"the second-floor front have come in, ben," said mrs. mogg, of 19a poland-street, as she opened the door to her husband on a wet and windy autumnal evening; "she have come and brought her luggage--a green carpet-bag with a poll-parrot worked on it, and a foreign-looking bandbox tied up in a handkerchief. she's french, ben, that's what she is."
"is she?" said mr. mogg shortly. "well, i'm hungry, that's what i am; so get me my tea."
he had had a long and dirty walk home from the west-india docks, where he was employed as a warehouseman, and chattering in a windy passage about his wife's lodger scarcely seemed to him the most desirable way of employing his first moments at home.
but after dispatching two large breakfast-cups of tea, and several rounds of hot salt-buttered toast, from which the crust had been carefully cut away, mr. mogg was somewhat mollified, and wiping his mouth and fingers on the dirty tablecloth, felt himself in cue to resume the conversation.
"o, the new second-floor has come, martha, has she?" he commenced; "and she's french, you think. well," continued mr. mogg, who was naturally rather slow in bringing his ideas into focus, "dickson may or may not be a french name. that it's an english one, we all know; but that's no reason that it should not be a french one too, there being, as is well known, several words which are the same in both languages."
"she wrote down 'p. dickson' when she came to take the rooms this morning, and i see p. d. worked on her purse when she took it out to pay the first week's rent in advance," said mrs. mogg.
"then it's clear enough her name is dickson," said mr. mogg, with a singular facility of reasoning. "what should you say she was, now, martha--you're good at reckoning 'em up, you are--what is the second-floor front, should you say?"
"either a gov'ness or a lady's-maid out of place," said mrs. mogg decisively. "i thought she was a gov'ness until i see the sovereigns in her purse, and then made up my mind she was a lady's-maid as had given up her place either through a death, or the family going abroad or giving up housekeeping; and these were the sovereigns which she had just got from the wardrobe-shop for the perquisites and etceteras which she had brought away with her."
"you're a clear-headed one, you are," said mr. mogg, looking at his wife with great delight. "has she had anything to eat?"
"o yes," said mrs. mogg, giggling with some asperity; "she brought a lettice in with her, i suppose; for when i went up to ask her whether i should get-in any little trifle for breakfast, i found her eating of it, and dropping some lumps of sugar into a tumbler of water."
"well, that's beastly," said mr. mogg. "these foreigners are disgusting in their ways, one always heard; but how did you make her understand you about breakfast?"
"lor' bless yer, man, she speaks english first-rate--so well, that when i first see her, i thought she was a countrywoman of mine from norfolk."
"well, so long as she pays regularly, and don't stop out late at night, it don't matter to us where she comes from," said mr. mogg, stretching out his arms and indulging in a hearty yawn. "now, martha, get me my pipe; and when you have cleared these things away, come and sit down, and let's have a quiet talk about how we are to get rid of the german teacher in the back attic."
the newly-arrived tenant of the second floor, whom these worthies in the kitchen were thus discussing, was walking up and down her room in much the same manner as she had paced the platform at lymington or the prado at marseilles. it was very lucky that the occupant of the drawing-room---a gentleman who taught noblemen and senators the art of declamation--had not on that evening one of his usual classes, in which budding orators were accustomed to deliver mark antony's speech over the sofa-pillow transformed for the nonce into the dead body of caesar, and where, to encourage his pupils, the professor would set forth that his name was norval, and proceed to bewail the bucolic disposition of his parent, or the grinding sound of the heels above would have sadly interfered with the lesson. it was well that pauline was not interrupted; for the demon of rage and jealousy was at work within her. the burning shame consequent on the belief that she had been deceived and made a fool of nearly maddened her; and as every phase of the deceit to which she now imagined she had fallen so ready a victim rose before her mind, she clasped her arms above her head and groaned aloud.
"to think," she cried, "that i, who had known him so long and so intimately--i, who had been his companion in his plottings and intrigues, who had sat by, night after night and day after day, watching the patience and skill with which he prepared the pitfalls for others,--that i should be so blind, so weak, so besotted, as to fall into them myself! lies from the first, and lie upon lie! a lie to the man calverley, whose agent he pretended he would be; a lie to the old man claxton, who obtained the place for him, and sent him the money by the pale-faced woman; then a lie to me,--a cleverer kind of lie, a lie involving some tracasserie, for i am not one to be deceived in the ordinary manner. to me he admitted he intended playing false with the others; and now i am reckoned among those whom he has hoodwinked and befooled!
