the days went on, and dr. rane's house was being made ready for the reception of the bride. no time could be lost, as the wedding tour was intended to be so short a one. as jelly said, they would be at home before folk could look round. mrs. cumberland presented the new carpet for the drawing-room; the furniture that had been the first mrs. north's, arrived from dallory hall. molly green arrived with it, equally to take up her abode in the house of dr. rane. the arranging of these things, with the rest of the preparations, was carried on with a considerable amount of bustle and gossip, jelly being at the doctor's house continually, and constituting herself chief mistress of the ceremonies. phillis and molly green, with native humility, deferred to her in all things.
it was said in a previous chapter that jelly was one of those who retained an interest in the anonymous letter. she had a special cause for it. jelly in her propensity to look into her neighbours' affairs, was given to taking up any mysterious cause, and making it her own. her love of the marvellous was great, her curiosity insatiable. but jelly's interest in this matter was really a personal one and concerned herself. it was connected with timothy wilks.
amongst jelly's other qualities and endowments, might be ranked one that was pre-eminent--love of admiration. jelly could not remember to have been without an "acquaintance" for above a month at a time since the days when she left off pinafores. no sooner did she quarrel with one young man and dismiss him, than she took up another. dallory wondered that of all her numerous acquaintances she had never married: but, as jelly coolly said, to have a suitor at your beck and call was one thing, and to be tied to a husband was quite another. so jelly was jelly still; and perhaps it might be conceded that the fault was her own. she liked her independence.
the reigning "acquaintance" at this period happened to be timothy wilks. jelly patronized him; he was devoted to her. there was a trifling difference in their ages--some ten years probably, and all on jelly's side--but such a disparity had often happened before. jelly had distinguished tim by the honour of taking him to be her young man; and when the damaging whisper fell upon him, that he had probably written the anonymous letter resulting in the death of edmund north, jelly resented the aspersion far more than timothy did. "i'll find out who did do it, if it costs me a year's wages and six months' patience," avowed jelly to herself in the first burst of indignation.
but jelly found she could not arrive at that satisfactory result any sooner than other people. it is true, she possessed a slight clue that they did not, in the few memorable words she had overheard that moonlight night between her mistress and dr. rane, but they did not assist her. the copy of the letter was said to have dropped out of dr. rane's pocketbook on somebody's carpet, and he denied that it had so dropped. neither more nor less could jelly make of the matter than this: and she laboured under the disadvantage of not being able to speak of what she had overheard, unless she confessed that she had been a listener. considering who had been the speakers, jelly did not choose to do that. from that time until this, quite two months, had the matter rankled in jelly's mind; she had kept her ears open and put cautious questions whenever she thought they might avail, and all to no purpose. but in this, the first week of july, jelly had a little light thrown on the clue by molly green. the very day that damsel arrived at dr. rane's as helpmate to phillis, and jelly had gone in with her domineering orders, the conversation happened to turn on plum-pudding--phillis having made a currant-dumpling for dinner, and let the water get into it--and molly green dropped a few words which jelly's ears caught up. they were only to the effect that mrs. gass had asked her whether she did not let fall on her carpet a receipt for making plum-pudding, the night of edmund north's attack; which receipt mrs. gass had said, might have belonged to madam, and been brought from the hall by molly green's petticoats. jelly put a wary question or two to the girl, and then let the topic pass without further comment. that same evening she betook herself to mrs. gass, acting craftily. "where's that paper that was found on your carpet the night edmund north was taken?" asked jelly boldly. upon which mrs. gass was seized with astonishment so entire that in the moment's confusion she made one or two inconvenient admissions, just stopping short of the half-suspicion she had entertained of dr. rane.
in the days gone by, when mrs. gass was a servant herself, jelly's relatives--really respectable people--had patronized her. mrs. gass was promoted to what she was; but she assumed no fine airs in consequence, as the reader has heard, and she and jelly had remained very good friends. vexed with herself for having incautiously admitted that the paper found was the copy of the anonymous letter, mrs. gass turned on jelly and gave her a sharp reprimand for taking her unawares, and for trying to pry into what did not concern her. jelly came away, not very much wiser than she went, but with a spirit of unrest that altogether refused to be soothed. she dared not pursue the inquiry openly, out of respect to her mistress and dr. rane, but she resolved to pump molly green. this same molly was niece to the people with whom timothy wilks lodged, and rather more friendly with the latter gentleman than jelly liked.
on the following morning when jelly had swallowed her breakfast, she went into the next house with her usual want of ceremony. phillis and molly green were on their knees laying down the new carpet in the drawing-room, tugging and hammering to the best of their ability, their gowns pinned round their waists, their sleeves up to the elbows; phillis little and old, and weak-looking; molly a comely girl of twenty, with rosy cheeks.
