"Hark!" whispered Mrs. Carew, her story told, and before we had time
to debate upon the wisest course to pursue. "What sound is that?"
It was the sound of footsteps on the stairs. In this sound there was
no attempt at concealment. The footsteps were those of one who desired
his presence to be known. I divined instantly who it was who, by some
means unknown to me, obtaining an entrance into the house, was now
approaching the room in which Mrs. Carew and I were sitting. I could
not, and did not blame him. In his place I should have acted as he was
acting.
The silver clock chimed the hour of twelve.
"You will see him," I said, rising to my feet and advancing to the
door.
"See whom?" asked Mrs. Carew, with her hand at her heart.
"Emilius. It is he and no other man who is coming here. He has a great
stake in this house. He is justified."
"My husband?" she gasped.
"Is safe, if you will only be guided by me. It is your duty to be
brave and strong. Never was courage more needed than at this moment.
And not only courage, but wisdom. Decide quickly. There is no time to
lose."
"I will be guided by you," she said faintly.
I threw open the door, and saw Emilius standing in the passage,
uncertain which direction to take.
"Enter," I said in a low tone. "Mrs. Carew is here. For the sake of
others be gentle, and do not alarm the house."
He entered, and Mrs. Carew and he stood face to face.
The native dignity of the man instantly asserted itself. He removed
his ragged cap and stood bareheaded before her. But there was no
cringing in his attitude. It was perfectly respectful--something,
indeed, more than that; it was the attitude of a man who once was this
sweet lady's equal, and who, despite the judgment of the world, still
knew himself to be her equal, and worthy of the esteem she once
accorded to him. But as he gazed upon her, and she upon him, in
silence for a few moments--a silence which I did not dare to
break--his stern mood melted. He saw and recognised her, as he had
always seen and recognised her in the time that was gone, when he was
entitled to hold up his head among men--but never more so in truth and
honour than now--a gentle-mannered lady, in whose face shone the
reflex of a sweet and womanly nature. Remembrances of the past rushed
upon him and softened him.
"Forgive me," he said humbly.
And then--tears filled my eyes as I saw it, and knew the suffering she
was bravely enduring--she held out her hand to him. He bowed his head
over it, as for a moment he held it in his.
"I could not wait any longer," he said, softly. "I have entered like a
thief into your house--but I have waited so long!"
"It is I who should ask for forgiveness," she said. "Emilius, be
merciful to me and mine!"
"I have no thought of revenge," he said, in a voice as soft as her
own. "I am a broken-down man, with one sole hope. But I could not
stand before you, the Lauretta I loved with the pure love of a
brother, if I did not know myself unstained by crime or any taint of
dishonour."
"I believe you, Emilius," she said.
"You believe me, Lauretta!" he exclaimed, advancing a step towards
her.
"I believe you, Emilius," she repeated.
Had he come with savage intent she could not more surely have disarmed
him.
"It is more than I dared hope for," he said. "How often, Lauretta, in
the gloom of my prison, have I thought of you and your dear parents,
of the home of innocence and love in which I was ever a welcome guest,
of the once happy village in which I was honoured and respected. Some
crumbs of comfort fell to my lot, some gleam of light shone through
the darkness. Had it not been so, and had I not been animated by
another hope, I might have gone mad. Good Father Daniel visited me
regularly, at permitted intervals, until he died. He had the firmest
faith in my innocence, and he brought me messages which fell like
heavenly balm upon my wounded spirit. Your sainted mother believed in
my innocence, and she bade him tell me so, and that her love for me
was unchanged. And now, you! But your mother's soul shines in your
eyes. It could not have been otherwise." He paused a moment or two,
reflecting what to say. "On one of Father Daniel's visits he brought
me a letter, securely sealed. It was against the prison rules, but
that did not deter him from doing what he deemed to be right. I
hastily concealed it, noting first, however, with a beating heart,
that it was addressed to me in my wife's handwriting. I asked him if
he knew what it contained, and he answered 'No;' and then, with a
grave face, he bade me prepare for solemn news. I felt at once what
was coming. Can you divine my purpose, Lauretta, in telling you this?"
