. And what might not happen before the day was out?
It was a stimulating situation for one so curiously compact of courageand of nerves as the present mistress of Normanthorpe House; and foronce she really was mistress, inspecting the silver with her own eyes,arranging the flowers with her own hands, and, what was more difficult,the order in which the people were to sit. She was thus engaged, in herown sanctum, when Mrs. Venables did the one thing which Rachel had notdreamt of her doing.
She called at three in the afternoon, and sent her name upstairs.
Rachel's heart made itself felt; but she was not afraid. Something wascoming earlier than she had thought; she was chiefly curious to knowwhat. Her first impulse was to have Mrs. Venables brought upstairs, andto invoke her aid in the arrangement of the table before that lady couldopen fire. Rachel disliked the great cold drawing-room, and felt thatshe must be at a disadvantage in
any interview there. On the other hand,if this was a hostile visit, the visitor could not be treated with toomuch consideration. And so the servant was dismissed with word that hermistress would not be a moment; nor was Rachel very many. She glanced ina glass, but that was all; she might have been tidier, but not easilymore animated, confident, and alert. She had reached the landing whenshe returned and collected all the cards which she had been trying toarrange; they made quite a pack; and Rachel laughed as she took themdownstairs with her.
Mrs. Venables sat in solitary stiffness on the highest chair she hadbeen able to find; neither Sybil nor Vera was in attendance; a tablefulof light literature was at her elbow, but Mrs. Venables sat with foldedhands.
"This is too good of you!" cried Rachel, greeting her in a mannerredeemed from hypocrisy by a touch of irresistible irony. "You know myinexperience, and you have come to tell me things, have you not? Youcould not have come at a better time. How _do_ you fit in twenty-sixpeople at one table? I wanted to have two at each end, and it can't bedone!"
Mrs. Venables suppressed a smile suggestive of some unconscious humor inthese remarks, but sat more upright than ever in her chair, with a hardlight in the bright brown eyes that stared serenely into Rachel's own.
"I cannot say I came to offer you my assistance, Mrs. Steel. I only takeliberties with very intimate friends."
"Then I wonder what can have brought you!"
And Rachel returned both the smile and the stare with irritatingself-control.
"I will tell you," said Mrs. Venables, weightily. "There is a certainthing being said of you, Mrs. Steel; and I wish to know from your ownlips whether there is any truth in it or none."
Rachel held up her hands as quick as thought.
"My dear Mrs. Venables, you can't mean that you are bringing me a pieceof unpleasant gossip on the very afternoon of my first dinner-party?"
"It remains with you," said Mrs. Venables, changing color at this hit,"to say whether it is mere gossip or not. You must know, Mrs. Steel,though we were all quite charmed with your husband from the moment hecame among us, we none of us had the least idea where he came from norhave we yet."
"You are speaking for the neighborhood?" inquired Rachel, sweetly.
"I am," said Mrs. Venables.
"Town _and_ county," murmured Rachel. "And you mean that nobody in thedistrict knew anything at all about my husband?"
"Not a thing," said Mrs. Venables.
"And yet you called on him; and yet you took pity on him, poor lonelybachelor that he was!"
This shaft also left its momentary mark upon the visitor's complexion."The same applies to you," she went on the more severely. "We had noidea who you were, either!"
"And now?" said Rachel, still mistress of the situation, for she knew sowell what was coming.
"And now we hear, and I wish to know whether it is true or not. Wereyou, or were you not, the Mrs. Minchin who was tried last winter for herhusband's murder?"
Rachel looked steadily into the hard brown eyes, until a certainhardness came into her own.
"I don't quite know what right you think you have to ask me such aquestion, Mrs. Venables. Is it the usual thing to question people whohave made a second marriage--supposing I am one--about their first? Ifancied myself that it was considered bad form; but then I am still veryignorant of the manners and customs in this part of the world. Since youask it, however, you shall have your answer." And Rachel's voice rangout through the room, as she rose majestically from the chair which shehad drawn opposite that of the visitor. "Yes, Mrs. Venables, I am thatunhappy woman. And what then?"
