"if it isn't a rude question," he said, "who are you? what do you mean by interfering in this way?"
"it does not matter in the least who i am," ralph replied. "to put it bluntly, lady dashwood has asked me to get rid of you. until you have disposed of this portion of the property, the house belongs to her ladyship. your dissolute companions have already gone. i don't blame them, however. i have no doubt that they expected a congenial welcome here. they probably drew a wrong picture altogether of lady dashwood. they had the grace to be ashamed of themselves."
"once more," dashwood said with drunken gravity, "who are you?"
"as i said before, it does not in the least matter," ralph replied. "at the present moment i am acting on behalf of lady dashwood. i know that it is not the slightest good to appeal to your better feelings, for the simple reason that they don't exist. will you be so good as to go, or am i to resort to force?"
dashwood laughed. the hot blood mounted to ralph's face and the full force of his passion tingled to his finger-tips. he threw open the long window that led to the lawn; then he advanced to the figure lounging in the chair. he wasted no time in argument, but bent over the chair and dragged dashwood out by the throat. a moment later the latter was flung violently on to the grass, where he lay dazed and confused for a moment. presently he picked himself up, and loafed after his companions, who were noisily walking down the avenue. it was a relief to ralph to know that the fellow was not seriously hurt.
as if nothing had happened, he made his way to the dining-room. lady dashwood was pacing up and down the room, her face white and set, her eyes full of flaming anger. all the fiery blood of the race was raging in her veins now.
"so they have gone," she cried. "a pretty outrage indeed! i shall have the villagers here next dropping in on their way from the inn of a saturday night. have men of that class no manners, no respect for the feelings of others?"
"you can't altogether blame them," ralph said soothingly. "probably they took you to be what that drunken ruffian yonder would call 'a good sort.' they judged you by him, and i am quite sure that mr. george dashwood did all he could----"
"he didn't," lady dashwood flashed out. "he is a coward and a poltroon. he is not worthy to be the father of a girl like mary. fancy him cringing and fawning on a man like that for the sake of a good home and the dainty food that he loves better than his independence! but i don't blame him and the man who calls himself sir vincent dashwood so much as i blame you."
"_me!_" ralph asked in some surprise, "what have i done?"
"everything. you have brought all this about. if it had not been for you, this disgraceful scene could not have happened. for purposes of your own, you have placed a puppet on the throne at dashwood--a disgraceful, drunken image, that is not worthy to be called a man. why do you do it?"
"i think you know perfectly well," ralph, said gently. "i am very, very sorry; i could not have foreseen anything like this. won't you forgive me?"
all the hot, rebellious anger died out of lady dashwood's heart.
"i must, when you speak to me like that," she said. "when you look at me with your father's eyes, and speak to me with his voice, i could find it in me to forgive you anything. but you must own that it is very hard to bear, ralph. when you came back here like a figure from the grave, i began to hope that god was going to be good to me in my declining years. i have sinned heavily, but i have paid the penalty. when i saw you that day at the fire i recognised you at once, as slight had done. my prayers had been answered, and one of my flesh and blood had come back to claim the old inheritance. and you had come to free me from the hateful attentions of the impostor who so grievously insulted me tonight. but you did nothing of the sort; you tried to hide yourself from me as if you were guilty of something shameful."
"but, my dear grandmother, i told you why," ralph protested. "i had to work out my life's romance in a way that seemed best to me. and fate played into my hands--the little affair of the silver matchbox forced the so-called dashwood to speak. still, it will not be for long. i saw the family solicitors yesterday--are by no means disposed to let matters remain as they are. have you any idea as to the real identity of the man who calls himself sir vincent dashwood?"
"i had," lady dashwood said. "but i was certain yesterday. i saw his mother. oh, but yesterday was a day of surprises."
"his mother," ralph cried. "is she still alive? she was agnes edgerton, sister of my father's first wife. is not that so?"
