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LI B RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVERSITY 
 
 or ILLI NOIS 
 
 8^3 
 
 C63e 
 1666" 
 
 
 MOTTINC 
 
 S^J 
 
THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
¥ILKIE COLLINS'S NOYELS. 
 
 Crowft Zvo. , cloth extra, Illustrated, 35. del. each ; post 
 8fo. , ilhistrated boards, 2.s. each ; cloth limp, ■zs. 6d. each. 
 
 — ••o^o»« — 
 
 ANTONINA. Illustrated by Sir John Gilbert. 
 
 BASIL. Illustrated by Sir John Gilbert and J. Mahoney. 
 
 HIDE AND SEEK. Illustrated by Sir John Gilbert and 
 J. Mahoney. 
 
 THE DEAD SECRET. Illustrated by Sir John Gilbert. 
 
 QUEEN OF HEARTS. Illustrated by Sir John Gilbert. 
 
 MY MISCELLANIES. With a Steel-plate Portrait of Wilkie 
 
 Collins. 
 
 THE WOMAN IN WHITE. With Illustrations by Sir John 
 Gilbert and F. A. Fraser. 
 
 THE MOONSTONE. With Illustrations by 0. Du Maurier 
 and F. A. Fraser. 
 
 MAN AND WIFE. Illustrated by W. Small. 
 
 POOR MISS FINCH. Illustrated by G. Du Maurier and 
 Edward Hughes. 
 
 MISS OR MRS. ? With Illustrations by S. L. Fildes and 
 Henry Woods. 
 
 THE NEW MAGDALEN. Illustrated by G. Du Maurier 
 
 and C. S. Reinhardt. 
 
 THE FROZEN DEEP. . Illustrated by G. Du Maurier and 
 J. Mahoney. 
 
 THE LAW AND THE LADY. Illustrated by S. L. Fildes 
 and Sydney Hall. 
 
 THE TWO DESTINIES. 
 
 THE HAUNTED HOTEL. Illustrated by Arthur Hopkins. 
 
 THE FALLEN LEAVES. 
 
 JEZEBEL'S DAUGHTER. 
 
 THE BLACK ROBE. 
 
 HEART AND SCIENCE : A Story of the Present Time. 
 
 "I SAY NO." 
 
 LONDON : CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY, W. 
 
THE EVIL GENIUS 
 
 Jl ^omcBtk Storj) 
 
 BY 
 
 WILKIE COLLINS 
 
 :iN THREE VOLUMES 
 
 VOL. I 
 
 % n tl n 
 CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY 
 
 1886 
 
 [The Right of Translation is Reserved. And the Sole Right of 
 adapting " The Evil Genius 'for Performance on the Stage has been legally 
 secured by the Anthoj:] 
 
Mk 
 
>4 
 
 / ^^^ 
 
 V. I 
 
 llffecttouablj) g^iikateii 
 
 TO 
 
 HO LM A N HUNT. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 BEFORE THE STORY. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION - - 1 
 
 THE STORY. 
 
 FIRST BOOK. 
 
 I. MRS. PRESTY PRESENTS HERSELF - 111 
 
 II. THE GOVERNESS ENTERS - - - 123 
 
 III. MRS. PRESTY CHANGES HER MIND - 133 
 
 IV. RANDAL RECEIVES HIS CORRESPONDENCE 151 
 V. RANDAL WRITES TO NEW YORK - - 156 
 
 VL SYDNEY TEACHES- - - - 165 
 
 VIL SYDNEY SUFFERS- - - - 173 
 
 VIIL MRS. PRESTY MAKES A DISCOVERY - 185 
 
 IX. SOMEBODY ATTENDS TO THE DOOR - 197 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 X. KITTY MENTIONS HER BIRTHDAY - 217 
 
 XI. LINLEY ASSERTS HIS AUTHORITY - 233 
 
 XII. TWO OF THEM SLEEP BADLY - - 244 
 
 XIIL KITTY KEEPS HER BIRTHDAY - - 253 
 
 XIV. KITTY FEELS THE HEARTACHE - - 271 
 
THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 BEFORE THE STORY. 
 
 MISS westerfield's educatio^\ 
 
 1. — The Trial, 
 
 The gentlemen of the jury retired to 
 consider their verdict. 
 
 Their foreman was a person doubly dis- 
 tinguished among his colleagues. He had 
 the clearest head, and the readiest tongue. 
 For once, the right man was in the right 
 place. 
 
 Of the eleven jurymen, four showed their 
 characters on the surface. They were : 
 
 VOL. I. 1 
 
 U^ 
 
2 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 The hungry juryman, who wanted his 
 dmner. 
 
 The inattentive juryman, who drew 
 pictures on his blotting paper. 
 
 The nervous juryman, who suffered 
 from fidgets. 
 
 The silent juryman, who decided the 
 verdict. 
 
 Of the seven remaining members, one 
 was a little drowsy man who gave no 
 trouble ; one was an irritable invalid who 
 served under protest; and five represented 
 that vast majority of the population — 
 easily governed, tranquilly happ}' — which 
 has no opinion of its own. 
 
 The foreman took his place at the head 
 of the table. His colleao^ues seated them- 
 selves on either side of him. Then there 
 fell upon that assembly of men a silence, 
 never known among an assembly of women 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 3 
 
 — the silence which proceeds from a general 
 reluctance to be the person who speaks 
 first. 
 
 It was the foreman's duty, under these 
 circumstances, to treat his deliberative 
 brethren as we treat our watches when they 
 stop: he wound the jury up and set them 
 going. 
 
 ''Gentlemen," he began, ''have you formed 
 any decided opinion on the case — thus 
 far?" 
 
 Some of them said '* Yes," and some of 
 them said " Xo." The little drowsy man said 
 nothing. The fretful invalid cried, " Go 
 on!" The nervous juryman suddenly rose. 
 His brethren all looked at him, inspired 
 by the same fear of having got an orator 
 among them. He was an essentially 
 polite man ; and he hastened to relieve 
 their minds. " Pray don't be alarmed, 
 gentlemen ; I am not going to make a 
 
 1—2 
 
4 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 speech. I suffer from fidgets. Excuse me 
 if I occasionally change my position." The 
 hungry juryman (who dined early) looked 
 at his watch. " Half-past four," he said. 
 '' For Heaven's sake cut it short." He was 
 the fattest person present \ and he sug- 
 gested a subject to the inattentive juryman 
 who drew pictures on his blotting-paper. 
 Deeply interested in the progress of the 
 likeness, his neighbours on either side 
 looked over his shoulders. The little 
 drowsy man woke with a start, and begged 
 pardon of everybody. The fretful invalid 
 said to himself, " Damned fools, all of 
 them!" The patient foreman, biding his 
 time, stated the case. 
 
 "The prisoner waiting our verdict, 
 gentlemen, is the Honourable Iloderick 
 Westerfield, younger brother of the present 
 Lord Le Basque. He is charged' with 
 wilfully casting away the British Barque 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS ED UCA TION. 5 
 
 John Jerniman, under his command ; for 
 the purpose of fraudulently obtainmg a 
 share of the insurance money, and further 
 of possessing himself of certain Brazilian 
 diamonds, which formed part of the cargo. 
 In plain words, here is a gentleman born 
 in the higher ranks of life accused of being 
 a thief Before we attempt to arrive at a 
 decision, we shall only be doing him justice 
 if we try to form some general estimate of 
 his character, based on the evidence — and 
 w^e may fairly begin by inquiring into his 
 relations with the noble family to which he 
 belono's. The evidence, so far, is not 
 altogether creditable to him. Being at the 
 time an officer in the Koyal Navy, he 
 appears to have outraged the feelings of his 
 family by marrying a barmaid at a public - 
 house." 
 
 The drowsy juryman, happening to be 
 awake at the moment, surprised the foreman 
 
6 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 by interposing a statement. " Talking of 
 barmaids," he said, "I know a curate's 
 dauofbter. She's in distressed circum- 
 stances, poor tiling ; and she's a barmaid 
 somewhere in the North of England. 
 Curiously enough, the name of the town 
 has escaped my memory. If we had a map 
 of England " There he was inter- 
 rupted, cruelly interrupted, by one of his 
 brethren. 
 
 " And by what right," cried the greedy 
 juryman, speaking under the exasperating 
 influence of hunger — " by what right does 
 Mr. Westerfield's family dare to suppose 
 that a barmaid may not be a perfectly 
 virtuous woman ?" 
 
 Hearing this, the restless gentleman (in 
 the act of changing his position) was 
 suddenly inspired with interest in the 
 proceedings. '' Pardon me for putting 
 myself forward," he said, with his customary 
 
MISS WESTERFIELDS EDUCATION. 7 
 
 politeness. '*' Speaking as an abstainer from 
 fermented liquors, I must really protest 
 against these allusions to barmaids." 
 
 " Speaking as a consumer of fermented 
 liquors," the invalid remarked, " I wish I 
 had a barmaid and a bottle of champagne 
 before me now." 
 
 Superior to interruption, the admirable 
 foreman went on. 
 
 "Whatever you may think, gentlemen, 
 of the prisoner's marriage, we have it in 
 evidence that his relatives turned their backs 
 on him from that moment — with the one 
 merciful exception of the head of the family. 
 Lord Le Basque exerted his influence with 
 the Admiralty, and obtained for his brother 
 (then out of employment) an appointment 
 to a ship. All the witnesses agree that Mr. 
 Westerfield thoroughly understood his pro- 
 fession. If he could have controlled himself, 
 he miglit have risen to high rank in the Navy. 
 
8 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 His temper was his ruin. He quarrelled 
 
 with one of his superior officers " 
 
 " Under strong provocation," said a 
 member of the jury. 
 
 ^' Under strong j^ro vocation," the fore- 
 man admitted. "But provocation is not 
 an excuse, judged by the rules of discipline. 
 The prisoner challenged the officer on duty 
 to fight a duel, at the first opportunity on 
 
 shore ; and, receiving a contemptuous re- 
 fusal, struck him on the quarter-deck. As 
 a matter of course, Mr. AVesterfield was 
 tried bv court-martial, and was dismissed 
 the service. Lord Le Basque's patience 
 was not exhausted yet. The Merchant 
 Service offered a last chance to the prisoner 
 of retrieving his position, to some extent at 
 least. He was ^t for the sea, and fit for 
 nothing else. At my lord's earnest request 
 the owners of the John Jerniman, tradino* 
 between Liverpool and Rio, took ^Mr. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 9 
 
 Wester field on trial as first mate ; and, to 
 his credit be it said, he justified his 
 brother's faith in him. In a tempest off 
 the coast of Africa, the captain was washed 
 overboard ; and the first mate succeeded to 
 the command. His seamanship and courage 
 saved the vessel, under circumstances of 
 danger which paralysed the efforts of the 
 other officers. He was confirmed, rightly 
 confirmed, in the command of the ship. And, 
 so far, we shall certainly not be wrong if we 
 view his character on the favourable side." 
 
 There the foreman paused, to collect his 
 ideas. 
 
 Certain members of the assembly — led 
 by the juryman who wanted his dinner, 
 and supported by his inattentive colleague, 
 then engaged in drawing a ship in a storm, 
 and a captain falling overboard — proposed 
 the acquittal of the prisoner without further 
 consideration. But the fretful invalid cried 
 
ro THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 " Stuff!" and the five jurymen ^vho had no 
 opinions of their own, struck by the ad- 
 mirable brevity with which he expressed 
 his sentiments, sang out in chorus, "Hear! 
 hear! hear!" The silent juryman, hitherto 
 overlooked, now attracted attention. He 
 was a bald-headed person of uncertain age, 
 buttoned up tight in a long frock-coat, and 
 wearing his gloves all through the proceed- 
 ings. When the chorus of five cheered, he 
 smiled mysteriously. Everybody wondered 
 what that smile meant. The silent jury- 
 man kept his opinion to himself From 
 that moment, he began to exercise a furtive 
 influence over the jury. Even the foreman 
 looked at him, on resuming the narrative. 
 
 " After a certain term of service, gentle- 
 men, during which we learn nothing to his 
 disadvantage, the prisoner's merits appear 
 to have received their reward. He was 
 presented with a share in the ship which he 
 
MJSS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION, ii 
 
 commanded, in addition to liis regular 
 salary as master. With these improved 
 prospects he sailed from Liverpool on his 
 last voyage to Brazil ; and no one, his wife 
 included, had the faintest suspicion that he 
 left England under circumstances of serious 
 pecuniary embarrassment. The testimony 
 of his creditors, and of other persons with 
 whom he associated, distinctly proves that 
 his leisure hours on shore had been em- 
 ployed in card-playing and in betting on 
 horse races. After an unusually long run 
 of luck, his good fortune seems to have 
 deserted him. He suffered considerable 
 losses, and w^as at last driven to borrowing 
 at a high rate of interest, without any 
 reasonable prospect of being able to repay 
 the money-lenders into w^hose hands he had 
 fallen. When he left Rio on the homeward 
 voyage, there is no sort of doubt that he 
 w^as returnino; to Eno:land, to face creditors 
 
12 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 whom he was unable to pay. There, 
 gentlemen, is a noticeable side to his 
 character which we may call the gambling 
 side, and which (as I think) was too 
 leniently viewed by the judge." 
 
 He evidently intended to add a word or 
 two more. But the disagreeable invalid in- 
 sisted on being heard. 
 
 '' In plain English," he said, ^' you are for 
 finding the prisoner guilty." 
 
 " In plain English," the foreman rejoined, 
 " I refuse to answer that question." 
 
 ''Why?" 
 
 " Because it is no part of my duty to at- 
 tempt to influence the verdict." 
 
 " You have been trying to inflaence the 
 verdict, sir, ever since you entered this room. 
 I appeal to all the gentlemen present." 
 
 The patience of the long-suffering foreman 
 failed him at last. " Not another word shall 
 pass my lips," he said, " until you find the 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 13 
 
 prisoner guilty or not guilty among your- 
 selves — and then I'll tell you if I agree to 
 your verdict." 
 
 He folded his arms, and looked like the 
 image of a man who intended to keep his 
 word. 
 
 The hungry juryman laid himself back in 
 his chair, and groaned. The amateur artist, 
 w^ho had thus far found a fund of amusement 
 in his blotting-paper, yawned discontentedly 
 and drojDped his pen. The courteous gen- 
 tleman who suffered from fidgets requested 
 leave to walk up and down the room ; and 
 at the first turn he took woke the drowsy 
 little man, and maddened the irritable inva- 
 lid by the creaking of his boots. The 
 chorus of five, farther than ever from 
 arriving at an opinion of their own, looked 
 at the silent jurymxm. Once more he smiled 
 mysteriously; and once more he ofi'ered no 
 explanation of what Avas passing in his mind 
 
14 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 — except that he turned his bald head slowly 
 in the direction of the foreman. \Yas he in 
 sympathy with a man w^ho had promised to 
 be as silent as himself ? 
 
 In the meantime, nothing was said or done. 
 Helpless silence prevailed in every part of 
 the room. 
 
 *' Why the devil doesn't somebody begin ?'' 
 cried the invalid. ^' Have you all forgotten 
 the evidence?" 
 
 This startling question roused the jury to 
 a sense of what was due to their oaths, if 
 not to themselves. Some of them recollected 
 the evidence in one w\nv, and some of them 
 recollected it in another; and each man in- 
 sisted on doing justice to his owui excellent 
 memor}^ and on stating his own unanswer- 
 able view of the case. 
 
 The first man who spoke began at the 
 middle of the story told by the witnesses in 
 court. ^' I am for acquitting the captain, 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 15 
 
 gentlemen ; he ordered out the boats, and 
 saved the lives of the crew." — " And I am 
 for finding him guilty, because the ship 
 struck on a rock in broad daylight, and in 
 moderate weather." — "I agree with you, sir. 
 The evidence shows that the vessel was 
 steered dangerously near to the land, by 
 direction of the captain, who gave the course." 
 — " Come, come, gentlemen ! let us do the 
 captain justice. The defence declares that 
 he gave the customary course, and that it 
 was not followed when he left the deck. As 
 for his leaving the ship in moderate weather, 
 the evidence proves that he believed he saw 
 signs of a storm brewing." — '' Yes, yes, all 
 very well; but what were the facts? When 
 the loss of the ship was reported, the Bra- 
 zilian authorities sent men to the wreck, on 
 the chance of saving the cargo ; and, days 
 afterwards, there the ship was found, just as 
 the captain and the crew had left her." — - 
 
1 6 THE EVJL GENIUS. 
 
 ^' Don't forget, sir, that the diamonds were 
 missinof, when the salvors examined the 
 wreck." — ''All right, but that's no proof 
 that the captain stole the diamonds; and, 
 before they had saved half the cargo, a storm 
 did come on and break the vessel up : so 
 the poor man was only wrong in the matter 
 of time, after all." — "Allow me to remind 
 you, gentlemen, that the prisoner was deeply 
 in debt, and therefore had an interest in 
 stealing the diamonds." — " Wait a little, sir. 
 Fair play's a jewel. Who was in charge of 
 the deck when the ship struck ? The second 
 mate. And what did the second mate do, 
 w4ien he heard that his owners had decided 
 to prosecute? He committed suicide! Is 
 there no proof of guilt in that act?" — 
 " You are going a little too fast, sir. The 
 coroners jury declared that the second mate 
 killed himself in a state of temporary in- 
 sanity." — "Gently ! gently ! we have nothing 
 
MISS WESTERFJELD'S EDUCATION. 17 
 
 to do with what the coroner's jury said. 
 What did the judge say when he summed 
 up?" — '^ Bother the judge! He said what 
 they all say: 'Find the prisoner guilty, if 
 you think he did it; and find him not guilty, 
 if you think he didn't/ And then he went 
 away to his comfortable cup of tea in his 
 private room. And here are We perishing 
 of hunger, and our families dining without 
 us." — " Speak for yourself, sir; / haven't 
 got a family." — " Consider yourself lucky, 
 sir; /have got twelve, and my life is a burden 
 to me, owing to the difficulty of making 
 both ends meet." — " Gentlemen ! gentlemen ! 
 we are wandering again. Is the captain 
 guilty or not? Mr. Foreman, we none of 
 us intended to offend you. Will you tell us 
 what you think ?" 
 
 Xo; the foreman kept his word. " Decide 
 for yourselves first," was his only reply. 
 In this emergency, the member afflicted 
 VOL. I. 2 
 
1 8 THE EVIL GENIUS, 
 
 with fidgets suddenly assumed a position of 
 importance. He started a new idea. 
 
 " Suppose we try a show of hands," he 
 suggested. " Gentlemen who find the prisoner 
 guilty will please hold up their hands." 
 
 Three votes were at once registered in 
 this way, including the vote of the foreman. 
 After a moment of doubt, the chorus of five 
 decided on following the opinion which 
 happened to be the first opinion expressed 
 in point of time. Thereupon, the show of 
 hands for the condemnation of the prisoner 
 rose to eight. Would this result have an 
 effect on the undecided minority of four ? In 
 any case, they were invited to declare them- 
 selves next. Only three hands were held 
 up. One incomprehensible man abstained 
 from expressing his sentiments even by a 
 sign. Is it necessary to say who that man 
 was? A mysterious change had now pre- 
 sented itself in his appearance, which made 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 19 
 
 him an object of greater interest than ever. 
 
 His inexplicable smile had vanished. He 
 
 sat immovable, with closed eyes. Was he 
 
 meditating profoundly ? or was he only 
 
 asleep ? The quick-witted foreman had 
 
 long since suspected him of being simply 
 
 the stupidest person present — with just 
 
 cunning enough to conceal his own dulness 
 
 by holding his tongue. The jury arrived 
 
 at no such sensible conclusion. Impressed 
 
 by the intense solemnity of his countenance, 
 
 they believed him to be absorbed in 
 
 reflections of the utmost importance to the 
 
 verdict. After a heated conference among 
 
 themselves, they decided on iiivitmg the 
 
 one independent member present • — the 
 
 member who had taken no part in their 
 
 proceedings — to declare his opinion in the 
 
 plainest possible form. ^' Which way does 
 
 your view of the verdict incline, sir ? 
 
 Guilty or not guilty ?" 
 
 9 o 
 
2 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 The eyes of the silent juryman opened 
 with the slow and solemn dilation of the 
 eyes of an owl. Placed between the 
 alternatives of declaring himself in one 
 word or in two, his taciturn wisdom chose 
 the shortest form of speech. " Guilty," he 
 answered — and shut his eyes again, as if he 
 had had enough of it already. 
 
 An unutterable sense of relief pervaded 
 the meeting. Enmities were forgotten, 
 and friendly looks were exchanged. AVith 
 one accord, the jury rose to return to court. 
 The prisoner's fate w^as sealed. The verdict 
 was " Guilty." 
 
 2.— The Sentence. 
 
 The low hum of talk among the jDcrsons 
 in court ceased when the jury returned to 
 their places. Curiosity now found its centre 
 of attraction in the prisoner's wife — who 
 had been present throughout the trial. The 
 
MJSS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 21 
 
 question of the moment was : How will she 
 bear the interval of delay which precedes 
 the giving of the verdict ? 
 
 In the popular phrase, Mrs. AVesterfield 
 was a showy woman. Her commanding 
 figure was finely robed in dark colours ; 
 her profuse light hair hung over her forehead 
 in little clusters of ringlets ; her features, 
 firmly but not delicately shaped, were on a 
 large scale. Xo outward betrayal of the 
 wife's emotion rewarded the public curiosity : 
 her bold light-grey eyes sustained the general 
 gaze without flinching. To the surprise of 
 the women present, she had brought her 
 two young children with her to the trial. 
 The eldest was a pretty little girl of ten 
 years old ; the second child (a boy) sat on 
 his mother's knee. It was generally ob- 
 served that Mrs. Westerfield took no notice 
 of her eldest child. When she whispered a 
 word from time to time, it was always 
 
22 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 addressed to her son. She fondled him 
 when he grew restless ; but she never 
 looked round to see if the girl at her side 
 was as weary of the proceedings as the boy. 
 
 The judge took his seat, and the order 
 was given to bring the prisoner up for 
 judgment. 
 
 There was a long j)ause. The audience — 
 remembering his ghastly face when he first 
 appeared before them — whisjDered to each 
 other, '' He's taken ill ;" and the audience 
 proved to be right. 
 
 The surgeon of the prison entered the 
 witness-box, and, being duly sworn, made 
 his medical statement. 
 
 The prisoner's heart had been diseased 
 for some time past, and the malady had 
 been neglected. He had fainted under the 
 prolonged suspense of waiting for the 
 verdict. The swoon had proved to be of 
 such a serious nature that the witness 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 2^ 
 
 refused to answer for consequences if a 
 second fainting-fit was produced by the 
 excitement of facing the court and the jury. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the verdict 
 was formally recorded, and sentence was 
 deferred. Once more, the spectators looked 
 at the prisoner's wife. 
 
 She had risen to leave the court. In the 
 event of an adverse verdict, her husband 
 had asked for a farewell interview ; and the 
 governor of the prison, after consultation 
 with the surgeon, had granted the request. 
 It was observed, when she retired, that 
 she held her boy by the hand, and left 
 the girl to follow. A compassionate lady 
 near her offered to take care of the children 
 while she w^as absent. Mrs. Westerfield 
 answered quietly and coldl}^ : " Thank you 
 — their father wishes to see them." 
 
 The prisoner was dying ; nobody could 
 look at him and doubt it. 
 
24 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 His eyes opened wearily, when his wife 
 and children approached the bed on which 
 he lay helpless — the wreck of a grandly- 
 made man. He struggled for breath, but he 
 could still speak a word or two at a time. 
 '' I don't ask you what the verdict is," he 
 said to his wife ; "I see it in your face." 
 
 Tearless and silent, she waited by her 
 husband's side. He had only noticed her 
 for a moment. All his interest seemed 
 to be centred in his children. The girl 
 stood nearest to him : he looked at her with 
 a faint smile. 
 
 The poor child understood him. Crying 
 j^iteously, she put her arms round his neck 
 and kissed him. " Dear papa," she said ; 
 *' come home and let me nurse you." 
 
 The surgeon, watching the father's face, 
 saw a change in him which the other 
 persons present had not observed. The 
 failing heart felt that parting moment, and 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 25 
 
 sank under it. '^ Take the child away,'' 
 the surgeon whispered to the mother. 
 Brandy was near him ; he administered 
 it while he spoke, and touched the fluttering 
 pulse. It felt, just felt, the stimulant. He 
 revived for a moment, and looked, wistfully 
 for his son. '' The boy," he murmured ; 
 " I want my boy." As his wife brought the 
 child to him, the surgeon whispered to her 
 again. " If you have anything to say to 
 him, be quick about it !" She shuddered ; 
 she took his cold hand. Her touch seemed 
 to nerve him with new strength ; he asked 
 her to stoop over him. " They won't let 
 me write here," he whispered, " unless they 
 see my letter." He paased to get his 
 breath again. ''Lift up my left arm," 
 he gasped. " Open the wristband." 
 
 She detached the stud which closed the 
 wristband of the shirt. On the inner side 
 of the linen there was a line Avritten in red 
 
26 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 letters — red of the colour of blood. She 
 saw these words: ''''Look in the lining of my 
 trunk y 
 
 "What for ?" she asked. 
 
 The fading light in his eyes flashed on 
 her a dreadful look of doubt. His lips fell 
 apart in the vain effort to answer. His 
 last sigh fluttered the light ringlets of 
 her hair as she bent over him. 
 
 The surgeon pointed to her children. 
 *' Take the poor things home," he said ; 
 *' they have seen the last of their father." 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield obeyed in silence. She 
 had her own reasons for being in a hurry to 
 get home. Leaving the children under the 
 servant's care, she locked herself up in 
 the dead man's room, and emptied his 
 trunk of the few clothes that had been left 
 in it. 
 
 The lining which she was now to ex- 
 amine was of the customary material, and 
 
MISS WESTER FIELD'S EDUCATION. 27 
 
 of the usual striped pattern in blue and 
 white. Her fingers were not sufficiently 
 sensitive to feel anything under the surface, 
 when she tried it with her hand. Turning 
 the empty trunk with the inner side of the 
 lid towards the light, she discovered, on one 
 of the blue stripes of the lining, a thin 
 little shining stain which looked like a stain 
 of dried gum. After a moment's considera- 
 tion, she cut the gummed line with a 
 penknife. Something of a white colour 
 appeared through the aperture. She drew 
 out a folded sheet of paper. 
 
 It proved to be a letter in her husband's 
 handwriting. An enclosure dropped to the 
 floor when she opened it, in the shape 
 of a small slip of paper. She picked it up. 
 The morsel of paper presented letters, 
 figures, and crosses arranged in lines, and 
 mingled together in what looked like hope- 
 less confusion. 
 
28 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 3. — The Letter, 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield laid the incomprehensible 
 slip of paper aside, and, in search of an 
 explanation, returned to the letter. Here 
 again she found herself in a state of per- 
 plexity. Directed to ^' Mrs. Roderick 
 Westerfield," the letter began abruptly, 
 without the customary form of address. 
 Did it mean that her husband was angry 
 with her when he wrote? It meant that 
 he doubted her. 
 
 In these terms he expressed himself : 
 
 " I write to you before my trial takes 
 place. If the verdict goes in my favour, I 
 shall destroy what I have written. If I am 
 found guilty, I must leave it to you to do 
 what I should otherwise have done for 
 myself. 
 
 '' The undeserved misfortune that has 
 overtaken me began with the arrival of my 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 29 
 
 ship in the port of Rio. Our second mate 
 (his duty for the day being done) asked 
 leave to go on shore — and never returned. 
 What motive determined him on desertino', 
 I am not able to say. It was my own. wish 
 to supply his place by promoting the best 
 seaman on board. My owners' agents over- 
 ruled me, and appointed a man of their own 
 choosing. 
 
 " What nation he belonged to I don't 
 know. The name he gave Avas Beljames, 
 and he was reported to be a broken-down 
 gentleman. AYhoever he might be, his 
 manner and his talk were captivating. 
 Everybody liked him. 
 
 "After the two calamities of the loss of the 
 ship and the disappearance of the diamonds 
 — these last being valued at ^\^ thousand 
 pounds— I returned to England by the iirst 
 opportunity that offered, having Beljames 
 for a companion. 
 
30 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 " Shortly after getting back to my house 
 in London, I was privately warned by a 
 good friend that niy owners had decided to 
 prosecute me for wilfully casting aw^ay the 
 ship, and (crueller still) for having stolen 
 the missing diamonds. The second mate, 
 who had been in command of the vessel 
 when she struck on the rock, was similarly 
 charged along with me. Knowing myself 
 to be innocent, I determined, of course, to 
 stand my trial. My wonder was, what 
 Bel James would do. Would he follow my 
 example? or, if he got the chance, would 
 he try to make his escape? 
 
 " I might have thought it only friendly 
 to give this person a word of warning, if I 
 had known w^here to find him. We had 
 separated when the ship reached the port of 
 Falmouth, in Cornwall, and had not met 
 since. I gave him my address in London ; 
 but he gave me no address in return. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 31 
 
 *' On the voyage home, Beljames told me 
 that a legacy had been left to him ; being 
 a small freehold house and garden in St. 
 John's Wood, London. His agent, -writing 
 to him on the subject, had reported the 
 place to be sadly out of repair, and had 
 advised him to find somebody who would 
 take it oif his hands on reasonable terms. 
 This seemed to point to a likelihood of 
 his being still in London, trying to sell his 
 house. 
 
