"Will you send me word when I may come?"
"Yes."
"Thank you," he said, and the next moment she was gone.
"She is a grand woman," Scott said, as he watched her until she was hid from his view. "She is lovely, n.o.ble, and how few there are like her. But I must not even admire her. I wonder if they are all alike--vain of their beauty."
Scott returned to his office, trying, and quite unable to banish the image of Blanche Elsworth from his mind. He began opening the mail which lay on his desk.
"Ah, here is a letter from Paul, G.o.d bless him. I hope he will be here soon," and a smile pa.s.sed over his face as he read: "I will see you ere long. The facts that we are both enabled to furnish in regard to that affair will no doubt be sufficient evidence."
"Yes," Scott said, "I think it will be quite enough. But one element is doubtful, and I think we shall master that, too. What a brave boy Paul is; I shall make him an offer when he returns--that is, to take a share of my business--yes, and my wealth, to study law--in fact, to do anything to become one of the family. There is one heart that is true as steel, and he is and has been more than a brother to me."
Mr. Le Moyne entered.
"Well," he said, "is there any news?"
"Everything has worked to my entire satisfaction, and the property is found."
"But where is the rightful heir?"
"That is all that remains to be discovered and I have a clue. Please be ready to come to my house when I send you word, as I want you to hear a statement that will no doubt soon be made."
"Have you heard from the boy Paul?"
"Yes, I have just received a letter containing some very valuable information. He will be here soon; he does not state just when, but I can rely on his judgment, knowing that he will be sure to come at the right time."
"He must be very shrewd to be able to work out some of the secrets that he has."
"He has the wisdom of a judge, and as for honesty, I would no sooner doubt him than I would myself. I would trust him with my life."
While Scott and Mr. Le Moyne are holding an important conversation let us enter for a time the home of old Meg and Crisp. They are seated at their rude table, eating their meal of soup, crackers and brown bread.
Old Meg looks still more repulsive than before her sickness. Her face is thin and overspread with a dark, sallow color that is almost frightful in appearance. She looks up at Crisp with a grin of satisfaction. Her gray locks are falling from under her cap and straying in slovenly fashion over her cheeks and forehead.
"I"ve got the promise of a good sum from that rich lawyer, and as soon as we get it, we"ll clear out and go to Californy, and hunt up John and when we find him I"ll let him know that Meg ain"t to be fooled with in this fashion."
She uttered these words bringing her hand down on the table with a force that set the old, cracked dishes rattling.
"I wouldn"t mind to beat the whole of "em," said Crisp, "but there"ll be a job on hand to do it."
"Yes, yes, but let me tell you that Meg and her boy Crisp can do it.
There"s John--after all the promises he made see how he stuck to his word. He"s got the money and we can"t help it till we find him; then see, my boy, then see."
"I s"pose he lives like a king," said Crisp.
"Well, he will not feel so grand when he sees old Meg walk in his parlor."
"Ha, ha," laughed Crisp, "I"d like to see the color of his face when it is done. Then there"s Rene; I wonder what she means by keeping in the shade as she does."
"Why, you don"t expect her to come here, do you, now that she"s run away with Brunswick," said Meg.
"Why, no; but if she knew what was good for her she would do a little better by us than she does. It would be a fine thing for her, wouldn"t it, if we told her husband the whole story," said Crisp.
"That"s just what I"m going to do," said Meg, savagely. "I"ve promised to go when the lawyer sends for me and tell him all I know about his wife. I suppose he would give his eyes to find her--the hypocrite that she is."
"I hain"t forgot the bullet in my arm," said Crisp, grinding his teeth together.
"Nor I, and if I get good pay I mean to tell the whole story."
"Good! Let the lawyer know what a devil she is, anyway," said Crisp.
"I wonder if she told the truth about Zula?"
"I s"pose she did, but if she don"t do anything for us it don"t make any difference whether Zula is dead or not."
"No, but I"ll let her know how I pay her for her meanness. What would she have been"--and old Meg rose to her feet, trembling with rage--"tell me what would she have been if it had not been for Meg"s cunning? Ah, ha! I"ll teach her, and I"ll show her that old Meg"s revenge ends only at the grave. They promised me gold when I agreed to do all their devilish work for them, and they have failed, but old Meg"s oath still lives."
"Well, what do you mean to do?" Crisp asked.
"I mean first to get what I can from that lawyer. He has promised to give me a good sum if I tell him the whole story. He wants to find his wife, I suppose, but I want to tell him just where she sprung from, and when he finds her and she goes back, if she ever does, she"ll know that old Meg didn"t break her oath. She knows that I swore to get even with John, if he didn"t live up to his promise, and, Crisp, I mean to do it if I die. He can"t be a fine gentleman, with the money that I got for him, if he don"t give me my share. He will find that the old gypsy can put a curse on him that will last a lifetime."
Old Meg lit her pipe and placing one hand under her chin she formed about as disgusting a picture as one could imagine.
"Crisp," she said, while her face took on a still more intense look of hatred, "I could kill that jade, to think that she can be a lady through my managing and me a beggar. I hate her, and I could grind her to powder."
"Hate her," said Crisp, "don"t I hate her, the sneak that she is?
Hain"t I got reason to hate her for setting the trap that she set for me, that night? Who but a devil like her would have got me in such a place? She laid the plot to get me to come there, and then got some one to shoot me like a dog. But I"ll have revenge."
"Yes, yes, we"ll beat her yet, if we follow her to her grave, you remember that. I"d like to be a mouse and see how she looks when she comes back to that rich man of hers, and he tells her what she used to be before he married her. I"ll fix it so that he"ll never give her a home if she does come back."
"Oh, he"ll never want her to come back after I have told him my story, too," said Crisp.
"Well, well, old Meg will make sure. I"ll set the trap this time and if anybody gets shot it"ll be her. Zula"s got her pay for her deviltry and Rene shall get hers. I never could see how Zu got away so sleek. I believe she was a witch, anyway, but she"s dead and died crazy, so Rene says, and I am glad of it. She"ll never bother us again."
"No, that she won"t," said Crisp, "and if she ain"t dead, she"ll never show her head around here again."
A knock was heard at the door.
"Come in," said Crisp, in a loud voice.
Scott Wilmer and Mr. Le Moyne entered.
"This is a friend of mine," said Scott. "I invited him to come in with me as I was pa.s.sing."
"Take some chairs," said Meg, still keeping her seat and smoking vigorously.
"Meg," said Scott, "I have not long to stay, so you will excuse me if I proceed immediately to business. You promised to tell me what you knew concerning my wife."