"Where is her room?"
Mrs. Presty moved to the fireplace, and laid her hand on the bell.
"Are you aware that this house is a hotel?" she asked.
"It doesn"t matter to me what it is."
"Oh yes, it does. A hotel keeps waiters. A hotel, when it is as large as this, has a policeman in attendance. Must I ring?"
The choice between giving way to Mrs. Presty, or being disgracefully dismissed, was placed plainly before him. Herbert"s life had been the life of a gentleman; he knew that he had forgotten himself; it was impossible that he could hesitate.
"I won"t trouble you to ring," he said; "and I will beg your pardon for having allowed my temper to get the better of me. At the same time it ought to be remembered, I think, in my favor, that I have had some provocation."
"I don"t agree with you," Mrs. Presty answered. She was deaf to any appeal for mercy from Herbert Linley. "As to provocation," she added, returning to her chair without asking him to be seated, "when you apply that word to yourself, you insult my daughter and me. _You_ provoked?
Oh, heavens!"
"You wouldn"t say that," he urged, speaking with marked restraint of tone and manner, "if you knew what I have had to endure--"
Mrs. Presty suddenly looked toward the door. "Wait a minute," she said; "I think I hear somebody coming in."
In the silence that followed, footsteps were audible outside--not approaching the door, however, but retiring from it. Mrs. Presty had apparently been mistaken. "Yes?" she said resignedly, permitting Herbert to proceed.
He really had something to say for himself, and he said it with sufficient moderation. That he had been guilty of serious offenses he made no attempt to deny; but he pleaded that he had not escaped without justly suffering for what he had done. He had been entirely in the wrong when he threatened to take the child away from her mother by force of law; but had he not been punished when his wife obtained her Divorce, and separated him from his little daughter as well as from herself? (No: Mrs. Presty failed to see it; if anybody had suffered by the Divorce, the victim was her injured daughter.) Still patient, Herbert did not deny the injury; he only submitted once more that he had suffered his punishment. Whether his life with Sydney Westerfield had or had not been a happy one, he must decline to say; he would only declare that it had come to an end. She had left him. Yes! she had left him forever. He had no wish to persuade her to return to their guilty life; they were both penitent, they were both ashamed of it. But she had gone away without the provision which he was bound in honor to offer to her.
"She is friendless; she may be in a state of poverty that I tremble to think of," Herbert declared. "Is there nothing to plead for me in such anxiety as I am suffering now?" Mrs. Presty stopped him there; she had heard enough of Sydney already.
"I see nothing to be gained," she said, "by dwelling on the past; and I should be glad to know why you have come to this place to-night."
"I have come to see Kitty."
"Quite out of the question."
"Don"t tell me that, Mrs. Presty! I"m one of the wretchedest men living, and I ask for the consolation of seeing my child. Kitty hasn"t forgotten me yet, I know. Her mother can"t be so cruel as to refuse. She shall fix her own time, and send me away when she likes; I"ll submit to anything.
Will you ask Catherine to let me see Kitty?"
"I can"t do it."
"Why not?"
"For private reasons."
"What reasons?"
"For reasons into which you have no right to inquire."
He got up from his chair. His face presented the same expression which Mrs. Presty had seen on it when he first entered the room.
"When I came in here," he said, "I wished to be certain of one thing.
Your prevarication has told me what I wanted to know. The newspapers had Catherine"s own authority for it, Mrs. Presty, when they called her widow. I know now why my brother, who never deceived me before, has deceived me about this. I understand the part that your daughter has been playing--and I am as certain as if I had heard it, of the devilish lie that one of you--perhaps both of you--must have told my poor child.
No, no; I had better not see Catherine. Many a man has killed his wife, and has not had such good reason for doing it as I have. You are quite right to keep me away from her."
He stopped--and looked suddenly toward the door. "I hear her," he cried, "She"s coming in!"
The footsteps outside were audible once more. This time, they were approaching; they were close to the door. Herbert drew back from it.
