‘I suppose you often saw Sir Percival when he was in your village?'
I said.
‘Yes, sir, very often,' replied Mrs Clements.
‘Did you ever observe that Anne was like him?'
‘She was not at all like him, sir.'
‘Was she like her mother, then?'
‘Not like her mother either, sir. Mrs Catherick was dark, and full in the face.'
Not like her mother and not like her (supposed) father. I knew that the test by personal resemblance was not to be implicitly trusted, but, on the other hand, it was not to be altogether rejected on that account.
Was it possible to strengthen the evidence by discovering any conclusive facts in relation to the lives of Mrs Catherick and Sir Percival before they either of them appeared at Old Welmingham? When I asked my next questions I put them with this view.
‘When Sir Percival first arrived in your neighbourhood,' I said, ‘did you hear where he had come from last?'
‘No, sir. Some said from Blackwater Park, and some said from Scotland -- but nobody knew.'
‘Was Mrs Catherick living in service at Varneck Hall immediately before her marriage?'
‘Yes, sir.'
‘And had she been long in her place?'
‘Three or four years, sir; I am not quite certain which.'
‘Did you ever hear the name of the gentleman to whom Varneck Hall belonged at that time?'
‘Yes, sir. His name was Major Donthorne.'
‘Did Mr Catherick, or did any one else you knew, ever hear that Sir Percival was a friend of Major Donthorne's, or ever see Sir Percival in the neighbourhood of Varneck Hall?'
‘Catherick never did, sir, that I can remember -- nor any one else either, that I know of.'
I noted down Major Donthorne's name and address, on the chance that he might still be alive, and that it might be useful at some future time to apply to him. Meanwhile, the impression on my mind was now decidedly adverse to the opinion that Sir Percival was Anne's father, and decidedly favourable to the conclusion that the secret of his stolen interviews with Mrs Catherick was entirely unconnected with the disgrace which the woman had inflicted on her husband's good name. I could think of no further inquiries which I might make to strengthen this impression -- I could only encourage Mrs Clements to speak next of Anne's early days, and watch for any chance-suggestion which might in this way offer itself to me.
‘I have not heard yet,' I said, ‘how the poor child, born in all this sin and misery, came to be trusted, Mrs Clements, to your care.'
‘There was nobody else, sir, to take the little helpless creature in hand,' replied Mrs Clements. ‘The wicked mother seemed to hate it -- as if the poor baby was in fault! -- from the day it was born. My heart was heavy for the child, and I made the offer to brine it up as tenderly as if it was my own.'
‘Did Anne remain entirely under your care from that time?'
‘Not quite entirely, sir. Mrs Catherick had her whims and fancies about it at times, and used now and then to lay claim to the child, as if she wanted to spite me for bringing it up. But these fits of hers, never lasted for long. Poor little Anne was always returned to me, and was always glad to get back -- though she led but a gloomy life in my house, having no play-mates, like other children, to brighten her up. Our longest separation was when her mother took her to Limmeridge. rust at that time I lost my husband, and I felt it was as well, in that miserable affliction, that Anne should not be in the house. She was between ten and eleven years old then, slow at her lessons, poor soul, and not so cheerful as other children -- but as pretty a little girl to look at as you would wish to see. I waited at home till her mother brought her back, and then I made the offer to take her with me to London -- the truth being, sir, that I could not find it in my heart to stop at Old Welmingham after my husband's death, the place was so changed and so dismal to me.'
‘And did Mrs Catherick consent to your proposal?'
‘No, sir. She came back from the north harder and bitterer than ever.
Folks did say that she had been obliged to ask Sir Percival's leave to go, to begin with; and that she only went to nurse her dying sister at Limmeridge because the poor woman was reported to have saved money -- the truth being that she hardly left enough to bury her. These things may have soured Mrs Catherick likely enough, but however that may be, she wouldn't hear of my taking the child away. She seemed to like distressing us both by parting us. All I could do was to give Anne my direction, and to tell her privately, if she was ever in trouble, to come to me. But years passed before she was free to come. I never saw her again, poor soul, till the night she escaped from the mad-house.'
‘You know, Mrs Clements, why Sir Percival Glyde shut her up?'
‘I only know what Anne herself told me, sir. The poor thing used to ramble and wander about it sadly. She said her mother had Got some secret of Sir Percival's to keep, and had let it out to her long after I left Hampshire -- and when Sir Percival found she knew it, he shut her up. But she never could say what it was when I asked her. All she could tell me was, that her mother might be the ruin and destruction of Sir Percival if she chose. Mrs Catherick may have let out just as much as that, and no more. I'm next to certain I should have heard the whole truth from Anne, if she had really known it as she pretended to do, and as she very likely fancied she did, poor soul.'