Love encompa.s.sed her, and when the wintry light failed, her faintly beating heart failed with it, and all was still....
"Richard!--Richard!--Come with me."
So, with low, tender words, Mary tried to lead him away, after that trance of silence in which they had all been standing round the dead. He yielded to her; he was ready to see the doctor and to submit to the absolute rest enjoined. But already there was something in his aspect which terrified Mary. Through the night that followed, as she lay awake, a true instinct told her that the first great wrestle of her life and her love was close upon her.
CHAPTER XXIV
On the day following Hester"s death an inquest was held in the dining-room at Burwood. Meynell and old David, the shepherd, stood out chief among the witnesses.
"This poor lady"s name, I understand, sir," said the gray-haired Coroner, addressing Meynell, when the first preliminaries were over, "was Miss Hester Fox-Wilton; she was the daughter of the late Sir Ralph Fox-Wilton; she was under age; and you and Lady Fox-Wilton--who is not here, I am told, owing to illness--were her guardians?"
Meynell a.s.sented. He stood to the right of the Coroner, leaning heavily on the chair before him. The doctor who had been called in to Hester sat beside him, and wondered professionally whether the witness would get through.
"I understand also," the Coroner resumed, "that Miss Fox-Wilton had left the family in Paris with whom you and Lady Fox-Wilton had placed her, some three weeks ago, and that you have since been in search of her, in company I believe with Miss Fox-Wilton"s aunt, Miss Alice Puttenham. Miss Puttenham, I hope, will appear?"
The doctor rose--
"I am strongly of opinion, sir, that, unless for most urgent reasons, Miss Puttenham should not be called upon. She is in a very precarious state, in consequence of grief and shock, and I should greatly fear the results were she to make the effort."
Meynell intervened.
"I shall be able, sir, I think, to give you sufficient information, without its being necessary to call upon Miss Puttenham."
He went on to give an account, as guarded as he could make it, of Hester"s disappearance from the family with whom she was boarding, of the anxiety of her relations, and the search that he and Miss Puttenham had made.
His conscience was often troubled. Vaguely, his mind was p.r.o.nouncing itself all the while--"It is time now the truth were known. It is better it should be known." Hester"s death had changed the whole situation. But he could himself take no step whatever toward disclosure. And he knew that it was doubtful whether he should or could have advised Alice to take any.
The inquiry went on, the Coroner avoiding the subject of Hester"s French escapade as much as possible. After all there need be--there was--no question of suicide; only some explanation had to be suggested of the dressing-bag left within the garden gate, and of the girl"s reckless climb into the fells, against old David"s advice, on such an afternoon.
Presently, in the midst of David"s evidence, describing his meeting with Hester by the bridge, the handle of the dining-room door turned. The door opened a little way and then shut again. Another minute or two pa.s.sed, and then the door opened again timidly as though some one were hesitating outside. The Coroner annoyed, beckoned to a constable standing behind the witnesses. But before he could reach it, a lady had slowly pushed it open, and entered the room.
It was Alice Puttenham.
The Coroner looked up, and the doctor rose in astonishment. Alice advanced to the table, and stood at the farther end from the Coroner, looking first at him and then at the jury. Her face--emaciated now beyond all touch of beauty--and the childish overhanging lip quivered as she tried to speak; but no words came.
"Miss Puttenham, I presume?" said the Coroner. "We were told, madam, that you were not well enough to give evidence."
Meynell was at her side.
"What do you wish?" he said, in a low voice, as he took her hand.
"I wish to give evidence," she said aloud.
The doctor turned toward the Coroner.
"I think you will agree with me, sir, that as Miss Puttenham has made the effort, she should give her evidence as soon as possible, and should give it sitting."
A murmur of a.s.sent ran round the table. Over the weather-beaten Westmoreland faces had pa.s.sed a sudden wave of animation.
Alice took her seat, and the oath. Meynell sitting opposite to her covered his face with his hands. He foresaw what she was about to do, and his heart went out to her.
Everybody at the table bent forward to listen. The two shorthand writers lifted eager faces.
"May I make a statement?" The thin voice trembled through the room.
The Coroner a.s.sured the speaker that the Court was willing and anxious to hear anything she might have to say.
Alice fixed her eyes on the old man, as though she would thereby shut out all his surroundings.
"You are inquiring, sir--into the death--of my daughter."
The Coroner made a sudden movement.
"Your daughter, madam? I understood that, this poor young lady was the daughter of the late Sir Ralph and Lady Fox-Wilton?"
"She was their adopted daughter. Her father was Mr. Neville Flood, and I--am her mother. Mr. Flood, of Sandford Abbey, died nearly twenty years ago. He and I were never married. My sister and brother-in-law adopted the child. She pa.s.sed always as theirs, and when Sir Ralph died, he appointed--Mr. Meynell--and my sister her guardians. Mr. Meynell has always watched over her--and me. Mr. Flood was much attached to him.
He wrote to Mr. Meynell, asking him to help us--just before his death."
She paused a moment, steadying herself by the table.
There was not a sound, not a movement in the room. Only Meynell uncovered his eyes and tried to meet hers, so as to give her encouragement.
She resumed--
"Last August the nurse who attended me--in my confinement--came home to Upcote. She made a statement to a gentleman there--a false statement--and then she died. I wished then to make the truth public--but Mr. Meynell--as Hester"s guardian--and for her sake, as well as mine--did not wish it. She knew nothing--then; and he was afraid of its effect upon her. I followed his advice, and took her abroad, in order to protect her from a bad man who was pursuing her. We did all we could--but we were not able to protect her. They were married without my knowing--and she went away with him. Then he--this man--told her--or perhaps he had done it before, I don"t know--who she was. I can only guess how he knew; but he is Mr. Flood"s nephew. My poor child soon found out what kind of man he was. She tried to escape from him. And because Mrs. Elsmere had been always very kind to her, she came here. She knew how--"
The voice paused, and then with difficulty shaped its words again.
"She knew that we should grieve so terribly. She shrank from seeing us.
She thought we might be here--and that--partly--made her wander away again--in despair--when she actually got here. But her death was a pure accident--that I am sure of. At the last, she tried to get home--to me.
That was the only thing she was conscious of--before she fell. When she was dying--she told me she knew--I was her mother. And now--that she is dead--"
The voice changed and broke--a sudden cry forced its way through--
"Now that she is dead--no one else shall claim her--but me. She"s mine now--my child--forever--only mine!"
She broke off incoherently, bowing her head upon her hands, her slight shoulders shaken by her sobs.
The room was silent, save for a rather general clearing of throats.
Meynell signalled to the doctor. They both rose and went to her. Meynell whispered to her.
The Coroner spoke, drawing his handkerchief hastily across his eyes.
"The Court is very grateful to you, Miss Puttenham, for this frank and brave statement. We tender you our best thanks. There is no need for us to detain you longer."