mrs. bloxam had had no reason to regret the assent which she had given to the proposition made to her by her ex-pupil gertrude lloyd. the arrangement had turned out successfully, and the far-seeing astute lady, who had had quite enough of school-keeping considerably before she saw her way to the abandonment of that uncongenial occupation, soon began to see visions and dream dreams of a very different and much more enjoyable kind of life in the future. for a calm person, not to be taken in by appearances, and habitually distrustful of first impressions, mrs. bloxam may be said to have been astonished when she beheld her former pupil, after the lapse of two years and a half, during which gertrude had been learning experience in a school which, though always severe, was sufficiently varied; and mrs. bloxam, when she remembered the girl at all, thought of her only as the clever and handsome pupil, who had outwitted her indeed (but that was a feat which she was not likely to overrate--she never imposed any magnified notion of her own vigilance upon herself), but who was not likely to turn out in any way remarkable. gertrude's letter had struck her rather forcibly as being out of the common way; apart from the unusual nature of the circumstances which had given rise to it, its coolness, firmness, and businesslike precision were not common in the schoolmistress's experience of feminine correspondence; and there was nothing in her previous knowledge of gertrude's intellect and character which would have naturally led her to take such a manifestation of those qualities for granted. mrs. bloxam thought a good deal about gertrude's letter in the interval between the receipt of it and the arrival of its writer. it occurred to her that the girl who took her life into her own management, after the clear cool-headed fashion in which it was plain that gertrude was acting, must have been rather a difficult wife to manage, and not a particularly safe one to deceive and injure. from thinking of gertrude as the wife and the enemy of gilbert lloyd, it was an easy transition to think of gertrude as possibly her (mrs. bloxam's) enemy--easy, not pleasant--and significantly encouraging to that lady, in the resolution she had formed, to treat gertrude in all respects well, and with loyalty. mrs. bloxam conceived, in the course of her cogitations, a very reasonable certainty that gertrude had developed into a kind of person, who, if she made up her mind to discover the secret of her birth, parentage, and previous position, would inevitably do so, or make herself extremely disagreeable in the process of failure. when this notion associated itself with the recollection of the comfortable sums of money which she had continued to receive for gertrude's benefit, when gertrude was absent and her fate unknown, mrs. bloxam congratulated herself on the course she had adopted, and made such virtuous resolutions that she would advance gertrude's interests in every way within her power, that she soon succeeded in compounding with her conscience for the--indiscretion.
when gertrude made her appearance at the vale house, mrs. bloxam's anticipations were more than fulfilled. the young woman's easy and assured grace of manner, the calmness with which she inducted herself into the place which she had assigned to herself in the establishment, and the conviction with which she inspired mrs. bloxam that, if she desired to possess her confidence, she must patiently await the time and manner of her accordance of it, at her own will, were simply inimitable. the schoolmistress contemplated the girl with wonder and secret admiration. she had seen so much of the vapidity, the frivolity, the dependence, and the littleness of feminine human nature, that (as she did not care for gertrude sufficiently to be alarmed by the dangerous side of her complex character) it was a positive pleasure to her to observe a disposition so exceptional. in person she was also changed and much improved, though mrs. bloxam was not slow to notice the discordant expression which occasionally deprived her face of its youthfulness by lending it an intensity beyond her years.
gertrude lloyd had been settled at the vale house for more than a week, and had entered on her duties with a grave alacrity which surprised mrs. bloxam, whose recollection of her as a desultory pupil had left her unprepared to find the girl an active and conscientious teacher, before she accorded to mrs. bloxam any more confidence than that which her letter had conveyed. when so much time had elapsed, she informed mrs. bloxam that she intended to commence her singing-lessons, and invited that lady to be present at the trial of her voice. the masters who attended at the vale house were all of a superior class, and gertrude was satisfied to abide by the opinion which signor da capo should express concerning her musical capacity. the testimony of that dark-eyed and sentimental exile was most reassuring; he had rarely heard such a voice as miss lambert's, and it was perfectly fresh and uninjured, susceptible of the highest training. he could conscientiously assure miss lambert no concert-singer in london possessed a finer organ, not even mademoiselle roulade, who was just then making such a sensation at the private concerts of the nobility--she was quite the rage at carabas house in particular.
