Tales and Sketches.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1032, 11 December 1891, Page 9

Tales and Sketches.

[NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.] Beatrice and Benedick. A ROMANCE OF THE CRIMEA. BY HAWLEY SMART. Author of ‘ Breezie Langton,’ *At Fault,’ •* Tie and Trick,’ ‘ Long Odds,’ * Without Love or Licence,’ &c«, &c. .[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] CHAPTER XXVII. ‘ What Shall I Do V Selfishness, the philosophers tell us, is at the bottom of all our actions; that even those few good deeds upon which we look back with pleasurable pride and satisfaction have been prompted chiefly by the desire of gratifying our vanity or dazzling our neighbours. lam no upholder of this cynical creed myself, though nobody can deny that the sin of ostentatious benevolence is rife in the land. Still, I am sadly afraid that Tom Byng’s strenuous exertions on behalf of his frind were not altogether disinterested. He might not be conscious of it himself, but lurking somewhere in the recesses of his mind must have been the thought that if his most intimate friend should marry the most intimate friend of Miss Smerdon, he and Frances would shortly come together was Dretty well as certain as that two and two make four. He certainly had worked hard to bring that marriage about, and that he should be awaiting news from Manchester with considerable impatience was only natural. He knew that Hugh’s letter had been dispatched and forwarded, and yet the days slipped by without his getting a line from him.

But if Byng was anxious as to what Miss Lynden’s reply might be it was nothing to the impatience which possessed Hugh. Not a day passed but what he visited the Tarrant s cottage only to receive a negative shake of the head from Polly in reply to the enquiry if there was ‘anything for him.’ He had bestowed largesse on Dick with so liberal a hand that that worthy pronounced him * quite the gentleman.' He would have rewarded Polly in similar fashion, but she obstinately refused to touch his money, saying that whether she had acted rightly or wrongly it should never be said that she had ‘ done it for money.’ He tormented her a good deal as to whether she was sure she had made no mistake about the address, and to quiet him Polly was forced to explain that though she knew an address to which a letter directed would eventually reach Miss Lynden, she could not tell where it would be forwarded, and that for all she knew it might have to go abroad. Hugh, too, was very anxious to learn some particulars of Dr. Lynden’s death, but about that Polly could tell him nothiug. She had his daughter’s own word for it that he was dead, and that was all she knew. A week had elapsed, and still Polly only shook her head. What to do or what to think Hugh did not know. He did not like to leave Manchester until he had received his reply, and as to where Miss Lynden actually was it was quite evident the secret was still her own, and that Mrs Tarrant could not have betrayed her if she would. He walked up as usual one morning, and noticed carelessly that the window, contrarv to custom, was closed. The door opened before he could knock, and Polly, arrayed in her bonnet and shawl, stepped eagerly into the passage. ‘ Go in,’ she whispered, ‘ I shan t be back for an hour at least. Good luck to you, sir,’ and with these words Mrs Tarrant vanished. Hugh paused for a moment. His chance has come at last, he was there to plead his cause, and to win it, he earnestly hoped, but for all that he was conscious that he was going into court with hands not quite clear?. He pushed open the door, and Nellie Lynden, in her sombre draperies, stood before him. ‘ Hindi,’ she said, in tones that she vainly endeavoured to render steady, < I have come to hear from your own lips the truth. I have travelled from France to hear you give the denial to this story I have heard about you with your own mouth. You could not stoop to lie to a woman still standing in the shadow of her father’s grave.’

‘My dearest Nellie,’ he cried, advancing as if to embrace her. ‘ Stop, Hugh,’ she said, sadly. ‘ I must have a full explanation from you before I decide whether we meet now for the last time or not. Three times have I thought that I should never see you more, and the last time was immeasurably the most’ painful of the three. I had wept for you and mourned for you as dead, when the terrible news came home that you were missing after the Stlx of September, that no tidings could be gained of you, but—stop, don’t interrupt me,’ she exclaimed, as Hugh once more attempted to take her hand ; ‘ the saddest parting of all was the last, when I was told you were false to every vow that you bad made me, and that the man for whom I had prayed for the last year, and who had cost me so many tears, had forgotten me, and was on his w,ay home wedded to another woman.’

