CHAPTKU XIX. EXPLANATIONS.

Observer, Volume 9, Issue 521, 15 December 1888, Page 7

CHAPTKU XIX. EXPLANATIONS.

' I cannot endure this,' came in one burst of lading from the lips of Mr Blake.- ' She don't know, she don't realise — Sir,' cried he, suddenly becoming conscious oi' lay presence in the room, ' will you be gooa enough to see that this note ' (he hastily scribbled one) 'is carried across the way to my house, and given to Mrs Daniels ?' I bowed assent, rented up one of the men in the next room, and despatched it at once. ' Perhaps she v.-ill listen to the voice of her own sex, if not to me,' .said he ; and he began pacing the floor of the narrow room in which we were, with a wiidnc-ss of impatience that showed to what depths had sunk the hope of gaining this lovely woman for his own. Peeling myself no longer necessary in that spot I followed where my wishea led, and entered the room where Luttra was bidding good-bye to her father. ' I shall never forget,' I heard her say, as I crossed the floor where Mr Gryee stood looking out of the window, ' that your "blood ruus in my veins together with tnat of my gentle hearted, never-to-be-forgotten mother.' Whatever my fate may be or wherever I may hide the head you have bowed to the dust, be sure I shall always lift up my hands in prayer for your repentance and return to an honest life.. God grant that my prayers may be heard, and that 1 may jet receive at your hand a father's kindly blessing.' • The only answer to this was a heavily muttered growl that gave but little promise of any such peaceful termination to a deeply. vicious life. Hearing it, Mr Gryce hastened- to ' procure ■ his men andremove the hardened wretches'from the, spot. All through the preparations lor their departure she stood and watched their sullen faces with a wild yearning in her eye ' that could scarcely be denied ; but when the door finally closed upon them, and she was left standing there with no one in the room but myself, she steadied herself up, as one who is conscious that all the storms of heaven are about to break upon her, and, turning slowly to the door, waited with arms crossed and a still determination upon her brow, the coming of the feet of him whose resolve . she felt must have, as yet, been only strengthened by her resistance. She had not long to wait. Almost with the closing of the street door upon the detectives, and their prisoners, Mr Blake, followed by Mrs Danit-ls and another lady, whose thick veil and. long cloak but illy, concealed the patrician features and stately form of the Countess de Mirac, entered fhe room. The surprise had its effect : Luttra was evidently, for the moment, thrown off her guard. - .■.•-' ' Mrs Daniels I' she breathed, holding out her bands with a longing gesture. '. (i My dear mistress!' returned that good woman, taking those hands ia hers, but in a respectful way that proved the constraint <hiiposed upon her by Mr Blake's presence. '\pft"~l see you again, and safe ?' , ' You must have thought Reared little for the anxiety you would be^ure.tp leel,' 'said the fair young mistress, gazing with-earnestiK ss into the glad but tearful;eyes of < theghonsekei per. ( • But, indeed, I tia^e:beea^^o ; to. . communi-