"well, you must be two fools!" was jelly's greeting, after taking in appearances. "as if you could expect to put down a heavy brussels yourselves! why didn't you get turtle's men here? they served the carpet, and they ought to put it down."
"they promised to be here at seven o'clock this morning, and now it's nine," mildly responded phillis, her pleasant dark eyes raised to jelly's. "we thought we'd try and do it ourselves, so as to be able to get the table and chairs in, and the room finished. perhaps turtles have forgot it."
"i'd forget them, i know, if it was me, when i wanted to buy another carpet," said jelly, tartly.
but, even as she spoke, a vehicle was heard to stop at the gate. inquisitive jelly looked from the window, and recognized it as turtle's. it seemed to contain one or two pieces of new furniture. phillis did not know that any had been coming, and went out. molly green rose from her knees, and stood regarding the carpet. this was jelly's opportunity.
"now, then!" she cried sharply, confronting the girl with imperious gesture. "did you drop that, or did you not, molly green?"
molly green seemed quite bewildered by the address--as well she might be. "drop what?" she asked.
"that plum-pudding receipt on mrs. gass's parlour carpet."
"well, i never!" returned molly after a pause of surprise. "what is it to you, jelly, if i did?"
now the girl only spoke so by way of retort; in a spirit of banter. jelly, hardly believing her ears, accepted it as an admission that she had dropped it. and so the two went floundering on, quite at cross-purposes.
"don't stare at me like that, molly green. i want a straightforward answer. did it drop from your skirts?"
"it didn't drop from my hands. as to staring, it's you that's doing that, jelly, not me."
"where had you picked up the receipt? out of mr. edmund north's room?"
"out of mr. edmund north's room!" echoed molly in wonder. "whatever should have brought me doing that?"
"it was the night he was taken ill."
"and if it was! i didn't go a-nigh him."
a frightful thought now came over jelly, turning her quite faint. what if the girl had gone to her aunt green's that night and picked the paper up there? in that case it could not fail to be traced home to timothy wilks.
"did you call in at your aunt's that same evening, molly green?"
"suppose i did?" retorted molly.
"and how dare you call in there, and bring--bring--receipts away with you surreptitious?" shrieked jelly in her anger.
molly green stooped to pick up the hammer lying at her feet, speaking quietly as she did so. some noise was beginning to be heard outside, caused by turtle's men getting a piano into the house, and phillis talking to them.
"i can't think what you are a-driving at, jelly. as to calling in at aunt's, i have a right to do it when i'm out, if time allows. which it had not that night, at any rate, for i never went nowhere but to the druggist's and mrs. gass's. i ran all the way to dallory, and ran back again; and i don't think i stopped to speak to a single soul, but timothy wilks."
jelly's spirits, which had been rising, fell to wrath again at the name. "you'd better say you got it from him, molly green. don't spare him, poor fellow; whiten yourself."
molly was beginning to feel just a little wrathful in her turn. though jelly was a lady's-maid and superior to herself with her red arms and rough hands, that could be no reason for attacking her in this way.
"and what if i did get it from him, pray? a plum-pudding prescription's no crime."
"but a copy of an anonymous letter is," retorted jelly, the moment's anger causing her to forget caution. "don't you try to brazen it out to me, girl."
"what?" cried molly, staring with all her eyes.
but in a moment jelly's senses had come back to her. she set herself coolly to remedy the mischief.
"to think that my mind should have run off from the pudding-receipt to that letter of poor mr. edmund's! it's your fault, molly green, bothering my wits out of me! where did you pick up the paper? there. answer that; and let's end it."
molly thought it might be as well to end it; she was growing tired of the play: besides, here were turtle's men coming into the room to finish the carpet.
