"And you"re not surprised to hear this, Varden?" said Mr Haredale.
"Well! You and she have always been the best friends, and youshould understand her if anybody does."
"I ask your pardon, sir," rejoined the locksmith. "I didn"t say Iunderstood her. I wouldn"t have the presumption to say that of anywoman. It"s not so easily done. But I am not so much surprised,sir, as you expected me to be, certainly."
"May I ask why not, my good friend?"
"I have seen, sir," returned the locksmith with evident reluctance,"I have seen in connection with her, something that has filled mewith distrust and uneasiness. She has made bad friends, how, orwhen, I don"t know; but that her house is a refuge for one robberand cut-throat at least, I am certain. There, sir! Now it"s out."
"Varden!"
"My own eyes, sir, are my witnesses, and for her sake I would bewillingly half-blind, if I could but have the pleasure ofmistrusting "em. I have kept the secret till now, and it will gono further than yourself, I know; but I tell you that with my owneyes--broad awake--I saw, in the passage of her house one eveningafter dark, the highwayman who robbed and wounded Mr EdwardChester, and on the same night threatened me."
"And you made no effort to detain him?" said Mr Haredale quickly.
"Sir," returned the locksmith, "she herself prevented me--held me,with all her strength, and hung about me until he had got clearoff." And having gone so far, he related circumstantially all thathad passed upon the night in question.
This dialogue was held in a low tone in the locksmith"s littleparlour, into which honest Gabriel had shown his visitor on hisarrival. Mr Haredale had called upon him to entreat his company tothe widow"s, that he might have the assistance of his persuasionand influence; and out of this circumstance the conversation hadarisen.
"I forbore," said Gabriel, "from repeating one word of this toanybody, as it could do her no good and might do her great harm. Ithought and hoped, to say the truth, that she would come to me, andtalk to me about it, and tell me how it was; but though I havepurposely put myself in her way more than once or twice, she hasnever touched upon the subject--except by a look. And indeed,"
said the good-natured locksmith, "there was a good deal in thelook, more than could have been put into a great many words. Itsaid among other matters "Don"t ask me anything" so imploringly,that I didn"t ask her anything. You"ll think me an old fool, Iknow, sir. If it"s any relief to call me one, pray do."
"I am greatly disturbed by what you tell me," said Mr Haredale,after a silence. "What meaning do you attach to it?"
The locksmith shook his head, and looked doubtfully out of windowat the failing light.
"She cannot have married again," said Mr Haredale.
"Not without our knowledge surely, sir."
"She may have done so, in the fear that it would lead, if known, tosome objection or estrangement. Suppose she married incautiously-itis not improbable, for her existence has been a lonely andmonotonous one for many years--and the man turned out a ruffian,she would be anxious to screen him, and yet would revolt from hiscrimes. This might be. It bears strongly on the whole drift ofher discourse yesterday, and would quite explain her conduct. Doyou suppose Barnaby is privy to these circumstances?"
"Quite impossible to say, sir," returned the locksmith, shaking hishead again: "and next to impossible to find out from him. If whatyou suppose is really the case, I tremble for the lad--a notableperson, sir, to put to bad uses--"
"It is not possible, Varden," said Mr Haredale, in a still lowertone of voice than he had spoken yet, "that we have been blindedand deceived by this woman from the beginning? It is not possiblethat this connection was formed in her husband"s lifetime, and ledto his and my brother"s--"
"Good God, sir," cried Gabriel, interrupting him, "don"t entertainsuch dark thoughts for a moment. Five-and-twenty years ago, wherewas there a girl like her? A gay, handsome, laughing, bright-eyeddamsel! Think what she was, sir. It makes my heart ache now, evennow, though I"m an old man, with a woman for a daughter, to thinkwhat she was and what she is. We all change, but that"s with Time;Time does his work honestly, and I don"t mind him. A fig for Time,sir. Use him well, and he"s a hearty fellow, and scorns to haveyou at a disadvantage. But care and suffering (and those havechanged her) are devils, sir--secret, stealthy, undermining devils-whotread down the brightest flowers in Eden, and do more havoc ina month than Time does in a year. Picture to yourself for oneminute what Mary was before they went to work with her fresh heartand face--do her that justice--and say whether such a thing ispossible."
"You"re a good fellow, Varden," said Mr Haredale, "and are quiteright. I have brooded on that subject so long, that every breathof suspicion carries me back to it. You are quite right."