cate With you, nor could ,1 do^b"'wittpufc x risking that to, protect which Fso outraged, mjr feelings: ? as to leave tlie house at all.' Tme'ah'thVlife afield welfare of its master; Mrs Daniels^' ' ■ y-yt'i 'Ha! what is that?' quoth Mr Blake 'J .''•'if*!-; was to save me you consented to follow, them ?' %-I ' Yes ; what else would have led me to such aiFs action? They might have killed me; but wheuiH they began to utter threats against you - — -' , ,"f *•; 'Mrs ßlake,' exclaimed Mrs Daniels, c'atoliihgt^ hold of her mistress's uplifted hand, and points -■? ing to a scar that slightly disfigured her white^ arm a little above the wrist, • Mrs Blake, what's'".that?' " . .>'-;;■_: A pink flush, the first I have seen on her- ,^ usually pale countenance, rose for an instant td. '- ncr cheeks, and she seemed to hesitate. '' l 'It was not there when I last saw you MdT'--Blake.' ..,,;. , ■ . ,-".. 'No,' was the slow reply, «I found myself v forced that night to inflict upon myself a little V wound. It is nothing ; let it go.' .-)' ' No, Luttra, I cannot let it go,' said her hus- •'<• j band, advancing towards her with something likef- ' [ gentle command. '1 must not only hear aboiifc ; ; this, but all the other occurrences of that nightl? | ' How came they to find you in the refuge 'ybh had attained ?' , ' v r 'I think,' said she, in- a low tone, the under- : lying suffering of which it would bahard to des -'.:. cribe, ' that it was not to seek me they first in-,. vacled your house. They had heard you were a ' rich man, and the sight of that ladder running, '■'.■■ up the side of the new : extension was too much \ for them. Indeed, I know that it was for pur- : " poses of robbery they came, for they had .hired,'.; this room opposite you some days previous tb,; making the attempt. You see, they were almost . ', destitute of mouey.<; and though they had some in the cellar of tho old house iv Vermont, : they dared not leave the city to procure it. My ' brother was obliged to do so later, however. ' It, was a surprise to them sesing me in your housk • They had reached the roof of the extension and ' were just lifting up the' corner of the shade I had dropped across the open window — I always* open, : my window a few minutes before preparing to : retire — when I rose from the chair in which I / had been brooding, and turned up the gas. '-I.* was combing my hair at the time, and so, 6£V course, they recognised, me- Instantly theyV gave a secret signal I, altfs ! remembered only towell, and, crouching back, bade me put out, the >■ light, that they might 6nter with safety. I was at firsti too much startled to realiz3 tho eonse- ' quences of my action, and, with some vague idea , that they had discovered my retreat and comelsr '" purposes of advice or assistance, I did what they bid. Immediately they threw back the shade > and came in, their huge figures looming friglit». v fully in the faint light made by a distant gas - lamp in tbe street' below. "What do you J want?" were my first words, uttered in (a. voice I scarcely recognised for my own, " why do ; you steal on me like this in the night, and:; through an open window fifty feet from the ' ' ground? Aren't you afraid you will be~dis-" covered and sent back to the prison from wliiSh. .' you have escaped?" Their reply sent a chill^ through my blood, and awoke me to a realization;; of what I had done in thus allowing two escaped ".i convicts to enter a house not my own. "We .^ want money, and we're not afraid of anything -i now?/()« -are here," And, without heeding my ' exclamation of horror, they cooly told me tlia't''-?!-----they would expect me to show them the way iothe silver closet, or what was better, the safe/or"^ whatever it was Mr Blake kept his money in: T; '■;-, saw they took me for a servant,, as, indeed, I'-'.'. was ; and for some minutes I managed to, preserve.^ . that position in their eyes. But When, in -a ,■& sudden burst of rage at my refusal to help therru % they pushed me aside and hurried to the door ?. with the manifest intention of going below, Ir-' ; forgot prudence in my fears, and uttered spme"-^ wild appeal to them not to do injury to-anyone^t in the house, for it was my husband's. Of course,-: .'■ that disclosure had its natural effect. . • .' ' They stopped, but only to beset me with ■', questions till the whole truth came out. ' I could, ; not have committed a worse folly than thus ; ;>; taking them into my confidence. Instantly thei '% advantages to be gained by using my secret;-^ connection with so wealthy a man for the purpose of cowering me and blackmailing him, seemed to, :, strike both their minds at once, slow as they <ji usually are to receive impressions. The' silver- ,'; closet and money safe sank to a comparatively , ; : insignificant position in their eyes, and "to get 1 me -•/; out of the bouse, and with my happiness at stake, ,\ treat with the honourable man who, notwith-v"? standing his non- approval of me as a womahj'V, | still regarded me as his lawfully-wedded wife»'^' ! became in their eyes a thing of such wonderful",^ ' promise .Ibey were willing to run any and every ,;J risk; to, test its value. But here, to, their great;!' astonishment, I rebelled ; astonishment becausje;;t' they could not realize my desiring anything..'!? above money and the position to which they de^ clared I was by law entitled. In vain I. pleaded :f my love; in vain I threatened exposure of-ttieir^ plans, if not whereabouts. The mine of^goldjl which they fondly believed they had stumbles;t upon unawares, promised too richly to be easilyjfl abandoned. " You must go with us, ' said^theyfl "if not peaceably, then by force, 1 ' •and cVth'ejf| actually advanced upon me, v upsetting achair^ and tearing down one of the curtains to whiciii%^ clung. It was then I committed that little a6tif| concerning which you questioned me. I wan'te^l to show thedi I was not to be moved, by thxeaijip'i of that character : that I did not even fear -""tB&jp shedding of my blood ; and that they would ohlyfil be wasting their time in trying to sway me by |r| hints of personal violence. And they were, ~-'fo@i little impressed, sufficiently so at least tdluj-i^ their threats in another .direction, awakemngfjl fears at last which I could not conceal', ,mucb>sli§i I felt it would be policy to' do so. Gatheringiu|||l a few articles I most " prized, my .weddingirhigj|| Mr -brake* and a photograph of yoursel|o:vjih^aiM Mrs Daniels had been kind enough to Kiye^d'ei|j|g put on my bonnet and cloak, and said ■ I 4'o with them, since they persisted- i]i^.eo I 'uii^ng*i;^p The fact is I ho longer pos.se^s*^.'4^pwvij 'vb'i + ff| strength to r,esist. Even y.o^'^n.^pßptifl^a^^ pearance at. the door, . M r s.,l)amdg^oft ; efe||^^ prospect of hope.- .Arouse ;,she^Ktfiise^?^^^^^p would, that? do, 7 A '^Onl^. J :-'r^al->'my.f- : .J|pi^^^ secret, andwi'lpfhapjs. J^paMajs^^^^irfJ^f^^g Inisband,. j'^esid^s, 'theyTfwefe^^ remem ber, :ajid isd ;had some'.littjlß^lißmMß^^^^ conaid'er^tibn, , at least o ;:; tHeitp^|l^ a^SilS:?^^S

