That night was a night of torment in secret to another person at Mount Morven.
Wandering, in his need of self-isolation, up and down the dreary stone pa.s.sages in the lower part of the house, Linley counted the hours, inexorably lessening the interval between him and the ordeal of confession to his wife. As yet, he had failed to find the opportunity of addressing to Sydney the only words of encouragement he could allow to pa.s.s his lips: he had asked for her earlier in the evening, and n.o.body could tell him where she was. Still in ignorance of the refuge which she might by bare possibility hope to find in Mrs. MacEdwin"s house, Sydney was spared the torturing doubts which now beset Herbert Linley"s mind.
Would the n.o.ble woman whom they had injured allow their atonement to plead for them, and consent to keep their miserable secret? Might they still put their trust in that generous nature a few hours hence? Again and again those questions confronted Linley; and again and again he shrank from attempting to answer them.
Chapter XIII. Kitty Keeps Her Birthday.
They were all a.s.sembled as usual at the breakfast-table.
Preferring the request suggested to her by Mrs. Presty, Kitty had hastened the presentation of the birthday gifts, by getting into her mother"s bed in the morning, and exacting her mother"s promise before she would consent to get out again. By her own express wish, she was left in ignorance of what the presents would prove to be. "Hide them from me," said this young epicure in pleasurable sensations, "and make me want to see them until I can bear it no longer." The gifts had accordingly been collected in an embrasure of one of the windows; and the time had now arrived when Kitty could bear it no longer.
In the procession of the presents, Mrs. Linley led the way.
She had pa.s.sed behind the screen which had thus far protected the hidden treasures from discovery, and appeared again with a vision of beauty in the shape of a doll. The dress of this wonderful creature exhibited the latest audacities of French fashion. Her head made a bow; her eyes went to sleep and woke again; she had a voice that said two words--more precious than two thousand in the mouth of a mere living creature.
Kitty"s arms opened and embraced her gift with a scream of ecstasy. That fervent pressure found its way to the right spring. The doll squeaked: "Mamma!"--and creaked--and cried again--and said: "Papa!" Kitty sat down on the floor; her legs would support her no longer. "I think I shall faint," she said quite seriously.
In the midst of the general laughter, Sydney silently placed a new toy (a pretty little imitation of a jeweler"s casket) at Kitty"s side, and drew back before the child could look at her. Mrs. Presty was the only person present who noticed her pale face and the trembling of her hands as she made the effort which preserved her composure.
The doll"s necklace, bracelets, and watch and chain, riveted Kitty"s attention on the casket. Just as she thought of looking round for her dear Syd, her father produced a new outburst of delight by presenting a perambulator worthy of the doll. Her uncle followed with a parasol, devoted to the preservation of the doll"s complexion when she went out for an airing. Then there came a pause. Where was the generous grandmother"s gift? n.o.body remembered it; Mrs. Presty herself discovered the inestimable sixpenny picture-book cast away and forgotten on a distant window-seat. "I have a great mind to keep this," she said to Kitty, "till you are old enough to value it properly." In the moment of her absence at the window, Linley"s mother-in-law lost the chance of seeing him whisper to Sydney. "Meet me in the shrubbery in half an hour," he said. She stepped back from him, startled by the proposal.
When Mrs. Presty was in the middle of the room again, Linley and the governess were no longer near each other.
Having by this time recovered herself, Kitty got on her legs. "Now," the spoiled child declared, addressing the company present, "I"m going to play."
The doll was put into the perambulator, and was wheeled about the room, while Mrs. Linley moved the chairs out of the way, and Randal attended with the open parasol--under orders to "pretend that the sun was shining." Once more the sixpenny picture-book was neglected. Mrs. Presty picked it up from the floor, determined by this time to hold it in reserve until her ungrateful grandchild reached years of discretion. She put it in the bookcase between Byron"s "Don Juan" and Butler"s "Lives of the Saints." In the position which she now occupied, Linley was visible approaching Sydney again. "Your own interests are seriously concerned,"
he whispered, "in something that I have to tell you."
Incapable of hearing what pa.s.sed between them, Mrs. Presty could see that a secret understanding united her son-in-law and the governess. She looked round cautiously at Mrs. Linley.
Kitty"s humor had changed; she was now eager to see the doll"s splendid clothes taken off and put on again. "Come and look at it," she said to Sydney; "I want you to enjoy my birthday as much as I do." Left by himself, Randal got rid of the parasol by putting it on a table near the door. Mrs. Presty beckoned to him to join her at the further end of the room.
"I want you to do me a favor," she began.
Glancing at Linley before she proceeded, Mrs. Presty took up a newspaper, and affected to be consulting Randal"s opinion on a pa.s.sage which had attracted her attention. "Your brother is looking our way,"
she whispered: "he mustn"t suspect that there is a secret between us."
