CHAPTER IV

RUPERT'S SECRET

Olivia was astonished to see the emotion of her aunt, for, as a rule

Miss Wharf was cold and self-contained. The two had never got on well

together, and the elder woman was undeniably jealous of the youth and

superior good looks of the younger. But as Olivia owed bed and board to

her aunt, she always behaved as well as possible to one who was very

trying in many ways. It is only just to say, that Miss Pewsey made

matters much worse by tale-bearing, and probably had she been out of the

house, Miss Wharf and her niece might have got on better. But they could

never have been congenial companions. The difference between their

natures was too great.

"Yes" said Miss Wharf throwing herself back in her seat, and feeling

irritated by the silence of Olivia. "I want an explanation."

"What about?" asked the girl seating herself opposite and folding her

hands, which, Miss Wharf noticed with bitterness, were more slender and

delicate that her own.

"You know well enough."

"If it's about Rupert--"

"There," snapped the aunt, "I knew you would guess. Yes it is about

young Ainsleigh, and how dare you call him Rupert?"

"Because I love him," said Olivia firmly, and looked directly into the

cold blue eyes of her aunt.

"Then you must put this love out of your head. You shall never marry

him--never--never--never."

"If I choose, and I do choose," said Olivia calmly, but with a fine

colour. "I shall certainly marry him. I am of age--"

"Yes, and a pauper."

"Rupert would not marry me for my money."

"He is wise; for you have none."

"It is kind of you to speak to me in this way," said Olivia, "to remind

me of obligations. I am aware that my parents died poor and left me a

penniless orphan. I am aware that you took me in and educated me and--"

"And acted like a mother to you," said Miss Wharf vehemently.

"No. You never acted like a mother. With you, I have had a most unhappy

life."

"Olivia," the elder woman started furiously from her chair, "how dare

you say that. Have I grudged you clothes or food. Did I not send you to

a first-class school and--"

"So far as material things are concerned you have done everything Aunt

Sophia, and I thank you for what you have done--"

"A fine way you have of showing it," scoffed Miss Wharf.

"But a mother you have never been," went on Olivia calmly, "you have

never given me a kind word; you speak to me before visitors as you

should not do: you make me slave for you and run messages and talk of me

to others as though I were a servant. What love have you ever shown me?"

demanded Olivia, starting up in her turn, and also becoming excited. "I

long for love. My heart yearns for it. I would like to be a daughter to

you, but always you have kept me at arm's length. Aunt Sophia let me go.

I can earn my bread as a governess, or as a typist. It will be better

for us both."

"No," said Aunt Sophia, looking as hard as stone.

"I shall not let you go. If you have any gratitude in you, you will

remain and help me to manage the house."

"You have Miss Pewsey."

"She is not a relative, you are."

"And so you treat me worse than you do her. Well, Aunt Sophia, I am not

ungrateful though you seem to think I am. I shall stop with you. I only

ask for a little more consideration."

"I give you every consideration. As for love, I cannot give it to you or

to anyone. I gave all the love my nature was capable of feeling to

Markham Ainsleigh, and he rejected my love. Yes, you may look

astonished, but it was this man's father who broke my heart."

"And that is why you don't want Rupert to marry me."

"That is the reason," said Miss Wharf sitting down and growing more her

calm stony self. "I was almost engaged to Markham Ainsleigh: but he saw

Violet Vane and fell in love with her. He left me and made her his wife.

Can you wonder that I hate the son of the woman who stole my love away

from me?"

"Rupert is the son of the man you loved----"

"And of the man who cheated me. Look at my lonely life, at my starved

heart. I hate the Ainsleighs--there's only one left but I hate him. And

when I heard Markham was murdered in China I was glad--yes, very glad."

"What an unforgiving nature you have."

"I have every right to be unforgiving. Markham ruined my life. And do

you think I'll let you marry Rupert--the son of that woman. No! Marry

him, and I leave what money I have to Miss Pewsey."

"You can if you like, Aunt Sophia. I don't want your money."

