 This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Armadale by Wilkie Collins book the second chapter five mother older Shaw on her guard one From Mrs. Older Shaw Diana Street Pimlico to Miss Guilt West Place old Brompton Ladies toilet repository June 20th eight in the evening my dear Lydia about three hours have passed as well as I can remember Since I pushed you unceremoniously inside my house in West Place and Merely telling you to wait till you saw me again banged the door to between us and left you alone in the hall I know your sensitive nature my dear and I am afraid you have made up your mind by this time that never yet Was a guest treated so abominably and by her hostess as I have treated you The delay that has prevented me from explaining my strange conduct is believe me a delay for which I am not to blame One of the many delicate little difficulties which beset so essentially confidential a business as mine occurred here as I have since discovered while we were taking the air this afternoon in Kensington Gardens. I See no chance of being able to get back to you for some hours to come And I have a word of very urgent caution for your private ear which has been too long delayed already So I must use the spare minutes as they come and write Here is caution the first on no account venture outside the door again this evening and be very careful while the daylight lasts Not to show yourself at any of the front windows. I have reason to fear that a certain charming person now staying with me May possibly be watched don't be alarmed and don't be impatient. You shall know why I can only explain myself by going back to our unlucky meeting in the gardens with that reverend gentleman who was so obliging as to follow Us both back to my house It crossed my mind just as we were close to the door that there might be a motive for the Parsons anxiety to trace us home Far less credible to his taste and far more dangerous to both of us than the motive you supposed him to have In plainer words Lydia I rather doubted whether you had met with another admirer and I strongly suspected that you had encountered another enemy instead There was no time to tell you this. There was only time to see you safe into the house and to make sure of the Parsons In case my suspicions were right by treating him as he had treated us. I mean by following him in his turn I kept some little distance behind him at first to turn the thing over in my mind and to be satisfied that my doubts Were not misleading me. We have no concealments from each other and you shall know what my doubts were It was not surprised. I was not surprised at your recognizing him He is not at all a common-looking old man and you had seen him twice in Somerset Shire Once when you asked your way of him to Mrs. Armadale's house and once when you saw him again on your way back to the Railroad but I was a little puzzled Considering that you had your veil down on both these occasions and your veil down also when we were in the gardens at his recognizing you I Doubted his remembering your figure in a summer dress after he had only seen it in a winter dress And though we were talking when he met us and your voice is one among your many charms I doubted his remembering your voice either and yet I felt persuaded that he knew you how you will ask My dear as ill luck would have it. We were speaking at the time of young armadale I firmly believed that the name was the first thing that struck him And when he heard that your voice certainly and your figure perhaps came back into his memory And what if it did you may say? Think again Lydia and tell me whether the person of the place where Mrs. Armadale lived was not likely to be Mrs. Armadale's friend if he was her friend the very first person to whom she would apply for advice after the manner in which you Frightened her and after what you most Injudiciously set on the subject of appealing to her son would be the clergyman of the parish and the magistrate too as the landlord at the Inn himself told you You will now understand why I left you in that extremely uncivil manner and I may go on to what happened next I Followed the old gentleman till he turned into a quiet street and then accosted him with respect for the church written I flatter myself in every line of my face Will you excuse me? I said if I venture to inquire sir whether you recognize the lady who was walking with me when you happened to pass us in the gardens Will you excuse my asking ma'am? Why you put that question was all the answer. I got I Will endeavor to tell you sir. I said if my friend is not an absolute stranger to you I should wish to request your attention to a very delicate subject connected with a lady deceased and with her son who survives her He was staggered I could see that but he was sly enough at the same time to hold his tongue and wait till I said something more If I am wrong sir in thinking that you recognized my friend I went on I begged to apologize But I could hardly suppose it possible that a gentleman in your profession would follow a lady home who was a total stranger to him There I had him he colored up fancy that at his age and Owned the truth in defense of his own precious character. I Have met with the lady once before and I acknowledged that I recognized her in the gardens He said you will excuse me if I decline entering into the question of whether I did or did not purposely follow her home If you wish to be assured that your friend is not an absolute stranger to me You now have that assurance and if you have anything particular to say to me I leave you to decide whether the time has come to say it He waited and looked about I waited and looked about He said the street was hardly a fit place to speak of a delicate subject in I Said the street was hardly a fit place to speak of a delicate subject in He didn't offer to take me to where he lived. I didn't offer to take him to where I lived Have you ever seen two strange cats my dear nose-to-nose on the tiles if you have you have seen the person in me done to the life Well ma'am. He said at last shall we go on with our conversation in spite of circumstances Yes, sir. I said we are both of us fortunately of an age to set circumstances at defiance I had seen the old wretch looking at my gray hair and satisfying himself that his character was safe if he was seen with me After all the snapping and snarling we came to the point at last I began by telling him that I feared his interest in you was not of the friendly sort He admitted that much of course in defense of his own character once more I next repeated to him everything you had told me about your proceedings in Somerset Shire when we first found that he was following us home Don't be alarmed my dear. I was acting on principle if you want to make a dish of lies Digestible always give it a garnish of truth Well having appealed to the Reverend Gentleman's confidence in this matter I next declared that you had become an altered woman since he had seen you last I revived that dead wretch your husband without mentioning names of course Established him the first place I thought of in business at the Brazils and Described a letter which he had written offering to forgive his airing wife if she would repent and go back to him I assured the person that your husband's noble conduct had softened your obdurate nature and Then thinking I had produced the right impression. I came boldly to close quarters with him I said at the very time when you met us sir My unhappy friend was speaking in terms of touching self-reproach of her conduct to the late Mrs. Armadale She confided to me her anxiety to make some atonement if possible to Mrs. Armadale's son And it is at her entreaty for she cannot prevail on herself to face you that I now beg To inquire whether mr. Armadale is still in Somerset Shire and whether he would consent to take back in small Installments the sum of money which my friend acknowledges that she received by practicing on Mrs. Armadale's fears Those were my very words a neater story Accounting so nicely for everything was never told it was a story to melt a stone But this Somerset Shire parson is harder than stone itself I blush for him my dear when I assure you that he was evidently insensible enough to disbelieve every word I said about your reformed character your husband in the brazils and your penitent anxiety to pay the money back It is really a disgrace that such a man should be in the church Such cunning as his is in the last degree unbecoming in a member of the sacred profession Does your friend propose to join her husband by the next steamer was all he condescended to say when I had done I Acknowledge I was angry. I snapped at him. I said yes, she does How am I to communicate with her he asked I snapped at him again by letter through me at what address ma'am There I had him once more You have found my address out for yourself, sir I said the directorie will tell you my name if you wish to find that out for yourself also Otherwise you are welcome to my card Many thanks ma'am. If your friend wishes to communicate with mr. Armadale. I will give you my card in return Thank you, sir. Thank you ma'am. Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon ma'am So we parted I went my way to an appointment at my place of business and he went his in a hurry Which is of itself suspicious what I can't get over is his heartlessness Haven't helped the people who send for him to comfort them on his their deathbeds The next consideration is what are we to do if we don't find out the right way to keep this old wretch in the dark He may be the ruin of us at Thorpe Ambrose just as we are with an easy reach of our end in view Wait up till I come to you with my mind free. I hope from the other difficulty which is worrying me here Was there ever such ill luck as ours? Only think of that man deserting his congregation and coming to London just at the very time when we have answered major Milroy's advertisement and may expect the inquiries to be made next week I have no patience with him his bishop ought to interfere affectionately yours Maria older Shaw to from Miss Guilt to Mrs. Older Shaw West Place June 20th My poor old dear how very little you know of my sensitive nature as you call it Instead of feeling offended when you left me I went to your piano and forgot all about you till your messenger came your letter is Irresistible I have been laughing over it till I am quite out of breath of all the absurd stories I ever read the story you addressed to the summer set Shire clergyman is the most ridiculous and as for your Interview with him in the street. It is a perfect sin to keep it to ourselves The public ought really to enjoy it in the form of a farce at one of the theaters Luckily for both of us to come to serious matters Your messenger is a prudent person. He sent upstairs to know if there was an answer in the midst of my Marryment, I had the presence of mind enough to send downstairs and say yes Some brood of a man says in some book which I once read that no woman can keep two separate trains of ideas in her mind at the same time I Declare you have almost satisfied me that the man is right What when he when you have escaped unnoticed to your place of business and when you suspect this house to be watched You propose to come back here and to put it in the person's power to recover the lost trace of you What madness stop where you are and when you have got over your difficulty at Pimlico It is some woman's business. Of course what worries women are Be so good as to read what I have got to say about our difficulty at Brompton In the first place the house as you supposed is watched Half an hour after you left me loud voices in the street interrupted me at the piano and I went to the window There was a cab at the house opposite where they let lodgings and an old man who looked like a respectable Servant was wrangling with the driver about his fare an elderly gentleman came out of the house and stopped them an Elderly gentleman returned into the house and appeared cautiously at the front drawing room window You know him you worthy creature He had the bad taste some few hours since to doubt whether you were telling him the truth Don't be afraid. He didn't see me when he looked up after settling with the cab driver. I was behind the curtain I have been behind the curtain once or twice since and I have seen enough to satisfy me that he and his servant Will relieve each other at the window so as never to lose sight of your house here night or day That the person suspects the real truth is of course impossible But that he firmly believes I mean some mischief to young armadale and that you have entirely confirmed him in that Conviction is as plain as that two and two make four and this has happened as you helplessly remind me Just when we have answered the advertisement and when we may expect the major's inquiries to be made in a few days time Surely here is a terrible situation for two women to find themselves in a Fiddlesticks end for the situation We have got an easy way out of it Thanks mother older Shaw to what I myself forced you to do not three hours before the Somerset Shire clergyman met with us Has that venomous little quarrel of ours this morning after we had pounced on the major's advertisement in the newspaper? Quite slipped out of your memory Have you forgotten how I persisted in my opinion that you were a great deal too well known in London to appear safely as my Reference in your own name or to receive an inquiring lady or gentleman as you were rash enough to propose in your own house Don't you remember what a passion you were in when I brought our dispute to an end by declining to stir a step in the matter Unless I could conclude my application to major Millroy by referring him to an address at which you were totally unknown and To a name which might be anything you pleased as long as it was not yours What a look you gave me when you found there was nothing for it But to drop the whole speculation or to let me have my own way How you fumed over the lodging hunting on the other side of the park and how you groaned when you came back possessed of furnished Apartments in respectable base water over the useless expense. I had put you to What do you think of those furnished apartments now you obstinate old woman here? We are with discovery threatening us at our very door and with no hope of escape unless we can contrive to disappear from the parson in the dark and There are the lodgings in base water to which no inquisitive strangers have traced either you or me Ready and waiting to swallow us up the lodgings in which we can escape all further molestation and answer the major's inquiries at our ease Can you see it last a little further than your poor old nose? Is there anything in the world to prevent your safe disappearance from Pimlico tonight and your safe establishment at the new lodgings in the Character of my respectable reference half an hour afterward. Oh Phi Phi mother-older Shaw go down on your wicked knees and thank your stars that you had a she-devil like me to deal with this morning Suppose we now come To the only difficulty worth mentioning my difficulty Watched as I am in this house. How am I to join you without bringing the parson or the parson's servant with me and my heels? Being to all intents and purposes a prisoner here It seems to me that I have no choice, but to try the old prison plan of escape a change of clothes I have been looking at your housemaid Except that we are both light her face and hair and my face and hair are as unlike each other as possible But she is as nearly as can be my height and size and if she only knew how to dress Herself and head smaller feet her figure is a very much better one than it ought to be for a person in her station of life My idea is to dress her in the clothes. I wore in the gardens today To send her out with our reverend enemy in full pursuit of her and as soon as the coast is clear to slip away Myself and join you the thing would be quite impossible of course if I had been seen with my veil up But as events have turned out it is one advantage of the horrible exposure Which followed my marriage that I seldom show myself in public and never of course in such a populist place as London Without wearing a thick veil and keeping that veil down If the housemaid wears my dress, I don't really see why the housemaid may not be counted on to represent me to the life The one question is can the woman be trusted if she can send me a line telling her on your authority That she is to place herself at my disposal. I won't say a word till I've heard from you first Let me have my answer tonight As long as we were only talking about my getting the governess's place I was careless enough how it ended but now that we have actually answered major Millroy's advertisement I'm an earnest at last. I mean to be Mrs. Armadale of Thorpe Ambrose and Woe to the man or woman who tries to stop me Yours Lydia Guilt PS I open my letter again to say that you need have no fear of your messenger being followed on his return to Pimlico He will drive to a public house where he is known Will dismiss the cab at the door and will go out again by a back way which is only used by the landlord and his friends LG 3 from Mrs. older Shaw to miss Guilt Diana Street 10 o'clock my dear Lydia You have written me a heartless letter if you had been in my trying position harassed as I was when I wrote to you I should have made allowances for my friend when I found my friend not so sharp as usual But the vice of the present age is a want of consideration for persons in the decline of life Morally speaking you are in a sad state my dear and you stand much in need of good example You shall have a good example. I forgive you Having now relieved my mind by the performance of good action Suppose I show you next though I protest against the vulgarity of the expression that I can see a little further than my poor old nose. I Will answer your question about the housemaid first You may trust her implicitly. She has had her troubles and has learned discretion She also looks your age that was only her due to say that in this particular She has some years the advantage of you. I enclose the necessary directions, which will place her entirely at your disposal And what comes next? Your plan for joining me at Bayswater comes next. It is very well as far as it goes But it stands sadly in need of a little judicious improvement There is a serious necessity you shall know why presently for deceiving the person far more completely than you propose to deceive him I want him to see the housemaid's face under circumstances, which will persuade him that it is your face And then going a step further. I want him to see the housemaid leave london Under the impression that he has seen you start on the first stage of your journey to the brazils He didn't believe in that journey when I announced it to him this afternoon in the street He may believe in it yet if you follow the the directions as I am now going to give you Tomorrow is saturday send the housemaid out in your walking dress of today just as you propose But don't stir out yourself and don't go near the window Desire the woman to keep her veil down to take half an hour's walk quite unconscious Of course of the parson or his servant at her heels and then come back to you As soon as she appears send her instantly to the open window Instructing her to lift her veil carelessly and look out Let her go away again after a