"My
Lady
Audley
,
"
cried
Robert
,
suddenly
,
"
you
are
the
incendiary
.
It
was
you
whose
murderous
hand
kindled
those
flames
.
It
was
you
who
thought
by
that
thrice-horrible
deed
to
rid
yourself
of
me
,
your
enemy
and
denouncer
.
What
was
it
to
you
that
other
lives
might
be
sacrificed
?
If
by
a
second
massacre
of
Saint
Bartholomew
you
could
have
ridded
yourself
of
me
you
would
have
sacrificed
an
army
of
victims
.
The
day
is
past
for
tenderness
and
mercy
.
For
you
I
can
no
longer
know
pity
or
compunction
.
So
far
as
by
sparing
your
shame
I
can
spare
others
who
must
suffer
by
your
shame
,
I
will
be
merciful
,
but
no
further
.
If
there
were
any
secret
tribunal
before
which
you
might
be
made
to
answer
for
your
crimes
,
I
would
have
little
scruple
in
being
your
accuser
,
but
I
would
spare
that
generous
and
high-born
gentleman
upon
whose
noble
name
your
infamy
would
be
reflected
.
"
His
voice
softened
as
he
made
this
allusion
,
and
for
a
moment
he
broke
down
,
but
he
recovered
himself
by
an
effort
and
continued
:
"
No
life
was
lost
in
the
fire
of
last
night
.
I
slept
lightly
,
my
lady
,
for
my
mind
was
troubled
,
as
it
has
been
for
a
long
time
,
by
the
misery
which
I
knew
was
lowering
upon
this
house
.
It
was
I
who
discovered
the
breaking
out
of
the
fire
in
time
to
give
the
alarm
and
to
save
the
servant
girl
and
the
poor
drunken
wretch
,
who
was
very
much
burnt
in
spite
of
efforts
,
and
who
now
lies
in
a
precarious
state
at
his
mother
's
cottage
.
It
was
from
him
and
from
his
wife
that
I
learned
who
had
visited
the
Castle
Inn
in
the
dead
of
the
night
.
The
woman
was
almost
distracted
when
she
saw
me
,
and
from
her
I
discovered
the
particulars
of
last
night
.
Heaven
knows
what
other
secrets
of
yours
she
may
hold
,
my
lady
,
or
how
easily
they
might
be
extorted
from
her
if
I
wanted
her
aid
,
which
I
do
not
.
My
path
lies
very
straight
before
me
.
I
have
sworn
to
bring
the
murderer
of
George
Talboys
to
justice
,
and
I
will
keep
my
oath
.
I
say
that
it
was
by
your
agency
my
friend
met
with
his
death
.
If
I
have
wondered
sometimes
,
as
it
was
only
natural
I
should
,
whether
I
was
not
the
victim
of
some
horrible
hallucination
,
whether
such
an
alternative
was
not
more
probable
than
that
a
young
and
lovely
woman
should
be
capable
of
so
foul
and
treacherous
a
murder
,
all
wonder
is
past
.
After
last
night
's
deed
of
horror
,
there
is
no
crime
you
could
commit
,
however
vast
and
unnatural
,
which
could
make
me
wonder
.
Henceforth
you
must
seem
to
me
no
longer
a
woman
,
a
guilty
woman
with
a
heart
which
in
its
worst
wickedness
has
yet
some
latent
power
to
suffer
and
feel
;
I
look
upon
you
henceforth
as
the
demoniac
incarnation
of
some
evil
principle
.
But
you
shall
no
longer
pollute
this
place
by
your
presence
.
Unless
you
will
confess
what
you
are
and
who
you
are
in
the
presence
of
the
man
you
have
deceived
so
long
,
and
accept
from
him
and
from
me
such
mercy
as
we
may
be
inclined
to
extend
to
you
,
I
will
gather
together
the
witnesses
who
shall
swear
to
your
identity
,
and
at
peril
of
any
shame
to
myself
and
those
I
love
,
I
will
bring
upon
you
the
just
and
awful
punishment
of
your
crime
.
"
The
woman
rose
suddenly
and
stood
before
him
erect
and
resolute
,
with
her
hair
dashed
away
from
her
face
and
her
eyes
glittering
.
"
Bring
Sir
Michael
!
"
she
cried
;
"
bring
him
here
,
and
I
will
confess
anything
—
everything
.
What
do
I
care
?
God
knows
I
have
struggled
hard
enough
against
you
,
and
fought
the
battle
patiently
enough
;
but
you
have
conquered
,
Mr.
Robert
Audley
.
It
is
a
great
triumph
,
is
it
not
—
a
wonderful
victory
?
You
have
used
your
cool
,
calculating
,
frigid
,
luminous
intellect
to
a
noble
purpose
.
You
have
conquered
—
a
MAD
WOMAN
!
"
"
A
mad
woman
!
"
cried
Mr.
Audley
.
"
Yes
,
a
mad
woman
.
When
you
say
that
I
killed
George
Talboys
,
you
say
the
truth
.
When
you
say
that
I
murdered
him
treacherously
and
foully
,
you
lie
.
I
killed
him
because
I
AM
MAD
!
because
my
intellect
is
a
little
way
upon
the
wrong
side
of
that
narrow
boundary-line
between
sanity
and
insanity
;
because
,
when
George
Talboys
goaded
me
,
as
you
have
goaded
me
,
and
reproached
me
,
and
threatened
me
,
my
mind
,
never
properly
balanced
,
utterly
lost
its
balance
,
and
I
was
mad
!
Bring
Sir
Michael
;
and
bring
him
quickly
.
If
he
is
to
be
told
one
thing
let
him
be
told
everything
;
let
him
hear
the
secret
of
my
life
!
"
Robert
Audley
left
the
room
to
look
for
his
uncle
.
He
went
in
search
of
that
honored
kinsman
with
God
knows
how
heavy
a
weight
of
anguish
at
his
heart
,
for
he
knew
he
was
about
to
shatter
the
day-dream
of
his
uncle
's
life
;
and
he
knew
that
our
dreams
are
none
the
less
terrible
to
lose
,
because
they
have
never
been
the
realities
for
which
we
have
mistaken
them
.
But
even
in
the
midst
of
his
sorrow
for
Sir
Michael
,
he
could
not
help
wondering
at
my
lady
's
last
words
—
"
the
secret
of
my
life
.
"
He
remembered
those
lines
in
the
letter
written
by
Helen
Talboys
upon
the
eve
of
her
flight
from
Wildernsea
,
which
had
so
puzzled
him
.
He
remembered
those
appealing
sentences
—
"
You
should
forgive
me
,
for
you
know
why
I
have
been
so
.
You
know
the
secret
of
my
life
.
"
He
met
Sir
Michael
in
the
hall
.
He
made
no
attempt
to
prepare
the
way
for
the
terrible
revelation
which
the
baronet
was
to
hear
.
He
only
drew
him
into
the
fire-lit
library
,
and
there
for
the
first
time
addressed
him
quietly
thus
:
"
Lady
Audley
has
a
confession
to
make
to
you
,
sir
—
a
confession
which
I
know
will
be
a
most
cruel
surprise
,
a
most
bitter
grief
.
But
it
is
necessary
for
your
present
honor
,
and
for
your
future
peace
,
that
you
should
hear
it
.
She
has
deceived
you
,
I
regret
to
say
,
most
basely
;
but
it
is
only
right
that
you
should
hear
from
her
own
lips
any
excuses
which
she
may
have
to
offer
for
her
wickedness
.
May
God
soften
this
blow
for
you
!
"
sobbed
the
young
man
,
suddenly
breaking
down
;
"
I
cannot
!
