I CAN SAVE HIM IF I WILL.
Doctor Benoit was old and deaf; he was also very talkative. One of those
physicians who invariably leave a titbit of news alongside of their
powders and pellets. A constant talker is apt to be an indiscreet
talker, and, very often, wanting in tact. Doctor Benoit was not so much
deficient in tact, as in memory. In growing old, he had grown forgetful,
and not being a society man, social gossip was less dear to his heart
than the news of political outbreaks, business strivings, and about-town
sensations. Doubtless he had heard, like all the world of W----, that
Doctor Clifford Heath had, at one time, been an aspirant for the favor
of the proud heiress of Wardour, and that suddenly he had fallen from
grace, and was no more seen within the walls of Wardour, or at the side
of its mistress on social occasions. If so, he had entirely forgotten
these facts. Accordingly, during his second call, made on the morning
after the inquest, he began to drop soft remarks concerning the recent
horror.
Mrs. Lamotte was lying down, and Constance had decided not to arouse her
when the doctor arrived, inasmuch as the patient was in one of her
stupors, and not likely to rouse from it.
The arrest of a brother practitioner on such a charge as was preferred
against Clifford Heath, had created no little commotion in the mind of
Dr. Benoit, and he found it difficult to keep the subject off his
tongue, so, after he had given Constance full instructions concerning
the patient, he said, standing hat in hand near the dressing room door:
"This is a terrible state of affairs for W----, Miss Wardour. Do you
know," drawing a step nearer, and lowering his voice, "Do you know if
Mr. Lamotte has been informed that O'Meara, as Heath's lawyer, demands a
surgical examination?"
"As Heath's lawyer!" The room seemed to swim about her. She turned
instinctively toward the door of the chamber, closed it softly, and came
very close to the old doctor, lifting her pale lips to his ear.
"I don't understand you, doctor. What has Mr. O'Meara to do with the
murder?"
"Hey? What's that? What is O'Meara going to do? He's going to defend
young Heath." Then, seeing the startled, perplexed look upon her face,
"Is it possible you have not heard about Heath's arrest?"
She shook her head, and again lifted her mouth to his ear.
"I have heard nothing; tell me all."
"It seems that there was an old feud between Heath and Burrill," began
the doctor, beginning to feel that somehow he had made a blunder. "They
have hunted up some pretty strong evidence against Heath, and the
coroner's jury brought in a verdict against him. You know the body was
found in an old cellar, close by Heath's cottage."
At this moment there came a soft tap on the outer door, which Constance
at once recognized. Mechanically she moved forward and opened the door.
Mrs. Lamotte stood on the threshold.
Seeing the doctor and Constance, she at once inferred that Sybil was the
subject under discussion, and to insure the patient against being
disturbed, beckoned the doctor to come outside.
As he stepped out into the hall, Constance, hoping to get a little
information from him, came forward, and standing in the doorway,
partially closed the door behind her.
"Doctor," said Mrs. Lamotte, anxiously, "do you see any change in
Sybil?"
He shook his head gravely.
"There is no marked change, madam; but I see a possibility that she may
return to consciousness within the next forty-eight hours, in which case
I must warn you against letting her know or guess at the calamity that
has befallen her."
The two women exchanged glances of relief.
"If she receives no shock until her mental balance is fully restored,
her recovery may be hoped for; otherwise--"
"Otherwise, doctor?"
"Otherwise, if she retains her life, it will be at the cost of her
reason."
"Oh!" moaned the mother, "death would be better than that."
There was the sound of a door opening softly down the hall. They all
turned their eyes that way to see Frank Lamotte emerging from Evan's
room. He came hurriedly toward them, and Constance noticed the nervous
unsteadiness of his gait, the pinched and pallid look of his face, the
feverish fire of his sunken eyes.
"Mother," he said, in a constrained voice, and without once glancing
toward Constance, "I think you had better have Doctor Benoit see Evan. I
have been with him all night, and am thoroughly worn out."
"What ails Evan, Frank?"
