Victorian Short Stories, Vol. 2 | Page 7

should see that Lancashire folks knew a handsome
thing when they saw it.'
For some time after Mr and Mrs Chadwick arrived at the Openshaws'
there was no opportunity for wearing this brooch; but at length they
obtained an order to see Buckingham Palace, and the spirit of loyalty
demanded that Mrs Chadwick should wear her best clothes in visiting
the abode of her sovereign. On her return she hastily changed her dress;
for Mr Openshaw had planned that they should go to Richmond, drink
tea, and return by moonlight. Accordingly, about five o'clock, Mr and
Mrs Openshaw and Mr and Mrs Chadwick set off.
The housemaid and cook sat below, Norah hardly knew where. She was
always engrossed in the nursery in tending her two children, and in
sitting by the restless, excitable Ailsie till she fell asleep. By and by the
housemaid Bessy tapped gently at the door. Norah went to her, and
they spoke in whispers.
'Nurse! there's someone downstairs wants you.'
'Wants me! who is it?'

'A gentleman--'
'A gentleman? Nonsense!'
'Well! a man, then, and he asks for you, and he rang at the front-door
bell, and has walked into the dining-room.'
'You should never have let him,' exclaimed Norah. 'Master and missus
out--'
'I did not want him to come in; but, when he heard you lived here, he
walked past me, and sat down on the first chair, and said, "Tell her to
come and speak to me." There is no gas lighted in the room, and supper
is all set out.'
'He'll be off with the spoons!' exclaimed Norah, putting the housemaid's
fear into words, and preparing to leave the room; first, however, giving
a look to Ailsie, sleeping soundly and calmly.
Downstairs she went, uneasy fears stirring in her bosom. Before she
entered the dining-room she provided herself with a candle, and, with it
in her hand, she went in, looking around her in the darkness for her
visitor.
He was standing up, holding by the table. Norah and he looked at each
other; gradual recognition coming into their eyes.
'Norah?' at length he asked.
'Who are you?' asked Norah, with the sharp tones of alarm and
incredulity. 'I don't know you'; trying, by futile words of disbelief, to do
away with the terrible fact before her.
'Am I so changed?' he said pathetically. 'I dare say I am. But, Norah,
tell me!' he breathed hard, 'where is my wife? Is she--is she alive?'
He came nearer to Norah, and would have taken her hand; but she
backed away from him; looking at him all the time with staring eyes, as
if he were some horrible object. Yet he was a handsome, bronzed,
good-looking fellow, with beard and moustache, giving him a
foreign-looking aspect; but his eyes! there was no mistaking those
eager, beautiful eyes--the very same that Norah had watched not half an
hour ago, till sleep stole softly over them.
'Tell me, Norah--I can bear it--I have feared it so often. Is she dead?'
Norah still kept silence. 'She is dead!' He hung on Norah's words and
looks, as if for confirmation or contradiction.
'What shall I do?' groaned Norah. 'Oh, sir! why did you come? how did
you find me out? where have you been? We thought you dead, we did

indeed!' She poured out words and questions to gain time, as if time
would help her.
'Norah! answer me this question straight, by yes or no--Is my wife
dead?'
'No, she is not,' said Norah, slowly and heavily.
'Oh, what a relief! Did she receive my letters? But perhaps you don't
know. Why did you leave her? Where is she? Oh, Norah, tell me all
quickly!'
'Mr Frank!' said Norah at last, almost driven to bay by her terror lest
her mistress should return at any moment and find him there--unable to
consider what was best to be done or said--rushing at something
decisive, because she could not endure her present state: 'Mr Frank! we
never heard a line from you, and the shipowners said you had gone
down, you and everyone else. We thought you were dead, if ever man
was, and poor Miss Alice and her little sick, helpless child! Oh, sir, you
must guess it,' cried the poor creature at last, bursting out into a
passionate fit of crying, 'for indeed I cannot tell it. But it was no one's
fault. God help us all this night!'
Norah had sat down. She trembled too much to stand. He took her
hands in his. He squeezed them hard, as if, by physical pressure, the
truth could be wrung out.
'Norah.' This time his tone was calm, stagnant as despair. 'She has
married again!'
Norah shook her head sadly. The grasp slowly relaxed. The man had
fainted.
There