and ask Master Skyffington to come within."
She was all agitation now, eager, excited, and herself went forward to meet the quaint, little wizened figure which appeared in the doorway.
Master Skyffington, attorney-at-law, was small and thin—looked doubly so, in fact, in the black clothes which he wore. His eyes were blue and watery, his manner peculiarly diffident. He seemed to present a perpetual apology to the world for his own existence therein.
Even now as Mistress de Chavasse seemed really overjoyed to see him, he backed his meager person out of the doorway as she approached, whereupon she—impatiently—clutched his arm and dragged him forward into the hall.
"Sit down there, master," she said, speaking with obvious agitation, and almost pushing the poor little man off his feet whilst dragging him to a chair. "Sir Marmaduke will see you anon, but 'twas a kind thought to come and bring me news."
"Hem! … hem! … " stammered Master Skyffington, "I … that is … hem … I left Canterbury this morning and was on my way to Dover … hem … this lies on my way, ma'am … and … "
"Yes! yes!" she said impatiently, "but you have some news, of course?"
"News! … news!" he muttered apologetically, and clutching at his collar, which seemed to be choking him, "what news—er—I pray you, ma'am?"
"That clew?" she insisted.
"It was very slight," he stammered.
"And it led to naught?"
"Alas!"
Her eagerness vanished. She sank back into her chair and moaned.
"My last hope!" she said dully.
"Nay! nay!" rejoined Master Skyffington quite cheerfully, his courage seemingly having risen with her despair. "We must not be despondent. The noble Earl of Northallerton hath interested himself of late in the search and … "
But she shrugged her shoulders, whilst a short, bitter laugh escaped her lips:
"At last?" she said with biting sarcasm. "After twelve years!"
"Nay! but remember, ma'am, that his lordship now is very ill … and nigh on seventy years old. … Failing your late husband, Master Rowland—whom the Lord hath in His keeping—your eldest son is … hem … that is … by law, ma'am, … and with all respect due to Sir Marmaduke … your eldest son is heir to the Earldom."
"And though his lordship hates me, he still prefers that my son should succeed to his title, rather than Sir Marmaduke whom he abhors."
But that suggestion was altogether too much for poor Master Skyffington's sense of what was due to so noble a family, and to its exalted head.
"That is … er … " he muttered in supreme discomfort, swallowing great gulps which rose to his throat at this rash and disrespectful speech from the ex-actress. "Family feuds … hem … er … very distressing of a truth … and … that is … "
"I fear me his lordship will be disappointed," she rejoined, quite heedless of the little attorney's perturbation, "and that under these circumstances Sir Marmaduke will surely succeed."
"I was about to remark," he rejoined, "that now, with my lord's help—his wealth and influence … now, that is, … that he has interested himself in the matter … hem … we might make fresh inquiries … that is … er … "
"It will be useless, master. I have done all that is humanly possible. I loved my boys dearly—and it was because of my love for them that I placed them under my mother's care. … I loved them, you understand, but I was living in a gay world in London … my husband was dead … I could do naught for their comfort. … I thought it would be best for them … "
It was her turn now to speak humbly, almost apologetically, whilst her eyes sought those of the simple little attorney, trying to read approval in his glance, or at any rate an absence of reproof. He was shaking his head, sighing with visible embarrassment the while. In his innermost soul, he could find no excuse for the frivolous mother, anxious to avoid the responsibilities which the Lord Himself had put upon her: anxious to be rid of her children in order that she might pursue with greater freedom and ease that life of enjoyment and thoughtlessness which she craved.
"My mother was a strange woman," continued Mistress de Chavasse earnestly and placing her small white hand on the black sleeve of the attorney, "she cared little enough for me, and not at all for London and for society. She did not understand the many duties that devolve on a woman of fashion. … And I was that in those days! … twenty years ago!"
"Ah! Truly! truly!" sighed Master Skyffington.
"Mayhap she acted according to her own lights. … After some years she became a convert to that strange new faith … of the people who call themselves 'Friends' … who salute no one with the hat, and who talk so strangely, saying: 'thee' and 'thou' even when addressing their betters. One George Fox had a great hold on her. He was quite a youth then, but she thought him a saint. 'Tis he, methinks, poisoned her mind against me, and caused her to curse me on her deathbed."
She gave a little shudder—of superstition, perhaps. The maternal curse—she felt—was mayhap bearing fruit after all. Master Skyffington's watery eyes expressed gentle sympathy. His calling had taught him many of the hidden secrets of human nature and of Life: he guessed that the time—if not already here—was nigh at hand, when this unfortunate woman would realize the emptiness of her life, and would begin to reap the bitter harvest of the barren seeds which she had sown.
"Aye! I lay it all at the door of these 'Friends' who turned a mother's heart against her own daughter," continued Mistress de Chavasse vehemently. "She never told me that she was sick, sent me neither letter nor message; only after her death a curt note came to me, writ in her hand, entrusted to one of her own co-worshipers, a canting, mouthing creature, who grinned whilst I read the heartless message. My mother had sent her grandchildren away, so she told me in the letter, when she felt that the Lord was calling her to Him. She had placed my boys—my boys, master!—in the care of a trusted 'friend' who would bring them up in the fear of God, away from the influence of their mother. My boys, master, remember! … they were to be brought up in ignorance of their name—of the very existence of their mother. The 'friend,' doubtless a fellow Quaker—had agreed to this on my mother's deathbed."
"Hm! 'tis passing strange, and passing sad," said the attorney, with real sympathy now, for there was a pathetic note of acute sorrow in Mistress de Chavasse's voice, "but at the time … hem … and with money and influence … hem … much might have been done."
"Ah! believe me, master, I did what I could. I was in London then. … I flew to Canterbury where my mother lived. … I found her dead … and the boys gone … none of the neighbors could tell me whither. … All they knew was that a woman had been living with my mother of late and had gone away, taking the boys with her. … My boys, master, and no one could tell me whither they had gone! I spent what money I had, and Sir Marmaduke nobly bore his share in the cost of a ceaseless search, as the Earl of Northallerton would do nothing then to help me."
"Passing strange … passing sad," murmured Master Skyffington, shaking his head, "but methinks I recollect … hem … some six years ago … a quest which led to a clew … er … that is … two young gentlemen … "
"Impostors, master," she rejoined, "aye! I have heard of many such since then. At first I used to believe their stories … "
"At first?" he ejaculated in amazement, "but surely … hem … the faces … your own sons, ma'am … "
"Ah! the faces!" she said, whilst a blush of embarrassment, even of shame, now suffused her pale cheeks. "I mean … you understand … I … I had not seen my boys since they were babes in arms … they were ten years old when they were taken away … but … but it is nigh on twenty-two years since I have set eyes on their faces. I would not know them, if they passed me by."
Tears choked her voice. Shame