To Aunt Bee, at St. Petersburg, the news came as a shock.
Upon the previous day she had received a letter, forwarded from Normansgrave, and written by no less a person than Rankin Leigh himself. He wrote to say that he felt sure, judging by Miss Rawson's action in removing his great-niece from the vicinity directly she found that he was there, that his hopes of an old age soothed by her care and affection were destined to remain unrealized. As it might, however, be important to the family, in view of the deep interest they seemed to take in the girl, to know more of her antecedents, he offered to go into the matter thoroughly, if his expenses were guaranteed, and a certain sum over and above paid to him.
At the time of receiving this letter Aunt Bee was fully persuaded that Denzil would marry Rona; and it seemed to her most desirable that all that could be ascertained about her should come to light before things were irrevocable. She considered that Rankin Leigh had most probably means of coming at the truth, or sources of information, which they had not; and she wrote empowering him to make inquiries, and mentioning the sum she was prepared to pay for his services.
Hardly had she done this, when she received the startling news of Denzil's faithlessness and the double engagement.
It was an occasion upon which the good lady became vividly sensible of the mixture of motives which exists in the best of us.
She was really attached to Rona; yet it was impossible to deny that there was a certain sensation of pleasure or gratified family pride that the new mistress of Normansgrave would bring a suitable dower, and that she boasted a noble pedigree, instead of being, however attractive, a Girl from Nowhere.
It was arranged that the two couples, with Miss Forester as chaperon, should all come to St. Petersburg together. There Felix and Rona would be married, and Nadia and Miss Forester accompany Denzil and his aunt to England, that the Russian girl might have a sight of her new home before returning to Russia in the winter for her own wedding.
Before they arrived Miss Rawson was in possession of all that could ever be known of Veronica's origin.
Rankin Leigh succeeded in ascertaining that her mother had been secretly married to John Mauleverer. The young man had taken this step, as is frequently done by the weak, hoping against hope that some chance of avowing his marriage without incurring the displeasure of his parents might arise. He was a delicate, timid young man. The strain of the position, the anguish of knowing that the unconscious parents were arranging another match for their son, was too much for the unacknowledged wife, who fretted herself ill in her solitude, and died when her baby was six months old.
The young father, thus released, married almost immediately the lady chosen by his parents. He placed his daughter in the Convent School, keeping her existence a secret to the last. He probably intended to provide for the child, but took no steps to do so. He was still a young man when his death occurred, very unexpectedly. He left two sons by his second wife.