 " While my mind was running on these 
 recollections, I was told that a decent elderly 
 w^oman w-anted to see me. She proved to 
 be the landlady of the house in which 
 Beljames lodged ; and she brought an 
 alarming message. The man w^as dying, 
 and desired to see me. I went to him 
 immediately. 
 
 " Few words are best, when one has to 
 write about one's own troubles. 
 
32 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 " Beljames had heard of the intended 
 prosecution. How he had been made aware 
 of it, death left him no time to tell me. 
 The miserable wretch had poisoned himself 
 — whether in terror of standing his trial, 
 or in remorse of conscience, it is not any 
 business of mine to decide. Most unluckily 
 for me, he first ordered the doctor and the 
 landlady out of the room ; and then, when 
 we two were alone, owned that he had 
 purposely altered the course of the ship, 
 and had stolen the diamonds. 
 
 " To do him justice, he was eager to save 
 me from suffering for his fault. 
 
 ^' Having eased his mind by confession, 
 he gave me the slip of paper (written in 
 cypher) which you will find enclosed in 
 this. ' There is my note of the place where 
 the diamonds are hidden,' he said. Among 
 the many ignorant people who know nothing 
 of cyphers, I am one — and I told him so. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 33 
 
 ^ That's how I keep my secret,' he said ; 
 Svrite from my dictation, and you shall 
 know what it means. Lift me up first.' 
 As I did it, he rolled his head to and fro, 
 evidently in pain. But he managed to 
 point to pen, ink, and paper, on a table 
 hard by, on which his doctor had been 
 writing. I left him for a moment, to pull 
 the table nearer to the bed — and in that 
 moment he groaned, and cried out for help. 
 I ran to the room downstairs where the 
 doctor was waiting. When we got back to 
 him he w^as in convulsions. It was all over 
 with Beljames. 
 
 " The lawyers who are to defend me have 
 tried to get Experts, as they call them, to 
 interpret the cypher. The Experts have 
 all failed. They will declare, if they are 
 called as witnesses, that the signs on the 
 paper are not according to any known rules, 
 
 VOL. I. 3 
 
34 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 and are marks made at random, meanin^r 
 nothing. 
 
 " As for any statement, on my part, of 
 the confession made to me, the law refuses 
 to hear it, except from the mouth of a 
 witness. I might prove that the ship's 
 course was changed, contrary to my direc- 
 tions, after I had gone below to rest, if I 
 could find the man who was steerino- at the 
 time. God only knows where that man is. 
 
 '^ On the other hand, the errors of my 
 past life, and my being in debt, are circum- 
 stances dead against me. The lawyers seem 
 to trust almost entirely in a famous counsel, 
 whom they have engaged to defend me. 
 For my own part I go to ni}' trial with 
 little or no hope. 
 
 " If the verdict is guilty, and if you have 
 any regard left for my character, never rest 
 until you have found somebody who can 
 interpret these cursed signs. Do for me, I 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 35 
 
 say, what I cannot do for myself. Recover 
 the diamonds; and, when you restore them, 
 show my owners this letter. 
 
 " Kiss the children for me. I wish them, 
 when they are old enough, to read this 
 
 defence of myself, and to know that their 
 father, who loved them dearly, was an 
 innocent man. My good brother will take 
 care of you, for my sake. I have done. 
 
 "Roderick Westerfield.'' 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield took up the cypher once 
 more. She looked at it as if it was a living 
 thing that defied her. 
 
 "If I am ever able to read this gibberish,'* 
 she decided, " I know what I'll do with the 
 diamonds!'' 
 
 4. — Tlie Garret, 
 One year exactly after the fatal da}^ of 
 the Trial, Mrs. Westerfield (secluded in 
 
 Q 9 
 
36 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 the sanctuary of her bedroom) celebrated 
 her release from the oblifi^ation of wearino; 
 widows' weeds. 
 
 The conventional gradations in the out- 
 ward expression of grief, which lead from 
 black clothing to grey, formed no part of 
 this afflicted lady's system of mourning. 
 She laid her best blue walking dress and 
 her new bonnet to match on the bed, and 
 admired them to her heart's content. Her 
 discarded garments were left on the floor. 
 '' Thank Heaven, IVe done with You !" 
 she said — and kicked her rusty mourning 
 out of the way as she advanced to the fire- 
 place to ring the bell. 
 
 " Where is my little boy ?" she asked, 
 when the landlady entered the room. 
 
 " He's down with me in the kitchen, 
 ma'am ; I'm teaching him to make a plum 
 cake for himself. He's so happy ! I hope 
 you don't want him just now?" 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 37 
 
 '' Not the least in the world. I want you 
 to take care of him while I am away. By- 
 the-bye, w^here's Syd ?" 
 
 The eldest child (the girl) had been 
 christened Sydney, in compliment to one 
 of her father's female relatives. The name 
 was not liked by her mother — who had 
 shortened it to Syd, by way of leaving as 
 little of it as possible. With a look at Mrs. 
 Westerfield which expressed ill-concealed 
 aversion, the landlady answered : '* She's up 
 in the lumber-room, poor child. She says 
 you sent her there to be out of the way." 
 
 " Ah, to be sure, so I did." 
 
 '' There's no fireplace in the garret, 
 ma'am. I'm afraid the little girl must be 
 cold and lonely." 
 
 It was useless to plead for Syd— Mrs. 
 Westerfield was not listening. Her atten- 
 tion was absorbed by her own plump and 
 pretty hands. She took a tiny file from 
 
38 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 the dressing-table, and put a few finishing- 
 touches to her nails. " Send me some hot 
 water," she said ; " I want to dress." 
 
 The servant girl who carried the hot 
 water upstairs was new to the ways of the 
 house. After havins; waited on Mrs. Wester- 
 field, she had been instructed by the kind- 
 hearted landlady to go on to the top floor. 
 *' You will find a j^retty little girl in the 
 garret, all by herself Say you are to bring 
 her down to my room, as soon as her 
 Mamma has gone out." 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield's habitual nei>'lect of her 
 eldest child was known to every person in 
 the house. Even the new servant had 
 heard of it. Interested by what she sa^\', 
 on opening the garret door, she stopped on 
 the threshold and looked in. 
 
 The lumber in the room consisted of two 
 rotten old trunks, a broken chair, and a 
 dirty volume of sermons of the old-fashioned 
 
MJSS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 39 
 
 quarto size. The grimy ceiling slanting 
 downwards to a cracked window, was 
 stained with rain that had found its way 
 through the roof. The faded wall-paper, 
 loosened by damp, was torn away in some 
 places, and bulged loose in others. There 
 were holes in the skirting-board ; and from 
 one of them peeped the brightly timid eyes 
 of the child's only living companion in the 
 garret — a mouse, feeding on crumbs which 
 she had saved from her breakfast. 
 
 Syd looked up when the mouse darted 
 back into its hole, on the opening of the 
 door. '• Lizzie ! Lizzie !" she said gravely, 
 '' you ought to have come in vrithout making 
 a noise. You have frightened away my 
 youngest child." 
 
 The good-natured servant burst out 
 laughing. '' Have you got a large family, 
 Miss?" she inquired, humouring the joke. 
 
 Syd failed to see the joke. " Only two 
 
40 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 more," she answered as gravely as ever — 
 and lifted up from tlie floor two miserable 
 dolls, reduced to the last extremity of dirt 
 and dilapidation. " My two eldest," this 
 strange child resumed, setting up the dolls 
 against one of the empty trunks. " The 
 eldest is a girl, and her name is Syd. The 
 other is a boy, untidy in his clothes, as you 
 see. Their kind Mamma forgives them 
 when they are naughty, and buys ponies 
 for them to ride on, and always has some- 
 thing nice for them to eat when they are 
 hungry. Have you got a kind Mamma, 
 Lizzie? And are you very fond of her?" 
 
 Those innocent allusions to the neglect 
 which was the one sad experience of Syd's 
 young life, touched the servant's heart. A 
 bygone time was present to her memory, 
 when she too had been left without a play- 
 fellow to keep her company or a fire to 
 warm her, and had not endured it patiently. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 41 
 
 '•Oh, my dear," slie said, "your poor 
 little arms are red with cold. Come to me 
 and let me rub them." 
 
 But Syd's bright imagination was a better 
 protection against the cold than all the rub- 
 bing that the hands of a merciful woman 
 could offer. '' You are very kind, Lizzie," 
 she answered. " I don't feel the cold when 
 I am playing with my children. I am very 
 careful to give them plenty of exercise ; we 
 are going to walk in the Park." 
 
 She gave a hand to each of the dolls, and 
 walked sloAvly round and round the miser- 
 able room, pointing out visionary persons of 
 distinction and objects of interest. "Here's 
 the Queen, my dears, in her gilt coach, 
 drawn by six horses. Do you see her 
 sceptre poking out of the carriage window ? 
 She governs the nation with that. Bow to 
 the Queen. And now look at the beautiful 
 bright water. There's the island where the 
 
42 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 ducks live. Ducks are happy creatures. 
 They have their own way . in everything, 
 and they're good to eat when they're dead. 
 At least they used to be good, when we had 
 nice dinners in Papa's time. I try to amuse 
 the poor little things, Lizzie. Their Pa2:)a 
 is dead. I'm obliged to be Papa and 
 Mamma to them, both in one. Do you feel 
 the cold, my dears?" She shivered as she 
 questioned her imaginary children. " Xow 
 we are at home again," she said, and led 
 the dolls to the empty fireplace. " Roaring 
 fires always in my house," cried the resolute 
 little creature, rubbing her cold hands cheer- 
 fully before the bleak blank grate. 
 
 AVarm-hearted Lizzie could control her- 
 self no longer. 
 
 ^' If the child w^ould only make some 
 complaint," she burst out, " it wouldn't be 
 so dreadful ! Oh, w^hat a shame ! what a 
 shame !" she cried, to the astonishment of 
 
MISS VVESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 43 
 
 little Syd. "Come down, my dear, to 
 the nice warm room where your brother is. 
 Oh, your mother? I don't care if your 
 mother sees us; I should like to give your 
 mother a piece of my mind. There! I 
 don't mean to frighten you ; I'm one of 
 your bad children — I fly into a passion. 
 You carry the dolls, and I'll carry you. Oh, 
 how^ she shivers ! Give us a kiss." 
 
 Sympathy which expressed itself in this 
 way was new^ to Syd. Her ej^es opened 
 Avide in childish wonder — and suddenly 
 closed again in childish terror, when her 
 good friend the servant passed Mrs. 
 Westerfield's door on the w^ay downstairs. 
 " If Mamma bounces out on us," she w^his- 
 pered, "pretend we don't see her." The 
 nice w^arm room received them in safety. 
 Under no stress of circumstances had Mrs. 
 Wester field ever been known to dress herself 
 in a hurry. A good half-hour more had 
 
44 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 passed before the house door was heard 
 to bang — and the pleasant landlady, peep- 
 ing through the wmdow, said : " There she 
 goes. JSTow, we'll enjoy ourselves!" 
 
 5. — The Landlord. 
 
 Mrs. AVesterfield's destination was the 
 public-house in which she had been once 
 employed as a barmaid. Entering the 
 place without hesitation, she sent in her 
 card to the landlord. He opened the par- 
 our door himself, and invited her to walk 
 in. 
 
 '^ You wear well," he said, admiring her. 
 '^ Have you come here to be my barmaid 
 again r 
 
 '' Do you think I am reduced to that ?'^ 
 she answered. 
 
 '^ Well, my dear, more unlikely things 
 have happened. They tell me you depend 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 45 
 
 for your income on Lord Le Basque — and 
 his lordship's death was in the newspapers 
 last week." 
 
 " And his lordship's lawyers continue my 
 allowance." 
 
 Having smartly set the landlord right in 
 those words, she had not thought it neces- 
 sary to add that Lady Le Basque, continuing 
 the allowance at her husband's request, had 
 also notified that it would cease if Mrs. 
 Westerfield married again. 
 
 " You're a lucky woman," the landlord " 
 remarked. '' Well, I'm glad to see you. 
 AYhat will you take to drink?" 
 
 " Nothing, thank you. I want to know 
 if you have heard anything lately of James 
 Bellbridge." 
 
 The landlord was a popular person in his 
 own circle — not accustomed to restrain him- 
 self when he saw his way to a joke. 
 ^' Here's constancy 1" he said. '^ She's 
 
46 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 sweet on James, after having jilted him 
 twelve years ago !" 
 
 Mrs. AYesterfield rose with dignity. " I 
 am accustomed to be treated i-espectfally," 
 she replied. "I wish you good-morning.'^ 
 
 The easy landlord pressed her back into 
 her chair. " Don't be a fool," he said ; 
 '' James is in London — James is staying in 
 my house. What do you think of that?" 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield's bold grey eyes ex- 
 pressed eager curiosity and interest. " You 
 don't mean that he is going to be barman 
 here again?" 
 
 " No such luck, my dear ; he is a gentle- 
 man at large, who patronises my house." 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield went on with her ques- 
 tions. 
 
 '* Has he left America for good?" 
 
 " Not he I James Bellbrids^e is 2:oino: 
 back to New York, to open a saloon (as 
 they call it) in partnership with another 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 47 
 
 man. He's in England, he says, on business. 
 It's my belief that he wants money for this 
 new venture on bad security. They're 
 smart people in ^NTew York. His only 
 chance of getting his bills discounted is to 
 humbug his relations, down in the country." 
 
 ^' When does he go to the country?" 
 
 ^' He's there now." 
 
 '* When does he come back?" 
 
 *' You're determined to see him, it ap- 
 pears! He comes back to-morrow." 
 
 "Is he married?" 
 
 "Aha! now we're coming to the point. 
 Make your mind easy. Plenty of women 
 have set the trap for him ; but he has not 
 w^alked into it yet. Shall I give him your 
 love ?" 
 
 " Yes," she said coolly. " As much love 
 as you please." 
 
 ** Meaning marriage ?" the landlord in- 
 quired. 
 
48 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 " And money/' Mrs. Westerfield added. 
 
 *' Lord Le Basque's money?" 
 
 " Lord Le Basque's money may go to the 
 Devil!" 
 
 '' Hullo ! Your language reminds of the 
 time when you were barmaid. You don't 
 mean to say you have had a fortune left 
 you? 
 
 "I do ! Will you give a message to 
 James ?" 
 
 "I'll do anything for a lady with a for- 
 tune." 
 
 ^' Tell him to come and drink tea with his 
 old sweetheart to-morrow, at six o'clock." 
 
 " He won't do it." 
 
 " He will." 
 
 With that difference of opinion, they 
 parted. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELDS EDUCATION. 49 
 
 6. — The Brute, 
 
 To-morrow came — and Mrs. Westerfield's 
 faithful James justified her confidence in 
 him. 
 
 " Oh, Jemmy, how glad I am to see you! 
 You dear, dear fellow, Fm yours at last." 
 
 " That depends, my lady, on whether I 
 want you. Let go of my neck." 
 
 The man who entered this protest against 
 imprisonment in the arms of a fine woman, 
 was one of the human beings who are grown 
 to perfection on English soil He had the 
 fat face, the pink complexion, the hard blue 
 eyes, the scanty yellow hair, the smile with 
 no meaning in it, the tremendous neck and 
 shoulders, the mighty fists and feet, which 
 are seen in complete combination in England 
 only. Men of this breed possess a nervous 
 system without being aware of it; suffer 
 affliction without feeling it ; exercise courage 
 VOL. I. 4 
 
50 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 without a sense of clanger; marry without 
 love; eat and drink without limit; and sink 
 (big as they are), when disease attacks them, 
 without an effort to live. 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield released her guest's bull- 
 neck at the word of command. It was im- 
 possible not to submit to him — he was so 
 brutal. Impossible not to admire him — he 
 was so big. 
 
 " Have vou no love left for me?" was all 
 she ventured to say. 
 
 He took the reproof good-humouredly. 
 "Love?" he repeated. " Come! I like that 
 — after throwing me over for a man with a 
 handle to his name. Which am I to call 
 you: 'Mrs.'? or 'My Lady'?" 
 
 " Call me your own. What is there to 
 laugh at, Jemmy ? You used to be fond of 
 me ; you would never have gone to America, 
 when I married Westerfield, if I hadn't been 
 dear to you. Oh, if I'm sure of anything, 
 
MISS WESTERFIELDS EDUCATION. 51 
 
 I'm sure of that ! You wouldn't bear malice, 
 dear, if you only knew how cruelly I have 
 been disapiDointed." 
 
 He suddenly showed an interest in what 
 she was saying: the brute became cheery 
 and confidential. *' So he made you a bad 
 husband, did he ? Up with his fist and 
 knocked you down, I dare say, if the truth 
 was known?" 
 
 "You're all in the wrong, dear. He would 
 have been a good husband, if I had cared 
 about him. I never cared about anybody 
 but you. It wasn't Westerfield who tempted 
 me to say Yes." 
 " That's a lie." 
 *' ISTo, indeed it isn't." 
 " Then why did you marry him?" 
 " When I married him. Jemmy, there 
 was a prospect — oh, how could I resist it? 
 Think of being one of the Le Basques ! Held 
 in honour, to the end^^ftikny life, by that 
 
52 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 noble family, whether my husband lived or 
 died !'' 
 
 To the barman's ears, this sounded like 
 sheer nonsense. His experience in the pub- 
 lic-house suggested an explanation. ^' I say, 
 my girl, have you been drinking?" 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield's first impulse led her to 
 rise and point indignantly to the door. He 
 had only to look at her — and she sat down 
 ao'ain a tamed woman. " You don't under- 
 stand how the chance tempted me," she 
 answered gently. 
 
 "What chance do you mean?" 
 
 " The chance, dear, of being a lord's 
 mother." 
 
 He was still puzzled, but he lowered his 
 tone. The true-born Briton bowed by in- 
 stinct before the woman who had jilted him, 
 when she presented herself in the character 
 of a lord's mother. " How do you make 
 that out, Maria?" he asked politely. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 53 
 
 She drew lier chair nearer to him, when 
 he called her by her Christian name for the 
 first time. 
 
 '^ When Westerfield was courtinof me," 
 she said, " his brother (my lord) was a 
 bachelor. A lady — if one can call such a 
 creature a lady ! — was living under his pro- 
 tection. He told Westerfield he was very 
 fond of her, and he hated the idea of fifettino; 
 married. ' If your wife's first child turns 
 out to be a son/ he said, * there is an heir 
 to the title and estates, and I may go on as 
 I am now.' We were married a month 
 afterwards — and when my first child was 
 born it was a girl. I leave you to judge 
 what the disappointment was ! My lord 
 (persuaded, as I suspect, by the woman I 
 mentioned just now) ran the risk of waiting 
 another year, and a year afterwards, rather 
 than be married. Through all that time, I 
 had no other child or prospect of a child. 
 
54 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 His lordship was fairly driven into taking a 
 wife. Ah, how I hate her ! Their first child 
 was a boy — a big, bouncing, healthy brute 
 of a bo}^ ! And six months afterwards, my 
 poor little fellow was born. Only think of 
 it ! And tell me. Jemmy, don't I deserve to 
 be a happy woman, after suffering such a 
 dreadful disappointment as that? Is it true 
 that you're going back to America?" 
 
 " Quite true." 
 
 " Take me back with you." 
 
 '^With a couple of children?" 
 
 '^ Xo. Only with one. I can dispose of 
 the other in England. Wait a little before 
 you say iSTo. Do you want money?" 
 
 " You couldn't help me, if I did." 
 
 " Marry me, and I can help you to a for- 
 
 tune." 
 
 He eyed her attentively, and saw that she 
 was in earnest. " What do you call a for- 
 tune?" he asked. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 55 
 
 " Five thousand pounds," she answered. 
 
 His eyes opened; his mouth opened; he 
 scratched his head. Even his impenetrable 
 nature proved to be capable of receiving a 
 shock. Five thousand pounds ! He asked 
 faintly for '* a drop of brandy." 
 
 She had a bottle of brandy ready for him. 
 
 '' You look quite overcome," she said. 
 
 He was too deeply interested in the re- 
 storative influence of the brandy to take any 
 notice of this remark. When he had re- 
 covered himself he was not disposed to 
 believe in the five thousand pounds. 
 
 " Where's the proof of it?" he said sternly. 
 
 She produced her husband's letter. " Did 
 you read the Trial of Westerfield for casting 
 away his ship?" she asked. 
 
 "I heard of it." 
 
 " Will you look at this letter? 
 
 "Is it long?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 n?> 
 
56 THE E VIL GENIUS. 
 
 "Then suppose you read it to me." 
 
 He listened with the closest attention 
 while she read. The question of stealing 
 the diamonds (if they could only be found) 
 did not trouble either of them. It was a 
 settled question, by tacit consent, on both 
 sides. But the value in money of the precious 
 stones suggested a doubt that still weighed 
 on his mind. 
 
 '' How do you know they're worth five 
 thousand pounds?" he inquired. 
 
 " You dear old stupid ! Doesn't Wester- 
 field himself say so in his letter?" 
 
 " Read that bit ao^ain." 
 
 She read it again: " After the two calami- 
 ties of the loss of the ship, and the disap- 
 pearance of the diamonds — these last being 
 valued at five thousand pounds — I returned 
 to England." 
 
 Satisfied so far, he wanted to look at the 
 cypher next. She handed it to him with a 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 57 
 
 stipulation ; " Yours, Jemmy, on the day 
 when you marry me.'' 
 
 He put the slip of paper into his pocket. 
 *' Now Tve got it," he said, ''suppose I keep 
 it?" 
 
 A woman who has been barmaid at a 
 public-house is a woman not easily found at 
 the end of her resources. " In that case," 
 she curtly remarked, " I should first call in 
 the police, and then telegraph to my hus- 
 band's employers in Liverpool." 
 
 He handed the cypher back. " I was 
 joking," he said. 
 
 '' So was I," she answered. 
 
 They looked at each other. They were 
 made for each other — and they both felt it. 
 At the same time, James kept his own in- 
 terests steadily in view. He stated the ob- 
 vious objection to the cypher. Experts had 
 already tried to interpret the signs, and had 
 failed. 
 
58 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 "Quite true," she added, "but other people 
 may succeed." 
 
 " How are you to find them?" 
 
 " Leave me to try. Will you give me a 
 fortnight from to-day." 
 
 " All right. Anything else?" 
 
 " One thing more. Get the marriage 
 license at once." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " To show that you are in earnest." 
 
 He burst out laughing. " It mightn't be 
 much amiss," he said, "if^I took you back 
 with me to America; you're the sort of 
 woman we want in our new saloon. I'll get 
 the license. Good-night." 
 
 As he rose to go, there was a soft knock 
 at the door. A little girl, in a shabby frock, 
 ventured to show herself in the room. 
 
 "What do you want here?" her mother 
 asked sharply. 
 
 Syd held out a small thin hand, with a 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 59 
 
 letter in it, whicli represented her only ex- 
 cuse. Mrs. Wester field read the letter, and 
 crumpled it up in her pocket. " One of your 
 secrets?" James asked. "Anything about 
 the diamonds, for instance?" 
 
 " Wait till you are my husband," she 
 said, '* and then you may be as inquisitive as 
 you please." Her amiable sweetheart's 
 guess had actually hit the mark. During 
 the year that had passed, she too had tried 
 her luck among the Experts, and had failed. 
 Having recently heard of a foreign inter- 
 preter of cyphers, she had written to ask 
 his terms. The reply (just received) not 
 only estimated his services at an extrava- 
 gantly high rate, but asked cautious ques- 
 tions which it was not convenient to an- 
 swer. Another attempt had been made to 
 discover the mystery of the cypher, and made 
 in vain. 
 
 James Bellbridge had his moments of 
 
6o THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 good-liumour, and was on those rare occa- 
 sions easily amused. He eyed the child 
 with condescending curiosity. '^ Looks half 
 starved," he said — as if he was considering 
 the case of a stray cat. " Hullo, there! 
 Buy a bit of bread." He tossed a penny 
 to Syd as she left the room; and took the 
 ojDportunity of binding his bargain with 
 Syd's mother. "Mind! if I take you to 
 New York, I'm not to be burdened with both 
 your children. Is that girl the one you 
 leave behind you ?" 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield smiled sweetly, and 
 answered : " Yes, dear." 
 
 7. — The Cypher. 
 
 An advertisement in the newspapers, 
 addressed to persons skilled in the inter- 
 pretation of cyphers, now represented Mrs. 
 Westerfield's only chance of discovering 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S ED UCA TION. 6 1 
 
 where the diamonds were hidden. The 
 first ansAver that she received made some 
 amends for previous disappointment. It 
 offered references to gentlemen, whose names 
 were in themselves a sufficient guarantee. 
 She verified the references nevertheless, and 
 paid a visit to her correspondent on the 
 same day. 
 
 His personal appearance was not in his 
 favour — he was old and dirty, infirm and 
 poor. His mean room was littered with 
 shabby books. None of the ordinary 
 courtesies of life seemed to be known to 
 him ; he neither wished Mrs. Westerfield 
 good-morning nor asked her to take a seat. 
 When she attempted to enter into explana- 
 tions relating to her errand, he rudely 
 interrupted her. " Show me your cypher," 
 he said ; " I don't promise to study it unless 
 I find it worth my while." 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield was alarmed. "Do you 
 
62 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 mean that you want a large sum of money?" 
 she asked. 
 
 " I mean that I don't waste my time on 
 easy cyphers mvented by fools." 
 
 She laid the slip of paper on his desk. 
 " Waste your time on tliat^^ she said 
 satirically, " and see how you like it!" 
 
 He examined it — first w^ith his bleared 
 red-rimmed eyes ; then wdth a magnifying- 
 glass. The only expression of opinion that 
 escaped him was indicated by his actions. 
 He shut up his book, and gloated over the 
 sio;ns and characters before him. On a 
 sudden he looked at Mrs. Westerfield. 
 ^' How did you come by this?" he asked. 
 
 " That's no business of yours." 
 
 " In other words, you have reasons of 
 your own for not answering my question?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 Drawing his own inferences from that 
 reply, he showed his three last-left yellow 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 63 
 
 teeth in a liorrid grin. ^' I understand !'' 
 he said, speaking to himself. He looked at 
 the cypher once more, and put another 
 question : " Have you got a copy of this?" 
 
 It had not occurred to her to take a copy. 
 He rose and pointed to his empty chair. 
 His opinion of the cypher was, to all appear- 
 ance, forced to express itself by the discovery 
 that there was no copy. 
 
 *'Do you know what might happen?" he 
 asked. " The only cypher that has puzzled 
 me for the last ten years might he lost — or 
 stolen — or burnt if there was a fire in the 
 house. You deserve to be punished for 
 your carelessness. Make the copy your- 
 self" 
 
 This desirable suggestion (uncivilly as it 
 was expressed) had its effect upon Mrs. 
 Westerfield. Her marriage depended on 
 that precious slip of paper. She was con- 
 firmed in her opinion that this very dis- 
 
64 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 agreeable man might nevertheless be a man 
 to be trusted. 
 
 " Shall you be long in finding out what 
 it means?" she asked, when her task was 
 completed. 
 
 He carefully compared the copy with the 
 original — and then he replied : 
 
 '' Days may pass before I can find the 
 clue ; I won't attempt it unless you give 
 me a week." 
 
 She pleaded for a shorter interval. He 
 coolly handed back her papers ; the original 
 and the copy. 
 
 " Try somebody else," he suggested — and 
 opened his book again. Mrs. Westerfield 
 yielded with the worst possible grace. In 
 granting him the week of delay, she ajD- 
 proached the subject of his fee for the 
 second time. '' How much will it cost 
 me?" she inquired. 
 
 ^'I'll tell you when I've done." 
 
MISS WESTERFIELDS EDUCATION. 65 
 
 " That won't do ! I must know the 
 amount first." 
 
 He handed her back her papers for tho 
 second time. Mrs. AVesterfi eld's experience 
 of poverty had never been the experience of 
 such independence as this. In sheer be- 
 wilderment, she yielded ae'ain. He took 
 back the original cypher, and locked it up 
 in his desk. " Call here this day week," 
 he said — and returned to his book. 
 
 "You are not very polite," she told him, 
 on leaving the room. 
 
 " At any rate," he answered, " I don't 
 interrupt people when they are reading." 
 
 The week passed. 
 
 Kepeating her visit, Mrs. Westerfield 
 found him still seated at his desk, still 
 surrounded by his books, still careless of 
 the polite attentions that he owed to a lady. 
 
 "Well?" she asked, "have you earned 
 your money ?" 
 
 VOL. I. . 5 
 
66 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 " I have found the clue." 
 
 '' What is it?" she burst out. " Tell me 
 the substance. I can't wait to read." 
 
 He went on impenetrably with what he had 
 to say. " But there are some minor combina- 
 tions, which I have still to discover to my 
 own satisfaction. I want a few days more." 
 
 She positively refused to comply with this 
 request. " Write down the substance of it," 
 she repeated, "and tell me w^hat I owe 3'ou." 
 
 He handed her back her cypher for the 
 third time. 
 
