Part 23 (1/2)

”I went to Mr. Blodgett this morning, and he told me that he knew of no reason why I should not marry Mr. Whitely.”

”Then, Miss Walton,” I answered, rising, ”I cannot expect that you will be influenced by my opinion. I will withdraw what I said last night.

Think of me as leniently as you can, for my purpose was honorable.”

”But you ought to say more. You”--

”I cannot,” I replied.

”You have no right to”--But here a servant entered, with a card.

”Dr. Hartzmann,” you announced, when the man had gone, ”I wrote Mr.

Whitely yesterday afternoon, asking him to call this evening, with the intention of accepting his offer of marriage. He is now in the drawing-room, and unless you will have the fairness, the honesty, to explain what you meant, I shall tell him all that has occurred, and give him the opportunity to force you to speak.”

”I shall only repeat to him, Miss Walton, what I have said to you.”

You stood a moment looking at me, with a face blazing with indignation; then you exclaimed, ”You at least owe it to him not to run away while I am gone!” and pa.s.sed into the drawing-room.

You returned very soon, followed by Mr. Whitely.

”Dr. Hartzmann,” you asked, ”will you repeat what you said last night to me?”

”I advised you not to marry Mr. Whitely, Miss Walton.”

”And you will not say why?” you demanded.

”I cannot.”

”Mr. Whitely,” you cried, ”cannot you force him to speak?”

”Miss Walton,” he replied suavely, and his very coolness in the strange condition made me feel that he was master of the situation, ”I am as perplexed as you are at this extraordinary conduct in one who even now is eating bread from my hand. I have long since ceased to expect grat.i.tude for benefits, but such malevolence surprises and grieves me, since I have never done Dr. Hartzmann any wrong, but, on the contrary, I have always befriended him.”

”I have been in the employ of Mr. Whitely,” I answered, ”but every dollar he has paid me has been earned by my labor. I owe him no debt of grat.i.tude that he does not owe me.”

”You owe him the justice that every man owes another,” you a.s.serted indignantly. ”To make vague charges behind one's back, and then refuse to be explicit, is a coward's and a slanderer's way of waging war.”

”Miss Walton,” I cried, ”I should not have spoken, though G.o.d knows that my motive was only a wish to do you a service, and I would give my life to do as you ask!”

For an instant my earnestness seemed to sway you; indeed, I am convinced that this was so, since Mr. Whitely apparently had the same feeling, and spoke as if to neutralize my influence, saying to you: ”Miss Walton, I firmly believe that Dr. Hartzmann's plea of honorable conduct is nothing but the ambush of a coward. But as he has been for two years in the most intimate and confidential position of private secretary to me, he may, through some error, have deluded himself into a conviction that gives a basis for his indefinite charges. I will not take advantage of the implied secrecy, and I say to him in your presence that if he has discovered anything which indicates that I have been either impure or criminal, I give him permission to speak.”

Even in that moment of entanglement I could not but admire and marvel at the skill with which he had phrased his speech, so as to seem absolutely open, to slur me by innuendo, and yet avoid the risk of exposure. It left me helpless, and I could only say, ”I have not charged Mr. Whitely with either impurity or criminality.”

You turned to him and said, ”This conduct is perfectly inexplicable.”

”Except on one ground,” he replied.

”Which is?” you questioned.

”That Dr. Hartzmann loves you,” he answered.