"No, no! that"s not to be thought of. I"ll go at once. But may I be forgiven for entertaining a doubt of him."
He picked up his hat, which had fallen from his head in his excitement, and went out of the store and down the hill towards the boats. Springing into one he shoved off and set to work to pull himself across to the settlement. It was quite dark, but the lights from the houses guided him, and before he had made up his mind where first to look for Murkard he was alongside the jetty. His thoughts flew back across the year to the night when he had waited there at those self-same steps for Esther.
How his life had changed since then!
Tying up the boat, he set off for the Hotel of All Nations, expecting to find Murkard there. But he had left the place, and it was said had gone along the beach in the direction of the Pearlers" Rest. He followed and inquired in the bar, but again without success. He had not been seen there. From that hostelry he pa.s.sed on to another and yet another, but with no greater result. Murkard was not to be found. At last, on the sea-front again, he chanced upon a pearler who had met him heading round the hill-side. This was a clue, and throwing new energy into his walk he set off after him. It was the same road they had followed together the evening of the famous fight, and it looked as if he should find Murkard at the self-same spot where they had camped that night. Nor was he disappointed. As he turned the bend of the hill he caught sight of a figure outlined against the starlight. There was no mistaking that angular back. He pushed on the faster, calling "Murkard!" As he came towards it, the figure turned and said:
"What do you want with me?"
"My dear old fellow, what a chase you have given me. What is the matter with you? What on earth made you leave us as you did? I can tell you I have been quite anxious about you."
Murkard came towards him and placed his hand upon his shoulder.
"That is not the reason you are here, Ellison. You cannot deceive me.
There is something behind it all. What is the matter? Nothing wrong with your wife?"
He spoke with feverish eagerness.
"No, there is nothing the matter with my wife. But, my gracious, something else is terribly wrong!"
Murkard clutched him by the arm and looked into his face.
"Well--well--why don"t you go on? Why don"t you tell me all?"
"Because I can"t, old friend, I can"t. I despise myself enough as it is for having listened to such a thing."
"I can see something pretty bad has happened, and Merton has suggested to you that I am the guilty party. Good! Now tell me with what I am charged? Don"t be afraid. I shall not think the worse of you."
"The Black Pearl!"
"Gone? Yes, gone! I can read it in your face. The thief, oh, the infernal, lying, traitorous thief! I see it all now. Oh, Ellison! you have been trapped--cruelly, heartlessly trapped! But, please G.o.d, it is not too late to set it right, whatever the cost may be."
"How? Speak out. What do you mean? What fresh villainy am I to discover now?"
"Listen to me. Has that man told you my history?"
"Yes."
"Who I really am?"
"No. But he told me that you were convicted of a theft in England, and received five years" penal servitude. Forgive me, Murkard, for listening to him--but I could not help it."
"You were right to listen, and he told the truth. I was convicted, and I served the sentence, but now you shall know everything. I ought to have warned you months ago, but I thought you would never find it out. For pity"s sake, don"t think too harshly of me--but--but--well, I am the man you pretended to be. I--am--the--Marquis of St. Burdan!"
Ellison did not speak, but he made a noise as if he were choking.
Murkard again put his hand on his shoulder.
"You were a true friend to me. I heard you tell the lie, and I saw how the woman who is now your wife worshipped and trusted you. I knew it would kill her faith in you if she found you out, so I resolved not to betray myself or you. When you wanted money I forgot the pride that had made me swear never to take anything from my family"s hands again, and cabled through the Government Resident for a.s.sistance. Why I made you take that step I cannot tell you--you must only guess, at any rate! That money I placed to your credit in the bank, and day by day, knowing your secret, I have watched and loved you for your repentance and for the brave way you slaved to repay it. Then this man came and somehow learned your secret. He ordered me to leave the station, or he would tell your wife that you had--had lied to her, and were not the man she believed you to be. To-night, for your sake, I came away, and walked here to think out what course I should pursue. Enlightenment has come. I see everything now. While I was ill that man, who must have found out about the pearl, stole my key, unlocked the safe, had a counterfeit made, and intends to bolt with the real one. Are you aware that he has been making love to your wife?"