minute or two Take off her bonnet and shawl and then appear once more at the window or better still in the balcony outside She may show herself again occasionally not too often Later in the day and tomorrow as we have a professional gentleman to deal with by all means center to church If these proceedings don't persuade the parson that the housemaid's face is your face And if they don't make him ready or to believe in your reformed character, then He was when I spoke to him. I have lived 60 years my love and this veil of tears to mighty little purpose The next day is monday I have looked at the shipping advertisements and I find that a steamer leaves Liverpool for the brazils on tuesday Nothing could be more convenient. We will start you on your voyage under the parson's own eyes. You may manage it this way At one o'clock send out the man who cleans the knives and forks to get a cab And when he has brought it up to the door let him go back and get a second cab Which he is to wait in himself around the corner in the square Let the housemaid still in your dress drive off with the necessary boxes in the first cab to the northwest and railway When she's gone slip out yourself to the cab waiting around the corner and come to me at bayswater there may be They may be prepared to follow your cab To follow the housemaid's cab because they have seen it at the door But they won't be prepared to follow your cab because it has been hidden around the corner When the housemaid has got to the station and has done her best to disappear in the crowd I have chosen the mixed train at 210 so as to give her every chance You will be safe with me and whether they do or do not find out that she is not Does not really start for Liverpool won't matter by that time They will have lost all trace of you and they may follow the housemaid half over london if they like She has my instructions enclosed to leave the empty boxes to find their way to the lost luggage office And to go to her friends in the city and stay there till I write word that I want her again And what is the object of all this? My dear Lydia the object is your future security and mine We may succeed or we may fail in persuading the person that you have actually gone to the brazils If we succeed we are relieved of all fear of him If we fail he will warn young armadale to be careful of a woman like my housemaid and not of a woman like you This last gain is a very important one for we don't know that mrs. Armadale may not have told him your maiden name In that event the misquilt whom he will describe as having slipped through his fingers here will be so entirely Unlike the misquilt established at Thor Ambrose has to satisfy everybody that it is not a case of similarity of persons But only a case of similarity of names What do you say now to my improvement on your idea? Are my brains not quite so adult as you thought them when you wrote? Don't suppose I'm at all over boastful about my own ingenuity Cleverer tricks than this trick of mine are played off on the public by swindlers and are recorded in the newspapers every week I only want to show you that my assistance is not less necessary it to the success of the armadale So speculation now than it was when I made our first important discoveries By means of a harmless looking young man and the private inquiry office in shady side place There is nothing more to say that I know of except that I am just going to start for the new lodging With a box directed in my new name The last expiring moments of mother older Shaw of the toilet repository are close at hand And the birth of misquilt's respectable reference. Mrs. Mandeville will take place in a cab in five minutes time I fancy I must be still young at heart for I am quite in love already with my romantic name It sounds almost as pretty as mrs. Armadale of Thor Ambrose doesn't it Good night my dear and pleasant dreams If any accident happens between this and monday write to me instantly by post If no accident happens you will be with me in excellent time for the earliest inquiries that the major can possibly make My last words are don't go out and don't venture near the front windows till monday comes affectionately yours mo end of book the second chapter five recording by dawn richmond virginia book the second chapter six of armadale This is a livery vox recording all livery vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer Please visit livery vox.org Recording by michael anthony petronic Armadale by wilkie collins chapter six midwinter in disguise Toward noon on the day of the 21st miss milroy was loitering in the cottage garden Released from duty in the sick room by an improvement in her mother's health When her attention was attracted by the sound of voices in the park One of the voices she instantly recognized as allen's the other was strange to her She put aside the branches of a shrub near the garden palings and peeping through Saw allen approaching the cottage gate in company with a slim dark undersized man Who was talking and laughing excitably at the top of his voice Miss milroy ran indoors to warn her father of mr. Armadale's arrival And to add that he was bringing with him a noisy stranger who was in all probability The friend generally reported to be staying with the squire at the great house Had the major's daughter guessed right Was the squire's loud talking loud laughing companion the shy sensitive midwinter of other times It was even so In allen's presence that morning an extraordinary change had passed over the ordinary quiet demeanor of allen's friend When midwinter had first appeared in the breakfast room after putting aside mr. Brock's startling letter allen had been too much occupied to pay any special attention to him The undecided difficulty of choosing the day for the audit dinner had pressed for a settlement once more And had been fixed at last under the butler's advice for saturday The 28th of the month It was only on turning round to remind midwinter of the ample space of time Which the new arrangement allowed for mastering the stewards books That even allen's flighty attention had been arrested by a marked change in the face that confronted him He had openly noticed a change in his usual blunt manner It had been instantly silenced by a fretful almost an angry reply The two had sat down together to breakfast without the usual cordiality And the meal had proceeded gloomily till midwinter himself broke the silence by bursting into the strange outbreak of gady Which had revealed in allen's eye a new side to the character of his friend As usual with most of allen's judgment here again the conclusion was wrong It was no new side to midwinter's character that now presented itself It was only a new aspect of the one ever recurring struggle of midwinter's life Irritated by allen's discovery of the change in him and dreading the next questions that allen's curiosity might put Midwinter had roused himself to efface by main force the impression which his own altered appearance had produced It was one of those efforts which no men compass so resolutely as the men of his quick temper and his sensitive feminine organization With his whole mind still possessed by the firm belief that the fatality had taken One great step nearer to allen and himself since the rector's adventure in kensington gardens Was his face still betraying what he had suffered under the renewed conviction that his father's deathbed warning was now In event after event asserting its terrible claim to part him at any sacrifice from the one human creature whom he loved With the fear still busy at his heart that the first mysterious vision of allen's dream might be a vision realized Before the new day that now saw the two armadales together was a day that had passed over their heads With these triple bronze wrought by his own superstition Fettering him at that moment as they had never fettered him yet He mercilessly spurred his resolution to the desperate effort of rivaling in allen's presence The gaiety and good spirits of allen himself He talked and laughed and heaped his plate indiscriminately from every dish on the breakfast table He made noisily marry with jests that had no humor and stories that had no point He first astonished allen then amused him then won his easily encouraged confidence on the subject of miss millroy He shouted with laughter over the sudden development of allen's views on marriage Until the servants downstairs began to think that their master's strange friend had gone mad Lastly He had accepted allen's proposal that he should be presented to the mage's daughter and judge of her for himself As readily nay more readily than it would have been accepted by the least different man living There the two now stood at the cottage gate midwinter's voice rising louder and louder over allen's Midwinter's natural manner disguised how madly and miserably none but he knew In a coarse masquerade of boldness the outrageous the unendurable boldness of a shy man They were received in the power by the mage's daughter pending the arrival of the mage himself allen attempted to present his friend in the usual form To his astonishment midwinter took the words flippantly out of his lips And introduced himself to miss millroy with a confident look a hard laugh And a clumsy assumption of ease which presented him at his worst His artificial spirits lashed continuously into higher and higher effervescence since the morning were now mounting hysterically beyond his own control He looked and spoke with that terrible freedom of license Which is the necessary consequence when a diffident man had thrown off his reserve of the very effort by which he has broken loose from his own restraints He involved himself in a confused medley of apologies that were not