THE NOVELIST

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 50, 3 September 1881, Page 599

THE NOVELIST

THE DEMON SPECTACLES: BY "WILKIE COLLINS, Author of " The Moonstone, " The Woman in White," $c.

CHAPTEE V. THE TRUTH IN THE SHRUBBERY. On the next day, the friendly sun shone, the balmy air invited eA-erybody to go out. I made no further use of the Spectacles that morning ; my purpose was to keep them in my pocket until the interviev. in the shrubbery Avas over. Shall I OAvn the motive ? It Avas simply fear — fear of making further discoveries and of losing the masterly self-control on Avhich fche Avhole success of my project depended. We lunched afc one o'clock. Had Zilla and Ceciha come to a private understanding on the .subject of the interview in the shrubbery ? By way of ascertaining this, I asked Cecilia if she would like to go out riding in the afternoon. She declined the j>ro_)osal — she Avanted to finish a sketch. I was sufficiently ansAvered. ' Cecilia complains that your manner has grown cold toward her lately, 1 my mother said, when we were left together. My mind was dAvelling on Cecilia's letter to Sir John. Would any man have so easily adopted Zilla's suggestion not to interpret the letter too seriously, unless there had been something to encourage him ? I could only trust myself to answer my mother very briefly. ' Ceciha is changed toward me,' Avas all my reply. My mother .vas evidently gratified by this prospect of a misunderstanding between us. *Ah ■' she said, 'if Ceciha only had Zilla's sweet temper !' This was a little too much to endure — but I did endure it. ' Will you come out Avith me, mamma, for a Avalk in the grounds ?' I asked. My mother accepted the invitation so gladly that I really think I should have felt ashamed of myself — if I had not had the contaminating Spectacles in my pocket. We had just settled to start soon after tAvo o'clock, Avhen there Avas a timid knock afc fche door. The angelic needlewoman appeared, to ask for her half-holiday. My mother actually blushed. Old habits Avill cling to the members of the past generation. ' What is it P' she said, in llor,w r , uncertain tones. ' Might I go to the villiage, ma'am, to buy some little things ?' ' Certainly.' The door closed again. ' Now for the shrubbery !' I thought. ' Make haste, mamma,' I said, ' the best of the day is going. And mind one thing — put on youi' thickest boots.' We were on the spot a few minutes before the time. On one side of the shrubbery were the gardens. The other side was bounded by a wooden fence.

ness. I have ahvays believed him to be a gentleman. No gentleman .vould force his Avay into my presence, Avhen I .vrote expressly to ask him to spare me. Pray how did you knoAV that he Avas determined only to take his dismissal from my OAvn lips ?' ' Gentlemen's feelings sometimes get the better of them, miss. Sir John was very much distressed ' Ceciha interrupted her. ' There Avas nothing in my letter to distress him,' she said. ( lie was distressed, miss ; and he did say, " I cannot take my ansAver in this way — I must and Avill see her." And then he asked me to get you to walk out to-day, and to say nothing, so that he might take you by surprise. He is so madly in love .vith you, miss, that he is all but beside himself. lam really afraid of Avhat may happen, if you don't soften his disappointment to him in some Avay. Hoav any lady can treat such a handsome gentleman so cruelly passes my poor judgment !' Ceciha seemed to resent the familiarity implied in those last Avords. ' You are not called upon to exercise your judgment,' she said. ' You can go back to the house.' ' Hadn't I better see Sir John first, miss ?' ' Certainly not ! You and Sir John have seen quite enough of each other already. There was another pause. My mother stood holding by my arm, pale and trembling. We could neither of us speak. My OAvn mind Avas strangely agitated. Either Cecilia Avas a monster of deceit, or she had thus far spoken and acted as became a true and highly-bred Avoman. The distant sound of horses' feefc on the park road told us both that the critical moment Avas at hand. In another moment the sound ceased. Sh- John had probably disino Tinted, and tied up his horse at the entrance of the shrubbery.

reply, Sir John, that is worthy in its entire truthfulness of you ancl your title. Am I right ?' ' You are right Miss Ceciha. Pray don't despise me. The temptation to plead with you once more ' ' I Avill speak to you, Sh- John, as candidly as you have spoken to me. You are entirely Avrong in supposing it possible for me to repent of my marriage engagement. The man, whose false friends have depreciated him in your estimation, is the only man I love, and the only man I will marry. And I beg you to understand, if he lost tho whole of his fortune to-morroAV, I would marry him the next day, if he asked me. Must I say more ? or will you treat me with delicacy of a gentleman, and take your leave T I don't remember whether he said anything or not be fore he left her. I only know that they parted. Don't ask me to confess Avhat I felt. Don't ask me to describe what my mother felt. Let the scene be changed, and the narrative be resumed at a later hour of the day.