"i never had the receipt at all, jelly, and it's not possible it could have dropped from me: that's the blessed truth. after talking to me, just as you've done, and turning me inside out, as one may say, mrs. gass as good as confessed that it might have fell out of her own bundle of receipts that she keeps in the sideboard drawer."
slowly, jelly arrived at a conviction that molly green, in regard to knowing nothing about the paper, must be telling the truth. it did not tend to lessen her anger.
"then why on earth have you been keeping up this farce with me? i'll teach you manners with your betters, girl."
"well, why did you set upon me?" was the good-humoured answer. "there's no such great treason in dropping a plum-pudding-receipt, even if i had done it--which i didn't. i don't like to be brow-beat for nothing: and it's not your place to do it, jelly."
jelly said no more. little did she suspect that mr. richard north, leaning against the door-post of the half-open drawing-room door, whilst he watched the movements of the men, had heard every syllable of the colloquy. coming round to see what progress was being made in the house, before he went to the works for the day, it chanced that he arrived at the same time as turtle's cart. the new piano was a present from himself to bessy.
turtle's men leaving the piano in the hall, went into the room to finish the carpet, and jelly came out of it. she found her arm touched by mr. richard north. he motioned her into the dining-room: followed, and closed the door.
"will you tell me the meaning of what you have just been saying to molly green?"
the sudden question--as jelly acknowledged to herself afterwards--made her creep all over. for once in her life she was dumb.
"i heard all you said, jelly, happening to be standing accidentally at the door. what was it that was dropped on mrs. gass's carpet the night of my brother's illness?"
"it--was--a receipt for making plum-pudding, sir," stammered jelly, turning a little white.
"i think not, jelly," replied richard north, gazing into her eyes with quiet firmness. "you spoke of a copy of an anonymous letter; and i am sure, by your tone, you were then speaking the truth. as i have overheard so much, you must give me a further explanation."
"i'd have spent a pound out of my pocket, rather than this should have happened," cried jelly, with much ardour.
"you need not fear to tell me. i am no tattler, as you know."
had there been only the ghost of a chance to stand out against the command, jelly would have caught at it. but there was none. she disclosed what she knew: more than she need have done. warming with her subject, when the narrative had fairly set in--as it was in jelly's gossiping nature to warm--she also told of the interview she had been a partial witness to between mrs. cumberland and the doctor, and the words she had overheard.
richard north looked grave--startled. he said very little: only cautioned jelly never to speak of the subject again to other people.
"i suppose you will be asking mrs. gass about it, sir," cried jelly, as he was turning to leave.
"i shall. and should be thankful to hear from her that it really was nothing more than a receipt for plum-pudding, jelly."
jelly's head gave an incredulous toss. "i hope you'll not let her think that i up and told you spontaneous, mr. richard. after saying to her that i should never open my lips about it to living mortal, she'd think i can't keep my word, sir."
"be at ease, jelly; she shall not suppose i learnt it by any thing but accident."
"and i am glad he knows it, after all!" decided jelly to herself, as she watched him away up the ham. "perhaps he'll now be able to get at the rights and the wrongs of the matter."
richard north walked along, full of trouble. it could not be but that he should have taken up a suspicion that oliver rane--now his brother-in-law--might have been the author of the anonymous letter. how, else, could its copy have dropped from his pocketbook--if, indeed, it had so dropped? jelly had not thrown so much as a shadow of hint upon the doctor; either she failed to see the obvious inference, or controlled herself to caution: but richard north could put two-and-two together. he went straight to mrs. gass's, and found that lady at breakfast in her dining-room, with window thrown up to the warm summer air.
"what is it you, mr. richard?" she cried, rising to shake hands. "i'm a'most ashamed to be found breakfasting at this hour; but the truth is, i overslept myself: and that idiot of a girl never came to tell me the time. the first part of the night i had no sleep at all: 'twas three o'clock before i closed my eyes."
"were you not well?" asked richard.
