"Yes; what is it?"
Kate Wilton raised her head from where it rested against the bed as she
crouched upon the floor, and gazed round wonderingly, conscious that
someone had called her by name, but with everything else a blank.
There was a tapping at the door.
"Yes, yes," said Kate; and she hurried across the room.
"If you please, ma'am, breakfast is waiting, and master's compliments,
and will you come down?"
"Yes; I'll be down directly," she cried; and then she pressed her hands
to her head and tried to think, but for some moments all was strange and
confused, and she wondered why she should have been sleeping there upon
the floor, dressed as she was on the previous night, the flowers she had
worn still at her breast.
The flowers crushed and bruised!
They acted as the key to the closed mental door, which sprang open, and
in one flash of the light which flooded her brain she saw all that had
passed before she fled there, and then knelt by the bedside, praying for
help, and striving to evolve some means of escape, till, utterly
exhausted, nature would bear no more, and she fell asleep, to be
awakened by the coming of the housekeeper.
And she had told her that she would be down directly. What should she
do?
Hurrying to the bell, she rang, and then waited with beating heart for
the woman's footsteps, which seemed an age in coming; but at last there
was a tap at the door.
"Did you ring, ma'am?"
"Yes; I am unwell I am not coming down."
"Can I do anything for you, ma'am?"
"No."
Kate stood thinking for a few moments with her hands to her throbbing
brows, for her head was growing confused again, and mental darkness
seemed to be closing in; but once more the light came, and she tore the
crushed flowers from her breast, put on her bonnet and mantle, and then,
hurriedly, her gloves.
She felt that she must get away from that house at once; she could not
determine then where she would go; that would come afterwards; she could
not even think then of anything but escape.
Her preparations took but a few minutes, and then she went to the door
and listened.
All was still in the house as far as she could make out, and timidly
unfastening the door, she softly opened it, to look out on the great
landing, but started back, for in the darkest corner there was a figure.
Only one of the statues, the one just beyond the great curtain over the
archway leading to the little library; and gaining courage and
determination, she stepped out, and cautiously looked down into the
sombre hall.
Everything was still there, and she could just see that the dining-room
door was shut, a sign that Garstang was within, at his solitary
breakfast.
Her breath came and went as if she had been running, and she pressed her
hand upon her side to try and subdue the heavy throbbing of her heart.
If she could only reach the front door unheard, and steal out!
She drew back, for there was a faint rattling sound, as of a cover upon
a dish; then footsteps, and as she drew back she could see the
housekeeper cross the hall with a small tray, enter the dining-room,
whose door closed behind her, and the next minute come out,
empty-handed, re-cross the hall, and disappear. Then her voice rose to
where Kate stood, as she called to her daughter.
Garstang must be in the dining-room, at his breakfast; and, desperate
now in her dread, Kate drew a deep breath, walked silently over the soft
carpet to the head of the stairs, and with her dress rustling lightly,
descended, reached the hall, seeing that the door appeared to be in its
customary state, and the next moment she would have been there, trying
to let herself out, when she was arrested by a faint sound,
half-ejaculation, half-sigh, and turning quickly, there, upon the
staircase, straining over the balustrade to watch her, was Becky, with
the sunlight from a stained-glass window full upon her bandaged face.
Making an angry gesture to her to go back, Kate was in the act of
turning once more when a firm hand grasped her wrist, an arm was passed
about her waist, and with a sudden drag she was drawn into the library
and the door closed, Garstang standing there, stern and angry, between
her and freedom.
"Where are you going?" he cried.
"Away from here," she said, meeting his eyes bravely. "This is no place
for me, Mr Garstang. Let me pass, sir."
"That is no answer, my child," he said. "Where are you going? What are
your plans?"
She made no answer, but stepped forward to try and pass him; but he took
her firmly and gently, and forced her to sit down.
"As I expected, you have no idea--you have no plans--you have nowhere to
go; and yet in a fit of mad folly you would fly from here, the only
place where you could take refuge; and why?"
"Because I have found that the man I believed in was not worthy of that
trust."