miss grace lambert was not interested in mademoiselle roulade, and cut the worthy signor's raptures rather unceremoniously short; but he produced a second edition of them for the benefit of mrs. bloxam, when miss lambert had left the room, and evinced so much curiosity concerning miss lambert's future plans, throwing out hints of the advantage to be derived from the judicious promulgation of reports as avant-coureurs of a débutante, that mrs. bloxam felt convinced of his sincerity, and forthwith began to form a pleasant scheme for the future in her fancy.
on the same evening gertrude requested audience of mrs. bloxam in her private sitting-room; and having been cordially welcomed, briefly expressed her appreciation of the kindness with which she had been received at the vale house, and asked mrs. bloxam's opinion of what signor da capo had said. mrs. bloxam thought nothing could be more satisfactory, nothing more encouraging; and if gertrude really intended to become a public singer--
"i do intend it," interrupted gertrude, with a slight expressive frown; "understand this once for all, mrs. bloxam, my mind is quite made up. i may succeed, i may fail; but at least i will make the attempt; and i feel that i shall succeed. i am confident this will not be a losing speculation for you."
"my dear girl," said mrs. bloxam,--and she said it quite sincerely, with true interest: there had been a fascination for her about the girl since her return, a charm partly arising from the uncommonness of her disposition and manners, and partly from the elder woman's dim perception of the pitifulness of her story,--"i am not thinking about that. i am thinking about you, and of what you must have suffered, to have made you turn your back so resolutely on your past life. you are so young, gertrude."
"grace, if you please," said the younger woman, and she touched mrs. bloxam's hand for a moment. in the slight caress there was a little softening, and the other took advantage of it.
"you may trust me, my dear, you may indeed," she said. "i don't pretend to be disinterested in many of the occurrences of my life; i could not afford to be so--no woman can who has her bread to earn--and i have not acted disinterestedly towards you; but i will if you will trust me."
an unusual expression of gentleness was in mrs. bloxam's face, and her shallow shifty blue eyes grew almost deep and almost steady under the influence of unwonted feeling.
gertrude sat still before her, with downcast eyes. a little interval of silence passed, and then she looked up, and spoke.
"i will trust you, mrs. bloxam, as much as i can ever trust anyone in this world. i am separated for ever, of my own free will, by my own irrevocable decision, from my husband. i cannot tell you why in more than general terms. gilbert lloyd is a bad man--i am not a particularly good woman; but i could not live with him, and i trust i may never see him again. my life is at my own disposal now; i have no friend but you."
there was no tremor in her voice, no quiver through her slight frame, as this young girl gave so terrible an account of herself.
"but if he claims you?" said mrs. bloxam.
"he will never claim me," replied gertrude; and there was that in her voice and in her look which carried conviction to her hearer's mind. "he is more than dead to me--he is as though he had never lived."
"my poor child, how wretched you must be!" exclaimed mrs. bloxam, almost involuntarily.
"i am not wretched," said gertrude; and again she frowned slightly, and again her face looked old, and her voice sounded hard. "i feel that there has been a chapter of misery and of degradation in the story of my life; but i have closed it for ever. i will never speak of it again, i will never think of it again, if by any effort of my will i can keep my mind clear of it. i am young, strong, clever, and ambitious; and i am not the first woman who has made a tremendous mistake, and incurred a dreadful penalty, in the outset of her life; but i daresay few, if any, have had such a chance of escape from the consequences as i have. i will take the fullest advantage of it. and now, mrs. bloxam, we will talk of this no more. let that man's name be as dead to you and me as all feeling about him is dead in my heart for ever; and help me to make a new line in life for myself."
mrs. bloxam looked at her silently, and sighed. then she said:
"you are a strange young woman, and have suffered some great wrongs, i am sure. it shall be as you wish, my dear, and i will try to forget that you ever were anything but grace lambert. and now let us talk of affairs--yours and mine, if you like; for i have something to tell you, and to consult you about."
gertrude looked round her, and smiled. the scene of their interview and its associations were strangely familiar to her. it seemed as though it were only the other day she had sat in that same room, summoned to a consultation with mrs. bloxam about the expenditure of her quarter's allowance, and the fashion of her summer costume. the same bureau lay open, disclosing a collection of tradesmen's books and bills of well-known aspect. gertrude knew in which of the little drawers the reserve of prospectuses, in which the innumerable and incomparable advantages of the vale house were set forth, was kept. a low chair, with a straight, upright, uncompromising back, whereon a very frosty-looking bunch of yellow dahlias had been worked in harsh worsted by a grateful pupil, stood in the position it had always occupied within gertrude's memory, beside the bureau. it was known as "the client's chair." moved by a familiar impulse, gertrude rose and seated herself in this chair, and looked up at mrs. bloxam, with the old look so completely banished from her face, with so exactly the same girlish smile which she remembered, that mrs. bloxam started.