"
Sir
Michael
lifted
his
hand
as
if
he
would
command
his
nephew
to
be
silent
,
but
that
imperious
hand
dropped
feeble
and
impotent
at
his
side
.
He
stood
in
the
center
of
the
fire-lit
room
rigid
and
immovable
.
"
Lucy
!
"
he
cried
,
in
a
voice
whose
anguish
struck
like
a
blow
upon
the
jarred
nerves
of
those
who
heard
it
,
as
the
cry
of
a
wounded
animal
pains
the
listener
—
"
Lucy
,
tell
me
that
this
man
is
a
madman
!
tell
me
so
,
my
love
,
or
I
shall
kill
him
!
"
There
was
a
sudden
fury
in
his
voice
as
he
turned
upon
Robert
,
as
if
he
could
indeed
have
felled
his
wife
's
accuser
to
the
earth
with
the
strength
of
his
uplifted
arm
.
But
my
lady
fell
upon
her
knees
at
his
feet
,
interposing
herself
between
the
baronet
and
his
nephew
,
who
stood
leaning
on
the
back
of
an
easy-chair
,
with
his
face
hidden
by
his
hand
.
"
He
has
told
you
the
truth
,
"
said
my
lady
,
"
and
he
is
not
mad
!
I
have
sent
him
for
you
that
I
may
confess
everything
to
you
.
I
should
be
sorry
for
you
if
I
could
,
for
you
have
been
very
,
very
good
to
me
,
much
better
to
me
than
I
ever
deserved
;
but
I
ca
n't
,
I
ca
n't
—
I
can
feel
nothing
but
my
own
misery
.
I
told
you
long
ago
that
I
was
selfish
;
I
am
selfish
still
—
more
selfish
than
ever
in
my
misery
.
Happy
,
prosperous
people
may
feel
for
others
.
I
laugh
at
other
people
's
sufferings
;
they
seem
so
small
compared
to
my
own
.
"
When
first
my
lady
had
fallen
on
her
knees
,
Sir
Michael
had
attempted
to
raise
her
,
and
had
remonstrated
with
her
;
but
as
she
spoke
he
dropped
into
a
chair
close
to
the
spot
upon
which
she
knelt
,
and
with
his
hands
clasped
together
,
and
with
his
head
bent
to
catch
every
syllable
of
those
horrible
words
,
he
listened
as
if
his
whole
being
had
been
resolved
into
that
one
sense
of
hearing
.
"
I
must
tell
you
the
story
of
my
life
,
in
order
to
tell
you
why
I
have
become
the
miserable
wretch
who
has
no
better
hope
than
to
be
allowed
to
run
away
and
hide
in
some
desolate
corner
of
the
earth
.
I
must
tell
you
the
story
of
my
life
,
"
repeated
my
lady
,
"
but
you
need
not
fear
that
I
shall
dwell
long
upon
it
.
It
has
not
been
so
pleasant
to
me
that
I
should
wish
to
remember
it
.
When
I
was
a
very
little
child
I
remember
asking
a
question
which
it
was
natural
enough
that
I
should
ask
,
God
help
me
!
I
asked
where
my
mother
was
.
I
had
a
faint
remembrance
of
a
face
,
like
what
my
own
is
now
,
looking
at
me
when
I
was
very
little
better
than
a
baby
;
but
I
had
missed
the
face
suddenly
,
and
had
never
seen
it
since
.
They
told
me
that
mother
was
away
.
I
was
not
happy
,
for
the
woman
who
had
charge
of
me
was
a
disagreeable
woman
and
the
place
in
which
we
lived
was
a
lonely
place
,
a
village
upon
the
Hampshire
coast
,
about
seven
miles
from
Portsmouth
.
My
father
,
who
was
in
the
navy
,
only
came
now
and
then
to
see
me
;
and
I
was
left
almost
entirely
to
the
charge
of
this
woman
,
who
was
irregularly
paid
,
and
who
vented
her
rage
upon
me
when
my
father
was
behindhand
in
remitting
her
money
.
So
you
see
that
at
a
very
early
age
I
found
out
what
it
was
to
be
poor
.
"
Perhaps
it
was
more
from
being
discontented
with
my
dreary
life
than
from
any
wonderful
impulse
of
affection
,
that
I
asked
very
often
the
same
question
about
my
mother
.
I
always
received
the
same
answer
—
she
was
away
.
When
I
asked
where
,
I
was
told
that
that
was
a
secret
.
When
I
grew
old
enough
to
understand
the
meaning
of
the
word
death
,
I
asked
if
my
mother
was
dead
,
and
I
was
told
—
'
No
,
she
was
not
dead
;
she
was
ill
,
and
she
was
away
.
'
I
asked
how
long
she
had
been
ill
,
and
I
was
told
that
she
had
been
so
some
years
,
ever
since
I
was
a
baby
.
"
At
last
the
secret
came
out
.
I
worried
my
foster-mother
with
the
old
question
one
day
when
the
remittances
had
fallen
very
much
in
arrear
,
and
her
temper
had
been
unusually
tried
.
She
flew
into
a
passion
,
and
told
me
that
my
mother
was
a
mad
woman
,
and
that
she
was
in
a
madhouse
forty
miles
away
.
She
had
scarcely
said
this
when
she
repented
,
and
told
me
that
it
was
not
the
truth
,
and
that
I
was
not
to
believe
it
,
or
to
say
that
she
had
told
me
such
a
thing
.
I
discovered
afterward
that
my
father
had
made
her
promise
most
solemnly
never
to
tell
me
the
secret
of
my
mother
's
fate
.
"
I
brooded
horribly
upon
the
thought
of
my
mother
's
madness
.
It
haunted
me
by
day
and
night
.
I
was
always
picturing
to
myself
this
mad
woman
pacing
up
and
down
some
prison
cell
,
in
a
hideous
garment
that
bound
her
tortured
limbs
.
I
had
exaggerated
ideas
of
the
horror
of
her
situation
.
I
had
no
knowledge
of
the
different
degrees
of
madness
,
and
the
image
that
haunted
me
was
that
of
a
distraught
and
violent
creature
,
who
would
fall
upon
me
and
kill
me
if
I
came
within
her
reach
.
This
idea
grew
upon
me
until
I
used
to
awake
in
the
dead
of
night
,
screaming
aloud
in
an
agony
of
terror
,
from
a
dream
in
which
I
had
felt
my
mother
's
icy
grasp
upon
my
throat
,
and
heard
her
ravings
in
my
ear
.
"
When
I
was
ten
years
old
my
father
came
to
pay
up
the
arrears
due
to
my
protectress
,
and
to
take
me
to
school
.
He
had
left
me
in
Hampshire
longer
than
he
had
intended
,
from
his
inability
to
pay
this
money
;
so
there
again
I
felt
the
bitterness
of
poverty
,
and
ran
the
risk
of
growing
up
an
ignorant
creature
among
coarse
rustic
children
,
because
my
father
was
poor
.
"
My
lady
paused
for
a
moment
,
but
only
to
take
breath
,
for
she
had
spoken
rapidly
,
as
if
eager
to
tell
this
hated
story
,
and
to
have
done
with
it
.
She
was
still
on
her
knees
,
but
Sir
Michael
made
no
effort
to
raise
her
.
He
sat
silent
and
immovable
.
What
was
this
story
that
he
was
listening
to
?
Whose
was
it
,
and
to
what
was
it
to
lead
?
It
could
not
be
his
wife
's
;
he
had
heard
her
simple
account
of
her
youth
,
and
had
believed
it
as
he
had
believed
in
the
Gospel
.
She
had
told
him
a
very
brief
story
of
an
early
orphanage
,
and
a
long
,
quiet
,
colorless
youth
spent
in
the
conventional
seclusion
of
an
English
boarding-school
.
