The Palliser Novels (362 page)

Could it be true that the man after all was dead? Marvellous reports, and reports marvellously false, do spread themselves about the world every day. But this report had come from the Duke, and he was not a man given to absurd rumours. He had heard the story in Downing Street, and if so it must be true. Of course she would go down to the Duchess at the hour fixed. It was now a little after three, and she ordered the carriage to be ready for her at a quarter past five. Then she told the servant, at first to admit no one who might call, and then to come up and let her know, if any one should come, without sending the visitor away. It might be that some one would come to her expressly from Phineas, or at least with tidings about this affair.

Then she read the letter again, and those few last words in it stuck to her thoughts like a burr. “Think of Lady Laura, with one mad and the other in Newgate.” Was this man, — the only man whom she had ever loved, — more to Lady Laura Kennedy than to her; or rather, was Lady Laura more to him than was she herself? If so, why should she fret herself for his sake? She was ready enough to own that she could sacrifice everything for him, even though he should be standing as a murderer in the dock, if such sacrifice would be valued by him. He had himself told her that his feelings towards Lady Laura were simply those of an affectionate friend; but how could she believe that statement when all the world were saying the reverse? Lady Laura was a married woman, — a woman whose husband was still living, — and of course he was bound to make such an assertion when he and she were named together. And then it was certain, — Madame Goesler believed it to be certain, — that there had been a time in which Phineas had asked for the love of Lady Laura Standish. But he had never asked for her love. It had been tendered to him, and he had rejected it! And now the Duchess, — who, with all her inaccuracies, had that sharpness of vision which enables some men and women to see into facts, — spoke as though Lady Laura were to be pitied more than all others, because of the evil that had befallen Phineas Finn! Had not Lady Laura chosen her own husband; and was not the man, let him be ever so mad, still her husband? Madame Goesler was sore of heart, as well as broken down with sorrow, till at last, hiding her face on the pillow of the sofa, still holding the Duchess’s letter in her hand, she burst into a fit of hysteric sobs.

Few of those who knew Madame Max Goesler well, as she lived in town and in country, would have believed that such could have been the effect upon her of the news which she had heard. Credit was given to her everywhere for good nature, discretion, affability, and a certain grace of demeanour which always made her charming. She was known to be generous, wise, and of high spirit. Something of her conduct to the old Duke had crept into general notice, and had been told, here and there, to her honour. She had conquered the good opinion of many, and was a popular woman. But there was not one among her friends who supposed her capable of becoming a victim to a strong passion, or would have suspected her of reckless weeping for any sorrow. The Duchess, who thought that she knew Madame Goesler well, would not have believed it to be true, even if she had seen it. “You like people, but I don’t think you ever love any one,” the Duchess had once said to her. Madame Goesler had smiled, and had seemed to assent. To enjoy the world, — and to know that the best enjoyment must come from witnessing the satisfaction of others, had apparently been her philosophy. But now she was prostrate because this man was in trouble, and because she had been told that his trouble was more than another woman could bear!

She was still sobbing and crushing the letter in her hand when the servant came up to tell her that Mr. Maule had called. He was below, waiting to know whether she would see him. She remembered at once that Mr. Maule had met Phineas at her table on the previous evening, and, thinking that he must have come with tidings respecting this great event, desired that he might be shown up to her. But, as it happened, Mr. Maule had not yet heard of the death of Mr. Bonteen. He had remained at home till nearly four, having a great object in view, which made him deem it expedient that he should go direct from his own rooms to Madame Goesler’s house, and had not even looked in at his club. The reader will, perhaps, divine the great object. On this day he proposed to ask Madame Goesler to make him the happiest of men, — as he certainly would have thought himself for a time, had she consented to put him in possession of her large income. He had therefore padded himself with more than ordinary care, — reduced but not obliterated the greyness of his locks, — looked carefully to the fitting of his trousers, and spared himself those ordinary labours of the morning which might have robbed him of any remaining spark of his juvenility.

Madame Goesler met him more than half across the room as he entered it. “What have you heard?” said she. Mr. Maule wore his sweetest smile, but he had heard nothing. He could only press her hand, and look blank, — understanding that there was something which he ought to have heard. She thought nothing of the pressure of her hand. Apt as she was to be conscious at an instant of all that was going on around her, she thought of nothing now but that man’s peril, and of the truth or falsehood of the story that had been sent to her. “You have heard nothing of Mr. Finn?”