wanted And of compliments that might have overflattered the vanity of a savage He looked backward and forward from miss millroy to allen and declared jacosely that he understood now why his friend's morning walks Were always taken in the same direction He asked her questions about her mother and cut short the answers She gave him by remarks on the weather in one breath He said she must feel the day insufferably hot And in another he protested that he quite envied her in her cool muslin dress The major came in Before he could say two words midwinter overwhelmed him with the same frenzy of familiarity and the same feverish fluency of speech He expressed his interest in miss millroy's health in terms which have been exaggerated on the lips of a friend of the family He overflowed into a perfect flood of apologies for disturbing the major at his mechanical pursuits He quoted allen's extravagant account of the clock and expressed his own anxiety to see it in terms more extravagant still He paraded his superficial book knowledge of the great clock at strasburg With farfetched just on the extraordinary automaton figures, which the clock puts in motion On the procession of the twelve apostles, which walks out under the dial at noon And on the toy cock which crows at st. Peter's appearance and this before a man who had studied every wheel in that complex machinery and who had passed Whole years of his life in trying to imitate it I hear you have outnumbered the strasburg apostles and out crowded the strasburg cock He exclaimed with the tone and manner of friend habitually privileged to waive all ceremony And I am dying absolutely dying major to see your wonderful clock Major millroy had entered the room with his mind absorbed in his own mechanical contrivances as usual But the sudden shock of midwinter's familiarity was violent enough to recall him instantly to himself and to make him master again For the time of his social resources as a man of the world Excuse me for interrupting you he said stopping midwinter for the moment by a look of steady surprise I happen to have seen the clock at strasburg and it sounds almost absurd in my ears If you will pardon me for saying so to put my little experiment in any light of comparison with that wonderful achievement There is nothing else of the kind like it in the world He paused to control his own mounting enthusiasm The clock at strasburg was to major millroy what the name of michael angelo was to sir joshua reynolds Mr. Armadil's kindness has led him to exaggerate a little Pursued the major smiling at ellen and passing over another attempt of midwinter's to seized on the talk as if No such attempt had been made But as there does happen to be this one point of resemblance between the great clock abroad and the little clock at home That they both show what they can do on the stroke of noon And as it is close to on 12 now if you still wish to visit my workshop mr. Winter The sooner i show you the way to it the better He opened the door and apologized to midwinter with marked ceremony for proceeding him out of the room What do you think of my friend whispered ellen as he and miss millroy followed Must i tell you the truth mr. Armadil she whispered back of course Then i don't like him at all He's the best and dearest fellow in the world rejoined the outspoken ellen you'll like him better when you know him better I'm sure you will Miss millroy made a little grimace implying supreme indifference to midwinter and saucy surprise that ellen's earnest advocacy of the merits of his friend Has he got nothing more interesting to say to me than that she wondered privately after kissing my hand twice yesterday morning They were all in a major's work room before ellen had the chance of trying a more attractive subject There on top of a rough wooden case, which evidently contained the machinery was the wonderful clock The dial was crowned by a glass pedestal placed on rock work in carved ebony And on top of the pedestal set the inevitable figure of time with his everlasting sigh in his hand Below the dial was a little platform and at either end of it rose two miniature sentry boxes with closed doors externally This was all that appeared until the magic moment came when the clock struck 12 noon It wanted then about three minutes to 12 and major millroy seized the opportunity of explaining what the exhibition was to be before the exhibition began At the first words his mind fell back again into its old absorption over the one employment of his life He turned to midwinter who had persisted in talking all the way from the parlor and who was talking still Without a trace left in his manner of the cool and cutting composure, which he had spoken But a few minutes before the noisy familiar man who had been an ill-bred intruder in the parlor Became a privileged guest in the workshop for there He possessed the all-attoning social advantage of being new to the performances of the wonderful clock At the first stroke of 12. Mr. Midwinter said the major quite eagerly Keep your eye on the figure of time He will move his scythe and point it downward to the glass pedestal You will next see a little printed card appear behind the glass Which will tell you the day of the month and the day of the week At the last stroke of the clock time will lift his scythe again into its former position and the chimes will ring a peel The peel will be succeeded by the playing of a tune the favorite march of my old regiment And then the final performance of the clock will follow The sentry boxes which you may observe at each side will both open at the same moment In one of them you will see the sentinel appear and from the other a corporal and two privates will march across the platform To relieve the guard and will then disappear leaving the new sentinel at his post I must ask your kind allowances for this last part of the performance The machinery is a little complicated and there are defects in it Which i'm ashamed to say i have not yet succeeded in remedying as i could wish Sometimes the figures go all wrong and sometimes they go all right I hope they may do their best on the occasion of your seeing them for the first time As the major posted near his clock said the last words his little audience of three assembled at the opposite end of the Room saw the hour hand and the minute hand on the dial point together to 12 The first stroke sounded and time true to the signal moved his scythe The day of the month and the day of the week announced themselves in print through the glass pedestal next Mid-winter applauding their appearance with a noisy exaggeration of surprise Which miss millroyd mistook for course sarcasmo directed at her father's pursuits And which alan seeing that she was offended attempted to moderate by touching the elbow of his friend Meanwhile the performances of the clock went on and at the last stroke of 12 Time lifted his scythe again the chimes rang the march of the major's old regiment followed And the crowning exhibition of the relief of the guard announced itself in a preliminary trembling of the sentry boxes And a sudden disappearance of the major at the back of the clock The performance began with the opening of the sentry box on the right hand side of the platform As punctually as could be desired the door on the other side however was less tractable it remained obstinately closed Unaware of this hitch in the proceedings the corporal and his two privates appeared in their places in a state of perfect discipline Titled out across the platform all three trembling in every limb Dashed themselves headlong against the closed door on the other side and failed in producing the smallest impression Of the immovable sentry presumed to be within An intermittent clicking of the major's keys and tools at work was heard in the machinery The corporal and his two privates suddenly returned backward across the platform and shut themselves up with a bang inside their own door Exactly at that moment the other door opened for the first time And the provoking sentry appeared with the utmost deliberation at his post waiting to be relieved He was allowed to wait Nothing happened in the box But an occasional knocking inside the door as if the corporal and his privates were impatient to be let out The clinking of the major's tools was heard again among the machinery the corporal and his party suddenly restored to liberty Appeared in a violent hurry and spun furiously across the platform Quick as they were however the hitherto deliberate sentry on the other side now Perversely showed himself to be quicker still He disappeared like lightning into his own premises the door closed smartly after him The corporal and his privates dashed themselves headlong Against it for the second time and the major appearing again around the corner of the clock Asked his audience innocently if they would be good enough to tell him whether anything had gone wrong The fantastic absurdity of the exhibition heightened by major milroy's grave inquiry at the end of it Was so irresistibly ludicrous that the visitors shouted with laughter And even miss milroy with all her consideration for her father's sensitive pride in his clock Could not restrain herself from joining in the merriment which the catastrophe of the puppets had provoked But through our limits even to the license of laughter And these limits were air long so outrageously overstepped by one of the little party as to have the effect of almost instantly silencing the other two The fever of midwinter's false spirits flamed out into sheer delirium as the performance of the puppets came to an end His paroxysms of laughter followed each other with such convulsive violence that miss milroy started back from him in alarm And even the patient major turned