 The woman who could have kept her 
 temper, under such provocation as this, 
 may be found when the mathematician is 
 found who can square the circle, or the 
 inventor who can discover perjDctual motion. 
 With a furious look, Mrs. Westerheld ex- 
 pressed her opinion of the philosopher in 
 two words: "You brute!" She failed to 
 produce the slightest impression on him. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 67 
 
 " My work," he proceeded, " must be 
 well done or not done at all. This is 
 Saturday, eleventh of the month. AVe 
 will say the evening of Wednesday next." 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield sufficiently controlled 
 herself to be able to review her engagements 
 for the coming week. On Thursday, the 
 delay exacted by the marriage license would 
 expire, and the wedding might take place. 
 On Friday, the express train conveyed 
 passengers to Liverpool, to be in time for 
 the departure of the steamer for Xew York 
 on Saturday morning. Having made these 
 calculations, she asked, with sulky sub- 
 mission, if she was expected to call again 
 on the Wednesday evening. 
 
 *' No. Leave me your name and address. 
 I will send you the cypher, interpreted, at 
 
 eight o'clock." 
 
 Mrs. Westerfield laid one of her visiting 
 cards on his desk, and left him. 
 
 5—2 
 
68 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 8 . — The Diamonds. 
 
 The new week was essentially a week of 
 events. 
 
 On the Monday morning, Mrs. Wester- 
 field and her faithful James had their first 
 quarrel. She took the liberty of reminding 
 him that it was time to give notice of the 
 marriao:e at the church, and to secure berths 
 in the steamer for herself and her son. In- 
 stead of answering one way or another, 
 James asked how the Expert was getting on. 
 
 '' Has your old man found out where the 
 diamonds are?" 
 
 " Not yet.'' 
 
 " Then we'll wait till he does." 
 
 " Do you believe my word ?" Mrs. 
 Westerfield asked curtly. 
 
 James Bellbridge answered, with Roman 
 brevity, "No." 
 
 This was an insult ; Mrs. Westerfield 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 69 
 
 expressed her sense of it. She rose, and 
 pointed to the door. " Go back to America, 
 as soon as you please," she said ; '' and 
 find the money you want — if you can." 
 
 As a proof that she was in earnest she 
 took her copy of the cypher out of the 
 bosom of her dress, and threw it into the 
 fire. " The original is safe in my old man\s 
 keeping," she added. " Leave the room." 
 
 James rose with suspicious docility, and 
 walked out; having his own private ends in 
 view. 
 
 Half an hour later, Mrs. \Yesterfield's 
 old man was interrupted over his work by 
 a person of bulky and blackguard appear- 
 ance, whom he had never seen before. 
 
 The strano;er introduced himself as a 
 gentleman who was engaged to marry 
 Mrs. Westerfield : he requested (not at all 
 politely) to be permitted to look at the 
 cypher. He was asked if lie had brought 
 
70 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 a written order to that effect, signed by the 
 lady herself. Mr. Bellbridge, resting his 
 fists on the writing-table, answered that he 
 had come to look at the cypher, on his own 
 sole responsibility, and that he insisted on 
 seeing it immediately. " Allow me to 
 show you something else first," was the 
 reply he received to this assertion of his 
 will and pleasure. " Do you know a loaded 
 pistol, sir, when you see it?" The barrel 
 of the pistol approached within three inches 
 of the barman's bio; head as he leaned over 
 the writing-table. For once in his life he 
 was taken by surprise. It had never oc- 
 curred to him that a professed interpreter 
 of cyphers might sometimes be trusted with 
 secrets which placed him in a position of 
 danger, and might therefore have wisely 
 taken measures to j^^otect himself Xo 
 power of persuasion is comparable to the 
 power possessed by a loaded pistol. James 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 71 
 
 left the room; and expressed his sentiments 
 in language which has not yet found its 
 way into any English Dictionary. 
 
 But he had two merits, when his temper 
 was in a state of repose. He knew when 
 he was beaten; and he thoroughly appre- 
 ciated the value of the diamonds. When 
 Mrs. Westerfield saw him again, on the 
 next day, he appeared with undeniable 
 claims on her mercy. Notice of the mar- 
 riage had been received at the church; and 
 a cabin had been secured for her on board 
 the steamer. 
 
 Her prospects being thus settled, to her 
 own satisfaction, Mrs. Westerfield was at 
 liberty to make her arrangements for the 
 desertion of poor little Syd. 
 
 The person on whose assistance she could 
 rely was an unmarried elder sister, dis- 
 tinguished as proprietor of a cheap girls' 
 school in one of the suburbs of London. 
 
7 2 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 This lady — knoT\''n to local fame as Miss 
 Wigger — had already proposed to take Syd 
 into training as a pupil teacher. " I'll 
 force the child on," Miss Wigger promised, 
 ^' till she can earn her board and lodo^ins; 
 by taking my lowest class. When she gets 
 older she will replace my regular governess' 
 and I shall save the salary." 
 
 With this proposal waiting for a reply, 
 Mrs. Westerfield had only to inform her 
 sister that it was accepted. " Come here," 
 she wrote, "on Friday next, at any time 
 before two o'clock, and Syd shall be ready 
 for you. P.S. — I am to be married again 
 on Thursday, and start for America with 
 my husband and my boy by next Saturday's 
 steamer." 
 
 The letter was posted ; and the mother's 
 anxious mind was, to use her own phrase, 
 relieved of another worry. 
 
 As the hour of eight drew near on 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 73 
 
 Wednesday evening, Mrs. "VVesterfield's 
 anxiety forced her to find relief in action of 
 some kind. She opened the door of her 
 sittino^-room, and listened on the stairs. It 
 still wanted a few minutes to eight o'clock, 
 when there was a ring at the house-bell. 
 She ran down to open the door. The 
 servant happened to be in the hall, and 
 answered the bell. The next moment the 
 door was suddenly closed again. 
 
 " Anybody there ?" Mrs. Wester field 
 asked. 
 
 " Xo, ma'am.'' 
 
 This seemed strange. Had the old 
 wretch deceived her, after all ? " Look in 
 the letter-box," she called out. The servant 
 obe^'cd, and found a letter. Mrs. Wester- 
 field tore it open, standing on the stairs. 
 It contained half a sheet of common note- 
 paper. The interpretation of the cypher 
 was written on it in these words : — 
 
74 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 " Remember Number 12, Purbeck Road, 
 St. John's Wood. Go to the summer-house 
 in the back garden. Count to the fourth 
 plank in the floor, reckoning from the 
 side wall on the right as you enter the 
 summer - house. Prize up the plank. 
 Look under the mould and rubbish. Find 
 the diamonds." 
 
 Not a word of explanation accompanied 
 these lines. Neither had the original 
 cypher been returned. The strange old 
 man had earned his money, and had not 
 attended to receive it — had not even sent 
 word where or how it might be paid ! 
 Had he delivered his letter himself? He 
 (or his messenger) liad gone before the 
 house door could be opened ! 
 
 A sudden suspicion of him turned her 
 cold. Had he stolen the diamonds ? She 
 was on the point of sending for a cab, and 
 driving to his lodgings, when James came 
 
MISS WESTERFIELDS EDUCATION. 75 
 
 in ; eager to know if the interpretation had 
 arrived. 
 
 Keeping her suspicions to herself, she 
 merely informed him that the interpretation 
 was in her hands. He at once asked to see 
 it. She refused to shoAv it to him until he 
 had made her his wife. " Put a chisel in 
 your pocket, when we go to church, to- 
 morrow morning," was the one hint she 
 gave him. As thoroughly worthy of each 
 other as ever, the betrothed lovers dis- 
 trusted each other to the last. 
 
 At eleven o'clock the next morning they 
 were united in the bonds of wedlock ; the 
 landlord and the landlady of the public- 
 house in which they had both served being 
 the only witnesses present. The children 
 were not permitted to see the ceremony. 
 On leaving the church door, the married 
 pair began their honeymoon by driving to 
 St. John's Wood. 
 
76 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 A dirty printed notice, in a broken 
 window, announced that the House was To 
 Let \ and a sour-tempered woman informed 
 them that they were free to look at the 
 rooms. 
 
 The bride was in the best of humours. 
 She set the bridegroom the example of 
 keeping up appearances by examining the 
 dilapidated house first. This done, she said 
 sweetly to the person in charge, " May 
 we look at the garden?" 
 
 The woman made a strange answer to 
 this request. " That's curious," she said. 
 
 James interfered for the first time. 
 ''AVhat's curious?" he asked roughly. 
 
 '' Among all the idle people who have 
 come here, at one time or another, to see 
 this house," the woman said; " only two 
 have wanted to look at the garden." 
 
 James turned on his heel, and made for 
 the summer-house, leaving it to his wife to 
 
MISS WESTERFIELDS EDUCATION. 77 
 
 pursue the subject or not as she pleased. 
 She did pursue the subject. 
 
 '' I am one of the persons, of course,'* 
 she said. "Who is the other?" 
 
 " An old man came on Monday." 
 
 The bride's pleasant smile vanished. 
 
 '' What sort of person was he?" she asked. 
 
 The sour-tempered woman became sourer 
 than ever. "Oh, how can I tell ! A brute. 
 There!" 
 
 "A brute?" The very words which the 
 new Mrs. Bellbridge had herself used when 
 the Expert had irritated her. With serious 
 misgivings, she, too, turned her steps in the 
 direction of the garden. 
 
 James had already followed her instruc- 
 tions and used his chisel. The plank lay 
 loose on the floor. With both his big 
 hands he rapidly cleared away the mould 
 and the rubbish. In a few minutes the 
 hiding-place was laid bare. 
 
78 THE EVIL GENIUS, 
 
 They looked into it. They looked at 
 each other. There was the empty hole, tell- 
 ing its own story. The diamonds were gone. 
 
 ^.—The Mother. 
 
 Mrs. Bellbridge eyed her husband, j^^'e- 
 pared for a furious outbreak of rage. He 
 stood silent, staring stupidly straight before 
 him. The shock that had fallen on his dull 
 brain had stunned it. For the time, he was 
 a big idiot — sj)eechless, harmless, helpless. 
 
 She put back the rubbish, and replaced 
 the plank, and picked up the chisel. " Come, 
 James," she said; " pull yourself together." 
 It was useless to speak to him. She took 
 his arm, and led him out to the cab that was 
 waiting at the door. 
 
 The driver, helping him to get in, 
 noticed a piece of paper lying on the front 
 seat. Advertisements, seeking publicity 
 under all possible circumstances, are occa- 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 79 
 
 sionally set flying into the open windows of 
 vehicles. The driver was about to throw 
 the paper away, when Mrs. Bellbridge 
 (seeing it on the other side) took it out of 
 his hand. ''It isn't print," she said ; "it's 
 writing." A closer examination showed 
 that the writing was addressed to herself. 
 Her correspondent must have followed 
 her to the church, as well as to the house 
 in St. John's Wood. He distinguished her 
 by the name which she had changed that 
 morning, under the sanction of the clergy 
 and the law. 
 
 This was what she read: '^ Don't trouble 
 yourself, madam, about the diamonds. You 
 have made a mistake — you have employed 
 the wrong man." 
 
 Those words — and no more. Enouo^h, 
 surely, to justify the conclusion that he had 
 stolen the diamonds. Was it worth while 
 to drive to his lodgings? They tried the 
 
8o THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 experiment. The Expert had gone away on 
 business — nobody knew where. 
 
 The newspaper came as usual on Friday 
 morning. To Mrs. Bellbridge's amazemen^ 
 it set the question of the theft at rest, on 
 the highest authority. An article appeared, 
 in a conspicuous position, thus expressed: 
 
 " Another of the many proofs that truth 
 is stranger than fiction has just occurred at 
 Liverpool. A highly respected firm of 
 shipowners in that city received a strange 
 letter at the beginning of the present week. 
 Premising that he had some remarkable 
 circumstances to communicate, the writer 
 of the letter entered abruptly on the nar- 
 rative which follows: A friend of his — 
 connected with literature — had, it appeared, 
 noticed a lady's visiting card left on his 
 desk, and had been reminded by it (in what 
 way it was not necessary to explain) of 
 a criminal case which had excited consider- 
 
MISS WESTER FIELD'S EDUCATION. 8i 
 
 able public interest at the time, viz., the 
 trial of Captain Westerfielcl for wilfully 
 casting away a ship under his command. 
 IN^ever having heard of the trial, the writer, 
 at his friend's suggestion, consulted a file of 
 newspapers — discovered the report — and 
 became aware, for the first time, that a 
 collection of Brazilian diamonds, consigned 
 to the Liverpool firm, was missing from the 
 wrecked vessel when she had been boarded 
 by the salvage party, and had not been 
 found since. Events, which it was im- 
 possible for him to mention (seeing that 
 doing so would involve a breach of con- 
 fidence placed in him in his professional 
 capacity), had revealed to his knowledge 
 a hiding-place in which these same diamonds, 
 in all probability, w^ere concealed. This 
 circumstance had left him no alternative, as 
 an honest man, but to be beforehand with 
 the persons, who (as he believed) contem- 
 VOL. I. 6 
 
82 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 plated stealing the precious stones. He 
 had, accordingly, taken them under liis 
 protection, until they were identified and 
 claimed by the rightful owners. In now 
 appealing to these gentlemen, he stipulated 
 that the claim should be set forth in writing, 
 addressed to him under initials at a post- 
 office in London. If the lost property was 
 identified to his satisfaction, he would meet 
 — at a specified place, and on a certain day 
 and hour — a person accredited by the firm, 
 and would personally restore the diamonds, 
 without claiming (or consenting to receive) 
 a reward. The conditions being complied 
 with, this remarkable interview took place: 
 the writer of the letter, described as an 
 infirm old man very poorly dressed, ful- 
 filled his engagement, took his receipt, and 
 walked away without even waiting to be 
 thanked. It is only an act of justice to 
 add that the diamonds were afterwards 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS ED UCA TION, 83 
 
 counted, and not one of them was miss- 
 ing." 
 
 Miserable, deservedly-miserable married 
 pair! The stolen fortune, on which they 
 had counted, had slipped through their 
 fingers. The berths in the steamer for 
 New York had been taken and paid for. 
 James had married a woman with nothing 
 besides herself to bestow on him, except an 
 incumbrance in the shape of a boy. 
 
 Late on the fatal wedding-day his first 
 idea, when he was himself again after the 
 discovery in the summer-house, was to get 
 back his passage-money, to abandon his 
 wife and his stepson, and to escape to 
 America in a French steamer. He went 
 to the office of the English company, and 
 offered the places which he had taken for 
 sale. The season of the year was against 
 him; the passenger-traffic to America was 
 at its lowest ebb, and profits depended 
 
 6—2 
 
84 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 upon freights alone. If he still contem- 
 plated deserting his wife, he must also 
 submit to sacrifice his money. The other 
 alternative was (as he expressed it himself) 
 to " have his pennyworth for his penny, 
 and to turn his family to some good account 
 in New York." He had not quite decided 
 what to do when he got home again on the 
 evenino; of his marriage. 
 
 At that critical moment in her life the 
 bride was equal to the demand on her 
 resources. - 
 
 If she was foolish enough to allow James 
 to act on his natural impulses, there were 
 probably two prospects before her. In one 
 state of his temper, he might knock her 
 down. In another state of his temper, he 
 might leave her behind him. Her onl}^ 
 hope of protecting herself, in either case, 
 was to tame the bridegroom. In his ab- 
 sence, she wisely armed herself with the 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S EDUCATION. 85 
 
 most irresistible fascinations of her sex. 
 Never yet had he seen her dressed as she 
 was dressed when he came home. Never 
 yet had her magnificent eyes looked at him 
 as they looked now. Emotions for which 
 he was not prepared overcame this much- 
 injured man : he stared at the bride in 
 helpless surprise. That inestimable moment 
 of weakness was all Mrs. Bell bridge asked 
 for. Bewildered by his own transformation, 
 James found himself reading the newspaper 
 the next morning sentimentally, with his 
 arm round his wife's waist. 
 
 By a refinement of cruelty, no one word 
 had been said to prepare little Syd for the 
 dreary change that was now close at hand 
 in her young life. The poor child had 
 seen the preparations for departure, and 
 had tried to imitate her mother in packing 
 up. She had collected her few morsels of 
 
86 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 darned and ragged clothing, and had gone 
 upstairs to put them into one of the dila- 
 pidated old trunks in the garret play- 
 ground, when the servant was sent to 
 bring her back to the sitting-room. There, 
 enthroned in an easy-chair, sat a strange 
 lady ; and there, hiding behind the chair 
 in undiso'uised dislike of the visitor, was 
 her little brother Roderick. Syd looked 
 timidly at her mother; and her mother 
 said : 
 
 " Here is your aunt.'^ 
 
 The personal appearance of ]\Iiss Wigger 
 mici^ht have suo^o^ested a modest distrust of 
 his own abilities to Lavater, when that self- 
 sufficient man wrote his famous work on 
 Physiognomy. Whatever betrayal of her 
 inner self her face might have presented, in 
 the distant time when she was young, was 
 now completely overlaid by a surface of 
 flabby fat which, assisted by green spec- 
 
MISS WESTERFIELDS EDUCATION. 87 
 
 tacles, kept the virtues (or vices) of this 
 woman's nature a profound secret until she 
 opened her lips. When she used her voice, 
 she let out the truth. Xobody could hear 
 her speak, and doubt for a moment that she 
 was an inveterately ill-natured woman. 
 
 " Make your curtsey, child !" said Miss 
 Wigger. Nature had so toned her voice as 
 to make it worthy of the terrors of her face. 
 But for her petticoats, it would have been 
 certainly taken for the voice of a man. 
 
 The child obeyed, trembling. 
 
 " You are to go away with me," the 
 schoolmistress proceeded, " and to be 
 taught to make yourself useful under 
 my roof.'* 
 
 Syd seemed to be incapable of under- 
 standing the fate that w^as in store for her. 
 She sheltered herself behind her merciless 
 mother. " I'm going away with you, 
 Mamma," she said — " with you and Kick." 
 
83 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Her mother took her by the shoulders, 
 and pushed her across the room to her aunt. 
 
 The child looked at the formidable female 
 creature with the man's voice and the green 
 spectacles. 
 
 " You belong to me," said Miss Wigger, 
 ^y ^^J C)f encouragement, " and I have 
 come to take you away." At those dread- 
 ful words, terror shook little Syd from 
 head to foot. She fell on her knees with 
 a cry of misery that might have melted the 
 heart of a savage. " Oh, Mamma, Mamma, 
 don't leave me behind ! What have I done 
 to deserve it ? Oh, pray, pray, pray have 
 some pity on me!" 
 
 Her mother was as selfish and as cruel a 
 woman as ever lived. But even her hard 
 heart felt faintly the influence of the most 
 intimate and most sacred of all human rela- 
 tionships. Her florid cheeks turned pale. 
 She hesitated. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 89 
 
 Miss Wigger marked (through her own 
 green medium) that moment of maternal in- 
 decision — and saw that it was time to assert 
 her experience as an instructress of youth. 
 
 ^' Leave it to me," she said to her sister. 
 ^' You never did know, and you never will 
 know, how to manage children.'* 
 
 She advanced. The child threw herself 
 shrieking on the floor. Miss Wigger s 
 long arms caught her up — held her — shook 
 her. *' Be quiet, you imp!" It was need- 
 less to tell her to be quiet. Syd's little 
 curly head sank on the schoolmistress's 
 shoulder. She was carried into exile with- 
 out a word or a cry — she had Mnted. 
 
 10.— n^ School. 
 
 Time's march moves slowly, where weary 
 lives languish in dull places. 
 
 Dating from one unkept and unacknow- 
 
90 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 ledged birthday to another, Sydney Wester- 
 field had attained the sixth year of her 
 martyrdom at School. In that long- 
 interval no news of her mother, her 
 brother, or her stepfather had reached 
 England : she had received no letter, she 
 had not even heard a report. Without 
 friends and without prospects, Eoderick 
 Westerfield's daughter was, in the saddest 
 sense of the word, alone in the world. 
 
 The hands of the ugly old clock in the 
 schoolroom were approaching the time 
 when the studies of the morning would 
 come to an end. Wearily waiting for their 
 release, the scholars saw an event happen 
 which was a novelty in their domestic 
 experience. The maid- of- all- work auda- 
 ciously put her head in at the door, and 
 interrupted Miss Wigger conducting the 
 education of the first-class. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 91 
 " If you please, miss, there's a gentle- 
 
 man " 
 
 Having uttered these introductory words, 
 she was reduced to silence by the tre- 
 mendous voice of her mistress. 
 
 " Haven't T forbidden you to come here 
 in school -hours ? Go away directly !" 
 
 Hardened by a life of drudgery, under 
 conditions of perpetual scolding, the servant 
 stood her ground, and recovered the use of 
 her tongue. 
 
 ^' There's a gentleman in the drawing- 
 room," she persisted. Miss Wigger tried 
 to interrupt her again. " And here's his 
 card !" she shouted, in a voice that was the 
 loudest of the two. 
 
 Being a mortal creature, the school- 
 mistress was accessible to the promptings 
 of curiosity. She snatched the card out 
 of the girl's hand. 
 
 Mr, Berhert Linley^ Mount Morven, 
 
92 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Perthshire, " I don't know this person,'^ 
 Miss Wigger declared. " You wretch, have 
 3^011 let a thief into the house ?" 
 
 "" A gentleman, if ever I see one yet," 
 the servant asserted. 
 
 " Hold your tongue ! Did he ask for 
 me ? Do you hear ?" 
 
 " You told me to hold my tongue. Xo ; 
 he didn't ask for you." 
 
 " Then who did he want to see ?" 
 
 ^' It's on his card." 
 
 Miss Wigger referred to the card again, 
 and discovered (faintly traced in pencil) 
 these words : ''To see Miss S. W." 
 
 The schoolmistress instantly looked at 
 Miss Westerfield. Miss Wester field rose 
 from her place at the head of her class. 
 
 The pupils, astonished at this daring act, 
 all looked at the teacher — their natural 
 enemy, appointed to supply them with un- 
 desired information derived from hated 
 
MISS WESTERFIELDS EDUCATION. 93 
 
 books. They saw one of Mother Nature's 
 favourite daughters ; designed to be the 
 darling of her family, and the conqueror of 
 hearts among men of all tastes and ages. 
 But Sydney Westerfield had lived for six 
 weary years in the place of earthly torment, 
 kept by Miss Wigger under the name of a 
 school. Every budding beauty, except the 
 unassailable beauty of her eyes and her 
 hair, had been nipped under the frosty 
 superintendence of her maternal aunt. Her 
 cheeks were hollow ; her delicate lips were 
 pale ; lier shabby dress lay flat over her 
 bosom. Observant people, meeting her 
 when she was out walking with the girls, 
 were struck by her darkly gentle eyes, and 
 by the patient sadness of her expression. 
 " What a pity !" they said to each other. 
 *' She would be a pretty girl, if she didn't 
 look so wretched and so thin." 
 
 At a loss to understand the audacity of 
 
94 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 her teacher in rising before the class was 
 dismissed, Miss Wigger began by asserting 
 her authority. She did in two words : 
 '' Sit down !" 
 
 '' I wish to explain, ma'am." 
 
 '' Sit down." 
 
 *' I beg, Miss Wigger, that you will allow 
 me to explain." 
 
 ^' Sydney Westerfield, you are setting 
 the worst possible example to your class. 
 I shall see this man myself. Will you sit 
 down r 
 
 Pale already, Sydney turned paler still. 
 She obeyed the word of command — to the 
 hio'h delis'ht of the o;irls of her class. It 
 was then within ten minutes of the half- 
 hour after twelve — when the pupils were 
 dismissed to the playground while the 
 cloth was laid for dinner. What use would 
 the teacher make of that half- hour of 
 freedom ? 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION, 95 
 
 In the meanwhile Miss Wigger had 
 entered her drawing - room. With the 
 slightest possible inclination of her head, 
 she eyed the stranger through her green 
 spectacles. Even under that disadvantage 
 his appearance spoke for itself. The 
 servant's estimate of him was beyond 
 dispute. Mr. Herbert Linley's good breed- 
 ing was even capable of suppressing all 
 outward expression of the dismay that he 
 felt, on finding himself face to face with the 
 formidable person who had received him. 
 
 *^ What is your business, if you please ?'' 
 Miss Wigger began. 
 
 Men, animals, and buildings wear out 
 with years, and submit to their hard lot. 
 Time only meets with flat contradiction, 
 when he ventures to tell a woman that she 
 is growing old. Herbert Linley had rashly 
 anticipated that the " young lady," whom 
 it was the object of his visit to see, would 
 
96 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 prove to be young in the literal sense of the 
 word. When he and Miss Wigger stood 
 face to face, if the door had been set open 
 for him, he would have left the house with 
 the greatest pleasure. 
 
 " I have taken the liberty of calling/' he 
 said, " in answer to an advertisement. May 
 I ask " — he paused, and took a newspaper 
 from the pocket of his overcoat — " if I have 
 the honour of speaking to the lady who is 
 mentioned here ?" 
 
 He opened the newspaper, and pointed 
 to the advertisement. 
 
 Miss Wigger's eyes rested — not on the 
 passage indicated, but on the visitor's glove. 
 It fitted him to such perfection that it sug- 
 gested the enviable jDOsition in life Avhich 
 has gloves made to order. He politely 
 pointed again. Still inaccessible to the 
 newspaper, !Miss Wigger turned her spec- 
 tacles next to the front window of the room. 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 97 
 
 and discovered a handsome carriaofe waiting' 
 at the door. (Money evidently in the 
 pockets of those beautiful trousers, worthy 
 of the gloves!) As patiently as ever, 
 Linley pointed for the third time, and drew 
 Miss Wiofo:er's attention in the rio-ht direc- 
 tion at last. She read the advertisement. 
 
 '' A Young Lady wishes to be employed 
 in the education of a little girl. Possessing 
 but few accomplishments, and having been 
 only a junior teacher at a school, she offers 
 her services on trial, leaving it to her em- 
 ployer to pay whatever salary she may be 
 considered to deserve, if she obtains a per- 
 manent engagement. Apply, by letter, to 
 S. W., 14, Delta Gardens, KE." 
 
 "Most impertinent!" said Miss Wigger. 
 
 Mr. Linley looked astonished. 
 
 "I say, most impertinent!" Miss Wigger 
 repeated. 
 
 Mr. Linley attempted to pacify this ter- 
 
 VOL. I. 7 
 
98 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 rible woman. " It's very stupid of me," he 
 said ; " I am afraid I don't quite understand 
 you." 
 
 " One of my teachers has issued an ad- 
 vertisement, and has referred to My ad- 
 dress, without first consulting Me. Have I 
 made myself understood, sir?" She looked 
 at the carriage again, when she called him 
 " sir." 
 
 Not evenLinley's capacity for self-restraint 
 could repress the expression of relief, visible 
 in his brightening face, when he discovered 
 that the lady of the advertisement and the 
 lady who terrified him were two different 
 persons. 
 
 " Have I made myself understood ?" Miss 
 Wigger repeated. 
 
 " Perfectly, Madam. At the same time, 
 I am afraid I must own that the advertise- 
 ment has produced a favourable impression 
 on me." 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION. 99 
 
 " I fail entirely to see why," Miss Winger 
 remarked. 
 
 " There is surely," Linley pleaded, "some- 
 thing straightforward — I might almost say, 
 something innocent — in the manner in which 
 the writer expresses herself. She seems to. 
 be singularly modest on the subject of her 
 own attainments, and unusually considerate 
 of the interests of others. I hope you \vill 
 permit me-^ ?" 
 
 Before he could add, " to see the young 
 lady," the door was opened : a young lady 
 entered the room. 
 
 Was she the writer of the advertisement? 
 He felt sure of it, for no better reason than 
 this: the moment he looked at her she in- 
 terested him. It was an interest new to 
 Linley, in his experience of himself. There 
 was nothing to appeal to his admiration (by 
 way of his senses) in the pale worn young 
 creature who stood near the door, resigned 
 
 7—2 
 
loo THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 beforehand to whatever reception she might 
 meet with. The poor teacher made him 
 think of his happy young wife at home — of 
 his pretty little girl, the spoilt child of the 
 household. He looked at Sydney Wester- 
 field with a heartfelt compassion which did 
 honour to them both. 
 
 "What do you mean by coming here?'^ 
 Miss Wigger inquired. 
 
 She answered gently, but not timidly. 
 The tone in which the mistress had spoken 
 had evidently not shaken her resolution, so 
 far. 
 
 " I wish to know," she said, " if this gen- 
 tleman desires to see me, on the subject of 
 my advertisement." 
 
 " Your advertisement?" Miss Wigger re- 
 peated. " Miss Westerfield ! how dare you 
 beg for employment in a newspaper, without 
 asking my leave ?" 
 
 " I only waited to tell you what I had 
 
MISS WESTERFIELD'S ED UCA TION. i o i 
 
 done, till I knew whether my advertisement 
 would be answered or not." 
 
 She spoke as calmly as before, still submit- 
 ting to the insolent authority of the school- 
 mistress with a steady fortitude, very remark- 
 able in any girl — and especially in a girl 
 whose face revealed a sensitive nature. Lin- 
 ley approached her, and said his few kind 
 words before Miss Wi^'o-er could assert her- 
 self for the third time. 
 
 " I am afraid I have taken a liberty in 
 answering you personally, when 1 ought to 
 have answered by letter. My only excuse 
 is that I have no time to arrange for an in- 
 terview, in London, by correspondence. 1 
 live in Scotland, and I am obliged to return 
 by the mail to-night." 
 
 He paused. She was looking at him. Did 
 she miderstand him ? 
 
