The Haunted Hotel | Page 9

Francis, and Henry; and
two sisters, Lady Barville and Mrs. Norbury. Not one of the five will be
present at the marriage; and not one of the five will leave a stone
unturned to stop it, if the Countess will only give them a chance. Add
to these hostile members of the family another offended relative not
mentioned in the 'Peerage,' a young lady--'
A sudden outburst of protest in more than one part of the room stopped
the coming disclosure, and released the Doctor from further
persecution.

'Don't mention the poor girl's name; it's too bad to make a joke of that
part of the business; she has behaved nobly under shameful provocation;
there is but one excuse for Montbarry--he is either a madman or a fool.'
In these terms the protest expressed itself on all sides. Speaking
confidentially to his next neighbour, the Doctor discovered that the
lady referred to was already known to him (through the Countess's
confession) as the lady deserted by Lord Montbarry. Her name was
Agnes Lockwood. She was described as being the superior of the
Countess in personal attraction, and as being also by some years the
younger woman of the two. Making all allowance for the follies that
men committed every day in their relations with women, Montbarry's
delusion was still the most monstrous delusion on record. In this
expression of opinion every man present agreed--the lawyer even
included. Not one of them could call to mind the innumerable instances
in which the sexual influence has proved irresistible in the persons of
women without even the pretension to beauty. The very members of the
club whom the Countess (in spite of her personal disadvantages) could
have most easily fascinated, if she had thought it worth her while, were
the members who wondered most loudly at Montbarry's choice of a
wife.
While the topic of the Countess's marriage was still the one topic of
conversation, a member of the club entered the smoking-room whose
appearance instantly produced a dead silence. Doctor Wybrow's next
neighbour whispered to him, 'Montbarry's brother-- Henry Westwick!'
The new-comer looked round him slowly, with a bitter smile.
'You are all talking of my brother,'he said. 'Don't mind me. Not one of
you can despise him more heartily than I do. Go on, gentlemen--go on!'
But one man present took the speaker at his word. That man was the
lawyer who had already undertaken the defence of the Countess.
'I stand alone in my opinion,' he said, 'and I am not ashamed of
repeating it in anybody's hearing. I consider the Countess Narona to be
a cruelly-treated woman. Why shouldn't she be Lord Montbarry's wife?
Who can say she has a mercenary motive in marrying him?'

Montbarry's brother turned sharply on the speaker. 'I say it!' he
answered.
The reply might have shaken some men. The lawyer stood on his
ground as firmly as ever.
'I believe I am right,' he rejoined, 'in stating that his lordship's income is
not more than sufficient to support his station in life; also that it is an
income derived almost entirely from landed property in Ireland, every
acre of which is entailed.'
Montbarry's brother made a sign, admitting that he had no objection to
offer so far.
'If his lordship dies first,' the lawyer proceeded, 'I have been informed
that the only provision he can make for his widow consists in a
rent-charge on the property of no more than four hundred a year. His
retiring pension and allowances, it is well known, die with him. Four
hundred a year is therefore all that he can leave to the Countess, if he
leaves her a widow.'
'Four hundred a year is not all,' was the reply to this. 'My brother has
insured his life for ten thousand pounds; and he has settled the whole of
it on the Countess, in the event of his death.'
This announcement produced a strong sensation. Men looked at each
other, and repeated the three startling words, 'Ten thousand pounds!'
Driven fairly to the wall, the lawyer made a last effort to defend his
position.
'May I ask who made that settlement a condition of the marriage?' he
said. 'Surely it was not the Countess herself?.'
Henry Westwick answered, 'it was the Countess's brother'; and added,
'which comes to the same thing.'
After that, there was no more to be said--so long, at least, as
Montbarry's brother was present. The talk flowed into other channels;

and the Doctor went home.
But his morbid curiosity about the Countess was not set at rest yet. In
his leisure moments he found himself wondering whether Lord
Montbarry's family would succeed in stopping the marriage after all.
And more than this, he was conscious of a growing desire to see the
infatuated man himself. Every