Burton gave me a sleeping draught, and I slept far into the next day to
awake more unhappy than ever, obsessed with self-contempt and
degradation.
In the afternoon, I received a note from Maurice, telling me that he had
inadvertently heard that a fellow in the American Red Cross had seen
Miss Sharp's passport, when she had been sent down to Brest for them,
and the name on it was Alathea Bulteel Sharp, and judging that the
second name sounded as if it might be a well-known English one, he
hastened to tell me, in case it should be a clue. I could not think
where I had heard it before, or with what memory it was connecting in my
brain. I had a feeling it was something to do with George Harcourt. I
puzzled for a while, and then I looked back over the pages of my
journal, and there found what I had written of his conversation--Bobby
Bulteel--Hartelford's brother--cheating at cards--and married to Lady
Hilda Marchant---Of course!--The whole thing became plain to me! This would account for
everything. I hobbled up and got down the peerage. I turned to the
Hartelford title, and noted the brothers--the Hon'bles--John Sinclair,
Charles Henry, and Robert Edgar. This last must be "Bobby" Then I read
the usual things--"Educated at Eton and Christchurch, etc., etc." "Left
the Guards in 1893." "Married in 1894--Lady Hilda Farwell, only daughter
of the Marquess of Braxted (title extinct) and divorced wife of William
Marchant, Esquire." "Issue--"
"Alathea--born 1894, John Robert born 1905, and Hilda born 1907."
So the whole tragic story seemed to unfold itself before me.
Alathea is the child of that great love and sacrifice of her Mother--I
read again the words George had used: "She adored the fellow who had
every charm." All the world might cast him out, but that one faithful
woman gave up home and name and honour, to follow him in his disgrace.
That was love indeed, however misplaced! I looked again at the dates and
made a calculation of the time divorces took then, and I saw that my
little darling girl could only have escaped illegitimacy by perhaps a
few hours!
What had her life been? I pictured it. They must have hidden diminished
heads in hole and corner places during the dreary years. Such a man as
Bobby Bulteel must have been, as George said, a weakling. The
Hartlefords were poor as church mice, and were not likely to assist a
scapegrace, who had dishonoured them. I remembered hearing that on the
old Lord Braxted's death years ago, Braxted was sold to the
Merrion-Walters, Ironfounders from Leeds. No doubt the old man had cut
his daughter off without the traditional shilling, but even so, some
hundreds a year must have been theirs. What then did the poverty of
Alathea suggest? That some constant drain must be going on all the time.
Could the scapegrace still be a gambler, and that could account for it?
This seemed the most probable explanation.