For a few moments Kate Wilton was passive in Garstang's arms. The
suddenness of the act--the surprise, stunned her, and his words seemed
so impossible that she could not believe her hearing. Then horror and
revulsion came; she knew it was the truth, and like a flash it dawned
upon her that all that had gone before, the chivalrous behaviour, the
benevolence and paternal tenderness, were the clever acting of an
unscrupulous man--the outcome of plans and schemes, and for what? To
obtain possession of the great fortune by which she felt more than ever
that she was cursed.
With a faint cry of horror she thrust him back with both hands upon his
breast, and struggled wildly to escape from his embrace.
But the effort was vain; he clasped her tightly once again, in spite of
her efforts, and covered her face, her neck, her hair, with his kisses.
"Silly, timid little bird!" he whispered, as he held her there,
horrified and panting; "what ails you? The first kisses, of course.
There, don't be so foolish, my darling child; they are the kisses of him
who loves you, and who is going to make you his wife. Come, have I not
been tender and patient, and all that you could wish, and is not this an
easy solution of the difficulties by which you are surrounded?"
"Mr Garstang, loose me, I insist!" she cried. "How dare you treat me
so!"
"I have told you, my beautiful darling. Come, come, be sensible; surely
the love of one who has worshipped you from the first time he met you is
not a thing to horrify you. Am I so old and repulsive, that you should
go on like this? Only a few hours ago you were pressing my hands,
holding your face to mine for my kisses; while now that I declare myself
you begin struggling like a newly-captured bird. Why, Kate, my darling,
I am talking to you like a poetic lover in a sentimental play. Really,
dry lawyer as I am, I did not know that I could rise to such a flow of
eloquence. Yes, pet, and you are acting too. There, that is enough for
appearances, and there is no one to see, so let's behave like two
sensible matter-of-fact people. Come and sit down here."
"I wish to go--at once," she cried, striving hard to be firm, feeling as
she did that everything, in her hopeless state, depended upon herself.
"We'll talk about that quietly, when you have seated yourself. No--you
will not?" he cried playfully. "Then you force me to show you that you
must," and raising her in his arms, he bore her quickly to the couch,
and sat beside her, pinioning her firmly in his grasp.
"There," he said, "man is the stronger in muscles, and woman must obey;
but woman is stronger in the silken bonds with which she can hold man,
and then he obeys."
She sat there panting heavily, ceasing her struggles, as she tried to
think out her course of action, for she shrank from shrieking aloud for
help, and exposing her position to the two women in the house.
"That's better," he said; "now you are behaving sensibly. Don't pretend
to be afraid of me. Now listen--There, sit still; you cannot get away.
If you cry out not a sound could reach the servants, for I have sent
them to bed; and if a dozen men stood here and shouted together their
voices could not be heard through curtains, shutters, and double
windows. There, I am not telling you this to frighten you, only to show
you your position."
She turned and gazed at him wildly, and then dragged her eyes away in
despair as he said, caressingly.
"How beautiful you are, Kate! That warm colour makes you more
attractive than ever, and tells me that all this is but a timid girl's
natural holding back from the embraces of the man whom she has enslaved.
There is no ghastly pallor, your lips are not white, and you do not
turn faint, but are strong and brave in your resistance; so now let's
talk sense, little wifie. You fancy I have been drinking; well, I have
had a glass or two more than usual, but I am not as you think, only calm
and quiet and ready to talk to you about what you wished."
"Another time--to-morrow. Mr Garstang, I beg of you; pray let me go to
my own room now."
"To try the front door on the way, and seek to do some foolish thing?
There, you see I can read your thoughts, my darling. So far from having
exceeded, I am too sensible for mat; but you could not get out of the
house, for the door is locked, and I have the key here. There; to
begin; you would like to leave here to-night?"
"Yes, yes, Mr Garstang; pray let me go."
"Where? You would wander about the streets, a prey to the first ruffian
who meets you. To appeal to the police, who would not believe your
story; and even if they did, where would you go? To-morrow back to
Northwood, to be robbed of your fortune; to go straight to that noble
cousin's arms. No, no, that would not do, dear. Now, let's look the
position in the face. I am double your age, my child. Well, granted;
but surely I am not such a repellent monster that you need look at me
like that I love you, my pretty one, and I am going to marry you at
once. As my wife, you will be free from all persecution by your uncle.
He will try to make difficulties, and refuse to sign papers, and do
plenty of absurd things; but I have him completely under my thumb, and
once you are my wife I can force him to give up all control of you and
yours."
