The Black Robe

W >> Wilkie Collins >> The Black Robe

THE BLACK ROBE

by Wilkie Collins




BEFORE THE STORY.




FIRST SCENE.--BOULOGNE-SUR-MER.--THE DUEL.

I.

THE doctors could do no more for the Dowager Lady Berrick.

When the medical advisers of a lady who has reached seventy years of age
recommend the mild climate of the South of France, they mean in plain
language that they have arrived at the end of their resources. Her
ladyship gave the mild climate a fair trial, and then decided (as
she herself expressed it) to "die at home." Traveling slowly, she had
reached Paris at the date when I last heard of her. It was then the
beginning of November. A week later, I met with her nephew, Lewis
Romayne, at the club.

"What brings you to London at this time of year?" I asked.

"The fatality that pursues me," he answered grimly. "I am one of the
unluckiest men living."

He was thirty years old; he was not married; he was the enviable
possessor of the fine old country seat, called Vange Abbey; he had no
poor relations; and he was one of the handsomest men in England. When I
add that I am, myself, a retired army officer, with a wretched income, a
disagreeable wife, four ugly children, and a burden of fifty years on
my back, no one will be surprised to hear that I answered Romayne, with
bitter sincerity, in these words:

"I wish to heaven I could change places with you!"

"I wish to heaven you could!" he burst out, with equal sincerity on his
side. "Read that."

He handed me a letter addressed to him by the traveling medical
attendant of Lady Berrick. After resting in Paris, the patient had
continued her homeward journey as far as Boulogne. In her suffering
condition, she was liable to sudden fits of caprice. An insurmountable
horror of the Channel passage had got possession of her; she positively
refused to be taken on board the steamboat. In this difficulty, the lady
who held the post of her "companion" had ventured on a suggestion. Would
Lady Berrick consent to make the Channel passage if her nephew came to
Boulogne expressly to accompany her on the voyage? The reply had been
so immediately favorable, that the doctor lost no time in communicating
with Mr. Lewis Romayne. This was the substance of the letter.

It was needless to ask any more questions--Romayne was plainly on his
way to Boulogne. I gave him some useful information. "Try the oysters,"
I said, "at the restaurant on the pier."

He never even thanked me. He was thinking entirely of himself.

"Just look at my position," he said. "I detest Boulogne; I cordially
share my aunt's horror of the Channel passage; I had looked forward to
some months of happy retirement in the country among my books--and what
happens to me? I am brought to London in this season of fogs, to travel
by the tidal train at seven to-morrow morning--and all for a woman with
whom I have no sympathies in common. If I am not an unlucky man--who
is?"

He spoke in a tone of vehement irritation which seemed to me, under the
circumstances, to be simply absurd. But _my_ nervous system is not the
irritable system--sorely tried by night study and strong tea--of my
friend Romayne. "It's only a matter of two days," I remarked, by way of
reconciling him to his situation.

"How do I know that?" he retorted. "In two days the weather may be
stormy. In two days she may be too ill to be moved. Unfortunately, I am
her heir; and I am told I must submit to any whim that seizes her. I'm
rich enough already; I don't want her money. Besides, I dislike all
traveling--and especially traveling alone. You are an idle man. If you
were a good friend, you would offer to go with me." He added, with the
delicacy which was one of the redeeming points in his wayward character.
"Of course as my guest."

I had known him long enough not to take offense at his reminding me,
in this considerate way, that I was a poor man. The proposed change
of scene tempted me. What did I care for the Channel passage? Besides,
there was the irresistible attraction of getting away from home. The end
of it was that I accepted Romayne's invitation.

II.

SHORTLY after noon, on the next day, we were established at
Boulogne--near Lady Berrick, but not at her hotel. "If we live in the
same house," Romayne reminded me, "we shall be bored by the companion
and the doctor. Meetings on the stairs, you know, and exchanging bows
and small talk." He hated those trivial conventionalities of society,
in which, other people delight. When somebody once asked him in what
company he felt most at ease? he made a shocking answer--he said, "In
the company of dogs."

I waited for him on the pier while he went to see her ladyship. He
joined me again with his bitterest smile. "What did I tell you? She
is not well enough to see me to-day. The doctor looks grave, and the
companion puts her handkerchief to her eyes. We may be kept in this
place for weeks to come."

