The Hampstead mystery: a novel. Volume 2 (of 3)Marryat, Florence
General
The Hampstead mystery: a novel. Volume 2 (of 3)
Marryat, Florence
Fiction
Philip drew Frederick upstairs. He felt the less these two men met in
the future the better. The room where Jenny now lay was already set
to rights, and she was stretched upon the bed, clad in fair, fresh
raiment, with her hands crossed meekly on her breast. She looked
very different, poor child, from the saucy, merry, wilful girl who
had run away with her lover, without giving a single thought to the
consequences. The women had smoothed her hair upon her forehead, her
eyes were sunk, her mouth pathetically closed and rigid. The little
perfect nose, her lover had so much admired, was drawn and pinched
almost out of all likeness to itself, and the inside of the hands were
turning purple. Her unhappy husband prostrated himself with a cry of
anguish by the side of the bed, and Philip withdrew and left him for
a little while, whilst he made arrangements for their departure for
London. He felt that Frederick could have no possible desire to remain
in Dover when Jenny’s body had been removed thence, and that the sooner
he left it the better.
Mr Crampton and Henry Hindes had decided to remain there till the
following day, when the sad preparations for their return to Hampstead
would be completed, and Philip Walcheren was glad to see them leave the
‘Bottle and Spurs’ for a hotel, where they had arranged to pass the
night. He accompanied them to the town, and, when the coast was clear,
he secured a close carriage and returned to the public-house for his
unfortunate cousin.
‘Come, dear Frederick,’ he said, as he re-entered the room where the
body lay; ‘let me take you away from here. I have settled your bill at
the Castle Warden, and your portmanteau is waiting us at the station.
The--the other things there, I have arranged with Mr Crampton to take
away. It is best that we should return to London at once.’
‘And is this the last--last time that I shall ever see her?’ asked
Frederick, in a tone of unutterable woe.
‘On this earth, my dear cousin, yes,’ replied Philip, ‘and it is just
as well. The sight can only increase your misery. In a very short time
the undertakers will be here to do their work. Why not spare yourself
the extra pain of watching them. And after they are gone, what will
there be for you to gaze upon? A box of wood! Be a man, my dear fellow,
and say good-bye to her.’
‘Oh! Philip, Philip, if you only knew what that word costs me. It is
like dragging my very entrails out to pronounce it.’
‘I do know it, but it must be done. Better now than before strangers.’
‘Good-bye, good-bye, my angel,’ cried the young man, as he kissed
the corpse from head to feet. ‘Don’t forget your wretched husband in
the land you have gone to, but remember he has but one wish left on
earth--to join you there. Good-bye, my only love! No other woman can
ever take your place with me. I dedicate the rest of my unhappy life to
your sweet memory. Oh, Philip, how can I tear myself away from her!’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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