"A man brought me," returned Edith. "He"s gone off now, but will come again to-night."
"Your father, most likely," continued the loquacious Lois.
"My father!" and Edith laughed scornfully, "Mr. Arthur ain"t big enough to be anybody"s father--or yes, maybe he"s big enough, for he"s awful tall. But he"s got the teentiest whiskers growing you ever saw," and Edith"s nose went up contemptuously at Arthur"s darling mustache. "I don"t believe he"s twenty," she continued, "and little girl"s pa"s must be older than that I guess, and have bigger whiskers."
"How old are you?" asked Lois, vastly amused at the quaint speeches of the child, who replied, with great dignity,
"Going on TEN, and in three years more I"ll be THIRTEEN!"
"Who are you, any way?" asked Lois, her manner indicating so much real interest that Edith repeated her entire history up to the present time, excepting, indeed, the part pertaining to the locket held so vigilantly in her hand.
She had taken a picture belonging to Mr. Arthur, she said, and as Lois did not ask what picture, she was spared any embarra.s.sment upon that point.
"You"re a mighty queer child," said Lois, when the narrative was ended; "but I"ll see that you have good care till he comes back;"
and it was owing, in a measure, to her influence, that the breakfast and dinner carried up to Edith was of a superior quality, and comprised in quant.i.ty far more than she could eat.
Still the day dragged heavily, for Lois could not give her much attention; and even Nina failed to entertain her, as the western sunlight came in at her window, warning her that it was almost night.
"Will Arthur come? or if he does, will Mr. Harrington be with him?" she asked herself repeatedly, until at last, worn out with watching and waiting, she laid her head upon the side of the bed, and fell asleep, resting so quietly that she did not hear the rapid step in the hall, the knock upon the door, the turning of the k.n.o.b, or the cheery voice which said to her:
"Edith, are you asleep?"
Arthur had come.
CHAPTER VII.
RICHARD AND ARTHUR.
It was not a common occurrence for a visitor to present himself at Collingwood at so early an hour as that in which Arthur St. Claire rung for admittance, and Victor, who heard the bell, hastened in some surprise to answer it,
"Tell Mr. Harrington a stranger wishes to see him," said Arthur, following the polite valet into the library, where a fire was slowly struggling into life.
"Yes, sir. What name?" and Victor waited for a moment, while Arthur hesitated, and finally stammered out:
"Mr. St. Claire, from Virginia."
Immediately Victor withdrew, and seeking his master, delivered the message, adding that the gentleman seemed embarra.s.sed, and he wouldn"t wonder if he"d come to borrow money."
"St Claire--St. Claire," Richard repeated to himself. "Where have I heard that name before? Somewhere, sure."
"He called himself a stranger," returned Victor, adding that a youth by that name was visiting at Brier Hill, and it was probably of him that Mr. Harrington was thinking,
"It may be, though I"ve no remembrance of having heard that fact,"
returned Richard; "but, lead on," and he took the arm of Victor, who lead him to the library floor and then, as was his custom, turned away.
More than once during the rapid journey, Arthur had half resolved to turn back and not run the fearful risk of being recognized by Richard Harrington, but the remembrance of Edith"s mute distress should he return alone, emboldened him to go on and trust to Providence, or, if Providence failed, trust to Richard"s generosity not to betray his secret. He heard the uncertain footsteps in the hall, and forgetting that the eyes he so much dreaded could not see, he pulled his coat collar up around his face so as to conceal as much of it as possible.
"Mr. St. Claire? Is there such a person here?" and Richard Harrington had crossed the threshold of the door, and with his sightless eyes rolling around the room, stood waiting for an answer.
How well Arthur remembered that rich, full, musical voice. It seemed to him but yesterday since, he heard it before, and he shrank more and more from the reply which must be made to that question, and quickly, too, for the countenance of the blind man was beginning to wear a look of perplexity at the continued silence.
Summoning all his courage he stepped forward and taking the hand groping in the air, said rapidly, "Excuse me, Mr. Harrington, I hardly know what to say, I"ve come upon so queer an errand. You know Edith Hastings, the little girl who lived with Mrs.
Atherton?"
