"Dying, I think; dying, I hope! Let some one help me to my room," she murmured.
Dr. Jones at once lifted her in his arms and bore her upstairs, preceded by Electra, who flew on before to show the way to Mary Grey"s room, and followed by Emma Cavendish, who still blamed herself for the invalid"s supposed relapse.
Dr. Jones laid her on her bed, and was about to leave her to the care of Emma and Electra, when she seized his hand and drew him down to her face and said:
"I wish to speak to you for a moment _now_. Send Miss Cavendish and Miss Coroni out of the room for a little while."
"My dear children, go away for a moment. Mrs. Grey wishes to speak to me alone," said Dr. Jones.
And Emma and Electra softly retired, with the belief that Mary Grey only wished to consult the minister on religious subjects.
As soon as the door was closed behind them Mary Grey seized the old man"s hand and, fixing her great black eyes fiercely upon him, demanded:
"_Do they suspect?_"
"No; certainly not."
"Did you drop no word during my swoon that might have led them to suspect?"
"Not one syllable."
"I thank you then!" she exclaimed, with a long sigh of relief.
"But, my child, was that all you wished to talk to me about?"
"That was all, except this: to beg you still to be silent as the grave in regard to my ident.i.ty."
"My child, your words disappoint and grieve me. I did hope that you asked this private interview with the design to consult me about the propriety of making yourself known."
"Making myself known!" she exclaimed, with a half-suppressed shriek, as she started up upon her elbow and stared at the speaker. "Making myself known!"
"The opportunity, my dear child, is such an excellent one. And, of course, you know that if Mrs. Fanning comes here--as she must; for there is no other refuge open to her--if she comes and finds you here, discovery is inevitable."
"But she will not find me here! She shall not! I could not look her in the face. Sooner than do that, I will hurl myself from the turnpike bridge into the Mad River!" she fiercely exclaimed.
"My child, do not talk so wickedly. It is frightful to hear such things!" cried the old man, shuddering.
"You will _see_ such things, if you do not mind. I am quite capable of doing what I said, for I am tired and sick of this life of constant dependence, mortification and terror--an insupportable life!" she wildly exclaimed.
"Because, my poor girl, it is a life of concealment, in constant dread of discovery and the humiliation attending discovery. Change all that and your life will be happier. Trust in those who are nearest to you, and make yourself, your name, your errors, and your sufferings and repentance fully known. Emma Cavendish is the ruling power in this house, and she is a pure, n.o.ble, magnanimous spirit. She would protect you," pleaded the old man, taking her hand.
"Oh, yes, she is all that! Do you think that makes it any easier for me to shock her with the story of my own folly, weakness and cowardice? Oh, no, no! I could not bear the look of her clear, truthful blue eyes! And I would not! There; it is useless to talk to me, Doctor Jones! There are some things that I can not do. I can not stay here!"
"My poor, poor child, whither will you go? Stay! Now I think of it, I can send you to my house at Beresford Manors. That shall be your home, if you will accept it. But what excuse can you make for leaving this place so abruptly?"
"You are very kind, Doctor Jones. You are very kind. But a moment"s reflection will teach you that I could not accept your hospitality. You have no lady, I believe, at Beresford Manors? No one there except the colored servants? Therefore, you see, it would not be proper for me to go there," said Mary Grey, affecting a prudery that she did not feel, and objecting to the place only because she did not choose to bury herself in a house more lonely, dreary and deserted, if possible, than Blue Cliff Hall itself.
"Then where can you go, my poor girl?" compa.s.sionately questioned the old minister.
"I have thought of that. Sudden as this emergency is, I am not quite unprepared for it. This crisis that I feared _might_ come _has_ come, that is all. Only it has come in a far different manner from what I feared. But the result must be the same. I must leave the house immediately. And you must help to smooth my way toward leaving it."
"But whither will you go, poor shorn lamb?"
"I have planned out all that, in view of this very contingency. I will go to Charlottesville, where I have a lady friend who keeps a boarding-house for the University students. I can stay with her, and make myself useful in return for board and lodging, until I get something to do for a living. That is all settled. I asked you for this interview only to satisfy myself that no hint of my ident.i.ty had been dropped, and no suspicion of it excited, during my swoon; and, further, to beg you to keep my miserable secret hereafter, as you have hitherto."
"I have satisfied you, I hope, upon all those subjects."
"Yes; and I thank you."
"But still I can not abandon the hope that you will yet heed good counsel and make yourself known to your best friends," pleaded the old man.
But Mary Grey shook her head.
Dr. Jones coaxed, argued, lectured, all in vain.
At length, worn out by his importunities, Mary Grey, to gain her own ends, artfully replied:
"Well, dear, good, wise friend, if ever I _do_ gain courage to make myself known to my family, I must do it from some little distance, and by letter, so as to give them time to get over the shock of the revelation, before I could dare to face them. Think of it yourself. How could we bear to look each other in the eyes while telling and hearing such a story?"
"I believe you are right _so_ far. Yes, in _that_ view of the case it is, perhaps, better that you should go away and then write," admitted Dr. Jones.
"And you will aid me in my efforts to get away at once and without opposition? Tell them that it is better for my health and spirits that I should go away for a while, and go immediately--as it really is, you know. Will you do this?"
"Yes, I will do it, in the hope that your nervous system may be strengthened, and you may find courage to do the duty that lies before you," said the doctor, as he pressed her hand and left the room.
Dr. Jones went down-stairs to the drawing-room, where the young ladies waited in anxious suspense.
Emma Cavendish arose and looked at him in silent questioning.
"There is no cause for alarm, my dear Emma. Your friend will do very well. No, you need not go up to her room. She requires absolutely nothing but to be left to repose. You can look in on her, if you like, just before you go to bed. That will be time enough," explained Dr.
Jones, as he took his seat at the table and took up his _Review_ again as if nothing had happened to interrupt his reading.
Emma Cavendish breathed a sigh of relief and resumed her seat. She and Electra read or conversed in a low voice over their magazines until the hour of retiring.
Electra was the first to close her pamphlet, as with an undisguised yawn, for which her school-mistress would have rebuked her, she declared that she could not keep her eyes open a minute longer, much less read a line, and that she was going to bed.
Dr. Jones, with as much courtesy as if he had not been her grandfather, arose and lighted her bedroom candle and put it in her hand.
And she kissed him a drowsy good-night and went upstairs.
Emma was about to follow, when the doctor motioned her to resume her seat.
She did so, and waited.
"I want a word with you about Mrs. Grey, my dear Emma. She is very much out of health."
"I feared so," replied Emma Cavendish.
"Or, to speak with more literal truth, I should say that her nervous system is very much disordered."