The afternoon proved to be rainy. Our early dinner was a bad one. This
last circumstance tried his temper sorely. He was no gourmand; the
question of cookery was (with him) purely a matter of digestion. Those
late hours of study, and that abuse of tea to which I have already
alluded, had sadly injured his stomach. The doctors warned him of
serious consequences to his nervous system, unless he altered his
habits. He had little faith in medical science, and he greatly overrated
the restorative capacity of his constitution. So far as I know, he had
always neglected the doctors' advice.

The weather cleared toward evening, and we went out for a walk. We
passed a church--a Roman Catholic church, of course--the doors of which
were still open. Some poor women were kneeling at their prayers in the
dim light. "Wait a minute," said Romayne. "I am in a vile temper. Let me
try to put myself into a better frame of mind."

I followed him into the church. He knelt down in a dark corner by
himself. I confess I was surprised. He had been baptized in the Church
of England; but, so far as outward practice was concerned, he belonged
to no religious community. I had often heard him speak with sincere
reverence and admiration of the spirit of Christianity--but he never,
to my knowledge, attended any place of public worship. When we met
again outside the church, I asked if he had been converted to the Roman
Catholic faith.

"No," he said. "I hate the inveterate striving of that priesthood
after social influence and political power as cordially as the fiercest
Protestant living. But let us not forget that the Church of Rome has
great merits to set against great faults. Its system is administered
with an admirable knowledge of the higher needs of human nature. Take
as one example what you have just seen. The solemn tranquillity of that
church, the poor people praying near me, the few words of prayer by
which I silently united myself to my fellow-creatures, have calmed
me and done me good. In _our_ country I should have found the church
closed, out of service hours." He took my arm and abruptly changed the
subject. "How will you occupy yourself," he asked, "if my aunt receives
me to-morrow?"

I assured him that I should easily find ways and means of getting
through the time. The next morning a message came from Lady Berrick,
to say that she would see her nephew after breakfast. Left by myself,
I walked toward the pier, and met with a man who asked me to hire his
boat. He had lines and bait, at my service. Most unfortunately, as the
event proved, I decided on occupying an hour or two by sea fishing.

The wind shifted while we were out, and before we could get back to
the harbor, the tide had turned against us. It was six o'clock when I
arrived at the hotel. A little open carriage was waiting at the door.
I found Romayne impatiently expecting me, and no signs of dinner on the
table. He informed me that he had accepted an invitation, in which I was
included, and promised to explain everything in the carriage.

Our driver took the road that led toward the High Town. I subordinated
my curiosity to my sense of politeness, and asked for news of his aunt's
health.

"She is seriously ill, poor soul," he said. "I am sorry I spoke so
petulantly and so unfairly when we met at the club. The near prospect
of death has developed qualities in her nature which I ought to have
seen before this. No matter how it may be delayed, I will patiently wait
her time for the crossing to England."

So long as he believed himself to be in the right, he was, as to his
actions and opinions, one of the most obstinate men I ever met with.
But once let him be convinced that he was wrong, and he rushed into the
other extreme--became needlessly distrustful of himself, and needlessly
eager in seizing his opportunity of making atonement. In this latter
mood he was capable (with the best intentions) of committing acts of
the most childish imprudence. With some misgivings, I asked how he had
amused himself in my absence.

"I waited for you," he said, "till I lost all patience, and went out
for a walk. First, I thought of going to the beach, but the smell of the
harbor drove me back into the town; and there, oddly enough, I met with
a man, a certain Captain Peterkin, who had been a friend of mine at
college."

"A visitor to Boulogne?" I inquired.

"Not exactly."

"A resident?"

"Yes. The fact is, I lost sight of Peterkin when I left Oxford--and
since that time he seems to have drifted into difficulties. We had
a long talk. He is living here, he tells me, until his affairs are
settled."

I needed no further enlightenment--Captain Peterkin stood as plainly
revealed to me as if I had known him for years. "Isn't it a little
imprudent," I said, "to renew your acquaintance with a man of that sort?
Couldn't you have passed him, with a bow?"

