it is admitted that man as a whole is not infallible, but each individual man has a secret belief that he is. haskins was no more complacent than other mortals--in fact, less so--yet he had an idea that his caution and common-sense invariably prevented his making mistakes. assuredly, as a rule, he was rarely in error, but to every rule there is an exception, and haskins' ill-judged frankness to mrs. crosbie was the exception in this case. it said much for gerald's sane view of life that he recognized his mistake at once, and at the cost of some unpleasantness hastened to correct it. this entailed an interview with major rebb, which was likely to be a stormy one.
at the outset gerald believed that he had read mrs. crosbie's character all wrong, and that even after years of close companionship--since she had been so intimate with his mother--he knew very little about her. had she really been that which he believed her to be, she would--he thought immediately on leaving ladysmith court--have readily helped him in his somewhat eccentric wooing. but on calmer reflection he arrived at the conclusion that he, himself, was in error.
his first mistake lay in overlooking the relationship existing between rebb and the widow. being engaged to him--as she had admitted--she certainly could not be expected to act against what she believed to be his interests. and his second mistake consisted in hoping that mrs. crosbie--who in many ways was particularly conventional--would take charge of a girl believed to be insane. it was only natural that mrs. crosbie should believe mavis to be mad, as, being willing to accept the major as her second husband, she could scarcely credit him with conspiracy. and if mavis was not insane her detention in the pixy's house was certainly a conspiracy against her rights as a human being. gerald took this view from personal observation, and because he mistrusted rebb: but mrs. crosbie, as engaged to marry the major, could not be expected to endorse a theory which would render rebb unworthy of her hand, or indeed of her acquaintance.
it may be here mentioned that haskins had not mentioned the wonderful likeness which existed between charity and mavis, since the thought had flashed across him, while speaking, that such a statement might implicate tod in the mysterious business, which was not to be thought of. all mrs. crosbie practically knew was, that gerald loved a reputedly insane ward of her promised husband, and desired her to side against that promised husband, so that he might marry the girl. it was impossible to expect that any woman would act in this way, and gerald acknowledged to himself that mrs. crosbie had behaved in a perfectly reasonable manner in refusing to help him.
in fact, she had behaved extremely well in holding to her promise of one month's secrecy, for many a woman would have told rebb there and then what had been said about him. therefore mrs. crosbie was not only right, but gerald felt that he was entirely in the wrong; felt, indeed, that he had acted somewhat shabbily. the sole way in which he could right matters, and recover his self-respect, was to see rebb, as soon as possible, and explain himself. then, as man to man, they could thresh the matter out. with this idea haskins drove back to his rooms in frederick street, mayfair, intending to change and pack, and catch the midnight train from paddington to exeter.
but, while dressing, he reflected that it would be better to first assure himself that mrs. crosbie was correct in stating the major's whereabouts. rebb's rooms were also in frederick street, and only a few doors away, so it would be just as well to run in and to make inquiries. rebb might return on the morrow, in which case it would hardly be worth while to journey to denleigh so hurriedly. also mrs. crosbie having promised to hold her tongue for one month, there was no necessity to act at once, since two or three, or even more, days would make very little difference. finally, gerald was unwilling to return to the pixy's house and to mavis until he knew if his theory regarding a possible will was correct; otherwise he would have nothing to tell her.
while meditating on the desirability of calling at rebb's rooms, gerald desired to smoke to aid his thoughts after the manner of men. he mechanically took his cigarette-case, but found some difficulty in opening it. as his case was usually easy to open, he looked down with awakened attention to see what was the matter, and found that he had brought away mrs. crosbie's cigarette-case by mistake. probably he had laid his own case on the small table alongside hers--and in fact he remembered doing so--and when departing had unconsciously taken the one which did not belong to him. he resolved to return it at once by post, but meanwhile took a cigarette therefrom to smoke, since there were no others in his rooms. this entailed opening the case, and when it was open a small object, which had been placed within, fell out.