"
My
father
came
at
last
,
and
I
told
him
what
I
had
discovered
.
He
was
very
much
affected
when
I
spoke
of
my
mother
.
He
was
not
what
the
world
generally
calls
a
good
man
,
but
I
learned
afterward
that
he
had
loved
his
wife
very
dearly
,
and
that
he
would
have
willingly
sacrificed
his
life
to
her
,
and
constituted
himself
her
guardian
,
had
he
not
been
compelled
to
earn
the
daily
bread
of
the
mad
woman
and
her
child
by
the
exercise
of
his
profession
.
So
here
again
I
beheld
what
a
bitter
thing
it
is
to
be
poor
.
My
mother
,
who
might
have
been
tended
by
a
devoted
husband
,
was
given
over
to
the
care
of
hired
nurses
.
"
Before
my
father
sent
me
to
school
at
Torquay
,
he
took
me
to
see
my
mother
.
This
visit
served
at
least
to
dispel
the
idea
which
had
so
often
terrified
me
.
I
saw
no
raving
,
straight-waist-coated
maniac
,
guarded
by
zealous
jailers
,
but
a
golden-haired
,
blue-eyed
,
girlish
creature
,
who
seemed
as
frivolous
as
a
butterfly
,
and
who
skipped
toward
us
with
her
yellow
curls
decorated
with
natural
flowers
,
and
saluted
us
with
radiant
smiles
,
and
gay
,
ceaseless
chatter
.
"
But
she
did
n't
know
us
.
She
would
have
spoken
in
the
same
manner
to
any
stranger
who
had
entered
the
gates
of
the
garden
about
her
prison-house
.
Her
madness
was
an
hereditary
disease
transmitted
to
her
from
her
mother
,
who
had
died
mad
.
She
,
my
mother
,
had
been
,
or
had
appeared
sane
up
to
the
hour
of
my
birth
,
but
from
that
hour
her
intellect
had
decayed
,
and
she
had
become
what
I
saw
her
.
"
I
went
away
with
the
knowledge
of
this
,
and
with
the
knowledge
that
the
only
inheritance
I
had
to
expect
from
my
mother
was
—
insanity
!
"
I
went
away
with
this
knowledge
in
my
mind
,
and
with
something
more
—
a
secret
to
keep
.
I
was
a
child
of
ten
years
only
,
but
I
felt
all
the
weight
of
that
burden
.
I
was
to
keep
the
secret
of
my
mother
's
madness
;
for
it
was
a
secret
that
might
affect
me
injuriously
in
after-life
.
I
was
to
remember
this
.
"
I
did
remember
this
;
and
it
was
,
perhaps
,
this
that
made
me
selfish
and
heartless
,
for
I
suppose
I
am
heartless
.
As
I
grew
older
I
was
told
that
I
was
pretty
—
beautiful
—
lovely
—
bewitching
.
I
heard
all
these
things
at
first
indifferently
,
but
by-and-by
I
listened
to
them
greedily
,
and
began
to
think
that
in
spite
of
the
secret
of
my
life
I
might
be
more
successful
in
the
world
's
great
lottery
than
my
companions
.
I
had
learnt
that
which
in
some
indefinite
manner
or
other
every
school-girl
learns
sooner
or
later
—
I
learned
that
my
ultimate
fate
in
life
depended
upon
my
marriage
,
and
I
concluded
that
if
I
was
indeed
prettier
than
my
schoolfellows
,
I
ought
to
marry
better
than
any
one
of
them
.
"
I
left
school
before
I
was
seventeen
years
of
age
,
with
this
thought
in
my
mind
,
and
I
went
to
live
at
the
other
extremity
of
England
with
my
father
,
who
had
retired
upon
his
half-pay
,
and
had
established
himself
at
Wildernsea
,
with
the
idea
that
the
place
was
cheap
and
select
.
"
The
place
was
indeed
select
.
I
had
not
been
there
a
month
before
I
discovered
that
even
the
prettiest
girl
might
wait
a
long
time
for
a
rich
husband
.
I
wish
to
hurry
over
this
part
of
my
life
.
I
dare
say
I
was
very
despicable
.
You
and
your
nephew
,
Sir
Michael
,
have
been
rich
all
your
lives
,
and
can
very
well
afford
to
despise
me
;
but
I
knew
how
far
poverty
can
affect
a
life
,
and
I
looked
forward
with
a
sickening
dread
to
a
life
so
affected
.
At
last
the
rich
suitor
,
the
wandering
prince
came
.
"
She
paused
for
a
moment
,
and
shuddered
convulsively
.
It
was
impossible
to
see
any
of
the
changes
in
her
countenance
,
for
her
face
was
obstinately
bent
toward
the
floor
.
Throughout
her
long
confession
she
never
lifted
it
;
throughout
her
long
confession
her
voice
was
never
broken
by
a
tear
.
What
she
had
to
tell
she
told
in
a
cold
,
hard
tone
,
very
much
the
tone
in
which
some
criminal
,
dogged
and
sullen
to
the
last
,
might
have
confessed
to
a
jail
chaplain
.
"
The
wandering
prince
came
,
"
she
repeated
;
"
he
was
called
George
Talboys
.
"
For
the
first
time
since
his
wife
's
confession
had
begun
,
Sir
Michael
Audley
started
.
He
began
to
understand
it
all
now
.
A
crowd
of
unheeded
words
and
forgotten
circumstances
that
had
seemed
too
insignificant
for
remark
or
recollection
,
flashed
back
upon
him
as
vividly
as
if
they
had
been
the
leading
incidents
of
his
past
life
.
"
Mr.
George
Talboys
was
a
cornet
in
a
dragoon
regiment
.
He
was
the
only
son
of
a
rich
country
gentleman
.
He
fell
in
love
with
me
,
and
married
me
three
months
after
my
seventeenth
birthday
.
I
think
I
loved
him
as
much
as
it
was
in
my
power
to
love
anybody
;
not
more
than
I
have
loved
you
,
Sir
Michael
—
not
so
much
,
for
when
you
married
me
you
elevated
me
to
a
position
that
he
could
never
have
given
me
.
"
The
dream
was
broken
.
Sir
Michael
Audley
remembered
that
summer
's
evening
,
nearly
two
years
ago
,
when
he
had
first
declared
his
love
for
Mr.
Dawson
's
governess
;
he
remembered
the
sick
,
half-shuddering
sensation
of
regret
and
disappointment
that
had
come
over
him
then
,
and
he
felt
as
if
it
had
in
some
manner
dimly
foreshadowed
the
agony
of
to-night
.
But
I
do
not
believe
that
even
in
his
misery
he
felt
that
entire
and
unmitigated
surprise
,
that
utter
revulsion
of
feeling
that
is
felt
when
a
good
woman
wanders
away
from
herself
and
becomes
the
lost
creature
whom
her
husband
is
bound
in
honor
to
abjure
.
I
do
not
believe
that
Sir
Michael
Audley
had
ever
really
believed
in
his
wife
.
He
had
loved
her
and
admired
her
;
he
had
been
bewitched
by
her
beauty
and
bewildered
by
her
charms
;
but
that
sense
of
something
wanting
,
that
vague
feeling
of
loss
and
disappointment
which
had
come
upon
him
on
the
summer
's
night
of
his
betrothal
had
been
with
him
more
or
less
distinctly
ever
since
.
I
cannot
believe
that
an
honest
man
,
however
pure
and
single
may
be
his
mind
,
however
simply
trustful
his
nature
,
is
ever
really
deceived
by
falsehood
.
There
is
beneath
the
voluntary
confidence
an
involuntary
distrust
,
not
to
be
conquered
by
any
effort
of
the
will
.