CHAPTEE VI. THE END OE THE SPECTACLES. I asked myself a question, which I beg to repeat here — What did I owe to the Demond Spectacles ? In the first place, I was indebted to my glasses for seeing all the faults, and none of the merits in the persons about me. In the second place, I had arrived at the great discovery that, if we are to live usefully and happily with our fellowcreatures, we must take them at theh' best, and not at their worst. Having reached these conclusions, I trusted to my own unassisted insight, and set myself to ascertain Avhat the Spectacles had not helped me to discover in the two persons who were dearesfc__to me —my mother and Cecilia.

1 1" began with Ceciha, leaving my mother time to recover after the shock that had fallen on her. It was impossible to acknowledge what I "had seen through the Spectacles, or what I had heard at the shrubbery fence. In speaking to Cecilia, I could only attribute my coldness of manner to jealousy of the mere name of ' Sir John,' and. asked to be pardoned for even a momentary distrust of the most constant and charming of women. There was something, I Buppose, in my contrite consciousness of having wronged her that expressed itself in my looks and my tones. We were sitting together on the sofa. For the first time since our engagement, she put her arms around my neck and kissed me, without waiting to be kissed first. ' I am not very demonstrative,' she said, softly ; ' and I don't think, Alfred, you have ever known hoAv fond lam of you. My dear, when Sh' John and I met again at that dinner party, I was too faithful to you even to alio ay myself to think of him. Your poor mother irritated me by seeming to doubt Avhether I could trust myself within reach of Timbercombe, or I should never have consented to go to Long Fallas. You remember that she invited Sir John to ride over and see us. I wrote to him, informing him of my engagement to you, and telling him in the plainest words, that if he did call at tliis house nothing would induce me to see him. I had every reason to suppose that he .vould understand and respect my motives ' She paused. The rich color rose in her lovely face. I refused to let her distress herself hy saying a word of what had happened in the shrubbery. Look back if you have forgotten it, and see how completely the Spectacles failed to show me the higher and nobler motives that had animated her. The little superficial instabilities and distrusts, they exhibited to perfection ; but the true regard for each other, hidden below the surface in my mother and in my promised wife, waa completely beyound them. ' Shall we go back to London to-morrow ?' I asked. 'Are you tired of being here with me, Alfred ?'* ' I am tired of waiting till the spring, my angel. I Avill Kve Avith you wherever you Uke, if you will only consent to hasten the transformation which makes you my AA r ife. Will you consent ?' 'If your mother a_ks me. Don't hurry her, Alfred.' Bufc I did hurry her. After what we had heard hi the shrubbery, I could look into my mother's heart (without assistance), and feel sure that the nobler part of her nature would justify my confidence in it. She was not only ready to ' ask Ceciha,' then and there — she was eager, poor soul, to confess hoAv completely she had been misled by her natural interest in her brother's child. Being firmly resolved to keep the secret of my discovery of her niece, I refused to hear her, as I had refused to hear Cecilia. Did I not know, without being told, what child's play ifc Avould be to Zilla to dazzle and delude my innomofcher ? I merely asked if ' the needle-woman Avas still in the house?' The answer was thoroughly explicit : ' She is at the rail Avry station by this time, and she Avill never enter any house of mine again.' We returned to London the next morning. I had a moment's private talk Avith the stationmaster at Timbercombe. Sir John had left his friends in the town on the previous day. He and Zilla had met on the platform, waiting for the London train. She had folloAved him into the smoking-carriage. Just as the station-master Avas going to start the train, Sh" John opened the door, Avith a strong expression of disgust, and took refuge in another carriage. She had tried the baronet as a last resource, and he had slipped through her fingers too. What did it matter to Zilla ? She had }_lenty of time before her, and she belonged to the order of persons who never fail to make the best of their advantages. The other day I saw the announcement of her marriage to a great iron-master, a man worth millions of money, with establishments to correspond. Brave Zilla ! No need to look for your nobler motives with the naked eye. In the three weeks before our marriage I had plenty of time to offer my apologies to two injured men. The buttler (with all his perquisites) returned to my service ; and my old school-fel-low's name received the attention that was due to it on the leaves of my check -book. The latter of these acts of atonement led to an adventure, which was afterwards a subject of great amusement to Ceciha. My friend insisted on celebrating the closing days of my single life by a bachelor dinner — and at that dinner I met S ir John. It would have been ridiculous to leave the room — I merely charged my host to keep my name concealed. I sat next the baronet, and he doesn'tr know to this day who his "very agreeable neighbour " was. Instead of spending our honey-moon abroad, Cecilia and I went back to Long Fallas. We found the place delightful, even in the winter time. Did I deserve my happiness ? I did my best to desen r e ifc ; I was not wicked enough to allow myself to be married with the Devil's Spectacles in my pocket. Their limited range had shoAvn me all the faults, and none o_ the merits, in the people about me — all the little superficial trickeries, irritabilities, and distrusts, and none of the nobler compensating qualities hidden below the surface. In a word, I had been indebted to my fatal gift for committing some of fche worst errors, and suffering some of the severest anxieties of my life — with this one valuable lesson as a set off : that if we are to live usefully and happily with our fellow-creatures, we must take them afc their best and not afc their worst. ■ , . With such good reasons for regretting that I had ever put the Spectacles across my nose, I naturally resolved to part with them before the wedding-day. The one method of accomplishing this object had been confided to me by Septimus Notman on his death-bed. It would be useless to throw them away, unless to smash them into small morsels. I could only get rid of them by giving them to some other man. My experience behind the fence of the shrubbery pointed plainly to the man. I presented the Demon Spectacles to Sir John. Jt__e END.

