He rushed to her side, crying in terror:
"It"s not true--it"s not true, my dear! Don"t believe it. I swear it"s a lie--it"s a lie--I tell you!"
She was crying in sobs of utter anguish.
He bent low:
"It"s not true, dearest! It"s not true, I tell you. You mustn"t believe it.
You can"t believe it when I swear to you that it"s a lie----"
His head gently touched her slender shoulder.
She flinched as if scorched by a flame, sprang to her feet, and faced him with blazing eyes:
"Don"t--you--dare--touch--me----"
"My dear," he pleaded.
"Don"t speak to me again!"
"Please----"
"Get out of this room!"
He stood rooted to the spot in helpless stupor and she threw her little body against his with sudden fury, pushing him toward the door. "Get out, I say!"
He staggered back helplessly and awkwardly amazed at her strength as she pushed him into the hall. She stood a moment towering in the white frame of the door, the picture of an avenging angel to his tormented soul. Through teeth chattering with hysterical emotion she cried:
"Go, you leper! And don"t you ever dare to cross this door-sill again--not even to look on my dead face!"
"For G.o.d"s sake, don"t!" he gasped, staggering toward her.
But the door slammed in his face and the bolt suddenly shot into its place.
He knocked gently and received no answer. An ominous stillness reigned within. He called again and again without response. He waited patiently for half an hour and knocked once more. An agony of fear chilled him. She might be dead. He knelt, pressed his ear close to the keyhole and heard a long, low, pitiful sob from her bed.
"Thank G.o.d----"
He rose with sudden determination. She couldn"t be left like that. He would call the doctor back at once, and, what was better still, he would bring her mother, a wise gray-haired little saint, who rarely volunteered advice in her daughter"s affairs. The door would fly open at her soft command.
CHAPTER XIII
AN OLD STORY
The doctor"s house lay beyond the Capitol and in his haste Norton forgot that a banquet was being held in his honor. He found himself suddenly face to face with the first of the departing guests as they began to pour through the gates of the Square.
He couldn"t face these people, turned in his tracks, walked back to the next block and hurried into an obscure side street by which he could avoid them.
The doctor had not retired. He was seated on his porch quietly smoking, as if he were expecting the call.
"Well, you"ve bungled it, I see," he said simply, as he rose and seized his hat.
"Yes, she guessed the truth----"
"Guessed?--hardly." The white head with its shining hair slowly wagged.
"She read it in those haggard eyes. Funny what poor liars your people have always been! If your father hadn"t been fool enough to tell the truth with such habitual persistence, that office of his would never have been burned during the war. It"s a funny world. It"s the fun of it that keeps us alive, after all."
"Do the best you can for me, doctor," he interrupted. "I"m going for her mother."
"All right," was the cheery answer, "bring her at once. She"s a better doctor than I to-night."
Norton walked swiftly toward a vine-clad cottage that stood beside Governor Carteret"s place. It sat far back on the lawn that was once a part of the original estate twenty odd years ago. The old Governor during his last administration had built it for Robert Carteret, a handsome, wayward son, whom pretty Jennie Pryor had married. It had been a runaway love match. The old man had not opposed it because of any objection to the charming girl the boy had fallen in love with. He knew that Robert was a wild, headstrong, young scapegrace unfit to be the husband of any woman.
But apparently marriage settled him. For two years after Jean"s birth he lived a decent life and then slipped again into hopelessly dissolute habits. When Jean was seven years old he was found dead one night under peculiar circ.u.mstances that were never made public. The sweet little woman who had braved the world"s wrath to marry him had never complained, and she alone (with one other) knew the true secret of his death.
She had always been supported by a generous allowance from the old Governor and in his last will the vigorous octogenarian had made her his sole heir.
Norton had loved this quiet, patient little mother with a great tenderness since the day of his marriage to her daughter. He had never found her wanting in sympathy or helpfulness. She rarely left her cottage, but many a time he had gone to her with his troubles and came away with a light heart and a clearer insight into the duty that called. Her love and faith in him was one of the big things in life. In every dream of achievement that had fired his imagination during the stirring days of the past months he had always seen her face smiling with pride and love.
It was a bitter task to confess his shame to her--this tender, gracious, uncomplaining saint, to whom he had always been a hero. He paused a moment with his hand on the bell of the cottage, and finally rang.
Standing before her with bowed head he told in a few stammering words the story of his sin and the sorrow that had overwhelmed him.
"I swear to you that for the past two months my life has been clean and G.o.d alone knows the anguish of remorse I have suffered. You"ll help me, mother?" he asked pathetically.
"Yes, my son," she answered simply.
"You don"t hate me?"--the question ended with a catch in his voice that made it almost inaudible.
She lifted her white hands to his cheeks, drew the tall form down gently and pressed his lips:
"No, my son, I"ve lived too long. I leave judgment now to G.o.d. The unshed tears I see in your eyes are enough for me."
"I must see her to-night, mother. Make her see me. I can"t endure this."
"She will see you when I have talked with her," was the slow reply as if to herself. "I am going to tell her something that I hoped to carry to the grave. But the time has come and she must know."
The doctor was strolling on the lawn when they arrived.
"She didn"t wish to see me, my boy," he said with a look of sympathy. "And I thought it best to humor her. Send for me again if you wish, but I think the mother is best to-night." Without further words he tipped his hat with a fine old-fashioned bow to Mrs. Carteret and hurried home.
At the sound of the mother"s voice the door was opened, two frail arms slipped around her neck and a baby was sobbing again on her breast. The white slender hands tenderly stroked the blonde hair, lips bent low and kissed the shining head and a cheek rested there while sob after sob shook the little body. The wise mother spoke no words save the sign language of love and tenderness, the slow pressure to her heart of the sobbing figure, kisses, kisses, kisses on her hair and the soothing touch of her hand.
A long time without a word they thus clung to each other. The sobs ceased at last.