"i'd a touch of my pain; nothing more. which is indigestion, dr. rane says: and he's about right. is it a compliment to ask you to take some breakfast, mr. richard? the eggs are fresh, and here's some downright good tea."
richard answered that it would be only a compliment; he had breakfasted with his father and arthur bohun before leaving home. his eyes ran dreamily over the white damask cloth, as if he were admiring what stood on it; the pretty china, the well-kept silver, the vase of fresh roses. mrs. gass liked to have things nice about her, although people called her vulgar. in reality richard saw nothing. his mind was absorbed with what he had to ask, and with how he should ask it.
in a pause, made by mrs. gass's draining her cup of tea, richard north bent forward and opened the communication, speaking in low and confidential tones.
"i have come to you thus early for a little information, mrs. gass. will you kindly tell me what were the contents of the paper that was found here on your carpet, the night of edmund's seizure?"
from the look that mrs. gass's countenance assumed at the question, it might have been thought that she was about to have a seizure herself. her eyes grew round, her cheek and nose red. for a full minute she made no answer.
"what cause can you have to ask me that, mr. richard? you can't know nothing about it."
"yes, i can; and do. i know that such a paper was found; i fear it was a copy of the anonymous letter. but i have come to you for particulars."
"my patience!" ejaculated mrs. gass. "to think you should have got hold of it at last. who in the world told you, sir?"
"jelly. but----"
"drat that girl!" warmly interposed mrs. gass. "her tongue is as long as from here to yonder."
"but not intentionally, i was about to add. i overheard her say a chance word, and i insisted upon her disclosing to me what she knew. there is no blame due to jelly, mrs. gass."
"i say yes there is, mr. richard. what right has she to blab out chance words about other folk's business? let her stick to her own. that tongue of hers is worse than a steam-engine; once set going, it won't be stopped."
"well, we will leave jelly. it may be for the better that i should know this. tell me all about it, my dear old friend."
thus adjured, mrs. gass spoke; telling the tale from the beginning. richard listened in silence.
"he denied that it came out of his pocketbook?" was the first remark he made.
"denied it out and out. and then my thoughts turned naturally to molly green; for no other stranger had been in the room but them two. he said perhaps she had brought it in her petticoats from the hall; but i don't think it could have been. i'm afraid--i'm afraid, mr. richard--that it must have dropped from his pocketbook."
their eyes met: each hesitating to speak out the conviction lying at heart, notwithstanding there had been confidential secrets between them before to-day. richard was thinking that he ought not to have married bessy--at least, until it was cleared up.
"why did you not tell me, mrs. gass?"
"it was in my mind to do so--i said a word or two--but then, you see, i couldn't think it was him that wrote it," was her answer. "mrs. cumberland told me she saw the anonymous letter itself; mr. north showed it her; and that it was not a bit like any handwriting she ever met with. suppose he is innocent--would it have been right for me to come out with a tale, even to you, mr. richard, that he might have been guilty?"
on this point richard said no more. all the talking in the world now could not undo the marriage, and he was never one to reproach uselessly. mrs. gass resumed.
"if i had spoke ever so, i don't suppose it would have altered things, mr. richard. there was no proof; and, failing that, you wouldn't have liked to say anything at all to miss bessy. any way they are man and wife now."
"i hope--i hope he did not write it!" said richard, fervently.
mrs. gass gave a sweep with her arm to all the china together, as she bent her earnest face nearer to richard's.
"let's remember this much to our comfort, mr. richard: if it was him, he never thought to harm a hair of your brother's head. he must have wrote it to damage alexander. oliver rane has looked upon alexander as his mortal enemy--as a man who did him a right down bad turn and spoilt his prospects--as a man upon whom it was a'most a duty to be revenged."
"do you think this?" cried richard, rather at sea.
"no; but i say he thinks it. he never meant worse nor better by the letter than to drive alexander away from the place where, as rane fancies, he only had a footing by treachery. that is, if he wrote it. sometimes i think he did, and sometimes i think he didn't."
"what is to be done?"
"nothing. you can do nothing. you and me must just bury it between us, sir, for miss bessy's sake. it would be a nasty thing for her if a whisper of this should go abroad, let him be as innocent as the babe unborn. they are fond of one another, and it would just be a cruelty to have stopped the marriage with this. he is a well-intentioned man, and i don't see but what they'll be happy together. let us hope that he has made his peace with the lord, and that it won't be visited upon him."
"amen!" was the mental response of richard north.