"Reflect," said Miss Wharf violently. "I have a thousand a year. Half of

that goes to a distant relative, and the remainder you shall have if you

will give this man up. Five hundred a year is not to be thrown away."

"I cannot give Rupert up," said Olivia firmly.

"Think girl," pleaded Miss Wharf, her face becoming red and wrinkled

with the violence of her passion, "there are other men who love you.

Young Walker would make you a good husband, and Lady Jabe is most

anxious for the match."

"I like Chris," said Olivia, "and I have known him all my life. But I

can't marry him. I want a master when I marry."

"Then take Clarence Burgh," said Miss Wharf, "he will be your master."

"No. He's a brute."

"He's a man--much more of a man than Rupert Ainsleigh."

"I deny that" said Olivia fiercely.

"He is. Clarence has been all over the world. He has fought

everywhere--"

"So has Major Tidman. Do you advise me to marry him?"

"He would make you a better husband than Rupert, old as he is. That

young Ainsleigh is a dreamer. He is on the point of losing his estates,

yet he sits at Royabay doing nothing."

"He intends to do something, and save the estates."

"Never. He is not the sort of man to work. Olivia if you will take Chris

Walker, or Clarence Burgh for your husband I shall leave you five

hundred a year. If you refuse I give you nothing."

"I prefer nothing--and Rupert."

"Then you shall not have him. I'll ruin him first."

Olivia started. "You can't ruin him. You talk wildly."

"Oh do I," sneered Miss Wharf, "that shows you know little of me or of

my business. Listen. I bought up a mortgage on the Royabay estate. It

cost me money which I could ill afford to pay away. But I bought it so

as to ruin the son of that woman Vane who took Markham from me. I always

intended to buy the estate, or at least to drive Rupert from the place,

but if you will give him up, I shall forego my revenge. Now what do you

say?"

"Nothing," faltered Olivia, who had turned very pale. "I don't know what

to say."

"Will you give the man up."

"I won't see him, if that will please you."

"No. It doesn't please me. You must give him up, and engage yourself to

Mr. Walker or to Mr. Burgh."

"I cannot--I cannot--" said poor Olivia.

Miss Wharf stamped her foot and bit her lip. "You are as obstinate as

your mother was before you," she said savagely. "I shall give you one

month to make up your mind, and that is very generous of me. If you

surrender Rupert and choose one of the other two, I will not

foreclose the mortgage and will leave you five hundred a year."

"When can you foreclose?" asked Olivia anxiously.

"By the end of the year. So it rests with you, if Rupert Ainsleigh

leaves his home in six months or keeps it. Now you can go."

Olivia Rayner was not a girl who would stand dictation. But for some

reason or another she meekly bowed her head and went out, leaving Miss

Wharf to calm down over her needle-work.

The girl went to her own room, and lay down to think over the situation.

What she thought or what plan she conceived, it is difficult to say; but

she came down to dinner quite composed. Her aunt looked at her sharply,

and Miss Pewsey with suspicion, but neither of them made any remark

bearing on the storm. On the contrary Miss Wharf chatted about the ball

and talked of her dress and even advised Olivia about her costume. "You

will look very well in white," said Miss Wharf.

"But not so lovely as my Sophia in pale blue," said Miss Pewsey with her

usual emphasis. "I know you will be the belle of the ball darling

Sophia."

"I have been the belle of several balls in my time," said Miss Wharf

good-humouredly.

"And will be still," purred Miss Pewsey like the cat she was, "my dear

nephew said you were a rattling fine woman."

"It sounds like one of Mr. Burgh's speeches," said Olivia with great

contempt. She knew that the buccaneer loved her, and therefore disliked

him the more.

"Oh Olivia how can you," cried the little old maid, throwing up her

hands, "when poor, dear, darling, Clarence worships the ground you walk

on. He's got money too, and wants a wife!"

"Let him marry Lotty Dean then."