False pretenses of any kind invariably irritated Randal. "What do you want me to do?" he asked sharply.
The reply only increased his perplexity.
"Observe Miss Westerfield and your brother. Look at them now."
Randal obeyed.
"What is there to look at?" he inquired.
"Can"t you see?"
"I see they are talking to each other."
"They are talking confidentially; talking so that Mrs. Linley can"t hear them. Look again."
Randal fixed his eyes on Mrs. Presty, with an expression which showed his dislike of that lady a little too plainly. Before he could answer what she had just said to him, his lively little niece hit on a new idea. The sun was shining, the flowers were in their brightest beauty--and the doll had not yet been taken into the garden! Kitty at once led the way out; so completely preoccupied in steering the perambulator in a straight course that she forgot her uncle and the parasol. Only waiting to remind her husband and Sydney that they were wasting the beautiful summer morning indoors, Mrs. Linley followed her daughter--and innocently placed a fatal obstacle in Mrs. Presty"s way by leaving the room. Having consulted each other by a look, Linley and the governess went out next. Left alone with Randal, Mrs. Presty"s anger, under the complete overthrow of her carefully-laid scheme, set restraint at defiance.
"My daughter"s married life is a wreck," she burst out, pointing theatrically to the door by which Linley and Sydney Westerfield had retired. "And Catherine has the vile creature whom your brother picked up in London to thank for it! Now do you understand me?"
"Less than ever," Randal answered--"unless you have taken leave of your senses."
Mrs. Presty recovered the command of her temper.
On that fine morning her daughter might remain in the garden until the luncheon-bell rang. Linley had only to say that he wished to speak with his wife; and the private interview which he had so rudely insisted on as his sole privilege, would a.s.suredly take place. The one chance left of still defeating him on his own ground was to force Randal to interfere by convincing him of his brother"s guilt. Moderation of language and composure of manner offered the only hopeful prospect of reaching this end. Mrs. Presty a.s.sumed the disguise of patient submission, and used the irresistible influence of good humor and good sense.
"I don"t complain, dear Randal, of what you have said to me," she replied. "My indiscretion has deserved it. I ought to have produced my proofs, and have left it to you to draw the conclusion. Sit down, if you please. I won"t detain you for more than a few minutes."
Randal had not antic.i.p.ated such moderation as this; he took the chair that was nearest to Mrs. Presty. They were both now sitting with their backs turned to the entrance from the library to the drawing-room.
"I won"t trouble you with my own impressions," Mrs. Presty went on.
"I will be careful only to mention what I have seen and heard. If you refuse to believe me, I refer you to the guilty persons themselves."
She had just got to the end of those introductory words when Mrs. Linley returned, by way of the library, to fetch the forgotten parasol.
Randal insisted on making Mrs. Presty express herself plainly. "You speak of guilty persons," he said. "Am I to understand that one of those guilty persons is my brother?"
Mrs. Linley advanced a step and took the parasol from the table. Hearing what Randal said, she paused, wondering at the strange allusion to her husband. In the meanwhile, Mrs. Presty answered the question that had been addressed to her.
"Yes," she said to Randal; "I mean your brother, and your brother"s mistress--Sydney Westerfield."
Mrs. Linley laid the parasol back on the table, and approached them.
She never once looked at her mother; her face, white and rigid, was turned toward Randal. To him, and to him only, she spoke.
"What does my mother"s horrible language mean?" she asked.
Mrs. Presty triumphed inwardly; chance had decided in her favor, after all! "Don"t you see," she said to her daughter, "that I am here to answer for myself?"
Mrs. Linley still looked at Randal, and still spoke to him. "It is impossible for me to insist on an explanation from my mother," she proceeded. "No matter what I may feel, I must remember that she _is_ my mother. I ask you again--you who have been listening to her--what does she mean?"
Mrs. Presty"s sense of her own importance refused to submit to being pa.s.sed over in this way.
"However insolently you may behave, Catherine, you will not succeed in provoking me. Your mother is bound to open your eyes to the truth.
You have a rival in your husband"s affections; and that rival is your governess. Take your own course now; I have no more to say." With her head high in the air--looking the picture of conscious virtue--the old lady walked out.
At the same moment Randal seized his first opportunity of speaking.
He addressed himself gently and respectfully to his sister-in-law. She refused to hear him. The indignation which Mrs. Presty had roused in her made no allowances, and was blind to all sense of right.
"Don"t trouble yourself to account for your silence," she said, most unjustly. "You were listening to my mother without a word of remonstrance when I came into the room. You are concerned in this vile slander, too."