Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2033 page)

Lady J.
(
impatiently
). What was it then?

Julian.
Grace Roseberry.

Lady J.
What!!!

Horace.
Grace Roseberry!!!

Julian.
Yes, and stranger still, she declared that if she could be assisted to get to England, she would be received at Mablethorpe House by Lady Janet Roy. You saw me start, aunt, when you introduced me to the young lady here. Now you know why.

Lady J.
The woman must be mad! How came she to give herself Grace’s name? How came she to hear of me?

Horace.
She and Grace met by accident in the French Cottage. Grace may have mentioned her name, and may have talked of you.

Lady J.
(
to
JULIAN). Surely, you have not interested yourself in such a person as this?

Julian.
l am more interested than ever now I find that Miss Roseberry herself is a guest in your house.

Lady J.
You don’t expect me to see the woman?

Julian.
I hope you will not refuse. When I got your letter, I wrote to her, appointing a meeting here. (
He looks at his watch.
) She is ten minutes after her time.

(
The
SERVANT
enters by the conservatory, with a card in his hand.
)

The Servant
(
to
JULIAN). A lady to see you, sir.

(
He gives
JULIAN
the card and waits.
)

Julian
(
handing the card to
LADY J.) Here she is.

Lady J.
(
indignantly, after looking at the card
). “Miss Roseberry”!!! I decline to see her.

(
She throws the card on a table near which she is standing.
)

Julian.
One moment! (
To the
SERVANT.) Wait, within hearing of the bell. (
The
SERVANT
withdraws by the conservatory.
) Surely we ought to hear what the lady has to say?

Horace.
It is an insult to Grace to hear what she has to say.

Lady J.
I think so too.

Julian.
Pardon me. I have no intention of reflecting on the young lady who has just left us. The Consul’s letter suggests a solution of the difficulty. He tells me that the medical authorities at Mannheim believe their patient’s mind to have been unsettled by her illness.

Lady J.
Just what I said! A madwoman.

Julian.
She is described as perfectly gentle and harmless. It would be downright cruelty to turn her adrift in the world without making some inquiry first.

Lady J.
(
yielding
). That is true.

Julian.
We are all three interested in setting the matter at rest. And we have just the opportunity we want. Miss Roseberry has left the room.

Lady J.
Let the woman come in — at once, while Grace is out of the way.

(JULIAN
strikes the bell. The
SERVANT
appears in the conservatory.
)

Julian
(
to the
SERVANT). Show the lady in.

(
The
SERVANT
goes out by the conservatory.
)

Lady J.
You agree with Julian, Horace?

Horace.
I differ with him, Lady Janet. The woman has no claim on us.

Julian.
Don’t be hard, Horace. All women have a claim on us.

(GRACE
appears at the entrance of the conservatory, shown in by the
SERVANT.
She is plainly dressed in black.
)

Grace
(
hesitating at the door
). Mr. Julian Gray?

Julian
(
advancing
). I am Julian Gray. I am sorry I was not at home when you called with your letter from the Consul. (
Lady Janet advances a little.
) Pray take a seat.

Grace
(
looking at
LADY J.) Is that Lady Janet Roy?

Julian.
Yes.

Grace
(
approaching
LADY J.) Almost the last words my father said to me on his death-bed, Lady Janet, were the words which told me to expect protection and kindness from you. (
A pause.
LADY J.
looks at her silently. GRACE shrinks back.
) Was my father wrong?

Lady J.
(
coldly
). Who was your father?

Grace
. Has the servant not given you my card? Don’t you know my name?

Lady J.
(
as before
). Which of your names? The name on your card is “Miss Roseberry.” The name marked on your clothes, when you were in the hospital, was “Mercy Merrick.”

Grace
. They were the clothes of another woman. I had been exposed for hours to the pouring rain. (
To
JULIAN.) Mercy Merrick lent me her clothes while my own were drying.

Lady J.
(
to
HORACE). She is ready with her explanation.

Horace
(
to
LADY J.). A great deal too ready.

Grace
(
looking from one to the other
). They don’t believe me! (LADY JANET
turns away in silence.
)

Julian
(
to
GRACE). Lady Janet asked you a question just now. Lady Janet inquired who your father was.

Grace
. My father was the late Colonel Roseberry.

Lady J.
Her assurance amazes me!

Julian.
Pray let us hear her! (
To
GRACE.) Have you any proof to produce, which will satisfy us that you are Colonel Roseberry’s daughter?

Grace
. Is my word not enough?

Julian.
Pardon me; you forget that you and Lady Janet meet now for the first time. How is my aunt to know that you are the late Colonel Roseberry’s daughter?

Grace
. Ah! If I only had the letters that have been stolen from me!

Julian.
Letters introducing you to Lady Janet?

Grace
. Yes. (
To
LADY J.). Let me tell you how I lost my letters.

Horace
(
to
LADY J.). Another explanation!

Julian
(
to
HORACE). Don’t irritate her! (
To
GRACE). In the absence of your letters, have you any one in London who can speak to your identity?

Grace
. I have no friends in London.

Lady J.
(
to
HORACE). No friends in London!

Horace
(
to
LADY J.). Of course not!

Grace
(
rising
). My friends are in Canada — dozens of friends who could speak for me, if I could only bring them here.

Lady J.
(
to
HORACE). Canada!

Horace
(
to
LADY J.). Far enough off, certainly!

Julian.
A little patience, Lady Janet. A little consideration, Horace, for a friendless woman.

Grace
. They won’t even listen to me!

Julian.
I
will listen. Tell
me
how you lost your letters.

Grace
. I had them safe about me at the moment when I was struck senseless by the bullet. The nurse was the only person who knew that I had them — and the nurse was alone with me when I received my wound.

Julian.
Who was the nurse?

Grace
. An Englishwoman attached to the French ambulance.

Julian.
The same woman who lent you her clothes?

Grace
. Yes; Mercy Merrick.

Julian.
And you suspect Mercy Merrick of stealing your letters?

Grace
. I am certain she stole them. She, herself, confessed to me that she had been in a prison — that she had come out of a Refuge.

Julian
(
gently interrupting her
). Granting all that, what use could she make of your letters?

Grace
. What use? One of them was a letter from my father introducing me to Lady Janet. A woman out of a Refuge would be quite capable of presenting herself here, in my place.

Lady Janet
(
turning away to leave the room
). Give me your arm, Horace, I have heard enough.

Horace.
You are quite right, Lady Janet. A more monstrous story never was invented.

Grace
(
angrily
). What is there monstrous in it?

Julian.
One minute, aunt. In the name of humanity, one minute more!

Grace
(
continuing
). Such things have happened before now. Everybody has read of cases of false personation, in newspapers and books. I foolishly confided in Mercy Merrick before I found out what her character really was. Lady Janet! she knew that I was personally a stranger to you. She left the place — I know it by after inquiries — firmly persuaded that the bullet had killed me. My own clothes disappeared with her. Is there nothing suspicious in these circumstances? When I mentioned them to the doctors at the hospital, they all warned me that I might find an impostor in my place. (LADY J.,
with a gesture of disgust takes
HORACE’S
arm again to go out.
GRACE
approaches nearer to her, supplicatingly.
) One word before you turn your back on me! One word, and I will be content! Has my father’s letter found its way to this house, or not? If it has, did a woman bring it to you?