Part 36 (2/2)
For more than an hour Mrs Cliff lay in the state of palpitation which pervaded her whole organization, waiting for Edna to call her And at last she could wait no longer, and rushed into the salon where Edna sat alone, the letter in her hand
”What does he say?” she cried, ”Is he well? Where is he? Did he get the gold?”
Edna looked at her for a”Yes,” she said presently, ”he is well He is in Marseilles The gold--” And for a moment she did not remember whether or not the captain had it
”Oh, do say so!” almost screamed Mrs Cliff ”What is it? Shall I read the letter? What does he say?”
This recalled Edna to herself ”No,” said she, ”I will read it to you”
And she read it aloud, froes which Mrs Cliff would have been sure to think should have been written in a manner in which they were not written
”Well!” exclaimed Mrs Cliff, who, in alternate horror, pity, and rapture, had listened, pale and open-mouthed, to the letter ”Captain Horn is consistent to the end! Whatever happens, he keeps away fro, and--oh, Edna!”--and, as she spoke, she sprang from her chair and threw her arold!” And, with this, the poor lady sank insensible upon the floor
”The gold!” exclai friend ”Of what iold!”
An hour afterwards Mrs Cliff, having been restored to her usual condition, caain into Edna's room, still pale and in a state of excitement
”Now, I suppose,” she exclai And I believe that will be to ht than any amount of money could possibly be”
”Speak out!” cried Edna, ”of course we cannot We have no ht to speak out now than we ever had Captain Horn insisted that we should not speak of these affairs until he came, and he has not yet come”
”No, indeed!” said Mrs Cliff, ”that see but come here And are we to tell nobody that he has arrived in France?--not even that much?”
”I shall tell Ralph,” replied Edna ”I shall write to him to come here as soon as possible, but that is all until the captain arrives, and we know everything that has been done, and is to be done I don't wish any one, except you and me and Ralph, even to know that I have heard from him”
”Not Cheditafa? Not the professor? Nor any of your friends?”
”Of course not,” said Edna, a little i, how i, if I did not tell the? And what is there for me to tell them?
When we have seen Captain Horn, we shall all knoe are, and e are, and then we can speak out to the world, and I ah to do it”
”For my part,” said Mrs Cliff, ”I think we all knoe are now I don't think anybody could tell us And I think it would have been a great deal better--”
”No, it wouldn't!” exclai to say, I knoouldn't have been better We could have done nothing but e have done We had no right to speak of Captain Horn's affairs, and having accepted his conditions, with everything else that he has given us, we are bound to observe them until he removes them So we shall not talk any hed ”So I must keep myself sealed and locked up, just the same as ever?”
”Yes,” replied Edna, ”the sa As soon as the captain has e will be told”
”Made his arrange I don't like It seeht to be, there wouldn't be so e to Berlin, and to London, and nobody knohere else I wonder if people are giving him any trouble about it! We have had all sorts of troubles already, and now that the blessed end see to haveIt is Captain Horn who should talk in that way I don't think that, since the day we left San Francisco, anybody could have supposed that ere in any sort of trouble”
”I don't mean outside circuot souls and consciences inside of us, and when they don't knohat to do, of course we are bound to be troubled, especially as they don't knohat to tell us, and we don't knohether or not to mind them when they do speak But you needn't be afraid ofas I can I can't pro hi him to come to Paris as soon as possible It was scarcely necessary to speak to him of secrecy, for the boy ise beyond his years She did speak of it, however, but very circumspectly She knew that her brother would never ad anxiety hich she waited the captain's return But whatever happened, or whatever he ht think about what should happen, she wanted Ralph with her She felt herself more truly alone than she had ever been in her life
During the two days which elapsed before Ralph reached Paris from Brussels, Edna had plenty of time to think, and she did not lose any of it What Mrs Cliff had said about people giving trouble, and about her conscience, and all that, had touched her deeply What Captain Horn had said about the difficulties he had encountered on reaching Marseilles, and what he had said about the cargo of the _Arato_ being probably more valuable than any which had ever entered that port, seemed to put an entirely new face upon the relations between her and the owner of this vast wealth, if, indeed, he were able to establish that ownershi+p The ht of this point, the more contemptible appeared her own position--that is, the position she had assuether for the last tied to hireat enterprise, what right had she to insist that he should accept her as a condition of his safe arrival in a civilized land with this iven her by that very indefinite contract which had been entered into, as she felt herself forced to believe, only for her benefit in case he should not reach a civilized land alive?
The disposition of this great wealth was evidently an anxiety and a burden, but in her heart she believed that the greatest of his anxieties was caused by his doubt in regard to the construction she ue, weird ceremony on the desert coast of Peru