Bolnayne smiled uneasily. "I daresay you're right," he answered. "But,
remember, I had left my aunt, feeling ashamed of the unjust way in
which I had thought and spoken of her. How did I know that I mightn't
be wronging an old friend next, if I kept Peterkin at a distance? His
present position may be as much his misfortune, poor fellow, as his
fault. I was half inclined to pass him, as you say--but I distrusted
my own judgment. He held out his hand, and he was so glad to see me. It
can't be helped now. I shall be anxious to hear your opinion of him."

"Are we going to dine with Captain Peterkin?"

"Yes. I happened to mention that wretched dinner yesterday at our hotel.
He said, 'Come to my boarding-house. Out of Paris, there isn't such a
table d'hote in France.' I tried to get off it--not caring, as you know,
to go among strangers--I said I had a friend with me. He invited you
most cordially to accompany me. More excuses on my part only led to a
painful result. I hurt Peterkin's feelings. 'I'm down in the world,'
he said, 'and I'm not fit company for you and your friends. I beg your
pardon for taking the liberty of inviting you!' He turned away with the
tears in his eyes. What could I do?"

I thought to myself, "You could have lent him five pounds, and got rid
of his invitation without the slightest difficulty." If I had returned
in reasonable time to go out with Romayne, we might not have met the
captain--or, if we had met him, my presence would have prevented the
confidential talk and the invitation that followed. I felt I was to
blame--and yet, how could I help it? It was useless to remonstrate: the
mischief was done.

We left the Old Town on our right hand, and drove on, past a little
colony of suburban villas, to a house standing by itself, surrounded by
a stone wall. As we crossed the front garden on our way to the door,
I noticed against the side of the house two kennels, inhabited by two
large watch-dogs. Was the proprietor afraid of thieves?

III.

THE moment we were introduced to the drawing-room, my suspicions of the
company we were likely to meet with were fully confirmed.

"Cards, billiards, and betting"--there was the inscription legibly
written on the manner and appearance of Captain Peterkin. The
bright-eyed yellow old lady who kept the boarding-house would have been
worth five thousand pounds in jewelry alone, if the ornaments which
profusely covered her had been genuine precious stones. The younger
ladies present had their cheeks as highly rouged and their eyelids
as elaborately penciled in black as if they were going on the stage,
instead of going to dinner. We found these fair creatures drinking
Madeira as a whet to their appetites. Among the men, there were two who
struck me as the most finished and complete blackguards whom I had ever
met with in all my experience, at home and abroad. One, with a brown
face and a broken nose, was presented to us by the title of "Commander,"
and was described as a person of great wealth and distinction in
Peru, traveling for amusement. The other wore a military uniform and
decorations, and was spoken of as "the General." A bold bullying manner,
a fat sodden face, little leering eyes, and greasy-looking hands, made
this man so repellent to me that I privately longed to kick him. Romayne
had evidently been announced, before our arrival, as a landed gentleman
with a large income. Men and women vied in servile attentions to him.
When we went into the dining-room, the fascinating creature who sat next
to him held her fan before her face, and so made a private interview of
it between the rich Englishman and herself. With regard to the dinner,
I shall only report that it justified Captain Peterkin's boast, in some
degree at least. The wine was good, and the conversation became gay to
the verge of indelicacy. Usually the most temperate of men, Romayne
was tempted by his neighbors into drinking freely. I was unfortunately
seated at the opposite extremity of the table, and I had no opportunity
of warning him.

The dinner reached its conclusion, and we all returned together, on
the foreign plan, to coffee and cigars in the drawing-room. The women
smoked, and drank liqueurs as well as coffee, with the men. One of them
went to the piano, and a little impromptu ball followed, the ladies
dancing with their cigarettes in their mouths. Keeping my eyes and
ears on the alert, I saw an innocent-looking table, with a surface of
rosewood, suddenly develop a substance of green cloth. At the same time,
a neat little roulette-table made its appearance from a hiding-place
in a sofa. Passing near the venerable landlady, I heard her ask the
servant, in a whisper, "if the dogs were loose?" After what I had
observed, I could only conclude that the dogs were used as a patrol, to
give the alarm in case of a descent of the police. It was plainly high
time to thank Captain Peterkin for his hospitality, and to take our
leave.

"We have had enough of this," I whispered to Romayne in English. "Let us
go."