"
We
were
married
,
"
my
lady
continued
,
"
and
I
loved
him
very
well
,
quite
well
enough
to
be
happy
with
him
as
long
as
his
money
lasted
,
and
while
we
were
on
the
Continent
,
traveling
in
the
best
style
and
always
staying
at
the
best
hotels
.
But
when
we
came
back
to
Wildernsea
and
lived
with
papa
,
and
all
the
money
was
gone
,
and
George
grew
gloomy
and
wretched
,
and
was
always
thinking
of
his
troubles
,
and
appeared
to
neglect
me
,
I
was
very
unhappy
,
and
it
seemed
as
if
this
fine
marriage
had
only
given
me
a
twelvemonth
's
gayety
and
extravagance
after
all
.
I
begged
George
to
appeal
to
his
father
,
but
he
refused
.
I
persuaded
him
to
try
and
get
employment
,
and
he
failed
.
My
baby
was
born
,
and
the
crisis
which
had
been
fatal
to
my
mother
arose
for
me
.
I
escaped
,
but
I
was
more
irritable
perhaps
after
my
recovery
,
less
inclined
to
fight
the
hard
battle
of
the
world
,
more
disposed
to
complain
of
poverty
and
neglect
.
I
did
complain
one
day
,
loudly
and
bitterly
;
I
upbraided
George
Talboys
for
his
cruelty
in
having
allied
a
helpless
girl
to
poverty
and
misery
,
and
he
flew
into
a
passion
with
me
and
ran
out
of
the
house
.
When
I
awoke
the
next
morning
,
I
found
a
letter
lying
on
the
table
by
my
bed
,
telling
me
that
he
was
going
to
the
antipodes
to
seek
his
fortune
,
and
that
he
would
never
see
me
again
until
he
was
a
rich
man
.
"
I
looked
upon
this
as
a
desertion
,
and
I
resented
it
bitterly
—
resented
it
by
hating
the
man
who
had
left
me
with
no
protector
but
a
weak
,
tipsy
father
,
and
with
a
child
to
support
.
I
had
to
work
hard
for
my
living
,
and
in
every
hour
of
labor
—
and
what
labor
is
more
wearisome
than
the
dull
slavery
of
a
governess
?
—
I
recognized
a
separate
wrong
done
me
by
George
Talboys
.
His
father
was
rich
,
his
sister
was
living
in
luxury
and
respectability
,
and
I
,
his
wife
,
and
the
mother
of
his
son
,
was
a
slave
allied
to
beggary
and
obscurity
.
People
pitied
me
,
and
I
hated
them
for
their
pity
.
I
did
not
love
the
child
,
for
he
had
been
left
a
burden
upon
my
hands
.
The
hereditary
taint
that
was
in
my
blood
had
never
until
this
time
showed
itself
by
any
one
sign
or
token
;
but
at
this
time
I
became
subject
to
fits
of
violence
and
despair
.
At
this
time
I
think
my
mind
first
lost
its
balance
,
and
for
the
first
time
I
crossed
that
invisible
line
which
separates
reason
from
madness
.
I
have
seen
my
father
's
eyes
fixed
upon
me
in
horror
and
alarm
.
I
have
known
him
soothe
me
as
only
mad
people
and
children
are
soothed
,
and
I
have
chafed
against
his
petty
devices
,
I
have
resented
even
his
indulgence
.
"
At
last
these
fits
of
desperation
resolved
themselves
into
a
desperate
purpose
.
I
determined
to
run
away
from
this
wretched
home
which
my
slavery
supported
.
I
determined
to
desert
this
father
who
had
more
fear
of
me
than
love
for
me
.
I
determined
to
go
to
London
and
lose
myself
in
that
great
chaos
of
humanity
.
"
I
had
seen
an
advertisement
in
the
Times
while
I
was
at
Wildernsea
,
and
I
presented
myself
to
Mrs.
Vincent
,
the
advertiser
,
under
a
feigned
name
.
She
accepted
me
,
waiving
all
questions
as
to
my
antecedents
.
You
know
the
rest
.
I
came
here
,
and
you
made
me
an
offer
,
the
acceptance
of
which
would
lift
me
at
once
into
the
sphere
to
which
my
ambition
had
pointed
ever
since
I
was
a
school-girl
,
and
heard
for
the
first
time
that
I
was
pretty
.
"
Three
years
had
passed
,
and
I
had
received
no
token
of
my
husband
's
existence
;
for
,
I
argued
,
that
if
he
had
returned
to
England
,
he
would
have
succeeded
in
finding
me
under
any
name
and
in
any
place
.
I
knew
the
energy
of
his
character
well
enough
to
know
this
.
"
I
said
'
I
have
a
right
to
think
that
he
is
dead
,
or
that
he
wishes
me
to
believe
him
dead
,
and
his
shadow
shall
not
stand
between
me
and
prosperity
.
'
I
said
this
,
and
I
became
your
wife
,
Sir
Michael
,
with
every
resolution
to
be
as
good
a
wife
as
it
was
in
my
nature
to
be
.
The
common
temptations
that
assail
and
shipwreck
some
women
had
no
terror
for
me
.
I
would
have
been
your
true
and
pure
wife
to
the
end
of
time
,
though
I
had
been
surrounded
by
a
legion
of
tempters
.
The
mad
folly
that
the
world
calls
love
had
never
had
any
part
in
my
madness
,
and
here
at
least
extremes
met
,
and
the
vice
of
heartlessness
became
the
virtue
of
constancy
.
"
I
was
very
happy
in
the
first
triumph
and
grandeur
of
my
new
position
,
very
grateful
to
the
hand
that
had
lifted
me
to
it
.
In
the
sunshine
of
my
own
happiness
I
felt
,
for
the
first
time
in
my
life
,
for
the
miseries
of
others
.
I
had
been
poor
myself
,
and
I
was
now
rich
,
and
could
afford
to
pity
and
relieve
the
poverty
of
my
neighbors
.
I
took
pleasure
in
acts
of
kindness
and
benevolence
.
I
found
out
my
father
's
address
and
sent
him
large
sums
of
money
,
anonymously
,
for
I
did
not
wish
him
to
discover
what
had
become
of
me
.
I
availed
myself
to
the
full
of
the
privilege
your
generosity
afforded
me
.
I
dispensed
happiness
on
every
side
.
I
saw
myself
loved
as
well
as
admired
,
and
I
think
I
might
have
been
a
good
woman
for
the
rest
of
my
life
,
if
fate
would
have
allowed
me
to
be
so
.
"
I
believe
that
at
this
time
my
mind
regained
its
just
balance
.
I
had
watched
myself
very
closely
since
leaving
Wildernsea
;
I
had
held
a
check
upon
myself
.
I
had
often
wondered
while
sitting
in
the
surgeon
's
quiet
family
circle
whether
any
suspicion
of
that
invisible
,
hereditary
taint
had
ever
occurred
to
Mr.
Dawson
.
"
Fate
would
not
suffer
me
to
be
good
.
My
destiny
compelled
me
to
be
a
wretch
.
Within
a
month
of
my
marriage
,
I
read
in
one
of
the
Essex
papers
of
the
return
of
a
certain
Mr.
Talboys
,
a
fortunate
gold-seeker
,
from
Australia
.
The
ship
had
sailed
at
the
time
I
read
the
paragraph
.
What
was
to
be
done
?
"
I
said
just
now
that
I
knew
the
energy
of
George
's
character
.
I
knew
that
the
man
who
had
gone
to
the
antipodes
and
won
a
fortune
for
his
wife
would
leave
no
stone
unturned
in
his
efforts
to
find
her
.
It
was
hopeless
to
think
of
hiding
myself
from
him
.
"
Unless
he
could
be
induced
to
believe
that
I
was
dead
,
he
would
never
cease
in
his
search
for
me
.
