Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye

“What I have done with Miss Wynn!” Then adding, “Pray explain yourself, sir!”

“Come, Captain Ryecroft; you know what I allude to?”

“For the life of me I don’t.”

“Do you mean to say you’re not aware of what’s happened?”

“What’s happened! When? Where?”

“At Llangorren, the night of that hall. You were present; I saw you.”

“And I saw you, Mr Shenstone. But you don’t tell me what happened.”

“Not at the hall, but after.”

“Well, and what after?”

“Captain Ryecroft, you’re either an innocent man, or, the most guilty on the face of the earth.”

“Stop, sir! Language like yours requires justification, of the gravest kind. I ask an explanation – demand it!”

Thus brought to bay, George Shenstone looks straight in the face of the man he has so savagely assailed; there to see neither consciousness of guilt, nor fear of punishment. Instead, honest surprise mingled with keen apprehension; the last not on his own account, but hers of whom they are speaking. Intuitively, as if whispered by an angel in his ear, he says, or thinks to himself: “This man knows nothing of Gwendoline Wynn. If she has been carried off, it has not been by him; if murdered, he is not her murderer.”

“Captain Ryecroft,” he at length cries out in hoarse voice, the revulsion of feeling almost choking him, “if I’ve been wronging you I ask forgiveness; and you’ll forgive. For if I have, you do not – cannot know what has occurred.”

“I’ve told you I don’t,” affirms Ryecroft, now certain that the other speaks of something different, and more serious than the affair he had himself been thinking of. “For Heaven’s sake, Mr Shenstone, explain! What has occurred there?”

“Miss Wynn is gone away!”

“Miss Wynn gone away! But whither?”

“Nobody knows. All that can be said is, she disappeared on the night of the ball, without telling any one – no trace left behind – except – ”

“Except what?”

“A ring – a diamond cluster. I found it myself in the summer-house. You know the place – you know the ring too?”

“I do, Mr Shenstone; have reasons, painful ones. But I am not called upon to give them now, nor to you. What could it mean?” he adds, speaking to himself, thinking of that cry he heard when being rowed off. It connects itself with what he hears now; seems once more resounding in his ears, more than ever resembling a shriek! “But, sir; please proceed! For God’s sake, keep nothing back – tell me everything!”

Thus appealed to, Shenstone answers by giving an account of what has occurred at Llangorren Court – all that had transpired previous to his leaving; and frankly confesses his own reasons for being in Boulogne.

The manner in which it is received still further satisfying him of the other’s guiltlessness, he again begs to be forgiven for the suspicions he had entertained.

“Mr Shenstone,” returns Ryecroft, “you ask what I am ready and willing to grant – God knows how ready, how willing. If any misfortune has befallen her we are speaking of, however great your grief, it cannot be greater than mine.”

Shenstone is convinced. Ryecroft’s speech, his looks, his whole bearing, are those of a man not only guiltless of wrong to Gwendoline Wynn, but one who, on her account, feels anxiety keen as his own.

He stays not to question further; but once more making apologies for his intrusion – which are accepted without anger – he bows himself back into the street.

The business of his travelling companion in Boulogne was over some time ago. His is now equally ended; and though without having thrown any new light on the mystery of Miss Wynn’s disappearance, still with some satisfaction to himself, he dares not dwell upon. Where is the man who would not rather know his sweetheart dead than see her in the arms of a rival? However ignoble the feeling, or base to entertain it, it is natural to the human heart tortured by jealousy. Too natural, as George Shenstone that night knows, with head tossing upon a sleepless pillow. Too late to catch the Folkestone packet, his bed is in Boulogne – no bed of roses but a couch Procrustean.

Meanwhile, Captain Ryecroft returns to the room where his friend the Major has been awaiting him. Impatiently, though not in the interim unemployed; as evinced by a flat mahogany box upon the table, and beside it a brace of duelling pistols, which have evidently been submitted to examination. They are the “best barkers that can be got in Boulogne.”

“We shan’t need them, Major, after all.”

“The devil we shan’t! He’s shown the white feather?”

“No, Mahon; instead, proved himself as brave a fellow as ever stood before sword point, or dared pistol bullet?”

“Then there’s no trouble between you?”

“Ah! yes, trouble; but not between us. Sorrow shared by both. We’re in the same boat.”

“In that case, why didn’t you bring him in?”

“I didn’t think of it.”

“Well; we’ll drink his health. And since you say you’ve both embarked in the same boat – a bad one – here’s to your reaching a good haven, and in safety!”

“Thanks, Major! The haven I now want to reach, and intend entering ere another sun sets, is the harbour of Folkestone.”

The Major almost drops his glass. “Why, Ryecroft, you’re surely joking?”

“No, Mahon; I’m in earnest – dead anxious earnest.”

“Well, I wonder! No, I don’t,” he adds, correcting himself. “A man needn’t be surprised at anything where there’s a woman concerned. May the devil take her, who’s taking you away from me!”

“Major Mahon!”

“Well – well, old boy! Don’t be angry. I meant nothing personal, knowing neither the lady, nor the reason for thus changing your mind, and so soon leaving me. Let my sorrow at that be my excuse.”

“You shall be told it, this night – now!” In another hour Major Mahon is in possession of all that relates to Gwendoline Wynn, known to Vivian Ryecroft; no more wondering at the anxiety of his guest to get back to England; nor doing aught to detain him. Instead, he counsels his immediate return; accompanies him to the first morning packet for Folkestone; and at the parting hand-shake again reminds him of that well-timed grip in the ditch of Delhi, exclaiming —

“God bless you, old boy! Whatever the upshot, remember you’ve a friend, and a bit of a tent to shelter you in Boulogne – not forgetting a little comfort from the crayther!”

Volume Two – Chapter Twenty Four

Suicide, or Murder

Two more days have passed, and the crowd collected at Llangorren Court is larger than ever. But it is not now scattered, nor are people rushing excitedly about; instead, they stand thickly packed in a close clump, which covers all the carriage sweep in front of the house. For the search is over, the lost one has at length been found. Found, when the flood subsided, and the drag could do its work —found drowned!

Not far away, nor yet in the main river; but that narrow channel, deep and dark, inside the eyot. In a little angular embayment at the cliff’s base, almost directly under the summer-house was the body discovered. It came to the surface soon as touched by the grappling iron, which caught in the loose drapery around it. Left alone for another day it would have risen of itself.

Taken out of the water, and borne away to the house, it is now lying in the entrance-hall, upon a long table there set centrally.

The hall, though a spacious one, is filled with people; and but for two policemen stationed at the door would be densely crowded. These have orders to admit only the friends and intimates of the family, with those whose duty requires them to be there officially. There is again a council in deliberation; but not as on days preceding. Then it was to inquire into what had become of Gwendoline Wynn, and whether she were still alive; to-day, it is an inquest being held over her dead body!

There lies it, just as it came out of the water. But, oh! how unlike what it was before being submerged! Those gossamer things, silks and laces – the dress worn by her at the ball – no more floating and feather-like, but saturated, mud-stained, “clinging like cerements” around a form whose statuesque outlines, even in death, show the perfection of female beauty. And her chrome yellow hair, cast in loose coils about, has lost its silken gloss, and grown darker in hue: while the rich rose red is gone from her cheeks, already swollen and discoloured; so soon had the ruthless water commenced its ravages!