Looking round to see that he was out of the way, Mrs. Presty rushed forward--tore open the door in terror of what might happen--and admitted Captain Bennydeck.
Chapter XLIX. Keep the Secret.
The Captain"s attention was first attracted by the visitor whom he found in the room. He bowed to the stranger; but the first impression produced on him did not appear to have been of the favorable kind, when he turned next to Mrs. Presty.
Observing that she was agitated, he made the customary apologies, expressing his regret if he had been so unfortunate as to commit an intrusion. Trusting in the good sense and good breeding which distinguished him on other occasions, Mrs. Presty antic.i.p.ated that he would see the propriety of leaving her alone again with the person whom he had found in her company. To her dismay he remained in the room; and, worse still, he noticed her daughter"s absence, and asked if there was any serious cause for it.
For the moment, Mrs. Presty was unable to reply. Her presence of mind--or, to put it more correctly, her ready audacity--deserted her, when she saw Catherine"s husband that had been, and Catherine"s husband that was to be, meeting as strangers, and but too likely to discover each other.
In all her experience she had never been placed in such a position of embarra.s.sment as the position in which she found herself now. The sense of honor which had prompted Catherine"s resolution to make Bennydeck acquainted with the catastrophe of married life, might plead her excuse in the estimation of a man devotedly attached to her. But if the Captain was first informed that he had been deceived by a person who was a perfect stranger to him, what hope could be entertained of his still holding himself bound by his marriage engagement? It was even possible that distrust had been already excited in his mind. He must certainly have heard a man"s voice raised in anger when he approached the door--and he was now observing that man with an air of curiosity which was already a.s.suming the appearance of distrust. That Herbert, on his side, resented the Captain"s critical examination of him was plainly visible in his face. After a glance at Bennydeck, he asked Mrs. Presty "who that gentleman was."
"I may be mistaken," he added; "but I thought your friend looked at me just now as if he knew me."
"I have met you, sir, before this." The Captain made the reply with a courteous composure of tone and manner which apparently reminded Herbert of the claims of politeness.
"May I ask where I had the honor of seeing you?" he inquired.
"We pa.s.sed each other in the hall of the hotel at Sandyseal. You had a young woman with you."
"Your memory is a better one than mine, sir. I fail to remember the circ.u.mstance to which you refer."
Bennydeck let the matter rest there. Struck by the remarkable appearance of embarra.s.sment in Mrs. Presty"s manner--and feeling (in spite of Herbert"s politeness of language) increased distrust of the man whom he had found visiting her--he thought it might not be amiss to hint that she could rely on him in case of necessity. "I am afraid I have interrupted a confidential interview," he began; "and I ought perhaps to explain--"
Mrs. Presty listened absently; preoccupied by the fear that Herbert would provoke a dangerous disclosure, and by the difficulty of discovering a means of preventing it. She interrupted the Captain.
"Excuse me for one moment; I have a word to say to this gentleman."
Bennydeck immediately drew back, and Mrs. Presty lowered her voice. "If you wish to see Kitty," she resumed, attacking Herbert on his weak side, "it depends entirely on your discretion."
"What do you mean by discretion?"
"Be careful not to speak of our family troubles--and I promise you shall see Kitty. That is what I mean."
Herbert declined to say whether he would be careful or not. He was determined to find out, first, with what purpose Bennydeck had entered the room. "The gentleman was about to explain himself to you," he said to Mrs. Presty. "Why don"t you give him the opportunity?"
She had no choice but to submit--in appearance at least. Never had she hated Herbert as she hated him at that moment. The Captain went on with his explanation. He had his reasons (he said) for hesitating, in the first instance, to present himself uninvited, and he accordingly retired. On second thoughts, however, he had returned, in the hope--
"In the hope," Herbert interposed, "of seeing Mrs. Presty"s daughter?"
"That was one of my motives," Bennydeck answered.