"
My
brain
was
dazed
as
I
thought
of
my
peril
.
Again
the
balance
trembled
,
again
the
invisible
boundary
was
passed
,
again
I
was
mad
.
"
I
went
down
to
Southampton
and
found
my
father
,
who
was
living
there
with
my
child
.
You
remember
how
Mrs.
Vincent
's
name
was
used
as
an
excuse
for
this
hurried
journey
,
and
how
it
was
contrived
I
should
go
with
no
other
escort
than
Phoebe
Marks
,
whom
I
left
at
the
hotel
while
I
went
to
my
father
's
house
.
"
I
confided
to
my
father
the
whole
secret
of
my
peril
.
He
was
not
very
much
shocked
at
what
I
had
done
,
for
poverty
had
perhaps
blunted
his
sense
of
honor
and
principle
.
He
was
not
very
much
shocked
,
but
he
was
frightened
,
and
he
promised
to
do
all
in
his
power
to
assist
me
in
my
horrible
emergency
.
"
He
had
received
a
letter
addressed
to
me
at
Wildernsea
,
by
George
,
and
forwarded
from
there
to
my
father
.
This
letter
had
been
written
within
a
few
days
of
the
sailing
of
the
Argus
,
and
it
announced
the
probable
date
of
the
ship
's
arrival
at
Liverpool
.
This
letter
gave
us
,
therefore
,
data
upon
which
to
act
.
"
We
decided
at
once
upon
the
first
step
.
This
was
that
on
the
date
of
the
probable
arrival
of
the
Argus
,
or
a
few
days
later
,
an
advertisement
of
my
death
should
be
inserted
in
the
Times
.
"
But
almost
immediately
after
deciding
upon
this
,
we
saw
that
there
were
fearful
difficulties
in
the
carrying
out
of
such
a
simple
plan
.
The
date
of
the
death
,
and
the
place
in
which
I
died
,
must
be
announced
,
as
well
as
the
death
itself
.
George
would
immediately
hurry
to
that
place
,
however
distant
it
might
be
,
however
comparatively
inaccessible
,
and
the
shallow
falsehood
would
be
discovered
.
"
I
knew
enough
of
his
sanguine
temperament
,
his
courage
and
determination
,
his
readiness
to
hope
against
hope
,
to
know
that
unless
he
saw
the
grave
in
which
I
was
buried
,
and
the
register
of
my
death
,
he
would
never
believe
that
I
was
lost
to
him
.
"
My
father
was
utterly
dumfounded
and
helpless
.
He
could
only
shed
childish
tears
of
despair
and
terror
.
He
was
of
no
use
to
me
in
this
crisis
.
"
I
was
hopeless
of
any
issue
out
of
my
difficulties
.
I
began
to
think
that
I
must
trust
to
the
chapter
of
accidents
,
and
hope
that
among
other
obscure
corners
of
the
earth
,
Audley
Court
might
be
undreamt
of
by
my
husband
.
"
I
sat
with
my
father
,
drinking
tea
with
him
in
his
miserable
hovel
,
and
playing
with
the
child
,
who
was
pleased
with
my
dress
and
jewels
,
but
quite
unconscious
that
I
was
anything
but
a
stranger
to
him
.
I
had
the
boy
in
my
arms
,
when
a
woman
who
attended
him
came
to
fetch
him
that
she
might
make
him
more
fit
to
be
seen
by
the
lady
,
as
she
said
.
"
I
was
anxious
to
know
how
the
boy
was
treated
,
and
I
detained
this
woman
in
conversation
with
me
while
my
father
dozed
over
the
tea-table
.
"
She
was
a
pale-faced
,
sandy-haired
woman
of
about
five-and-forty
and
she
seemed
very
glad
to
get
the
chance
of
talking
to
me
as
long
as
I
pleased
to
allow
her
.
She
soon
left
off
talking
of
the
boy
,
however
,
to
tell
me
of
her
own
troubles
.
She
was
in
very
great
trouble
,
she
told
me
.
Her
eldest
daughter
had
been
obliged
to
leave
her
situation
from
ill-health
;
in
fact
,
the
doctor
said
the
girl
was
in
a
decline
;
and
it
was
a
hard
thing
for
a
poor
widow
who
had
seen
better
days
to
have
a
sick
daughter
to
support
,
as
well
as
a
family
of
young
children
.
"
I
let
the
woman
run
on
for
a
long
time
in
this
manner
,
telling
me
the
girl
's
ailments
,
and
the
girl
's
age
,
and
the
girl
's
doctor
's
stuff
,
and
piety
,
and
sufferings
,
and
a
great
deal
more
.
But
I
neither
listened
to
her
nor
heeded
her
.
I
heard
her
,
but
only
in
a
far-away
manner
,
as
I
heard
the
traffic
in
the
street
,
or
the
ripple
of
the
stream
at
the
bottom
of
it
.
What
were
this
woman
's
troubles
to
me
?
I
had
miseries
of
my
own
,
and
worse
miseries
than
her
coarse
nature
could
ever
have
to
endure
.
These
sort
of
people
always
had
sick
husbands
or
sick
children
,
and
expected
to
be
helped
in
their
illness
by
the
rich
.
It
was
nothing
out
of
the
common
.
I
was
thinking
this
,
and
I
was
just
going
to
dismiss
the
woman
with
a
sovereign
for
her
sick
daughter
,
when
an
idea
flashed
upon
me
with
such
painful
suddenness
that
it
sent
the
blood
surging
up
to
my
brain
,
and
set
my
heart
beating
,
as
it
only
beats
when
I
am
mad
.
"
I
asked
the
woman
her
name
.
She
was
a
Mrs.
Plowson
,
and
she
kept
a
small
general
shop
,
she
said
,
and
only
ran
in
now
and
then
to
look
after
Georgey
,
and
to
see
that
the
little
maid-of-all-work
took
care
of
him
.
Her
daughter
's
name
was
Matilda
.
I
asked
her
several
questions
about
this
girl
Matilda
,
and
I
ascertained
that
she
was
four-and-twenty
,
that
she
had
always
been
consumptive
,
and
that
she
was
now
,
as
the
doctor
said
,
going
off
in
a
rapid
decline
.
He
had
declared
that
she
could
not
last
much
more
than
a
fortnight
.
"
It
was
in
three
weeks
that
the
ship
that
carried
George
Talboys
was
expected
to
anchor
in
the
Mersey
.
"
I
need
not
dwell
upon
this
business
.
I
visited
the
sick
girl
.
She
was
fair
and
slender
.
Her
description
,
carelessly
given
,
might
tally
nearly
enough
with
my
own
,
though
she
bore
no
shadow
of
resemblance
to
me
,
except
in
these
two
particulars
.
I
was
received
by
the
girl
as
a
rich
lady
who
wished
to
do
her
a
service
.
I
bought
the
mother
,
who
was
poor
and
greedy
,
and
who
for
a
gift
of
money
,
more
money
than
she
had
ever
before
received
,
consented
to
submit
to
anything
I
wished
.
Upon
the
second
day
after
my
introduction
to
this
Mrs.
Plowson
,
my
father
went
over
to
Ventnor
,
and
hired
lodgings
for
his
invalid
daughter
and
her
little
boy
.
Early
the
next
morning
he
carried
over
the
dying
girl
and
Georgey
,
who
had
been
bribed
to
call
her
'
mamma
.
'
She
entered
the
house
as
Mrs.
Talboys
;
she
was
attended
by
a
Ventnor
medical
man
as
Mrs.
Talboys
;
she
died
,
and
her
death
and
burial
were
registered
in
that
name
.
