Part 38 (1/2)
”I trust she will,” responded De Guy, meekly; ”I trust she will, and, with all convenient haste, try to mitigate his distress.”
”I will! I will!” exclaimed Emily.
”Perhaps you will accompany me, as your uncle suggests,” insinuated De Guy.
”There is certainly no need of such haste as this,” said the doctor.
”Her uncle may change his mind.”
”Then his penitence is not sincere, and he cannot be trusted.”
”I should scarcely call it penitence, sir, since it is only the fear of discovery which has driven him to this step,” said the attorney, branching off in to a new school of ethics.
”I can go in a few days,” said Emily. ”Captain Carroll, you think, is out of danger now?”
De Guy started, and a scowl of the deepest malignity overshadowed his countenance, which had before been that of a meek and truthful man. The change was so sudden that he seemed to be a man within a man, and the two creatures of an opposite character. Neither the doctor nor Emily noticed the start, or the sudden change of expression; and the attorney, seemingly aware of the danger of wearing two faces, restored the former aspect.
”I think he is entirely out of danger,” replied Dr. Vaudelier, in reply to Emily's question. ”Perhaps he will be able to accompany you in a few days.”
Emily blushed, but made no reply, other than a sweet smile, betokening the happiness such an event would give her.
”I fear, madam, the delay will be dangerous,” suggested De Guy, who did not relish the proposition of the doctor.
”Why dangerous? If Mr. Dumont changes his mind, we have the means of proving that that miserable will is false.”
”You forget, sir, that Mr. Benson may be lost, and with him the will,”
interposed Emily, whose love of truth did not enable her to conceal the weakness of her case.
”Indeed! Is the will in the hands of a third party?” said the attorney, with apparent indifference, while, in reality, he was inwardly chuckling with delight.
”It matters not,” replied the doctor; ”the lady's case is safe. You can inform Mr. Dumont that his niece will present herself in a week or ten days.”
”But, my dear sir, the delay will be fatal, both to the lady and her uncle,” said the attorney, with alarm.
”It cannot be helped,” said the doctor.
”Mr. Dumont's health, I fear, will render it unsafe to wait so long.
Miss Dumont does not wish her uncle to die unforgiven.”
”I will go, sir; I will go at once,” exclaimed Emily, shocked at the condition of Jaspar, and anxious, as was her nature, to relieve the sufferings he must endure in her absence. She forgot how basely he had wronged her--how he had attempted her life; the divine sentiment, ”Love your enemies,” prevailed over every other consideration.
”Die unforgiven,” muttered the doctor. ”Is he sick?”
”He is, sir, and near his end.”
”Why have you not mentioned this circ.u.mstance before? It seems of sufficient importance to merit a pa.s.sing word.”
”I wished not to distress the lady. I think I hinted that he was in great distress.”