Part 69 (1/2)
”Look,” said Langhetti, in a mournful voice ”Saw you ever in all your life any one so perfectly and so faultlessly beautiful? Oh, if you could but have seen her, as I have done, in her ined such a fate as this for her?”
”Oh, Despard!” he continued, after, a pause in which the other had turned his stern face to him without a word--”Oh, Despard! you ask me to tell you this secret I dare not It is so wide-spread If my fancy be true, then all your life must at once be unsettled, and all your soul turned to one dark purpose Never will I turn you to that purpose till I know the truth beyond the possibility of a doubt”
”I saw that in her face,” said Despard, ”which I hardly dare acknowledge to e it, then, I iet it Do not open up once otten sorrow Think not of it even to yourself”
Langhetti spoke with a wild and veheency which onderful
”Do you not see,” said Despard, ”that you rouse ree?”
”Be it so; at any rate it is better to suffer from curiosity than to feel what you must feel if I told you what I suspect”
Had it been any other hetti Despard would have been offended As it was he said nothing, but began to conjecture as to the best course for thehetti, ”that she has escaped froht She will, no doubt, be pursued What shall we do? If we go back to this inn they onder at our bringing her There is another inn aof that,” replied Langhetti ”It will be better to go to the other inn But what shall we say about her? Let us say she is an invalid going home”
”And am I her medical attendant?” asked Despard
”No; that is not necessary You are her guardian--the Rector of Holby, of course--your nauarantee”
”Oh,” said Despard, after a pause, ”I'll tell you so better yet
I am her brother and she is my sister--Miss Despard”
As he spoke he looked down upon her hetti's countenance Had he done so he would have wondered For Langhetti's eyes seemed to seek to pierce the very soul of Despard
His face becaer wonder, intense and anxious curiosity--an endeavor to see if there was not so Despard's words But Despard showed no e He merely murmured to himself as he looked down upon the unconscious face:
”My sick sister--hetti said not a word, but sat in silence, absorbed in one intense and wondering gaze Despard seemed to dwell upon this idea, fondly and tenderly
”She is not one of that brood,” said he, after a pause ”It is in nas to thehetti
”Heaven has sent her to us; we hetti, ”she o back”
”Go back!” cried Despard ”Better far for her to die”
”I ive her up”
”And I, too But ill not I will adopt her Yes, she shall cast away the link that binds her to these accursed ones--her vile name I will adopt her She shall have my name--she shall be my sister She shall be Beatrice Despard
”And surely,” continued Despard, looking tenderly down, ”surely, of all the Despard race there was never one so beautiful and so pure as she”
Langhetti did not say a word, but looked at Despard and the one whom he thus called his adopted sister with an emotion which he could not control Tears started to his eyes; yet over his brow there caenerally associated with tears--a lofty, exultant expression, an air of joy and peace