 She understood him only too well. For 
 the first time, poor soul, in the miserable 
 
I02 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 years of her school life, she saw eyes that 
 rested on her with the sympathy that is too 
 truly felt to be uttered in words. The 
 admirable resignation which had learnt its 
 first hard lesson under her mother's neglect 
 — which had endured, in after years, the 
 daily persecution that heartless companion- 
 ship so well knows how to inflict — failed to 
 sustain her, when one kind look from a 
 stranger poured its balm into the girl's sore 
 heart. Her head sank ; her wasted figure 
 trembled ; a few tears dropped slowly on the 
 bosom of her shabby dress. She tried, 
 desperately tried, to control herself. " I 
 beg your pardon, sir," was all she could say; 
 '' I am not very well." 
 
 Miss Wigger tapped her on the shoulder 
 and pointed to the door. '' Are you well 
 enough to see your way out?" she asked. 
 
 Linley turned on the wretch with a mind 
 divided between wonder and disgust. ^' Good 
 
MISS WESTERFIELDS EDUCATION. 103 
 
 God, what has she done to deserve being 
 treated in that way?" he asked. 
 
 Miss AYigger's mouth widened ; Miss 
 Wigger's forehead developed new wrinkles. 
 To own it plainly, the schoolmistress smiled. 
 
 When it is of serious importance to a man 
 to become acquamted with a woman's true 
 
 nature — say, when he contemplates marriage 
 — his one poor chance of arriving at a right 
 conclusion is to find himself provoked by 
 exasperating circumstances, and to fly into 
 a passion. If the lady flies into a passion 
 on her side, he may rely on it that her 
 faults are more than balanced by her good 
 qualities. If, on the other hand, she ex- 
 hibits the most admirable self-control, and 
 sets him an example which ought to make 
 him ashamed of himself, he has seen a bad 
 sign, and he will do well to remember 
 it. 
 
 Miss Wigger's self-control put Herbert 
 
I04 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Linley in the wrong, before she took the 
 trouble of noticing what he had said. 
 
 " If you were not out of temper," she 
 replied, " I might have told you that I don't 
 allow my house to be made an office for the 
 engagement of governesses. As it is, I 
 merely remind you that your carriage is at 
 the door." 
 
 He took the only course that was open to 
 him ; he took his hat. 
 
 Sydney turned away to leave the room. 
 Linley opened the door for her. *' Don't 
 be discouraged," he whispered as she passed 
 him ; " you shall hear from me." Having 
 said this, he made his parting bow to the 
 schoolmistress. Miss Wigger held up a 
 peremptory forefinger, and stopped him on 
 his way out. He waited, wondering 
 what she would do next. She rano^ the 
 bell. 
 
 " You are in the house of a gentle- 
 
MISS WESTERFIELUS EDUCATION, 105 
 
 woman," Miss Wigger explained. " My 
 servant attends visitors, when they leave 
 me." A faint smell of soap made itself 
 felt in the room : the maid appeared, wiping 
 her smoking arms on her apron. " Door. 
 I wish you good morning " — were the last 
 words of Miss Wio^orer. 
 
 Leaving the house, Linley slipped a bribe 
 into the servant's hand. " I am going to 
 write to Miss Westerfield," he said. "Will 
 you see that she gets my letter ?" 
 
 "That I will!" 
 
 He was surprised by the fervour with 
 which the girl answered him. Absolutely 
 without vanity, he had no suspicion of the 
 value which his winning manner, his kind 
 brown eyes, and his sunny smile had con- 
 ferred on his little gift of money. A hand- 
 some man was an eighth wonder of the 
 world, at Miss Wigger's school. 
 
 At the first stationer's shop that he 
 
io6 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 passed, he stopped the carriage, and wrote 
 his letter. 
 
 " I shall be glad indeed if I can offer you 
 a happier life than the life you are leading 
 now. It rests with you to help me to do 
 this. Will you send me the address of 
 your parents, if they are in London, or the 
 name of any friend with w^hom I can ar- 
 range to give you a trial as governess to 
 my little girl ? I am w^aiting your answer 
 in the neighbourhood. If any hindrance 
 should prevent you from replying at once, 
 I add the name of the hotel at w^hich I am 
 staying — so that you may telegraph to me, 
 before I leave London to-night." 
 
 The stationer's boy, inspired by a private 
 view of half-a- crown, set off at a run — and 
 returned at a run w^ith a reply. 
 
 " I have neither parents nor friends, and 
 I have just been dismissed from my employ- 
 ment at the school. Without references to 
 
MISS WESTERFIELU S EDUCATION. 107 
 
 speak for me, I must not take advantage of 
 your generous offer. Will you help me to 
 bear my disappointment, by permitting me 
 to see you, for a few minutes only, at your 
 hotel ? Indeed, indeed, sir, I am not for- 
 getful of what I owe to my respect for you, 
 and my respect for myself. I only ask 
 leave to satisfy you that I am not quite 
 unworthy of the interest which you have 
 been pleased to feel in, S. W." 
 
 In those sad words, Sydney Westerfield 
 announced that she had completed her edu- 
 cation. 
 
THE STORY. 
 
 FIRST BOOK. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 MRS. PRESTY PRESENTS HERSELF. 
 
 Not far from the source of the famous river, 
 which rises in the mountains between Loch 
 Katrine and Loch Lomond, and divides the 
 Highlands and the Lowlands of Scotland, 
 travellers arrive at the venerable grey walls 
 of Mount Morven ; and, after consulting 
 their guide books, ask permission to see the 
 
 house. 
 
 What would be called, in a modern place 
 of residence, the first floor, is reserved for 
 the occupation of the family. The great 
 hall of entrance, and its quaint old fire- 
 place ; the ancient rooms on the same level 
 
112 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 opening out of it, are freely shown to 
 strangers. Cultivated travellers express 
 various opinions relating to the family por- 
 traits, and the elaborately carved ceilings. 
 The unins true ted public declines to trouble 
 itself with criticism. It looks up at the 
 tow^ers and the loopholes, the battlements 
 and the rusty old guns, which still bear 
 witness to the perils of past times when the 
 place was a fortress — it enters the gloomy 
 hall, walks through the stone-paved rooms, 
 stares at the faded pictures, and wonders at 
 the lofty chimney-pieces hopelessly out of 
 reach. Sometimes it sits on chairs which 
 are as cold and as hard as iron, or timidly 
 feels the leofs of immovable tables which 
 might be legs of elephants so far as size is 
 concerned. When these marvels have been 
 duly admired, and the guide books are shut 
 up, the emancipated tourists, emerging into 
 light and air, all find the same social 
 
MRS. PRESTY PRESENTS HERSELF, 113 
 
 problem presented by a visit to Mount 
 Morven : " How can the family live in such 
 a place as that?" 
 
 If these strangers on their travels had 
 been' permitted to ascend to the first floor, 
 and had been invited (for example) to say 
 good-night to Mrs. Linley's pretty little 
 daughter, they would have seen the stone 
 walls of Kitty's bedchamber snugly covered 
 with velvet hangings which kept out the 
 cold ; they would have trod on a doubly- 
 laid carpet, which set the chilly influences 
 of the pavement beneath it at defiance ; 
 they would have looked at a bright little 
 bed, of the last new pattern, worthy of a 
 child's deeply delicious sleep; and they 
 would only have discovered that the room 
 was three hundred years old when they had 
 drawn aside the window curtains, and had 
 revealed the adamantine solidity of the 
 outer walls. Or, if they had been allowed 
 
 VOL. I. 8 
 
114 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 to pursue their investigations a little farther, 
 and had found their way next into Mrs. 
 Linley's sitting-room, here again a trans- 
 formation scene would have revealed more 
 modern luxury, presented in the perfection 
 which implies restraint withm the limits of 
 good taste. But on this occasion, instead 
 of seeing the head of a lively little child on 
 the pillow, side by side with the head of 
 her doll, they would have encountered an 
 elderly lady of considerable size, fast asleep 
 and snoring in a vast arm-chair, with a 
 book on her lap. The married men among 
 the tourists would have recognised a mother- 
 in-law, and would have set an excellent 
 example to the rest ; that is to say, the 
 example of leaving the room. 
 
 The lady composed under the soporific 
 influence of literature was a person of im- 
 2:>ortance in the house — holding rank as 
 Mrs. Linley's mother \ and being otherwise 
 
MRS. FRESTY PRESENTS HERSELF. 115 
 
 noticeable for having married two husbands, 
 and survived them both. 
 
 The first of these gentlemen — the Right 
 Honourable Joseph Norman — had been a 
 member of Parliament, and had taken office 
 imder Government. Mrs. Linley was his 
 one surviving child. He died at an ad- 
 vanced age ; leaving his handsome widow 
 (young enough, as she was always ready to 
 mention, to be his daughter) well provided 
 for, and an object of matrimonial aspiration 
 to smgle gentlemen who admired size in a 
 woman, set off by money. After hesitating 
 for some little time, Mrs. Norman accepted 
 the proposal of the ugliest and dullest man 
 among the ranks of her admirers. Why 
 she became the wife of Mr. Presty (known 
 in commercial circles as a merchant enriched 
 by the sale of vinegar) she was never able 
 to explain. Why she lamented him, with 
 tears of sincere sorrow, when he died after 
 
 8—2 
 
ii6 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 two years of married life, was a myster}' 
 which puzzled her nearest and dearest 
 friends. And why, when she indulged (a 
 little too frequently) in recollections of her 
 married life, she persisted in putting obscure 
 Mr. Presty on a level with distinguished 
 Mr. Norman, was a secret which this re- 
 markable woman had never been known to 
 reveal. Presented by their widow with the 
 strictest impartiality to the general view, 
 the characters of these two husbands com- 
 bined, by force of contrast, the ideal of 
 manly perfection. That is to say, the vices 
 of Mr. Norman were the virtues of ]\Ir. 
 Presty ; and the vices of Mr. Presty were 
 the virtues of Mr. Norman. 
 
 Keturning to the sitting-room after bid- 
 ding Kitty good-night, Mrs. Linley dis- 
 covered the old lady asleep, and saw that 
 the book on her mother's lap was sliding^ 
 off. Before she could check the downward 
 
MRS. PRE STY PRESENTS HERSELF. 1 1 7 
 
 movement, the book fell on tlie floor, and 
 Mrs. Presty woke. 
 
 "Oh, Mamma, I am so sorry! I was 
 just too late to catch it." 
 
 " It doesn't matter, my dear. I dare say 
 I should go to sleep agam, if I went on 
 with my novel." 
 
 "Is it really as dull as that?" 
 
 "Dull?" Mrs. Presty repeated. ^' You 
 are evidently not aware of what the new 
 school of novel writing is doing. The new 
 school provides the public with soothing 
 fiction." 
 
 " Are you speaking seriously, Mamma?" 
 
 "Seriously, Catherine — and gratefully. 
 These new writers are so good to old 
 women. No story to excite our poor 
 nerves ; no improper characters to cheat us 
 out of our sympathies ; no dramatic situa- 
 tions to frighten us ; exquisite management 
 of details (as the reviews say), and a 
 
ii8 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 masterly anatomy of human motives which 
 — I know what I mean, my dear, but I 
 can't explain it." 
 
 '^I think I understand, Mamma. A 
 masterly anatomy of human motives which 
 is in itself a motive of human slee^). Xo ; 
 I wont borrow your novel just now. I 
 don't want to go to sleep; I am thinking of 
 Herbert in London." 
 
 Mrs. Presty consulted her watch. 
 
 " Your husband is no longer in London," 
 she announced ; "he has begun his journey 
 home. Give me the railway guide, and I'll 
 tell you when he will be here to-morrow. 
 You may trust me, Catherine, to make no 
 mistakes. Mr. Presty's wonderful know- 
 ledge of figures has been of the greatest use 
 to me in later life.- Thanks to his instruc- 
 tions, I am the only person in the house 
 who can grapple with the intricacies of our 
 railway system. Your * poor father, ]\lr. 
 
MRS. PRESTY PRESENTS HERSELF. 119 
 
 Norman, never could understand time- 
 tables, and never attempted to conceal his 
 deficiencies. He had none of the vanity 
 (harmless vanity, perhaps) which led poor 
 Mr. Presty to express positive opinions on 
 matters of which he knew nothing, such as 
 pictures and music. What do you want, 
 Malcolm?" 
 
 The servant to whom this question was 
 addressed answered: "A telegram, ma'am, 
 for the mistress." 
 
 Mrs. Linley recoiled from the message 
 when the man offered it to her. Not 
 usually a very demonstrative person, the 
 feeling of alarm which had seized on her 
 only expressed itself in a sudden change of 
 colour. "An accident!" she said, faintly. 
 " An accident on the railway !" 
 
 Mrs. Presty opened the telegram. 
 
 " If you had been the wife of a Cabinet 
 Minister," she said to her daughter, "you 
 
I20 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 would have been too well used to telegrams 
 to let them frighten you. Mr. Presty (who 
 received his telegrams at his office) was not 
 quite just to the memory of my first 
 husband. He used to blame Mr. Norman 
 for letting me see his telegrams. But Mr. 
 Presty's nature had all the poetry in which 
 Mr. Norman's nature was deficient. He 
 saw the angelic side of women — and 
 thought telegrams and business, and all 
 that sort of thing, unworthy of our mission. 
 I don't exactly understand what our mission 
 is " 
 
 "Mamma! Mammal is Herbert hurt?" 
 
 " Stuff and nonsense! Nobody is hurt ; 
 there has been no accident." 
 
 '' Then why does he telegraph to 
 me r 
 
 Hitherto, Mrs. Presty had only looked at 
 
 the messao^e. She now read it throuo^h 
 attentively to the end. ' Her face assumed 
 
MRS. PRESTY PRESENTS HERSELF. 121 
 
 an expression of stern distrust. She shook 
 her head. 
 
 *' Eead it yourself," she answered ; ^' and 
 remember what I told you, when you 
 trusted your husband to find a governess 
 for my grandchild. I said : ' You don't 
 know men as I do.' I hope you may not 
 live to repent it." 
 
 Mrs. Linlev was too fond of her husband 
 to let this pass. " Why shouldn't I trust 
 him?" she asked. ''He was going to 
 London on business — and it was an excel- 
 lent opportunity." 
 
 Mrs. Presty disposed of this weak defence 
 of her daughter's conduct by waving her 
 hand. " Read your telegram," she repeated 
 with dignity, '' and judge for yourself." 
 
 Mrs. Linley read : 
 
 *' I have engaged a governess. She will 
 travel in the same train with me. I think 
 I ought to prepare you to receive a person 
 
122 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 whom you may be surprised to see. She is 
 very young, and very inexperienced ; quite 
 unlike the ordinary run of governesses. 
 When you hear how cruelly the poor girl 
 has been used, I am sure you will sym- 
 pathise with her as I do." 
 
 Mrs. Linley laid down the message, with 
 a smile. 
 
 " Poor dear Herbert !" she said tenderlv. 
 *' After we have been eight years married, 
 is he really afraid that I shall be jealous? 
 Mamma ! Why are you looking so serious ?" 
 
 Mrs. Presty took the telegram from her 
 daughter, and read extracts from it with 
 indignant emphasis of voice and manner. 
 
 " Travels in the same train with him. 
 Very young, and very inexperienced. And 
 he sympathises with her. Ha I I know the 
 men, Catherine — I know the men !" 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE GOVERNESS ENTERS. 
 
 Mr. Herbert Linley arrived at his own 
 house in the forenoon of the next day. Mrs. 
 Linley, running out to the head of the stairs 
 to meet her husband, saw him approaching 
 her without a travelling companion. 
 "Where is the governess?" she asked — 
 when the first salutes allowed her an 
 opportunity of speaking. 
 
 " On her way to bed, poor soul, under 
 the care of the housekeeper," Linley 
 answered. 
 
 " Anything infectious, my dear Herbert ?'^ 
 Mrs. Presty inquired, appearing at the 
 breakfast- room door. 
 
124 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Linley addressed his reply to his wife : 
 
 ''Nothing more serious, Catherine, than 
 want of strength. She was in such a state 
 of fatigue, after our long night journey, that 
 I had to lift her out of the carriage." 
 
 Mrs. Presty listened with an appearance 
 of the deepest interest. " Quite a novelty 
 in the way of a governess," she said. 
 *' May I ask what her name is?" 
 
 '' Sydney Westerfield." 
 
 Mrs. Presty looked at her daughter and 
 smiled satirically. 
 
 Mrs. Linley remonstrated. 
 
 '• Surely," she said, '"you don't object to 
 the young lady's name!" 
 
 '• I have no opinion to offer, Catherine. I 
 don't believe in the name." 
 
 " Oh, Mamma, do you suspect that it's 
 an assumed name?" 
 
 '' My dear, I haven't a doubt that it is. 
 May I ask another question ?" the old lady 
 
THE G VERNE SS ENTERS. 1 2 5 
 
 continued, turning to Linley. " What 
 references did Miss Westerfield give you ?" 
 
 " No references at all.'' 
 
 Mrs. Presty rose with the alacrity of a 
 young woman, and hurried to the door. 
 " Follow my example," she said to her 
 daughter, on her way out. '' Lock up your 
 jewel-box." 
 
 Linley drew a deep breath of relief 
 when he was left alone with his wife. 
 ** What makes your mother so particularly 
 disagreeable this morning?" he inquired. 
 
 " She doesn't approve, dear, of my leaving 
 it to you to choose a governess for Kitty." 
 
 " Where is Kitty ?" 
 
 "Out on her pony, for a ride over the 
 hills. Why did you send a telegram, 
 Herbert, to prepare me for the governess? 
 Did you really think I might be jealous of 
 Miss Westerfield ?" 
 
 Linley burst out laughing. '' No such 
 
126 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 idea entered my head," he answered. " It 
 isn't in you, my dear, to be jealous." 
 
 Mrs. Linley was not quite satisfied with 
 this view of her character. Her husband's 
 well - intended compliment reminded her 
 that there are occasions when any woman 
 may be jealous, no matter how generous 
 and how gentle she may be. " AYe won't 
 go quite so far as that," she said to him, 
 
 *• because " She stopped, unwilling to 
 
 dwell too long on a delicate subject. He 
 jocosely finished the sentence for her. 
 *' Because we don't know what may happen 
 in the future?" he suggested ; making 
 another mistake by making a joke. 
 
 Mrs. Linley returned to the subject of 
 the governess. 
 
 '' I don't at all say what my mother 
 says," she resumed ; "but was it not just 
 a little indiscreet to engage Miss AVesterfield 
 without any references?" 
 
THE G O VERNESS ENTERS. 1 2 7 
 
 " Unless I am utterly mistaken/' Linlcy 
 replied, " you would have been quite as 
 indiscreet, in my place. If you had seen 
 the horrible woman who persecuted and 
 insulted her " 
 
 His wife interrupted him. " How did all 
 this ha|)pen, Herbert? Who first intro- 
 duced you to Miss Westerfield?" 
 
 Linley mentioned the advertisement, and 
 described his interview with the school- 
 mistress. Having next acknowledged that 
 he had received a visit from Miss Wester- 
 field herself, he repeated all that she had 
 been able to tell him of her father's wasted 
 life and melancholy end. Keally interested 
 by this time, Mrs. Linley was eager for 
 more information. Her husband hesitated. 
 ^' I would rather you heard the rest of it 
 from Miss Westerfield," he said — '' in my 
 absence." 
 
 " AYhy in your absence ?" 
 
128 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 *' Because slie can speak to you more 
 freel}^, when I am not present. Hear her 
 tell her own story, and then let me know 
 whether you think I have made a mistake. 
 I submit to your decision beforehand, which- 
 ever way it may incline." 
 
 Mrs. Linley rewarded him with a kiss. 
 If a married strans^er had seen them, at 
 that moment, he would have been reminded 
 of forgotten days — the days of his honey- 
 moon. 
 
 " And now," Linley resumed, " suppose 
 we talk a little about ourselves. I haven't 
 seen my brother yet. Where is Randal?" 
 
 *' Staying at the farm to look after your 
 interests. We expect him to come back 
 to-day. Ah, Herbert, what do we not all 
 owe to that dear good brother of yours ? 
 There is really no end to his kindness. The 
 last of our poor Highland families who 
 have emigrated to America have had their 
 
THE G O VERNE SS ENTERS. 1 2 9 
 
 expenses privately paid by Randal. The 
 wife has written to me, and has let out the 
 secret. There is an American newspaper, 
 among the letters that are waiting your 
 brother's return, sent to him as a little 
 mark of attention by these good grateful 
 people." Having alluded to the neighbours 
 who had left Scotland, Mrs. Linley was 
 reminded of other neighbours who had 
 remained. She was still relating events of 
 local interest, when the clock interrupted 
 her by striking the hour of the nursery 
 dinner. What had become of Kitt}'' ? Mrs. 
 Linley rose and rang the bell to make 
 inquiries. 
 
 On the point of answering, the servant 
 looked round at the open door behind him. 
 He drew aside, and revealed Kitty, in the 
 corridor, hand in hand mth Sydney Wester- 
 field — who timidly hesitated at entering the 
 
 VOL. I. 9 
 
I30 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 « 
 
 room. ^' Here she is, Mamma," cried the 
 child. ^' I think she's afraid of you; help 
 me to pull her in." 
 
 Mrs. Linley advanced to receive the new 
 member of her household, with the irresis- 
 tible grace and kindness which charmed 
 every stranger who approached her. " Oh, 
 it's all right," said Kitty. *' Syd likes me, 
 and I like Syd. What do you think ? She 
 lived in London with a cruel woman who 
 never gave her enough to eat. See what a 
 good girl I am! I'm beginning to feed 
 her already." Kitty pulled a box of sweet- 
 meats out of her pocket, and handed it to 
 the governess with a tap on the lid, sug- 
 gestive of an old gentleman offering a 
 pinch of snuff to a friend. 
 
 " My dear child, you mustn't speak of 
 Miss Westerfield in that way ! Pray excuse 
 her," said Mrs. Linley, turning to Sydney 
 
THE GO VERNESS ENTERS, 1 3 1 
 
 with a smile; '^ I am afraid she has been 
 disturbing you in your room.'^ 
 
 Sydney's silent answer touched the 
 
 mother's heart; she kissed her little friend. 
 
 ^' I hojDe you will let her call me Syd," she 
 
 said gently; '' it reminds me of a happier 
 
 time." Her voice faltered; she could say no 
 
 more. Kitty explained, with the air of a 
 
 grown person encouraging a child. '* I 
 
 know all about it. Mamma. She means the 
 
 time when her Papa was alive. She lost 
 
 her Papa when she w^as a little girl like me. 
 
 I didn't disturb her. I only said, ' My 
 
 name's Kitty; may I get up on the bed?' 
 
 And she was quite willing; and we talked. 
 
 And I helped her to dress." Mrs. Linley 
 
 led Sydney to the sofa, and stopped the flow 
 
 of her daughter's narrative. The look, the 
 
 voice, the manner of the governess had 
 
 iilready made their simple appeal to her 
 
 9—2 
 
132 THE EVIL GENIUS, 
 
 generous nature. AVhen her husband took 
 Kitty's hand to lead her with him out of 
 the room, she whispered as he passed: " You 
 have done quite right; I haven't a doubt of 
 it now!" 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 MRS. PRESTY CHANGES HER MIND. 
 
 The two ladies were alone. 
 
 Widely as tlie lot in life of one differed 
 from the lot in life of the other, they 
 presented a contrast in personal appearance 
 which was more remarkable still. In the 
 prime of life, tall and fair — the beauty of 
 her delicate complexion and her brilliant 
 blue eyes rivalled by the charm of a figure 
 which had arrived at its mature perfection 
 of development — Mrs. Linley sat side by 
 side with a frail little dark-eyed creature, 
 thin and pale, whose wasted face bore 
 patient witness to the three cruellest priva- 
 
134 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 tions under wliich youth can suffer — - 
 want of fresh air, want of nourishment, and 
 want of kindness. The gentle mistress 
 of the house wondered sadly if this lost 
 child of misfortune was capable of seeing 
 the brighter prospect before her that ])ro- 
 mised enjoyment of a happier life to come. 
 
 " I was afraid to disturb you while you 
 were resting," Mrs. Linley said. " Let me 
 hope that my housekeeper has done what I 
 might have done myself, if I had seen you 
 when you arrived." 
 
 *' The housekeeper has been all that is 
 good and kind to me, Madam." 
 
 "Don't call me 'Madam;' it sounds 
 so formal — call me *Mrs. Linley.' You 
 must not think of beoinnino- to teach 
 Kitty, till you feel stronger and better. 
 I see but too plainly that you have not 
 been happy. Don't think of your j^ast life, 
 or speak of your past life." 
 
MRS. PRESTY CHANGES HER MIND. 135 
 
 "Forgive me, Mrs. Linley; my past life 
 is my one excuse for having ventured to 
 come into this house." 
 
 "In what way, my dear?" 
 
 At the moment when that question was 
 put, the closed curtains which separated the 
 breakfast-room from the library were softly 
 parted in the middle. A keen old face, 
 strongly marked by curiosity and distrust, 
 peeped through — eyed the governess with 
 stern scrutiny — and retired again into 
 hiding. The introduction of a stranger 
 (without references) into the intimacy of the 
 family circle was, as Mrs. Presty viewed it, 
 a crisis in domestic history. Conscience, 
 with its customary elasticity, adapted itself 
 to the emergency, and Linley's mother-in- 
 law stole information behind the curtain — in 
 Linley's best interests, it is quite needless to 
 say. 
 
 The talk of the two ladies went on, with- 
 
136 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 out a suspicion on either side that it was 
 overheard by a third person. 
 
 Sydney explained herself. 
 
 " If I had led a happier life," she said, 
 ^' I might have been able to resist Mr. 
 Linley's kindness. I concealed nothing 
 from him. He knew that I had no friends 
 to speak for me; he knew that I had been 
 dismissed from my employment at the 
 school. Oh, ]\Irs. Linley, everything I said 
 which would have made other people sus- 
 picious of me made him feel for me! I 
 began to wonder whether he was an angel 
 or a man. If he had not prevented it, I 
 should have fallen on my knees before him. 
 Hard looks and hard words I could have 
 endured patiently, but 1 had not seen a kind 
 look, I had not heard a kind word, for 
 more years than I can reckon up. That 
 is all I can say for myself; I leave the rest 
 to your mercy." 
 
MRS. PRE STY CHANGES HER MIND. 137 
 
 " Say my sympathy," Mrs. Linley an- 
 swered, " and you need say no more. But 
 there is one thing I should like to know. 
 You have not spoken to me of your mother. 
 Have you lost both your parents?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Then you were brought up by your 
 mother?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " You surely had some experience of 
 kindness when you were a child?" 
 
 A third short answer would have been 
 no very grateful return for Mrs. Linley's 
 kindness. Sydney had no choice but to 
 say plainly what her experience of her 
 mother had been. 
 
 '^ Are there such women in the world !" 
 Mrs. Linley exclaimed. " Where is your 
 mother now?" 
 
 " In America — I think." 
 
 "You think?" 
 
138 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 "My mother married again," said Sydney. 
 " She went to America with her husband 
 and my little brother, six years ago." 
 
 '^ And left you behind?" 
 
 '' Yes." 
 
 " And she has never written to you?" 
 
 "Never." 
 
 This time, Mrs. Linley kept silence ; not 
 without an effort. Thinking of Sydney's 
 mother — and for one morbid moment 
 seeing her own little darling in Sydney's 
 place — she was afraid to trust herself to 
 speak, while the first impression was 
 vividly present to her mind. 
 
 " I will only hope," she replied, after 
 waiting a little, " that some kind person 
 pitied and helped you when you were de- 
 serted. Any change must have been for the 
 better after that. AYho took charge of you?" 
 
 " My mother's sister took charge of me ; 
 an elder sister, who kept a school. The 
 
MRS. PRE STY CHANGES HER MIND. 139 
 
 time when I was most unhappy was the 
 time when my aunt began to teach me. 
 * If you don't want to be beaten, and kept 
 on bread and water/ she said, ' learn, you 
 ugly little wretch, and be quick about it/ '' 
 
 "Did she speak in that shameful way to 
 the other girls?" 
 
 " Oh, no ! I was taken into her school 
 for nothing, and, young as I was, I was 
 expected to earn my food and shelter 
 by being fit to teach the lowest class. 
 The girls hated me. It was such a 
 wretched life that I hardly like to speak 
 of it now. I ran away, and I was caught, 
 and severely punished. When I grew 
 older and wiser, I tried to find some other 
 employment for myself The elder girls 
 bought penny journals that published 
 stories. They were left about now and 
 then in the bedrooms. I read the stories 
 when I had the chance. Even my ignor- 
 
I40 THE EVIL GENIUS, 
 
 ance discovered how feeble and foolish they 
 were. They encouraged me to try if I 
 could write a story myself; I couldn't 
 do worse, and I might do better. I sent 
 my manuscript to the editor. It was ac- 
 cepted and printed — but when I wrote and 
 asked him if he would pay me something 
 for it, he refused. Dozens of ladies, he 
 said, wrote stories for him for nothing. It 
 didn't matter what the stories were. Any- 
 thing would do for his readers, so long as 
 the characters were lords and ladies, and 
 there was plenty of love in it. My next 
 attempt to get away from the school ended 
 in another' disappointment. A poor old 
 man, w^ho had once been an actor, used 
 to come to us twice a week, and get a few 
 shillings by teaching the girls to read aloud. 
 He was called ' Professor of English 
 Literature,' and he taught out of a ragged 
 book of verses which smelt of his pipe. I 
 
MRS. PRE STY CHANGES HER MIND, 141 
 
 learnt one of the pieces and repeated it 
 to him, and asked if there was any hope of 
 my being able to go on the stage. He was 
 very kind ; he told me the truth. ' My 
 dear, you have no dramatic ability \ God 
 forbid you should go on the stage.' I went 
 back again to the penny journals, 
 and tried a new editor. He seemed to 
 have more mone}' than the other one ; 
 or perhaps he was kinder. I got ten 
 shillings from him for my story. With 
 that money I made my last attempt — I 
 advertised for a situation as governess. If 
 Mr. Linley had not seen my advertisement, 
 I might have starved in the streets. When 
 my aunt heard of it, she insisted on my beg- 
 ging her pardon before the whole school. 
 Do girls get half maddened by persecution ? 
 If they do, I think I must have been one of 
 those girls. I refused to beg pardon ; and I 
 w^as dismissed from my situation without a 
 
142 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 character. Will you think me very foolish ? 
 I shut my eyes again, when I woke in my 
 delicious bed to-day. I was afraid that the 
 room, and everything in it, was a dream." 
 She looked round, and started to her feet. 
 ^' Oh, here's a lady! Shall I go away?" 
 