A footpath running part of fche way beside fche fence, crossed fche grass below, and made a short cut between the nearest park-gate and the servants' offices. This Avas the safe place that I had chosen. We could hear perfectly — though the closely -planted evergreens "might prevent the excercise of sight. I had recommended ' thick boots,' because there Avas no help for it but to muffle the sound of our footsteps by walking on the wefc grass. At its further end, the shrubbery joined fche carriage-road up to the house, and Sir John .vould enter ifc by that Avay. Tlie fence followed the .vindings of the shrubbery. We could so place ourselves as to be equally invisible to persons approaching the place, either by the entrance to it from the liouse or by tlie entrance from the carriage-road. My mother's surprise at the place that I had chosen for our Avalk .vould have been expressed in Avords, as Avell as by looks, if I had not stopped her by a Avhispcred Avarning. ' Keep perfectly quiet,' I said, ' and listen. I have a motive for bringing you here' The Avords had hardly passed my lips before we heard the voices of Cecilia and the needleAvoman in the shrubbery. ' Wait a minute,' said Cecilia ; ' you must be a little more explicit before I consent to go any farther. How came you to take my letter to Sir John instead of my maid . ' 1 1' Only to oblige her, miss. She .vas not A-cry .veil, and she didn't fancy going all the Avay to Timbercombe. I can buy no good needles in fche villiage, and I Avas glad of tlie opportunity of getting to the town.' There Avas a pause. Cecilia .vas reflecting, as I supposed. My mother turned pale. Cecilia resumed. ' There is nothing in Sir John's answer to my letter,' she said, ' that leads me to suppose he can be guilty of an act of rude-

After an interval we heard Cecilia's voice again, father aAvay from us. We folloAved the voice. The intervieAv Avhich Avas to decide my future destiny had begun. ' No, Sir John ; I must have my queston ansAvered first. Is there anything in my letter — Avas there anything in my conduct, when we met in London — which justifies this ?' ' Love justifies everything, Cecilia.' ' You are not to call nic Cecilia, if you please. Have you no plainer ansAver to give me ?' ' Have you no mercy upon a man who cannot live Avithout you ? Is there really nothing in myself and my title to set against the perfectly obscure ' person, to Avhoni you have so rashly engaged yourself ? . Ifc Avould be an insult to suppose that his Avealfch has tempted you. What can be his merit in your eyes ? His OAvn friends can say no more in his favor than that he is a goodnatured fool. I don't blame you ; Avonien often drift into engagements that they repent of affcerAvards. Do yourself justice ! Be true to your own nobility of character — and be fche angel who makes our two lives happy, before ifc is too late !' 'Have you done, Sir John?' There Avas a moment of silence. Ifc Avas impossible to mistake her tone—Sir John's lloav of eloquence came to a full stop. ' Before I answer you,' Cecilia proceeded, ' I have same-thing to say first. The girl aa-lio took my letter to you Avas, not my maid, as you supposed. She is a stranger to me ; and I suspect her of being a false creature Avith some purpose of her own to serve. I find a difliculty in attributing to a person in your rank of life the mean deceit .vhich answers my letter in terms that lead me to trust you, and then takes me by surprise in this Avay. My messenger (as I belive) is quite insolent enough to have suggested this course to you. Am I right ? I expect a