this proved to be a tiny coral hand, clenched, and holding a dagger, something like those amulets which are sold in naples to avert the evil eye. a little gold ring was screwed into the coral, so that the trinket could be attached to a watch chain or to a bracelet. after a careless glance, and a passing thought as to why mrs. crosbie should use her cigarette-case as a jewel-box, haskins placed the coral hand on top of the cigarette-case, which he laid on the mantelpiece. then he lighted up and walked out, to seek the major's rooms.
these, as has been said, were only a few doors distant, and haskins speedily arrived on the first floor of the somewhat dingy house wherein they were situated. he found the door open, and a mild-looking valet talking to a veiled woman with a graceful figure. while waiting to address the man himself, gerald heard him state to the lady that his master had gone to devonshire on the previous day and would be back within four and twenty hours. the lady appeared annoyed, but declined to leave a card, or to give any message. however, she stepped aside, fuming--as haskins guessed from the way in which she stamped her foot and clenched her hands--and permitted him to speak. gerald asked the same question, as to the major's whereabouts, and received the same answer, upon which he produced his card.
"tell major rebb, when he returns, that mr. haskins wishes to see him on a private matter. mr. gerald haskins," added the young man, handing the card. then he turned away, wondering why the veiled woman should utter a muffled exclamation of surprise when she heard the christian name.
but his wonder was still further increased when, on descending the stairs, he felt his arm grasped, and found that the strange lady was at his elbow. "you are mr. gerald?" she said in deep contralto tones, "may i call you--prince gerald?"
haskins started. it was in this way that mavis addressed him. but this woman could not be mavis, for she was too thin and too tall, and her voice was too worn. could she be---- "bellaria!" he said tentatively.
"bellaria," assented the woman softly--they were standing on the pavement by this time. "take me somewhere safe. i wish to speak with you."
"my rooms are close at hand," said haskins promptly, and wondering at this unexpected encounter with one whom he had believed to be miles away. "we can go there at once, bell----"
"hush!" she clutched his arm again, and looked over her shoulder, as she had looked when in the quadrangle. "don't say that name here. they may hear--they may hear."
"who may hear?"
"never mind; never mind. come inside; come inside. oh, dio! no mention of my name," and she hurried into the doorway indicated by gerald.
in a few minutes they were in haskins' sitting-room, and here again bellaria's nervousness betrayed itself.
"there is no one can hear us?" she asked, her veil up, and her eyes roving round the room.
"no, no," replied the young man soothingly. "the man and his wife who attend to me in these chambers are below. you can talk freely. by the way," he asked abruptly, "how did you know my name?"
bellaria, looking more aged and haggard than ever, flung herself into an armchair, and laughed uncomfortably. "prince gerald. who calls you prince gerald, mr. haskins?"
"mavis does, but----"
"then it is true, what she confessed to me: that you love her and she loves you?"
"quite true," rejoined haskins quickly. "we met by chance, and----"
"by chance!" repeated bellaria scornfully. "when you deliberately came where you had no business to come. i know all!"
"how did you find out?" gerald was perfectly calm when he asked this question, as she did not seem to be hostile.
"i saw that mavis was not herself, that she was disturbed, and guessed that she was keeping something secret from me. i watched, and saw her lead a man across the quadrangle. when she came in that night i told her what i had seen, and so--she confessed about the sealed message, and about her secret meetings with you. also that you desired to marry her. fool!" cried bellaria pointing a scornful finger at her host, "would you marry a madwoman?"
"not in making mavis durham my wife," said haskins coolly. "she is perfectly sane."
"and i--bellaria dondi--say that she is not."
"are you sane yourself?" asked haskins, turning the tables on her.
the woman reared herself in her chair, gripping the arms, and directed a fierce gaze at him. "what do you mean?" she demanded.
"why did you not come out and face me when mavis talked with me in the garden?" he remarked, meeting her gaze firmly and fairly.
"because--because---- oh, there is no explanation."
"i think there is. you dare not venture out after dark, so you waited until mavis entered the house to question her."
"how do you know that i dare not venture out after dark?" she asked, and her figure seemed to dwindle and shrink.
"mavis told me."
