"Her?" Mrs. Sowler repeated slowly, her eyes fixed on Phoebe with a lowering expression of suspicion and surprise. "Her?" She turned to Jervy. "Did you ask me if the child was a girl or a boy?"
"I never even thought of it," Jervy replied.
"Did I happen to say it myself, without being asked?"
Jervy deliberately abandoned Phoebe to the implacable old wretch, before whom she had betrayed herself. It was the only likely way of forcing the girl to confess everything. "No," he answered; "you never said it without being asked."
Mrs. Sowler turned once more to Phoebe. "How do you know the child was a girl?" she inquired.
Phoebe trembled, and said nothing. She sat with her head down, and her hands, fast clasped together, resting on her lap.
"Might I ask, if you please," Mrs. Sowler proceeded, with a ferocious assumption of courtesy, "how old you are, miss? You're young enough and pretty enough not to mind answering to your age, I'm sure."
Even Jervy's villainous experience of the world failed to forewarn him of what was coming. Phoebe, it is needless to say, instantly fell into the trap.
"Twenty-four," she replied, "next birthday."
"And the child was put into my hands, sixteen years ago," said Mrs. Sowler. "Take sixteen from twenty-four, and eight remains. I'm more surprised than ever, miss, at your knowing it to be a girl. It couldn't have been your child--could it?"
Phoebe started to her feet, in a state of fury. "Do you hear that?" she cried, appealing to Jervy. "How dare you bring me here to be insulted by that drunken wretch?"
Mrs. Sowler rose, on her side. The old savage snatched up her empty glass--intending to throw it at Phoebe. At the same moment, the ready Jervy caught her by the arm, dragged her out of the room, and shut the door behind them.
There was a bench on the landing outside. He pushed Mrs. Sowler down on the bench with one hand, and took Phoebe's purse out of his pocket with the other. "Here's a pound," he said, "towards the recovery of that debt of yours. Go home quietly, and meet me at the door of this house tomorrow evening, at six."
Mrs. Sowler, opening her lips to protest, suddenly closed them again, fascinated by the sight of the gold. She clutched the coin, and became friendly and familiar in a moment. "Help me downstairs, deary," she said, "and put me into a cab. I'm afraid of the night air."
"One word more, before I put you into a cab," said Jervy. "What did you really do with the child?"
Mrs. Sowler grinned hideously, and whispered her reply, in the strictest confidence.
"Sold her to Moll Davies, for five-and-sixpence."
"Who was Moll Davis?"
"A cadger."
"And you really know nothing now of Moll Davis or the child?"
"Should I want you to help me if I did?" Mrs. Sowler asked contemptuously. "They may be both dead and buried, for all I know to the contrary."
Jervy put her into the cab, without further delay. "Now for the other one!" he said to himself, as he hurried back to the private room.
CHAPTER 5
Some men would have found it no easy task to console Phoebe, under the circumstances. Jervy had the immense advantage of not feeling the slightest sympathy for her: he was in full command of his large resources of fluent assurance and ready flattery. In less than five minutes, Phoebe's tears were dried, and her lover had his arm round her waist again, in the character of a cherished and forgiven man.
"Now, my angel!" he said (Phoebe sighed tenderly; he had never called her his angel before), "tell me all about it in confidence. Only let me know the facts, and I shall see my way to protecting you against any annoyance from Mrs. Sowler in the future. You have made a very extraordinary discovery. Come closer to me, my dear girl. Did it happen in Farnaby's house?"
"I heard it in the kitchen," said Phoebe.
Jervy started. "Did any one else hear it?" he asked.
"No. They were all in the housekeeper's room, looking at the Indian curiosities which her son in Canada had sent to her. I had left my bird on the dresser--and I ran into the kitchen to put the cage in a safe place, being afraid of the cat. One of the swinging windows in the skylight was open; and I heard voices in the back room above, which is Mrs. Farnaby's room."
"Whose voices did you hear?"
"Mrs. Farnaby's voice, and Mr. Goldenheart's."
"Mrs. Farnaby?" Jervy repeated, in surprise. "Are you sure it was Mrs.?"
"Of course I am! Do you think I don't know that horrid woman's voice? She was saying a most extraordinary thing when I first heard her--she was asking if there was anything wrong in showing her naked foot. And a man answered, and the voice was Mr. Goldenheart's. You would have felt curious to hear more, if you had been in my place, wouldn't you? I opened the second window in the kitchen, so as to make sure of not missing anything. And what do you think I heard her say?"
"You mean Mrs. Farnaby?"
"Yes. I heard her say, 'Look at my right foot--you see there's nothing the matter with it.' And then, after a while, she said, 'Look at my left foot--look between the third toe and the fourth.' Did you ever hear of such a audacious thing for a married woman to say to a young man?"
"Go on! go on! What did he say?"
"Nothing; I suppose he was looking at her foot."
"Her left foot?"
"Yes. Her left foot was nothing to be proud of, I can tell you! By her own account, she has some horrid deformity in it, between the third toe and the fourth. No; I didn't hear her say what the deformity was. I only heard her call it so--and she said her 'poor darling' was born with the same fault, and that was her defence against being imposed upon by rogues--I remember the very words--'in the past days when I employed people to find her.' Yes! she said 'her.' I heard it plainly. And she talked afterwards of her 'poor lost daughter', who might be still living somewhere, and wondering who her mother was. Naturally enough, when I heard that hateful old drunkard talking about a child given to her by Mr. Farnaby, I put two and two together. Dear me, how strangely you look! What's wrong with you?"
I'm only very much interested--that's all. But there's one thing I don't understand. What had Mr. Goldenheart to do with all this?"
"Didn't I tell you?"
"No."
"Well, then, I tell you now. Mrs. Farnaby is not only a heartless wretch, who turns a poor girl out of her situation, and refuses to give her a character--she's a fool besides. That precious exhibition of her nasty foot was to inform Mr. Goldenheart of something she wanted him to know. If he happened to meet with a girl, in his walks or his travels, and if he found that she had the same deformity in the same foot, then he might know for certain--"
"All right! I understand. But why Mr. Goldenheart?"
"Because she had a dream that Mr. Goldenheart had found the lost girl, and because she thought there was one chance in a hundred that her dream might come true! Did you ever hear of such a fool before? From what I could make out, I believe she actually cried about it.