"To-morrow--to-morrow," she said, pleadingly, as she felt how hopeless
it was to struggle. "I am sick and faint, Mr Garstang; pray, pray let
me go to my room now."
"Not yet," he said playfully, and without relaxing his grasp; "there is
a deal more to say. You have to make me plenty of promises, that you
will act sensibly; and I want these promises, not from fear, but because
you love me, dear. Silent? Well, I must tell you a little more. I
made up my mind to this, my child, when I came to you that night. `I'll
marry her,' I said; `it will solve all the difficulties and make her the
happiest life.'"
"No, no, it is impossible, Mr Garstang," she cried. "There, you have
said enough now. You must--you shall let me go. Is this your conduct
towards the helpless girl who trusted you?"
"Yes," he said laughingly, "it is my conduct towards the helpless girl
who trusted me; and it is the right treatment of one who cannot help
herself."
"No," she cried desperately; "and so I trusted to you, believing you to
be worthy of that trust."
"And so I am, dear; more than worthy. Kate, dearest, do you know that I
am going to make you a happy woman, that I give you the devotion of my
life? Every hour shall be spent in devising some new pleasure for you,
in making you one of the most envied of your sex. I am older, but what
of that? Perhaps your young fancy has strayed toward some hero whom
your imagination has pictured; but you are not a foolish girl. You have
so much common sense that you must see that your position renders it
compulsory that you should have a protector."
"A protector!" she cried bitterly.
"Yes; I must be plain with you, unless you throw off all this foolish
resistance. Come, be sensible. To-morrow, or the next day, we will be
married, and then we can set the whole world at defiance."
"Mr Garstang, you are mad!" she cried, with such a look of repugnance
in her eyes that she stung him into sudden rage.
"Mad for loving you?" he cried.
"For loving me!" she said scornfully. "No, it is the miserable love of
the wretched fortune. Well, take it; only loose me now; let me go. You
are a lawyer, sir, and I suppose you know what to do. There are pens
and paper. Loose me, and go and sit down and write; I promise you I
will not try to leave the room; lock the door, if you like, till you
have done writing."
"It is already locked," he said mockingly; and he smiled as he saw her
turn pale.
"Very well," she said calmly; "then I cannot escape. Go and write, and
I will sign it without a murmur. I give everything to you; only let me
go. It is impossible that we can ever meet again."
"Indeed!" he said, laughing. "Foolish child, how little you know of
these things! Suppose I do want your money; do you think that anything
I could write, or you could sign, would give it me without this little
hand? Besides, I don't want it without its mistress--my mistress--the
beautiful little girl who during her stay here has taught me that there
is something worth living for. There, there, we are wasting breath.
What is the use of fighting against the inevitable? Love me as your
husband, Kate. I am the same man whom you loved as your guardian.
There, I want to be gentle and tender with you. Why don't you give up
quietly and say that you will come with me like a sensible little girl,
and be my wife?"
"Because I would sooner die," she said, firmly.
"As young ladies say in old-fashioned romances," he cried mockingly.
"There, you force me to speak very plainly to you. I must; and you are
wise enough to see that every word is true. Now listen. You have not
many friends; I may say I, your lover, am the only one; but when you
took that step with me one night, eloping from your bedroom window,
placing yourself under my protection, and living here secluded with me
in this old house for all these months, what would they say? Little
enough, perhaps nothing; but there is a significant shrug of the
shoulders which people give, and which means much, my child, respecting
a woman's character. You see now that you must marry me."
"No," she said calmly; "I trusted myself to the guardianship of a man
almost old enough to be my grandfather. He professed to be my father's
friend, and I fled to him to save myself from insult. Will the world
blame me for that, Mr Garstang?"
"Yes, the world will, and will not believe."
"Then what is the opinion of the world, as you term it, worth? Now,
sir, I insist upon your letting me go to my room."
As she spoke, she struggled violently, and throwing herself back over
the head of the couch made a snatch at the bell-pull, with such success
that the smothered tones of a violent peal reached where they were.
Garstang started up angrily, and taking advantage of her momentary
freedom, Kate sprang to the door and turned the key, but before she
could open it he was at her side.
"You foolish child!" he said, in a low angry voice; "how can you act--"
Half mad with fear, she struck at him, the back of her hand catching him
sharply on the lips, and before he could recover from his surprise, she
had passed through the door and fled to her room, where she locked and
bolted herself in, and then sank panting and sobbing violently upon her
knees beside her bed.