Part 83 (1/2)
”After all, the intention is to open a way to come back here?”
”I don't believe it.”
”I suspect, Master O'Rorke, this is rather a pleasanter place to live in than the Arran Islands.”
”So it is; there's no doubt of that! But she is young, and thinks more about her pride than her profit--not to say that she comes of a stock that's as haughty in their own wild way as ever a peer in the land.”
”There never was a better bait to catch that old man there than this same pride. She has just hit upon the key to move him. What did he say when he read the letter?”
”He couldn't speak for a while, but kept wiping his eyes and trembling all over.”
”And then?”
”And then he said, 'Stop here to-night, Mr. O'Rorke, and I'll have your answer ready for you in the morning.'”
”And shall I tell you what it will be? It will be to implore her to come back here. She can have her own terms now; she may be My Lady.”
”Do you mean his wife?”
”I do.”
O'Rorke gave a long whistle, and stood a perfect picture of amazement and wonder.
”That _was_ playing for a big stake! May I never! if I thought she was bowld enough for that. That she was. And how she missed it, to this hour I never knew. But whatever happened between them was, one evening, on the strand at a sea-side place abroad. That much I learned from her maid, who was in my pay; and it must have been serious, for she left the house that night, and never returned; and, what is more, never wrote one line to him till this letter that you carried here yesterday.”
So astounded was O'Rorke by what he heard, that for some minutes he scarcely followed what Ladarelle was saying.
”So that,” continued Ladarelle, ”it may not be impossible that he had the hardihood to make her some such proposal.”
”Do you mean without marriage?” broke in O'Rorke, suddenly catching the clue. ”Do you mean that?”
The other nodded.
”No, by all that's holy!” cried O'Rorke. ”That he never did! You might trick her, you might cheat her--and it wouldn't be so easy to do it, either--but, take my word for it, the man that would insult her, and get off free, isn't yet born!”
”What could she do, except go off?” said Ladarelle, scoffingly.
”That's not the stuff they're made of where she comes from, young man.”
And, in his eagerness, he for a moment forgot all respect and deference; nor did the other seem to resent the liberty, for he only smiled as he heard it, and then said:
”All I have been telling you now is merely to prepare you for what I want you to do, and mind, if you stand by me faithfully and well, your fortune is made. I ask no man's help without being ready and willing to pay for it--to pay handsomely, too! Is that intelligible?”
”Quite intelligible.”
”Now, the short and long of the story is this: If this old fool were to marry that girl, he could enc.u.mber my estate--for it is mine--with a jointure, and I have no fancy to pay some twelve or fifteen hundred a year--perhaps more--to Biddy somebody, and have, besides, a lawsuit for plate, or pictures, or china, or jewels, that she claimed as matter of gift--and all this, that an old worn-out rake should end his life with an act of absurdity!”
”And he could leave her fifteen hundred a year for ever,” muttered O'Rorke, thoughtfully.
”Nothing of the kind. For her life only; and even that, I believe, we might break by law--at least, Palmer says so.”.