He thought by introducing Edith at once to divert the blind man from himself; but Richard"s quick ear had caught a tone not wholly unfamiliar as he replied,
"Yes, I know Edith Hastings, and it seems to me I ought to know you, too. I"ve heard your name and voice before. Wasn"t it in Geneva?" and the eagle eves fastened themselves upon the wall just back of where Arthur stood.
Arthur fairly gasped for breath, and for an instant he was as blind as Richard himself; then, catching at the word Geneva, he answered, "Did you ever live in Geneva, sir?"
"Not in the village, but near there on the lake sh.o.r.e," answered Richard, and Arthur continued,
"You probably attended the examinations then at the Academy, and heard me speak. I was a pupil there nearly two years before entering the college."
Arthur fancied himself remarkably clever for having suggested an idea which seemed so perfectly to satisfy his companion and which was not a falsehood either. He had been a student in the Academy for nearly two years, had spoken at all the exhibitions, receiving the prize at one; he had seen Richard Harrington among the spectators, and had no doubt that Richard might have observed him, though not very closely, else he had never put himself in his power by the one single act which was embittering his young life.
"It is likely you are right," said Richard, "I was often at the examinations, and since my misfortune I find myself recognizing voices as I never could have done when I had sight as well as hearing upon which to depend. But you spoke of Edith Hastings. I trust no harm has befallen the child. I am much interested in her and--wonder she has not been here long ere this. What would you tell me of her?"
Briefly Arthur related the particulars of his visit at Brier Hill, a visit which had ended so disastrously to Edith, and even before he reached the important point, Richard answered promptly, "She shall come here, I need her, I want her--want her for my sister, my child. I shall never have another;" then pressing his hands suddenly up on his forehead, whose blue veins seemed to swell with the intensity of his emotions, he continued. "But, no, Mr. St.
Claire. It cannot be, she is too young, too merry-hearted, too full of life and love to be brought into the shadow of our household. She would die upon my hands. Her voice would grow sadder and more mournful with the coming of every season, until at last when I had learned to love her as my life, I should some morning listen for what, would never greet my ear again. It"s a great temptation, but it must not be. A crazy old man and his blind son are not fit guardians for a child like Edith Hastings.
She must not walk in our darkness."
"But might not her presence bring daylight to that darkness?"
asked Arthur, gazing with mingled feelings of wonder and admiration upon the singularly handsome n.o.ble-looking man, who was indeed walking in thick darkness.
"She might," said Richard. "Yes, she might bring the full rich daylight to us, but on her the shadow would fail with a fearful blackness if she linked her destiny with mine. Young man, do you like Edith Hastings, if so, take her yourself and if money----"
Arthur here interrupted him with, "I have money of my own, sir; but I have no home at present. I am a student in college. I can do nothing with her there, but--" and his voice sunk almost to a whisper. "Years hence, I hope to have a home, and then, if you are tired of Edith I will take her. Meantime keep her at Collingwood for me. Is it a bargain?"
"You are young, I think," said Richard, smiling at Arthur"s proposition, and smiling again, when in tones apologetical, as if to be only so old were something of which he ought to be ashamed, Arthur returned,
"I am nineteen this month."
"And I was thirty, last spring," said Richard. "An old man, you think, no doubt. But to return to Edith Hastings. My heart wants her so much, while my better judgment rebels against it. Will she be greatly disappointed if I refuse?"
"Oh, yes, yes," said Arthur, grasping the hand laying on Richard"s knee. "I CAN"T go back to her without you. But, Mr. Harrington, before I urge it farther, let me ask as her friend, will she come here as a SERVANT, or an equal."
There was an upward flashing of the keen black eyes, a flush upon the high, white forehead, and Richard impatiently stamped upon the floor as he answered proudly,
"She comes as an equal, or not at all. She shall be as highly educated and as thoroughly accomplished as if the blood of the Harrington"s flowed in her veins."
"Then take her," and Arthur seemed more anxious than before. "She will do justice to your training. She will be wondrously beautiful. She will grace the halls of Collingwood with the air of England"s queen. You will not be ashamed of her, and who knows but some day--"
Arthur began to stammer, and at last managed to finish with, "There is NOT such a vast difference in your ages. Twenty-one years is nothing when weighed against the debt of grat.i.tude she will owe you--"