"No; because in a maddening moment, when my love for you had broken
bounds, I spoke out, prematurely perhaps, but I obeyed the dictates of
my breast. But there, I am not going to deliver speeches; I only wish
to make you understand fully what is your position and mine. I said a
great deal last night, enough to have taught you much; above all, that
our marriage is a necessity, for your sake as much as mine. No, no; sit
still and be calm. We must both be so, and you must talk reasonably.
Now, my dear, take off that bonnet and mantle."
She made no reply.
"Well, I will not trouble about that now. You will see the necessity
after a few minutes. First of all, let me impress upon you the simple
facts of your position here. In the first place, you are kept here by
the way in which you have compromised yourself. Yes, you have; and if
you drove me to it I should openly proclaim that you have been my
mistress, and were striving to break our ties in consequence of a
quarrel."
She made no reply, but her eyes seemed to blaze.
"Yes," he said, with a smile; "I understand your looks. I am a traitor,
and a coward, and a villain; that is, I suppose, the interpretation from
your point of view; but let me tell you there are thousands of men who
would be ten times the traitor, coward and villain that you mentally
call me, to win you and your smiles, as I shall."
He stood looking down at her with a proud look of power, and she
involuntarily shrank back in her seat and trembled.
"In the second place," he continued, "I take it from your manner that
you mean for a few days to be defiant, and that you will try to escape.
Well, try if you like, and find how vain it is. I have you here, and in
spite of everything I shall keep you safely. I will be plain and frank.
For your fortune and for yourself I love you with a middle-aged man's
strong love for a beautiful girl who has awakened in him passions that
he thought were dead. You will try and escape? No, you will not; for
now, for the first time, I shall really cage the lovely little bird I
have entrapped. You will keep to your room, a prisoner, till you place
your hands in mine, and tell me that you are mine whenever I wish. You
will appeal to my servants? Well, appeal to them. You will try and
escape by your window? Well, try. You must know by now that it opens
over a narrow yard, and an attempt to descend from that means death; but
there are ways of fastening such a window as that, and this will be
done, for I want to live and love, and your death would mean mine."
He paused and looked down at her in calm triumph, but her firm gaze
never left his, and her lips were tightly drawn together.
"I could appeal to your pity, but I will not now. I could tell you of
my former loveless marriage, and my weary life with the wretched woman
who entrapped me; but you will find all that out in time, and try to
recompense me for the early miseries of my life, and for your cruel
coldness now. There, I have nearly done. I have gambled over this, my
child, and I have won, so far as obtaining my prize. To obtain its full
enjoyment, I have treated you as I have since you have been here, during
which time I have taught you to love me as a friend and father. I am
going to teach you to love me now as a husband--a far easier task."
"No!" she cried, angrily. "I would sooner die."
"Spare your breath, my dear, and try and school yourself to the
acceptance of your fate. Claud Wilton is in town, hunting for you, and
do you think I will let that young scoundrel drag you into what really
would be a degrading marriage? I would sooner kill him. Come, come, be
sensible," he cried, speaking perfectly calmly, and never once
attempting to lessen the distance between them. "I startled you last
night. See how gentle and tender I am with you to-day. I love you too
well to blame you in any way. I love you, I tell you; and I know quite
well that the passion is still latent in your breast; but I know, too,
that it will bud and blossom, and that some day you will wonder at your
conduct toward one who has proved his love for you. I cannot blame
myself, even if I have been driven to win you by a coup. Who would not
have done the same, I say again? You have charmed me by your beauty,
and by the beauties of your intellect; and once more I tell you gently
and lovingly that you must now accept your fate, and look upon me as a
friend, father, lover, husband, all in one. Kate, dearest, you shall
not repent it, so be as gentle and kind to me as I am to you."
He ceased, and she sat there gazing at him fixedly still.
"Now," he said, changing his manner and tone, "we must have no more
clouds between us. You need not shrink and begin beating your wings,
little bird. I will be patient, and we will go on, if you wish it,
where we left off last evening when you came here from the dining-room.
I am guardian again until you have thought all this over, and are ready
to accept the inevitable. We must not have you ill, and wanting the
doctor."