 The curtains hanging over the entrance 
 to the library were opened for the second 
 time. With composure and dignity, the lady 
 who had startled Sydney entered the room. 
 
 ^' Have you been reading in the library?'* 
 Mrs. Linley asked. And Mrs, Presty 
 answered: " jSTo, Catherine; I have been 
 listening." 
 
 Mrs. Linley looked at her mother; her 
 lovely complexion reddened with a deep 
 blush. 
 
 " Introduce me to Miss Westerfield,'* 
 Mrs. Presty proceeded as coolly as ever. 
 
 Mrs. Linley showed some hesitation. 
 What would the governess think of her 
 
MRS. PRE STY CHANGES HER MIND. 143 
 
 mother? Perfectly careless of what the 
 governess might think, Mrs. Presty crossed 
 the room and introduced herself. 
 
 *' Miss Westerfield, I am Mrs. Linley's 
 mother. And I am, in one respect, a 
 remarkable person. When I form an 
 opinion, and find it's the opinion of a fool, 
 I am not in the least ashamed to change my 
 mind. I have changed my mind about 
 you. Shake hands." 
 
 Sydney respectfully obeyed. 
 
 ^' Sit doAvn ao'ain." 
 
 Sydney returned to her chair. 
 
 ^' I had the worst j)ossible opinion of 
 you," Mrs. Presty resumed, ^' before I had 
 the pleasure of listening on the other side of 
 the curtain. It has been my good fortune 
 — what's your Christian name? Did I hear 
 it ? or have I forgotten it ? ' Sydney,' eh ? 
 Very well. I was about to say, Sydney, 
 that it has been my good fortune to bs 
 
144 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 intimately associated, in early life, with two 
 remarkable characters. Husbands of mine, 
 in short, whose influence over me has, I am 
 proud to say, set death and burial at 
 defiance. Between them they have made 
 my mind the mind of a man. I judge for 
 myself. The opinions of others (when they 
 don't happen to agree with mine) I regard 
 as chaff to be scattered to the winds. No, 
 Catherine, I am not wandering. I am 
 pointing out to a young person, who has 
 her way to make in the world, the vast 
 importance, on certain occasions, of pos- 
 sessing an independent mind. If I had been 
 ashamed to listen behind those curtains, 
 there is no injury that my stupid prejudices 
 might not have inflicted on this unfortunate 
 girl. As it is, I have heard her story, and 
 I do her justice. Count on me, Sydney, as 
 your friend, and now get up again. My 
 grandchild (never accustomed to wait for 
 
MRS. PRESTY CHANGES HER MIND. 145 
 
 anything since the day when she was born) 
 is waiting dinner for you. She is at this 
 moment shouting for her governess, as 
 King Richard (I am a great reader of 
 Shakespeare) once shouted for his horse. 
 The maid (you will recognise her as a stout 
 person suffering under tight stays) is waiting 
 outside to show you the way to the nursery. 
 All revoir. Stop ! I should like to judge 
 of the purity of your French accent, Say 
 'au revoir' to me. Thank you. — Weak in 
 her French, Catherine," Mrs. Presty pro- 
 nounced^ when the door had closed on the 
 governess ; " but what can you expect, poor 
 Avretch, after such a life as she has led ? 
 Now we are alone, I have a word of advice 
 for your private ear. We have much to 
 anticipate from Miss Westerfield that is 
 pleasant and encouraging. But I don't con- 
 ceal it from myself or from you, we have 
 also something to fear." 
 
 VOL. I. 10 
 
146 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 "To fear?" Mrs. Linley repeated. "I 
 don't understand you." 
 
 " Never mind, Catherine, whether you 
 understand me or not. I want more in- 
 formation. Tell me what your husband 
 said to you about this young lady." 
 
 Wondering at the demon of curiosity 
 which appeared to possess her mother, Mrs. 
 Linley obeyed. Listening throughout with 
 the closest attention, Mrs. Presty reckoned 
 up the items of information, and pointed the 
 moral to be drawn from them by worldly 
 experience. 
 
 " First obstacle in the way of her moral 
 development, her father — tried, found guilty, 
 and dying in prison. Second obstacle, her 
 mother — an unnatural wretch who neglected 
 and deserted her own flesh and blood. Third 
 obstacle, her mother's sister — being her 
 mother over again in an aggravated form. 
 People who only look at the surface of 
 
MRS. PRE STY CHANGES HER MIND, 147 
 
 tilings might ask what we gain by in- 
 vestigating Miss Westerfield's past life. 
 We gain this : we know what to expect of 
 Miss Westerfield in the future." 
 
 **I for one," Mrs. Linley interposed, 
 " expect everything that is good and true." 
 
 " Say she's naturally an angel," Mrs. 
 Presty answered ; " and I won't contradict 
 3'ou. But do pray hear how my experience 
 looks at it. I remember w^hat a life she has 
 led, and I ask myself if any human creature 
 could have suffered as that girl has suffered 
 without being damaged by it. Among 
 those damnable people — I beg your pardon, 
 my dear ; Mr. Norman sometimes used 
 strong language, and it breaks out of m.e 
 now and then — the good qualities of that 
 unfortunate young person can not have 
 always resisted the horrid temptations and 
 contaminations about her. Hundreds of 
 times she must have had deceit forced on 
 
 10—2 
 
148 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 her ; she must have lied, through ungov^ern- 
 able fear ; she must have been left (at a 
 critical time of her life, mind \) with no 
 more warnino; ao;ainst the insidious ad- 
 
 vances of the passions than than I'm 
 
 repeating what Mr. Presty said of a niece of 
 his own, who went to a bad school at Paris ; 
 and I don't quite remember what com- 
 parisons that eloquent man used when he 
 was excited. But I know what I mean. I 
 like Miss Westerfield ; I believe Miss 
 Westerfield will come out well in the end. 
 Eut I don't forget that she is going to lead 
 a new life here — a life of luxury, my dear ; 
 a life of ease and health and happiness — 
 and God only knows what evil seed sown 
 in her, in her past life, may not spring up 
 under new influences. I tell }'ou we must 
 be careful ; 1 tell you we must keep our eyes 
 open. And so much the better for Her. 
 And so much the better for Us." 
 
MRS. PRESTY CHANGES HER MIND. 149 
 
 Mrs. Presty's wise and wary advice (pre- 
 sented unfavourably, it must be owned, 
 through her inveterately quaint way of 
 expressing herself) failed to produce the 
 right iQipression on her daughter's mind. 
 Mrs. Linley replied in the tone of a person 
 who was unaffectedly shocked. 
 
 " Oh, Mamma, I never knew you so 
 unjust before! You can't have heard all 
 that Miss Westerfield said to me. You 
 don't know her, as I know her. So 
 patient, so forgiving, so grateful to Herbert." 
 
 '' So gratefid to Herbert." Mrs. Presty 
 looked at her daughter in silent surprise. 
 There could be no doubt about it ; Mrs. 
 Linley failed entirely to see any possibilities 
 of future danger in the grateful feeling of 
 her sensitive governess towards her hand- 
 some husband. At this exhibition of sim- 
 plicity, the old lady's last reserves of 
 endurance gave way : she rose to go. 
 
ISO THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 " You have an excellent heart, Catherme,'^ 
 
 she remarked ; " but as for your head " 
 
 " Well, and what of my head?" 
 " It's always beautifully dressed, my 
 dear, by your maid." With that parting 
 shot, Mrs. Presty took her departure by 
 way of the library. Almost at the same 
 moment, the door of the breakfast-room 
 was opened. A young man advanced, and 
 shook hands cordially with Mrs. Linley. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 RANDAL RECEIVES HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Self -REVEALED by the family likeness as 
 Herbert's brother, Randal Linley was never- 
 theless greatly Herbert's inferior in per- 
 sonal appearance. His features were in no 
 way remarkable for manly beauty. In 
 stature, he hardly reached the middle 
 lieight; and, young as he was, either bad 
 habit or physical weakness had so affected 
 the upper part of his figure that he stooped r 
 Biit with these, and other disadvantages, 
 there was something in his eyes, and in his 
 smile — the outward expression perhaps of 
 all that was modestly noble in his nature — ■ 
 
152 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 so irresistible in its attractive influence that 
 men, women, and children felt the charm 
 alike. Inside of the house, and outside of 
 the house, everybody was fond of Randal; 
 even Mrs. Presty included. 
 
 "Have you seen a new face among u:^, 
 since you returned?" were his sister-in-law's 
 first words. Randal answered that he had 
 seen Miss Westerfield. The inevitable 
 question followed. What did he think of 
 her? "I'll tell you in a week or two 
 more," he replied. 
 
 " No ! tell me at once." 
 
 " I don't like trusting my first impres- 
 sion; I have a bad habit of jumping to 
 conclusions." 
 
 " Jump to a conclusion to please me. 
 Do you think she's pretty ?" 
 
 Randal smiled and gave way. " Your 
 governess," he replied, " looks out of 
 health, and (perhaps for that reason) 
 
RANDAL S CORRESPONDENCE. 153 
 
 strikes me as being insignificant and ugly. 
 Let us see what our fine air and our easy 
 life here will do for her. In so young a 
 woman as she is, I am prepared for any 
 sort of transformation. AVe may be all 
 admiring pretty Miss Westerfield before 
 another month is over our heads. — Have 
 any letters come for me while I have 
 been away?" 
 
 He went into the library, and returned 
 with his letters. " This will amuse Kitty," 
 he said, handing to his sister-in-law the 
 illustrated ]^ew York newspaper, to which 
 she had already referred in speaking to her 
 husband. 
 
 Mrs. Linley examined the engravings — 
 and turned back again to look once more 
 at an illustration which had interested her. 
 A paragraph on the same page caught her 
 attention. She had hardly glanced at the 
 first words before a cry of alarm escaped 
 
154 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 her. " Dreadful news for Miss Wester- 
 field!" she exclaimed. ''Read it, Randal." 
 
 He read these words : 
 
 " The week's list of insolvent traders 
 includes an Englishman named James 
 Bellbridge, formerly connected with a dis- 
 reputable saloon in this city. Bellbridge 
 is under suspicion of having caused the 
 death of his wife in a fit of delirium 
 tremens. The unfortunate woman had 
 been married, for the first time, to one of 
 the English aristocracy — the Honourable 
 Roderick Westerfield — whose trial for 
 casting away a ship under his command 
 excited considerable interest in London 
 some years since. The melancholy circum- 
 stances of the case are complicated by the 
 disappearance, on the day of the murder, 
 of the woman's young son by her first 
 husband. The poor boy is supposed to 
 have run away in terror from his miserable 
 
RANDAL S CORRESPONDENCE. 155 
 
 home, and the police are endeavouring to 
 discover some trace of him. It is reported 
 that another child of the first marriage 
 (a daughter) is living in England. But 
 nothing is known about her." 
 
 " Has your governess any relations in 
 England?" Randal asked. 
 
 " Only an aunt, who has treated her in 
 the most inhuman manner." 
 
 *' Serious news for Miss Westerfield, as 
 you say," Randal resumed. " And, as I 
 think, serious news for us. Here is a mere 
 girl — a poor friendless creature — absolutely 
 dependent on our protection. What are 
 we to do if anything happens, in the future, 
 to alter our present opinion of her?' 
 
 " Nothing of the sort is likely to happen," 
 Mrs. Linley declared. 
 
 '' Let us hope not," Randal said gravely. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 EANDAL WRITES TO NEW YORK. 
 
 The members of the family at Mount 
 Morven consulted together, before Sydney 
 Westerfield was informed of her brother's 
 disappearance and of her mother's 
 death. 
 
 Speaking first, as master of the house, 
 Herbert Linley oiFered his opinion without 
 hesitation. His impulsive kindness shrank 
 from the prospect of reviving the melan- 
 choly recollections associated with Sydney's 
 domestic life. " Why distress the poor 
 child, just as she is beginning to feel happy 
 among us ?" he asked. " Give me the 
 
RANDAL WRITES TO NEW YORK. 157 
 
 newspaper ; 1 shan't feel easy till I have 
 torn it up." 
 
 His wife drew the newspaper out of his 
 reach. " Wait a little," she said quietly ; 
 ^' some of us may feel that it is no part of 
 our duty to conceal the truth." 
 
 Mrs. Presty sjDoke next. To the surprise 
 of the family council, she a^Teed with her 
 son-in-law. 
 
 " Somebody must speak out," the old 
 lady began ; " and I mean to set the 
 example. Telling the truth," she declared, 
 turning severely to her daughter, "is a 
 more complicated affair than you seem to 
 think. It's a question of morality, of 
 course ; but — in family circles, my dear — 
 it's sometimes a question of convenience as 
 well. Is it convenient to upset my grand- 
 daughter's governess, just as she is entering 
 on her new dudes ? Certainly not ! Good 
 Heavens, what does it matter to my young 
 
158 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 friend Sydney whether her unnatural 
 mother lives or dies ? Herbert, I second 
 your proposal to tear up the paper with the 
 greatest pleasure." 
 
 Herbert, sitting next to Randal, laid his 
 hand affectionately on his brother's shoulder. 
 '' Are you on our side ?" he asked. Randal 
 hesitated. 
 
 '' I feel inclined to agree with you," he 
 said to Herbert. " It does seem hard to 
 recall Miss Westerfield to the miserable 
 life that she has led, and to do it in the wav 
 of all others which must try her fortitude 
 most cruelly. At the same time " 
 
 '' Oh, don't spoil what you have said, by 
 seeing the other side of the question !" cried 
 his brother. '' You have put it admirably ; 
 leave it as it is." 
 
 " At the same time," Randal gently 
 persisted, " I have heard no reasons which 
 satisfy me that we have a right to keep 
 
RANDAL WRITES TO NEW YORK. 159 
 
 Miss Westerfield in ignorance of what has 
 happened." 
 
 This serious view of the question in 
 debate highly diverted Mrs. Presty. " I 
 do like that man," she announced, pointing 
 to Eandal ; "he always amuses me. Look 
 at him now ! He doesn't know which side 
 he is on, himself." 
 
 " He is on my side," Herbert declared. 
 
 " Not he !" 
 
 Herbert consulted his brother. " What 
 do you say yourself ?" 
 
 '' I don't know," Randal answered. 
 
 '' There !" cried Mrs. Presty. " What 
 did I tell you ?" 
 
 Randal tried to set his strange reply in 
 the right light. " I only mean," he 
 explained, "that I want a little time to 
 think.'' 
 
 Herbert gave up the dispute, and appealed 
 to his wife. " You have still got the 
 
i6o THE EVIL GENIUS, 
 
 American newspaper in your hand," he 
 said. '' What do you mean to do with 
 it?" 
 
 Quietly and firmly Mrs. Linley answered: 
 ^' I mean to show it to Miss Westerfield." 
 
 " Against my opinion ? Against 3'oar 
 mother's opinion ?" Herbert asked. " Have 
 we no influence over you ? Do as Randal 
 does — take time, my dear, to think." 
 
 She answered this with her customary 
 calmness of manner, and sweetness of tone. 
 *' I am afraid I must appear obstinate ; but 
 it is indeed true that I want no time to 
 think ; my duty is too plain to me." 
 
 Her husband and her mother listened to 
 her in astonishment. Too amiable and too 
 hap23y — and it must be added too indolent 
 — to assert herself in the ordhiary emergen- 
 cies of family life, Mrs. Linley only showed 
 of what metal she was made on the very 
 rare occasions when the latent firmness in 
 
RANDAL WRITES TO NEW YORK. i6i 
 
 her nature was stirred to its innermost 
 depths. The general experience of this 
 sweet-tempered and delightful woman, 
 rano^inof over lono- intervals of time, was 
 the only experience which remained in the 
 memories of the persons about her. In 
 bygone days, they had been amazed when 
 her unexpected readiness and firmness of 
 decision presented an exception to a general 
 rule — ^just as they were amazed now. 
 
 Herbert tried a last remonstrance. *' Is 
 it possible, Catherine, that you don't see 
 the cruelty of showing that newspaper to 
 Miss Westerfield ?" 
 
 Even this appeal to Mrs. Linley's sym- 
 pathies failed to shake her resolution. 
 " You may trust me to be careful," was all 
 she said in reply ; " I shall prepare her as 
 tenderly for the sad news from America, as 
 if she was a daughter of my own." 
 
 Hearing this, Mrs. Presty showed a 
 
 VOL. I. 11 ' 
 
1 62 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 sudden interest in the proceedings. "When 
 do you mean to begin ?" she asked. 
 
 " At once, Mamma." 
 
 Mrs. Presty broke uj^ the meeting on the 
 spot. "Wait till I am out of the way," 
 she stipulated. " Do you object to Herbert 
 giving me his arm? Distressing scenes are 
 not in his line or in mine." 
 
 Mrs. Linley made no objection. Herbert 
 resigned himself (not at all unwillingly) to 
 circumstances. Arm in arm, he and his 
 wife's mother left the room. 
 
 Randal showed no intention of following 
 them ; he had given himself time to think. 
 " We are all wrong, Catherine," he said ; 
 " and you alone are right. What can I do 
 to help you?" 
 
 She took his hand gratefully. " Always 
 kind ! Never thinking of yourself! I will 
 see Miss Westerfield in my own room. 
 Wait here, in case I want you." 
 
RANDAL WRITES TO NEW YORK. 163 
 
 After a much shorter absence than Randal 
 anticipated, Mrs. Linley returned. " Has 
 it been very distressing?" he asked, seeing 
 the traces of tears in her eyes. 
 
 " There are noble qualities," she answered, 
 '' in that poor ill-used girl. Her one 
 thought, as soon as she began to under- 
 stand my motive in speaking to her, was 
 not for herself, but for me. Even you, a 
 man, must have felt the tears in your eyes, 
 if you had heard her j)romise that I should 
 suffer no further anxiety on her account. 
 ^ You shall see no distressino^ chano;e in 
 me,' she said, ' when we meet to-morrow.' 
 All she asked was to be left in her room for 
 the rest of the day. I feel sure of her 
 resolution to control herself; and 3'et I 
 should like to encourage her if I can. Her 
 chief sorrow (as it seems to me) must be — 
 not for the mother who"lias so shamefully 
 neglected her — but for the poor little 
 
 11—2 
 
1 64 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 brother, a castaway lost in a strange land. 
 Can we do nothing to relieve her anxiety?'' 
 
 " I can write/' Randal said, '* to a man 
 whom I know in New York; a lawyer in 
 large practice." 
 
 " The very person we want ! Write — 
 pray write by to-day's post !" 
 
 The letter was despatched. It was de- 
 cided — and wisely decided, as the result 
 proved — to say nothing to Sydney until 
 the answer was received. Randal's corre- 
 spondent wrote back with as little delay 
 as possible. He had made every inquiry, 
 without success. N^ot a trace of the boy 
 had been found, or (in the opinion of the 
 police) was likely to be found. The one 
 event that had happened, since the appear- 
 ance of the paragraph in the New York 
 journal, was the confinement of James 
 Bellbridge in an asylum, as a madman 
 under restraint without hope of recovery. 
 
CHAPTER yi. 
 
 SYDNEY TEACHES. 
 
 Mrs. Presty had not very seriously ex- 
 aggerated the truth, when she described her 
 much-indulged granddaughter as '' a child 
 who had never been accustomed to wait for 
 anything since the day when she was born." 
 Governesses in general would have found 
 it no easy matter to produce a favourable 
 impression on Kitty, and to exert the ne- 
 cessary authority in instructing her, at 
 the same time. Spoilt children (whatever 
 moralists may say to the contrary) are 
 companionable and affectionate children, for 
 the most part — except when they encounter 
 
]66 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 the unfortunate persons employed to intro- 
 duce them to useful knowledge. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Linley (guiltily conscious of having 
 been too fond of their only child to subject 
 her to any sort of discipline) were not very 
 willing to contemplate the prospect before 
 Miss Westeriield on her first establishment 
 in the schoolroom. To their surprise and 
 relief there proved to be no cause for 
 anxiety after all. AYithout making an at- 
 tempt to assert her authority, the new 
 governess succeeded nevertheless when older 
 and Aviser women would have failed. 
 
 The secret of Sj^dney's triumph over ad- 
 verse circumstances lay hidden in Sydney 
 herself. 
 
 Everything in the ordinary routine of 
 life at Mount Morven was a source of de- 
 light and surj)rise to the unfortunate crea- 
 ture who had passed through six years of 
 cruelty, insult, and privation at her aunt's 
 
SYDNEY TEACHES. 167 
 
 school. Look where she might, in her new 
 sphere of action, she saw pleasant faces, 
 and heard kind words. At meal times, 
 wonderful achievements in the art of cookery 
 appeared on the table which she had not 
 only never tasted, but never even heard of. 
 When she went out walking with her pupil 
 they were free to go where they pleased, 
 without restriction of time — except the time 
 of dinner. To breathe the delicious air, to 
 look at the glorious scenery, were enjoy- 
 ments so exquisitely exhilarating that, by 
 Sydney's own confession, she became quite 
 lightheaded with pleasure. She ran races 
 with Kitt}^ — and nobody reproved her. She 
 rested, out of breath, while the stronger 
 child was ready to run on — and no merci- 
 less voice cried, " Xone of your laziness ; 
 time's up!'' Wild flowers that she had 
 never yet seen might be gathered, and no 
 offence was committed. Kitty told her the 
 
i68 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 names of the flowers, and the names of the 
 summer insects that flashed and hummed 
 in the hillside breezes ; and was so elated 
 at' teaching her governess that her rampant 
 spirits burst out in singing. " Your turn 
 next," the joyous child cried, when she too 
 was out of breath. " Sing, Sydney — sing!" 
 Alas for Sydney ! She had not sung since 
 those happiest days of her childhood, when 
 her good father had told her fairy stories, 
 and taught her songs. They were all 
 forgotten now. '' I can't sing, Kitty \ 
 I can't sing." The pupil, hearing this 
 melancholy confession, became governess 
 once more. '' Say the words, Syd; and 
 hum the tune after me." They laughed 
 over the singing lesson, until the echoes of 
 the hills mocked them, and lauf^hed too. 
 Looking into the schoolroom, one day, Mrs. 
 Linley found that the serious business of 
 teaching Avas not neglected. The lessons 
 
SVnjVEV TEACHES. 169 
 
 went on smoothly, without an obstacle in 
 the way. Kitty was incapable of disap- 
 pointing her friend and playfellow, who 
 made learning easy with a smile and a kiss. 
 The balance of authority was regulated to 
 perfection in the lives of these two simple 
 creatures. In the schoolroom, the governess 
 taught the child. Out of the schoolroom, 
 the child taught the governess. Division 
 of labour was a principle in perfect working 
 order at Mount Morven — and nobody sus- 
 pected it ! But, as the weeks followed each 
 other, one more remarkable circumstance 
 presented itself which every person in the 
 household was equally quick to observe. 
 The sad Sydney Westerfield whom they 
 all pitied, had now become the pretty 
 Sydney Westerfield whom they all admired. 
 It was not merely a change — it was a trans- 
 formation. Kitty stole the handglass from 
 her mother's room, and insisted that her 
 
lyo THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 governess should take it, and look at her- 
 self. " Papa says you're as plump as a 
 partridge ; and Mamma says you're as fresh 
 as a rose ; and Uncle Eandal wags his head, 
 and tells them he saw it from the first. I 
 heard it all when they thought I was play- 
 ing with my doll — and I want to know, 
 you best of nice girls, what you think of 
 your own self?" 
 
 *' I think, my dear, it's time we went on 
 with our lessons." 
 
 " Wait a little, Syd ; I have something 
 else to say." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " It's about Papa. He goes out walking 
 with us — doesn't he?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " He didn't go out walking with me — 
 before you came here. I've been thinking 
 about it ; and I'm sure Papa likes you. 
 What are you looking in the drawer for?" 
 
SYDNEY TEACHES. 171 
 
 " For your lesson-books, clear.'* 
 
 " Yes — but I haven't quite done yet. 
 Paj^a talks a good deal to you, and you 
 don't talk much to Papa. Don't you like 
 him ?" 
 
 "Oh, Kitty!" 
 
 *^ Then you do like him?" 
 
 " How can I help liking him? I owe all 
 my happiness to your Papa." 
 
 '' Do you like him better than Mamma?" 
 
 " 1 should be very ungrateful, if I liked 
 anybody better than your Mamma.'* 
 
 Kitty considered a little, and shook 
 her head. '' I don't understand that," 
 she declared roundly. '' What do you 
 mean?" 
 
 Sydney cleaned the pupil's slate, and set 
 the pupil's sum — and said nothing. 
 
 Kitt}^ placed a suspicious construction of 
 her own on her governess's sudden silence. 
 *' Perhaps you don't like my wanting to 
 
'72 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 know so many things," she suggested. " Or 
 perhaps you meant to puzzle me?" 
 
 Sydney sighed, and answered, "I'm 
 puzzled myself." 
 
CHAPTEE YII. 
 
 SYDNEY SUFFERS. 
 
 In the autumn holiday-time friends in the 
 south, who happened to be visiting Scotland, 
 were invited to stop at Mount Morven on 
 their way to the Highlands ; and were ac- 
 customed to meet the neighbours of the 
 Linleys at dinner on their arrival. The 
 time for this yearly festival had now come 
 round again; the guests were in the house; 
 and Mr. and Mrs. Linley were occupied in 
 making their arrangements for the dinner- 
 party. With her unfailing consideration for 
 everyone about her, Mrs. Linley did not for- 
 get Sydney while she was sending out her 
 
174 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 cards of invitation. *' Our table will be full 
 at dinner," she said to her husband; " Miss 
 Westerfield had better join us in the evening 
 with Kitty." 
 
 " I suppose so," Linlej answered with 
 some hesitation. 
 
 • " You seem to doubt about it, Herbert. 
 AVhy r 
 
 '' I was only wondering " 
 
 *' Wondering about what?" 
 
 ^' Has Miss Westerfield got a gown, 
 Catherine, that will do for a party?" 
 
 Linley's wife looked at him as if she 
 doubted the evidence of her own senses. 
 *' Fancy a man thinking of that!" she ex- 
 claimed. " Herbert, you astonish me." 
 
 He lauo'hed uneasilv. " I don't know 
 
 CD «/ 
 
 how I came to think of it — unless it is, that 
 she Avears the same dress every day. Very 
 neat ; but (perhaps I'm wrong) a little 
 shabby too." 
 
S YDNE Y SUFFERS. 1 7 5 
 
 '"' Upon my word, you pay Miss Wester- 
 field a compliment which you have never 
 paid to me ! AYear what I may, you never 
 seem to know how /am dressed." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Catherine, I know 
 that you are always dressed well." 
 
 That little tribute restored him to his 
 place in his wife's estimation. " I may tell 
 you now," she resumed, with her gentle 
 smile, " that you only remind me of Avhat I 
 had thought of already. My milliner is at 
 work for Miss Westerfield. The new dress 
 must be your gift." 
 
 ^' Are you joking?" 
 
 *' I am in earnest. To-morrow is Sydney's 
 birthday; and here is my present." She 
 opened a jeweller's case, and took out a plain 
 gold bracelet. " Suggested by Kitty," she 
 added, pointing to an inlaid miniature-por- 
 trait of the child. Herbert read the inscrip- 
 tion: To Sydney Westerjield, tvith Catherine 
 
176 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Linleys love. He gave the bracelet back to 
 bis wife in silence ; his manner was more 
 serious than usual — he kissed her hand. 
 
 The day of the dinner-party marked an 
 e2)och in Sydney's life. 
 