"I know that now. While you have been speaking I, too, have had my eyes opened. It is not necessary to say I believe what you have told me, Murkard; but from the bottom of my heart I thank you. I will go back now and deal with him."
"You forgive me, Cuthbert?"
"Forgive you? No, no! It must be the other way about, it is for you to forgive me!"
"Freely, freely, if I have anything to forgive. Now what do you intend to do?"
"Go home and turn him off the place. That"s what I shall do."
"No! You must do nothing of the kind. Somebody must watch him, and I will do it. Possibly we may find out what he has done with the pearl.
Then we shall catch him in his own toils, and I shall be even with him for his treachery to me."
"What did he once do to you?"
"I cannot tell you the real shame, but it was on his evidence that I was condemned. He was staying in the house at the time."
"Murkard, I could give my oath you were not guilty."
"And you would be right. I was not. But I had to plead guilty all the same to save what a worthless woman miscalled her honour. That man knew my secret, and traded on it to my ruin."
"Come, let us get back to the station. I cannot breathe freely until I have rid myself of him."
"When we get there--you must not let my presence be known. I shall hide and watch him."
"I agree. Let us be going."
They went back round the hill and by a circuitous track to the jetty. In less than a quarter of an hour they were back at the station and walking up the path towards the house.
CHAPTER XI.
BATTLE AND MURDER.
A warm flood of lamplight streamed from the sitting room window out on the path as Ellison approached the house. He could make out Merton"s voice inside raised in argument, and at intervals his wife"s replying in tones that were as unnatural to her as they were terrible to him to hear. He drew into the shadow of the veranda and watched and listened.
Esther was seated on the sofa near the fireplace, Merton was kneeling by her side holding her hand. She had turned her head away from him, but as it was in the direction of the place where her husband lay concealed, he could see that big tears were coursing down her cheeks. He ground his teeth with rage as he noticed the look upon Merton"s face. For the first time he saw the man"s real nature written in plain and unmistakable characters.
"Esther, you cannot mean it. You cannot be so cruel to me as to persist in your refusal. Think what you are to me, and think what you may be in the days before us. True, I have only known you a little while, but in that little while I have learned to love you as no other man could ever do. Body and soul I am yours, and you are mine. You love me--I know it--I am certain of it. Then you will not draw back now?"
She tried to rise but he held her down.
"Mr. Merton, I have told you before, and I tell you again, that I cannot, and will not listen to you. If you love me as you say, and I pray with my whole miserable heart that it may not be true, you will not drive me to desperation. Think of what you would make of my life, think of the awful wrong you would do to your friend, my husband."
"Your husband was only my friend before I learned to love you. Now he is my bitterest foe. No man can be a friend of mine who loves you. I must have your love, and I alone. Oh, Esther, remember what I said to you last night. You were not so cold and hard to me then!"
"I was the wickedest and weakest woman on earth to let you say it. You have a stronger will than I have, and you made me do it. It may make you understand something of how I feel towards you when I tell you that I have not ceased for a single instant to hate and upbraid myself for listening to it. Do you know, Mr. Merton, what you have done? Do you know that by listening to you for that one moment, I can never look my husband or child truthfully in the face again? And my husband trusted me so! Oh, G.o.d, have mercy upon me!"
"You say you cannot look your husband in the face again. No; but you shall look one in the face, Esther, who loves you ten thousand times more than your husband is even capable of loving you; one who worships the very ground you walk on, whose only wish is to be your humble servant to the death. Come, Esther, there is time yet, the mail-boat does not sail till midnight. You can pack a few things together, I know, in a minute or two. Do that, and let us escape to the township before your husband returns. By morning we shall be on board the steamer, and hundreds of miles away. We will leave her in Batavia. They will never trace us. You can surely have no fear of the future when you know that I will give you such love as man never gave to woman yet! Isn"t it worth it, Esther?"