Part 38 (1/2)
”How do you do, Heather?” she said to me. ”I am quite willing to see you again, but this lady and this gentleman!”
”You know me very well, Lady Helen,” said Vernon. ”I am that Captain Carbury who stood by your brother's death-bed--who hold his written confession, and who is about to marry Heather Grayson.”
”All nonsense, all nonsense!” said Lady Helen.
”But I thought----” I began.
Lady Helen looked at Aunt Penelope.
”It does not matter what you think, Heather; you are only a child. May I be informed who this lady is--the lady who has dared to come into my presence uninvited?”
”My name, madam, is Miss Despard, and I am real own aunt to Heather Grayson. Heather Grayson's mother, the first wife of Major Grayson, happened to be my sister. I presume therefore, madam, that I have a right over this young girl, more particularly as she lived with me, and I trained her, and educated her from the time she was eight years old until she was eighteen.”
”Ah, yes,” said Lady Helen in a soft voice; ”that dreadful time, those ten terrible years!”
”We all know the story of those years; you are, of course, aware of that,” said Captain Carbury at that moment.
Lady Helen gave him a quick glance.
”Yes,” she said suddenly. ”You observe my dress. I am in mourning for my dear one.”
Her voice trembled for a minute. I looked at her and saw that she was really sorry for the man who was dead.
”He is in his grave,” she continued, ”poor, dear Gideon! We did what we could for him, your father and I. Now our one desire is to let his poor bones rest in peace.”
”Perhaps it is, madam,” said Vernon just then, ”but there are other people who have a say in the matter. Now, Heather, it is time for you to speak.”
I looked at Lady Helen and took my courage in my hands.
”Stepmother----”
”Oh! You acknowledge that I am your stepmother? Well, what have you to say for yourself? You have been a nice stepdaughter to me!”
”I could not help it,” I said. ”I never intended to be nasty to you.”
”Well, I don't wish to complain. But who gave you all the good things you enjoyed, your dress, your home, your fun, your pleasure, your good time all round? Answer me that question--who gave you those things?”
”You did.”
”Ah! I'm glad you acknowledge it.”
”Of course I acknowledge it.”
”And do you think you have behaved well to me in return? Because I did the very best possible for you and because a needy, poor man, almost a pauper, for he has practically no private means, came and demanded your hand, and your father and I considered it an improper and unsuitable request, you took the bit between your teeth, and, without a word, without a hint, ran away. Never shall I forget our return from Brighton and the agony that your poor father, whom you profess to love, was in.
You ran away. Why did you run away?”
”Because I couldn't do what you wanted.”
”And you did even worse,” continued Lady Helen, ”for I have discovered everything. You had the audacity, the impropriety--you, a young girl--to go to Lord Hawtrey's, and to try to interview him. Oh, yes; I have heard that story, and I know what it means; and a nice meaning it has for you, miss--a very nice meaning, indeed!”
”You broke my heart and went away to the country and took father with you,” I said. ”I could think of no one else. I went to him because I knew he was a gentleman, and would act as such.”
”Suppose we come to the matter in hand,” interrupted Vernon, who was getting impatient at all this dallying.