Wilton pere and mere had not been gone five minutes when there was a
gentle tap at Kate's door, and she started and turned her fearful face
in that direction, but made no reply. The tap was repeated,
"Miss Kate," came in a sharp whisper; "it is only me, my dear."
"Ah," sighed the girl, as if in relief; and she nearly ran to the door,
turned the key, and admitted the old servant, locked the door again, and
flung her arms about the woman's neck, to bury her face in her breast,
and sob as if her heart would break.
"There, there, there," cooed the woman, as if to the little child she
had nursed long years before; and she led her gently to a couch, and
drew the weeping girt down half reclining upon her breast. "Cry then,
my precious; it will do you good; and then you must tell Liza all about
it--what has been the matter, dear?"
"Matter!" cried Kate, starting up, and gazing angrily in the woman's
face. "Liza, it's horrible. Why did I ever come to this dreadful
house?"
"Hush, hush, my own; you will make yourself had again. We must not have
you ill."
"Bad--ill?" cried Kate. "Better dead and at rest. Oh, I hate him! I
hate him! How dare he touch me like that! It was horrible--an
outrage!"
The woman's face flushed, and her eyes sparkled angrily, then her lips
moved as if to question, but she closed them tightly into a thin line
and waited, knowing from old experience that it would not be long before
her young mistress' grief and trouble would be poured into er ear.
She was quiet, and clasping the agitated girl once lore in her arms, she
began to rock herself slowly to and fro.
"No, no! don't," cried Kate, peevishly, and she raised her head once
more, looking handsomer than ever in her anger and indignation. "I am
no longer a child. Aunt and uncle have encouraged it. This hateful
money is at the bottom of it all. They wish me to marry him. Pah! he
makes me shudder with disgust. And how could I even think of such a
horror with all this terrible trouble so new."
Eliza half closed her eyes and nodded her head, while her mouth seemed
almost to disappear.
"It is cruel--it is horrible," Kate continued. "They have encouraged it
all through. Even aunt, with her sickly worship of her wretched spoiled
boy. Oh, what a poor, pitiful, weak creature she must have thought me.
No one seemed to understand me but Mr Garstang."
Eliza knit her brows a little at his name, but she remained silent, and
by slow degrees she was put in possession of all that had taken place;
and then, faint and weary, Kate let her head sink down till her forehead
rested once more upon the breast where she had so often sunk to rest.
"Oh, the hateful money!" she sighed, as the tears came at last. "Let
him have it. What is it to me? But I cannot stop here, nurse; it is
impossible. We must go at once. Uncle is my guardian, but surely he
cannot force me to stay against my inclination. If I remained here it
would kill me. Nurse," she cried, with a display of determination that
the woman had never seen in her before, "you must pack up what is
necessary, and to-morrow we will go. It would be easy to stay at some
hotel till we found a place--a furnished cottage just big enough for us
two; anywhere so that we could be at peace. We could be happier then--
Why don't you speak to me when I want comfort in my trouble?"
"Because no words of mine could give you the comfort you need, my dear.
Don't you know that my heart bleeds for you, and that always when my
poor darling child has suffered I have suffered, too?"
"Yes, yes, dear; I know," said Kate, raising her face to kiss the woman
passionately. "I do know. Don't take any notice of what I said. All
this has made me feel so wickedly angry, and as if I hated the whole
world."
"Don't I know my darling too well to mind a few hasty words?" said the
woman, softly. "Say what you please. If it is angry I know it only
comes from the lips, and there is something for me always in my
darling's heart."
"That does me good, nurse," said the girl, clinging to her
affectionately for a few moments, and then once more sitting up, to
speak firmly. "It makes me feel after all that I am not alone, and that
my dear, dead mother was right when she said, `Never part from Eliza.
She is not our servant; she has always been our faithful, humble, trusty
friend.'"
The woman's face softened now, and a couple of tears stole down her
cheeks.
"Now, nurse, we must talk and make our plans. I wish I could see Mr
Garstang, and ask his advice."
"Do you like Mr Garstang, my dear?" said the woman, gently.
"Yes; he is a gentleman. He seems to me the only one who can talk to me
as what I am, and without thinking I am what they call me--an heiress."
"But poor dear master never trusted Mr Garstang."
"Perhaps he had no need to. He always treated him as a friend, and he
has proved himself one to-day by the brave way in which he defended me,
and spoke out to open my eyes to all this iniquity."
"But dear master did not make him his executor."
"How could he when he had his brother to think of? How could my dear
father suspect that Uncle James would prove so base? It was a mistake.
You ought to have heard Mr Garstang speak to-day."
Eliza sighed.
"I don't think I should put all my trust in Mr Garstang, my dear," she
said.
"Is not that prejudice, nurse?"
"I hope not my dear; but my heart never warmed to Mr Garstang, and it
has always felt very cold toward that young man, his stepson."
"Harry Dasent? Well," said Kate, with a faint smile, "perhaps mine has
been as cold. But why should we trouble about this? It would be no
harm if I asked Mr Garstang's advice; but if we do not like it, nurse,
we can take our own. One thing we decide upon at once: we will leave
here."
"Can we, my dear? You have money, but--"
"Oh, don't talk about the hateful thing," cried the girl, passionately.
"I must, my dear. We cannot take even a cottage without. This money is
in your uncle's charge; you, as a girl under age, can not touch a penny
without your Uncle James' consent."
"But surely he can not keep me here against my will--a prisoner?"
"I don't know, my dear," said the woman, with a sigh.
"Then that is where we want help and advice--that is where Mr Garstang
could assist me and tell me what to do."
Eliza sighed.
"Well, if the worst comes to the worst, I can take a humble place where
you can keep house and do needlework to help, while I go out as daily
governess."
"You! A daily governess?"
"Well," said the girl, proudly, "I can play--brilliantly, they say--I
know three languages, and--"
"You have a hundred and fifty thousand pounds in your own right."
"What are a hundred and fifty thousand pounds to a miserable prisoner
who is being persecuted? Liberty is worth millions, and come what may,
I will be free."
"Yes, you shall be free, darling; but you must do nothing rash. To-day
has taught me that my dear girl is a woman of firmness and spirit; and,
please God, all will come right in the end. There, this is enough. You
are fluttered and feverish now, and delicate as you are, you require
rest. It is getting late. Let me help you to undress for a good long
night's rest. Sleep on it all, my child; out of the evil good will
come, and you have shown them that they have not a baby to deal with,
but a true woman, so matters are not so bad as they seem. Come, my
little one."
"I must and will leave here, nurse," said Kate, firmly.
"Sleep on it, my child, and remember that after all you have won the
day. Come, let me help you."
"No, Liza, go now. I must sit for a while and think."
"Better sleep, and think after a long rest."
"No, dear; I wish to sit here in the quiet and silence first. Look, the
moon is rising over the trees, and it seems to bring light into my weary
brain. I'll go to bed soon. Please do as I wish, and leave me now--
Nurse, dear, do you think those who have gone from us ever come back in
spirit to help us when we are in need?"
"Heaven only knows, my darling," said the woman, looking startled. "But
please don't talk like this--You really wish me to go?"
"Yes, leave me now. I am going to make my plans for to-morrow."
"To-morrow."
"No, before I lie down to rest. Good-night."
"You are mistress, and I am servant, my child. Good-night, then--
good-night."
"Good-night," said Kate, and a minute later she had closed and re-locked
the door, to turn and stand gazing at the window, whose blind was
suffused with the soft silvery light of the slowly rising moon.