"
The
advertisement
was
inserted
in
the
Times
,
and
upon
the
second
day
after
its
insertion
George
Talboys
visited
Ventnor
,
and
ordered
the
tombstone
which
at
this
hour
records
the
death
of
his
wife
,
Helen
Talboys
.
"
Sir
Michael
Audley
rose
slowly
,
and
with
a
stiff
,
constrained
action
,
as
if
every
physical
sense
had
been
benumbed
by
that
one
sense
of
misery
.
"
I
cannot
hear
any
more
,
"
he
said
,
in
a
hoarse
whisper
;
"
if
there
is
anything
more
to
be
told
I
cannot
hear
it
.
Robert
,
it
is
you
who
have
brought
about
this
discovery
,
as
I
understand
.
I
want
to
know
nothing
more
.
Will
you
take
upon
yourself
the
duty
of
providing
for
the
safety
and
comfort
of
this
lady
whom
I
have
thought
my
wife
?
I
need
not
ask
you
to
remember
in
all
you
do
,
that
I
have
loved
her
very
dearly
and
truly
.
I
cannot
say
farewell
to
her
.
I
will
not
say
it
until
I
can
think
of
her
without
bitterness
—
until
I
can
pity
her
,
as
I
now
pray
that
God
may
pity
her
this
night
.
"
Sir
Michael
walked
slowly
from
the
room
.
He
did
not
trust
himself
to
look
at
that
crouching
figure
.
He
did
not
wish
to
see
the
creature
whom
he
had
cherished
.
He
went
straight
to
his
dressing-room
,
rung
for
his
valet
,
and
ordered
him
to
pack
a
portmanteau
,
and
make
all
necessary
arrangements
for
accompanying
his
master
by
the
last
up-train
.
CHAPTER
XXXV
.
THE
HUSH
THAT
SUCCEEDS
THE
TEMPEST
.
Robert
Audley
followed
his
uncle
into
the
vestibule
after
Sir
Michael
had
spoken
those
few
quiet
words
which
sounded
the
death-knell
of
his
hope
and
love
.
Heaven
knows
how
much
the
young
man
had
feared
the
coming
of
this
day
.
It
had
come
;
and
though
there
had
been
no
great
outburst
of
despair
,
no
whirlwind
of
stormy
grief
,
no
loud
tempest
of
anguish
and
tears
,
Robert
took
no
comforting
thought
from
the
unnatural
stillness
.
He
knew
enough
to
know
that
Sir
Michael
Audley
went
away
with
the
barbed
arrow
,
which
his
nephew
's
hand
had
sent
home
to
its
aim
,
rankling
in
his
tortured
heart
;
he
knew
that
this
strange
and
icy
calm
was
the
first
numbness
of
a
heart
stricken
by
grief
so
unexpected
as
for
a
time
to
be
rendered
almost
incomprehensible
by
a
blank
stupor
of
astonishment
;
he
knew
that
when
this
dull
quiet
had
passed
away
,
when
little
by
little
,
and
one
by
one
,
each
horrible
feature
of
the
sufferer
's
sorrow
became
first
dimly
apparent
and
then
terribly
familiar
to
him
,
the
storm
would
burst
in
fatal
fury
,
and
tempests
of
tears
and
cruel
thunder-claps
of
agony
would
rend
that
generous
heart
.
Robert
had
heard
of
cases
in
which
men
of
his
uncle
's
age
had
borne
some
great
grief
,
as
Sir
Michael
had
borne
this
,
with
a
strange
quiet
;
and
had
gone
away
from
those
who
would
have
comforted
them
,
and
whose
anxieties
have
been
relieved
by
this
patient
stillness
,
to
fall
down
upon
the
ground
and
die
under
the
blow
which
at
first
had
only
stunned
him
.
He
remembered
cases
in
which
paralysis
and
apoplexy
had
stricken
men
as
strong
as
his
uncle
in
the
first
hour
of
the
horrible
affliction
;
and
he
lingered
in
the
lamp-lit
vestibule
,
wondering
whether
it
was
not
his
duty
to
be
with
Sir
Michael
—
to
be
near
him
,
in
case
of
any
emergency
,
and
to
accompany
him
wherever
he
went
.
Yet
would
it
be
wise
to
force
himself
upon
that
gray-headed
sufferer
in
this
cruel
hour
,
in
which
he
had
been
awakened
from
the
one
delusion
of
a
blameless
life
to
discover
that
he
had
been
the
dupe
of
a
false
face
,
and
the
fool
of
a
nature
which
was
too
coldly
mercenary
,
too
cruelly
heartless
,
to
be
sensible
of
its
own
infamy
?
"
No
,
"
thought
Robert
Audley
,
"
I
will
not
intrude
upon
the
anguish
of
this
wounded
heart
.
There
is
humiliation
mingled
with
this
bitter
grief
.
It
is
better
he
should
fight
the
battle
alone
.
I
have
done
what
I
believe
to
have
been
my
solemn
duty
,
yet
I
should
scarcely
wonder
if
I
had
rendered
myself
forever
hateful
to
him
.
It
is
better
he
should
fight
the
battle
alone
.
I
can
do
nothing
to
make
the
strife
less
terrible
.
Better
that
it
should
be
fought
alone
.
"
While
the
young
man
stood
with
his
hand
upon
the
library
door
,
still
half-doubtful
whether
he
should
follow
his
uncle
or
re-enter
the
room
in
which
he
had
left
that
more
wretched
creature
whom
it
had
been
his
business
to
unmask
,
Alicia
Audley
opened
the
dining-room
door
,
and
revealed
to
him
the
old-fashioned
oak-paneled
apartment
,
the
long
table
covered
with
showy
damask
,
and
bright
with
a
cheerful
glitter
of
glass
and
silver
.
"
Is
papa
coming
to
dinner
?
"
asked
Miss
Audley
.
"
I
'm
so
hungry
;
and
poor
Tomlins
has
sent
up
three
times
to
say
the
fish
will
be
spoiled
.
It
must
be
reduced
to
a
species
of
isinglass
soup
,
by
this
time
,
I
should
think
,
"
added
the
young
lady
,
as
she
came
out
into
the
vestibule
with
the
Times
newspaper
in
her
hand
.
She
had
been
sitting
by
the
fire
reading
the
paper
,
and
waiting
for
her
seniors
to
join
her
at
the
dinner
table
.
"
Oh
,
it
's
you
,
Mr.
Robert
Audley
.
"
she
remarked
,
indifferently
.
"
You
dine
with
us
of
course
.
Pray
go
and
find
papa
.
It
must
be
nearly
eight
o'clock
,
and
we
are
supposed
to
dine
at
six
.
"
Mr.
Audley
answered
his
cousin
rather
sternly
.
Her
frivolous
manner
jarred
upon
him
,
and
he
forgot
in
his
irrational
displeasure
that
Miss
Audley
had
known
nothing
of
the
terrible
drama
which
had
been
so
long
enacting
under
her
very
nose
.
"
Your
papa
has
just
endured
a
very
great
grief
,
Alicia
,
"
the
young
man
said
,
gravely
.
The
girl
's
arch
,
laughing
face
changed
in
a
moment
to
a
tenderly
earnest
look
of
sorrow
and
anxiety
.
Alicia
Audley
loved
her
father
very
dearly
.
"
A
grief
?
"
she
exclaimed
;
"
papa
grieved
!
Oh
!
Robert
,
what
has
happened
?
"
"
I
can
tell
you
nothing
yet
,
Alicia
,
"
Robert
answered
in
a
low
voice
.
He
took
his
cousin
by
the
wrist
,
and
drew
her
into
the
dining-room
as
he
spoke
.
He
closed
the
door
carefully
behind
him
before
he
continued
:
"
Alicia
,
can
I
trust
you
?
"
he
asked
,
earnestly
.