"mavis knows nothing, nothing, do you hear? god forbid that she should ever know anything. but my business is my own business, and has nothing to do with you, prince gerald. mavis is crazy: she would kill you as soon as look at you, at certain times."
"i don't believe that for one moment."
"you must--you shall! if mavis is not mad, why should her guardian shut her up in a lonely house?"
"that," said gerald very dryly, "is what i went to major rebb's rooms to ask when i met you."
bellaria arose, much astonished. "you will dare to face the major?"
haskins laughed. "do you take me for a schoolgirl? of course i shall face the major, and a dozen like him if necessary."
"you are a brave man."
"and major rebb? what is he?"
"the kindest and best friend that a miserable woman ever had," retorted the woman fiercely, "not a word against the major. i won't hear a word, i tell you. what he does is right."
"not in shutting up mavis."
"she is mad, i tell you; mad and dangerous." bellaria came close to where gerald was sitting and looked down into his face with a determined expression. "on learning what i did learn from mavis i came up at once to tell major rebb, so that he might stop it."
"i fear major rebb will find it somewhat difficult to stop it. he is not the ruler of the earth, so far as i know."
"he is my ruler," cried bellaria grandiloquently.
"so i should think, when the mere wish to give him information makes you risk----"
"risk what? risk what?" she demanded, quivering.
haskins shrugged his square shoulders. "your life, for all i know."
she stood looking at him with clenched hands, the expression on her worn face hovering between terror and defiance. "you talk of what you do not understand," she said, breathing hard.
"quite right: but i should like to understand."
"understand what?"
"why bellaria dondi, who was a famous singer, should bury herself in a lonely devonshire house, to keep a sane girl prisoner."
"you have been listening!" she cried out in terror. "how do you know that i was a singer?"
"i heard you sing the shadow song from dinorah during one of my visits; and, when hidden behind the beech-tree near the wall, i heard you say that you had been a great singer."
bellaria covered her face with two thin hands, and the tears fell through her fingers. "i was great! i was famous!" she sobbed. "i was happy until jealousy undid me. but," she let her hands drop and flung back her queenly head, "i only did what any italian woman would have done. he betrayed me, why should i not betray him?"
"major rebb?"
"no! enrico salviati, who swore that he loved me, yet left me for another. but i punished him. he died, and perhaps i shall die as he did, for all my care. they will find me, and then----oh, what agonies i have suffered for many, many years! this face," she struck it, "was handsome. enrico loved it. these lips--enrico kissed them--with the kiss of judas. and what better am i? what better am i?" she rushed to the mirror over the mantelpiece to address herself. "bellaria dondi, you can hide in the depths of the sea, but they will find you. you can----augh!" her eyes fell on the silver cigarette-case of mrs. crosbie, upon which lay, delicately, the clenched coral hand with the dagger. "augh!" she repeated, and staggered back.
"what is the matter?" gerald rose and came forward.
bellaria repelled him with both hands, shaking with dread. "keep back, you english spy! you have brought me here! you are one of them. but if you use the knife i shall scream. keep back! keep back!"
"i don't understand," gasped haskins, amazed at this outburst.
"the hand, the sign, the token of death!" she groaned, then, keeping her terrified eyes on gerald, stole stealthily to the door. "tána! ahi tána. lasso me: si davvéro. tána! tána!" uttering these words rapidly, and almost in a scream, she made the sign of the cross on her breast and vanished. by the time that haskins, in pursuit, had reached the top of the stairs she was at the foot. a moment later and she ran swiftly in to the street, holding her veil closely over her pallid face.
"what the deuce does it mean?" gerald asked himself, as he returned to his sitting-room, and examined the coral hand. "this thing seems to have terrified her almost to death. 'tána! tána!' humph! i must learn what that means. it is an italian word, i expect. now what"----he went on musing on the strange behavior of signora dondi, much perplexed, and did not notice that a lady was standing in the doorway. her cough made him look round, and so unnerved was haskins by his late experience that he fairly jumped.
"mrs. berch!" he said, recognizing the lady at once. "i apologize for not seeing you."
