Paul returned to town on the following day, and had an interview with Mrs. Stothard. It was satisfactory; but she made two stipulations. One, that the fact of Fanny's being her daughter should be communicated to Captain and Mrs. Derinzy by herself; and the other, that she should not be expected to reside with Daisy. Paul had no objection to an unhesitating acquiescence in the latter request. He did not wish for any third person in his home, and he had always been a little afraid of Mrs. Stothard--a sentiment which, he felt convinced, would increase when that lady should have become his mother-in-law. He did not dare to ask what she intended to do; but he felt a secret curiosity as to whether she and his mother, whose relations had puzzled him for so long, would continue to reside together. On this occasion Paul did not see Mrs. Derinzy.
His next visit was to George Wainwright, who told him of the discovery which had been made relative to Madame Vaughan, of which Annette was still in ignorance.
"Our best plan--yours as well as mine--is to leave everything to my father. He is a wonderful man, Paul. I never half appreciated him till now--not his kind-heartedness, and his energy, and his sympathy, you know. If he were a lover in difficulties himself, he could not be more anxious about all this affair, and I don't only mean for me. You have no idea how much impressed he was by Daisy when you were ill, and how he liked and addressed her. Of course it is a delicate business to tell Madame Vaughan that he has found out his mistake, and that her delusion is no delusion; and equally, of course, it is subjecting Annette to a severe test, in her newly-recovered state, to tell her that her mother is living; and their meeting will be a tremendous trial for both. But then, as my father said, if it turns out well--and he has not the least fear of it--it will be just the most satisfactory test which could possibly have been applied--one, indeed, beyond anything we ever could have looked for turning up."
"What has your father done?" asked Paul, pardonably anxious to come to the discussion of his own share in the situation.
"He has seen Mrs. Derinzy, and arranged a solemn meeting of all parties concerned for Thursday next, when your father will have to make up his mind whether he means to fight or to give in; and in the face of the fact that Annette's mother is living and perfectly sane, and that Annette is close upon her majority, I do not think there will be much difficulty; and when he has fought my battle, the Doctor intends to fight yours; and neither will there be much trouble there, I prophesy, for Annette will not settle money on you unless you marry Daisy. I have told our ambassador that you are willing. Did I go beyond the truth, Paul?"
Too much affected to speak, the younger man turned abruptly away.
It has been already said that the Derinzys did not fight. The family council was a trying ordeal for everyone concerned; but the consummate tact, the masterly savoir faire of Dr. Wainwright, carried all parties, himself included, through the difficulties of the position. Even Captain Derinzy was not visited by a suspicion of his motives: even that gentleman, whose naturally base proclivities might easily on this occasion have been quickened by the sympathetic consideration that he had ineffectually endeavoured to do that very thing, did not venture to suggest that this was a plan of the Doctor's to marry his son to an heiress.
Annette had been on terms of distant civility only with Mrs. Derinzy since the éclaircissement, and no allusion to what had passed had been made between her and Mrs. Stothard. She was sitting alone, and in a state of considerable trepidation, listening to the reverberation of the men's voices in the library, when Mrs. Stothard entered the room, and addressed her with a very unusual appearance of agitation. In her hand she held a letter: it was from her daughter.
"My dear," she said, "I have something to tell you, and I mean to tell it without any roundabout ways or preparation, which I have always considered nonsense. You have made a noble offer, I understand, to Paul Derinzy, in order to enable him to marry the girl he loves. But you have no notion who that girl is."
"Yes, I have; she is a Miss Stafford--a very charming person, and most devotedly attached to Paul. She nursed him through that dreadful fever; and my aunt has had to acknowledge that there is nothing against her, except that she is not rich--not quite what people call a lady. She has been forewoman to some great milliner, I believe--like dear beautiful Kate Nickleby, you know," said Annette, to whom the matchless creations of the Master were the friends, the associations, the illustrations of her every-day life.