The next day was a fine one. The sun was shining brightly, the sky was a deep transparent blue, and as Frederick walked through the park on his way to the Kingsbury mansion he stopped several times to enjoy the cool morning air. The trees were clothed in all the fresh beauty of their spring garments, dew was sparkling like diamonds on the velvetry lawns, where flocks of sheep were peacefully grazing, and the still sheet of water of the Serpentine flashed like a mirror in the bright morning light. Great rose-bushes, with their sweet-smelling pink, red, and white blossoms, perfumed the air, while the paths were bordered with a rainbow of many-colored flowers, over which yellow butterflies were hovering. In the distance there was a kind of dim silvery haze hanging midway between heaven and earth, and through its gauzy vail the tall clumps of trees and bushes looked almost fairy-like and unreal.
As he reached the Marble Arch Frederick espied an old beggar woman who was squatting outside on the pavement close to the park railings. She was a repulsive-looking object. Her face was seamed and lined with numerous wrinkles, clearly defined by the dirt which was in them; her bushy gray eyebrows were drawn frowningly over her watery, red-rimmed blue eyes; her nose was hooked like the beak of a bird of prey, and from her thin-lipped mouth two yellow tusks protruded, like those of a wild boar.
Frederick, with one of those momentary contrasts which made him so difficult to understand, stopped in front of the old crone and dropped a guinea into her palm. She [Pg 172] raised one skinny hand to shade her eyes and looked curiously at the generous stranger.
“Thank ye, my lord,” muttered she.
“You'll drink it,” I suppose, said Frederick, gazing at her inflamed nose and sunken cheeks, which bore unmistakable signs of debauchery.
“Werry likely,” retorted the hag with a grin; “I'm a fortune to the public 'ouse, I am. And it's the only pleasure I 'ave in my blooming life, blarst it!”
Ignoring this polite speech, the young man directed his steps to the Kingsbury residence, and was ushered by the groom of the chambers into the morning-room of the marchioness. It was a long, low apartment, oak-paneled, and had an embossed and emblazoned ceiling from which silver lamps of old Italian work hung by silver chains. The blinds were drawn down, and the hues of the tapestry, of the ivories which stood here and there on the carved brackets, of the paintings on the walls, and of the embroideries on the satin furniture, made a rich chiaro-oscuro of color. Large baskets and vases full of roses and lilies rendered the air heavy with their intoxicating odor.
Frederick sat down on a low couch to await the mistress of the house. His brows were knit and he murmured to himself abstractedly.
“Do they know it already? Hardly yet, I should think. Well, I must make bonne contenance if I wish to win the game. By Heaven! it's worth the candle.”
He had been brooding in this fashion for some ten minutes, when the door opened, and Lady Kingsbury, wrapped in a loose gown of olive-colored cashmere, with a profusion of old lace at her breast, and open sleeves, entered the room. She was very pale, and her still beautiful eyes showed traces of weeping.
She advanced toward Frederick with outstretched hands, saying in a broken, unsteady voice:
[Pg 173]
“Pardon me for keeping you waiting, my dear count. But this terrible misfortune has upset me so much that I am quite ill and ought not to have left my room.”
“Good Heaven! my dear Lady Kingsbury, what has happened?” exclaimed Frederick, with an air of the most profound surprise.
“Oh! it is too, too awful! My poor, poor Alice! Colonel Clery has been found dead in his room this morning!”
“Dead! dead! Colonel Clery! Great God! Why, I left him in perfect health a few hours ago! What could have caused his death?”
“Heart disease, I presume; though nobody who saw him would ever have believed him to be subject thereto. When his servant entered his rooms this morning he found him lying on the lounge, still wearing his evening dress. Surpri............