The strange transfiguration of Hannah Stubbs
of me than I am of them!”
“Of _you_--who used to shriek if you saw ’em!” replied her companion,
incredulously.
“I know! but they says as use is second natur. Anyways, I don’t mind
’em one pin now! The Doctor says they ’ave seen the most wonderfullest
things through me--his dead patients and others--and that if anythink
’appened to the Markiss, my mediumship would be worth its weight in
gold. So I’m not going to throw it away--you bet!”
“O! well! and I’m not the one to blame yer. We must all look arter
ourselves in this world. But ’ow improved you are in your speaking, my
dear! ’Ave you been to school since the Sig-nor married you?”
“Am I improved?” demanded Hannah, with a look of surprise; “I don’t
see any difference myself! P’r’aps it’s talking so much with my
’usband--not that the Markiss is a great talker, but still I don’t
hear anyone else.”
“You are altered in many ways,” continued the landlady, thoughtfully,
“you’ve lost the scared look you used to ’ave on your face, and the
dull look too, I may say, for we never considered you over-bright, you
know, Hannah! But now--I ain’t good at describing--but you seem to me
to have wakened up, as if you’d seen a lot of the world and its ways.
And it’s improved you, Hannah--wonderful!”
“I’m glad of that,” replied the markiness, “for now that I am a lady,
I has to speak like one. Well! I’ll say good-night to you now, Mrs.
Battleby, for I must be going ’ome! But I thought, as you’d known the
Markiss for so long, you’d like to hear the news, and that we’re all
so ’appy together!”
Hannah had risen to go, but Mrs. Battleby detained her for a moment.
“You ’aven’t told me nothing of the Sig-nor’s ’ealth,” she said; “’as
’e got rid of them dreadful fainty attacks as used to take ’im
sometimes, when ’e lived with me?”
“No! not quite! He had one yesterday. The Baron says it’s ’is ’eart,
and that ’e’s ’ad it a long time. But all we ’ave to do is to be
careful, and ’e’ll last as long as any.”
“And may I come up and see you some day, Hannah--my lady?” inquired
the landlady. “I should like to ’ave a look at the Sig-nor, I must
say.”
The Markiness dee Sorrento hesitated.
“I s’pose I must say ‘yes’, Mrs. Battleby, because of old times, but
you must please not to call me ‘Hannah’ before my servant, or she may
think it disrespectful. I ’ope you understand the motive!”
“O! yes, my lady--certainly, my lady!” replied Mrs. Battleby, as she
curtsied the newly-made peeress out at the hall door, and retreated to
the kitchen again, to try and solve the marvellous riddle which had
been presented to her.
Meanwhile the marchioness took an omnibus back to Hampstead, where she
found Karl von Steinberg, who had been home about a week, in close
conversation with her husband.
“I am trying to combat Ricardo’s objection to your giving my friends a
séance next week, Hannah!” he said, as she appeared, “but he is very
obstinate! He seems to imagine that if your powers are made public,
they will deteriorate in some way. I--on the contrary--think they will
improve with practice, always provided that we see you are not
overtaxed. And _I_ shall be present to prevent that! I have not given
up being a doctor, at all events for the benefit of my friends, though
I have become a Baron!”
“Of course not!” replied Hannah, “and I’ve told the Markiss so a
hundred times! Haven’t the sperrits said the same thing? They’re more
likely to desert me, if I disobey their orders. Don’t waste no more
time over the Markiss, Baron! I’m going to give your friends that
séance next week, and as many more as you choose--so there’s an end
of the matter!”
“But we must follow your husband’s wishes in this respect, Hannah,”
said Von Steinberg. “I should not enjoy the séance, for one, if he
disapproved of your giving it! He will never shut me out from your
home sittings, I am sure, and if he is determined, my friends must go
without it, or get another medium to sit for them!”
“And where will they find another like me?” replied Hannah, with that
strange look in her eyes--half sensual and half cunning--which he had
noticed before his departure for Germany. “You know yourself there is
not such another in the country! No! I shall sit at your house next
week, whatever any one says. Besides, if I do not, Leonora will not
come again, and how will you like that, Markiss?”
“Did she tell you so?” cried Ricardo, in alarm.
“Indeed, she did! She says my gift was given me for the good of
humanity and not merely to gratify your selfish wish to see her
again.”
“O! I will not--I will not--be selfish then,” exclaimed the poor
Professor. “Von Steinberg, she is right! This wonderful gift was never
intended to be hidden under a bushel! I give my consent to her using
it for the benefit of mankind. But--if you will forgive me--I will
remain at home! I could not bear to see my Leonora disporting her
lovely form for strangers to gaze at. No! let Hannah wait upon your
friends, and I will stay here until my Angel deigns to come to me
again.”
“But why should Leonora appear at all in my house, Ricardo?”
remonstrated his friend, “if you do not care to attend the séance,
you can at least bring your wife to my house and take her home.”
“No! no! I would rather that she went alone!” persisted the Professor.
“O! let him be!” cried Hannah, impatiently, “if the markiss has got a
crotchet in his head, it’ll take more than you and me to dig it out
again. It’ll be his own loss--not ours!”
At this Ricardo rose, and, without another word, walked up stairs to
his own room.
“You are wrong, Hannah,” remarked Von Steinberg, “you have no right to
speak before your husband like that! You should be doubly forbearing
towards him just now, for I don’t think he is well.”
“What’s the matter with him?” asked the girl.