"absolutely correct, but i did not know it till yesterday; i thought that she was dead long since. i have never heard a word of her since she left the village seventeen years ago. and because she knew of my crime, because she knew of the great sin that hangs over the house, she wrote to me and asked me to help her. it appears that she had been residing in london at a place called keppel terrace, where she has tried to live by letting lodgings."
"that much i know," ralph said. "she wrote to my father from time to time. what i did not know is that she had a son. please go on."
"it was a most pitiful letter she wrote me. she was going to lose her home if she did not receive a certain sum by a certain time. the letter came too late for me to help. it was followed by a telegram asking me to send the money to another address. had you not come into my life, had things been different, i should have sent the money and thought no more about it. but things came into my mind and a vague suspicion that i felt bound to verify. i went to london yesterday and i saw mrs. speed. she told me that it was her son who had brought her to this pass. of course, up to that time i had no idea she had a son. i asked her to show me his photograph, and she did so. you can guess whose likeness it was?"
"i can guess now," ralph said. "of course, it was the man who is at present master of dashwood hall. did the woman know that?"
"oh, dear, no. she has not the least idea. but you can see now where the impostor got all his knowledge, and how he came into possession of so many documents."
"not quite," ralph said, "i want a little light on this particular spot."
"well, that is easy. when your father fell in love with his first wife, maria edgerton, they took the sister agnes, now mrs. speed, into their confidence. she received and kept all the letters, at least, she seems to have kept the letters after maria edgerton died. of course, when the affair came to the ears of your grandfather and myself we were terribly annoyed. mind you, i had nothing whatever to say against maria edgerton. she was very good and beautiful, but very simple indeed, and ignorant of the ways of the world. we thought that we had put an end to the affair, but we failed, and your father and maria edgerton were secretly married. even then we had hopes of hushing up the scandal. your father had to go away with his regiment, and we persuaded his wife that he was dead. i did that, and old patience helped me. and so did slight--we were all in the disgraceful business. don't ask me why i did it; call it the curse of the family pride if you like. we thought the woman would go away and forget. instead of that she pined and died. when the news came to me i felt like a murderess. i have never been the same woman again, i never shall be. and your father found it all out, he came home, and there was a dreadful scene. he went away declaring that he would never come home again, and he kept his word. i dared not write to him directly, but sent my letters through mrs. speed. now you can understand how her son has come to be so well posted in the secret history of our house. he must have read and re-read those letters till he had them by heart. but his mother did not know, she does not guess. how much longer is this state of affairs to continue, ralph?"
ralph shook his head. these revelations came as a surprise to him. and it was a very sad and very dreadful confession that lady dashwood had made to him.
"all that i have heard confirms me in my opinion that i have acted for the best," he said. "i cannot absolve you from blame, grandmother, indeed i cannot. for the sake of the family pride, you have suffered this remorse for nearly forty years. and yet, in the face of it all, knowing that mary was coming into the property some day, you fostered the same spirit in her. i love mary, and the one great object in my life is to make her my wife. but i wanted to be loved for my own sake, and not for the sake of the family fetish. my plan----"
"is succeeding," lady dashwood cried. "nay, it has succeeded already. go and see mary, call on her and ascertain for yourself whether i am speaking the truth or not. she has only been gone a few days, but already the change has worked wonders. put your future to the touch, and you will not be disappointed. only end this dreadful state of affairs, turn that man out of the hall, let me see the place sweet and wholesome again before i die."
ralph hesitated. it was a tempting picture that lady dashwood had drawn for him. but he could not quite entertain the idea that already mary had changed her nature entirely, as a grub turns to a butterfly. at the same time lady dashwood's plea was not one to be turned from lightly.
"i will see mary," he said, "i will go to her tomorrow. i must see mrs. speed also, for i have a message to deliver to her from my father. you see, i had no idea where to look for her. patience my dear, dear lady, patience. after the lapse of forty years you will not mind waiting for a few days longer."