"the notion that came across me at that place! it must be true! he never meant to come there; he sent me on a fool's errand, and he would never be within miles of the spot. the whole thing was a trick, a well-planned trick, from the first; well-planned, and so plausible too! the flight to weymouth, then to guernsey; hours of departure of trains and steamer all noted and arranged. what a cunning rogue! what a long-headed plausible rascal! and the money, the two thousand pounds --many would be deceived by that. he thought i would argue that if he had intended to leave me, he never would have handed over to me those bank-notes.
"but i know him better. he is a vaurien, swindler, liar; but though i suppose he never loved me in the way that other people understand love, i have been useful to him, and he has become used to me; so used, that he cannot bear to think of me in misery or want. so he gave me the money to set his mind at ease, that my reproachful figure should not rise between him and his new-found happiness. does he think that money can compensate me for the mental agony that i shall suffer always, that i suffer now? does he think that it will salve my wounded pride, that it will do away with the misery and degradation i feel? and having been cheated by a shallow artifice, will money deprive me of my memory, and stop the current of my thoughts? because i shall not starve, can money bereave me of my fancies, or keep away mental pictures it will drive me mad to contemplate? i can see them all now; can see him with her; can hear the very phrases he will use, and can imagine his manner when he talks of love to her. how short a time it seems since i listened to those burning words from the same lips! how well i remember each incident in the happy journey from marseilles, the pleasant days at genoa, the long stay at florence! where has he gone now, i wonder? to what haunt of luxury and ease has he taken his new toy? fool that i am to remain here dreaming and speculating, when i want to know, when i must know! i must and will find out where they are; and then quickness, energy, perseverance--he has praised them more than once when they served him--shall be brought into play to work his ruin."
at this point in her train of thought pauline was interrupted by a knock at the door of her room. starting at the sound, she raised her head and listened eagerly; but whatever fancy she may have indulged in as to the idea as to who might be her visitor, was speedily dispelled by hearing the short sniff and the apologetic cough with which mrs. mogg was wont to herald her arrival; and being bade to come in, that worthy woman made her appearance, smiling graciously. it was mrs. mogg's habit to fill up such leisure as her own normal labour and active superintendence of the one domestic slave of the household, known as "melia," permitted her, in paying complimentary calls upon her various lodgers, apparently with the view of looking after their comforts and tendering her services, but really with the intention of what she called "taking stock" of their circumstances, and making herself acquainted with any peculiarities likely, in her idea, to affect the question of her rent. having thoroughly discussed with her husband the possibility of getting rid of the german teacher, and it being pleasantly arranged between them that the unfortunate linguist was to be decoyed into the street at as early a period as possible on the ensuing morning, and then and there locked out, his one miserable little portmanteau being detained as a hostage, mrs. mogg was in excellent spirits, and determined to make herself agreeable to her new lodger.
"good evening, ma'am," she commenced; "time being getting late, and this being your first night under our humble roof, i took the liberty of looking in to see if things was comfortable, or there was anything in the way of a child's night-light or that, you might require."
almost wearied out with the weight of the wretched thoughts over which, for the last forty-eight hours, she had been brooding, pauline felt the relief even of this interruption, and answered graciously and with as much cheerfulness as she could assume. "the room was comfortable," she said, "and there was nothing she required; but would not madame sit down? she seemed to be always hard at work, and must be tired after climbing those steep stairs. perhaps she would not object to a little refreshment?"
mrs. mogg's eyes gleamed as from her neat hand-bag pauline produced a small silver flask, and pouring some of its contents into a tumbler, handed the water-bottle to her landlady, to mix for herself.
"thank you, ma'am," said mrs. mogg, seating herself on one of the two rush-bottomed chairs, and smoothing her apron over her lap with both her hands. "it is a pull up the stairs after one's been hard at it all day, and a little drop of comfort like this does one no harm, whatever they may say against it, more especially when it's like this, and not the vitriol and mahogany-shavings which they sell by the quartern at the goldsmith's arms. you didn't bring this from france with you, did you, ma'm?"
"o no," said pauline, with a half smile. "it is a long time since i left france."
"ah, so i should think," said mrs. mogg, "by your civilised ways of going on, let alone your speaking our language so capital. mogg, meaning my husband, was in france once, at boolong, with the foresters' excursion, and thought very high of the living he got during the two hours he was there."