"
Trust
me
to
do
what
?
"
"
To
be
a
comfort
and
a
friend
to
your
poor
father
under
a
very
heavy
affliction
.
"
"
Yes
!
"
cried
Alicia
,
passionately
.
"
How
can
you
ask
me
such
a
question
?
Do
you
think
there
is
anything
I
would
not
do
to
lighten
any
sorrow
of
my
father
's
?
Do
you
think
there
is
anything
I
would
not
suffer
if
my
suffering
could
lighten
his
?
"
The
rushing
tears
rose
to
Miss
Audley
's
bright
gray
eyes
as
she
spoke
.
"
Oh
,
Robert
!
Robert
!
could
you
think
so
badly
of
me
as
to
think
I
would
not
try
to
be
a
comfort
to
my
father
in
his
grief
?
"
she
said
,
reproachfully
.
"
No
,
no
,
my
dear
,
"
answered
the
young
man
,
quietly
;
"
I
never
doubted
your
affection
,
I
only
doubted
your
discretion
.
May
I
rely
upon
that
?
"
"
You
may
,
Robert
,
"
said
Alicia
,
resolutely
.
"
Very
well
,
then
,
my
dear
girl
,
I
will
trust
you
.
Your
father
is
going
to
leave
the
Court
,
for
a
time
at
least
.
The
grief
which
he
has
just
endured
—
a
sudden
and
unlooked-for
sorrow
,
remember
—
has
no
doubt
made
this
place
hateful
to
him
.
He
is
going
away
;
but
he
must
not
go
alone
,
must
he
,
Alicia
?
"
"
Alone
?
no
!
no
!
But
I
suppose
my
lady
—
"
"
Lady
Audley
will
not
go
with
him
,
"
said
Robert
,
gravely
;
"
he
is
about
to
separate
himself
from
her
.
"
"
For
a
time
?
"
"
No
,
forever
.
"
"
Separate
himself
from
her
forever
!
"
exclaimed
Alicia
.
"
Then
this
grief
—
"
"
Is
connected
with
Lady
Audley
.
Lady
Audley
is
the
cause
of
your
father
's
sorrow
.
"
Alicia
's
face
,
which
had
been
pale
before
,
flushed
crimson
.
Sorrow
,
of
which
my
lady
was
the
cause
—
a
sorrow
which
was
to
separate
Sir
Michael
forever
from
his
wife
!
There
had
been
no
quarrel
between
them
—
there
had
never
been
anything
but
harmony
and
sunshine
between
Lady
Audley
and
her
generous
husband
.
This
sorrow
must
surely
then
have
arisen
from
some
sudden
discovery
;
it
was
,
no
doubt
,
a
sorrow
associated
with
disgrace
.
Robert
Audley
understood
the
meaning
of
that
vivid
blush
.
"
You
will
offer
to
accompany
your
father
wherever
he
may
choose
to
go
,
Alicia
,
"
he
said
.
"
You
are
his
natural
comforter
at
such
a
time
as
this
,
but
you
will
best
befriend
him
in
this
hour
of
trial
by
avoiding
all
intrusion
upon
his
grief
.
Your
very
ignorance
of
the
particulars
of
that
grief
will
be
a
security
for
your
discretion
.
Say
nothing
to
your
father
that
you
might
not
have
said
to
him
two
years
ago
,
before
he
married
a
second
wife
.
Try
and
be
to
him
what
you
were
before
the
woman
in
yonder
room
came
between
you
and
your
father
's
love
.
"
"
I
will
,
"
murmured
Alicia
,
"
I
will
.
"
"
You
will
naturally
avoid
all
mention
of
Lady
Audley
's
name
.
If
your
father
is
often
silent
,
be
patient
;
if
it
sometimes
seems
to
you
that
the
shadow
of
this
great
sorrow
will
never
pass
away
from
his
life
,
be
patient
still
;
and
remember
that
there
can
be
no
better
hope
of
a
cure
of
his
grief
than
the
hope
that
his
daughter
's
devotion
may
lead
him
to
remember
there
is
one
woman
upon
this
earth
who
will
love
him
truly
and
purely
until
the
last
.
"
"
Yes
—
yes
,
Robert
,
dear
cousin
,
I
will
remember
.
"
Mr.
Audley
,
for
the
first
time
since
he
had
been
a
schoolboy
,
took
his
cousin
in
his
arms
and
kissed
her
broad
forehead
.
"
My
dear
Alicia
,
"
he
said
,
"
do
this
and
you
will
make
me
happy
.
I
have
been
in
some
measure
the
means
of
bringing
this
sorrow
upon
your
father
.
Let
me
hope
that
it
is
not
an
enduring
one
.
Try
and
restore
my
uncle
to
happiness
,
Alicia
,
and
I
will
love
you
more
dearly
than
brother
ever
loved
a
noble-hearted
sister
;
and
a
brotherly
affection
may
be
worth
having
,
perhaps
,
after
all
,
my
dear
,
though
it
is
very
different
to
poor
Sir
Harry
's
enthusiastic
worship
.
"
Alicia
's
head
was
bent
and
her
face
hidden
from
her
cousin
while
he
spoke
,
but
she
lifted
her
head
when
he
had
finished
,
and
looked
him
full
in
the
face
with
a
smile
that
was
only
the
brighter
for
her
eyes
being
filled
with
tears
.
"
You
are
a
good
fellow
,
Bob
,
"
she
said
;
"
and
I
've
been
very
foolish
and
wicked
to
feel
angry
with
you
because
—
"
The
young
lady
stopped
suddenly
.
"
Because
what
,
my
dear
?
"
asked
Mr.
Audley
.
"
Because
I
'm
silly
,
Cousin
Robert
,
"
Alicia
said
,
quickly
;
"
never
mind
that
,
Bob
,
I
'll
do
all
you
wish
,
and
it
shall
not
be
my
fault
if
my
dearest
father
does
n't
forget
his
troubles
before
long
.
I
'd
go
to
the
end
of
the
world
with
him
,
poor
darling
,
if
I
thought
there
was
any
comfort
to
be
found
for
him
in
the
journey
.
I
'll
go
and
get
ready
directly
.
Do
you
think
papa
will
go
to-night
?
"
"
Yes
,
my
dear
;
I
do
n't
think
Sir
Michael
will
rest
another
night
under
this
roof
yet
awhile
.
"
"
The
mail
goes
at
twenty
minutes
past
nine
,
"
said
Alicia
;
"
we
must
leave
the
house
in
an
hour
if
we
are
to
travel
by
it
.
I
shall
see
you
again
before
we
go
,
Robert
?
"
"
Yes
,
dear
.
"
Miss
Audley
ran
off
to
her
room
to
summon
her
maid
,
and
make
all
necessary
preparations
for
the
sudden
journey
,
of
whose
ultimate
destination
she
was
as
yet
quite
ignorant
.
She
went
heart
and
soul
into
the
carrying
out
of
the
duty
which
Robert
had
dictated
to
her
.
She
assisted
in
the
packing
of
her
portmanteaus
,
and
hopelessly
bewildered
her
maid
by
stuffing
silk
dresses
into
her
bonnet-boxes
and
satin
shoes
into
her
dressing-case
.
She
roamed
about
her
rooms
,
gathering
together
drawing-materials
,
music-books
,
needle-work
,
hair-brushes
,
jewelry
,
and
perfume-bottles
,
very
much
as
she
might
have
done
had
she
been
about
to
sail
for
some
savage
country
,
devoid
of
all
civilized
resources
.
She
was
thinking
all
the
time
of
her
father
's
unknown
grief
,
and
perhaps
a
little
of
the
serious
face
and
earnest
voice
which
had
that
night
revealed
her
Cousin
Robert
to
her
in
a
new
character
.