"you might have never gone away," she said, "for all the change there is in you now. what a chameleon you are, gertrude--"
"grace!" said gertrude once more; and then the consultation, whose details there is no need to follow, as they will be made plain by their results, proceeded without interruption.
* * * * *
signor da capo was right in his judgment of miss lambert's voice. her industry in the study of her art, her unflinching labour, and her great talent were alike conspicuous. after the interview with mrs. bloxam, miss lambert did not make her appearance very often in the school-room, and it was rumoured that she was not going to be exactly a teacher. this report proved to be correct. she gave a few occasional lessons, but only in a casual way; and it was understood among the pupils that not only did miss lambert receive lessons of preternatural duration from signor da capo, but that she went very often into london, and took instruction from a still more eminent professor of music, a beatified creature, glorious on the boards of the italian opera. it was even said, and with truth, that miss lambert's singing was beginning to be talked of outside the precincts of the vale house; and that great ladies with coronets on their carriages and pocket-handkerchiefs had questioned signor da capo about his gifted pupil, and even called on mrs. bloxam. when these rumours had been for some time in circulation, and grace lambert's appearance in the school-room had become an event so rare as not to be looked for more than once in ten days or so, another report, and one of a startling nature, disturbed the small world of the establishment for young ladies. this tremendous on dit foretold an event of no less moment than the relinquishment of the "establishment" by mrs. bloxam, and that lady's retirement into the genteel tranquillity of private life. the vale house had been disposed of; so ran the rumour; and mrs. bloxam was communicating with the "parents and guardians," and making over her interest and "connection" to her successor. the announcement would be made at breaking-up time. much excitement prevailed. most of the young ladies entertained a lively hope that their parents would not feel unreserved confidence in the successor, and that thus they should gain an indeterminate addition to the vacation. those who had no such hope rather liked the novelty of the substitution. they "didn't mind old bloxam;"--but anything new must be welcome. for once rumour was not mistaken. when breaking-up time came, mrs. bloxam took leave of her dear young charges in a touching speech, and consigned them, with many expressions of interest, to the care of the misses toppit, who were henceforth to preside over the vale house.
it was generally understood that mrs. bloxam's retirement had taken place under pecuniary conditions of a satisfactory character, and that mr. dexter had acted in the matter with becoming zeal for the interests of his client. a few days after the departure of her "dear young friends" for their several homes, mrs. bloxam left the vale house. she was accompanied by grace lambert, who remarked, as they drove away, "it must be painful to you, after all, to leave a place where you have lived so long."
"no," said mrs. bloxam, "it is not. i feel what the girls fancy about it: i have had too much work and too little play there, to be able to regret the vale house."
* * * * *
the carriage placed at her disposal by the marchioness of carabas whirled miss grace lambert, after her brilliantly successful first appearance at carabas house, to a small but remarkably pretty villa at bayswater. the detached house, intensely modern and white, with the largest possible windows for its size, and the prettiest possible ornamentation about it--of carved wood in the swiss style, and curly iron railings and posts and verandahs in the birmingham style, with neat flower-beds, the colours all en suite, in the miniature tuileries style--was very pretty and very comfortable. mrs. bloxam interested herself in every detail of the small establishment, which she had not found any difficulty in "starting" with her own funds, and which she fully expected to be able to maintain most creditably with those which should accrue from the success of miss grace lambert, about which she was assured by competent authorities no reasonable doubt could be entertained.
and now that success seemed to be assured indeed. the little coterie which was wont to assemble almost daily at the villa would rejoice hugely on the morrow of the grand concert at carabas house, and the grand carabas marchioness would no doubt speed the fame of her protégée's success far and wide in the most profitable directions.