“Not a word,” said Mr. Maule, withdrawing his hand. “What has happened to Mr. Finn?” Had Mr. Finn broken his neck it would have been nothing to Mr. Maule. But the lady’s solicitude was something to him.

“Mr. Bonteen has been — murdered!”

“Mr. Bonteen!”

“So I hear. I thought you had come to tell me of it.”

“Mr. Bonteen murdered! No; — I have heard nothing. I do not know the gentleman. I thought you said — Mr. Finn.”

“It is not known about London, then?”

“I cannot say, Madame Goesler. I have just come from home, and have not been out all the morning. Who has — murdered him?”

“Ah! I do not know. That is what I wanted you to tell me.”

“But what of Mr. Finn?”

“I also have not been out, Mr. Maule, and can give you no information. I thought you had called because you knew that Mr. Finn had dined here.”

“Has Mr. Finn been murdered?”

“Mr. Bonteen! I said that the report was that Mr. Bonteen had been murdered.” Madame Goesler was now waxing angry, — most unreasonably. “But I know nothing about it, and am just going out to make inquiry. The carriage is ordered.” Then she stood, expecting him to go; and he knew that he was expected to go. It was at any rate clear to him that he could not carry out his great design on the present occasion. “This has so upset me that I can think of nothing else at present, and you must, if you please, excuse me. I would not have let you take the trouble of coming up, had not I thought that you were the bearer of some news.” Then she bowed, and Mr. Maule bowed; and as he left the room she forgot to ring the bell.

“What the deuce can she have meant about that fellow Finn?” he said to himself. “They cannot both have been murdered.” He went to his club, and there he soon learned the truth. The information was given to him with clear and undoubting words. Phineas Finn and Mr. Bonteen had quarrelled at The Universe. Mr. Bonteen, as far as words went, had got the best of his adversary. This had taken place in the presence of the Prince, who had expressed himself as greatly annoyed by Mr. Finn’s conduct. And afterwards Phineas Finn had waylaid Mr. Bonteen in the passage between Bolton Row and Berkeley Street, and had there — murdered him. As it happened, no one who had been at The Universe was at that moment present; but the whole affair was now quite well known, and was spoken of without a doubt.

“I hope he’ll be hung, with all my heart,” said Mr. Maule, who thought that he could read the riddle which had been so unintelligible in Park Lane.

When Madame Goesler reached Carlton Terrace, which she did before the time named by the Duchess, her friend had not yet returned. But she went upstairs, as she had been desired, and they brought her tea. But the teapot remained untouched till past six o’clock, and then the Duchess returned. “Oh, my dear, I am so sorry for being late. Why haven’t you had tea?”

“What is the truth of it all?” said Madame Goesler, standing up with her fists clenched as they hung by her side.

“I don’t seem to know nearly as much as I did when I wrote to you.”

“Has the man been — murdered?”

“Oh dear, yes. There’s no doubt about that. I was quite sure of that when I sent the letter. I have had such a hunt. But at last I went up to the door of the House of Commons, and got Barrington Erle to come out to me.”

“Well?”

“Two men have been arrested.”

“Not Phineas Finn?”

“Yes; Mr. Finn is one of them. Is it not awful? So much more dreadful to me than the other poor man’s death! One oughtn’t to say so, of course.”

“And who is the other man? Of course he did it.”

“That horrid Jew preaching man that married Lizzie Eustace. Mr. Bonteen had been persecuting him, and making out that he had another wife at home in Hungary, or Bohemia, or somewhere.”

“Of course he did it.”

“That’s what I say. Of course the Jew did it. But then all the evidence goes to show that he didn’t do it. He was in bed at the time; and the door of the house was locked up so that he couldn’t get out; and the man who did the murder hadn’t got on his coat, but had got on Phineas Finn’s coat.”

“Was there — blood?” asked Madame Goesler, shaking from head to foot.

“Not that I know. I don’t suppose they’ve looked yet. But Lord Fawn saw the man, and swears to the coat.”

“Lord Fawn! How I have always hated that man! I wouldn’t believe a word he would say.”