“His heart is weaker than usual, and he has other disorders which
complicate it. I think your determination to assume his title has
worried him more than you imagine. It rouses unpleasant memories in
him, and keeps the Past always before his eyes. Besides, it is not
yours to use! It was confiscated years ago by the Italian Government,
and does not belong to Ricardo himself any longer!”
“O! that’s rubbish!” cried Hannah, “it wasn’t lawful of them to take
it away, and so it’s his still! Besides, what ’arm does it do to
anybody, my calling myself a markiness? It’s little enough I got by
marrying ’im, I’m sure! He needn’t grudge me that!”
“You got an honest, brave, honourable gentleman, Hannah, which is a
thing to be proud of!”
“But it won’t do me ’alf the good that being called ‘my lady’ will,
all the same,” replied Hannah, with one of her cunning looks. “I mean
to make my way in the world, Baron, for he won’t leave me much butter
for my bread, and it’s the only crutch I’ve got to walk with! It’ll go
down better than money with ’alf the fools I meet.”
“I think you’re a very clever woman,” said Von Steinberg, regarding
her with admiration. “I had no idea when I first saw you, that you had
such a quick wit and brain. And you are improving fast in your manner
of talking! If it were not for dropping an _h_ now and then, when you
get excited, you might really hold your own with many a lady in the
land!”
“I mean to, too, you bet!” said Hannah. “I ain’t--I mean, I
haven’t--married an old man for nothing! I’ve got something to set
against his age, eh, Doctor? And if you’ll stand my friend, and
introduce me to some of the big people at your séances, you see if my
‘wonderful gift’ (as you call it) won’t land me some day in unexpected
places.”
“By Jove! I believe you’re sharp enough for anything,” exclaimed Von
Steinberg, “and if I can help you, I will! But it must be with
Ricardo’s consent.”
“Didn’t you hear him give it? He’d sell me to the Devil, if it would
bring his Leonora to him! He doesn’t care a hang about me! He only
cares for her!”
“You mustn’t say that!” replied Von Steinberg, though he believed it
to be true.
“And I’ll tell you a secret, Doctor! I don’t believe that Leonora will
come to him much longer, either! She’s pretty well sick of being
prayed and slobbered over, and called an angel! She wasn’t an
angel--not by no manner of means--and it wearies her! She liked life,
did Leonora--domestic happiness wasn’t in her line at all.”
“I believe you are correct there,” replied the Doctor.
“And can’t you see how sitting by himself, night after night, is
drawing all the strength out of the Markiss. It doesn’t signify about
_my_ strength--he has never thought about that--so long as he can see
Leonora--but it’ll chaw him up before long, if he don’t look out.
It’ll be for his good to take me away a bit--mark my words!”
“By Jove! you’re right again,” replied her companion, “and it is
wonderful I did not perceive the danger to him before! You’ve done
Ricardo a great benefit by your astuteness, my dear, and I shall not
fail to tell him so! But you are sure you have not hurt yourself! You
do not feel at all weak, or ill--not as if a tonic, or stimulant of
any kind, would do you good?”
“O! no! Doctor, I’m all right, thank you,” said Hannah, smiling at the
anxiety depicted in his face; “only you get me to your fine house and
it’ll do me all the good in the world!”
“I am delighted to think that you are coming,” said Von Steinberg,
“and, Hannah, at this or any time, remember that anything I may have,
or can procure, is at your service! I can never sufficiently thank you
for the grand insight you have given me, through your mediumship, to
the truth of Immortality, and anything I could do for you in return I
should esteem a great favour!
“And now one word of advice, my dear girl, which I know you are too
sensible to resent. Try to correct the few errors of grammar which you
still retain, and the sooner will you gain admittance into the houses
you aspire to be invited to, on an equal footing with their owners.”
Hannah stood, for a moment, as if dumbfoundered.
“I don’t get on as fast as I should, do I?” she said at length. “It
seems queer, but there’s something in my tongue as won’t sound some
words. I s’pose it’s all habit, and I haven’t much opportunity for
improving myself now!”
“How’s that?”
“Why, the markiss has gone dumb! ’E never opens ’is mouth ’ardly from
morning till night! ’Ow is a girl to learn anything from him? I can
read a little, you know, Doctor, but not enough to improve myself, and
I carn’t go back to school, now I’m a markiness!”
“No! you’re too old for that! Well! we must see what we can do
together, Hannah, you and I! Your husband is out almost all day, so I
could come over here sometimes, and give you a lesson in conversation,
that is, if you really wish to learn.”
“I’d like to learn Italian with you,” said Hannah, softly.
Von Steinberg stared.
“Italian, my dear! What are you talking of? I think we had better get
on with a little English first! When shall it be? Shall I come up
to-morrow morning and begin our studies?”
Hannah approached him, and laid her hand gently on his arm.
“I shall like to learn with you!” she said, softly, in the same voice
she had used a moment before. “You are good. I feel it! I shall love
you for your kindness to me.”
Karl von Steinberg started away from her, as if he had been stung.
What was the expression in her face, which had so improved its
expression? Rough Hannah Stubbs seemed to have gone away, and a
gentle-featured, alluring woman to have stepped into her place. Her
eyes, always beautiful, glowed with gratitude and sensibility--her
touch was tender--her smile had become plaintive and appealing.
The doctor shook off her grasp rather rudely than otherwise, and,
rising, declared it was time he returned home, and left the cottage
without another word.
CHAPTER XIII.