launce keymer was a good-looking young fellow, with an insinuating manner and a plausible tongue. being possessed of so many advantages, it was scarcely to be wondered at that he was extremely popular among the marriageable young ladies of st. oswyth's and its neighbourhood. he was the son of a local brewer, and assisted his father in the business. he had been spoiled and indulged while young, and, as an only son, had been allowed a free rein in his extravagances. but, with a second family growing up, and an expensive wife half his own age, the elder keymer found it a difficult matter nowadays to meet launce's frequent demands on his purse. in short, the only thing left for the latter to do--and it was a point as to which both father and son were in thorough accord--was to marry a girl with money.
now, it so happened that keymer père had a cousin, who was a clerk in the office of mr. linaway, the chief lawyer in st. oswyth's--a man with a large family and a very limited income, whom the brewer had more than once been able to help, at little or no cost to himself. this cousin, tuttle by name, not ungrateful for past favours, and with an eye, perhaps, to any which the future might have in store for him, and having some reason to believe that launce was looking out for a wife with a fortune, determined to do the brewer what he termed "a good turn," in confiding to him a certain professional secret which he had learnt by accident, and of which he was supposed to be wholly ignorant.
"the very man i've been wanting to see for the last week or more," said tuttle to the elder keymer, next time they met. "rather a curious thing happened to me about ten days ago, which i want to tell you about. i'll turn and walk part of the way with you, if you don't mind. well, you must know that one forenoon i had occasion to visit the strong room which opens out of the governor's private office, in order to obtain some title-deeds which were wanted, but which i was not at once able to find, owing to their having been misplaced. while thus engaged, the governor rang his bell for mr. dix, the managing clerk. i suppose the old boy, who is beginning to break up, and whose memory fails him strangely at times, had quite forgotten that i was there within hearing. but be that as it may, he proceeded to give dix instructions for the drawing up of a couple of wills, the particulars of which he was to keep strictly to himself. the wills in question were those of the two miss thursbys of vale view house. the governor talks in a low voice, and mumbles a good deal, so that i was not able to catch all he said; but i picked up enough to satisfy myself that, with the exception of a few hundreds, to be distributed amongst various charities, an annuity to an old servant, and a few minor legacies, the whole of the property of both sisters is bequeathed to the young lady known as miss ethel thursby--their niece, i believe she is. of course, i can only make a rough guess as to the value of the property in question, which seems to consist chiefly of securities of various kinds; but there's no doubt in my mind that, if realised, it would mount up to a respectable number of thousands. that being the case, cousin bob, it might be worth your boy's while to make up to the heiress, who is, i believe, a very pretty girl into the bargain. but not a word to a soul of what i've just told you, unless you want me to lose my berth and be ruined for life."
the hint thus afforded was too precious not to be followed up and acted upon.
launce keymer had already been introduced to ethel, he having met her on two or three occasions at garden parties and other gatherings of young people. he had admired her for the time being, as he admired every pretty girl he met, and had thought no more about her. truth to tell, ethel was not the kind of girl to attract more than a passing glance of admiration from the brewer's son. she was too quietly dignified and "stand-offish"; she was lacking in dash and "go"; she was one of those girls whom he felt instinctively it would be unwise to talk slang to; there was something about her which, when in her company, compelled him to be upon his best behaviour; he never felt quite what he termed "at home" with her; as a consequence of which, while always smilingly polite to her, he had rather shunned than sought her society.
when the brewer had told his son that he must either change his mode of life, or marry a girl with money, the latter had pertinently asked: "where am i to find her?" that there was an overplus of marriageable young women at st. oswyth's, as there is in all small provincial towns, was a melancholy fact which could not be gainsaid, nor that many of them were nice girls, carefully brought up, well educated, and in every way fitted to make a reasonable man happy; but, alas! they were one and all comparatively poor. several of them had small dowries, and would inherit something considerable at the death of their parents; but 'tis ill waiting for dead men's shoes, and launce keymer's needs were those of the immediate future. meantime, while waiting for the coming heiress, he flirted to his heart's content, but, so far as was known, contrived to steer clear of any serious entanglement.
and now, lo and behold! the heiress was here--had been here, at his elbow all the time, without his having had the least suspicion of the fact.
