Part 36 (1/2)
”She cannot help it. Unless she lock her door against me, or stuff her ears with wool, she must hear me. Her prepossessions are reasonable, but are easily removed by telling the truth. Why does she suspect me of artifice? Because I seemed to be allied to Welbeck, and because I disguised the truth. That she thinks ill of me is not her fault, but my misfortune; and, happily for me, a misfortune easily removed.”
”Then you will try to see her?”
”I will see her, and the sooner the better. I will see her to-day; this morning; as soon as I have seen Welbeck, whom I shall immediately visit in his prison.”
”There are other embarra.s.sments and dangers of which you are not aware.
Welbeck is pursued by many persons whom he has defrauded of large sums.
By these persons you are deemed an accomplice in his guilt, and a warrant is already in the hands of officers for arresting you wherever you are found.”
”In what way,” said Mervyn, sedately, ”do they imagine me a partaker of his crime?”
”I know not. You lived with him. You fled with him. You aided and connived at his escape.”
”Are these crimes?”
”I believe not, but they subject you to suspicion.”
”To arrest and to punishment?”
”To detention for a while, perhaps. But these alone cannot expose you to punishment.”
”I thought so. Then I have nothing to fear.”
”You have imprisonment and obloquy, at least, to dread.”
”True; but they cannot be avoided but by my exile and skulking out of sight,--evils infinitely more formidable. I shall, therefore, not avoid them. The sooner my conduct is subjected to scrutiny, the better. Will you go with me to Welbeck?”
”I will go with you.”
Inquiring for Welbeck of the keeper of the prison, we were informed that he was in his own apartment, very sick. The physician attending the prison had been called, but the prisoner had preserved an obstinate and scornful silence; and had neither explained his condition, nor consented to accept any aid.
We now went alone into his apartment. His sensibility seemed fast ebbing, yet an emotion of joy was visible in his eyes at the appearance of Mervyn. He seemed likewise to recognise in me his late visitant, and made no objection to my entrance.
”How are you this morning?” said Arthur, seating himself on the bedside, and taking his hand. The sick man was scarcely able to articulate his reply:--”I shall soon be well. I have longed to see you. I want to leave with you a few words.” He now cast his languid eyes on me. ”You are his friend,” he continued. ”You know all. You may stay.”
There now succeeded a long pause, during which he closed his eyes, and resigned himself as if to an oblivion of all thought. His pulse under my hand was scarcely perceptible. From this in some minutes he recovered, and, fixing his eyes on Mervyn, resumed, in a broken and feeble accent:--
”Clemenza! You have seen her. Weeks ago, I left her in an accursed house; yet she has not been mistreated. Neglected and abandoned indeed, but not mistreated. Save her, Mervyn. Comfort her. Awaken charity for her sake.
”I cannot tell you what has happened. The tale would be too long,--too mournful. Yet, in justice to the living, I must tell you something. My woes and my crimes will be buried with me. Some of them, but not all.
”Ere this, I should have been many leagues upon the ocean, had not a newspaper fallen into my hands while on the eve of embarkation. By that I learned that a treasure was buried with the remains of the ill-fated Watson. I was dest.i.tute. I was unjust enough to wish to make this treasure my own. p.r.o.ne to think I was forgotten, or numbered with the victims of pestilence, I ventured to return under a careless disguise. I penetrated to the vaults of that deserted dwelling by night. I dug up the bones of my friend, and found the girdle and its valuable contents, according to the accurate description that I had read.
”I hastened back with my prize to Baltimore, but my evil destiny overtook me at last. I was recognised by emissaries of Jamieson, arrested and brought hither, and here shall I consummate my fate and defeat the rage of my creditors by death. But first----”
Here Welbeck stretched out his left hand to Mervyn, and, after some reluctance, showed a roll of lead.
”Receive this,” said he. ”In the use of it, be guided by your honesty and by the same advertis.e.m.e.nt that furnished me the clue by which to recover it. That being secured, the world and I will part forever.
Withdraw, for your presence can help me nothing.”