Miss Hildreth: A Novel, Volume 3

by Augusta de Grasse Stevens

He next drew attention to the presence at the Folly of a person calling herself Adèle Lamien, who filled the position of governess to Mr. Newbold's little daughter. He, personally, had not met Mdlle. Lamien during his visit; but others had done so who would prove her identity with the lady before them. He had, however, been witness to an interview between Mdlle. Lamien and Mr. Philip Tremain, during which Mr. Tremain made no secret of his knowledge concerning that lady's past life. He had also in his possession a note addressed to Miss Darling, one of the young lady guests at the Folly, signed Adèle Lamien, written on paper bearing the Lallovich crest, and dated the 3rd of May; the very evening on which Miss Hildreth was said to have arrived at the Folly.

During all of Count Mellikoff's narration, Patricia never once took her eyes from his dark, inscrutable face; she watched him with the same expressionless countenance which she had worn from the opening of the inquiry. But at the mention of the interview between Adèle Lamien and Philip Tremain her face changed perceptibly, a wave of emotion passed over it as she turned her troubled eyes appealingly towards John Mainwaring. Then the mask of impenetrability settled over it again, and she sat immovable, her hands clasped together on her lap, her head thrown back in proud defiance.

Count Mellikoff's further statements were purely technical, and related chiefly to his position in Russia, his credibility, authority, etc., all of which were vouched for by the Russian Ambassador.

As Vladimir resumed his seat, a low murmur of disapproval escaped from the crowd, a murmur promptly subdued, but that told of the growing excitement. Mr. Munger, on hearing its threatening notes, tossed back his head with a snort of defiance, and called up his next witness with prompt alacrity.

As the slight, thin figure of Rosalie James appeared in answer to Mr. Munger's call, another change passed rapidly across Patricia's face, her lips curled slightly, while into her eyes there flashed a look of comprehension. Had not Philip hinted at some hidden woman enemy; some one to whom she, Patricia, had given cause for anger, for retaliation, for revenge? And had not this girl, with the sharply outlined face, always held aloof from her? Had she not often found those keen, observant eyes fixed upon her with the same scrutiny with which they now regarded her? She had put Mr. Tremain's supposition by as not worth consideration; she saw now how important had been its bearing, for in Rosalie James she recognised, with a woman's quick perception, her most pronounced and calculating enemy. And with this certainty came another.

This girl loved Philip, and knowing her passion to be hopeless, she had sought out, with the unfailing prescience of slighted love, the woman who was her rival, hoping that in striking at her she would also wound the man who had rejected her. Love is proverbially cruel, none knew this truth better than Miss Hildreth; it was, therefore, with a strange illogical sympathy that she listened to Miss James's defamation of her.

Rosalie spoke in her usual high pitched voice, every note of which carried her words into the furthest corners of the crowded room. Under Mr. Munger's manipulation she gave a condensed and telling account of her instrumentality in the arrest of Miss Hildreth. In substance it was as follows.

She had been a guest at the Folly at the same time as Patricia, and had taken part in the same theatricals, though not in the same play. She had often heard Miss Hildreth discussed before she met her, and from what had been said had formed no very high opinion of that lady's character. Miss Hildreth was always singularly reticent concerning her experiences during her residence abroad. She had only once heard her make any voluntary allusion to her visit to St. Petersburg, and that was on the morning of the 4th of May, when some of the house party were gathered together in Mrs. Newbold's boudoir. Miss Hildreth had then related a curious tale; she had not actually detailed the murder of Count Stevan Lallovich, but she had alluded to it very pertinently and with great excitement of manner. She had also distinctly named Adèle Lallovich as the victim of a moral crime, and had intimated the form of her revenge.

To her, Miss Hildreth had from the first appeared as a woman with a secret, and she had determined to fathom that secret. She had her reasons for doing so, they were purely personal reasons. She had, from the first day of her arrival at the Folly, heard a great deal about Adèle Lamien. She had seen her once or twice, but had paid little attention to her, noticing only that she shunned observation and kept as much in the background as possible. On the arrival of Mr. Tremain, however, Mdlle. Lamien apparently lost her shyness, for she, Miss James, had several times seen them together, and had once discovered the governess in a state of great agitation.

She had not liked Mdlle. Lamien at any time, and believed her quite capable of the most flagrant deception. Mrs. Newbold had been remonstrated with for her credulity, and on one such occasion she had related to her guests an extraordinary story, which purported to be that of her governess, and which was substantially that of Adèle Lallovich, as told by Count Mellikoff; the details and make-up differed somewhat, and the murder of Count Stevan was not touched upon, but the main features were the same. Mr. Tremain was present on the occasion, and it had occurred to her at the time that Mrs. Newbold had some covert meaning in her recitation; at all events Mr. Tremain seemed much moved by it. Mdlle. Lamien was not at the dinner-table when her story was discussed.