It was not till the afternoon that he determined to call on his relative, Miss Aldclyffe, and cautiously probe her knowledge of the subject occupying him so thoroughly. Cytherea, he knew, was still beloved by this solitary woman. Miss Aldclyffe had made several private inquiries concerning her former companion, and there was ever a sadness in her tone when the young lady's name was mentioned, which showed that from whatever cause the elder Cytherea's renunciation of her favourite and namesake proceeded, it was not from indifference to her fate.
'Have you ever had any reason for supposing your steward anything but an upright man?' he said to the lady.
'Never the slightest. Have you?' said she reservedly.
'Well--I have.'
'What is it?'
'I can say nothing plainly, because nothing is proved. But my suspicions are very strong.'
'Do you mean that he was rather cool towards his wife when they were first married, and that it was unfair in him to leave her? I know he was; but I think his recent conduct towards her has amply atoned for the neglect.'
He looked Miss Aldclyffe full in the face. It was plain that she spoke honestly. She had not the slightest notion that the woman who lived with the steward might be other than Mrs. Manston--much less that a greater matter might be behind.
'That's not it--I wish it was no more. My suspicion is, first, that the woman living at the Old House is not Mr. Manston's wife.'
'Not--Mr. Manston's wife?'
'That is it.'
Miss Aldclyffe looked blankly at the rector. 'Not Mr. Manston's wife--who else can she be?' she said simply.
'An improper woman of the name of Anne Seaway.'
Mr. Raunham had, in common with other people, noticed the extraordinary interest of Miss Aldclyffe in the well-being of her steward, and had endeavoured to account for it in various ways. The extent to which she was shaken by his information, whilst it proved that the understanding between herself and Manston did not make her a sharer of his secrets, also showed that the tie which bound her to him was still unbroken. Mr. Raunham had lately begun to doubt the latter fact, and now, on finding himself mistaken, regretted that he had not kept his own counsel in the matter. This it was too late to do, and he pushed on with his proofs. He gave Miss Aldclyffe in detail the grounds of his belief.
Before he had done, she recovered the cloak of reserve that she had adopted on his opening the subject.
'I might possibly be convinced that you were in the right, after such an elaborate argument,' she replied, 'were it not for one fact, which bears in the contrary direction so pointedly, that nothing but absolute proof can turn it. It is that there is no conceivable motive which could induce any sane man--leaving alone a man of Mr. Manston's clear-headedness and integrity--to venture upon such an extraordinary course of conduct--no motive on earth.'
'That was my own opinion till after the visit of a friend last night--a friend of mine and poor little Cytherea's.'
'Ah--and Cytherea,' said Miss Aldclyffe, catching at the idea raised by the name. 'That he loved Cytherea--yes and loves her now, wildly and devotedly, I am as positive as that I breathe. Cytherea is years younger than Mrs. Manston--as I shall call her--twice as sweet in disposition, three times as beautiful. Would he have given her up quietly and suddenly for a common--Mr. Raunham, your story is monstrous, and I don't believe it!' She glowed in her earnestness.
The rector might now have advanced his second proposition--the possible motive--but for reasons of his own he did not.
'Very well, madam. I only hope that facts will sustain you in your belief. Ask him the question to his face, whether the woman is his wife or no, and see how he receives it.'
'I will to-morrow, most certainly,' she said. 'I always let these things die of wholesome ventilation, as every fungus does.'
But no sooner had the rector left her presence, than the grain of mustard-seed he had sown grew to a tree. Her impatience to set her mind at rest could not brook a night's delay. It was with the utmost difficulty that she could wait till evening arrived to screen her movements. Immediately the sun had dropped behind the horizon, and before it was quite dark, she wrapped her cloak around her, softly left the house, and walked erect through the gloomy park in the direction of the old manor-house.
The same minute saw two persons sit down in the rectory-house to share the rector's usually solitary dinner. One was a man of official appearance, commonplace in all except his eyes. The other was Edward Springrove.
The discovery of the carefully-concealed letters rankled in the mind of Anne Seaway. Her woman's nature insisted that Manston had no right to keep all matters connected with his lost wife a secret from herself. Perplexity had bred vexation; vexation, resentment; curiosity had been continuous. The whole morning this resentment and curiosity increased.
The steward said very little to his companion during their luncheon at mid-day. He seemed reckless of appearances--almost indifferent to whatever fate awaited him. All his actions betrayed that something portentous was impending, and still he explained nothing.
By carefully observing every trifling action, as only a woman can observe them, the thought at length dawned upon her that he was going to run away secretly. She feared for herself; her knowledge of law and justice was vague, and she fancied she might in some way be made responsible for him.
In the afternoon he went out of the house again, and she watched him drive away in the direction of the county-town. She felt a desire to go there herself, and, after an interval of half-an-hour, followed him on foot notwithstanding the distance--ostensibly to do some shopping.
One among her several trivial errands was to make a small purchase at the druggist's. Near the druggist's stood the County Bank.
