VI.


Miss Kate Battledown's screams, as she ran down the corridor, must speedily
have summoned the household; and then the dreadful news was told, not
losing anything of its horror, we may be sure, in the recital; and then
appeared poor Archie in confirmation. The greatest confusion and
bewilderment prevailed. No one comprehended anything. It was not known
what had happened. What was this story about Archie's having suddenly
appeared, where before there had been only empty air--just as his great
grandfather, Sir Charles, had done before him? Kate, to whom we may pardon
a little incorrectness or exaggeration under the circumstances, solemnly
asseverated that she had been looking straight at the centre of the room,
and that nobody was there; and that all at once "Archie grew together out
of nothing!" Such is the version of her words given by Lady Malmaison in a
letter to her sister, Miss Tremount, of Cornwall, soon after the
occurrence. Miss Tremount, it may be remembered, had intimated years ago
her intention of making Archibald her heir; and Lady Malmaison's letter is
an amusing and rather ingenious attempt to convey the information about
poor Archie, in such a way as not to frighten off this inheritance. Doctor
Rollinson, she wrote, had seen dear Archie, and had said that what had
happened was only what might have been expected; and that the dear child's
health would certainly not suffer, but, on the contrary, be strengthened,
and his life prolonged. For that there could be no doubt that poor Archie
had been laboring under an almost unnatural excitement, or tension of the
nerves, during the last few years, which had caused Lady Malmaison the
greatest anxiety; and she was truly thankful, for her part, that things
had come out no worse than they had. She could feel secure, now, that her
darling Archie would live to be a quiet, good, sensible English gentleman,