on him with the look which said plainly leave the room Alan wisely impulsive for once in his life Seized midwinter by the arm and dragged him out by main force into the garden and thence into the park beyond Good heavens, what has come to you? He exclaimed shrinking back from the tortured face before him as he stopped and looked close at it for the first time For the moment midwinter was incapable of answering The hysterical paroxysm was passing from one extreme to the other He leaned against the tree sobbing and gasping for breath and stretched out his hand in a mutant treaty to alan to give him time You had better not have nursed me through my fever. He said faintly as soon as he could speak I'm mad and i'm miserable alan. I have never recovered it go back and ask them to forgive me I'm ashamed to go and ask them myself. I can't tell how it happened. I can only ask your pardon and theirs He turned his side his head quickly so as to conceal his face Don't stop here. He said don't look at me. I shall soon get over it alan still hesitated and begged hard to be allowed to take him back to the house It was useless You break my heart with your kindness. He burst out passionately for god's sake Leave me by myself alan went back to the cottage and pleaded there for indulgence to midwinter with an earnestness and simplicity Which raised him immensely in the major's estimation But which totally failed to produce the same favorable impression on miss milroy Little as she herself suspected it. She was fond enough of alan already to be jealous of alan's friend How excessively absurd she thought pettishly as if either papa or i considered such a person of the slightest consequence You will kindly suspend your opinion. Won't you major milroy said alan in his hearty way at parting With the greatest pleasure replied the major cordially shaking hands And you too miss milroy added alan Miss milroy made a merciless formal bow My opinion mr. Armadale is not of the slightest consequence alan left the cottage sorely puzzled to account for miss milroy's sudden coolness toward him His grand ideal of conciliating the whole neighborhood by becoming a married man Underwent some modification as he closed the garden gate behind him The virtue called prudence and the square of thorp ambrose became personally acquainted with each other on this occasion for the first time And alan entering headlong as usual on the high road to moral improvement Actually decided on doing nothing in a hurry A man who was entering in a course of reformation ought if virtue is its own reward To be a man engaged in an essentially inspiriting pursuit But virtue is its own reward And the way that leads to reformation is remarkably ill-lighted for so respectable a thoroughfare alan seemed to have caught the infection of his friend's despondency As he walked home he too began to doubt In his widely different way for his wildly different reasons Whether the life of thorp ambrose was promising quite as fairly for the future as it had promised at first End of chapter six recorded by michael anthony petronic Book the second chapter seven of armadale. This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Darvinia Armadale by Wilkie Collins chapter seven The plot thickens Two messages were waiting for alan when he returned to the house One had been left by midwinter He had gone out for a long walk and mr. Armadale was not to be alarmed if he did not get back to late in the day The other message had been left by a person from mr. Pedgif's office who had called according to appointment while the two gentlemen were away at the majors Mr. Bashwood's respects and he would have the honor of waiting on mr. Armadale again in the course of the evening Toward five o'clock midwinter returned pale and silent alan hastened to assure him that his piece was made at the cottage And then to change the subject mentioned mr. Bashwood's message Midwinter's mind was so preoccupied or so languid that he hardly seemed to remember the name alan was obliged to remind him that bashwood was the elderly clerk Whom mr. Pedgift had sent to be his instructor in the duties of the steward's office He listened without making any remark and withdrew to his room to rest till dinnertime Left by himself alan went into the library to try if he could while away the time over a book He took many volumes off the shelves and put a few of them back again and there he ended Miss millroy contrived in some mysterious manner to get in this case between the reader and the books Her formal bow and her merciless parting speech dwelt try how he might to forget them on alan's mind He began to grow more and more anxious as the idle hour wore on to recover his lost place in her favor To call again that day at the cottage and ask if he had been so unfortunate as to offend her was impossible To put the question in writing with the needful nicety of expression proved on trying the experiment to be a task beyond his literary reach After a turn or two up and down the room with his pen in his mouth He decided on the more diplomatic course Which happened in this case to be the easiest course too Of writing to miss millroy as cordially as if nothing had happened and of testing his position in her good graces By the answer that she sent him back An invitation of some kind Including her father of course, but addressed directly to herself Was plainly the right thing to oblige her to send a written reply But here the difficulty occurred of what the invitation was to be A ball was not to be thought of in his present position with the resident gentry A dinner party with no indispensable elderly lady on the premises to receive miss millroy Except mrs. gripper who could only receive her in the kitchen Was equally out of the question What was the invitation to be? Never backward when he wanted help in asking for it right and left in every available direction Alan feeling himself at the end of his own resources Cooley rang the bell and astonished the servant who answered it by inquiring how the late family at Thorpe Ambrose used to Amuse themselves and what sort of invitations they were in the habit of sending to their friends The family did what the rest of the gentry did sir said the man staring at his master in utter bewilderment They gave dinner parties and balls And in fine summer weather sir like this they sometimes had lawn parties and picnics That'll do shouted alan a picnics just the thing to please her Richard you're an invaluable man. You may go downstairs again Richard retired wondering and richards master seized his ready pen Dear miss millroy Since I left you it has suddenly struck me that we might have a picnic A little change and amusement what I should call a good shaking up if I wasn't writing to a young lady Is just the thing for you after being so long indoors lately in mrs. Millroy's room A picnic is a change and when the wine is good amusement too Will you ask the major if he will consent to the picnic and come And if you've got any friends in the neighborhood who like a picnic pray ask them too for I have got none It shall be your picnic, but I will provide everything and take everybody You shall choose the day and we will picnic where you like. I have set my heart on this picnic Believe me ever yours alan armadale On reading over his composition before sealing it up alan frankly acknowledged to himself This time that it was not quite faultless Picnic comes in a little too often. He said never mind if she likes the idea she won't quarrel with that He sent off the letter on the spot with strict instructions to the messenger to wait for a reply In half an hour the answer came back on scented paper without an erasure anywhere Fragrant to smell and beautiful to see The presentation of the naked truth is one of those exhibitions from which the native Delicacy of the female mind seems instinctively to revolt Never were the tables turned more completely than they were now turned on alan by his fair correspondent Machiavelli himself would never have suspected from miss millroy's letter how heartily she had Repented her petulance to the young squire as soon as his back was turned and how extravagantly Delighted she was when his invitation was placed in her hands Her letter was the composition of a model young lady whose emotions are all kept under parental lock and key and served out for her judiciously as occasion may require Papa appeared quite as frequently in miss millroy's reply as picnic had appeared in alan's invitation Papa had been as considerably kind as mr. armadale in wishing to procure her a little change in Amusement and had offered to forego his usual quiet habits and join the picnic With papa's sanction therefore she accepted with much pleasure mr. armadale's proposal And at papa's suggestion she would presume on mr. armadale's kindness to add two friends of theirs Recently settled at Thorpe Ambrose to the picnic party A widow lady and her son the latter in holy orders and in delicate health If Tuesday next would suit mr. armadale Tuesday next would suit papa being the first day he Could spare from repairs which were required by his clock the rest by papa's advice She would beg to leave entirely in mr. armadale's hands And in the meantime she would remain with papa's compliments mr. armadale's truly ellen or millroy Who would ever have supposed that the writer of that letter had jumped for joy when alan's invitation arrived Who would ever have suspected that there was an entry already in miss millroy's diary under that day's date to this effect The sweetest dearest letter from i know who i'll never behave unkindly to him again as long as i live As for alan he was charmed with the sweet success of his maneuver Miss millroy had accepted his invitation Consequently