"That retired grocer's daughter," cried Miss Pewsey, drawing herself up,

"no indeed. I may be poor, but I am of gentle blood Olivia. The Pewsey's

have been in Essex for generations. My papa was rich and could afford to

send me to a fashionable school when I met my own Sophia. But poor sweet

papa lost his money and then--oh, dear me." Miss Pewsey squeezed out a

tear. "What sad times I have had."

"You're all right now, Lavinia," said Miss Wharf stolidly, eating fruit

and sipping port wine.

"Yes dearest Sophia, thanks to your large and generous heart. I have no

one in the world but you and Clarence. He is the son of my only sister,

and has travelled--"

"In China," said Olivia.

Miss Pewsey narrowed her eyes and looked as though about to scratch.

"In China, of course. But why do you make that remark, Olivia?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "I observed that Mr. Burgh has not very

pleasant recollections of China," she said deliberately, "he was not

pleased to find that Mr. Walker could talk the language, and he was

uncomfortable when the name Tung-yu was mentioned."

Miss Pewsey bit her lip. "Do you know anything of Tung-yu?"

"No. Why should I. All I know, is that Chris Walker says he will bring

the man down here for the ball."

The little old maid looked hard at the girl, but Olivia bore her

scrutiny composedly. She wondered why Miss Pewsey stared so hard, and

laid such emphasis on the Chinese name, but the matter slipped from her

mind when she retired to her room. She would have wondered still more

had she known that Miss Pewsey came up the stairs and listened at the

door of the bed-room.

Olivia had arranged to meet Rupert near the band-stand, as their

meetings were secret because of Miss Wharf's dislike. Certainly the

young man had come to the house, and Miss Wharf had received him with

cold dignity: but when he showed a marked preference for Olivia's

company, she gave him to understand that she did not approve. Henceforth

Rupert stopped away from Ivy Lodge, and met Olivia at intervals near the

band-stand. So Olivia, putting on a dark dress and a veil, slipped out

of the house, and took her way along the brilliantly lighted front. She

had often gone before and always had left her aunt and Miss Pewsey

sitting in the drawing-room, Miss Wharf working and the companion

reading the newspaper. Miss Wharf never by any chance looked at a

newspaper herself, but left it to Miss Pewsey to cull the choice news

for her delectation.

So Olivia, feeling quite safe, stepped lightly along to where the crowd

gathered round the stand. It was a perfect night and very warm,

therefore many people were seated in the chairs and strolling across the

grass. Olivia went to a certain corner, and, as she expected, found her

lover. He was not in evening-dress, but for the sake of the meeting had

assumed a dark serge suit. As she advanced, he recognised her and came

forward taking off his hat. Then he gave her his arm and the two

strolled to the far end of the green where they sat down under the fence

which was round the flag-staff. There, removed from everyone, they could

talk in moderately loud tones.

"My darling," said Rupert, possessing himself of Olivia's hand. "I

thought you would not come. You were late."

"I could not get away before. Miss Pewsey watches me like a cat does a

mouse, and with the same disposition to pounce, I expect."

"She's a detestable woman," said Rupert angrily, "why can't she leave

you alone?"

"I don't know. Rupert, she wants me to marry her nephew."

"What, that bounder who rides so furiously," cried Rupert fiercely, "you

don't mean to say that he dares----"

"Not in words, but he looks--oh," Olivia shivered, "you know the sort of

look a man like that, gives you."

"I'll twist his neck if he insults you."

"Then Miss Pewsey would complain to my aunt and I should get into

trouble. Oh, Rupert," she said softly, "I am so afraid."

"Of that man. Nonsense."

"No--of everything. I can keep Mr. Burgh off--"

"Who is he?" asked Rupert jealously.

"Miss Pewsey's nephew. I can manage him, bold as he is. But it is you I

am afraid of. Listen," and Olivia told the young man what she had

learned from Miss Wharf that afternoon. "She can ruin you," said the

poor girl, almost crying, "and she will if she learns the truth."