‘lt was all false, false as can be,’ cried Hugh, conscience-stricken at the torture to which he had subjected his betrothed. ‘ Who put this abominable rumour about I don’t know, but if ever I do, and it's a man, he will render strict account to me for the lie he has uttered. How it reached your ears I don’t know, but the first I heard of the calumny was from Mrs Montague.’ A slight smile pasred over Miss Lynden’s face at the recollection of that lady’s epistle.’ , «My father’s information about things in the Crimea was both extraordinary and accurate. Was there not a Mademoiselle Ivanhoff?’ , ‘ Yes,’ Hugh, ‘ and that is the lady with yrhom my name has been so falsely But I am neither married to her nor have I ever been engaged to her. I was and am pledged to you, Nellie, and anxious as ever to claim my bride as soon ’ —and he paused, and glanced dress, ‘ as I can obtain leave to.’

‘ And are you sure that you have no feeling for Mademoiselle Ivanhoff? She nursed you through your lorg illness, did she not]’ and as she put the question Miss Lynden watched her lover’s face keenly. ‘ Yes, Sister Marie’s nursing no doubt had a good deal to do with pulling me through. The doctors all said I owned as much to her care as I did to their treatment.’

It’s possible that Miss Lynden had her own misgivings as to how far feelings of gratitude had carried Hugh with his nurse, but, after all the rumours she’ had heard, it was a triumph to find her peccant lo.ver still at her feet. She knew that patients at times do conceive a tendresse for their nurses, and in her delight at finding he was still her very own Hugh she was disposed to ignore such frailties as might have befallen him in -his days of convalescence, but she would hardly have been a woman if she bad omitted to ask the one question—‘ls Mademoiselle Ivanhoff pretty V And Hugh would have been the veriest fool if he had replied otherwise than—

‘ No, I don’t think so, but I have heard men call her good looking.’ Ah, Madame Yashta, if you could only have heard that one little speech, how delighted you would have been with the results of your handiwork. But by this time Hugh had not only obtained possession of her hand, but might be said to have taken possession of Miss Lynden generally, for she was clasped in his arms and he was pressing passionate kisses on her unresisting lips. ‘ Do be quiet, Hugh,’ she said, at length, releasing herself from his embrace. ‘ Sit down do, and tell me all that has happened to you since you were taken prisoner.’ ‘ My darling, I haven’t seen you for so long, and I feared X had lost you.’ ‘ Now, do be rational. I am sure if all the other young men that have been to the Crimea are making up for lost time as quickly as you, their sweethearts have nothing to complain of. Now tell me exactly what happened to jou after you were struck down in that dreadful Redan.’ ‘ I have not much recollection of the first part of it,’ replied Hugh. ‘ I have an idea of feeling very ill and only wishing people would let me alone, but when I fit »t came to my senses I was with half a dozen others in one of the country carts, suffering great pain and tortured with the most horrible thirst. I fancy I was off my head a good bit after that, for my memory seems all a chaos from then, until I found myself in bed in the hospital at Batchi Serai, awfully weak and feeling nothing but