In these days it is a delusion to suppose that you can speak
confidentially in the English language, when French people are within
hearing. One of the ladies asked Romayne, tenderly, if he was tired of
her already. Another reminded him that it was raining heavily (as we
could all hear), and suggested waiting until it cleared up. The hideous
General waved his greasy hand in the direction of the card table, and
said, "The game is waiting for us."

Romayne was excited, but not stupefied, by the wine he had drunk. He
answered, discreetly enough, "I must beg you to excuse me; I am a poor
card player."

The General suddenly looked grave. "You are speaking, sir, under a
strange misapprehension," he said. "Our game is lansquenet--essentially
a game of chance. With luck, the poorest player is a match for the whole
table."

Romayne persisted in his refusal. As a matter of course, I supported
him, with all needful care to avoid giving offense. The General took
offense, nevertheless. He crossed his arms on his breast, and looked at
us fiercely.

"Does this mean, gentlemen, that you distrust the company?" he asked.

The broken-nosed Commander, hearing the question, immediately joined us,
in the interests of peace--bearing with him the elements of persuasion,
under the form of a lady on his arm.

The lady stepped briskly forward, and tapped the General on the shoulder
with her fan. "I am one of the company," she said, "and I am sure Mr.
Romayne doesn't distrust _me_." She turned to Romayne with her most
irresistible smile. "A gentleman always plays cards," she resumed,
"when he has a lady for a partner. Let us join our interests at the
table--and, dear Mr. Romayne, don't risk too much!" She put her pretty
little purse into his hand, and looked as if she had been in love with
him for half her lifetime.

The fatal influence of the sex, assisted by wine, produced the
inevitable result. Romayne allowed himself to be led to the card table.
For a moment the General delayed the beginning of the game. After what
had happened, it was necessary that he should assert the strict sense of
justice that was in him. "We are all honorable men," he began.

"And brave men," the Commander added, admiring the General.

"And brave men," the General admitted, admiring the Commander.
"Gentlemen, if I have been led into expressing myself with unnecessary
warmth of feeling, I apologize, and regret it.

"Nobly spoken!" the Commander pronounced. The General put his hand on
his heart and bowed. The game began.

As the poorest man of the two I had escaped the attentions lavished
by the ladies on Romayne. At the same time I was obliged to pay for my
dinner, by taking some part in the proceedings of the evening. Small
stakes were allowed, I found, at roulette; and, besides, the heavy
chances in favor of the table made it hardly worth while to run the
risk of cheating in this case. I placed myself next to the least
rascally-looking man in the company, and played roulette.

For a wonder, I was successful at the first attempt. My neighbor handed
me my winnings. "I have lost every farthing I possess," he whispered to
me, piteously, "and I have a wife and children at home." I lent the poor
wretch five francs. He smiled faintly as he looked at the money. "It
reminds me," he said, "of my last transaction, when I borrowed of that
gentleman there, who is betting on the General's luck at the card table.
Beware of employing him as I did. What do you think I got for my note
of hand of four thousand francs? A hundred bottles of champagne, fifty
bottles of ink, fifty bottles of blacking, three dozen handkerchiefs,
two pictures by unknown masters, two shawls, one hundred maps,
_and_--five francs."

We went on playing. My luck deserted me; I lost, and lost, and lost
again. From time to time I looked round at the card table. The "deal"
had fallen early to the General, and it seemed to be indefinitely
prolonged. A heap of notes and gold (won mainly from Romayne, as I
afterward discovered) lay before him. As for my neighbor, the unhappy
possessor of the bottles of blacking, the pictures by unknown masters,
and the rest of it, he won, and then rashly presumed on his good
fortune. Deprived of his last farthing, he retired into a corner of the
room, and consoled himself with a cigar. I had just arisen, to follow
his example, when a furious uproar burst out at the card table.

I saw Romayne spring up, and snatch the cards out of the General's hand.
"You scoundrel!" he shouted, "you are cheating!" The General started to
his feet in a fury. "You lie!" he cried. I attempted to interfere,
but Romayne had already seen the necessity of controlling himself. "A
gentleman doesn't accept an insult from a swindler," he said, coolly.
"Accept this, then!" the General answered--and spat on him. In an
instant Romayne knocked him down.