"ah, you have a husband," said pauline, beginning to lapse into dreariness.
"o yes, ma'am, and as good a husband as woman could wish, a hard-working man, and taking no holidays save with the foresters to the crystal palace, easter mondays, and suchlike. he's in the docks is mogg."
"in the docks," said pauline; "he would know, then, all about ships?"
"o no, ma'am," said mrs. mogg, with a slight toss of the head; "that's the katherine's docks you are thinking of where the general steam goes from. hogg is in the west-injia docks: he's in the sale-room--horns and hides, and other foreign produce."
"then he has nothing to do with ships?"
"nothing at all, ma'am. it would be easier work for him if he had, though more outdoor work; but his is terrible hard work, more especially on sale days. he's regular tired out to-night, poor man; for to-day has been a sale day, and mogg was at it from morning till night, attending to mr. calverley's consignments."
"mr. calverley!" cried pauline, roused at last; "do you know him?"
"o no, not i, ma'am," said the landlady, "only through hearing of him from mogg. he's one of the largest merchants in horns and hides is mr. calverley, and there is never a shipload comes in but he takes most of it. mogg has done business for him--leastways for the house, for when mogg knew it first mr. calverley was only a clerk there--for the last thirty years."
"is mr. calverley married?"
"o yes, ma'am. he married mrs. gurwood, which was miss lorraine before she married mr. gurwood, who killed himself with drink and carryings-on. a pious lady, mrs. calverley, though haughty and stand-offish, and, they do say, keeping mr. c.'s nose to the grindstone close."
"and mr. calverley, what is he like?"
"not much to look at, ma'am, but the kindest and the best of men. my nephew joe is light-porter in their house; and the way in which mr. calverley behaves to him--half-holiday here, half-a-crown there, christmas-boxes regular, and cold meat and beer whenever he goes up to the house--no tongue can tell. likewise most bountiful to injuns and foreigners of all kinds, spaniards and that like, providing for children and orphans, and getting them into hospitals, or giving them money to go back to their own country."
"where is mr. calverley's address--his business address; his office i mean?"
"in mincing-lane, in the city, ma'am. it's as well known as the bank of england, or the west-injia docks themselves. may i make so bold as to inquire what you want with mr. calverley, ma'am?" said mrs. mogg, whose curiosity, stimulated by the brandy-and-water, was fast getting the better of her discretion; "if it's anything in the horn and hide way," she added, as the notion of something to be made on commission crossed her mind, "i am sure anything that mogg could do he would be most happy."
"no, thank you," said pauline coldly; "my inquiry had nothing to do with business."
and shortly after, mrs. mogg, seeing that her lodger had relapsed into thought, and had replaced the silver flask in her hand-bag, took her departure.
"what that frenchwoman can want with mr. calverley," said she to her husband, after she had narrated to him the above conversation, "is more than i can think; his name came up quite promiscuous, and she never stopped talking about him while i was there. she'd have gone on gossiping till now, but i had my work to do, and told her so, and came away."
mrs. mogg's curiosity was not responded to by her husband; a man naturally reticent, and given in the interval between his supper and his bed to silent pipe-smoking. "they're a rum lot, foreigners," he said; and after that he spoke no more.
meanwhile pauline, left to herself, at once resumed the tiger-like pacing of her room. "i must not lose sight," she said, "of any clue which is likely to serve me. where he is, she will be; and until i have found them both, and made them feel what it is to attempt to play the fool with me, i shall not rest satisfied. i must find means to become acquainted with this calverley; for sooner or later he must hear something of tom durham, whom he believes to have gone to ceylon as his agent, and whose non-arrival there will of course be reported to him. so long as my husband and the poor puny thing for whom he has deserted me, can force money from the old man claxton, they will do so. but in whatever relations she may stand to him, when he discovers her flight he will stop the supplies, and i should think monsieur durham will probably turn up with some cleverly-concocted story to account for his quitting the ship. they will learn that by telegraph from gibraltar, i suppose; and he will again seek for legitimate employment. meanwhile i have the satisfaction of striking him with his own whip and stabbing him with his own dagger, by using the money which he gave me to help me in my endeavours to hunt him down. the money! it is there safe enough!"
as she placed her hand within the bosom of her dress, a curious expression, first of surprise, then of triumph, swept across her face. "the letter!" she said, as she pulled it forth,--"the letter, almost as important as the banknotes themselves, tom durham called it. it is sealed! shall i open it; but for what good? to find, perhaps, a confession that he loves me no more, that he has taken this means to end our connection, and that he has given me the money to make amends for his betrayal of me--shall i-- bah! doubtless it is another part of the fraud, and contains nothing of any value."