girxrmediate and actual harm. The escape by the Bwihddw,wbich would have' been a difhcnlt las*. &^dr most women to perform, was eaay enough ioi !pme;V 1 was brought up to wild ways you know fennel the descent £f a ladder forty *f V^LTllh Comparatively trivial thing for me to .ff 01 »^ grasp of my father and brother, I reached She fate on btreet, only to encounter 'Me eves of him whose displeasure I mos, ■■'feared' looking sternly, upon, me from the other -side. The shock was too much for me in my !then weak and unnerved condition. Without anything but the fact that he never ;> iad known, and never must, that I had been m •-the same house with him for so long I rushed tyteek-lo the corner, and into the arms of the men whb awaited me. How you came to be there, jar t'T&kke, or why you did not open the gate and r follow. I cannot say.' h:><The pate was locked,' returned that gentle>iinai). ' You remember it closes with a spring, '> 7 and-can only be opened by means of a key which '■ XuiA not have.' , f. 'My father bad it,' she murmured ; 'he spent &a whole week in the endeavour to get hold of n, Aand finally succeeded on the evening of the very 4~day he used it. It was left in the lock I beit- 'So much for servants,' l whispered to my- '■-: - ■■• The next morning,' continued she, • they put : the case very plainly before me. I was at liberty -to return at once to my home if I would promise to work in their interest by makingcertain demands upon you as your wife. All they wanted, : said they, was a snug little sum, and a lift out or ■-the country. If I would secure them these they i would trouble me no more. But I could not Concede to anything of that|nature, of course, and ■the consequence was these long weeks of imimprisonment and suspense— weeks that 1 uo not '■■How begrudge, seeing they have brought mo the ■vassnrance of your esteem and toe knowledge, that r.Wherever I go, your thoughts will follow me with ■j'odinpassion if not tfitb, love. 1 r Atfd, having told her story, and thus answered ■■■ his demands, she assumed once more the position "■• of lofty. reserve that seemed to shut him back ' -from advance like a wall of invincible crystal.