"Too much liquor," with a shrug of the shoulders. "He is on the verge of
the 'brandy madness,' he sometimes sings of. He must have powerful
narcotics, and no cessation of his stimulants, or we will have him
raving about the house like a veritable madman; and--I have not told him
about Burrill."
A look of contrition came into the mother's face. Evan had kept his room
for days, but, in her anxiety for her dearest child, she had quite
forgotten him.
"Come, doctor," she said, quickly; "let us go to Evan at once."
They passed on to the lower room, leaving Constance and Frank face to
face.
Constance moved back a pace as if to re-enter the dressing-room; burning
with anxiety as she was, to hear more concerning Clifford Heath, her
womanly instincts were too true to permit her to ask information of her
discarded suitor. But Frank's voice stayed her movements.
"Constance, only one moment," he said, appealingly. "Have a little
patience with me _now_. Have a little pity for my misery."
His misery! The words sounded hypocritical; he had never loved John
Burrill over much, she knew.
"I bestow my pity whenever it is truly needed, Frank," she said, coldly,
her face whitening with the anguish of her inward thought. "Do you think
_you_ are the only sufferer in this miserable affair?"
"I am the only one who can not enlist your sympathies. I must live
without your love; I must bear a name disgraced, yet those who brought
about this family disgrace, even Clifford Heath, in a felon's cell, no
doubt you will aid and pity; _he_ is a martyr perhaps, while I--"
"While you--go on, sir;" fierce scorn shining from the gray eyes; bitter
sarcasm in the voice.
"While I," coming closer and fairly hissing the words, "am set aside for
him, a felon, Oh! you are a proud woman, and you keep your secrets well,
but you can not hide from me the fact that ever since the accursed day
that brought you and Clifford Heath together, _he_ has been the man
preferred by you. If I have lost you, you have none the less lost him;
listen."
Before she is aware of his purpose, he has her two wrists in a vice-like
grip; and bending down, until his lips almost touch the glossy locks on
her averted head, he is pouring out, in swift cutting sentences, the
story of the inquest; all the damning evidence is swiftly rehearsed;
nothing that can weigh against his rival, is omitted.
Feeling instinctively that he utters the truth; paralyzed by the weight
of his words; she stands with head drooping more and more, with cheeks
growing paler, with hands that tremble and grow cold in his clasp.
He sees her terror, a sudden thought possesses his brain; grasping her
hands still tighter, he goes madly on:
"Constance Wardour, in spite of the coldness between you, you love
Clifford Heath. _What will you do to save him?_"
[Illustration: "Constance Wardour, you love Clifford Heath."]
"This is too much! This is horrible!" She makes a mad effort to free
herself from his grasp.
The question comes like a taunt, a declaration of her helplessness.
Coming from him, it is maddening. It restores her courage; it makes her
mistress of herself once more.
"Don't repeat that question," she says, flashing upon him a look of
defiance.
"I _do_ repeat it!" he goes on wildly. "Go to O'Meara; to whom you
please; satisfy yourself that Clifford Heath has a halter about his
neck; then come to me, and tell me if you will give yourself as his
ransom. _I can save him if I will._ I _will_ save him, only on one
condition. You know what that is."
With a sudden fierce effort she frees herself from his clasp, and stands
erect before him, fairly panting with the fierceness of her anger.
"Traitor! _monster!_ Cain! Not to save all the lives of my friends; not
to save the world from perdition, would I be your wife! _You_ would
denounce the destroyer of that worthless clay below us. _You!_ Before
that should happen, to save the world the knowledge that such a monster
exists, _I_ will tell the world where the guilt lies, _for I know_."
Before he can realize the full meaning of her words, the dressing-room
door is closed between them, and Frank Lamotte stands gnashing his
teeth, beating the air with his hands in a frenzy of rage and despair.
While he stands thus, a step comes slowly up the stairs; he turns to
meet the gaze of his father.
"Frank," says Jasper Lamotte, in low, guarded accents, "Come down to the
library at once. It is time you knew the truth."