The blow was dealt straight between his eyes: he was a gross big-boned
man, and he fell heavily. For the time he was stunned. The women ran,
screaming, out of the room. The peaceable Commander trembled from head
to foot. Two of the men present, who, to give them their due, were
no cowards, locked the doors. "You don't go," they said, "till we see
whether he recovers or not." Cold water, assisted by the landlady's
smelling salts, brought the General to his senses after a while. He
whispered something to one of his friends, who immediately turned to me.
"The General challenges Mr. Romayne," he said. "As one of his seconds,
I demand an appointment for to-morrow morning." I refused to make any
appointment unless the doors were first unlocked, and we were left free
to depart. "Our carriage is waiting outside," I added. "If it returns
to the hotel without us, there will be an inquiry." This latter
consideration had its effect. On their side, the doors were opened. On
our side, the appointment was made. We left the house.

IV.

IN consenting to receive the General's representative, it is needless to
say that I merely desired to avoid provoking another quarrel. If those
persons were really impudent enough to call at the hotel, I had arranged
to threaten them with the interference of the police, and so to put an
end to the matter. Romayne expressed no opinion on the subject, one way
or the other. His conduct inspired me with a feeling of uneasiness. The
filthy insult of which he had been made the object seemed to be rankling
in his mind. He went away thoughtfully to his own room. "Have you
nothing to say to me?" I asked. He only answered: "Wait till to-morrow."

The next day the seconds appeared.

I had expected to see two of the men with whom we had dined. To my
astonishment, the visitors proved to be officers of the General's
regiment. They brought proposals for a hostile meeting the next morning;
the choice of weapons being left to Romayne as the challenged man.

It was now quite plain to me that the General's peculiar method of
card-playing had, thus far, not been discovered and exposed. He might
keep doubtful company, and might (as I afterward heard) be suspected in
certain quarters. But that he still had, formally-speaking, a reputation
to preserve, was proved by the appearance of the two gentlemen present
as his representatives. They declared, with evident sincerity, that
Romayne had made a fatal mistake; had provoked the insult offered to
him; and had resented it by a brutal and cowardly outrage. As a man and
a soldier, the General was doubly bound to insist on a duel. No apology
would be accepted, even if an apology were offered.

In this emergency, as I understood it, there was but one course to
follow. I refused to receive the challenge.

Being asked for my reasons, I found it necessary to speak within certain
limits. Though we knew the General to be a cheat, it was a delicate
matter to dispute his right to claim satisfaction, when he had found
two officers to carry his message. I produced the seized cards (which
Romayne had brought away with him in his pocket), and offered them as a
formal proof that my friend had not been mistaken.

The seconds--evidently prepared for this circumstance by their
principal--declined to examine the cards. In the first place, they said,
not even the discovery of foul play (supposing the discovery to have
been really made) could justify Romayne's conduct. In the second
place, the General's high character made it impossible, under any
circumstances, that he could be responsible. Like ourselves, he had
rashly associated with bad company; and he had been the innocent victim
of an error or a fraud, committed by some other person present at the
table.

Driven to my last resource, I could now only base my refusal to receive
the challenge on the ground that we were Englishmen, and that the
practice of dueling had been abolished in England. Both the seconds at
once declined to accept this statement in justification of my conduct.

"You are now in France," said the elder of the two, "where a duel is
the established remedy for an insult, among gentlemen. You are bound
to respect the social laws of the country in which you are for the time
residing. If you refuse to do so, you lay yourselves open to a public
imputation on your courage, of a nature too degrading to be more
particularly alluded to. Let us adjourn this interview for three hours
on the ground of informality. We ought to confer with _two_ gentlemen,
acting on Mr. Romayne's behalf. Be prepared with another second to meet
us, and reconsider your decision before we call again."

The Frenchmen had barely taken their departure by one door, when Romayne
entered by another.

"I have heard it all," he said, quietly. "Accept the challenge."

I declare solemnly that I left no means untried of opposing my friend's
resolution. No man could have felt more strongly convinced than I did,
that nothing could justify the course he was taking. My remonstrances
were completely thrown away. He was deaf to sense and reason, from the
moment when he had heard an imputation on his courage suggested as a
possible result of any affair in which he was concerned.

"With your views," he said, "I won't ask you to accompany me to the
ground. I can easily find French seconds. And mind this, if you attempt
to prevent the meeting, the duel will take place elsewhere--and our
friendship is at an end from that moment."