III

The summer and autumn passed after my return from Paris, and brought no changes with them which need be noticed here.  We lived so simply and quietly that the income which I was now steadily earning sufficed for all our wants.

In the February of the new year our first child was born—­a son.  My mother and sister and Mrs. Vesey were our guests at the little christening party, and Mrs. Clements was present to assist my wife on the same occasion.  Marian was our boy’s godmother, and Pesca and Mr. Gilmore (the latter acting by proxy) were his godfathers.  I may add here that when Mr. Gilmore returned to us a year later he assisted the design of these pages, at my request, by writing the Narrative which appears early in the story under his name, and which, though first in order of precedence, was thus, in order of time, the last that I received.

The only event in our lives which now remains to be recorded, occurred when our little Walter was six months old.

At that time I was sent to Ireland to make sketches for certain forthcoming illustrations in the newspaper to which I was attached.  I was away for nearly a fortnight, corresponding regularly with my wife and Marian, except during the last three days of my absence, when my movements were too uncertain to enable me to receive letters.  I performed the latter part of my journey back at night, and when I reached home in the morning, to my utter astonishment there was no one to receive me.  Laura and Marian and the child had left the house on the day before my return.

A note from my wife, which was given to me by the servant, only increased my surprise, by informing me that they had gone to Limmeridge House.  Marian had prohibited any attempt at written explanations—­I was entreated to follow them the moment I came back—­complete enlightenment awaited me on my arrival in Cumberland—­and I was forbidden to feel the slightest anxiety in the meantime.  There the note ended.  It was still early enough to catch the morning train.  I reached Limmeridge House the same afternoon.

My wife and Marian were both upstairs.  They had established themselves (by way of completing my amazement) in the little room which had been once assigned to me for a studio, when I was employed on Mr. Fairlie’s drawings.  On the very chair which I used to occupy when I was at work Marian was sitting now, with the child industriously sucking his coral upon her lap—­while Laura was standing by the well-remembered drawing-table which I had so often used, with the little album that I had filled for her in past times open under her hand.

“What in the name of heaven has brought you here?” I asked.  “Does Mr. Fairlie know——?”

Marian suspended the question on my lips by telling me that Mr. Fairlie was dead.  He had been struck by paralysis, and had never rallied after the shock.  Mr. Kyrle had informed them of his death, and had advised them to proceed immediately to Limmeridge House.