It Began in Vauxhall Gardens

"You insolent woman!" said Fermor. "You are dismissed from my service."

"Your service! I was never in it! I serve Miss Caroline, and with her I stay. There, my queen, now you do know what he is, and I reckon if you'm wise you and me '11 go home where we belong to be, away from this place of sin and vice."

"Nothing could please me more," said Fermor coldly.

"Fermor," whispered Caroline, "how could you do this?"

"Caroline, you must see reason."

Wenna burst into loud laughter. Fermor strode to her and grasped her by the shoulder. "Will you be quiet or shall I shake the life out of you?"

"Try if you like!" said Wenna. "Kill me! Then you'll be hanged for murder. It would be worth dying to take you with me."

He threw her from him.

"Take her away, Caroline," he said. "I don't know how you could behave in this way . . . following me . . . spying on me. I'll not endure it."

"How like you!" said Caroline sadly. "You are caught; you are in the wrong; so you seek to turn the tables and put others in the wrong."

"You think it right then to follow your husband, to bring your insolent servant to abuse me!"

"Oh, Fermor, this has nothing to do with it. You followed her to London. You found out where she was. You . . . you are in love with her, are you?"

"Yes."

"And this is to be your home?"

"It is."

"And our home? What of that? What of your life with me?"

"My dear Caroline, you have no one but yourself to blame. It is a wife's duty to look the other way when there is something she should not see."

Melisande could bear no more. She would never forget the suffering she saw on Caroline's face. She cried: "No, no. It is not so, Caroline. It is not so. It was to be . . . but I shall go away. You married him, and it is my .place to go away. I did not mean to hurt you like this. I thought you would not know of it."

"You see what a good little girl she is!" sneered Wenna.

"I could never trust you," said Caroline. "I always knew you would make trouble. Everything changed when my father brought you into the house. I was happy before that."

"I will go away," said Melisande. "Caroline, I will go right away. He shall come back to you."

"When you have finished arranging my future," said Fermor in tones of cold fury, "I have something to say."

"What can you say to excuse this?" demanded Caroline.

"I had no intention of excusing it. My relation with Melisande makes no difference to our marriage. What more can you ask than that?"

Caroline laughed bitterly.

"You have lived too long in the country," he said. "You have been brought up in the narrow way of life. You have to be reasonable, my dear. You must understand and then you will see that everything can be happily settled."

Melisande looked at him and saw that the tender lover had disappeared. This was Fermor at his worst. He was hurting Caroline and he did not seem to understand, or was it that he did not care? He was hard and brutal. Perhaps everything seemed so simple to him. He had made a marriage of convenience; his family was pleased; her family was pleased. What more could be expected of him ? Melisande had despised Mr. Beddoes for wishing to make such a marriage. What of Fermor ?

Now she saw him as utterly selfish, capable only of fierce desire, never of the smallest sacrifice. Had she turned shuddering from Mr. Beddoes, a cautious and practical man, to another who was simply a brute?

She was still unawakened then ? She was still unsure. Here on the very edge of surrender she was turning aside.

Caroline swayed slightly and put out her hand to the wall. Wenna cried out: "My pet. . . my little queen!"

246 IT BEGAN IN VAUXHALL GARDENS

"It's all right," said Caroline, "I'm not going to faint. I won't live . . . like this. I'd rather die."

"Don't talk so, my little love," soothed Wenna. " Tis tempting evil."

"So much that is evil has happened," said Caroline. "I would rather be dead than here at this moment in this house of sin."

Fermor said: "At the moment it is merely a house ... as blameless as any other."

"I can't bear it," said Caroline. "You are so cruel... so hard . . . so callous ..."

She turned away and ran out of the house.

Wenna said: "A curse on you! A curse on you for your wickedness! May you both suffer as you have made my girl suffer . . . and more!"

Then she went out after Caroline, calling: "Wait for me. Wait for Wenna."

Melisande had shrunk against the wall. Fermor, flushed and angry, said: "Not a pleasant beginning."

"I cannot stay," said Melisande. "Not now. I cannot stay. I cannot forget them . . . either of them."

He came to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "You'll not go now."

"Yes, Fermor, I must."

"Because of that cheap bit of melodrama ?"

"Cheap! Melodrama! Couldn't you see that she was heartbroken ? Couldn't you see that she loves you, that you must go back to her and that you and I must never see each other again?"

"That is playing their game, foolish one. That is playing right into their hands. That's what they expect. We'll snap our fingers at them."

"You may. I will not."

"But you will. You came here and you'll stay here. You've left a note for Fenella. Your message will stand. You can't go back. You've left all that. You're here with me now and that's where I intend you shall stay."

He held her against him and she cried out: "No, Fermor. No."

"Yes," he said. "It shall be yes. I'll have no more of your changing your mind."

"How dare you try to force me to stay?"

"You said you wanted to be forced."

"Everything has changed."

"Nothing has changed. You came here and you'll stay here."

"I'll not. I hate you. I think I always hated you. You are more cruel than anyone. You have broken her heart and you don't care. You simply don't care. You laughed at her."

"You fool, Melisande. Did it deceive you then ?"

"I know," she said. "I know. I am going away .. . somewhere . . . anywhere . . . but not with you."

There was a loud knocking on the front door. Melisande opened it before he could stop her. Wenna stood before her—not the same Wenna who had left them a few minutes ago. This was a broken woman with a haggard face and a terrible fear in her eyes.

She said hoarsely: "There's been an accident."

That was all, and they followed her into the street.

A crowd had gathered. Melisande felt sick. She knew that the figure lying in the road was Caroline, and when she saw the carriage drawn up by the kerbside, and the people about it, she knew what had happened.

"Wenna .. . Wenna ..." she cried, "is she ... badly hurt?"

Wenna turned on her in fury. "She did it on purpose," she said. "I saw her. She went straight under the horse. You did this . . . you murderess!"

Melisande did not speak. She felt her limbs trembling. They had reached the edge of the crowd and she heard Wenna say: "This is the lady's husband."

Someone said: "I'm a doctor. We must get her to the nearest hospital."

Even Fermor was shaken now. "How . . . how badly hurt . . . is she?" he asked.

"As yet I can't say. My carriage is here. We'll go at once. You and the maid come with me."

Fermor turned to Melisande. "Go back to the house," he said, "and wait." Then he followed the doctor.