 For the first time, in all her past ex- 
 perience, she could look in the glass, and 
 see herself prettily dressed, with a gold 
 bracelet on her arm. If we consider how 
 men (in one way) and milliners (in another) 
 profit by it, vanity is surely to be reckoned, 
 not among the vices but among the virtues 
 of the sex. Will any woman, who sjDcaks 
 the truth, hesitate to acknowledge that her 
 first sensations of gratified vanity rank 
 among the most exquisite and most 
 enduring pleasures that she has ever felt ? 
 Sydney locked her door, and exhibited 
 herself to herself — in the front view, the 
 side view, and the back view (over the 
 shoulder) with eyes that sparkled and 
 
SYDNE Y S UFFERS. 1 7 7 
 
 cheeks that glowed in a delicious confusion 
 of pride and astonishment. She practised 
 bowing to strangers, in her new dress ; she 
 practised shaking hands gracefully, with her 
 bracelet well in view. Suddenly she stood 
 still before the glass, and became serious 
 and thoughtful. Kind and dear Mr. Linley 
 was in her mind now. While she was 
 asking herself anxiously what he would 
 think of her, Kitty — arranged in lier new 
 finery, as vain and as happy as her gover- 
 ness — drummed with both fists outside the 
 door, and announced at the top of her voice 
 that it was time to go downstairs. Sydney's 
 agitation at the prospect of meeting the 
 ladies in the drawing-room added a charm 
 of its own to the flush that her exercises 
 before the glass had left on her face Shyly 
 following instead of leading her little com- 
 panion into the room, she presented such a 
 charming appearance of youth and beauty 
 
 VOL. I. 12 
 
178 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 that the ladies paused in their talk to look 
 at her. Some few admired Kitty's gover- 
 ness with generous interest ; the greater 
 number doubted Mrs. Linley's prudence in 
 engaging a girl sa very pretty and so very 
 young. Little by little, Sydney's mamier — 
 simple, modest, shrinking from observation 
 — pleaded in her favour even with the 
 ladies who had been prejudiced against her 
 at the outset. When Mrs. Linley presented 
 her to the guests, the most beautiful woman 
 among them (Mrs. MacEdwin) made room 
 for her on the sofa, and with perfect tact and 
 kindness set the stranger at her ease. 
 When the gentlemen came in from the 
 dinner-table, Sydney was composed enough 
 to admire the brilliant scene, and to wonder 
 again, as she had wondered already, what 
 Mr. Linley would say to her new dress. 
 
 Mr. Linley certainly did notice her — 
 at a distance. 
 
SYDNEY SUFFERS. 179 
 
 He looked at her with a momentary 
 fervour of interest and admiration which 
 made Sydney (so gratefully and so guilt- 
 lessly attached to him) tremble with 
 pleasure ; he even stepped forward as if to 
 approach her, checked himself, and went 
 back again among his guests. Now in one 
 part of the room, and now in another, she 
 saw him speaking to them. The one 
 neglected person whom he never even looked 
 at again, was the poor girl to whom his 
 approval was the breath of her life. Had 
 she ever felt as unhappy as she felt now? 
 No, not even at her aunt's school ! 
 
 Friendlv Mrs. MacEdwin touched her 
 arm. " My dear, you are losing your 
 pretty colour. Are you overcome by the 
 heat? Shall I take you into the next 
 room?" 
 
 Sydney expressed her sincere sense of the 
 lady's kindness. Her commonplace excuse 
 
 12—2 
 
i8o THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 was a true excuse — she had a headache ; and 
 she asked leave to retire to her room. 
 
 Approaching the door, she found herself 
 face to face with Mr. Linley. He had just 
 been 2:ivin({ directions to one of the servants, 
 and was re-enterino: the drawin<2:-room. She 
 stopped, trembling and cold ; but, in the 
 very intensity of her wretchedness, she 
 found courage enough to speak to him. 
 
 '' You seem to avoid me, Mr. Linley," she 
 beo^an, addressino^ him with ceremonious 
 respect, and keeping her eyes on the ground. 
 
 " I hope " she hesitated, and desperately 
 
 looked at him — " I hope I haven't done 
 anything to offend you?" 
 
 In her knowledge of him, up to that 
 miserable evening, he constantly spoke to 
 her with a smile. She had never yet seen 
 him so serious and so inattentive as he was 
 now. His eyes, wandering round the room, 
 rested on Mrs. Linley — brilliant and 
 
SYDNE V SUFFERS. 1 8 1 
 
 beautiful, and laughing gaily. Why was 
 he looking at his wife with plain signs 
 of embarrassment in his face? Sydney 
 piteously persisted in repeating her innocent 
 question : "I hope I haven't done anything 
 to offend you?" 
 
 He seemed to be still reluctant to notice 
 her — on the one occasion of all others when 
 she was looking her best ! But he answered 
 at last. 
 
 " My dear child, it is impossible that 
 you should offend me : you have misunder- 
 stood and mistaken me. Don't suppose 
 — pray don't suppose that I am changed 
 or can ever be changed towards you." 
 He emphasised the kind intention which 
 those words revealed by giving her his 
 hand. 
 
 But the next moment he drew back. 
 There was no disguising it, he drew back 
 as if he wished to get away from her. She 
 
1 82 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 noticed that his lips were firmly closed and 
 his eyebrows knitted in a fi^own : he looked 
 like a man who was forcing himself to 
 submit to some hard necessity that he hated 
 or feared. 
 
 Sydney left the room in despair. 
 
 He had denied in the j)lftinest and kindest 
 terms that he was changed towards her. 
 Was that not enough? It was nothing 
 like enough. The facts were there to speak 
 for themselves : he was an altered man ; 
 anxietv, sorrow, remorse — one or the other 
 seemed to have got possession of him. 
 Judging by Mrs. Linley's gaiety of manner, 
 his wife could not possibly have been taken 
 into his confidence. 
 
 What did it mean? Oh, the useless, 
 hopeless question! And yet, again and 
 affain she asked herself: what did it 
 mean ? 
 
 In bewildered wretchedness she lins^ered 
 
SYDNEY SUFFERS. 183 
 
 on the way to lier room, and stopped at the 
 end of a corridor. 
 
 On her right hand, a broad flight of old 
 oak stairs led to the bed-chambers on the 
 second floor of the house. On her left hand, 
 an open door showed the stone steps which 
 descended to the terrace and the garden. 
 The moonlight lay in all its loveliness on 
 the flower-beds and the grass, and tempted 
 her to pause and admire it. A prospect 
 of sleepless misery was the one prospect 
 before her that Svdney could see, if she 
 retired to rest. The cool nisfht air came 
 freshly up the vaulted tunnel in which the 
 steps were set ; the moonlit garden ofl'ered 
 its solace to the girl's sore heart. No 
 curious women -servants appeared on the 
 stairs that led to the bed-chambers. No 
 inquisitive eyes could look at her from the 
 windows of the ground floor — a solitude 
 
1 84 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 abandoned to the curiosity of tourists. 
 Sydney took her hat and cloak from the 
 stand in a recess at the side of the door, and 
 went into the garden. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MES. PEESTY MAKES A DISCOVEEY. 
 
 The dinner-party had come to an end ; the 
 neighbours had taken their departure ; and 
 the ladies at Mount Morven had retired for 
 the night. 
 
 On the way to her room Mrs. Presty 
 knocked at her daughter's door. " I want 
 to speak to you, Catherine. Are you in 
 bed?" 
 
 " No, Mamma. Come in." 
 
 Robed in a dressing-gown of delicately- 
 mingled white and blue, and luxuriously 
 accommodated on the softest pillows that 
 could be placed in an arm-chair, Mrs. 
 
1 86 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Linley was meditating on the events of the 
 evening. *' This has been the most success- 
 ful party we have ever given," she said to 
 her mother. " And did you notice how 
 charmingly pretty Miss Westerfield looked 
 in her new dress?" 
 
 " It's about that girl I want to speak to 
 you," Mrs. Presty answered severely. '"'' I 
 had a higher opinion of her when she first 
 came here than I have now." 
 
 Mrs. Linley pointed to an open door, 
 communicating with a second and smaller 
 bed-chamber. " Not quite so loud," she 
 answered, ''or you may wake Kitty. 
 What has Miss Westerfield done to forfeit 
 your good opinion?" 
 
 Discreet Mrs. Presty asked leave to re- 
 turn to the subject at a future opportunity. 
 
 " I will merely allude now," she said, 
 "to a chan2:e for the worse in 3'our 
 governess, which you might have noticed 
 
MRS. PRE STY MAKES A DISCOVERY. 187 
 
 when she left the dniwing-room this 
 evening. She had a word or two with 
 Herbert at the door ; and she left him 
 looking as black as thunder." 
 
 Mrs. Linley laid herself back on her 
 pillows, and burst out laughing. , " Black 
 as thunder? Poor little Sydney, what a 
 ridiculous description of her! I beg your 
 pardon, Mamma ; don't be offended." 
 
 " On the contrary, my dear, I am agree- 
 ably surprised. Your poor father — a man 
 of remarkable judgment on most subjects — 
 never thought much of your intelligence. 
 He appears to have been wrong ; you have 
 evidently inherited some of my sense of 
 humour. However, that is not what I 
 wanted to say ; I am the bearer of good 
 news. \Yhen we find it necessary to get 
 rid of Miss Westerfield " 
 
 Mrs. Linley 's indignation expressed itself 
 by a look which, for the moment at least. 
 
1 88 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 reduced her mother to silence. Always 
 equal to the occasion, however, Mrs. 
 Presty's face assumed an expression of 
 innocent amazement, which would have 
 produced a round of applause on the stage. 
 " What have I said to make you angry ?'^ 
 she inquired. " Surely, my dear, 3^ou and 
 your husband are very extraordinary 
 people." 
 
 '' Do you mean to tell me, Mamma, that 
 you have said to Herbert what you said 
 just now to me?" 
 
 " Certainly. I mentioned it to Herbert 
 in the course of the evening. He was 
 excessively rude. He said, ' Tell Mrs. 
 MacEdwin to mind her own business — and 
 set her the example yourself.' " 
 
 Mrs. Linley returned her mother's look 
 of amazement, without her mother's eye for 
 dramatic effect. " What has Mrs. MacEdmn 
 to do with it?" she asked. 
 
MRS. PRE STY MAKES A DISCOVERY. 189 
 
 '' If you will only let me speak, Catherine, 
 I shall be happy to explain myself. You 
 saw Mrs. MacEdwin talking to me at the 
 party. That good lady's head — a feeble 
 head, as all her friends admit — has been 
 completely turned by Miss Westerfield. 
 ' The first duty of a governess ' (this 
 foolish woman said to me) ' is to win the 
 aifections of her pupils. My governess has 
 entirely failed to make the children like 
 her. A dreadful temper ; I have given her 
 notice to leave my service. Look at that 
 sweet girl and your little granddaughter! 
 I declare I could cry when I see how they 
 understand each other and love each other. ^ 
 I quote our charming friend's nonsense, 
 verbatim (as we used to sav when we 
 were in Parliament in Mr. Xor man's time), 
 for the sake of what it led to. If, by any 
 lucky chance, Miss Westerfield happens to 
 be disengaged in the future, Mrs. Mac- 
 
 0^0 
 
190 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Edwin's house is open to her— at her own 
 time, and on her own terms. I promised to 
 speak to you on the subject, and I perform 
 my promise. Think over it ; I strongly 
 advise you to think over it." 
 
 Even Mrs. Linley's good-nature declined 
 to submit to this. " I shall certainly not 
 think over what cannot po.-sibly happen," 
 she said. " Good-night, Mamma.'' 
 
 " Good-night, Catherine. Your temper 
 doesn't seem to improve as you get older. 
 Perhaps the excitement of the party has 
 been too much for your nerves. Try to 
 get some sleep before Herbert comes up 
 from the smoking-room and disturbs you." 
 
 Mrs. Linley refused even to let this pass 
 unanswered. " Herbert is too considerate 
 to disturb me, when his friends keep him 
 up late," she said. " On those occasions, as 
 you may see for 3'ourself, he has a bed in 
 
 his dressing-room. 
 
 ?> 
 
MRS. PRE STY MAKES A DISCOVERY, 191 
 
 • Mrs. Presty passed through the dressing- 
 rooai on her way out. " A very com- 
 fortable-looking bed," she remarked, in 
 a tone intended to reach her dauc^hter's 
 ears. " I wonder Herbert ever leaves it." 
 
 The way to her own bed-chamber led her 
 by the door of Sydney's room. She sud- 
 denly stopped ; the door was not shut. 
 This was in itself a suspicious circumstance. 
 
 Young or old, ladies are not in the habit 
 of sleeping with their bedroom doors ajar. 
 A strict sense of duty led Mrs. Presty to 
 listen outside. No sound like the breathing 
 of a person asleep was to be heard. A 
 strict sense of duty conducted Mrs. Presty 
 next into the room, and even encouraged 
 her to approach the bed on tip-toe. The 
 bed was empty; the clothes had not been 
 disturbed since it had been made in the 
 
 morning ! 
 
 The old lady stepped out into the corridor 
 
192 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 in a state of excitement, whicli greatly im- 
 proved her personal appearan-ce. She looked 
 almost young again as she mentally re- 
 viewed the list of vices and crimes which 
 a governess might commit, who had retired 
 before eleven o'clock, and who was not in 
 her bedroom at twelve. On further reflec- 
 tion, it appeared to be barely possible that 
 Miss Westerfield might be preparing her 
 pupil's exercises for the next day. Mrs. 
 Presty descended to the schoolroom, on the 
 first floor. 
 
 No. • Here again, there w^as nothing to 
 see but an empty room. 
 
 Where was Miss Westerfield? 
 
 Was it within the limits of probability 
 that she had been bold enough to join the 
 party in the smoking-room? The bare idea 
 was absurd. 
 
 In another minute, nevertheless, Mrs. 
 Presty w^as at the door, listening. The 
 
MRS. PRESTY MAKES A DISCOVERY. 193 
 
 men's voices were loud : they were 
 talking politics. She peeped through the 
 keyhole ; the smokers had, beyond all 
 doubt, been left to themselves. If the 
 house had not been full of guests, Mrs. 
 Presty would now have raised an alarm. 
 As things were, the fear of a possible 
 scandal which the family might have 
 reason to regret, forced her to act with 
 caution. In the sucr^estive retirement of 
 her own room, she arrived at a wise and 
 wary decision. Opening her door by a few 
 inches, she placed a chair behind thS open- 
 ing in a position which commanded a view 
 of Sydney's room. Wherever the governess 
 might be, her return to her bed-chamber, 
 before the servants were astir in the morn- 
 inof, was a chance to be counted on. The 
 night-lamp in the corridor was well alight; 
 and a venerable person, animated by a sense 
 of duty, was a person naturally superior to 
 VOL. I. 13 
 
194 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 the seductions of sleep. Before taking 
 the final precaution of extinguishing her 
 candle, Mrs. Presty touched up her com- 
 p)lexion, and resolutely turned her back on 
 her nightcap. ^' This is a case in which I 
 must keep up my dignity;" she decided as 
 she took her place in the chair. 
 
 One man in the smoking-room appeared 
 to be thoroughly weary of talking politics. 
 That man was the master of the house. 
 
 Eandal noticed the worn pre- occupied 
 look in his brother's face, and determined 
 to break up the meeting. The opportunity 
 for which he was waiting occurred in 
 another minute. He was asked as a mode- 
 rate politician to decide between two guests, 
 both members of Parliament, who were fast 
 drifting into mere contradiction of each 
 other's second-hand opinions. In plain 
 terms they stated the matter in dis23ute : 
 
MRS. FRESTY MAKES A DISCOVERY, jgs 
 
 ^' Which of our political parties deserves 
 the confidence of the English people?" In 
 plain terms, on his side, Randal answered : 
 ^' The party that lowers the taxes." Those 
 words acted on the discussion like water on 
 a fire. As members of Parliament, the two 
 contending politicians w^ere naturally inno- 
 cent of the slightest interest in the people 
 or the taxes; they received the new idea 
 submitted to them in helpless silence. 
 Friends who were listening began to laugh. 
 The oldest man present looked at his watch. 
 In five minutes more the lights were out, 
 and the smoking-room was deserted. 
 
 Linley was the last to retire — fevered by 
 the combined influences of smoke and noise. 
 His mind, oppressed all through the even- 
 ing, was as ill at ease as ever. Linger- 
 ing, wakeful and irritable, in the corridor 
 (just as Sydney had lingered before 
 him), he too stopped at the open door, 
 
 13—2 
 
196 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 and admired the peaceful beauty of the 
 garden. 
 
 The sleepy servant, appointed to attend 
 in the smoking-room, asked if he should 
 close the door. Linley answered, " Go to 
 bed, and leave it to me." Still linfi^erinci' at 
 the top of the steps, he too was tempted by 
 the refreshing coolness of the air. He took 
 the key out of the lock; secured the door 
 after he had passed through it; put the key 
 in his pocket, and went down into the 
 garden. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SOMEBODY ATTENDS TO THE DOOR. 
 
 With slow steps Linley crossed the lawn; 
 his mind gloomily absorbed in thoughts 
 which had never before troubled his easy 
 nature — thoughts heavily laden with a 
 burden of self-reproach. 
 
 Arrived at the limits of the lawn, two 
 paths opened before him. One led into a 
 quaintly pretty enclosure, cultivated on the 
 plan of the old gardens at Versailles, and 
 called the French Garden. The other path 
 led to a grassy walk, winding its way 
 capriciously through a thick shrubbery. 
 Careless in what direction he turned his 
 
iqs the evil genius. 
 
 steps, Linley entered the shrubbery, because 
 it haj^pened to be nearest to him. 
 
 Except at certam points, where the moon- 
 light found its way through open spaces 
 in the verdure, the grassy path which 
 he was now following wound onward in 
 shadow. How far he had advanced he had 
 not noticed, when he heard a momentary 
 rustling of leaves at some little distance in 
 advance of him. The faint breeze had died 
 away; the movement among^the leaves had 
 been no doubt produced by the creeping or 
 the flying of some creature of the night. 
 Looking up, at the moment when he w^as 
 disturbed by this trifling incident, he 
 noticed a bright patch of moonlight ahead 
 as he advanced to a new turn in the path. 
 
 The instant afterwards he was startled 
 by the appearance of a figure, emerging 
 into the moonlight from the farther end of 
 the shrubbery, and rapidly a23proaching 
 
SOMEBODY ATTENDS TO THE DOOR. 199 
 
 him. He was near enough to see that it 
 was the figure of a woman. Was it one 
 of the female servants, hurrying back to the 
 house after an interview with a sweetheart ? 
 In his black evening- dress, he was, in all 
 probability, completely hidden by the deep 
 shadow in which he stood. Would he be 
 less likely to frighten the woman if he 
 called to her than if he allowed her to come 
 close np to him in the dark ? He decided 
 on calling to h^r. 
 
 " Who is out so late ?" he asked. 
 
 A cry of alarm answered him. The 
 figure stood still for a moment, and then 
 turned back as if to escape him by flight. 
 
 " Don't be frightened," he said. ** Surely 
 you know my voice ?" 
 
 The fi o^ure stood still ao^ain. He showed 
 himself in the moonlight, and discovered — 
 Sydney Wester field. 
 
 " You !" he exclaimed. 
 
200 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 She trembled ; the words in which she 
 answered him were words in fragments. 
 
 ** The garden was so quiet and pretty — I 
 thought there would be no harm — please 
 let me go back — I'm afraid I shall be shut 
 out " 
 
 She tried to pass him. " My poor 
 child," he said, " what is there to be 
 frightened about? I have been tempted 
 out by the lovely night, like you. Take 
 my arm. It is so close in bere among the 
 trees. If we go back to the lawn, the air 
 ■will come to you freely." 
 
 She took his arm ; he could feel her heart 
 throbbing against it. Kindly silent, he led 
 her back to the open space. Some garden 
 chairs were placed here and there : he sug- 
 gested that she should rest for awhile. 
 
 " I'm afraid I shall be shut out." she 
 repeated. " Pray let me get back." 
 
 He yielded at once to the wish that she 
 
SOMEBODY ATTENDS TO THE DOOR. 201 
 
 expressed. '• You must let me take you 
 back," lie explained. " They are all asleep 
 at the house by this time. No ! no ! don't 
 be frightened again. I have got the key of 
 the door. The moment I have opened it, 
 you shall go in by yourself." 
 
 She looked at him gratefully. "You are 
 not offended with me now, Mr. Linley," she 
 said. " You are like your kind self 
 again." 
 
 They ascended the steps which led to 
 the door. Linley took the key from his 
 pocket. It acted perfectly in drawing back 
 the lock ; but the door, when he pushed it, 
 resisted him. He put his shoulder against 
 it, and exerted his strength, helped by his 
 weight. The door remained immovable. 
 
 Had one of the servants — sittmg up later 
 than usual after the parrty, and not aw^are 
 that Mr. Linley had gone into the garden — 
 noticed the door, and carefully fastened the 
 
20 2 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 bolts on the inner side ? That was exactly 
 what had happened. 
 
 There was nothing for it but to submit 
 to circumstances. Linley led the way down 
 the steps again. *' We are shut out," he 
 said. 
 
 Sydney listened in silent dismay. He 
 seemed to be merely amused ; he treated 
 their common misfortune as lightly as if it 
 had been a joke. 
 
 " There's nothing so very terrible in 
 our situation," he reminded her. " The 
 servants' offices ^vill be opened between six 
 and seven o'clock ; the weather is perfect ; 
 and the summer-house in the French 
 Garden has one easy- chair in it, to my 
 certain knowledge, in which you may rest 
 and sleep. I'm sure you must be tired — 
 let me take you there." 
 
 She drew back, and looked up at the 
 house. IJ* 
 
SOMEBODY ATTENDS TO THE DOOR. 203 
 
 *' Can't we make tlieiii hear us ?" she 
 asked. 
 
 '' Quite impossible. Besides " He 
 
 was about to remind her of the evil con- 
 struction which might be placed on their 
 appearance together, returning from the 
 garden at an advanced hour of the night ; 
 but her innocence pleaded with him to 
 be silent. He only said, " You forget that 
 we all sleep at the top of our old castle. 
 There is no knocker to the door, and no 
 bell that rings upstairs. Come to the 
 summer-house. In an hour or two more 
 we shall see the sun rise." 
 
 She took his arm in silence. They 
 reached the French Garden without another 
 word having passed between them. 
 
 The summer-house had been designed, in 
 harmony with the French taste of the last 
 century, from a classical model. It was a 
 rou^ copy in wood of The Temple of 
 
204 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Yesta at Rome. Opening the door for his 
 companion, Linley joaused before he followed 
 her in. A girl brought up by a careful 
 mother would have understood and appre- 
 ciated hivS hesitation ; she would have 
 concealed any little feeling of embarrass- 
 ment that might have troubled her at the 
 moment, and would have asked him to 
 come back and let her know when the 
 rising of the sun began. Neglected by her 
 mother, worse than neglected by her aunt, 
 Sydney's fearless ignorance put a question 
 which would have lowered the poor girl 
 cruelly in the estimation of a stranger. 
 ^' Are you going to leave me here by my- 
 self?" she asked. "Why don't you come in?" 
 Linley thought of his visit to the school, 
 and remembered the detestable mistress. 
 He excused Sydney ; he felt for her. She 
 held the door open for him. Sure of him- 
 self, he entered the summer-house. 
 
SOMEBODY ATTEND^ TO THE DOOR. 205 
 
 As a mark of respect on her part, slie 
 offered the arm-chair to him : it was the 
 one comfortable seat in the neglected place. 
 He insisted that she should take it ; and, 
 searching the summer-house., found a 
 wooden stool for himself The small 
 circular room received but little of the dim 
 outel" light — they were near each other — 
 they were silent. Sydney burst suddenly 
 into a nervous little lauofh. 
 
 " Why do you laugh ?" he asked good- 
 hum ouredly. * 
 
 " It seems so strange, Mr. Linley, for us 
 to be out here." In the moment when she 
 made that reply her merriment vanished : 
 she looked out sadly, through the open door, 
 at the stillness of the nio^ht. ' ' What should 
 I have done," she wondered, " if I had been 
 shut out of the house by myself?" Her eyes 
 rested on him timidly ; there was some 
 thought in her which she shrank from ex- 
 
2o6 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 pressing. She only said : "I wish I knew 
 how to be worthy of your kindness." 
 
 Her voice warned him that she was strug- 
 gling with strong emotion. In one respect, 
 men are all alike; they hate to see a woman 
 in tears. Linley treated her like a child; 
 he smiled, and patted her on the shoulder. 
 " !N^onsense !" he said gail3\ '^ There is no 
 merit in being kind to my good little gover- 
 ness." 
 
 She took that comforting hand — it was a 
 harmless impulse that she was unable to 
 resist — she bent over it, and kissed it grate- 
 fully. He drew his hand away from her as 
 if the soft touch of her lips had been fire 
 that burnt it. ^' Oh," she cried, " have I 
 done wrong?" 
 
 " No, my dear — no, no." 
 
 There was an embarrassment in his man- 
 ner, the inevitable result of his fear of him- 
 self if he faltered in the resolute exercise of 
 
SOMEBODY ATTENDS TO THE DOOR. 207 
 
 self-restraint, whicli was perfectly incompre- 
 hensible to Sydney. He moved his seat 
 back a httle, so as to place himself farther 
 away. Something in that action, at that 
 time, shocked and humiliated her. Com- 
 pletely misunderstanding him, she thought 
 he was reminding her of the distance that 
 separated them in social rank. Oh, the 
 shame of it ! the shame of it ! Would other 
 governesses have taken a liberty with their 
 master? A fit of hysterical sobbing burst 
 its way through her last reserves of self- 
 control; she started to her feet, and ran out 
 of the summer-house. 
 
 Alarmed and distressed, he followed her 
 instantly. 
 
 She was leaning against the pedestal of a 
 statue in the garden, panting, shuddering, 
 a sight to touch the heart of a far less sensi- 
 tive man than the man who now approached 
 her. "Sydney!" he said. "Dear little 
 
2o8 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Sydney!" She tried to speak to him in 
 return. Breath and strength failed her to- 
 gether ; she lifted her hand, vainly grasping 
 at the broad pedestal behind her ; she would 
 have fallen if he had not caught her in his 
 arms. Her head sank faintly backward on 
 his breast. He looked at the poor little tor- 
 tured face, turned up towards him in the 
 lovely moonlight. Again and again he had 
 honourably restrained himself — he was hu- 
 man ; he was a man — in one mad moment 
 it was done, hotly, passionately done — he 
 kissed her. 
 
 For the first time in her maiden life, a 
 man's lips touched her lips. All that had 
 been perplexing and strange, all that had 
 been innocently wonderful to herself in the 
 feeling that bound Sydney to her first friend 
 was a mystery no more. Love lifted its veil, 
 Nature revealed its secrets, in the one supreme 
 moment of that kiss. She threw her arms 
 
SOMEBODY ATTENDS TO THE DOOR. 209 
 
 round his neck with a low cry of delight — • 
 and returned his kiss. 
 
 " Sydney," he whispered, " I love you." 
 She heard him in rapturous silence. Her 
 kiss had answered for her. 
 
 At that crisis in their lives, they were 
 saved by an accident \ a poor little common 
 accident that happens every day. The 
 spring in the bracelet that Sydney wore 
 gave way as she held him to her ; the 
 bright trinket fell on the grass at their feet. 
 The man never noticed it. The woman 
 saw her pretty ornament as it dropped fi'om 
 her arm — saw, and remembered Mrs. Linley's 
 
 gift. 
 
 Cold and pale — with horror of herself con- 
 fessed in the action, simple as it was — she 
 drew back from him in dead silence. 
 
 He was astounded. In tones that trem- 
 bled with agitation, he said to her: "Are 
 you ill?" 
 
 VOL. I. 14 
 
210 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 " Shameless and wicked," she answered. 
 ^' Not ill." She pointed to the bracelet on 
 the grass. " Take it up; I am not fit to 
 touch it. Look on the inner side." 
 
 He remembered the inscription : " To 
 Sydney Westerfield with Catherine Linley's 
 love." His head sank on his breast ; he 
 understood her at last. "You despise me," 
 he said; '' and I deserve it." 
 
 " No ; I despise myself. I have lived 
 among vile people ; and I am vile like 
 them." 
 
 She moved away a few steps with a heavy 
 sigh. '• Kitty!" she said to herself " Poor 
 little Kitty!" 
 
 He followed her. "Why are you think- 
 ing of the child," he asked, " at such a time 
 as this?" 
 
 She replied without returning or looking 
 round; distrust of herself had inspired her 
 with terror of Linley, from the time 
 
SOMEBODY ATTENDS TO THE DOOR. 211 
 
 when the bracelet had dropped on the 
 grass. 
 
 ^' I can make but one atonement," she 
 said. " We must see each other no more. 
 I must say good-bye to Kitty — I must go^ 
 Help me to submit to my hard lot, I must 
 go. 
 
 He set her no example of resignation ; he 
 shrank from the prospect that she presented 
 to him. 
 
 ^' Where are you to go if you leave us ?" 
 he asked. 
 
 " Away from England ! The farther away 
 from you the better for both of us. Help me 
 with your interest ; have me sent to the new 
 world in the west, with other emigrants. 
 Give me something to look forward to that 
 is not shame and despair. Let me do some- 
 thing that is innocent and good — I may find 
 a trace of my poor lost brother. Oh, let me 
 
 go ! Let me go !" 
 
 14—2 
 
2 12 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Her resolution shamed him. He rose to 
 her level, in spite of himself. 
 
 " I dare not tell you that you are wrong,'* 
 he said. " I only ask you to wait a little 
 till we are calmer, before you speak of the 
 future again." He pointed to the summer- 
 house. " Go in, my poor girl. Rest, and 
 compose yourself, while I try to think." 
 
 He left her, and paced up and down the 
 formal walks in the garden. Away from 
 the maddening fascination of her presence^ 
 his mind grew clearer. He resisted the 
 temptation to think of her tenderly ; he set 
 himself to consider what it would be well to 
 do next. 
 