no long time was allowed to elapse after the interview between mr. keymer and his cousin before launce began to seize every opportunity that came in his way to pay assiduous court to the heiress of vale view. there was a good deal of quiet gaiety in st. oswyth's that winter and spring, and they met on a number of occasions. it is not needful that we should linger over what came to pass. launce, with a cleverness which, in a better cause, would have done him credit, did his best to adapt himself to what he called ethel's "quaker-like ways," toning himself down, so to speak, when in her presence, content to feel his way gradually, and not to startle her by too premature a declaration of his love, or what he wished her to regard as such. as already stated, he was both handsome and plausible. ethel had never had such attentions paid her by any one else, and, almost before she knew what had befallen her, her heart had capitulated. when he had, as he conceived, sufficiently paved the way, launce seized an opportunity to press his suit with well-simulated ardour, and succeeded in winning from the shrinking girl a half-reluctant consent, which, as soon as the glamour of his presence was removed, sent her to her chamber, there to shed tears which had in them a sting of poignant regret.
but she had passed her word, and she was too loyal to attempt to recall it. as the days went on, she strove to persuade herself that she had not made a mistake, but that she really did love launce, and it may be that she gradually succeeded in hoodwinking herself into such a belief. yet at times there was a strange aching void in her heart which puzzled and frightened her. she had always understood that when people were in love it was for them a season of unalloyed happiness; but she, alas! was far from happy.
and then there was that hateful promise which launce had extracted from her, not to speak of their engagement to any one till he should give her leave to do so. it was only for a few weeks, he told her, probably a month at the most, that he asked her to keep unbroken silence. private reasons of an imperative nature compelled him to ask this favour at her hands. she had yielded to his importunity, but none the less did she realise how disloyal it was on her part to have a secret--and such a secret--locked up from her aunts.
the fact was that launce keymer, unknown to his father, or any one at st. oswyth's, had for some time past been making love to a pretty nursery governess at dulminster, the county town, a dozen miles away, to which place he ran over by train on a couple of evenings in each week. furthermore, he had been infatuated enough--and he now reviled himself in bitter terms for his folly--to write her a number of compromising letters, such as if produced in an action for breach of promise would infallibly land him in heavy damages. he knew that hetty blair had more than one correspondent in st. oswyth's, and that, if the news of his engagement with ethel thursby were once made public, it could scarcely fail to reach her ears. not that he would have minded that in the least, if hetty had only burnt or otherwise destroyed those fatal letters. but, as he was well aware, she had done nothing of the kind. he had seen them with his own eyes, tied round with white ribbon, where they lay in the girl's old-fashioned workbox which stood on the top of the bureau in her mother's little parlour, and his object was to get them back into his own hands before his engagement to ethel got noised abroad. that once accomplished, he felt that he could afford to snap his fingers at miss hetty blair.
it may seem strange that such a cool, calculating, mercenary fellow as launce keymer should so far have run counter to all the principles by which it was his ambition to regulate his life as to permit himself to fall in love with a young person who was compelled to work for her daily bread. but it was just one of those things which occasionally come to pass, as if to upset all one's preconceived notions of what we poor mortals think ought to happen, and to prove by what contradictory impulses hearts the most calculating and unemotional are sometimes swayed, as by a force they are powerless to resist.
hetty blair was a pretty brunette, with sparkling black eyes, full ripe lips, and a vivacious, not to say saucy, manner. she was genuinely in love with keymer, and jealously miserable, although she strove to hide the fact from her lover, because for five evenings out of seven she saw nothing of him, and had no assurance that he was not making love to some one else at st. oswyth's--which was precisely what he was doing.
miss blair, who at this time was filling the post of day-governess to the two young children of a major on half-pay, had her home with her mother in a little cottage in a suburb of dulminster. keymer was in the habit of visiting hetty twice a week, on wednesdays, when the girl's pupils were allowed a half-holiday, and on saturdays, when business with the young brewer was over at an early hour; consequently, when he made an unexpected appearance at the cottage on a certain thursday afternoon, when he was fully aware that hetty was from home, mrs. blair could not refrain from expressing her surprise. his explanation was, that having to come to dulminster on business for his father, he could not resist the temptation of arranging a little surprise for hetty. accordingly, he had brought her a bouquet of hothouse flowers, and one of those delicious madeira cakes of which she was so fond, and if mrs. blair would so far oblige him as to step upstairs, where she kept her little cellaret, and bring down one of those half dozen of choice bottles of port he had once sent her, he should feel that his little surprise was complete.
mrs. blair did not object in the least. she had a weakness for port, as launce, who was a great favourite with her, was quite aware. accordingly she trotted slowly upstairs, for she was somewhat infirm, leaving keymer alone, smoking his cigar in the little parlour, and he was still occupied in the same harmless fashion when she returned, ten minutes later. but in the interim he had contrived either to pick or force the lock of hetty's workbox and obtain possession of his letters. presently he took his leave. his father, he explained, would expect him back by six o'clock at the latest; but of course he should see hetty as usual on saturday.
it was on the day prior to ethel thursby's birthday that launce keymer regained possession of his letters.