"I think I can," she replied. "Go on."
"It was while the good priest was on a mission of mercy that a
villager came to him and said that in a hut hard by a woman was dying,
and, hearing that he was in the neighbourhood, begged him to come to
her. Father Daniel went, and discovered that the woman was Patricia,
my wife. She was very near to death, and she had only strength to
entreat him to deliver to me, secretly, a letter she had written. He
promised to do so, and in a few minutes after he received it from her
she drew her last breath. Before she died he asked her after her
babe--for Patricia was quite alone--but she did not seem to understand
him. Subsequently, however, he learnt from the villager that Patricia
had said her baby was dead. This was the mournful news which Father
Daniel conveyed to me in prison. Despite his attempts at consolation,
I felt when he left me that I was truly alone in the world. Brother,
wife, child, all dead! I prayed to God to send death to me soon.
What had I to live for? But there was my wife's letter, and before
twenty-four hours had passed I found an opportunity to read it.
Lauretta, that letter informed me what had become of my child, and it
laid upon me an obligation of secrecy for so long a time as I was in
prison. Patricia solemnly adjured me not to breathe to a living soul
that our child lived in your care; but I was to be released from this
obligation when I was a free man. Then I was to act as it seemed to me
right to act. Is there any need, Lauretta, for me to enter more fully
into the particulars of Patricia's letter?"
"There is no need, Emilius."
"Except, perhaps, to say that when you were lying senseless before
her, and your tender blossom lay dead in its cradle, it was only then
that the idea entered Patricia's mind of changing the children's
clothes, and leaving her baby with you. It was done, and Patricia
stole away with your dead child at her breast, herself to die, as she
well knew, before many weeks had passed. I have something to tell you,
Lauretta"--and here Emilius's voice was charged with a new note of
tenderness. "When Father Daniel next visited me I begged him to
discover where the dead babe was buried, and to put a few flowers on
the grave. The good priest did more. He paid a village woman to attend
to it, and he left a small sum of money to be spent in beautifying the
grave of your child. Flowers have grown upon it and around it from
that day to this. I visited the grave before I set forth on my journey
here, and I knelt and prayed there. I prayed a blessing upon you,
Lauretta, and I prayed that I might live to see the hope fulfilled
which shone like a star upon me through the long years of my prison
life. Lauretta," he cried, stretching forth his trembling hands, "my
child--my child"--
"She lives," sobbed Mrs. Carew, "in goodness, health, and beauty--a
flower of sweetness!"
He fell upon his knees before her, and kissed her dress, and it was
then I heard a sound without which, for a moment, transfixed me with
terror. They, overwhelmed by emotion, were deaf to this sound. It was
that of a man creeping stealthily from his chamber--and that man
Gabriel Carew. Quickly recovering myself, and feeling the necessity
for immediate and prompt action, I addressed Emilius and Mrs. Carew.
"Attend to me," I said impressively. "All is well with you. You,
Emilius, have gained a daughter, and will embrace her at sunrise. You,
dear lady, have not lost a daughter, for Mildred will be to you as she
has ever been. I have proved myself your friend. Answer quickly--have
I not?"
"Yes," they both replied.
"Do not, therefore, ask me for the reasons for my present action. I
demand from you both a sacred promise--that you will not leave this
room till I call for you, till I give you permission. It shall be
given at the latest by sunrise. I must have this promise--I must!"
My voice, my manner, Mrs. Carew's fears for her husband, and
confidence in me, compelled assent.
"We give it," she said.
"We give it," said Emilius.
"I accept it, and bind you to it. What I do is for the good of
all--for your future, for Mildred's future--and to avert disaster.
Only I can do this. Whatever you hear, you will not open this door
without my permission, after I leave it. When I am gone, turn the key,
and admit no one unless I desire it. It is understood?"
"Yes," they said, "it is understood."
As I closed the door behind me I heard the key turned in the lock.