a languid curiosity as to where I was and liow I had got there. From that there’s nothing much to tell. I slowly came round as men do after a long illness, and when I was really about again, found myself a prisoner in the capital of the old Tartar Khans. The Russians were all very kind to me, bub life there was pretty much what it is in all country towns, dull and monotonous.' ‘ And this Mademoisello Ivanhoff nursed you ?’ ‘ Yes, _and a very devoted nurse she was to me and many others,’ replied Hugh, judgmabically. ‘ We parted, lam sorry to say, on nob very good terms, and it’s not likely I shall ever see her again. But now, Nellie, it is time you told me of your proceedings. Your father’s death, for instance—how did that happen 1 Was he ill long V * It was hoi'rrible,’ said the girl, with a shudder. *lt was at Boulogne, only a month ago. There was nothing the matter with him. tie went out to smoke a cigar on the pier, as he had done two or three times before. I went to bed, and when I awoke the next morning I was told that he had been found in the water quite dead. The whole case was at once taken possession of by the police, and there was a rigid enquiry to show how he gob into the water. But nothing came of it. There was a heavy bruise on his temple, most likely caused by his striking against one of the piles. It was a darkish night, and my belief is that he accidentally walked over the side of the pier, was stunned by the blow on the head he received when falling, and so was drowned almost without a struggle. There were vessels laying close by and sailors and so on were about all night, but no one heard liis cry for help. .1 only know poor papa perished without a hand being stretched out to save him.’ And a tear or two trickled down Miss Lynden’s cheek, for one who, though nob a sympathetic, had always been an indulgent father to her.’ ‘ I am very sorry for the poor Doctor,’ said Hugh ; ‘it must have been dreadfully sad for you, Nell.’ ‘ Yes,’ replied the girl softly, * for I thought I was left all alone in the world. ’

‘ Ah, but you know that is not so,’ rejoined Hugh, gently pressing her hand. ‘You were mistaken about that. Bub what made you leave Manchester so abruptly, without telling any one where you were going ?’ ‘ I don’t know. Our life has been a puzzle to me from that time up to my father’s death. We left, as you would say, without beat of drum, re mained a day or two in London, and then crossed at once to the Continent, where we wandered up and down with no conceivable motive. Papa briefly explained he had business here and business there, but what his business was he never confided to me. Our wanderings seemed to be perfectly aimless, and after the fall of Sebastopol papa seemed 1o be more restless than ever. As I have already told you, his information about things in the Crimea was Wonderful, and I did think,’ she added, smiling fondly on her lover, ‘marvellously accurate. It was he who told me you were engaged to be married to Mademoiselle Ivanhoff. Perhaps the wish was father to the thought, for he never liked the idea of my marrying you. I don’t know why.’ ‘Ah ! you see, Nell, my people didn’t receive the news of my engagement to you with much cordiality, I dare say the Doctor thought that my father might have written to him more effusively on the subject. Bless bim, he didn’t know that dear old gentleman when things are not going to his liking.’ ‘ Oh, but, Hugh, what does he—what do all your people think of our engagement now V ‘So far,’ rejoined Fleming, ‘ they haven’t had any occasion to think about it. As I didn’t get killled, and contrived to be mentioned in dispatches, they were bound to kill the fatted calf for me during my brief visit, and as I had completely lost you, there was nothing to be said about you.’ ‘ But what will they think of it now, Hugh V * Well, the governor won’t like it; but then as he wouldn’t like my marrying anybody unless she had unlimited shekels, that’s not worth considering. If she had only heaps of money I might marry a Hottentot. Bub then, you see, I’ve got to live with her, not him.’ ‘ But, Hugh, what shall I do? I have no one to advise me. ’

‘Do, darling, marry me quite quietly in two or three months and then, you see, you will always have someone io advise you/ a bit of special pleading

which brought a smile to Miss Lynden’s lips. ‘ Now that’s settled,’ continued Hugh. ‘ How is Miss Smerdon ? What makes her so huffy ? There’s no pleasing her. We’ve done our best to blazon the colours, and paid pretty dearly for the right of carrying Sebastopol on them.’ * I don’t understand you. Why, where did you meet her?’ ‘I haven’t met her,’ rejoined Hugh, ‘but I wrote to her to know where I could find you.’ ‘All, she couldn’t tell you because she didn’t know.’

