As Chester entered the room, and found himself face to face with the
woman he had so cruelly used, he involuntarily caught Marion's arm,
placed it beneath his own, and drew a deep breath as if prepared to
defend her against any attack.
Marion shivered slightly and pressed to his side, while Isabel gazed at
her wildly and fixedly, before letting her lids drop over her eyes, and
standing there breathing painfully, with one hand resting over her
heart.
Chester glanced at her with a feeling of despair and misery rising in
his breast, but he turned his pitying gaze away and spoke to his sister,
who stood drawn up to her full height, frowning, and as defiant as the
brother upon whom she fixed her eyes as he spoke.
"Laura," he said gently, "I have brought this lady here as a man brings
one who seeks sanctuary--safety from a terrible peril."
"Well?" she said coldly.
"I bring her to you, my sister, asking you--to let her find the refuge
and safety of which I have spoken. You will do this for my sake?"
"No!" cried a sharp voice from the door--a voice which sank from time to
time in its owner's excited state, so that her words were only half
audible--"No, she will do nothing of the kind. How dare you bring her
here to insult the lady to whom you were betrothed?"
Chester turned upon the speaker angrily, but after the first word or two
his voice softened down, and he spoke as one suffering deeply from his
emotion.
"Aunt, you have no right to speak to me like this. Remember, please,
that something is due to me; far more to the lady for whom I ask
protection and a welcome."
"No, no," whispered Marion. "For pity's sake take me away from here."
"No," said Chester, firmly. "This is my house, and you will stay here.
Laura, you heard what I said?"
"Yes, Fred; I heard what you said," she replied in a cold, unemotional
way.
"Then give Miss Clareborough the welcome I ask of my own sister."
"No!" cried Aunt Grace, angrily.
"Aunt," said Laura, coldly, "have the goodness to be silent. No, Fred,
I cannot do what you say. It is an insult to Isabel and to me to make
such a request."
"Have you no pity for me?" whispered Marion, reproachfully. "How can
you expose me to this?"
He passed an arm round her waist and led her to a chair.
"Isabel," he said gently, and she started and raised her eyes, to gaze
at him fully, "you must know I could; not dream that you would be here.
You will forgive me, too, for what I am compelled to say."
She bowed her head gently and once more veiled her eyes, while Chester
stood by the chair holding Marion's hand.
"Aunt Grace, I insist upon your being silent. You have no voice in this
matter. Laura, I tell you again that this lady is in grievous peril and
needs all a sister's help. I ask that help of you; will you give it?"
Laura was silent for a few moments; then she turned and gazed at Isabel,
ending by throwing her arms about her, and then facing her brother once
more.
"Well?" he said bitterly.
"It is impossible, Fred. If you have forgotten all that was due to
Isabel, I cannot. No; and if aunt leaves this house I go with her."
"I insist then," cried Chester, angrily.
"No," said Marion, rising. "I must go. It is not right."
"I am the best judge of that," said Chester, firmly, and he retained her
hand. "Isabel, I never thought that we could ever stand in such a
position as this; but now, face to face, I feel bound to say once more,
forgive me, and to ask you to believe the simple truth--that I should
have been doing you a greater wrong in holding to our engagement and
making you my wife."
She looked up at him firmly, and his heart throbbed with pity for her
innocence and suffering, but there was no reproach in her clear,
steadfast gaze. He read in it that she unquestioningly yielded to her
fate; and at the end of a few moments her eyes fell towards the floor.
"You see," whispered Marion, faintly, "it is impossible. Let me go and
join them."
"And leave me?" he whispered. "Here, water--quick! Oh, if there is an
unfeeling creature upon the face of the earth, it is a woman at a time
like this. Can you not see that she is fainting after the most cruel
sufferings, and you all stand aside as if she were some leprous thing!
Hah! Isabel!"
"Yes, Fred," she said softly.
She went down on one knee and tenderly raised the fainting woman's head
till it rested upon her shoulder.
The touch seemed to revive Marion, and in a few moments she opened her
eyes and gazed wonderingly at the face so close to hers.
"You?" she said softly.
"Yes; I. He says you are suffering and in great peril. I am alone now
here in London, and if you will come with me, for his sake I will be to
you as a sister till the danger, whatever it may be, has passed."
"Ah!" sighed Marion, the spasm seeming to tear itself from her breast,
and she lay still for some moments with her eyes closed.
"Come--sister," whispered Isabel, and she bent down and pressed her lips
to the forehead so near her.
Marion's colour flushed to her temples, and she looked up wildly and
flung her arms about Isabel's neck, kissing her passionately.
"Yes," she said. "I will come."
There was a tap at the door, and Chester hurried across the room to
prevent the maid from entering.
"Yes," he said excitedly; "what is it?"
"If you please, sir, it is the police; two of them, and they say they
must see you directly."
"Great heavens!" cried Chester, wildly, as he turned and gazed at where
Marion had started to her feet and stood pale and ghastly, for she had
heard the words. "Too late--too late! Yes; I know. Marion, that
hound! that fiend! He is taken, and in his cowardly revenge he has sent
them here."
In the full belief that the police would be coming up to the room,
Chester ran to the door.
"Where are they?" he whispered sharply to the maid, who was wondering at
the undue excitement displayed.
"In the hall, sir."
Chester's mind was made up on the instant, and he turned to Isabel.
"Heaven bless you for this!" he cried passionately. "I cannot explain
now, only that it is a case of great emergency. Take Miss Clareborough
with you, and keep her until I write or come. I do not deserve this at
your hands, but your presence here is like that of some good angel. You
will take her home?"
"Yes," she said softly, as she avoided his eyes.
"Listen, then," he whispered anxiously.
"These people below have come in search of her, and she must not fall
into their hands. I will go and keep, them in conversation, while you
get her away at once."
"I will," replied Isabel, calmly.
"Heaven bless you!" he cried passionately, and then he turned to Marion,
who looked quite exhausted.
"Go with her," he said--"at once. You will be safe there until I come."
"No," she replied despairingly. "It would be better for you--for her--
that we never meet again."
He caught her hand in his.
"Refuse this, and I will not answer for the consequence," he whispered
angrily. "Remember you are mine."
He hurried out, trying to be perfectly calm, met the representatives of
the law in the hall, and signed to them to come into the
consulting-room, and closed the door.