Mr.
Audley
went
up-stairs
after
his
cousin
,
and
found
his
way
to
Sir
Michael
's
dressing-room
.
He
knocked
at
the
door
and
listened
,
Heaven
knows
how
anxiously
,
for
the
expected
answer
.
There
was
a
moment
's
pause
,
during
which
the
young
man
's
heart
beat
loud
and
fast
,
and
then
the
door
was
opened
by
the
baronet
himself
.
Robert
saw
that
his
uncle
's
valet
was
already
hard
at
work
preparing
for
his
master
's
hurried
journey
.
Sir
Michael
came
out
into
the
corridor
.
"
Have
you
anything
more
to
say
to
me
,
Robert
?
"
he
asked
,
quietly
.
"
I
only
came
to
ascertain
if
I
could
assist
in
any
of
your
arrangements
.
You
go
to
London
by
the
mail
?
"
"
Yes
.
"
"
Have
you
any
idea
of
where
you
will
stay
.
"
"
Yes
,
I
shall
stop
at
the
Clarendon
;
I
am
known
there
.
Is
that
all
you
have
to
say
?
"
"
Yes
;
except
that
Alicia
will
accompany
you
?
"
"
Alicia
!
"
"
She
could
not
very
well
stay
here
,
you
know
,
just
now
.
It
would
be
best
for
her
to
leave
the
Court
until
—
"
"
Yes
,
yes
,
I
understand
,
"
interrupted
the
baronet
;
"
but
is
there
nowhere
else
that
she
could
go
—
must
she
be
with
me
?
"
"
She
could
go
nowhere
else
so
immediately
,
and
she
would
not
be
happy
anywhere
else
.
"
"
Let
her
come
,
then
,
"
said
Sir
Michael
,
"
let
her
come
.
"
He
spoke
in
a
strange
,
subdued
voice
,
and
with
an
apparent
effort
,
as
if
it
were
painful
to
him
to
have
to
speak
at
all
;
as
if
all
this
ordinary
business
of
life
were
a
cruel
torture
to
him
,
and
jarred
so
much
upon
his
grief
as
to
be
almost
worse
to
bear
than
that
grief
itself
.
"
Very
well
,
my
dear
uncle
,
then
all
is
arranged
;
Alicia
will
be
ready
to
start
at
nine
o'clock
.
"
"
Very
good
,
very
good
,
"
muttered
the
baronet
;
"
let
her
come
if
she
pleases
,
poor
child
,
let
her
come
.
"
He
sighed
heavily
as
he
spoke
in
that
half
pitying
tone
of
his
daughter
.
He
was
thinking
how
comparatively
indifferent
he
had
been
toward
that
only
child
for
the
sake
of
the
woman
now
shut
in
the
fire-lit
room
below
.
"
I
shall
see
you
again
before
you
go
,
sir
,
"
said
Robert
;
"
I
will
leave
you
till
then
.
"
"
Stay
!
"
said
Sir
Michael
,
suddenly
;
"
have
you
told
Alicia
?
"
"
I
have
told
her
nothing
,
except
that
you
are
about
to
leave
the
Court
for
some
time
.
"
"
You
are
very
good
,
my
boy
,
you
are
very
good
,
"
the
baronet
murmured
in
a
broken
voice
.
He
stretched
out
his
hand
.
His
nephew
took
it
in
both
his
own
,
and
pressed
it
to
his
lips
.
"
Oh
,
sir
!
how
can
I
ever
forgive
myself
?
"
he
said
;
"
how
can
I
ever
cease
to
hate
myself
for
having
brought
this
grief
upon
you
?
"
"
No
,
no
,
Robert
,
you
did
right
;
I
wish
that
God
had
been
so
merciful
to
me
as
to
take
my
miserable
life
before
this
night
;
but
you
did
right
.
"
Sir
Michael
re-entered
his
dressing-room
,
and
Robert
slowly
returned
to
the
vestibule
.
He
paused
upon
the
threshold
of
that
chamber
in
which
he
had
left
Lucy
—
Lady
Audley
,
otherwise
Helen
Talboys
,
the
wife
of
his
lost
friend
.
She
was
lying
upon
the
floor
,
upon
the
very
spot
in
which
she
had
crouched
at
her
husband
's
feet
telling
her
guilty
story
.
Whether
she
was
in
a
swoon
,
or
whether
she
lay
there
in
the
utter
helplessness
of
her
misery
,
Robert
scarcely
cared
to
know
.
He
went
out
into
the
vestibule
,
and
sent
one
of
the
servants
to
look
for
her
maid
,
the
smart
,
be-ribboned
damsel
who
was
loud
in
wonder
and
consternation
at
the
sight
of
her
mistress
.
"
Lady
Audley
is
very
ill
,
"
he
said
;
"
take
her
to
her
room
and
see
that
she
does
not
leave
it
to-night
.
You
will
be
good
enough
to
remain
near
her
,
but
do
not
either
talk
to
her
or
suffer
her
to
excite
herself
by
talking
.
"
My
lady
had
not
fainted
;
she
allowed
the
girl
to
assist
her
,
and
rose
from
the
ground
upon
which
she
had
groveled
.
Her
golden
hair
fell
in
loose
,
disheveled
masses
about
her
ivory
throat
and
shoulders
,
her
face
and
lips
were
colorless
,
her
eyes
terrible
in
their
unnatural
light
.
"
Take
me
away
,
"
she
said
,
"
and
let
me
sleep
!
Let
me
sleep
,
for
my
brain
is
on
fire
!
"
As
she
was
leaving
the
room
with
her
maid
,
she
turned
and
looked
at
Robert
.
"
Is
Sir
Michael
gone
?
"
she
asked
.
"
He
will
leave
in
half
an
hour
.
"
"
There
were
no
lives
lost
in
the
fire
at
Mount
Stanning
?
"
"
None
.
"
"
I
am
glad
of
that
.
"
"
The
landlord
of
the
house
,
Marks
,
was
very
terribly
burned
,
and
lies
in
a
precarious
state
at
his
mother
's
cottage
;
but
he
may
recover
.
"
"
I
am
glad
of
that
—
I
am
glad
no
life
was
lost
.
Good-night
,
Mr.
Audley
.
"
"
I
shall
ask
to
see
you
for
half
an
hour
's
conversation
in
the
course
of
to-morrow
,
my
lady
.
"
"
Whenever
you
please
.
Good
night
.
"
"
Good
night
.
"
She
went
away
quietly
leaning
upon
her
maid
's
shoulder
,
and
leaving
Robert
with
a
sense
of
strange
bewilderment
that
was
very
painful
to
him
.
He
sat
down
by
the
broad
hearth
upon
which
the
red
embers
were
fading
,
and
wondered
at
the
change
in
that
old
house
which
,
until
the
day
of
his
friend
's
disappearance
,
had
been
so
pleasant
a
home
for
all
who
sheltered
beneath
its
hospitable
roof
.
He
sat
brooding
over
the
desolate
hearth
,
and
trying
to
decide
upon
what
must
be
done
in
this
sudden
crisis
.
He
sat
helpless
and
powerless
to
determine
upon
any
course
of
action
,
lost
in
a
dull
revery
,
from
which
he
was
aroused
by
the
sound
of
carriage-wheels
driving
up
to
the
little
turret
entrance
.
The
clock
in
the
vestibule
struck
nine
as
Robert
opened
the
library
door
.
Alicia
had
just
descended
the
stairs
with
her
maid
;
a
rosy-faced
country
girl
.
"
Good-by
,
Robert
,
"
said
Miss
Audley
,
holding
out
her
hand
to
her
cousin
;
"
good-by
,
and
God
bless
you
!
You
may
trust
me
to
take
care
of