the marchioness had "taken up" signer da capo's favourite pupil, concerning whom the gushing italian was wont to tell wonderful things, while he was pretending to administer instruction to the lady angelica, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of the most noble the marchioness, who had a remarkably pretty throat, which the singing attitude exhibited in a favourable light, but who possessed about as much talent for music, or indeed for anything, as the favourite persian cat of the most noble. signor da capo was very good-looking, and was one of those who, at a respectable distance, and in a modified sense, "understood" the marchioness, and she responded to his gushing communications about miss lambert's talents and attractions, and the inevitable furore which she was indubitably to create, by a vehemently-expressed desire to befriend that young lady, and an amiable determination to bring her out at carabas house, and so at once serve miss lambert, and prevent lady lowndes, who was her intimate enemy, and a rival patroness of genius, art, literature, and fashionable religion, from "getting hold of" the promising young débutante. the pleasure of the honest signor--who was truly interested in his young friend, and who religiously believed every word he had said in her favour--when lady carabas announced her intention of making miss lambert's acquaintance, was genuine and demonstrative, and he readily gave the pledge which she exacted from him, that he would not let lady lowndes know of the existence of this unsunned treasure.
"i cannot answer for the discretion of m--, my lady," said the signor; "he knows miss lambert's genius as well as i do, and he goes to lady lowndes' oftener than i do; but there is always the chance for us that m-- never thinks and seldom talks of anybody but himself."
the acquaintance made under such favourable auspices ripened rapidly into intimacy, very flattering, and likely to prove very profitable, to miss lambert. the marchioness was almost as much delighted with the girl as she professed to be; and miss lambert, who "understood" the grande dame in quite a different sense from that in which she was in the habit of using the word, was quite alive to the profit and the pleasure to be derived from such exalted patronage. the calmness, the reserve, the unbending self-respect of the girl had a powerful effect on lady carabas. they excited her curiosity, and awakened her interest. she had a good deal of the former in her disposition, apropos of everything, and particularly apropos of the love affairs of her friends and acquaintances, and she naturally felt strong curiosity on this subject as regarded grace lambert. she arrived, as she thought, at a tolerably accurate knowledge of who miss lambert saw, and where miss lambert went; but she never came upon the traces of the slightest "tendre."
"how very charming!" said the marchioness of carabas to herself, a day or two before the grand concert at carabas house; "this young creature's heart has evidently never spoken. she will be a débutante in every sense."
the heart of the most noble had spoken so frequently, that it might fairly be supposed to be a little hoarse. hence her admiration of the inarticulatism of that organ in the case of grace lambert. as she drove in the park that day, she actually meditated upon the expediency of introducing to the special notice of her charming protégée a delightful man in the blues, who had up to a late period "understood" her, but who had had the misfortune to bore her lately, and the bad taste to take his dismissal in dudgeon.
"he knows about music," thought her ladyship; "yes, that will do;" and then she pulled the deck-string, and gave the order "home," and had scribbled half-a-dozen notes of invitation to a little dinner en petit comité on the following sunday, before post-hour. one of the half-dozen notes was addressed to lord sandilands, a second to the man in the blues, and a third to miss grace lambert. the destination of the other three is no concern of ours.
when miss lambert's page brought her the much-monogramed note which contained lady carabas' invitation, she observed that a second missive lay on the salver. it was addressed to mrs. bloxam, who was sitting in the same room, at a little distance from the piano before which grace was seated. the page crossed the room, and held the salver towards mrs. bloxam, who took the letter, and as she glanced at the superscription, turned deadly pale. she held the letter in her hand unopened, and glanced with a strange uneasiness in her usually placid face towards grace. but grace had thrown the note she had just read on the floor beside her, and her fingers were scampering over the keys, and her voice was pouring out volumes of sound; she seemed unconscious even of mrs. bloxam's presence. seeing which that lady rose and went to her own room. having reached that sanctum, and carefully bolted the door, she broke the seal of the letter which had caused her to experience so much emotion, and found, as she expected, that it came from lord sandilands. its contents were brief and businesslike. mrs. bloxam knew his lordship's style of old. he told her that he wished to see her alone, for a reason which he would explain in person, should he be so fortunate as to procure the desired interview, on calling at the villa on the following day, at three o'clock in the afternoon. he would take his chance of finding her at home, and, if he should be unsuccessful, would call again.