miss millroy was not offended with him It was on the tip of his tongue to mention the correspondence to his friend when they met at dinner But there was something in midwinter's face and manner even plain enough for alan to see Which warned him to wait a little before he said anything to revive the painful subject of their visit to the cottage By common consent they both avoided all topics connected with thorp ambrose Not even the visit from mr. bashwood, which was to come with the evening being referred to by either of them All through the dinner they drifted further and further back into the old endless talk of past times about ships and sailing When the butler withdrew from his attendance at table he came downstairs with a nautical problem on his mind And asked his fellow servants if they any of them knew the relative merits On a wind and off a wind of a schooner and a brig The two young men had sat longer at table than usual that day When they went out into the garden with their cigars the summer twilight fell gray and dim on lawn and flower bed And narrowed round them by slow degrees the softly fading circle of the distant view The dew was heavy and after a few minutes in the garden They agreed to go back to the drier ground on the drive in front of the house They were close to the turning which led into the shrubbery when they're suddenly glided out on them from behind the foliage A softly stepping black figure a shadow moving darkly through the dim evening light Midwinter started back at the site of it and even the less finely strung nerves of his friend were shaken for the moment Who the devil are you? cried Alan The figure bared its head in the gray light and came slowly a step nearer Midwinter advanced a step on his side and looked closer It was the man of the timid manners and the morning garments of whom he had asked the way to Thorpe Ambrose where the three roads met Who are you? repeated Alan I humbly beg your pardon sir faltered the stranger stepping back again confusedly The servants told me I should find Mr. Armadale What are you Mr. Bashwood? Yes, if you please sir I beg your pardon for speaking to you so roughly said Alan, but the fact is you rather startled me My name is Armadale put on your hat pray and this is my friend Mr. Midwinter who wants your help in the steward's office We hardly stand in need of an introduction said Midwinter I met Mr. Bashwood out walking a few days since and he was kind enough to direct me when I had lost my way Put on your hat reiterated Alan as Mr. Bashwood still bareheaded stood bowing speechlessly Now to one of the young men and now to the other My good sir put on your hat and let me show you the way back to the house Excuse me for noticing it added Alan as the man in sheer nervous helplessness let his hat fall Instead of putting it back on his head But you seem a little out of sorts a glass of good wine will do you no harm before you and my friend come to business Whereabouts did you meet with Mr. Bashwood Midwinter when you lost your way? I am too ignorant of the neighborhood to know I must refer you to Mr. Bashwood Come tell us where it was said Alan trying a little too abruptly to set the man at his ease as they all three walked back to the house The measure of Mr. Bashwood's constitutional timidity seemed to be filled to the brim by the loudness of Alan's voice and the bluntness of Alan's request He ran over in the same feeble flow of words with which he had deluged Midwinter on the occasion when they first met It was on the road sir. He began addressing himself alternately to Alan whom he called sir And to Midwinter whom he called by his name I mean if you please on the road to little gilbeck a singular name. Mr. Midwinter and a singular place I don't mean the village. I mean the neighborhood. I mean the broads beyond the neighborhood Perhaps you may have heard of the Norfolk broad sir. What they call lakes in other parts of england. They call broads here The broads are quite numerous. I think they would repay a visit You would have seen the first of them. Mr. Midwinter if you had walked on a few miles from where I had the honor of meeting you Remarkably numerous the broads sir situated between this and the sea About three miles from the sea. Mr. Midwinter about three miles Mostly shallow sir with rivers running between them beautiful solitary quite a watery country. Mr. Midwinter Quite separate as it were in itself Parties sometimes visit them sir pleasure parties in boats. It's quite a little network of lakes or perhaps Yes, perhaps more correctly pools There is good sport in the cold weather the wild fowl are quite numerous Yes, the broads would repay a visit. Mr. Midwinter the next time you are walking that way The distance from here to little gilbeck and then from little gilbeck to girdler broad Which is the first you come to is altogether not more In sheer nervous inability to leave off He would apparently have gone on talking of the Norfolk broads for the rest of the evening If one of his two listeners had not unceremoniously cut him short before he could find his way into a new sentence Are the broads within an easy day's drive there and back from this house asked Alan Feeling if they were that the place for the picnic was discovered already Oh, yes, sir a nice drive quite a nice easy drive from this beautiful place They were by this time ascending the portico steps Alan leading the way up and calling to midwinter and mr. Bashwood to follow him into the library Where there was a lighted lamp In the interval which elapsed before the wine made its appearance Midwinter looked at his chance acquaintance of the high road with strangely mingled feelings of compassion and distrust Of compassion that strengthened in spite of him Of distrust that persisted in diminishing try as he might to encourage it to grow There perched comfortless on the edge of his chair sat the poor broken down nervous wretch In his worn black garments with his watery eyes his honest old outspoken wig his miserable mohair stock And his false teeth that were incapable of deceiving anybody There he sat politely ill at ease Now shrinking in the glare of the lamp now wincing under the shock of Alan's sturdy voice A man with the wrinkles of 60 years in his face and the manners of a child in the presence of strangers An object of pity surely if ever there was a pitiable object yet Whatever else you're afraid of mr. Bashwood cried Alan pouring out a glass of wine. Don't be afraid of that There isn't a headache in a hog's head of it make yourself comfortable I'll leave you and mr. Midwinter to talk your business over by yourselves It's all in mr. Midwinter's hands. He acts for me and settles everything at his own discretion He said those words with a cautious choice of expression very uncharacteristic of him And without further explanation made abruptly for the door Midwinter sitting near end noticed his face as he went out Easy as the way was into Alan's favor. Mr. Bashwood beyond all kind of doubt Had in some unaccountable manner failed to find it The two strangely assorted companions were left together Parted widely as it seemed on the surface from any possible interchange of sympathy Drawn invisibly one to the other nevertheless by those magnetic similarities of temperament which Overleap all difference of age or station and defy all apparent incongruities of mind and character From the moment when Alan left the room the hidden influence that works in darkness began Slowly to draw the two men together across the great social desert which had lain between them Up to this day Midwinter was the first to approach the subject of the interview May I ask he began if you have been made acquainted with my position here And if you know why it is that I require your assistance Mr. Bashwood still hesitating and still timid but manifestly relieved by Alan's departure Sat further back in his chair and ventured on fortifying himself with a modest little sip of wine Yes, sir he replied Mr. Pedgift informed me of all At least I think I might say so of all the circumstances I am too instruct or perhaps I ought to say to advise No, Mr. Bashwood the first word was the best word of the two I am quite ignorant of the duties which Mr. Armadale's kindness has induced him to entrust to me If I understand right there can be no question of your capacity to instruct me For you once filled a steward's situation yourself May I inquire where it was? At Sir John Melloships, sir, in West Norfolk Perhaps you would like—I have got it with me—to see my testimonial Sir John might have dealt more kindly with me but I have no complaint to make It's all done and over now His watery eyes looked more watery still And the trembling in his hands spread to his lips As he produced an old dingy letter from his pocket-book and laid it open on the table The testimonial was very briefly and very coldly expressed But it was conclusive as far as it went Sir John considered it only right to say that he had no complaint to make of any want of capacity or integrity in his steward If Mr. Bashwood's domestic position had been compatible with the continued performance of his duties on the estate Sir John would have been glad to keep him As it was, embarrassments caused by the state of Mr. Bashwood's personal affairs Had rendered it undesirable that he should continue in Sir John's service And on that ground, and that only, his employer and he had parted Such was Sir John's testimony to Mr. Bashwood's character As midwinter read the last lines he thought of another testimonial still in his own possession Of the written character which they had given him at the school When they turned their sick usher adrift in the world His superstition, distrusting all new events and all new faces at Thorpe Ambrose