"i apologize also," said mrs. berch; in the stern voice habitual to her--"apologize that is, for entering unannounced. but the door was open, gerald, so i took the privilege of old friendship and entered."
"delighted to see you, mrs. berch," said haskins, wondering why she had come, "won't you sit down?"
"for one minute," and she took a chair.
mrs. berch was a tall, thin woman, with a worn, white face, and hair as black as her eyes, notwithstanding her age, which was over sixty. she was dressed in some lustreless, dark material without any trimming, and carried herself very erect. in fact there was something of the roman matron about her, so stern and proud did she appear. gerald liked her, as she had always been kind to him. but mrs. berch was something of an enigma to him. he could not understand why so bold and determined a woman should have submitted to the brutality of her late husband. yet mrs. crosbie's father had behaved like a demon to his wife, as gerald had learned from his mother. she adored her daughter, and--as the saying is--lived again in her child.
"you wonder why i have called," said mrs. berch, in an unemotional voice, which always reminded haskins of one talking in sleep, "especially when i was lying down with a headache when you came. but madge asked me to bring you this," and she produced gerald's cigarette-case.
"thank you. i left it behind by mistake and took madge's. here it is."
mrs. berch arose and received the dainty trifle. "that is all i called about, gerald. i shall take it back to madge at once. she was much disturbed at losing it."
"i don't know why she should have been," said haskins; "she must have guessed that i had taken it, and would send it back. oh, by the way, you may as well put this into it. i opened the case for a cigarette and found this. it fell out," and he passed along the coral hand.
mrs. berch's dead-white face flushed, and her black eyes glittered. "i am glad that is not lost," she said eagerly. "it was this that madge was anxious about."
"what is it?"
"some ornament to which madge attaches some value, i fancy."
"h'm. is it the badge of any society?"
mrs. berch's flush face faded to a chalky-white. "why do you ask?"
gerald asked a question in his turn. "did madge tell you what i came to see her about?"
"no. madge never betrays anyone's confidence. but i heard your story."
"you heard it!" haskins stepped back a pace in his astonishment.
"yes!" said mrs. berch coldly, and slipping the case along with the coral hand into her pocket. "i was asleep on the sofa in the other room, which is, as you know, divided from the drawing-room by curtains. i woke to hear what you said about that girl and major rebb. in the interests of my daughter i listened."
"and you intend to tell major rebb?"
"no. madge asked me to hold my tongue. and indeed, gerald, i would do so for your own sake. major rebb is an ill man to meddle with."
haskins threw back his head defiantly. "i am not afraid of rebb," he said, in a haughty tone. "i went to see him to-day to explain myself, but he is in devonshire: gone to see his unfortunate ward, i expect. when he returns i shall demand an explanation."
"he may not give it to you," said mrs. berch, pursing up her mouth.
"he must. i love mavis and i intend to marry her."
"but if she is mad----"
"she is not mad, and----well, mrs. berch, there is no use in my talking to you on the matter. i did wrong to speak to madge about it, since she is to marry major rebb."
"madge will hold her tongue as she promised, and so shall i, gerald."
"thank you both," replied gerald courteously, "but there will be no need after to-morrow. i intend to see rebb, as i said."
"to learn what?"
"to learn," said haskins, "why he shuts up his ward, seeing that she is not, in my opinion, insane. also to learn why bellaria, who watches mavis, buries herself in the pixy's house."
"i heard you talk of the woman," said mrs. berch, in her chilliest manner, "and i presume that bellaria stops in the pixy's house because she is major rebb's servant."
"there is more in it than that. bellaria came to see major rebb this very day, and came also here to me, since she knows that i have visited mavis. bellaria is terrified out of her life because of some people who seek her life. when she saw that coral hand, which was lying by chance on the mantelpiece, she rushed away, accusing me of being in league with some society to kill her. at least, that was what i gathered from what she said. but it was sheer raving."
"i think so, indeed," said mrs. berch quietly, "this coral hand is merely an ornament, given by signor venosta, whom you met to-day, to madge. it means nothing, gerald, so think no more about it."
but when she departed gerald did think, and it was little wonder that he did so.