‘ No, but she needn’t have answered me as if I was almost a stranger, considering the terms we were on before I left England.’ * I think I can explain all that,’ said Miss Lynden, laughing. ‘ Frances is a very warm friend, and I had a most affectionate letter from her the other dav, but she was not going to encourage young men in marrying Russian countesses.’

‘ You haven’t seen her, I suppose, since you left Manchester V ‘No, nor heard from her until the other day, but why do you ask V ‘ Oh, I don’t know,’ said Hugh, carelessly. *We used to think you knew there was something between her and Tom Byng.’ ‘ Yes, but I’m not clear that anything will come or it now. She wrote to him when we all thought he was so badly wounded, you know, and though I never saw his reply I know very well what it must have been. She railed at herself that she should be so immodest as to write to one she knew would flout her.’

‘Yes. Tom kept a very still tongpe on that subject ever since that letter. But, Nell, he has stood by me in my search for you like a brick. He has taken no end of trouble, and it was he, you know, vho really found out your address, after all.’ ‘He has always been a staunch friend to you,’ replied Miss Lynden, ‘ from the day that I first set eyes upon yon, when he was coaching you in your match.’

‘ Dear old Tom, I should never have won it but fer him. If we find they are still in earnest we must manage to put things straight between them,’ and here a discreet rattling of the latch warned them of the return of Mrs Tarrant.

‘You said you wouldn’t be back for an hour,’ said Fleming reproachfully, as Polly entered the room. Mrs Tarrant threw a look of the liveliest satisfaction at the lovers, and replied smilingly as Hugh rose to go: ‘ Indeed, Captain, I have been away much nearer two hours than one.’

Hugh murmured mendaciously something about the difference of clocks, while affecting to consult his own watch, and then prepared to escort Nellie back to the lodging at which she was staying. As he bid Mrs Tarrant good day, she said in a low voice, ‘ You’ve offered me a present, Captain Fleming. You shall give me a new bonnet to wear at the wedding ’ ‘That I will/ replied Hugh, ‘the very smartest you can find in Manchester/ and as the pair walked away together Polly felt that Major Byng did know something about these things after all.

CHAPTER XXVIII ‘ Love Must be Requited.’

Sergeant Evans, when he had once convinced himself that Dr Lynden was decidedly not engaged in the manufacture of base money, looked upon his avocations no longer any business of his. He had little doubt what the Doctor was, in his own mind. But, granted he was a Russian spy, still the Sergeant did not see exactly how he was to interfere in the case. Criminals of all classes he had tracked and hunted down, there was no offenee against the law of which he was not thoroughly cognisant, but he did not see under what head the Doctor’s offence could be classified. It was a crime not mentioned in the statute book, and therefore the Sergeant finally concluded it was no affair of his and that, especially as the culprit had fled, he would trouble himself no more about it. Still, to an enthusiast like the Sergeant, the thing had a great fascination. He positively revelled in the unravelling of the elaborate webs woven by the felonious class, and although lie could not exactly make up his mind that the Doctor belonged to them, and though professionally it would be waste of time to further investigate the matter, still he was curious about the Doctor’s former life and antecedents. He read the account of his death in the

paper, for it had attracted some little attention—for though evidently determined to be accidental, there had been a suspicion of foul play in' the first instance, and this recalled the .affair once more to his recollection.

It so happened that duty connected with the apprehension of a gang of swindlers who had been engaged in what is technically known as ‘the long firm business,’ carried him over to Paris, and on his way back he resolved to have a palaver with his brethren of the French police at Boulogne \v;th regard to Dr. Lynden’s death. ‘ Ah, it was a strange affair, that,, said one of their number. ‘We could! make nothing of it. I don’t believe itwas an accident any more than I do. that he threw himself into the water.. There was no more unlikely man to do< that than the Doctor—besides, he had no reason to do anything of the kind.’ ‘ You knew him then?’ said Sergeant Evans.