Still doubted the man before him as obstinately as ever But when he now tried to put those doubts into words His heart abraded him and he laid the letter on the table in silence The sudden pause in the conversation appeared to startle Mr. Bashwood He comforted himself with another little sip of wine and leaving the letter untouched Burst irrepressibly into words as if the silence was quite unendurable to him I am ready to answer any questions, sir, he began Mr. Pedgif told me that I must answer questions because I was applying for a place of trust Mr. Pedgif said neither you nor Mr. Armadale was likely to think the testimonial sufficient of itself Sir John doesn't say—he might have put it more kindly but I don't complain Sir John doesn't say what the troubles were that lost me my place Perhaps you might wish to know—he stopped confusedly looked at the testimonial and said no more If no interests but mine were concerned in the matter rejoined midwinter The testimonial would, I assure you, be quite enough to satisfy me But while I am learning my new duties the person who teaches me will be really and truly the steward of my friend's estate I am very unwilling to ask you to speak on what may be a painful subject And I am sadly inexperienced in putting such questions as I ought to put But perhaps in Mr. Armadale's interests I ought to know something more Either from yourself or from Mr. Pedgif if you prefer it He too stopped confusedly looked at the testimonial and said no more There was another moment of silence the night was warm and Mr. Bashwood among his other misfortunes Had the deplorable infirmity of perspiring in the palms of the hands He took out a miserable little cotton pocket handkerchief rolled it up into a ball and softly dabbed it to and fro From one hand to the other with the regularity of a pendulum Performed by other men under other circumstances the action might have been ridiculous Performed by this man at the crisis of the interview the action was horrible Mr. Pedgif's time is too valuable sir to be wasted on me he said I will mention what ought to be mentioned myself if you will please to allow me I have been unfortunate in my family it is very hard to bear though it seems not much to tell My wife One of his hands closed fast on the pocket handkerchief he moistened his dry lips Struggled with himself and went on My wife sir he resumed stood a little in my way She did me I am afraid I must confess some injury with Sir John Soon after I got the steward's situation she contracted She took she fell into habits I hardly know how to say it of drinking I couldn't break her of it and I couldn't always conceal it from Sir John's knowledge She broke out and and tried his patience once or twice when he came to my office on business Sir John excused it not very kindly but still he excused it I don't complain of Sir John I don't complain now of my wife He pointed a trembling finger at his miserable crepe-covered beaver hat on the floor I'm in mourning for her he said faintly she died nearly a year ago in the country asylum here His mouth began to work convulsively he took up the glass of wine at his side and instead of sipping it this time drained it to the bottom I'm not much used to wine sir he said conscious apparently of the flush that flew into his face as he drank and still observant of the obligations of politeness amid all the misery of the recollections that he was calling up I beg Mr. Bashwood you will not distress yourself by telling me anymore said midwinter recoiling from any further sanction on his part of a disclosure which had already bared the sorrows of the unhappy man before him to the quick I'm much obliged to you sir replied Mr. Bashwood but if I don't detain you too long and if you will please to remember that Mr. Pedgiff's directions to me were very particular and besides I only mentioned my late wife because if she hadn't tried Sir John's patience to begin with things might have turned out differently he paused gave up the disjointed sentence in which he had involved himself and tried another I had only two children sir he went on advancing to a new point in his narrative a boy and a girl the girl died when she was a baby my son lived to grow up and it was my son who lost me my place I did my best for him I got him into a respectable office in London they wouldn't take him without security I'm afraid it was imprudent but I had no rich friends to help me and I became security my boy turned out badly sir he perhaps you will kindly understand what I mean if I say he behaved dishonestly his employers consented at my entreaty to let him off without prosecuting I begged very hard I was fond of my son James and I took him home and did my best to reform him he wouldn't stay with me he went away again to London he I beg your pardon sir I'm afraid I'm confusing things I'm afraid I'm wandering from the point no no said midwinter kindly if you think it's right to tell me this sad story tell it in your own way have you seen your son since he left you to go to London no sir he's in London still for all I know when I last heard of him he was getting his bread not very creditably he was employed under the inspector at the private inquiry office in Shadyside Place he spoke those words apparently as events then stood the most irrelevant to the matter in hand that had yet escaped him actually as events were soon to be the most vitally important that he had uttered yet he spoke those words absently looking about him in confusion and trying vainly to recover the lost thread of his narrative midwinter compassionately helped him you were telling me he said that your son had been the cause of your losing your place how did that happen in this way sir said Mr. Bashwood getting back again excitedly into the right train of thought his employers consented to let him off but they came down on his security and I was the man I suppose they were not to blame the security covered their loss I couldn't pay it all out of my savings I had to borrow on the word of a man sir I couldn't help it I had to borrow my creditor pressed me it seemed cruel but if he wanted the money I suppose it was only just I was sold out of house and home I dare say other gentlemen would have said what Sir John said I dare say most people would have refused to keep a steward who had had the bailiffs after him and his furniture sold in the neighbourhood that was how it ended Mr. Midwinter I needn't detain you any longer here is Sir John's address if you wish to apply to him Midwinter generously refused to receive the address thank you kindly sir said Mr. Bashwood getting tremulously on his legs there is nothing more I think except except that Mr. Pedgiff will speak for me if you wish to inquire into my conduct in his service I'm very much indebted to Mr. Pedgiff he's a little rough with me sometimes but if he hadn't taken me into his office I think I should have gone to the workhouse when I left Sir John I was so broken down he picked up his dingy old hat from the floor I won't intrude any longer sir I shall be happy to call again if you wish to have time to consider before you decide I want no time to consider after what you have told me replied Midwinter warmly his memory busy while he spoke with the time when he had told his story to Mr. Brock and was waiting for a generous word in return as the man before him was waiting now today is Saturday he went on can you come and give me my first lesson on Monday morning I beg your pardon he added interrupting Mr. Bashwood's profuse expressions of acknowledgement and stopping him on his way out of the room there is one thing we ought to settle ought we not we haven't spoken yet about your own interest in this matter I mean about the terms he referred a little confusedly to the pecuniary part of the subject Mr. Bashwood getting nearer and nearer to the door answered him more confusedly still anything sir anything you think right I won't intrude any longer I'll leave it to you and Mr. Armadale I will send for Mr. Armadale if you like said Midwinter following him into the hall but I'm afraid he has as little experience in matters of this kind as I have perhaps if you see no objection we might be guided by Mr. Pedgift Mr. Bashwood caught eagerly at the last suggestion pushing his retreat while he spoke as far as the front door yes sir oh yes yes nobody better than Mr. Pedgift don't pray don't disturb Mr. Armadale his watery eyes looked quite wild with nervous alarm as he turned round for a moment in the light of the hall lamp to make that polite request if sending for Alan had been equivalent to unchaining a ferocious watchdog Mr. Bashwood could hardly have been more anxious to stop the proceeding I wish you kindly good evening sir he went on getting out to the steps I'm much obliged to you I will be scrupulously punctual on Monday morning I hope I think I'm sure you will soon learn everything I can teach you it's not difficult oh dear no not difficult at all I wish you kindly good evening sir a beautiful night yes indeed a beautiful night for a walk home with those words all dropping out of his lips one on the top of the other and without noticing in his agony of embarrassment at affecting his departure Midwinter's outstretched hand he went noiselessly down the steps and was lost in the darkness of the night as Midwinter turned to re-enter the house the dining room door opened and his friend met him in the hall has Mr. Bashwood gone asked Alan he has gone replied Midwinter after telling me a very sad story and leaving me a little ashamed of myself for having doubted him without any just cause I have arranged that he is to give me my first lesson in the stewards office on Monday morning all right said Alan you needn't be afraid old boy of my interrupting