"Rose, my la.s.s, what ails you?" he inquired, approaching the bed, and seeing her shaking under the bedclothes.
"It"s in a cauld sweat, I am, frae head to foot," she answered.
"You have got an ague! Your teeth are chattering!" said Mr. Scott, stooping over her.
"Keep awa" frae me! Dinna come nigh me!" she cried, cuddling down closer under the clothing. She had not yet uncovered her face or looked at him.
"What is the meaning of all this, Rose?" he inquired, in a tone of displeasure.
"Speer that question to yoursel"! no" to me!" she answered, shuddering.
"Look at me!" said the man, sternly.
"I canna look at you! I winna look at you! I hae ta"en an awfu" scunner till ye!"
"What have I done to you, you exasperating woman, that you should behave to me in this insolent manner?" demanded the man.
"What hae ye dune till me, is it? Ye hae hanggit me! nae less!" cried the girl, with a shudder.
"_Hanged_ you? Whatever do you mean? Are ye crazy, girl?"
"Ay, weel nigh!"
"But what do you mean by saying that I have hanged you? Come, I insist on knowing!"
"Oh, then I just ken a" anent the murder up at Lone Castle! Ye hae drawn me in till a robbery and murder, without me kenning onything anent it until a" was ower, and me with the waefu" woodie before me!"
"Rose, if I understand you, it seems that you think I was in some sort concerned in the death of Sir Lemuel Levison?"
"Ay, that is just what I _be_ thinking!" said the shuddering girl.
"Then you do me a very foul and infamous injustice, Rose! Look at me! Do I look like an a.s.sa.s.sin? Look at me, I say!" sternly insisted the man.
"I canna luke at ye! I winna luke at ye! I hae lukit at ye ower muckle for my ain gude already!" cried the girl, cowering under the clothes.
"See here, la.s.s? I say that you are utterly wrong! I had no connection whatever with the death of the banker! I would not have hurt a hair of his gray head for all that he was worth! Come! I answer you seriously and kindly, although your grotesque and horrible suspicion deserves about equally to be laughed at or punished. Come, look into my face now and see whether I am not telling you the truth."
"And sae ye did na do the deed?" she inquired at length, uncovering her head and showing a pale affrighted face.
"My poor la.s.s, how terrified you have been! No, of course, I did not. But how came you to know anything about that horrible affair?"
Rose took up the morning paper and put it in his hands.
"Ah! confound the press!" muttered the man between his teeth.
"What did ye say?"
"These papers, with their ghastly accounts of murders, are nuisances, Rose!"
"Ay sae they be! But ye didna do the deed?"
The man made a gesture of impatience.
"Aweel, then sin ye had na knowledge o" the deed until after it was done, what did ye mean by saying that something wad happen, wad pit a" thoughts o" marriage and gi"eing in marriage out the heads o" a" concerned?--when ye spak till me under the balcony that same night?"
"I meant--I meant," said the man, hesitating, "that I would let the preparations for the wedding go on to the very altar, and then before the altar I would reject the bride! I had heard something about her."
"Ah! I thought ye did it a" for spite!"
"But Rose, I never thought you were such an utter coward as I have found you out to be to-day!" said the man reproachfully.
"Ay" I can staund muckle; but I canna staund murder!"
"It is not even certain that there has been any murder committed. The coroner"s jury have not yet brought in their verdict. Many people think that the old man fell dead with a sudden attack of heart-disease, and in falling, struck his head upon the top of that bronze statuette, which was found lying by him."
"Ay! and that wad be likely eneuch! for na robber wou"d gae to kill a man wi" siccan a weepon as that," said Rose, who had begun to recover her composure.
Then the man began to question her in his turn:
"You brought the satchel safely?"
"Ay, I brought it safely."
"Where is it?"
"Lock the door and I"ll get it."
The man locked the door. While his back was turned, Rose jumped out of bed and slipped on a dressing-gown. Then she put her hand in between the mattresses and drew out the bag.
"Have you examined its contents?" inquired the man.
"Na, I hanna opened it once," replied the girl, unhesitatingly telling a falsehood.
"Oh! then I have a surprise for you. Sir Lemuel Levison was my banker. He had my money, and also my jewels, in his charge. He delivered them to me last night a few minutes before I brought them out and gave them to you.
You know I wished you to take them to London because--I meant to reject Miss Levison at the altar, and after that, of course, I could not return to the castle for anything. Don"t you see?"
"Ay, I see! But stap! stap! Noo you mind me about the bag. When you brought out the bag that night, I heard you and a man talking. You said to the man, "You hae brocht the curse o" Cain upon me." Noo, an ye had naething to do wi" the murder, what did ye mean by that?"
The man"s face grew very dark. "She cross-questions me," he muttered to himself. Then controlling his emotions, he affected to laugh, and said:
"How you do twist and turn things, Rose! One would think you were interested in convicting me. But I had rather think that you are a little cracked on this subject. I never used the words you think you heard. The servant had brought me the wrong walking-stick, one that was too short for me, and so I said, "You have brought that cursed cane to me.""
"Ou, _that_ indeed!" said the credulous girl, "But what did _he_ mean when he said, "It could na be helpit. The auld man squealed?""
"I don"t know what he meant, nor do I know whether he used those words.
Probably he did not; and you mistook him as you have mistaken me. But I am really tired of being so cross-questioned, Rose. Look me in the face, and tell me whether you really believe me to be guilty or not?" he said, in his most frank and persuasive manner.
"Na, na, I canna believe ony ill o" ye, Johnnie Scott," replied the girl.