Rupert pressed the hand he held. "Why not tell her the truth," he said.

"I'm willing to face poverty if you are."

"Rupert, are you mad? If Aunt Sophia learned that we were married--hark,

what was that?" and Olivia rose, and nervously peered into the shadows,

"I thought I heard a noise."

"It's nothing. Only some rats in the long grass within the fence. No

one's about. They're all over at the band. But about our marriage,

Olivia. Miss Wharf must learn sooner or later."

"Yes. But you know I asked you to keep it quiet that I might not have

trouble with her. It was selfish of me, for it would have been braver of

me to have faced her anger and then have told all the world that we were

married at that Registry Office. But I'm glad now I didn't. She would

have ruined you."

"She can't do anything till the end of the year."

"But why didn't you tell me she held this mortgage?"

"Well, I thought that before the end of the year I might manage to pay

it and the other mortgages off. Then we could announce that we were

married, and live at Royabay on what small income I have."

"I don't mind about the income," said Mrs. Ainsleigh, for that Olivia

secretly was. "I'd live on a shilling a day with you, darling. But aunt

threatens if I marry you to cut me out of her will. She would do so at

once if she knew the truth, and leave the money to Miss Pewsey."

"Let her. I daresay that old maid has schemed for it. She's a wicked old

woman that and worthy of her bounder of a nephew. Never mind about the

money or the mortgage. Let us announce the marriage. I don't like the

position you occupy. It is not fit that my wife should be exposed to the

attentions of a cad like this Burgh."

"Wait till the end of the year," said Olivia feverishly, "then you may

be able to get money, to put things straight. It is best to keep the

matter quiet now. Oh how I wish we had money Rupert."

"I may be able to make it out of the fan?"

"What fan?" asked Olivia looking at him.

Rupert laughed. "I forgot you don't know." He took the slip of paper

from his pocket-book and lighting a match he read the description of the

fan. "I went up to the place," he continued dropping the lucifer, "and

saw a Chinaman, Tung-yu--"

"What," said Olivia starting, "why that is the man Mr. Walker is going

to bring to the ball. He's a clerk in the firm of Kum-gum Li and

Company."

"That's strange. I thought he was the keeper of the joss-house in Perry

Street, Whitechapel. Humph! Does Walker know of the fan?"

"I don't know. But he knows this Tung-yu, and I think, so does Mr.

Burgh. He seemed much annoyed when he heard the name."

"What about?"

"I can't say. And Rupert. Mr. Burgh speaks Chinese--"

"He must be very clever then for I hear it is a most awful language to

get hold of. Was Burgh ever in China?"

"Yes. He brought the fan from that place?"

"Fan." Rupert turned round sharply, "what fan?"

"The one you talk about," said Olivia innocently.

"I recognised it at once from the description you read just now."

"Are you sure," said Rupert much excited, for he never expected to hear

of the missing fan from Olivia of all people.

"Quite sure--positive. The fan is painted green on one side and the

sticks on the other are overlaid with thin jade, so I suppose it gets

its name from the mineral. Then it has a cord of yellow silk with four

beads and half a bead, and----"

"It is the same. Where did Burgh get it?"

"I don't know. He says he brought it from China, and offered it to me. I

refused it----"

"I should think so," said Ainsleigh fuming, "well?"

"Then he gave it to my aunt."

"And has Miss Wharf got it now?"

"I think so, but I have not seen it lately. I expect if she has, she

will use it at the ball."

"And Tung-yu who advertises, is coming to the ball," mused Rupert,

"there doesn't seem much chance for me. I expect your aunt will make the

money after all."

"It won't be much. Who would give a large sum for that fan?"

"Tung-yu will. He is ready to give five thousand pounds."

"Oh," said Olivia with real regret, "and I refused it."

"I'm glad you did," cried Rupert angrily, "I would rather everything

went than that you should accept presents from that bounder. Well I fear

my chance is gone Olivia. I'm ruined."

"Dearest I will face the ruin with you," and in the shadows they kissed.