"If I could but bring Richard face to face with them now!" she thought,
"he would turn to me after all."
She hesitated, for the thought of the act being dishonourable struck
her; but in her mental state, and with her defective education, she was
not disposed to yield to fine notions of social honour; and, with her
heart beating fast, she hurried softly along the grass, to find herself
well within hearing of the speakers.
The words she heard were not those of love, for they were uttered more
in anger. It was at times quite a quarrel changing to the tone of
ordinary conversation.
Cora glanced behind her, to see the brightly lit-up house and hear the
strains of music and the sounds of laughter and lively remark, while, by
contrast with the glow in that direction, the bushes amid which she
stood and into which she peered seemed to be the more obscure.
There was a pause, and then a woman's voice said quickly:
"No, no; I cannot. You must not ask me, indeed."
A curious feeling of disappointment came over Cora, for her plan was
crushed on the instant. What were other people's love affairs to her?
She was turning away with disgust, when the deep voice of the Major said
quickly, and in a menacing way which rooted the listener to the spot:
"But I say you shall. One word from me, and you might have to leave
Saltinville for good. I mean for your own good."
"Oh, Rockley!"
"I don't care; you make me mad. Here have I done you endless little
services, helped you to live in the style you do; and the first little
favour I ask of you, I am met with a flat refusal."
"I don't like to refuse you, but the girl is--"
"Well, you know what the girl is. Hang it all, Pont, should I ask you
if it were not as I say--unless it were that rich heiress I am to carry
off some day."
"And the sooner the better."
"Yes, yes; but time's going. It's now eleven, and I must strike while
the iron's hot."
"But, Rockley--"
"More opposition? What the devil do you mean?"
"I don't like to be mixed up with such an affair."
"You will not be mixed up with it. No one will know but our two
selves."
"My conscience goes against such a trap."
"Your conscience!" he hissed angrily.
"Well, and do you suppose I have none? The girl is too good. I like
her. It is a shame, Rockley."
Cora Dean's heart beat as if it would suffocate her, while her mouth
felt dry and her hands moist. She could hardly have moved to save her
life. She knew what it was, she felt sure. It was a plot against
Claire, and if it were--
Cora Dean did not finish her thought, but listened as Rockley spoke
again.
Volume Two, Chapter XXIV.