It might have been all so comfortable and safe and prosperous--so nice for them, so well for Paul, so pleasant for poor dear Annette herself--if it had not been for that odious Miss Stafford in the first place, and afterwards for that meddling German doctor. But Paul was most to blame; indeed, if the marriage had come off, it would have been for every reason best that Annette should be restored to perfect sanity; this "pother" was his doing chiefly. She was very angry with Paul--angry with him, that is to say, when he had recovered, when the danger that the sun of his life might go down upon her wrath was at an end, when he was abroad gaining health and strength, enjoying himself, and carrying on a voluminous correspondence with Daisy; while she had to lament the discomfiture of her designs, and put up with the Captain's discontent and temper.
On the whole, Captain and Mrs. Derinzy were very ill at ease, feeling like a pair of discomfited conspirators, which indeed they were, and experiencing a humiliating sense of having had the guidance of affairs taken out of their hands suddenly, noiselessly, dexterously, and irresistibly. Thenceforward the Captain would complain of "that d--d authoritative way of Wainwright's," and Mrs. Derinzy admit that she "had never quite understood the Doctor;" and they were drawn nearer together by the discomfiture than they had been by any success or vexation for many years.
Annette was coming home--the day and hour of her arrival were fixed; and Mrs. Derinzy had heard from her son that he intended to return immediately. Something must be settled now. The explanation, which must inevitably be encountered, had better be brought on at once. It had occurred to Mrs. Derinzy as a cunning device of immense merit to call on Daisy, and, availing herself of Paul's absence, address herself to the girl's disinterestedness and generosity, and secure her promise that she would refuse Paul should he again ask her to marry him. No consideration that one refusal on Daisy's part had already almost cost Paul his life interfered with his mother's sage resolution. "He will have gotten over it," she believed, because she desired to believe so.
In pursuance of this brilliant idea, Mrs. Derinzy called on Madame Clarisse, and condescendingly inquired if she could see Miss Stafford.
But she could not. Madame Clarisse benignly explained that Miss Stafford, who had not been quite strong lately, had applied for a short vacation, and gone to the country, to the farmhouse of a relative. Madame Clarisse could give Mrs. Derinzy the address; but that lady, who did not calculate on an epistolary victory, declined, and went away, leaving the astute modiste to wonder what her business with Miss Stafford might be, and to make a very "near" guess at the facts.
There was no help for it; Paul must come back, and she must fight the battle single-handed. She wished that meddling George Wainwright would have remained away a little longer. He had not behaved so badly as she had been inclined to believe at first in that matter of Paul's illness and Miss Stafford, but they could manage their affairs quite as well without him.
On the morning of the day fixed for Annette's return, Dr. Wainwright visited Mrs. Derinzy, and gave her sundry injunctions as to composure, and the avoidance of fuss and excitement, in her reception of the convalescent. The effect of the lesson was, as the Doctor intended it should be, to rouse Mrs. Derinzy up into the exhibition of some kindness and warmth of feeling towards the girl, who had for a long period known nothing more than an indifferent imitation of a home. The effort to seem kind and affectionate bore its fruits in inspiring Mrs. Derinzy with more of the feelings she strove to imitate than she had ever yet experienced, and her heart fairly melted into true kindliness. She forgot her interested scheming, she did not even remember Annette's money, when she saw Annette herself, the picture of health, and of natural girlish happiness.
The most convincing proof, to Mrs. Derinzy's mind, that the restoration of Annette was real and complete, was furnished by the alteration in Mrs. Stothard's manner. As soon as she could see her alone, Mrs. Derinzy had asked Mrs. Stothard her opinion of the case. The answer was quickly and decisively given:
"The German doctor is the queerest man I ever saw, and I'm far from sure that he is not mad himself; but he has cured Miss Annette, and sent her home as sane as you and I."
Every word, look, and gesture of Mrs. Stothard's confirmed this statement. There was no longer any of the steady unrelaxing vigilance, the set watch upon the girl, the calmly authoritative or soothingly coaxing tone which she had been used to maintain. There was no longer the half-servant demeanour, the personal waiting on Annette which had puzzled more than one of the very few persons who had ever had an opportunity of speculating on Mrs. Stothard's real position in the Derinzy household.