‘Ah, no, not personally,’ rejoined the Frenchman, * but 'we knew a good deal more about him this side the water than you did. You would find his dossier in the Rue Jerusalem. He was an adventurer and a very sly old fox, quite of la premiere force. His colleagues have occasionally been laid by the heels, but never himself. Why, he left his own country we never knew, but be has been dabbling in financial and political schemes on the Continent all his life.’ ‘ Was he ever in the employment of the Russian Government?’ asked Evans. ‘ I can’t say. Likely as not. They pay their agents well, that Government, and are clever at choosing them.’ ‘You think he was murdered?’said the Sergeant. ‘Ah, who can say?’ rejoined the Frenchman. ‘ I can fancy there were some who desired his death. He knew too much.’ No further light was ever thrown upon the Doctor’s fate or career. With regard to the latter, it was, perhaps, as well that it should remain shrouded in obscurity. While, as regards the former, the Frenchman’s remark was perhaps as appropriate an epitaph as any. He knew too much.

Great was the exultation of Tom Byng when he tore open a telegram from Hugh, which contained these words, ‘ Victory ali along the line. Dispatches by post. You most honourably mentioned.’ And when Hugh appeared personally a day or two later, Tom voted it as an occasion of high festival, and was speedily lost in anxious consultation with the cook and wine butler. High and late was the revel that night; but ere it finished, Tom was solemnly pledged to act as best man, or, as he more practically put it, had promised to see his chum through. He learnt next morning that Miss Lynden had gone to stay at Twmbarlvm until her marriage, and that Hugh intended to follow her there very shortly, having received already 1 most cordial congratulations as well as an invitation from Mrs Smerdon. ‘And a very different note/ he added, ‘to the last from Miss Smerdon. Somebody, it seems, had told her that confounded stoiy about the Russian Countess. ’ Hugh Fleming and his fiancee had had more than one talk over this Beatrice and Benedick of the Crimean war. They both agreed that the less they interefered the better; but, as Hugh said, ‘ If they don’t get thrown enough together over our wedding to settle their own affairs it must be through sheer perversity.’ ‘ She will rather die than give any sign of affection,’ laughed Nellie, in reply, to which Hugh had rejoined—- ‘ Then it will be for me to drum into Tom’s head that “ Love must be requitted.” 5 Numberless were the discussions that took place between the two friends about Hugh’s future. Where the marriage was to take place was also a topic of considerable debate. The Smerdons, who insisted on standing in the light of parents to Nellie on this occasion, were anxious that it should take place from Twmbarlym, while Frances, as soon as she had definitely ascertained that Major Byng was to act as Hugh’s backer at the ceremony, obstinately declined to op3n her lips upon the subject. Hugh, on the contrary, rather inclined to the wedding taking place in town, lie was anxious' that some of his brother officers and other of his old military friends, who were now on leave, should be present. Though Twmbarlym was a good house, the putting up of ten or a dozen young men would test its resources to the uttermost. Then,

again, both Peter and Polly Tarrant ■would feel hurt if they were not present at the marriage. It was a point difficult to decide. Although quite aware that it was inimical to his own interests, Tom would not venture to express an opinion in favour of Twmbariym. He knew, no one better, the advantages of staying in a good country house under like circumstances. If a man couldn’t manage to unravel the tangled skein of his love under those conditions, his case was indeed

