The roads even then were good, and very good horses the posting-houses
turned out; so that by dint of extra pay the rapid rate of travelling
undertaken by the servant was fully accomplished in the first two or
three stages.
While Lady Walsingham was continually striking her repeater in her ear, and as they neared their destination, growing in spite of herself more anxious, her sister's uneasiness showed itself in a less reserved way; for, cold as it was, with snowflakes actually dropping, Lady Haworth's head was perpetually out at the window, and when she drew it up, sitting again in her place, she would audibly express her alarms, and apply to her sister for consolation and confidence in her suspense.
Under its thin carpet of snow, the pretty village of Golden Friars
looked strangely to their eyes. It had long been fast asleep, and both
ladies were excited as they drew up at the steps of the George and
Dragon, and with bell and knocker roused the slumbering household.
What tidings awaited them here? In a very few minutes the door was
opened, and the porter staggered down, after a word with the driver, to
the carriage-window, not half awake.
"Is Lady Mardykes well?" demanded Lady Walsingham.
"Is Sir Bale well?"
"Are all the people at Mardykes Hall quite well?"
With clasped hands Lady Haworth listened to the successive answers to
these questions which her sister hastily put. The answers were all
satisfactory. With a great sigh and a little laugh, Lady Walsingham
placed her hand affectionately on that of her sister; who, saying, "God
be thanked!" began to weep.
"When had you last news from Mardykes?" asked Lady Walsingham.
"A servant was down here about four o'clock."
"O! no one since?" said she in a disappointed tone.
No one had been from the great house since, but all were well then.
"They are early people, you know, dear; and it is dark at four, and that
is as late as they could well have heard, and nothing could have
happened since—very unlikely. We have come very fast; it is only a few
minutes past two, darling."
But each felt the chill and load of their returning anxiety.
While the people at the George were rapidly getting a team of horses to, Lady Walsingham contrived a moment for an order from the other window to her servant, who knew Golden Friars perfectly, to knock-up the people at Doctor Torvey's, and to inquire whether all were well at Mardykes Hall.
There he learned that a messenger had come for Doctor Torvey at ten
o'clock, and that the Doctor had not returned since. There was no news, however, of any one's being ill; and the Doctor himself did not know what he was wanted about. While Lady Haworth was talking to her maid from the window next the steps, Lady Walsingham was, unobserved, receiving this information at the other.
It made her very uncomfortable.
In a few minutes more, however, with a team of fresh horses, they were
again rapidly passing the distance between them and Mardykes Hall.
About two miles on, their drivers pulled-up, and they heard a voice
talking with them from the roadside. A servant from the Hall had been
sent with a note for Lady Walsingham, and had been ordered, if
necessary, to ride the whole way to the Three Nuns to deliver it. The
note was already in Lady Walsingham's hand; her sister sat beside her, and with the corner of the open note in her fingers, she read it breathlessly at the same time by the light of a carriage-lamp which the man held to the window. It said:
My dearest love—my darling sister—dear sisters both!—in God's name, lose not a moment. I am so overpowered and terrified. I cannot explain; I can only implore of you to come with all the haste you can make. Waste no time, darlings. I hardly understand what I write. Only this, dear sisters; I feel that my reason will desert me, unless you come soon. You will not fail me now. Your poor distracted
JANET
The sisters exchanged a pale glance, and Lady Haworth grasped her
sister's hand.
"Where is the messenger?" asked Lady Walsingham.
A mounted servant came to the window.
"Is any one ill at home?" she asked.
"No, all were well—my lady, and Sir Bale—no one sick."
"But the Doctor was sent for; what was that for?"
"I can't say, my lady."
"You are quite certain that no one—think—no one is ill?"
"There is no one ill at the Hall, my lady, that I have heard of."
"Is Lady Mardykes, my sister, still up?"
"Yes, my lady; and her maid is with her."