Part 58 (1/2)
”That was all her own fault.”
”I will not talk with you about it: you do not know the circ.u.mstances to which I refer. I request to see Mr. Wardour. I have no time to waste in useless altercation.”
Mary was angry, and it did her good; it made her fitter to face the harder task before her.
That moment they heard the step of G.o.dfrey approaching through a long pa.s.sage in the rear. His mother went into the parlor, leaving the door, which was close to where Mary stood, ajar. G.o.dfrey, reaching the hall, saw Mary, and came up to her with a formal bow, and a face flushed with displeasure.
”May I speak to you alone, Mr. Wardour?” said Mary. ”Can you not say what you have to say here?”
”It is impossible.”
”Then I am curious to know--”
”Let your curiosity plead for me, then.”
With a sigh of impatience he yielded, and led the way to the drawing-room, which was at the other end of the hall. Mary turned and shut the door he left open.
”Why all this mystery, Miss Marston?” he said. ”I am not aware of anything between you and me that can require secrecy.”
He spoke with unconcealed scorn.
”When I have made my communication, you will at least allow secrecy to have been necessary.”
”Some objects may require it!” said Wardour, in a tone itself an insult.
”Mr. Wardour,” returned Mary, ”I am here for your sake, not my own. May I beg you will not render a painful duty yet more difficult?”
”May _I_ beg, then, that you will be as brief as possible? I am more than doubtful whether what you have to say will seem to me of so much consequence as you suppose.”
”I shall be very glad to find it so.”
”I can not give you more than ten minutes.” Mary looked at her watch.
”You have lately become acquainted with Miss Yolland, I am told,” she began.
”Whew!” whistled G.o.dfrey, yet hardly as if he were surprised.
”I have been compelled to know a good deal of that lady.”
”As lady's-maid in her family, I believe.”
”Yes,” said Mary--then changing her tone after a slight pause, went on: ”Mr. Wardour, I owe you more than I can ever thank you for. I strongly desire to fulfill the obligation your goodness has laid upon me, though I can never discharge it. For the sake of that obligation--for your sake, I am risking much--namely, your opinion of me.”
He made a gesture of impatience.
”I _know_ Miss Yolland to be a woman without principle. I know it by the testimony of my own eyes, and from her own confession. She is capable of playing a cold-hearted, cruel game for her own ends. Be persuaded to consult Mr. Redmain before you commit yourself. Ask him if Miss Yolland is fit to be the wife of an honest man.”
There was nothing in G.o.dfrey's countenance but growing rage. Turning to the door, Mary would have gone without another word.
”Stay!” cried G.o.dfrey, in a voice of suppressed fury. ”Do not dare to go until I have told you that you are a vile slanderer. I knew something of what I had to expect, but you should never have entered this room had I known how far your effrontery could carry you. Listen to me: if anything more than the character of your statement had been necessary to satisfy me of the falsehood of every word of it, you have given it me in your reference to Mr. Redmain--a man whose life has rendered him unfit for the acquaintance, not to say the confidence of any decent woman. This is a plot--for what final object, G.o.d knows--between you and him! I should be doing my duty were I to expose you both to the public scorn you deserve.”