Madge had not been excited with curiosity about the cause of Miss Hadleigh’s anxiety to see her; and even now she was not disturbed, although more interested, when she learned that Philip had something to do with it.
‘Has anything particular happened?’
‘We don’t know yet, dear; that is what vexes us. Philip has not been here for—oh, ever so long; and such strange things are being said about them in the city, that a friend of mine’ (a pretty simper here) ‘considered it to be his duty to come out expressly to tell me and ask if I knew anything.’
‘But what is being said and who has told you?’ inquired Madge, still undisturbed, and even inclined to smile, having experience in the young lady’s way of revelling in exaggerations on the most trivial occasions.
‘Alfred—that is Mr Crowell, you know.’
The correction was made with a little self-conscious smile, as if she were saying: ‘Of course you know that I have the right to call him Alfred.’
Madge bowed.
‘Well, Alfred tells me that people are saying that Mr Shield’s great fortune is a great bubble swindle; and something about bulls and bears, that I don’t understand; and that poor Philip will never be able to meet the engagements he has made in the belief that this man possessed millions. He has been dreadfully deceived; but nobody will believe that; and Philip will have to suffer all the blame, because the thing has been so cunningly done that nobody can touch Mr Shield. He is not a partner, and is in no way responsible for what Philip said or did.... It is perfectly frightful, and has made me so nervous that I really don’t know what I am doing ever since Alfred went away. Alfred is so generous and so brave—he has gone to search for Philip, and see if anything can be done to help him out of the mess.’
Making all allowance for probable and possible exaggerations, this news was startling, and it was rendered more so by the excited interjectional manner in which it was conveyed. But it obtained additional significance when she remembered what Philip himself had said of his worries, and what had passed between her and Mr Beecham. No doubt, Philip, desiring to spare her anxiety, had made too little of his difficulties, had avoided details, and left her to believe that they were only of such a nature as to involve temporary embarrassment, which could be overcome by coolness and resolution. Alfred Crowell, being under no constraint, had blurted out the truth—or rather, he had found the rumours of such importance as to induce him to make a special journey to Ringsford to inquire into their truth. That he should make the rumours an excuse for an extra visit to his betrothed was out of the question. He came and went at will.
If it were true, then, that Philip had fallen into or been led into such desperate trouble, what was she to think of Mr Beecham’s assurances that no harm should come to him? And she had pledged herself to remain silent!