"It’s the travelling", said Adeline. "It ruins them. On the voyage out there was a young girl about your daughter’s age, travelling with her mother. Well, what did this girl do, d’ye suppose? At the first port she eloped with my own young brother whom I was bringing out here! She ran off with him and left her widowed mother. The poor lady was carried to the dock on a stretcher more dead than alive".
A slow smile spread over Hettie’s face. There was a brightening of her eyes. But Mrs. Wilmott paled as the news of her husband’s death had not made her pale. She looked with a kind of horror at Hettie. Then she said rather tremulously to Adeline:
"What do you advise me to do?"
"I advise you to go straight to New York and make enquiries from the two gentlemen whose names I shall give you. Then, when you are satisfied of your husband’s whereabouts or of his departure from this life, you can sail from there. I am told their sailing clippers are unequalled for comfort and their new steamships too".
"That is just what I shall do! And if I can locate Mr. Wilmott it will be due entirely to you".
"I never liked him either", put in Hettie.
Mrs. Wilmott looked meaningly at Adeline. Then she said, "Stop scratching your limbs, Hettie".
"They itch".
"You must control yourself".
"I hate the midges".
"You have said that far too often".
"Not so often as they have bitten me. Mama, when can we go?"
"Very soon, Hettie". Mrs. Wilmott opened her reticule and took out a small memorandum tablet. She handed it to Adeline. "Will you be so kind as to write down the names and addresses of the gentlemen in New York?" Their hands touched. A feeling of benevolence came over Adeline. She had the feeling of taking care of Mrs. Wilmott, guiding her in the way she should go. She wrote the names of D’Arcy and Brent in her bold handwriting and returned the tablet.
"Irishmen, you say", Mrs. Wilmott remarked.
"Yes".
"I have never liked the Irish".
"There you go", said Hettie.
"What do you mean, child?"
"Saying what you tell me not to say".
"Hettie, do you want to be punished?"
"How?"
"By a hard smack".
"Smack me on the midge bites and I’d like it".
Mrs. Wilmott rose. "I want you to believe, Mrs. White", she said, "that my daughter was not like this at home".
"That is what travelling does to them. My own daughter has not the manners she had".
"It is deplorable". Mrs. Wilmott held out her hand. "Well, goodbye", she said. "I cannot tell you how thankful I am that we met".
"Faith, so am I!" Adeline’s benevolent clasp enfolded Mrs. Wilmott’s small dry hand. "I should ask you to drink a dish of tea with me but my little girl has whooping-cough"-this was indeed true-"and yours might contract it".
The very thought of such a contingency was upsetting to Mrs. Wilmott. Again she told, and this time in detail, all she had been through with Hettie since leaving home. Hettie interrupted her by saying, "The carriage is going".
The livery horses were indeed ambling dejectedly down the road, for the driver had fallen asleep and let the reins drop from his hand.
Mrs. Wilmott gave a cry and began to run after it.
"I’ll fetch him for you!" exclaimed Adeline. She hastened to her horse and began to lead him back to the road.
However, the driver had been woken by Mrs. Wilmott’s cries. He looked vindictively over his shoulder, again possessed himself of the reins, and the carriage was stopped.
Mrs. Wilmott’s bonnet had fallen back on her nape but she still was dignified. On reaching the carriage she opened her reticule and took out her handkerchief which she waved in farewell. Hettie looked on in complete pessimism. She said:
"I hope we don’t find him".
"Really!" exclaimed Adeline.
"Yes. I never liked him".
Laughing, in sudden hilarity, Adeline mounted her horse. She trotted to where Mrs. Wilmott waited. Her face sobered. She said genially:
"A pleasant journey to you, Mrs. Wilmott".
"Thank you and thank you again for your help. Dear, oh, dear, when I think of all that lies before me! When I think of all that lies behind! Mrs. White, I had other chances. Mr. Wilmott was not my only suitor. I shall say that and nothing more, except that my dear father was always against the alliance. ’You can do better, Henrietta,’ he repeatedly said. ’James Wilmott never will be a man of consequence. There is a great lack in him.’ But I was determined-and this is what I get. Do hasten, Hettie! Was there ever such a slow girl! It will be night before we reach the town. When I consider the inconvenience, the expense I am put to, it is enough to turn my hair white". She lifted her skirt and cautiously climbed into the carriage. The driver took up his whip.
Hettie was approaching slowly, dragging her feet. Her mother urged and directed her every step. At last they were seated side by side.
"Say good-bye to Mrs. White, Hettie, and thank her prettily".
"Good-bye", said Hettie morosely.
"Good-bye, Hettie".
The driver chirruped to his horses. As they moved off he turned to look at Adeline. He contorted one side of his face into what seemed to be a wink of derision toward the occupants of the carriage. A cloud of dust rose and in its midst a white handkerchief fluttered.
XIII. Autumn Rain
Adeline did not go on to Jalna but returned to Wilmott’s log house. She felt a strangeness in returning there. So much had happened since she had left. Again she knocked and again she saw Tite’s dark hand draw aside the curtain. He opened the door at once.
"You want to see my boss?" he asked.
Wilmott now appeared.
"It’s a pretty sort of life I lead", he exclaimed. "Like a criminal! And I suppose that, in a degree, I am. You may go, Tite".
When they were alone, Adeline said rather breathlessly, "I’ve seen her!"
"Not Henrietta?"
"Yes".
"My God!" He stared incredulously. "Is she here, then?"
"She was. She’s gone. I had no time to find Philip. When I reached the road I met her coming in a hired carriage".
"I tell you", he said, between his teeth, "I will never go back to that woman. But I am done for in this place! Where is she?"
"On her way back to the town. Tomorrow she will go to New York in search of you. I told her it is said here that you went to Mexico and died of a fever. Ah, the lies I’ve uttered on your behalf!"
"And she believed you?" He cared nothing for the lies. He turned a look of concentrated anxiety on Adeline.
"Do I do things well or do I not? Of course she believed me. I told her you had lived near here with a cow, a pig and an Indian You lived in a swamp, I said, and when you left you were in debt to all the neighbourhood".
He could not restrain a look of consternation. "Good God, and that is my epitaph in England! Henrietta will tell everyone. She can’t control that tongue of hers".
Adeline turned to him fiercely. "Follow her then and deny it. She’ll be easy to find".
He made an excited turn about the room. "Don’t be angry with me", he said. "Don’t expect me to say the right thing at such a moment. Don’t imagine that I’m not overflowing in gratitude to you. But I’m fairly dazed by it all. It’s happened so quickly".
"You resent my blackening your character. Who cares for character! You are not seeking a situation! Oh, James Wilmott, the thing was to be rid of that woman! I could see meanness and cruelty sticking out all over her. What a time you must have had to please her!"
"I never pleased her-not after the first year. And I resent nothing you told her. I am grateful, with my whole soul. Just think-if it were not for you-she might have her feet on this land at this moment!" He just touched Adeline’s shoulder with his thin hand. "There you stand-beautiful and strong-and my protector-not from Henrietta but from what she would make of my life!"