"Told him you were an illegitimate son," said Mrs Gabriel, rapidly. "I did not say who was your father, but now that Pratt"s true character is known I shall tell Tempest everything. Then we shall see if he will let you speak to Sybil again."
"You dare say a word, Mrs Gabriel, and I--"
But the woman was not to be stopped. She turned like a fury on Pratt, who had risen angrily. "Hold your tongue," she said savagely; "I have had about enough of you and your precious son. You made me take him to my home and tell everyone that he was the son of my dead brother. A lie, as you well know. And you," she added, turning on Haverleigh, "you know now why I have hated you all these years. That man knows a secret of mine and he forced me to do his bidding. I took you here. I brought you up, I gave you money, and I let you take a position to which you were not ent.i.tled. Position!" Mrs Gabriel laughed scornfully. "Your position should be in the gutter, where you were born. You are no kith or kin of mine, thank G.o.d!"
"And I do thank G.o.d," said Leo, vehemently. "You are a bad, evil-minded woman. Although my father is a thief, I would rather be his son than connected with you in any way. For years you have made my life a h.e.l.l on earth with your vile temper. Terrible as is what you have told me, I prefer the thief to the righteous woman."
The mistress of the castle recoiled aghast before this outbreak of anger. Never had the usually good-tempered young man spoken so fiercely to her. As he advanced towards her she believed that he was going to strike her, and put up her arm with a look of terror in her eyes. For once the bully was cowed.
"Bravo, my boy!" cried Pratt, laughing at her discomfiture, and clapping Leo on the back. The young man started away.
"Don"t touch me," he said harshly. "Is it not enough that I should have the shame of being your son, but that you should approve of any action I do? But I do not believe that you are my father. Where is the proof?"
"In London," said Pratt, very quietly, and wincing at the tone of Leo"s speech. "If you come with me to London I can show you sufficient proof to make you believe."
"My mother?" Leo, with a sudden thought, cast a look at Mrs Gabriel.
"_I_ am not your mother," she said scornfully. "Didn"t I say there was no blood of mine in your veins?"
"Your mother is dead, Leo," said Pratt in a low voice.
Mrs Gabriel laughed insultingly. "And I daresay she was some--"
"If you dare to say another word," growled Pratt, casting a bitter look at her, "I"ll give your secret to the world."
"I don"t care if you do," retorted Mrs Gabriel; but Leo saw that she quailed. What could she have done to give a man like Pratt--he could not call him father--a power over her?
"You _do_ care," said Pratt, quietly; "but if you don"t I"ll begin by telling Leo. Here goes. Leo, my son--"
In a moment Mrs Gabriel"s defiant att.i.tude became one of supplication.
She sprang forward and caught Pratt by the arm. "Don"t! don"t," she said faintly. "I"ll do whatever you wish."
"Will you dare to speak again as you have done?"
"No, no; I know you are the stronger. I could kill you," she muttered, with a flash of her old temper. "But I have to give in--I have to!"
"Well," drawled Pratt, taking a pleasure in bringing her to her knees, a position to which she was quite unaccustomed. "You have persecuted my poor son so that I think he should have something to hold over your head. It would serve you right."
"I don"t want to know your wicked secrets," said Leo, very pale, but otherwise calm. "It seems to me that you are an evil couple. And I--Heaven help me!--have a father who is a thief."
"What of that!" said Mrs Gabriel, getting angry again. "You are a thief as well, are you not? The cup--"
"I did not steal it," said Leo, proudly. "You know as well as I do that this--this"--he winced--"father of mine took it away from the chapel."
"That is just where you are wrong. He did not--"
"Mrs Gabriel!" Pratt"s voice sounded dangerous. She was quiet at once, and looked at him in a frightened way. But Leo had heard enough to arouse his suspicions. He turned on Pratt and seized him by the arm.
"Have you been telling a lie?" muttered the unhappy young man.
His father shook him off. "It"s no use telling anther one," he said in a dogged way; "now you know so much you may as well know all. I know nothing about the cup; but, to clear you, I took the blame on myself.
