Part 13 (2/2)
At last she straightened herself with sudden resolution, and putting her hand into the box drew forth the uppermost paper.
It was yellow with time, and so brittle that it cracked apart in one of the creases as she opened it; but paying no heed to this, she stepped to the dressing-case, and spread it out before her, while her eager eyes swept the mystic page from top to bottom.
Then a cry that ended in a great sob burst from her hueless lips.
”It is! it is!” she gasped, in voiceless agitation. ”Ah, Heaven, thou art gracious to me at last! Now, I know why she would not surrender it to him--now I know what the condition of its ransom must have been!
”How long has she had it, I wonder? and when did she first learn of its existence?” she murmured. ”Ah! but it does not matter--I have it at last--I, who dared not hope for its existence, believing it must have been destroyed, until the other day; and now”--throwing back her head with an air that was very expressive--”my vindication and triumph will be complete!”
With the greatest care, she refolded the paper, after which she impulsively pressed it to her lips; then, putting it away in her pocket, she turned back to the jewel-casket, and peered curiously into it once more.
”I wonder what other intrigues she has been guilty of?” she muttered, regarding its contents with a frown.
She laid her hand upon one of the papers, as if to remove it, then drew back.
”No,” she said, ”I will touch nothing else; I have what I came to seek, and have no right to meddle with what does not concern me. Let her keep her other vile secrets to herself; my victory is already complete.”
She replaced the velvet cus.h.i.+on, pressing it hard down into its place.
She then restored the trays as she had found them, but did not close the casket, since she had found it open.
She retraced her steps into the boudoir, where, as she was pa.s.sing out, she trod upon something that attracted her attention.
She stooped to ascertain what it was, and discovered a gentleman's glove.
”Ah,” she said, as she picked it up and examined it, ”I should say it belongs to madam's brother! In that case, he must have returned this evening to attend the grand finale, although I am sure he was not at the dinner-table.”
She dropped the glove upon the floor where she had found it, but there was a look of perplexity upon her face as she did so.
”It seems a little strange,” she mused, ”that the young man should have been away all this time; and if he was to return at all, I cannot understand why there should have been this air of secrecy about it. He has evidently been in this room to-night, but I am sure he has not been seen about the house.”
She opened the door and pa.s.sed out into the hall, when she was startled to hear the voice of Mrs. G.o.ddard talking, in the hall below, with the butler.
Mrs. Weld quietly slipped across to the room opposite--the same one in which Edith and Mr. G.o.ddard had held their interview earlier in the evening--where, seating herself under a light, she caught up a book from the table, and pretended to be deeply absorbed in its contents.
A moment later, madam, having ascended the stairs, came hurrying down the hall, and saw her there.
She started.
It would never do for the woman to suspect the truth regarding what she was about to do.
No one must dream that Edith was not lending herself willingly to the last scene in the drama of the evening, and she expected to have some difficulty in persuading her to take the part.
There must be no possibility of any one hearing any objections that she might make, for, in that case, the charge of fraud could be brought and proved against her and her brother, after all was over.
But after the first flash of dismay, the cunning woman devised a scheme which would take the housekeeper out of her way, and leave the field clear for her operations.
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