she broke the seal as she spoke, opened the envelope, and took out its contents, a single sheet of paper, on which was written:
"i have duly received the paper you sent me, and have placed it intact in another envelope, marked 'akhbar k,' which i have deposited in the second drawer of my iron safe. besides myself no one but my confidential head-clerk knows even as much as this, and i am glad that i declined to receive your confidence in the matter, as my very ignorance may at some future time be of service to you, or--don't think me harsh, but i have known you long enough to speak plainly to you--may prevent my being compromised. the packet will be given up to no one but yourself in person, or to some one who can describe the indorsement, as proof that they are accredited by you. h.s."
this letter pauline read and re-read over carefully; then with a shoulder-shrug returned it to its envelope, and replaced it in her bosom.
"mysterious," she said, "and unsatisfactory, as is everything connected with monsieur durham! the paper to which this letter refers is of importance doubtless, but what it may contain, and who 'h. s.' may be, are equally unknown to me; and without that information i am helpless to make use of it. let it remain there! a time may come when t will be of service. meanwhile i have the two thousand pounds to work with, and monsieur calverley to work upon; he is the only link which i can see at present to connect me with my fugitive husband. through him is the only means i have of obtaining any information as to the whereabouts of this traitorous pair. the clue is slight enough, but it may serve in default of a better, and i must set my wits to work to make it useful."
so the night went on; and the mogg household, the proprietors themselves in the back-kitchen; the circulating librarian in the parlours; the italian nobleman, who dealt in cameos an coral and bric-a-brac jewelry, in the drawing-room; the belgian basso, who smoked such strong tobacco, and cleared his throat with such alarming vehemence, in the second floor back; and the german teacher, in ignorance of his intended forcible change of domicile, in the attic; all these slept the sleep of the just, and snored the snores c the weary; while pauline, half undressed, lay on her bed, with eyes indeed half closed, but with her brain active and at work. in the middle of the night, warned by the rapid decrease of her candle that in a few minutes she would be in darkness, she rose from the bed, and taking from her carpet-bag a small neat blotting-book, she sat dowat the table, and in a thin, clear, legible hand, to the practised eye eminently suggestive of hotel bills, wrote the following letter:
"19a poland-street, soho.
"monsieur,--as a frenchwoman domiciled in england, the name of monsieur calverley has become familiar to me as that of a gentleman--ah, the true english word!--who is renowned as one of the most constant and liberal benefactors to all kinds of charities for distressed foreigners. do not start, monsieur; do not turn aside or put away this letter in the idea that you have already arrived exactly at its meaning and intention. naturally enough you think that the writer is about to throw herself on your mercy, and to implore you for money, or for admission into one of those asylums towards the support of which you do so much. it is not so, monsieur; though, were my circumstances different, it is to you i should apply, knowing that your ear is never deaf to such complaint. i have no want of money, though my soul is crushed; and i am well and strong in body, though my heart is wounded and bleeding, calamities for which, even in england, there are no hospitals nor doctors. yet, monsieur, am i one of that clientèle which you have so nobly made your own--the foreigners in distress. do you think that the only distressed foreigners are the people who want to give lessons, or get orders for wine and cigars, the poor governesses, the demoiselles de magasin, the émigrés of the republic and the empire? no, there is another kind of distressed foreigner,--the woman with a small sum, on which she must live for the rest of her days, in penury if she manages ill, in decent thrift if she manages well. who will guide her? i am such a woman, monsieur. to my own country, where i have lost all ties, and where remain to me but sad memories, i will not return. in this land, where, if i have no ties, yet have i no sad memories, i will remain. i have a small sum of money, on the interest of which i must exist; and to you i apply, monsieur; you, the merchant prince, the patron and benefactor of my countrymen, to advise in the investment of this poor sum, and keep me from the hands of charlatans and swindlers, who otherwise would rob me of it. i await your gracious answer,
"monsieur; and am
"your servant,
"palmyre du tertre."
the next morning pauline conveyed this letter to the office in mincing-lane, and asked to see mr. calverley; but on being told by a smart clerk that mr. calverley was out of town, visiting the iron works in the north, and would not be back for some days, she left the letter in the clerk's hands, and begged for an answer at his chief's convenience.