"No wonder you were silent about yourself," said Mrs. Venables, in avindictive murmur. "No wonder we never even heard--"
"And what then?" repeated Rachel, with a quiet and compelling scorn."Does it put one outside the local pale to keep to oneself any painfulincident in one's own career? Is an accusation down here the same thingas a conviction? Is there nothing to choose between 'guilty' and 'notguilty'?"
"You must be aware," proceeded Mrs. Venables, without taking any noticeof these questions--"indeed, you cannot fail to be perfectly wellaware--that a large proportion of the public was dissatisfied with theverdict in your case."
"Your husband, for one!" Rachel agreed, with a scornful laugh. "He wouldhave come to see me hanged; he told me so at his own table."
"You never would have been at his table," retorted Mrs. Venables, withsome effect, "if he or I had dreamt who you were; but now that we know,you may be quite sure that none of us will sit at yours."
And Mrs. Venables rose up in all her might and spite, her brown eyesflashing, her handsome head thrown back.
"Are you still speaking for the district?" inquired Rachel, conquering arecreant lip to put the question, and putting it with her finest scorn.
"I am speaking for Mr. Venables, my daughters, and myself," rejoined thelady with great dignity; "others will speak for themselves; and you willsoon learn in what light you are regarded by ordinary people. It is amerciful chance that we have found you out--a merciful chance! That youshould dare--you, about whom there are not two opinions among sensiblepeople--that you should dare to come among us as you have done and tospeak to me as you have spoken! But one thing is certain--it is for thelast time."
With that Mrs. Venables sailed to the door by which she was to make hertriumphant exit, but she stopped before reaching it. Steel stood beforeher on the threshold, and as he stood he closed the door behind him, andas he closed it he turned and took out the key. There was the other doorthat led through the conservatory into the garden. Without a word hecrossed the room, shut that door also, locked it, and put the two keysin his pocket. Then at last he turned to the imprisoned lady.
"You are quite right, Mrs. Venables. It is the last conversation we arelikely to have together. The greater the pity to cut it short!"
"Will you have the goodness to let me go?" the visitor demanded, whiteand trembling, but not yet unimpressive in her tremendous indignation.
"With the greatest alacrity," replied Steel, "when you have apologizedto my wife."
Rachel stood by without a word.
"For what?" cried Mrs. Venables. "For telling her what the whole worldthinks of her? Never; and you will unlock that door this instant, unlessyou wish my husband to--to--horsewhip you within an inch of your life!"
Steel merely smiled; he could well afford to do so, lithe and supple ashe still was, with flabby Mr. Venables in his mind's eye.
"I might have known what to expect in this house," continued Mrs.Venables, in a voice hoarse with suppressed passion, "what unmanly andungentlemanly behavior, what cowardly insults! I might have known!"
And she glanced from the windows to the bells.
"It is no use ringing," said Steel, with a shake of his snowy head, "ordoing anything else of the sort. I am the only person on the premiseswho can let you out; your footman could not get in if he tried; but ifyou like I shall shout to him to try. As for insults, you have insultedmy wife most cruelly and gratuitously, for I happen to have heard morethan you evidently imagine. In fact, 'insult' is hardly the word forwhat even I have heard you say; let me warn you, madam, that you havesailed pretty close to the wind already in the way of indictableslander. You seem to forget that my wife was tried and acquitted bytwelve of her fellow-countrymen. You will at least apologize for thatforgetfulness before you leave this room."
"Never!"
Steel looked at his watch and sat down. "I begin to fear you are nojudge of character, Mrs. Venables; otherwise you would have seen erethis which of us will have to give in sooner or later. I can only tellyou which of us never will!"
And Rachel still stood by without a word.
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