Alwyn was in a state of indescribable bewilderment.But,unmanned as he was,he called the next day on the,to him,spurious Duchess of Hamptonshire.At first she was alarmed at his statement,then cold,then she was won over by his condition to give confidence for confidence.She showed him a letter which had been found among the papers of the late Duke,corroborating what Alwyn's informant had detailed.It was from Emmeline,bearing the postmarked date at which the Western Glory sailed,and briefly stated that she had emigrated by that ship to America.
Alwyn applied himself body and mind to unravel the remainder of the mystery.The story repeated to him was always the same:'She ran away with the curate.'A strangely circumstantial piece of intelligence was added to this when he had pushed his inquiries a little further.There was given him the name of a waterman at Plymouth,who had come forward at the time that she was missed and sought for by her husband,and had stated that he put her on board the Western Glory at dusk one evening before that vessel sailed.
After several days of search about the alleys and quays of Plymouth Barbican,during which these impossible words,'She ran off with the curate,'became branded on his brain,Alwyn found this important waterman.He was positive as to the truth of his story,still remembering the incident well,and he described in detail the lady's dress,as he had long ago described it to her husband,which description corresponded in every particular with the dress worn by Emmeline on the evening of their parting.
Before proceeding to the other side of the Atlantic to continue his inquiries there,the puzzled and distracted Alwyn set himself to ascertain the address of Captain Wheeler,who had commanded the Western Glory in the year of Alwyn's voyage out,and immediately wrote a letter to him on the subject.
The only circumstances which the sailor could recollect or discover from his papers in connection with such a story were,that a woman bearing the name which Alwyn had mentioned as fictitious certainly did come aboard for a voyage he made about that time;that she took a common berth among the poorest emigrants;that she died on the voyage out,at about five days'sail from Plymouth;that she seemed a lady in manners and education.Why she had not applied for a first-class passage,why she had no trunks,they could not guess,for though she had little money in her pocket she had that about her which would have fetched it.'We buried her at sea,'continued the captain.'A young parson,one of the cabin-passengers,read the burial-service over her,I remember well.'
The whole scene and proceedings darted upon Alwyn's recollection in a moment.It was a fine breezy morning on that long-past voyage out,and he had been told that they were running at the rate of a hundred and odd miles a day.The news went round that one of the poor young women in the other part of the vessel was ill of fever,and delirious.The tidings caused no little alarm among all the passengers,for the sanitary conditions of the ship were anything but satisfactory.Shortly after this the doctor announced that she had died.Then Alwyn had learnt that she was laid out for burial in great haste,because of the danger that would have been incurred by delay.And next the funeral scene rose before him,and the prominent part that he had taken in that solemn ceremony.The captain had come to him,requesting him to officiate,as there was no chaplain on board.This he had agreed to do;and as the sun went down with a blaze in his face he read amidst them all assembled:
'We therefore commit her body to the deep,to be turned into corruption,looking for the resurrection of the body when the sea shall give up her dead.'
The captain also forwarded the addresses of the ship's matron and of other persons who had been engaged on board at the date.To these Alwyn went in the course of time.A categorical description of the clothes of the dead truant,the colour of her hair,and other things,extinguished for ever all hope of a mistake in identity.
At last,then,the course of events had become clear.On that unhappy evening when he left Emmeline in the shrubbery,forbidding her to follow him because it would be a sin,she must have disobeyed.She must have followed at his heels silently through the darkness,like a poor pet animal that will not be driven back.She could have accumulated nothing for the journey more than she might have carried in her hand;and thus poorly provided she must have embarked.Her intention had doubtless been to make her presence on board known to him as soon as she could muster courage to do so.
Thus the ten years'chapter of Alwyn Hill's romance wound itself up under his eyes.That the poor young woman in the steerage had been the young Duchess of Hamptonshire was never publicly disclosed.
Hill had no longer any reason for remaining in England,and soon after left its shores with no intention to return.Previous to his departure he confided his story to an old friend from his native town--grandfather of the person who now relates it to you.
A few members,including the Bookworm,seemed to be impressed by the quiet gentleman's tale;but the member we have called the Spark--who,by the way,was getting somewhat tinged with the light of other days,and owned to eight-and-thirty--walked daintily about the room instead of sitting down by the fire with the majority and said that for his part he preferred something more lively than the last story--something in which such long-separated lovers were ultimately united.He also liked stories that were more modern in their date of action than those he had heard to-day.
Members immediately requested him to give them a specimen,to which the Spark replied that he didn't mind,as far as that went.And though the Vice-President,the Man of Family,the Colonel,and others,looked at their watches,and said they must soon retire to their respective quarters in the hotel adjoining,they all decided to sit out the Spark's story.