“Barrington doesn’t think so much of the coat. But Phineas had a club in his pocket, and the man was killed by a club. There hasn’t been any other club found, but Phineas Finn took his home with him.”

“A murderer would not have done that.”

“Barrington says that the head policeman says that it is just what a very clever murderer would do.”

“Do you believe it, Duchess?”

“Certainly not; — not though Lord Fawn swore that he had seen it. I never will believe what I don’t like to believe, and nothing shall ever make me.”

“He couldn’t have done it.”

“Well; — for the matter of that, I suppose he could.”

“No, Duchess, he could not have done it.”

“He is strong enough, — and brave enough.”

“But not enough of a coward. There is nothing cowardly about him. If Phineas Finn could have struck an enemy with a club, in a dark passage, behind his back, I will never care to speak to any man again. Nothing shall make me believe it. If I did, I could never again believe in any one. If they told you that your husband had murdered a man, what would you say?”

“But he isn’t your husband, Madame Max.”

“No; — certainly not. I cannot fly at them, when they say so, as you would do. But I can be just as sure. If twenty Lord Fawns swore that they had seen it, I would not believe them. Oh, God, what will they do with him!”

The Duchess behaved very well to her friend, saying not a single word to twit her with the love which she betrayed. She seemed to take it as a matter of course that Madame Goesler’s interest in Phineas Finn should be as it was. The Duke, she said, could not come home to dinner, and Madame Goesler should stay with her. Both Houses were in such a ferment about the murder, that nobody liked to be away. Everybody had been struck with amazement, not simply, — not chiefly, — by the fact of the murder, but by the double destruction of the two men whose ill-will to each other had been of late so often the subject of conversation. So Madame Goesler remained at Carlton Terrace till late in the evening, and during the whole visit there was nothing mentioned but the murder of Mr. Bonteen and the peril of Phineas Finn. “Some one will go and see him, I suppose,” said Madame Goesler.

“Lord Cantrip has been already, — and Mr. Monk.”

“Could not I go?”

“Well, it would be rather strong.”

“If we both went together?” suggested Madame Goesler. And before she left Carlton Terrace she had almost extracted a promise from the Duchess that they would together proceed to the prison and endeavour to see Phineas Finn.

“We have left Adelaide Palliser down at the Hall. We are up here only for a couple of days to see Laura, and try to find out what had better be done about Kennedy.” This was said to Phineas Finn in his own room in Great Marlborough Street by Lord Chiltern, on the morning after the murder, between ten and eleven o’clock. Phineas had not as yet heard of the death of the man with whom he had quarrelled. Lord Chiltern had now come to him with some proposition which he as yet did not understand, and which Lord Chiltern certainly did not know how to explain. Looked at simply, the proposition was one for providing Phineas Finn with an income out of the wealth belonging, or that would belong, to the Standish family. Lady Laura’s fortune would, it was thought, soon be at her own disposal. They who acted for her husband had assured the Earl that the yearly interest of the money should be at her ladyship’s command as soon as the law would allow them so to plan it. Of Robert Kennedy’s inability to act for himself there was no longer any doubt whatever, and there was, they said, no desire to embarrass the estate with so small a disputed matter as the income derived from £40,000. There was great pride of purse in the manner in which the information was conveyed; — but not the less on that account was it satisfactory to the Earl. Lady Laura’s first thought about it referred to the imminent wants of Phineas Finn. How might it be possible for her to place a portion of her income at the command of the man she loved so that he should not feel disgraced by receiving it from her hand? She conceived some plan as to a loan to be made nominally by her brother, — a plan as to which it may at once be said that it could not be made to hold water for a minute. But she did succeed in inducing her brother to undertake the embassy, with the view of explaining to Phineas that there would be money for him when he wanted it. “If I make it over to Papa, Papa can leave it him in his will; and if he wants it at once there can be no harm in your advancing to him what he must have at Papa’s death.” Her brother had frowned angrily and had shaken his head. “Think how he has been thrown over by all the party,” said Lady Laura. Lord Chiltern had disliked the whole affair, — had felt with dismay that his sister’s name would become subject to reproach if it should be known that this young man was supported by her bounty. She, however, had persisted, and he had consented to see the young man, feeling sure that Phineas would refuse to bear the burden of the obligation.