There was another horrible pause. Even Hugh Ingelow thrilled through every vein.
Then Carl Walraven found voice:
"For G.o.d"s sake, Mollie, what does this mean?"
Mollie turned to him and held out both hands.
"It means, guardy, that but for the direct interposition of Providence you never would have seen your poor little Cricket again."
And at last Dr. Oleander found his voice.
"That infernal nurse!" he cried between his set teeth. Mollie heard the hissing words and turned upon him like a pale little fury.
"Yes, Guy Oleander, the nurse played you false--fooled you to your face from the first. Came down from New York for no other purpose than to rescue me. And here I am, safe and sound, in spite of you; and the tables are turned, and you are in my power now. Out of this house you never stir except to go to prison."
"Mollie! Mollie! Mollie!" Mr. Carl Walraven cried in desperation, "for the Lord"s sake, what do you mean? What has Doctor Oleander done?"
"Carried me off, I tell you--forcibly abducted me. Held me a prisoner for the last two weeks in a desolate old farmhouse over on Long Island. Look at him. Was ever guilt more plainly written on human face?
Let him deny it if he can--or you, madame, his accomplice, either."
"I do deny it," Mme. Blanche exclaimed, boldly. "Mollie Dane, you are mad."
"You will find to your cost there is method in my madness, Mrs.
Walraven. What say you, Doctor Oleander? Have you the hardihood to face me with a deliberate lie, too?"
Dr. Oleander was not deficient in a certain dog-like courage and daring.
He saw his position in a moment--saw that denial would be utterly useless. His own mother would prove against him it if came to law.
There was but one avenue of escape for him--he saw it like a flash of light. Mollie would not dare publish this story of hers for her own sake, and neither would Carl Walraven for his wife"s.
"He does not deny it!" cried Mollie. "He dare not. Look at his changing face. He carried me off and held me a prisoner in his mother"s house, and gave out I was mad. And that is not the worst he has done. I might overlook that, now that I have safely escaped--"
Dr. Oleander suddenly interrupted her.
"That is the very worst--and you dare not publish it, even to punish me."
"What!" exclaimed the young lady, "do you deny your other tenfold greater crime--the compulsory marriage performed by the Reverend Raymond Rashleigh? Oh, if there be law or justice in the whole country, you shall suffer for that!"
"I do deny it," said the doctor, boldly. "You are no wife of mine by compulsion or otherwise. That story was trumped up to deceive you the second time."
Mollie"s heart gave one great throb, and then seemed to stand still.
Mrs. Walraven turned, ghastly with fear and rage, upon her cousin.
"Guy Oleander, are you mad? What are you saying?"
"The truth, Blanche. It is too late for any other alternative now. Don"t fear--Mr. Walraven will hardly allow his ward to prosecute his wife."
"Traitor and coward!" Blanche Walraven cried in fierce scorn. "I wish my tongue had blistered with the words that urged you on."
"I wish it had," returned the doctor, coolly. "I wish, as I often have wished since, that I had never listened to your tempting. It was your fault, not mine, from first to last."
It was the old story of Adam and Eve over again: "The woman tempted me, and I did eat."
""When rogues fall out, honest men get their own." You mean to say, Doctor Oleander, that Mrs. Walraven instigated you on?"
"How else should I know?" answered the doctor. "She overheard you telling the woman Miriam, in your chamber, the whole story. She saw and understood your advertis.e.m.e.nt and its answer. She concocted the whole scheme, even to advancing the hands of your watch half an hour. If the law punishes me, Miss Dane, it must also punish your guardian"s wife."
"Coward! coward!" Blanche furiously cried. "Oh, basest of the base! If I only had the power to strike you dead at my feet!"
The doctor bore the onslaught quietly enough.
"Heroics are all very well, Blanche," he said; "but self-preservation is the first law of nature. Confession is the only avenue of escape, and I have taken it. Besides, justice is justice. You deserve it. You goaded me on. It was your fault from beginning to end."
"And you own, then, you are not the man who carried me off before?" said Mollie. "You are not the man Mr. Rashleigh married?"
"I swear I"m not!" cried the doctor, with an earnestness there was no mistaking. "And I"m very thankful I"m not. I wouldn"t lead the life I"ve led for the past two weeks for all the women alive. I"m glad you"re here, and that the whole thing is knocked in the head."
He spoke with the dogged recklessness of a man goaded to desperation.
Mollie turned again to her guardian and laid her face on his shoulder.
"Send that man away, guardy. His presence in the room turns me sick to death."
"I am going, Miss Dane," said Dr. Oleander, turning moodily to the door, "and I shall not go to Cuba. I shall not quit New York. Let you or your guardian prosecute me if you dare!"
He stalked out with the last words. No one moved or spoke until the house-door banged after him.
Then Mme. Blanche, seeing all was lost, gave one horrible scream, clasped her hands over her head, and fell back in violent hysterics.
"Ring for her maid, guardy," said Mollie. "You had best take her up to her room. Sir Roger, Mr. Ingelow, please to remain. Mr. Sardonyx, excuse me, but you have heard all that it is necessary you should hear."
The lawyer became angry-red, but turned at once to go.
"I have no wish to pry into your very extraordinary secrets or escapades, Miss Dane," he said, haughtily. "Permit me to wish you good-evening."
Mr. Sardonyx departed. Mr. Walraven saw his wife safely conveyed to her room and left in charge of her maid, and then returned to the dining-room.
Mollie"s first act was to hold out both hands, with infinite grace and courtesy, to Hugh Ingelow.
"Mr. Ingelow, words are poor and weak to tell you how I thank you. I have not deserved it from you. I can only ask you to try and forgive me."
The young artist lifted the fair little hands to his lips.
"I am repaid ten thousand-fold," he said, quietly. "I would give my life to serve you."
"In the name of Heaven, Mollie," cried the nearly frantic master of the house, "what does all this extraordinary mystery mean?"
"It means that a terrible crime has been committed, guardy," Mollie replied, gravely, "and that your wife and her cousin are among the chief conspirators. Sit down and I will tell you the whole story. Sir Roger Trajenna, likewise. I owe you both a full explanation. Mr. Ingelow knows already."