A thrill ran through her, and as if it were natural to turn to him who
came when she was once before sorely in need of help, she recalled the
firm, calm face of Pierce Leigh; but a faint flush coloured her cheek,
as if in shame for her thought.
Garstang saw the brightening of her face, and interpreted it wrongly.
"A means of escape from me?" he said. "What a foolish, childish
thought! Too romantic for a woman of your strength of mind, Kate. No,
I shall not let you leave me like that. There, you must be faint and
hungry; so am I. Take off your things, and come and face your guardian
at the table, in the old fashion. No? You prefer to go back to your
room this morning? Well, let it be so. Only try and be sensible. It
is so childish to let the servants be witnesses to such a little trouble
as this. There, your head is bad, of course; and you altered your mind
about going for a walk."
He opened the door for her to pass out, and then rang the bell.
"Mrs Plant answered the bell last night," he said, meaningly. "Poor
woman, she had gone to bed, and came here in alarm; so she knows that
you were taken ill and went to your room. I would not let her come and
disturb you, as you were so agitated.--Ah, Mrs Plant, your mistress
does not feel equal to staying down to breakfast. Go and get a tray
ready, and take it up to her in her room."
The woman hurried to carry out Garstang's wishes, and Kate rose to her
feet, while he drew back to let her pass.
"The front door is fastened," he said, with a quiet smile, "and there is
no window that you can open to call for help. Even if you could, and
people came to inquire what was the matter, a few words respecting the
sick and delirious young lady upstairs would send them away. It is
curious what a wholesome dread ordinary folk have of an illness being
infectious. Will you come down to dinner, or sooner, dearest?" he said,
sinking his voice to a whisper, full of tenderness. "I shall be here,
and only too glad to welcome you when you come, sweet dove, with the
olive branch of peace between us, and take it as the symbol of love."
A prisoner, indeed, and the chains seemed to fetter and weigh her down
as, without a word, her eyes fixed and gazing straight before her, she
walked by him into the hall, mastered the wild agonising desire to fling
herself at the door and call for help, and went slowly to the stairs,
catching sight of the pale bandaged face peering over the balustrade and
then drawn back to disappear.
But as Kate saw it a gleam of hope shot through the darkness. Poor
Becky--letters--appeals for help to Jenny Leigh. Could she not get a
message sent by the hand of the strange-looking, shrinking girl?
She went on steadily up towards her room, without once turning her head,
feeling conscious that Garstang was standing below watching her; but by
the time she reached the first landing there was the sound of a faint
cough and steps crossing to the dining-room, and she breathed more
freely, and glanced downward as she turned to ascend the second flight.
The hall was vacant, and looking toward the doorway through which Becky
had glided, she called to her in a low, excited whisper:
"Becky! Becky!"
But there was no reply, and hurrying up the rest of the way she followed
the girl, entered the room into which she had passed, and found her
standing in the attitude of one listening intently.
"Becky, I want to speak to you," she whispered; but the girl darted to a
door at the other end, and was gliding through into the dressing-room,
through which she could reach the staircase.
This time Kate was too quick for her, and caught her by the dress, the
girl uttering a low moan, full of despair, and hanging away with all her
might, keeping her face averted the while.
"Don't, don't do that," whispered Kate, excitedly. "Why are you afraid
of me?"
"Let me go; oh! please let me go."
"Yes, directly," whispered Kate, still holding her tightly; "but please,
Becky, I want you to help me. I am in great trouble, dear--great
trouble."
"Eh?" said the girl, faintly, "you?"
"Yes, and I do so want help. Will you do something for me?"
"No, I can't," whispered the girl. "I'm no use; I oughtn't to be here;
don't look at me, please; and pray, pray let me go."
"Yes, I will, dear; but you will help me. Come to my room when your
mother has been."
The girl turned her white grotesque face, and stared at her with dilated
eyes.
"You will, won't you?"
Becky shook her head.
"Not to help a poor sister in distress?" said Kate, appealingly.
"You ain't my sister, and I must go. If he knew I'd talked to you he'd
be so cross."