 The moonlight was seen no more. Misty 
 and starless, the dark sky sj^read its majestic 
 obscurity over the earth. Linley looked 
 wearily towards the eastern heaven. The 
 darkness daunted him ; he saw in it the 
 shadow of his own sense of guilt. The 
 
SOMEBODY ATTENDS TO THE DOOR, 213 
 
 grey glimmering of dawn, the songs of birds 
 when the pure light softly climbed the sky, 
 roused and relieved him. AYith the first 
 radiant rising of the sun he returned to the 
 summer-house. 
 
 "Do I disturb you?" he asked, waiting 
 at the door. 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Will you come out and speak to 
 me.'' 
 
 She appeared at the door, waiting to hear 
 what he had to say to her. 
 
 " I must ask you to submit to a sacrifice 
 of your own feelings," he began. " When 
 I kept away from you in the drawing-room, 
 last night — when my strange conduct made 
 you fear that you had offended nie — I was 
 trying to remember what I owed to my 
 good wife. I have been thinking of hei 
 again. We must spare her a discovery too 
 terrible to be endured, while her attention 
 
2 14 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 is claimed by the quests who are now in 
 the house. In a week's time they will leave 
 us. Will you consent to keep up appear- 
 ances? Will you live^ with us as usual, 
 until we are left by ourselves ? ' 
 
 " It shall be done, Mr. Linley. I only 
 ask one favour of you. My worst enemy 
 is my own miserable wicked heart. Oh, 
 don't YOU understand me? I am ashamed 
 to look at you!" 
 
 He had only to examine his own heart, 
 and to know what she meant. '' Say no 
 more," he answered sadly. " We will keep 
 as much away from each other as we 
 
 can." 
 
 She shuddered at that open recognition 
 of the fi^uiltv love which united them, in 
 spite of their horror of it, and took refuge 
 from him in the summer-house. Not a 
 word more passed bet\Yeen them until the 
 
SOMEBODY ATTENDS TO THE DOOR. 215 
 
 unbarrinof of doors was heard in the still- 
 ness of the morning, and the smoke began 
 to rise from the kitchen chimney. Then he 
 returned, and spoke to her. 
 
 *' You can get back to the house," he 
 said. " Go up by the front stairs, and you 
 will not meet the servants at this early 
 hour. If they do see you, you have your 
 cloak on ; they will think you have been in 
 the garden earlier than usual. As you pass 
 the upper door, draw back the bolts quietly, 
 and I can let myself in." 
 
 She bent her head in silence. He looked 
 after her as she hastened away from him 
 over the lawn; conscious of admiring her, 
 conscious of more than he dared realise to 
 himself When she disappeared, he turned 
 back to wait where she had been waiting. 
 With his sense of the duty he owed to his 
 wife penitently present to his mind, the 
 
2i6 THE EVIL GENIUS, 
 
 memory of that fatal kiss still left its vivid 
 impression on him. ''What a scoundrel I 
 am!" he said to himself as he stood alone in 
 tlie summer-house, looking at the chair 
 which she had just left. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 KITTY MENTIONS HER BIRTHDAY. 
 
 A CLEVER old lady, possessed of the in- 
 estimable advantages of worldly experience, 
 must submit nevertheless to the laws of 
 Nature. Time and Sleep together — power- 
 ful accents in the small hours of the morn- 
 ing — had got the better of Mrs. Presty's 
 resolution to keep awake. Free from dis- 
 covery, Sydney ascended the stairs. Free 
 from discovery, Sydney entered her own 
 room. 
 
 Half-an-hour later, Linley opened the 
 door of his dressing-room. His wife was 
 still sleeping. His mother-in-law woke two 
 
2i8 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 hours later ; looked at her watch ; and dis- 
 covered that she had lost her opportunity. 
 Other old women, under similar circum- 
 stances, might have felt discouraged. This 
 old woman believed in her own suspicions 
 more devoutly than ever. When the break- 
 fast-bell rang, Sydney found Mrs. Presty 
 in the corridor, waiting to say good-morning. 
 
 " I wonder what you were doing last 
 night, when you ought to have been in 
 bed?" the old lady began, with a treacherous 
 amiability of manner. " Oh, I am not mis- 
 taken ! your door was open, my dear, and I 
 looked in." 
 
 " Why did you look in, Mrs. Presty?" 
 
 '• My young friend, I was naturally 
 anxious about you. I am anxious still. 
 Were you in the house ? or out of the 
 house?" 
 
 " I was walking in the garden," Sydney 
 replied. 
 
KITTY MENTIONS HER BIRTHDAY. 219 
 
 " Admirinof the moonlio'lit?" 
 " Yes ; admirinof the moonlio^ht.'* 
 " Alone, of course?" Sydney's friend sug- 
 gested. 
 
 And Sydney took refuge in prevarica- 
 tion. '' Why should you doubt it?' she 
 said. 
 
 Mrs. Presty wasted no more time in ask- 
 ing questions. She was pleasantly reminded 
 of the words of worldly wisdom which she 
 had addressed to her daughter, on the day 
 of Sydney's arrival at Mount Morven. 
 " The good qualities of that unfortunate 
 young creature" (she had said) "can not 
 have always resisted the horrid temptations 
 and contaminations about her. Hundreds 
 of times she must have had deceit forced 
 on her; she must have lied through un- 
 governable fear." Elevated a little higher 
 than ever in her own estimation, Mrs. 
 Presty took Sydney's arm, and led her 
 
2 20 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 down to breakfast with motherly famili- 
 arity. Linley met them at the foot of the 
 stairs. His mother-in-law first stole a look 
 at Sydney, and then shook hands with him 
 cordially. " My dear Herbert, how pale 
 you are ! That horrid smoking. You look 
 as if you had been up all night.'^ 
 
 Mrs. Linley paid her customary visit to 
 the schoolroom that morning. 
 
 The necessary attention to her guests 
 had left little leisure for the exercise of 
 observation at the breakfast-table ; the one 
 circumstance which had forced itself on her 
 notice had been the boisterous gaiety of her 
 husband. Too essentially honest to prac- 
 tise deception of any kind cleverly, Linley 
 had overacted the part of a man whose 
 mind was entirelv at ease. The most un- 
 suspicious woman living, his wife was 
 simply amused. " How he does enjoy 
 
KITTY MENTIONS HER BIRTHDAY. 221 
 
 society!" she thought. "Herbert will be 
 a young man to the end of his life." 
 
 In the best possible spirits — still ani- 
 mated by her successful exertions to enter- 
 tain her friends — Mrs. Linley opened the 
 schoolroom door briskly. " Ho\y are the 
 lessons getting on?" she began — and checked 
 herself with a start. " Kitty I" she ex- 
 cl aimed . " C r vino- ? ' ' 
 
 The child ran to her mother with tears 
 in her eyes. "Look at Syd! She sulks; 
 she cries : she won't talk to me — send for 
 the doctor." 
 
 " You tiresome child, I don't want the 
 doctor. I'm not ill." 
 
 '^ There, Mamma!" cried Kitty.. "She 
 never scolded me before to-day." 
 
 In other words, here was a complete 
 reversal of the usual order of things in the 
 schoolroom. Patient Sydney was out of 
 temper; gentle Sydney spoke bitterly to 
 
2 22 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 the little friend whom she loved. Mrs. 
 Linley drew a chair to the governess's side, 
 and took her hand. The strangely altered 
 girl tore her hand away, and burst into 
 a violent fit of crying. Puzzled and 
 frightened, Kitty (to the best of a child's 
 ability) followed her example. Mrs. Linley 
 took her daughter on her knee, and gave 
 Sydney's outbreak of agitation time to sub- 
 side. There were no feverish appearances 
 in her face, there was no feverish heat in 
 her skin when their hands had touched 
 each other for a moment. In all proba- 
 bility the mischief w\as nervous mischief, 
 and the outburst of w^eeping w^as an hys- 
 terical effort at relief. 
 
 '' I am afraid, my dear, you have had a 
 bad night," Mrs. Linley said. 
 
 ^^Bad? Worse than bad!" 
 
 Sydney stopped ; looked at her good 
 mistress and friend in terror; and made a 
 
KITTY MENTIONS HER BIRTHDAY. 223 
 
 confused effort to explain away what she 
 had just said. As sensibly and kindly self- 
 possessed as ever, Mrs. Linley told her that 
 she only wanted rest and quiet. " Let me 
 take you to my room," she proposed. "We 
 wall have the sofa moved into the balcony ; 
 and you will soon go to sleep in the delicious 
 warm air. You may put away your books, 
 Kitty ; this is a holiday. Come with me, 
 and be petted and spoilt by the ladies in 
 the morning-room." 
 
 Neither the governess nor the pupil was 
 worthy of the sympathy so frankly offered 
 to them. Still strangely confused, Sydney 
 made commonplace apologies, and asked 
 leave to go out and walk in the. park. 
 Hearing this, Kitty declared that where 
 her governess w^ent she would go too. 
 Mrs. Linley smoothed her daughter's pretty 
 auburn hair, and said playfully : " 1 think 
 I ought to be jealous." To her surprise 
 
2 24 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Sydney looked up as if the words had been 
 addressed to herself. " You mustn't be 
 fonder, my dear, of your governess," Mrs. 
 Linley went on, " than you are of your 
 mother." She kissed the child, and, rising- 
 to go, discovered that Sydney had moved 
 to another part of the room. She was 
 standing at the piano, with a page of music 
 in her hand. The page was upside down — 
 and she had placed herself in a position 
 which concealed her face. Slow as Mrs. 
 Linley was to doubt" any person (more 
 especially a person who interested her) she 
 left the room with a vague fear of some- 
 thing wrong, and with a conviction that she 
 would do well to consult her husband. 
 
 Hearing the door close, Sydney looked 
 round. She and Kitty were alone again ; 
 and Kitty was putting away her books, 
 without showing any pleasure at the 
 
 prospect of a holiday. 
 
KITTY MENTIONS HER BIRTHDAY. 225 
 
 Sydney took the child fondly in her 
 arms. " Would you be very sorry," she 
 asked, ''if I was obliged to go away, some 
 day, and leave you?" Kitty turned pale 
 with terror at the dreadful prospect which 
 those words presented. " There ! there ! I 
 am only joking," Sydney said, shocked at 
 the effect which her attempt to suggest the 
 impending separation had produced. " You 
 shall come with me, darling ; we will walk 
 in the park together." 
 
 Kitty's face brightened directly. She 
 proposed extending their walk to the 
 paddock, and feeding the cows. Sydney 
 readily consented. Any amusement was 
 welcome to her which diverted the child's 
 attention from herself 
 
 They had been nearly an hour in the 
 park, and were returning to the house 
 through a clump of trees, when Sydney's 
 companion, running on before her, cried, 
 
 VOL. I. 15 
 
226 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 *' Here's Papa!" Her first impulse was to 
 draw back behind a tree, in tbe hope of 
 escaping notice. Linley sent Kitty away to 
 gather a nosegay of daisies, and joined 
 Sydney under the trees. 
 
 " I have been looking for you every- 
 where," he said. '* My wife " 
 
 Sydney interrupted him. '' Discovered !" 
 she exclaimed. 
 
 " There is nothing that need alarm you," 
 he replied. " Catherine is too good and 
 too true herself to suspect others easily. 
 She sees a change in you that she doesn't 
 understand — she asks if I have noticed 
 it — and that is all. But her mother has 
 the cunning of the devih There is a 
 serious reason for controlling yourself." 
 
 He spoke so earnestly that he startled 
 her. " Are you angry with me?" she asked. 
 
 '' Angry ! Does the man live who could 
 be angry with you?" 
 
KITTY MENTIONS HER BIRTHDA K 227 
 
 " It mio^lit be better for both of us if 
 you 10 ere angry with me. I have tried 
 to control myself ; I will try again. Oh, 
 if you only knew what I suffer when Mrs. 
 Linley is kind to me !" 
 
 He persisted in trying to rouse her to 
 a sense of the danger that threatened them, 
 while the visitors remained in the house. 
 "In a few days, Sydney, there will be 
 no more need for the deceit that is now 
 forced on us. Till that time comes, re- 
 member — Mrs. Presty suspects us." 
 
 Kitty ran back to them with her hands 
 full of daisies before they could say more. 
 
 " There is your nosegay, Papa. No ; I 
 don't want you to thank me — I want to 
 know what present you are going to give 
 me." Her father's mind was pre-occupied ; 
 he looked at her absently. The child's 
 sense of her own importance was wounded : 
 she appealed to her governess. " Would 
 
 15—2 
 
228 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 you believe it?" she asked. "Papa has 
 forgotten that next Tuesday is my birth- 
 day !'' 
 
 ^' Very well, Kitty ; I must pay the 
 penalty of forgetting. What present would 
 you like to have ?' 
 
 " I want a doll's perambulator." 
 
 " Ha ! In my time we were satisfied 
 with a doll." 
 
 They all three looked round. Another 
 person had suddenly joined in the talk. 
 There was no mistaking the person's voice : 
 Mrs. Presty appeared among the trees, 
 taking a walk in the park. Had she heard 
 what Linley and the governess had said to 
 each other while Kitty was gathering 
 daisies ? 
 
 ^' Quite a domestic scene!" the sly old 
 lady remarked. " Papa, looking like a 
 saint in a picture, with flowers in his hand. 
 Papa's spoilt child always wanting some- 
 
KITTY MENTIONS HER BIRTHDAY, 229 
 
 thing, and always getting it. And Papa's 
 governess, so sweetly fi'esli and pretty that 
 I should certainly flill in love with her, if I 
 had the advantage of being a man. You 
 have no doubt remarked, Herbert — I think 
 I hear the bell ; shall we go to lunch ? — you 
 have no doubt, I say, remarked what 
 curiously opposite styles Catherine and 
 Miss Westerfield present ; so charming, and 
 yet such complete contrasts. I wonder 
 whether they occasionally envy each other's 
 good looks ? Does my daughter ever 
 regret that she is not Miss Westerfield ? 
 And do you, my dear, sometimes wish you 
 were Mrs. Linley?" 
 
 " While we are about it, let me put 
 a third question," Linley interposed. " Are 
 you ever aware of it yourself, Mrs. Presty, 
 when you are talking nonsense ?^' 
 
 He was angry, and he showed it in that 
 feeble reply. Sydney felt the implied 
 
230 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 insult offered to her in another Avay. 
 It roused her to the exercise of self-control 
 as nothing had roused her yet. She ignored 
 Mrs. Presty's irony with a composure 
 worthy of Mrs. Presty herself '' Where is 
 the woman," she said, " who would not 
 wish to be as beautiful as Mrs. Linley — and 
 as good?" 
 
 *' Thank you, my dear, for a compliment 
 to my daughter: a sincere compliment, no 
 doubt. It comes in very neatly and nicely," 
 Mrs. Presty acknowledged^ " after my son- 
 in-law's little outbreak of temper. My 
 poor Herbert, when will you understand 
 that I mean no harm? I am an essentially 
 humorous person; my wonderful spirits are 
 always carrying me awaj'. I do assure 
 you, Miss Westerfield, I don't kno^v what 
 worry is. My troubles — deaths in the 
 family, and that sort of thing — seem ii:> slip 
 off me in a most remarkable manner. Poor 
 
KITTY MENTIONS HER BIRTHDAY. 231 
 
 Mr. Norman used to attribute it to my 
 excellent appetite. Or, no; I think lie said 
 my excellent digestion. My second hus- 
 band would never hear of such an explana- 
 tion as that. His high ideal of women 
 shrank from allusions to stomachs. He 
 used to speak so nicely (quoting some 
 poet) of the sunshine of my breast. Vague 
 perhaps," said Mrs. Presty, modestly 
 looking down at the ample prospect of 
 a personal nature Avhich presented itself 
 below her throat, '* but so flattering to one's 
 feelings. There's the luncheon bell again, I 
 declare! I'll run on before and tell them 
 you are coming. Some people might say 
 they wished to be punctual. I am truth 
 itself, and I own I don't like being helped 
 to the underside of the fish. Au revoir! 
 Do you remember, Miss Westerfield, when I 
 asked you to repeat au reiwir as a specimen 
 of your French? I didn't think much 
 
2-, 2 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 ■0 
 
 of your accent. Oh, dear me, I didn't 
 think much of your accent." 
 
 Kitty looked after her fluent grandmother 
 with eyes that stared respectfully in ignorant 
 admiration. She pulled her father's coat 
 tail, and addressed herself gravely to his 
 private ear. " Oh, Papa, what noble words 
 Grandmamma has !" 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 LINLEY ASSERTS HIS AUTHORITY. 
 
 On the evening of Monday in the new 
 week, the last of the visitors had left Mount 
 Morven. Mrs. Linley dropped into a chair 
 (in, what Randal called, "the heavenly 
 tranquillity of the deserted drawing-room ") 
 and owned that the effort of entertaining her 
 guests had completely worn her out. " It's 
 too absurd, at my time of life," she said 
 with a faint smile; " but I am really and 
 truly so tired that I must go to bed before 
 dark, as if I was a child again." 
 
 Mrs. Presty — maliciously observant of 
 the governess, sitting silent and apart in a 
 
234 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 corner — approached her daughter in a hurry ; 
 to all appearance with a special object 
 in view. Linley was at no loss to guess 
 what that object might be. '' Will you 
 do me a favour, Catherine?" Mrs. Presty 
 began. "I wish to say a word to you in 
 your own room." 
 
 " Oh, Mamma, have some mercy on me, 
 and put it off till to-morrow !" 
 
 Mrs. Presty reluctantly consented to this 
 proposal, on one condition. "It is under- 
 stood," she stipulated, " that I am to see 
 you the first thing in the morning?" 
 
 Mrs. Linley was ready to accept that 
 condition, or any condition, which promised 
 her a night of uninterrupted repose. She 
 crossed the room to her husband, and took 
 his arm. " In my state of fatigue, Herbert, 
 I shall never get up our steep stairs, unless 
 3^ou help me." 
 
 As they ascended the stairs together, 
 
LINLEY ASSERTS HIS AUTHORITY. 235 
 
 Linley found that liis ^vife had a reason 
 of her own for leaving the drawing-room. 
 
 " I am quite weary enough to go to bed," 
 she expLained. " But I wanted to speak to 
 you first. It's about Miss Westerfield. 
 (No, no, we needn't stop on the landing.) 
 Do you know, I think I have found out 
 what has altered our little governess so 
 strangely — I seem to startle you?'' 
 
 "Xo." 
 
 '' I am only astonished," Mrs. Linley 
 resumed, " at my own stupidity in not 
 having discovered it before. We must be 
 kinder than ever to the poor girl now; can't 
 you guess why? My dear, how dull you 
 are ! Must I remind you that we have had 
 two sinHe men amono^ our visitors, One 
 of them is old, and doesn't matter. But 
 the other — I mean Sir George, of course — 
 is young, handsome, and agreeable. I 
 am so sorry for Sydney Westerfield. It's 
 
236 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 plain to me that she is hopelessly in love 
 with a man who has run through his 
 fortune, and must marry money if he 
 marries at all. I shall speak to Sydney 
 to-morrow; and I hope and trust I shall 
 succeed in winning her confidence. Thank 
 Heaven, here we are at my door at last ! I 
 can't say more now; I'm ready to drop. 
 Good night, dear ; you look tired too. It's 
 a nice thing to have friends, I know; but, 
 oh, what a relief it is sometimes to get rid 
 of them !" 
 
 She kissed him, and let him go. 
 
 Left by himself, to compare his wife's 
 innocent mistake with the terrible enlighten- 
 ment that awaited her, Linley's courage 
 failed him. He leaned on the quaintly- 
 carved rail that protected the outer side of 
 the landing, and looked down at the stone 
 hall far below. If the old woodwork (he 
 thought) would only give way under his 
 
LINLEY ASSERTS HIS AUTHORITY. 237 
 
 weight, there would be an escape from the 
 coming catastrophe, found in an instant. 
 
 A timely remembrance of Sydney recalled 
 him to himself. For her sake, he was bound 
 to prevent Mrs. Presty's contemplated inter- 
 view with his wife, on the next morninof. 
 
 Descending the stairs, he met his brother 
 in the corridor on the first floor. 
 
 " The very man I wanted to see," Randal 
 said. " Tell me, Herbert, what is the 
 matter with that curious old woman?" 
 
 " Do you mean Mrs. Presty?" 
 
 *' Yes. She has just been telling me that 
 our friend Mrs. MacEdwin has taken a 
 fancy to Miss Westerfield, and would be 
 only too glad to deprive us of our pretty 
 governess." 
 
 *' Did Mrs. Presty say that in Miss 
 Westerfield's presence?" 
 
 ^' No. Soon after you and Catherine left 
 the room, Miss Westerfield left it too. I 
 
238 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 dare say I am wrong, for I haven't had time 
 to think of it; but Mrs. Presty's manner 
 suggested to me that she would be glad to 
 see the poor girl sent out of the house." 
 
 " I am going to speak to her, Randal, on 
 that very subject. Is she still in the draw- 
 ing-room ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Did she say anything more to you?" 
 
 " I didn't give her the chance ; I don't 
 like Mrs. Presty. You look worn and 
 w^orried, Herbert. Is there anything 
 wrong ?" 
 
 " If there is, my dear fellow, you will 
 hear of it to-morrow." 
 
 So they parted. 
 
 Comfortably established in the drawing- 
 room, Mrs. Presty had just opened her 
 favourite newspaper. Her only companion 
 was Linley's black poodle, resting at her 
 feet. On the opening of the door, the dog 
 
LINLEY ASSERTS HIS AUTHORITY. 239 
 
 rose — advanced to caress his master — and 
 looked up in Linley's face. If Mrs. Presty's 
 attention had happened to be turned that 
 way, she might have seen, in the faithful 
 creature's sudden and silent retreat, a warn- 
 ing of her son-in-law's humour at that 
 moment. But she was, or assumed to be, 
 interested in her reading ; and she deliber- 
 ately over - looked Linley's appearance. 
 After waiting a little to attract her atten- 
 tion, he quietly took the newspaper out of 
 her hand. 
 
 ^'What does this mean?" Mrs. Presty 
 asked. 
 
 '' It means, ma'am, that I have something 
 to say to you." 
 
 " Apparently, something that can't be 
 said with common civility? Be as rude as 
 you please : I am well used to it." 
 
 Linley wisely took no notice of this. 
 
 " Since you have lived at Mount Morven," 
 
240 THE EVIL GENIUS, 
 
 he proceeded, " I think you have found me^ 
 on the whole, an easy man to get on with. 
 At the same time, when I do make up my 
 mind to be master in my own house, I am 
 master." 
 
 Mrs. Presty crossed her hands placidly 
 on her lap, and asked : " Master of what?" 
 
 " Master of your suspicions of Miss 
 Westerfield. You are free, of course, to 
 think of her and of me as you please. 
 What I forbid is the expression of your 
 thoughts — either by As^ay of hints to my 
 brother, or officious communications with 
 my wife. Don't suj)pose that I am afraid 
 of the truth. Mrs. Linley shall know more 
 than you think for, and shall know it to- 
 morrow; not from you, but from me." 
 
 Mrs. Presty shook her head compassion- 
 ately. " My good sir, surely you know me 
 too well to think that I am to be disposed 
 of in that easy way? Must I remind you 
 
LINLEY ASSERTS HIS AUTHORITY, 241 
 
 that your wife's mother has ' the cunninor 
 of the devil'?" 
 
 Linley recognised his own words. *' So 
 you were listening among the trees !" he 
 said. 
 
 ''Yes; I was listening; and I have only 
 to regret that I didn't hear more. Let us 
 return to our subject. I don't trust my 
 daughter's interests — my much - injured 
 daughter's interests — in your hands. They 
 are not clean hands, Mr. Linley. I have a 
 duty to do; and I shall do it to-morrow." 
 
 "No, Mrs. Presty, you won't do it to- 
 morrow." 
 
 "Who will prevent me?'* 
 
 " I shall prevent you." 
 
 "In what way, if you please?" 
 
 " I don't think it necessary to answer 
 that question. My servants will have their 
 instructions; and I shall see myself that my 
 orders are obeyed." 
 
 VOL. I. IG 
 
242 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 ''Thank yon. I begin to understand; I 
 am to be turned out of the house. Very 
 well. AVe shall see what my daughter says 
 to that." 
 
 " You know as well as I do, Mrs. Presty, 
 that if your daughter is forced to choose 
 between us she will decide for her husband. 
 You have the night before you for consider- 
 ation. I have no more to say." 
 
 Among Mrs. Presty's merits, it is only 
 just to reckon a capacity for making up her 
 mind rapidly, under stress of circumstances. 
 Before Linley had opened the door, on his 
 way out, he was called back. 
 
 " I am shocked to trouble you again," 
 Mrs. Presty said, "but I don't propose to 
 interfere with my night's rest by thinking 
 about you. My position is perfectly clear 
 to me, without wasting time in considera- 
 tion. When a man so completely forgets 
 what is due to the weaker sex as to threaten 
 
LINLEY ASSERTS HIS AUTHORITY. 243 
 
 a woman, the woman has no alternative but 
 to submit. You are aware that I had 
 arranged to see my daughter to-morrow 
 morning. I yield to brute force, sir. Tell 
 your wife that I shall not keep my appoint- 
 ment. Are you satisfied ?" 
 
 " Quite satisfied," Linley said — and left 
 the room. 
 
 His mother-in-law looked after him with 
 a familiar expression of opinion, and a smile 
 of supreme contempt. 
 
 "You fool!" 
 
 Only two Avords; and yet there seemed 
 to be some hidden meaning in them — 
 relating perhaps to what might happen on 
 the next day — which gently tickled Mrs. 
 Presty in the region assigned by phreno- 
 logists to the sense of self-esteem. 
 
 16—2 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TWO or THEM SLEEP BADLY. 
 
 Waiting for Sydney to come into the 
 bedroom as usual and wish her good-night, 
 Kitty was astonished by the appearance of 
 her grandmother, entering on tiptoe from 
 the corridor, with a small paper parcel in 
 her hand. 
 
 "Whisper!" said Mrs. Presty, pointing 
 to the open door of communication with 
 Mrs. Linley's room. " This is your birth- 
 day present. You mustn't look at it till 
 you wake to-morrow morning." She pushed 
 the parcel under the pillow — and, instead of 
 saying good-night, took a chair and sat down. 
 
TIVO OF THEM SLEEP BADLY. 245 
 
 " May I show my present," Kitty asked, 
 *^ when I go to Mamma in the morning ?" 
 
 The present hidden under the paper 
 wrapper was a sixpenny picture - book. 
 Kitty's grandmother disapproved of spend- 
 ing money lavishly on birthday gifts to 
 children. '' Show it, of course ; and take 
 the greatest care of it," Mrs. Presty 
 answered gravely. "But tell me one 
 thing, my dear, wouldn't you like to see 
 all your presents early in the morning, like 
 mine : 
 
 Still smartino; under the recollection of 
 her interview with her son-in-law, Mr?. 
 Presty had certain ends to gain in putting 
 this idea into the child's head. It was her 
 special object to raise domestic obstacles to 
 a private interview between the husband 
 and wife, during the earlier hours of the 
 day. If the gifts, usually presented after 
 the nursery dinner, were produced on this 
 
246 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 occasion after breakfast, there would be a 
 period of delay before any confidential con- 
 versation could take place between Mr. and 
 Mrs. Linley. In this interval Mrs. Presty 
 saw her opportunity of setting Linley's 
 authority at defiance, by rousing the first 
 jealous suspicion in the mind of his wife. 
 
 Innocent little Kitty became her grand- 
 mother's accomplice on the spot. " I shall 
 ask Mamma to let me have my presents at 
 breakfast-time," she announced. 
 
 " And kind Mamma will say Yes," Mrs. 
 Presty chimed in. " We will breakfast 
 early, my precious child. Good-night." 
 
 Kitty was half asleep when her governess 
 entered the room afterwards, much later 
 than usual. '' I thought you had forgotten 
 me," she said, yawning, and stretching out 
 her plump little arms. 
 
 Sydney's heart ached when she thought 
 of the separation that was to come with the 
 
TfVO OF THEM SLEEP BADLY, 247 
 
 next cla}^ ; her despair forced its way to 
 expression in words. " I wish I could 
 forget you," she answered, in reckless 
 Avretchedness. 
 
 The child was still too drowsy to hear 
 plainly. " What did you say?'' she asked. 
 Sydney gently lifted her in the bed, and 
 kissed her again and again. Kitty's sleepy 
 eyes opened in surprise. " How cold your 
 hands are!" she said; "and how often you 
 kiss me. I am going to make a joke, Syd. 
 Which is it you have come to say to me — 
 good-night or good-bye?" 
 
 Sydney laid her down again on the 
 pillow, gave her a last kiss, and ran out of 
 the room. 
 
 In the corridor she heard Linley's voice 
 on the lower floor. He was asking one of 
 the servants if Miss Westerfield was in the 
 house or in the garden. Her first impulse 
 was to advance to the stairs and to answer 
 
248 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 his question. In a moment more the 
 remembrance of Mrs. Linley checked her. 
 She went back to her bedchamber. 
 
 The presents that she had received, since 
 her arrival at Mount Morven, were all laid 
 out so that they could be easily seen by any 
 person entering the room, after she had left 
 the house. On the sofa lay the pretty new 
 dress which she had worn at the evenino: 
 party. Other little gifts were arranged on 
 either side of it. The bracelet, resting on 
 the pedestal of a statue close by, kept a 
 morsel of paper in its place — on which she 
 had written a few penitent words of farewell 
 addressed to Mrs. Linley. On the toilet- 
 table three photographic portraits showed 
 themselves among the brushes and combs. 
 She sat down, and looked first at the like- 
 nesses of Mrs. Linley and Kitty. 
 