you over your studies I dare say I'm wrong but I don't like Mr. Bashwood I dare say I'm wrong retorted the other a little petulantly I do the Sunday morning found Midwinter in the park waiting to intercept the postman on the chance of his bringing more news from Mr. Brock at the customary hour the man made his appearance and placed the expected letter in Midwinter's hands he opened it far away from all fear of observation this time and read these lines my dear Midwinter I write more for the purpose of quieting your anxiety than because I have anything definite to say in my last hurried letter I had no time to tell you that the elder of the two women whom I met in the gardens had followed me and spoken to me in the street I believe I may characterize what she said without doing her any injustice as a tissue of falsehoods from beginning to end at any rate she confirmed me in the suspicion that some underhand proceeding is on foot of which Alan is destined to be the victim and that the prime mover in the conspiracy is the vile woman who helped his mother's marriage and who hastened his mother's death feeling this conviction I have not hesitated to do for Alan's sake what I would have done for no other creature in the world I have left my hotel and have installed myself with my old servant Robert in a house opposite the house to which I traced the two women we are alternately on the watch quite unsuspected I am certain by the people opposite day and night all my feelings as a gentleman and a clergyman revolt from such an occupation as I am now engaged in but there is no other choice I must either do this violence to my own self-respect or I must leave Alan with his easy nature and in his assailable position to defend himself against a wretch who is prepared I firmly believe to take the most unscrupulous advantage of his weakness and his youth his mother's dying and treaty has never left my memory and God help me I am now degrading myself in my own eyes in consequence there has been some reward already for the sacrifice this day Saturday I have gained an immense advantage I have at last seen the woman's face she went out with her veil down as before and Robert kept her in view having my instructions if she returned to the house not to follow her back to the door she did return to the house and the result of my precaution was as I had expected to throw her off her guard I saw her face unveiled at the window and afterward again in the balcony if any occasion should arise for describing her particularly you shall have the description at present I need only say that she looks the full age five and thirty at which you estimated her and that she is by no means so handsome a woman as I had I hardly know why expected to see this is all I can now tell you if nothing more happens by Monday or Tuesday next I shall have no choice but to apply to my lawyers for assistance though I am most unwilling to trust this delicate and dangerous matter in other hands than mine setting my own feelings however out of the question the business which has been the cause of my journey to London is too important to be trifled with much longer as I am trifling with it now in any and every case depend on my keeping you informed of the progress of events and believe me yours truly Decimus Brock midwinter secured the letter as he had secured the letter that preceded it side by side in his pocket book with the narrative of Alan's dream how many days more he asked himself as he went back to the house how many days more not many the time he was waiting for was a time close at hand Monday came and brought Mr. Bashwood punctual to the appointed hour Monday came and found Alan immersed in his preparations for the picnic he held a series of interviews at home and abroad all through the day he transacted business with mrs. griffer with the butler and with the coachman in their three several departments of eating drinking and driving he went to the town to consult his professional advisors on the subject of the broads and to invite both the lawyers father and son in the absence of anybody else in the neighborhood whom he could ask to join the picnic pet gift senior in his department supplied general information but begged to be excused from peering at the picnic on the score of business engagements pet gift junior in his department added all the details and casting business engagements to the winds accepted the invitation with the greatest pleasure returning from the lawyer's office alan's next proceeding was to go to the major's cottage and obtain miss millroy's approval of the proposed locality for the pleasure party this object accomplished he returned to his own house to meet the last difficulty now left to encounter the difficulty of persuading midwinter to join the expedition to the broads on first broaching the subject alan found his friend impenetrably resolute to remain at home midwinter's natural reluctance to meet the major and his daughter after what had happened at the cottage might probably have been overcome but midwinter's determination not to allow mr bashwood's course of instruction to be interrupted was proof against every effort that could be made to shake it after exerting his influence to the atmost alan was obliged to remain contented with a compromise midwinter promised not very willingly to join the party toward evening at the place appointed for a gypsy tea-making which was to close the proceedings of the day to this extent he would consent to take the opportunity of placing himself on a friendly footing with the millroy's more he could not concede even to alan's persuasion and for more it would be useless to ask the day of the picnic came the lovely morning and the cheerful bustle of preparation for the expedition failed entirely to tempt midwinter into altering his resolution at the regular hour he left the breakfast table to join mr bashwood in the steward's office the two were quietly closeted over the books at the back of the house while the packing for the picnic went on in front young pedgift shortened stature smart in costume and self-reliant in manner arrived some little time before the hour for starting to revise all the arrangements and to make any final improvements which his local knowledge might suggest alan and he were still busy in consultation when the first hitch occurred in the proceedings the woman servant from the cottage was reported to be waiting below for an answer to a note from her young mistress which was placed in alan's hands on this occasion miss millroy's emotions had apparently got the better of her sense of propriety the tone of the letter was feverish and the handwriting wandered crookedly up and down in deplorable freedom from all proper restraint oh mr armadale wrote the major's daughter such a misfortune what are we to do papa has got a letter from grandma this morning about the new governess her reference has answered all the questions and she's ready to come at the shortest notice grandma thinks how provoking the sooner the better and she says we may expect her i mean the governess either today or tomorrow papa says he will be so absurdly considerate to everybody that we can't allow miss wilts to come here if she comes today and find nobody at home to receive her what is to be done i am ready to cry with vexation i have got the worst possible impression though grandma says she is a charming person of miss wilts can you suggest something dear mr armadale i'm sure papa would give way if you could don't stop to write send me a message back i have got a new hat for the picnic and oh the agony of not knowing whether i'm to keep it on or take it off yours truly e m the devil take miss wilts said alan staring at his legal advisor in a state of helpless consternation with all my heart sir i don't wish to interfere remarked pedgift junior may i ask what's the matter alan told him mr pedgift the younger might have his faults but a want of quickness of resource was not among them there's a way out of the difficulty mr armadale he said if the governess comes today let's have her at the picnic alan's eyes opened wide in astonishment all the horses and carriages in the thorp ambrose stables are not wanted for this small party of ours proceeded pedgift junior of course not very good if miss wilts comes today she can't possibly get here before five o'clock good again you order an open carriage to be waiting at the major's door at that time mr armadale and i'll give the man his directions where to drive to when the governess comes to the cottage let her find a nice little note of apology along with the cold foul or whatever else they give her after her journey begging her to join us at the picnic and putting a carriage at her own sole disposal to take her there gads her said young pedgift gaily she must be a touchy one if she thinks herself neglected after that capital cried alan she shall have every attention i'll give her the pony shays and the white harness and she shall drive herself if she likes he scribbled a line to relieve miss millroy's apprehensions and gave necessary orders for the pony shays ten minutes later the carriages for the pleasure party were at the door now we've taken all this trouble about her said alan reverting to the governess as they left the house i wonder if she does come today whether we shall see her at the picnic depends entirely on her age sir remarked young pedgift pronouncing judgment with the happy confidence in himself which eminently distinguished him if she's an old one she'll be knocked up with the journey and she'll stick to the cold foul on the cottage if she's a young one either i know nothing of women or the pony in the white harness will bring her to the picnic they started for the major's cottage end of chapter seven