With a sudden snatch the girl released her dress and fled, leaving Kate
striving hard to keep back her tears, as she went on to the broad
landing and reached her room, thinking of the little library and the
account she had heard of the former occupant, who found life too weary
for him, and had sought rest.
Her first impulse was to lock her door, but feeling that she had nothing
immediate to fear, and that perhaps a display of acquiescence in
Garstang's plans might help her to escape, she sat down to think, or
rather try to think, for her brain was in a whirl, and thought crowded
out thought before she had time to grasp one.
But she had hardly commenced her fight when there was a tap at the door,
and Sarah Plant entered with a breakfast tray, looking smiling and
animated.
"I'm so sorry, ma'am; but I've made you a very strong cup of tea, and
your breakfast will do you good. There. Now let me help you off with
your things."
"No, no, never mind now. Mrs Plant, will you do something to help me?"
"Of course, I will, ma'am. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you."
"Why are you smiling at me in that way?"
"Me smiling, ma'am? Was I? Oh, nothing."
"I insist upon your telling me. Ah, you know what has taken place."
"Well, well, ma'am, please don't be angry with me for it. You did give
the bell such a peal last night, you quite startled me."
"Then you do know everything?"
"Well, yes, ma'am; you see, I couldn't help it. Me and poor Becky
always knew that you were to be the new missis here from the day you
came."
"No, it is impossible. I must go away from here at once."
"Lor', my dear, don't you take it like that! Why, what is there to
mind? Master is one of the dearest and best of men; and think what a
chance it is for you, and what a home."
"Oh, silence; don't talk like that! I tell you it is impossible."
"Ah, that's because you're thinking about Master being a bit older than
you are. But what of that? My poor dear man was twice as old as me,
and he never had but one fault--he would die too soon."
"I tell you it is impossible, my good woman," cried Kate, imperiously.
"I have been entrapped and deceived, and I call upon you, as a woman, to
help me."
"Yes, ma'am, of course I'll help you."
"Ah! then wait here while I write a few lines to one of my father's old
friends."
"A letter? Yes, ma'am; but if you please, Master said that all letters
were to be taken to him."
"As they were before?" said Kate, with a light flashing in upon her
clouded brain.
"Yes, ma'am; he said so a week or two before you came."
"Planned, planned, planned!" muttered Kate, despairingly.
"Yes, ma'am, and of course I must take them to him. You see, he is my
master, and I will say this of him--a better and kinder master never
lived. Oh, my dear, don't be so young and foolish. You couldn't do
better than what he wishes, and make him happy, and yourself, too."
"Will you help me, woman, to get away from here? I will pay you enough
to make you rich if you will," said Kate, desperately.
"I will do anything I can for you, ma'am, that isn't going against
Master; of that you may be sure."
"Then will you post a couple of letters for me?" cried Kate,
desperately.
"No, ma'am, please, I mustn't do that."
"Go away," cried Kate, fiercely now. "Leave me to myself."
"Oh, my dear, don't, pray, go on like that I know you're young, and the
idea frightens you; but it isn't such a very dreadful thing to be
married to a real good man."
Kate darted to the door, flung it open, and stood with flashing eyes,
pointing outward.
"Oh, yes, ma'am, of course I'll go; but do, pray, take my advice. You
see, you're bound to marry him now, and--"
The door was closed upon her, and Kate began to pace up and down, like
some timid creature freshly awakened to the fact of its being caged, and
grown desperate at the thought.
"Helpless, and a prisoner!" she groaned to herself. "What shall I do?
Is there no way of escape?" And once more the thought of Jenny Leigh
and her brother came to her mind, and the feeling grew stronger that she
might find help there.
But it seemed impossible unless she could write and stamp a letter and
throw it from the window, trusting to some one to pick it up and post
it.
No; the idea seemed weak and vain, and she cast it from her, as she
paced up and down, with her hands clasped and pressed to her throbbing
breast.
"There is no help--no help!" she moaned, and then uttered a faint cry of
alarm, for the door behind her was softly opened, and the idea that it
was Garstang flashed through her brain as she looked wildly round.
Becky's white tied-up face was just thrust in, and the door held tightly
to, as if about to act as a perpendicular guillotine and shave through
her neck.