You see, Leo," he said calmly, "my character is already so bad that a robbery more or less does not matter. I did it for you, my boy, as I have done everything else. I wanted you to be a gentleman and marry the girl of your heart. Sybil loves you, and I thought when the vicar knew you were innocent that he would let you marry her."
"He might have done so," said Leo, sitting down in absolute despair; "but since Mrs Gabriel told him that I was illegitimate, he has never been the same. He is a proud man."
"Too proud to let the son of a thief marry his child!" taunted the woman.
"He doesn"t know that Leo is my son," said Pratt, fiercely.
"I intend to tell him as soon as you are away," she said.
"You will do nothing of the sort," said Pratt in a slow, venomous way which made her shrink back. "By speaking to the vicar and telling a lie you have caused trouble enough. He must know no more."
"I did _not_ tell a lie."
"You did. My son was born in lawful wedlock."
"Then why didn"t you bring him up yourself?" said Mrs Gabriel, with a sneer. "You gave him to me in London, and made me adopt him. I had to say that he was my nephew. Oh, how you have used me!"
"And I have not done using you. Hold your tongue, or it will be the worse for you. You know the power I have. I will not scruple to use it if you dare to do anything against my orders. Now, you can go. I want to speak to my son alone."
Mrs Gabriel seemed inclined to dispute this order, but a look from her tyrant cowed her. With a defiant flinging up of the head she walked out of the room, and closed the door.
"She will tell the servants," said Leo.
"Oh, no, she won"t," said Pratt coolly. "You don"t know the power I have over her. She will not dare."
"I don"t want to know anything," said Leo, looking down on the ground, with folded arms. "I know quite enough. Are you speaking truly?"
Pratt met his gaze in a perfectly composed manner. "I am speaking the truth," he said; "you are my son, and your mother died two years after you were born. I was then in some danger from a--Well, no matter. To make a long story short, I wanted to procure a home for you where you would be brought up like a gentleman. Having a certain power over Mrs Gabriel, I fixed upon her, and made her tell the story of your being her nephew. She did all I wished, but had I known how she treated you," he muttered, clenching his fist, "I should soon have brought her to her bearings."
"And it was this power that made her introduce you into Colester society?"
"Yes. I can do what I like with the woman. I know it is a terrible thing for you to find out what I am. But I took to bad courses early, Leo, and I went from bad to worse. It is a second nature for me to steal--"
"Oh!" Leo rose with a sickening sensation of disgust. "Don"t tell me any of your evil doings. I know that you are my father; that you are a thief; I want to know no more. You have ruined my life."
"I have not," said Pratt. "How can you say such a thing! What you have heard to-night need go no further. I shall say nothing, and Mrs Gabriel will be forced to hold her tongue. Your name is cleared of this theft."
"Did you not steal the cup?" broke in Leo, looking at his father.
"No; I did not. If I had stolen it I should say so. But I do not know who took it. I am going to London to find out. Old Penny, the p.a.w.nbroker, is a friend of mine. I know enough to get him into trouble as a receiver of stolen goods, so he will have to tell me who it was impersonated you."
"You said in your letter that Adam--"
Pratt interrupted impatiently. "Adam had nothing to do with it," he said. "I invented all that to throw dust in Marton"s eyes. I suspect that Hale has something to do with the stealing of the cup. He may have taken it himself, for all I know. But Old Penny will tell me. I"ll get to the bottom of this, you may be sure. As to you, Leo, hold your tongue about being my son and come back to Mrs Gabriel. She will be quite willing to receive you, and I can force her to make you her heir. Then you can marry Sybil. When you are rich and have an a.s.sured position, the vicar will overlook the stain on your birth. It is a lie, certainly,"
added Pratt, with a shrug, "but to tell the truth would be to make matters worse, so we must leave things as they are. For once Mrs Gabriel has got the better of me. But it won"t occur again. You stay with her, and I promise you she will be as polite as possible to you. You will be master here."