hopeless, and with a tinge of regret he found this momentous question eventually settled 1 in favour of St. George’s, Hanover Square. In reality, I fancy, whatever they might think, the decision by no means lay with either Hugh or Nellie. Milliners and dressmakers are paramount at such times, and issued a mandate that they must have the young lady in town, and that she must remain there, and that if not they could not_be answerable for her ‘things’—a stupendous threat that no woman would venture to stand out against. It had been a queer fancy of Hugh’s, and Nellie had yielded to his wish, that their wedding should take place on the anniversary of the fall of Sebastopol, the day that had so very nearly proved fatal to him, and on a bright September morning a gay party trooped up the steps of the old church, so famous in past days for fashionable marriages. There was a gallant muster of Hugh’s old comrades and other soldier friends, among others Jim Lockwood, who told Hugh that he looked upon this as a very remarkable - solemnity, and he only hoped that he had been perfectly candid with Mrs Fleming that was to be : ‘ Because,’ said the Hussar, ‘ if you fellows marry again in the way you come to life again, it won’t be long before she has to bring her action of bigamy.’ But for all this chaff, Mrs Fleming numbers no handsomer souvenir of her wedding day than the bangle sent by Lockwood.

Besides the group at the steps of the altar there were a few spectators scattered amongst the pews. Mrs Tarrant was there with her husband and brother, taking, we may be sure, the greatest possible interest in the whole affair—so much so indeed that Polly’s eyes wandered in all directions. Nobody in the church was likely to escape her quick eyes. In her heart she thought the church by no means so crowded as it should be for a function of such importance. Suddenly she gave a slight start as she caught sight of two ladies in a prominent place, sitting to her right. Both were richly and fashionably dressed. The one was a dark-eyed, handsome girl, whose face wore a look of contemptous scorn as she looked upon the two principals. Her companion was a woman approaching the autumn of life, but still retaining quite sufficient good looks to make one wish one could only have seen her in her meridian. Polly craned forward to get a good view of this pair, and for a minute or so even the scene before the altar ceased to rivet her attention.

‘ Dick,’ she whispered, * there she is again, the lady with the roses. Don’t you remember the woman you saw coming out of Dr. Lynden’s door at Manchester V * No, is it 3 are you sure V ‘ Quite certain, Dick.’ * Well, it don’t matter much anyway,’ replied Mr Tarrant. * The Doctor’s gone, and whatever his little game was he can’t be run in for it now, that’s certain. ‘ Follow her as soon as she goes out. I want to know where she lives ?’ ‘ What for V ‘Never mind. Do as I tell you. I want to know who she is,’ and Mr Tarrant, having growled a responsive •AH right,’ Polly became absorbed again in the marriage service. ‘ Well, Marie,’ said the elderly lady, as the affair concluded, and friends crowded round the newly-married pair with their eongratulations, * I really should like to know what your particular motive for coming here this morning was. Yes, I know you wished to see how things were done in England, but it was something more than that.’ ‘My dear aunt,’ replied Mademoiselle lvanhoff, ‘ Captain Fleming is an old friend of mine.’

‘Nonsense, child. I don’t believe you ever saw . Yes, now I look in your face, I think yon have met before. Where V. ‘ In the Crimea,’ rejoined Mademoiselle lvanhoff, demurely. ‘ Impossible. I know he was there, and X know you were there, but meet ?’

* Yes, my aunt, we took prisoners at times, you know—l took him.’ * Marie, you’re incorrigible,’ said the elder lady, as she broke into a peal of laughter. ‘ He escaped me,’ said Mademoiselle lvanhoff, ‘and I was curious to see what sort of woman had captured the renegade. Ah, I wonder who the next will be. He was rather nice, my Englishman.’

Mr Tarrant, in compliance with his wife’s desire, followed the ladies homo to a house in Upper Brooke street, and having ascertained the number, turned into the nearest bookseller's and requested leave to look at a Blue Book. A reference to this told him that this was the residence of a Mr Clifford, with which piece of information he went back to his wife. The name told nothing to Polly, and she was none the wiser for having discovered the identity of the lady of the roses, but happening to come across Sergeant Evans some months later in Manchester she told him about it He made no remark, but was probably the only man in England who saw the connection between Dr. Lynden’s flight and the abrupt dismissal of Mr Clifford from a senior clerkship in the Foreign Office. We are not told that Benedick married Beatrice, but when the curtain falls, as the Scotchman said, ‘ Things look vary suspeecious.’ The End.