the receipt of this letter threw mrs. bloxam, who had been prevented by indisposition from accompanying grace lambert to carabas house, and was therefore unaware that lord sandilands had been present at the concert, into a state of the utmost perturbation. she dreaded she knew not what. it was in vain she asked herself what had she to fear. if, indeed, the design of lord sandilands in coming to see her were to inquire after his daughter, he would find her in the care to which he had committed her. with regard to the career which she had chosen, he certainly could not possess the right, nor could she imagine his having the inclination, to interfere. was he coming to destroy the long-maintained incognito, to make himself known to his daughter? was he coming to demand from her, to whose care he had committed the child, a stern account of her stewardship? had he any suspicion of the truth? had any rumour of gertrude's miserable marriage reached her father? was he coming in anger, or in curiosity, or in an access of newly-awakened conscience, of newly-born feeling? she could not tell, and yet she was forced to ask herself these questions, vain though they were; and mrs. bloxam acknowledged to herself afterwards that she had seldom passed through more miserable hours than those which elapsed between the receipt of lord sandilands' letter, and the page's announcement that lord sandilands was awaiting her presence in the drawing-room, on the afternoon of the same day.
at the hour which he had named lord sandilands presented himself at the villa. mrs. bloxam was alone, and received him with much more composure than she really felt, while he, in his turn, did not betray any symptoms of the unaccustomed mental perturbation which had led him to seek her presence. years had elapsed since mrs. bloxam had last seen lord sandilands; years had changed him from a hale middle-aged man to one on whom the burden of age was beginning to tell. those years had made less alteration in her; and the first desultory thought that occurred to her when she saw him was, how completely the likeness she had formerly traced in his features to those of gertrude had ceased to exist. lord sandilands entered at once on the business of his visit.
"i have come to ask you, mrs. bloxam," he said, "whether i am not right in supposing that the young lady whom i saw at carabas house two nights ago is the same whom i placed with you under the name of gertrude keith?"
"miss lambert is that young lady," replied mrs. bloxam.
"i thought i could not be mistaken. i have never seen her since her childhood, as you know, and did not purpose to see her. but i have changed my mind. she is very handsome and very clever, mrs. bloxam;" and lord sandilands' voice took almost a pleading tone. "she is a girl who would do credit to such a position as--as i cannot give her now--but i should like to serve her in any way that is open to me; and i have come to you to ask your advice as to how this is to be done."
"miss lambert is in the house now," said mrs. bloxam; "but i have not mentioned your name to her, or your intended visit. i fancied you might have some such purpose as you tell me of in coming, and thought it better to wait until i should know more."
"you did very right, mrs. bloxam," said lord sandilands. "i think it is better i should not see gertrude now; and i do not think she ought ever to know the truth--to know that i am her father. it could do no good to her or to me; there is no undoing the past; but i see no objection, if you have none, to my being introduced to her in the character of an old friend of yours, interested in her because you are, and anxious to serve her. do you see any reason why this should not be, mrs. bloxam?"
"certainly not, my lord," replied gertrude's friend; "it requires little consideration, i think, and i shall be happy to carry out your wishes now as formerly."
mrs. bloxam spoke with her usual fluent composure. it had forsaken her for a little while after lord sandilands' appearance, but now it was perfectly restored. things were taking the best possible turn. lord sandilands was putting himself into the position of her debtor, making a compact of positive friendship with her. what an escape from the danger she dreaded, the risk she felt she had so duly incurred! he had no suspicion, not the slightest--the terrible episode of gertrude's disastrous marriage was, then, safely concealed from the only human being whom, beside herself and her husband, it concerned! with steady serenity she turned her attention to what lord sandilands had to say to her. their interview was long and uninterrupted, until, a few minutes after they had heard the sound of carriage-wheels in the little avenue, grace lambert entered the room abruptly. she was looking handsome, and in high spirits, and came in saying:
"i beg your pardon--i thought you were alone."
"this is lord sandilands, my dear," said mrs. bloxam, as the old nobleman rose and bowed. "lord sandilands, miss lambert. his lordship saw you the other night at carabas house, grace.
"indeed!" said grace, with a perfectly unembarrassed smile. "i am going there now--lady carabas has sent the carriage for me--so i came to tell you." then, with a gesture of leave-taking, she said to lord sandilands, "ah, yes, i remember now, quite well. you were in the front seats, next to a tall young man with a very thick dark beard."