 Had she any right to make those dear 
 faces her companions in the future ? 
 
TWO OF THEM SLEEP BADL V. 249 
 
 She hesitated ; her tears dropped on the 
 photographs. " They're as good as spoilt 
 now," she thought ; " they're no longer fit 
 for anybody but me." She paused, and 
 abruptly took up the third and last photo- 
 graph — the likeness of Herbert Linley. 
 
 Was it an offence, now, even to look at 
 his portrait? 'No idea of leaving it be- 
 hind her was in her mind. Her resolu- 
 tion vibrated between two miseries — the 
 misery of preserving her keepsake after she 
 had parted from him for ever, and the misery 
 of destroying it. Resigned to one more 
 sacrifice, she took the card in both hands to 
 tear it up. It would have been scattered in 
 pieces on the floor, but for the chance which 
 had turned the portrait side of the card 
 towards her instead of the back. Her Ions:- 
 ing eyes stole a last look at him — a frenzy 
 seized her — she pressed her lips to the photo- 
 graph in a passion of hopeless love. "What 
 
250 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 does it matter?" she asked herself. '• Tm 
 nothing but the ignorant object of his kind- 
 ness — the poor fool who could see no diifer- 
 ence between gratitude and love. AYhere is 
 the harm of having him with me when I am 
 starving in the streets, or dying in the 
 w^orkhouse?" The fervid spirit in her that 
 had never known a mother's loving disci- 
 pline, never thrilled to the sympathy of a 
 sister- friend, rose in revolt against the evil 
 destiny which had embittered her life. Her 
 eyes still rested on the photogra^^h. " Come 
 to my heart, my only friend, and kill me!" 
 As those wild w^ords escaped her, she thrust 
 the card furiously into the bosom of her 
 dress — and threw herself on the floor. There 
 was something in the mad self-abandonment 
 of that action, which mocked the innocent 
 despair of her childhood, on the day wdien 
 her mother left her at the cruel mercy of her 
 aunt. 
 
TWO OF THEM SLEEP BADLY. 251 
 
 That night was a night of torment in secret 
 to another person at Mount Morven. 
 
 Wandering, in his need of self-isolation, 
 uf) and down the dreary stone passages in 
 the lower part of the house, Linley counted 
 the hours, inexorably lessening the interval 
 between him and the ordeal of confession to 
 his wife. As yet, he had failed to find the 
 opportunity of addressing to Sydney the 
 only words of encouragement he could 
 allow to pass his lips: he had asked for her 
 earlier in the evening, and nobody could tell 
 him where she was. Still in ignorance of 
 the refuge which she might by bare possi- 
 bility hope to find in Mrs. MacEdwin's 
 house, Sydney was spared the torturing 
 doubts which now^ beset Herbert Linley's 
 mind. Would the noble woman whom they 
 had injured allow their atonement to plead 
 for them, and consent to keep their miser- 
 able secret? Might they still put their 
 
^52 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 trust in that generous nature a few hours 
 hence? Again and agam those questions 
 confronted Linley; and again and again he 
 shrank from attempting to answer them. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 KITTY KEEPS HEK BIRTHDAY. 
 
 They were all assembled as usual at the 
 breakfast -table. 
 
 Preferring the request suggested to her by 
 Mrs. Presty, Kitty had hastened the presen- 
 tation of the birthday gifts, by getting into 
 her mother's bed in the morning, and exact- 
 ing her mother's promise before she would 
 consent to get out again. By her own ex- 
 press wish, she was left in ignorance of what 
 the presents would prove to be. " Hide 
 them from me," said this young epicure in 
 pleasurable sensations, " and make me want 
 to see them until I can bear it no longer. '^ 
 
2S4 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 The gifts had accordingly been collected in 
 an embrasure of one of the windows; and 
 the time had now arrived when Kitty could 
 bear it no longer. 
 
 In the procession of the presents, Mrs. 
 Linley led the way. 
 
 She had passed behind the screen which 
 had thus far protected the hidden treasures 
 from discovery, and appeared again with a 
 vision of beauty in the shape of a doll. The 
 dress of this wonderful creature exhibited 
 the latest audacities of French fashion. Her 
 head made a bow ; her eyes went to sleep 
 and woke again; she had a voice that said 
 two words — more precious than two thousand 
 in the mouth of a mere livino^ creature. 
 Kitty's arms opened and embraced her gift 
 with a scream of ecstasy. That fervent 
 pressure found its way to the right spring. 
 The doll squeaked : ' ' Mamma ! " — and creaked 
 — and cried again — and said; ''Papa!" 
 
KITTY KEEPS HER BIRTHDA V. 255 
 
 Kitty sat down on the floor; her legs would 
 support her no longer. " I think I shall 
 faint," she said quite seriously. 
 
 In the midst of the general laughter, 
 Sydney silently placed a new toy (a pretty 
 little imitation of a jeweller's casket) at Kitty's 
 side, and drew back before the child could 
 look at her. Mrs. Presty was the only 
 person present who noticed her pale face and 
 the trembling of her hands as she made the 
 effort which preserved her composure. 
 
 The doll's necklace, bracelets, and watch 
 and chain, riveted Kitty's attention on the 
 casket. Just as she thought of looking 
 round for her dear Syd, her father produced 
 a new outburst of delight by presenting a 
 perambulator worthy of the doll. Her uncle 
 followed with a parasol, devoted to the pre- 
 servation of the doll's complexion when she 
 went out for an airing. Then there came a 
 pause. Where was the generous grand- 
 
256 THE EVIL GENIUS, 
 
 mother's gift ? Nobody remembered it ; 
 Mrs. Presty herself discovered the inestima- 
 ble sixpenny picture-book cast away and 
 forgotten on a distant window- seat. " I 
 have a great mind to keep this," she 
 said to Kitty/' till you are old enough to 
 value it properly." In the moment of her 
 absence at the window, Linley's mother-in- 
 law lost the chance of seeing him whisper 
 to Sydney. " Meet me in the shrubbery in 
 half-an-hour,'' he said. She stepped back 
 from him, startled by the proposal. When 
 Mrs. Presty was in the middle of the room 
 again, Linley and the governess were no 
 longer near each other. 
 
 Having by this time recovered herself, 
 Kitty got on her legs.\ ^' Now," the spoilt 
 child declared, addressing the company pre- 
 sent, '' I'm going to play." 
 
 The doll was put into the perambulator, 
 and was wheeled about the room, while Mrs. 
 
KITTY KEEPS HER BIRTHDAY. 257 
 
 Linley moved the chairs out of the way, 
 and Randal attended with the open parasol 
 — under orders to " pretend that the sun was 
 shining." Once more the sixpenny picture- 
 book was neglected. Mrs. Presty picked it 
 up from the floor, determined by this time 
 to hold it in reserve until her uns^rateful 
 grandchild reached years of discretion. She 
 put it in the book- case between Byron's 
 *' Don Juan " and Butler's " Lives of the 
 Saints." In the position which she now 
 occupied, Linley was visible approaching 
 Sydney again. " Your own interests are 
 seriously concerned," he whispered, " in 
 something that 1 have to tell you." 
 
 Incapable of hearing what passed between 
 them, Mrs. Presty could see that a secret 
 understanding united her son-in-law and 
 the governess. She looked round cautiously 
 at Mrs. Linley. 
 
 Kitty's humour had changed ; she was 
 VOL. I. 17 
 
258 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 now eager to see the doll's splendid clothes 
 taken off and put on again. " Come and 
 look at it," she said to Sydney ; " I want 
 you to enjoy my birthday as much as I 
 do." Left by himself, Eandal got rid of 
 the parasol by putting it on a table near 
 the door. Mrs. Presty beckoned to him to 
 join her at the farther end of the room. 
 
 " I want you to do me a favour," she 
 began. 
 
 Glancing at Linley before she proceeded, 
 Mrs. Presty took up a newspaper, and 
 affected to be consulting Randal's opinion 
 on a passage which had attracted her at- 
 tention. ''Your brother is looking our 
 way," she whispered : "he mustn't suspect 
 that there is a secret between us." 
 
 False pretences of any kind invariably 
 irritated Randal. " What do you want me 
 to do ?" he asked sharpl3\ 
 
 The reply only increased his perplexity. 
 
KITTY KEEPS HER BIRTH DA V. 259 
 
 " Observe Miss AVesterfield and your 
 brother. Look at them now." 
 
 Randal obeyed. " AYhat is there to look 
 at?" he inquired. 
 
 *' Can't you see?" 
 
 " I see they are talking to each other." 
 
 " They are talking confidentially ; talk- 
 ing so that Mrs. Linley can't hear them. 
 Look again." 
 
 Randal fixed his eyes on Mrs. Presty, 
 with an expression which showed his dis- 
 like of that lady a little too plainly. Before 
 he could answer what she had just said to 
 him, his lively little niece hit on a new 
 idea. The sun was shining, the flowers 
 Tvere in their brightest beauty — and the 
 doll had not yet been taken into the garden ! 
 Kitty at once led the way out ; so com- 
 pletely pre-occupied in steering the per- 
 ambulator in a straight course that she 
 forgot her uncle and the parasol. Only 
 
 17—2 
 
2 Go THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 waiting to remind her husband and Sydney 
 that they were Avasting the beautiful morn- 
 ing indoors, Mrs. Linley followed her 
 daughter — and innocently placed a fatal 
 obstacle in Mrs. Presty's way by leaving 
 the room. Having consulted each other by 
 a look, Linley and the governess went out 
 next. Left alone with Randal, Mrs. Presty's 
 anger, under the complete overthrow of her 
 carefully-laid scheme, set restraint at de- 
 fiance. 
 
 " My daughter's married life is a wreck," 
 she burst out, pointing theatrically to the 
 door by which Linley and Sydney Wester- 
 field had retired. " And Catherine has the 
 vile creature whom your brother picked up 
 in London to thank for it! Now do you 
 understand me?" 
 
 " Less than ever," Randal answered — 
 *' unless you have taken lea^^e of your 
 
 senses." 
 
KITTY KEEPS HER BIRTHDAY. 261 
 
 Mrs. Presty recovered the command of 
 her temper. 
 
 On that fine morning her daughter might 
 remain in the garden until the luncheon- 
 bell rang. Linley had only to say that he 
 wished to speak with his wife ; and the 
 private interview, which he had so rudely 
 insisted on as his sole privilege, would 
 assuredly take place. The one chance left 
 of still defeatino^ him on his own f^round 
 was to force Randal to interfere by con- 
 vincino^ him of his brother's sruilt. Modera- 
 tion of language and composure of manner 
 offered the only hopeful prospect of reach- 
 ing this end. Mrs. Presty assumed the 
 disguise of patient submission, and used 
 the irresistible influence of good humour 
 and good sense. 
 
 ^' I don't complain, dear Randal, of what 
 you have said of me," she replied. " My 
 indiscretion has deserved it. I ought to 
 
2 62 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 have produced my proofs, and have left it 
 to you to draw the conchision. Sit down, 
 if you please. I won't detain you for more 
 than a few minutes." 
 
 Randal had not anticipated such modera- 
 tion as this ; he took the chair that was 
 nearest to Mrs. Presty. They were both 
 now sitting with their backs turned to the 
 entrance from the library to the drawing- 
 room. 
 
 ** I won't trouble you with my own im- 
 pressions," Mrs. Presty went on. " I will 
 be careful only to mention what I have seen 
 and heard. If you refuse to believe me I 
 refer you to the guilty persons them- 
 selves." 
 
 She had just got to the end of those 
 introductory words, when Mrs. Linley re- 
 turned, by way of the library, to fetch the 
 forgotten parasol. 
 
 Randal insisted on making Mrs. Presty 
 
KITTY KEEPS HER BIRTHDAY. 263 
 
 express herself plainly. '' You speak of 
 guilty j^ersons," he said. " Am I to under- 
 stand that one of those guilty persons is 
 my brother?" 
 
 Mrs. Linley advanced a step and took 
 the parasol from the table. Hearing what 
 Randal said, she paused, wondering at the 
 strange allusion to her husband. In the 
 meanwhile, Mrs. Prest}^ answered the ques- 
 tion that had been addressed to her. 
 
 " Yes," she said to Randal ; " I mean 
 your brother, and your brother's mistress — 
 Sydney Westerfield." 
 
 Mrs. Linley laid the parasol back on the 
 table, and approached them. 
 
 She never once looked at her mother ; 
 her face, white and rio-id, was turned to- 
 w^ards Randal. To him, and to him only, 
 she spoke. 
 
 " AVhat does my mother's horrible lan- 
 Sfuao'e mean?" she asked. 
 
264 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 Mrs. Presty triumphed inwardly ; cliance 
 had decided in her favour after all ! "Don't 
 you see," she said to her daughter, " that I 
 am here to answer for myself?" 
 
 Mrs. Linley still looked at Eandal, and 
 still spoke to him. "It is impossible for 
 me to insist on an explanation from my 
 mother," she proceeded. " Xo matter what 
 I may feel, I must remember that she is 
 my mother. I ask you again — you who 
 have been listening to her — what does she 
 mean t 
 
 Mrs. Presty 's sense of her own import^ 
 ance refused to submit to being passed over 
 in this way. 
 
 " However insolently you may behave, 
 Catherine, you will not succeed in pro- 
 voking me. Your mother is bound to 
 open your eyes to the truth. You [have 
 a rival in your husband's affections \ and 
 that rival is your governess. Take your 
 
KITTY KEEPS HER BIRTHDAY. 265 
 
 own course now ; I have no more to say." 
 With her head high in the air — looking the 
 picture of conscious virtue — the old lady 
 walked out 
 
 At the same moment, Randal seized his 
 first opportunity of speaking. 
 
 He addressed himself gently and respect- 
 fully to his sister-in-law. She refused to 
 hear him. The indignation wdiich Mrs. 
 Presty had roused in her made no allow- 
 ances, and was blind to all sense of right. 
 
 " Don't trouble yourself to account for 
 your silence," she said most unjustly. 
 " You were listening to my mother without 
 a word of remonstrance w^hen I came into 
 the room. You are concerned in this vile 
 slander, too." 
 
 Randal considerately refrained from pro- 
 voking her by attempting to defend himself, 
 while she was incapable of understanding 
 him. " You w^ill be sorrj^ w^hen you find 
 
266 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 that you have misjudged me," he said, and 
 sighed, and left her. 
 
 She dropped into a chair. If there was 
 any one distinct thought in her at that 
 moment, it was the thought of her husband. 
 She was eager to see him ; she longed to 
 say to him : " My love, I don't believe a 
 word of it!" He was not in the garden 
 when she had returned for the parasol ; 
 and Sydney was not in the garden. 
 AYondering w^hat had become of her father 
 and her governess, Kitty had asked the 
 nursemaid to look for them. What had 
 happened since? AVhere had they been 
 found? After some hesitation, Mrs. Linley 
 sent for the nursemaid. She felt the 
 strongest reluctance, when the girl ajDpeared, 
 to approach the very inquiries wdiich she 
 was interested in making. 
 
 " Have you found Mr. Linley?" she said 
 — with an effort. 
 
KITTY KEEPS HER BIRTHDA Y. 267 
 *' Yes, ma'am." 
 ^' Where did you find him?" 
 " In the shrubbery." 
 ' Did your master say anything?" 
 " I sHpped away, ma'am, before he saw 
 
 (. 
 
 me." 
 
 *'Why?" 
 
 " Miss Westertield was in the shrubbery, 
 with my master. I might have been 
 
 mistaken " The girl paused, and 
 
 looked confused. 
 
 Mrs. Linley tried to toll her to go on. 
 The words were in her mind ; but the 
 capacity of giving expression to them 
 failed her. She impatiently made a sign. 
 The sio;n was understood. 
 
 ^' I might have been mistaken," the maid 
 repeated — "but I thought Miss Wester- 
 field was crying." 
 
 Having replied in those terms, she 
 seemed to be anxious to get away. The 
 
2 68 THE EVIL GENIUS, 
 
 parasol caught her eye. " Miss Kitty 
 wants this/' she said, " and wonders why 
 you have not gone back to her in the 
 garden. May I take the parasol?" 
 
 '' Take it." 
 
 The tone of the mistress's voic« was 
 completely changed. The servant looked 
 at her with vague misgivings. '' Are you 
 not well, ma'am?" 
 
 " Quite well." 
 
 The servant withdrew. 
 
 Mrs. Linley's chair happened to be near 
 one of the "windows, which commanded a 
 view of the drive leading to the main 
 entrance of the house. A carriage had 
 just arrived, bringing holiday travellers to 
 visit that part of Mount Morven which 
 was open to strangers. She watched them 
 as they got out, talking, and laughing, 
 and lookin Of about them. Still shrinkinof 
 instinctively from the first doubt of Herbert 
 
KITTY KEEPS HER BIRTHDA V. 269 
 
 that had ever entered her mind, she found a 
 refuge from herself in watching the ordinary 
 events of the day. One by one the tom^sts 
 disappeared under the portico of the front 
 door. The empty carriage was driven 
 away next, to water the horses at the 
 village inn. Solitude was all she could 
 see from the window ; silence, horrible 
 silence, surrounded her out of doors and in. 
 The thoughts from which she recoiled 
 forced their way back into her mind; the 
 narrative of the nursemaid's discovery 
 became a burden on her memory once more. 
 She considered the circumstances. In 
 spite of herself, she considered the circum- 
 stances again. Her husband and Sydney 
 Westerfield together in the shrubbery — and 
 Sydney crying. Had Mrs. Presty's abomin- 
 able suspicion of them reached their ears ? 
 or? — No! that second possibility might 
 be estimated at its right value by any 
 
2 70 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 other woman ; not by Herbert Linley's 
 wife. 
 
 She snatched up the newspaper, and 
 
 fixed her eyes on it in the hope of fixing 
 her mind on it next. Obstinately, desper- 
 ately, she read without knowing what she 
 was reading. The lines of print were 
 beginning to mingle and grow dim, when 
 she was startled by the sudden opening 
 of the door. She looked round. 
 Her husband entered the room. 
 
CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 KITTY FEELS THE HEARTACHE. 
 
 LiNLEY advanced a few steps — and stopped. 
 
 His wife, hurrying eagerly to meet him, 
 checked herself. It might have been dis- 
 trust, or it might have been unreasoning 
 fear — she hesitated on the point of approach- 
 ing him. 
 
 " I have something to say, Catherine, 
 which I'm afraid will distress you." 
 
 His voice faltered, his eyes rested on her 
 — then looked away again. He said no 
 more. 
 
 He had spoken a few commonplace 
 words — and yet he had said enough. She 
 
272 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 saw the trutli in his eyes, heard the truth 
 in his voice. A fit of trembling seized her. 
 Linley stepped forward, in the fear that she 
 might fall. She instantly controlled her- 
 self, and signed to him to keep back. 
 *'Don*t touch me!" she said. " You come 
 from Miss Westerfield !" 
 
 That reproach roused him. 
 
 '^I own that I come from Miss Wester- 
 field," he answered. " She addresses a 
 request to you through me." 
 
 ^' I refuse to grant it." 
 
 " Hear it first." 
 
 ''No!" 
 
 " Hear it — in your own interest. She 
 asks permission to leave the house, never 
 to return again. While she is still inno- 
 cent " 
 
 His wife eyed him with a look of un- 
 utterable contempt. He submitted to it, 
 but not in silence. 
 
KITTY FEELS THE HEARTACHE. 273 
 
 ^' A man doesn't lie, Catherine, who 
 makes such a confession as I am makins: 
 now. Miss Westerfield offers the one 
 atonement in her power, wdiile she is still 
 innocent of having wronged you — except 
 in thought." 
 
 '' Is that all?" Mrs. Linley asked. 
 
 " It rests with you," he replied, " to say 
 if there is any other sacrifice of herself 
 w^hich will be more acceptable to you." 
 
 " Let me understand first what the 
 sacrifice means. Does Miss AYesterfield 
 make any conditions?" 
 
 '' She has positively forbidden me to 
 make conditions." 
 
 " And goes out into the w^orld, helpless 
 and friendless?" 
 
 '' Yes." 
 
 Even under the terrible trial that wrung 
 her, the nobility of the woman's nature 
 spoke in her next words. 
 
 VOL. I. 18 
 
2 74 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 " Give me time to think of what you 
 have said/' she pleaded. " I have led a 
 happy life ; I am not used to suffer as I am 
 suffering now." 
 
 They were both silent. Kitty's voice 
 was audible on the stairs that led to the 
 picture-gallery, disputing with the maid, 
 ^tfeither her father nor her mother heard 
 her. 
 
 " Miss Westerfield is innocent of having 
 wronged me, except in thought/' Mrs. 
 Linley resumed. '' Do you tell me that on 
 your word of honour?" 
 ^' On my word of honour." 
 So far his wife was satisfied. " My 
 governess," she said, " might have deceived 
 me — she has not deceived me. I owe it to 
 her to remember that. She shall go, but 
 not helpless and not friendless." 
 
 Her husband forgot the restraints he had 
 imposed on himself. 
 
KITTY FEELS THE HEARTACHE. 275 
 
 "Is there anotlier woman in the world 
 like you!" he exclaimed. 
 
 " Many other women," she answered 
 firmly. '' A vulgar termagant, feeling a 
 sense of injury, finds relief in an outburst 
 of jealousy and a furious quarrel. You 
 have always lived among ladies. Surely 
 you ought to know that a wife in my 
 position, who respects herself, restrains 
 herself. I try to remember what I owe 
 to others as well as what they owe 
 to me." 
 
 She approached the writing-table, and 
 took up a pen. 
 
 Feeling his position acutely, Linley 
 refrained from openly admiring her gene- 
 rosity. Until he had deserved to be 
 foro^iven, he had forfeited the riirht to 
 express an opinion on her conduct. She 
 misinterpreted his silence. As she under- 
 stood it, he appreciated an act of self- 
 
 18-2 
 
2 76 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 sacrifice on Miss AVesterfield's side — but 
 he had no word of encouragement for an 
 act of self-sacrifice on his wife's side. She 
 threw down the pen, with the first out- 
 break of anger that had escaped her 
 yet. 
 
 " You have spoken for the governess/' 
 she said to him. " I haven't heard yet, sir, 
 what you have to say for yourself Is it 
 3^ou who tempted her ? You know how 
 gratefully she feels towards you — have you 
 perverted her gratitude, and led her blind- 
 fold to love? Cruel, cruel, cruel! Defend 
 yourself if you can." 
 
 He made no reply. 
 
 " Is it not worth your while to defend 
 yourself?" she burst out passionately. 
 '' Your silence is an insult !" 
 
 " My silence is a confession," he answered 
 sadly. " She may accept your mercy — I 
 may not even hope for it." 
 
KITTY FEELS THE HEARTACHE. 277 
 
 Something in the tone of his voice 
 reminded her of past days — the days of 
 perfect love and perfect confidence, when 
 she had been the one woman in the world 
 to him. Dearly treasured remembrances 
 of her married life filled her heart with 
 tenderness, and dimmed with tears the 
 angry light that had risen in her eyes. 
 There was no pride, no anger, in his wife 
 when she spoke to him now. 
 
 ^' Oh, my husband, has she taken your 
 love from me?" 
 
 " Judge for yourself, Catherine, if there 
 is no proof of my love for you in what I 
 have resisted — and no remembrance of all 
 that I owe to you in what I have con- 
 fessed." 
 
 She ventured a little nearer to him. 
 ^' Can I believe you ?" 
 
 " Put me to the test." 
 
 She instantly took him at his word. 
 
2 78 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 ''' When Miss Westerfield has left us, pro- 
 mise not to see her again." 
 
 *' I promise." 
 
 '' And not even to write to her." 
 
 *' I promise." 
 
 She went back to the writing-table. ^*My 
 heart is easier," she said simply. " I can 
 be merciful to her now." 
 
 After writing a few lines, she rose, and 
 handed the paper to him. He looked up 
 from it in surprise. " Addressed to Mrs. 
 MacEdwin 1" he said. 
 
 *' Addressed^" she answered, "to the only 
 person I know who feels a true interest in 
 Miss Westerfield. Have you not heard 
 
 of it r 
 
 " I remember," he said — and read the 
 lines that followed : 
 
 *' I recommend Miss Westerfield as a 
 teacher of young children, having had ample 
 
KITTY FEELS THE HEARTACHE. 279 
 
 proof of her capacity, industry, and good 
 temper while she has been governess to my 
 child. She leaves her situation in m}'' 
 service, under circumstances which testif)'' 
 to her sense of duty and her sense of 
 gratitude." 
 
 '* Have I said," she asked, " more than I 
 could honourably and truly say — even after 
 what has happened?" 
 
 He could only look at her ; no words 
 could have spoken for him as his silence 
 spoke for him at that moment. When she 
 took back the written paper there was 
 pardon in her eyes already. 
 
 The last worst trial remained to be 
 undergone ; she faced it resolutely. " Tell 
 jMiss AYesterfield that I wish to see 
 her. 
 
 On the point of leaving the room, Herbert 
 was called back. " If you happen to meet 
 
2 8o THE EVIL GEJSUUS. 
 
 Avith my mother/' his wife added, "will 
 you ask her to come to me?" 
 
 Mrs. Presty knew her daughter's nature ; 
 Mrs. Presty had been waiting near at hand, 
 in expectation of the message which she 
 now received. 
 
 Tenderly and respectfully, Mrs. Linley 
 addressed herself to her mother. " When 
 we last met, I thought you spoke rashly 
 and cruelly. I know now that there was 
 truth — some truth, let me say — in what 
 offended me at the time. If you felt 
 strongly, it was for my sake. I wish to 
 beg your pardon ; I was hasty, I was 
 
 wrong." 
 
 On an occasion when she had lirst 
 irritated and then surprised him, Randal 
 Linley had said to Mrs. Presty, " You have 
 got a heart, after all!" Her reply to her 
 daughter showed that view of her character 
 to be the right one. " Say no more, my 
 
KITTY FEELS THE HEARTACHE. 281 
 
 dear," she answered. " / was hasty ; / 
 
 was wrong." 
 
 The words had barely fallen from her 
 lips, before Herbert returned. He was fol- 
 lowed by Sydney Westerfield. 
 
 The governess stopped in the middle of 
 the room. Her head sank on her breast ; 
 her quick convulsive breathing was the only 
 sound that broke the silence. Mrs. Linley 
 advanced to the j)l^ce in which Sydney 
 stood. There was something divine in her 
 beauty as she looked at the shrinking girl, 
 and held out her hand. 
 
 Sydney fell on her knees. In silence she 
 lifted that generous hand to her lips. In 
 silence, Mrs. Linley raised her — took the 
 writing which testified to her character 
 from the table — and presented it. Linley 
 looked at his wife, looked at the governess. 
 He waited — and still neither tlie one nor 
 the other uttered a word. It was more 
 
2 82 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 than tie could endure. He addressed him- 
 self to Sj^dney first. 
 
 " Try to thank Mrs. Linley," he said. 
 
 She answered faintly : "I can't speak!" 
 
 He appealed to his wife next. " Say a 
 last kind word to her," he pleaded. 
 
 She made an effort, a vain effort to obey 
 him. A gesture of despair answered for her 
 as Sydney had answered : " I can't speak!" 
 
 True, nobly true, to the Christian virtue 
 that repents, to the Christian virtue that 
 forgives, those three persons stood together 
 on the brink of separation, and forced their 
 frail humanity to suffer and submit. 
 
 In mercy to the w^omen, Linley summoned 
 the courage to part them. He turned to 
 his wife first. 
 
 " I may say, Catherine, that she has your 
 good wishes for happier days to come ?" 
 
 Mrs. Linley pressed his hand. 
 
 He approached Sydney, and gave his 
 
KITTY FEELS THE HEARTACHE. 283 
 
 wife's message. It was in his heart to add 
 something equally kind on his own part. 
 He could only say what we have all said — 
 how sincerely, how sorrowfully, we all 
 know — the common word, "Good-bye!" — 
 the common wish, " God bless you!" 
 
 At that last moment the child ran into 
 the room, in search of her mother. 
 
 There was a low murmur of horror at the 
 sight of her. That innocent heart, they 
 had all hoped, might have been spared the 
 misery of the parting scene ! 
 
 She saw that Sydney had her hat and 
 cloak on. ** You're dressed to go out," she 
 said. Sydney turned away to hide her face. 
 It was too late ; Kitty had seen the tears. 
 " Oh, my darling, you're not going away !'* 
 She looked at her father and mother. " Is 
 she going away ?" They were afraid to 
 answer her. With all her little strength, 
 she clasped her beloved friend and jilay- 
 
2 84 THE EVIL GENIUS. 
 
 fellow round the waist. " My own dear, 
 you're not going to leave me!" The dumb 
 misery in Sydney's face struck Linley with 
 horror. He placed Kitty in her mother's 
 arras. The child's piteous cry, " Oh don't 
 let her go ! don't let her go !" followed the 
 governess as she suffered her mart^-rdom, 
 and went out. Linley 's heart ached : he 
 watched her until she was lost to view. 
 ^'Gone!" he murmured to himself — "gone 
 for ever !" 
 
 Mrs. Presty heard him, and answered 
 
 him : — 
 
 " She'll come back agam !" 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 f 
 
 BILLING d £ONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD. 
 

 
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