VIII
"A DEVIL THAT UNDERSTANDS MEN"
Frederick Sutherland was a man of finer mental balance than he himself,perhaps, had ever realised. After the first few moments of stupefactionfollowing the astounding alternative which had been given him, he brokeout with the last sentence she probably expected to hear:
"What do you hope from a marriage with me, that to attain your wishesyou thus sacrifice every womanly instinct?"
She met him on his own ground.
"What do I hope?" She actually glowed with the force of her secretdesire. "Can you ask a poor girl like me, born in a tenement house, butwith tastes and ambitions such as are usually only given to those whocan gratify them? I want to be the rich Mr. Sutherland's daughter;acknowledged or unacknowledged, the wife of one who can enter any housein Boston as an equal. With a position like that I can rise to anything.I feel that I have the natural power and aptitude. I have felt it sinceI was a small child."
"And for that---" he began.
"And for that," she broke in, "I am quite willing to overlook a blot onyour record. Confident that you will never repeat the risk of lastnight, I am ready to share the burden of your secret through life. Ifyou treat me well, I am sure I can make that burden light for you."
With a quick flush and an increase of self-assertion, probably notanticipated by her, he faced the daring girl with a desperate resolutionthat showed how handsome he could be if his soul once got control of hisbody.
"Woman," he cried, "they were right; you are little less than a devil."
Did she regard it as a compliment? Her smile would seem to say so.
"A devil that understands men," she answered, with that slow dip of herdimples that made her smile so dangerous. "You will not hesitate longover this matter; a week, perhaps."
"I shall not hesitate at all. Seeing you as you are, makes my courseeasy. You will never share any burden with me as my wife."
Still she was not abashed.
"It is a pity," she whispered; "it would have saved you such unnecessarystruggle. But a week is not long to wait. I am certain of you then. Thisday week at twelve o'clock, Frederick."
He seized her by the arm, and lost to everything but his rage, shook herwith a desperate hand.
"Do you mean it?" he cried, a sudden horror showing itself in his face,notwithstanding his efforts to conceal it.
"I mean it so much," she assured him, "that before I came home just nowI paid a visit to the copse over the way. A certain hollow tree, whereyou and I have held more than one tryst, conceals within its depths apackage containing over one thousand dollars. Frederick, I hold yourlife in my hands."
The grasp with which he held her relaxed; a mortal despair settled uponhis features, and recognising the impossibility of further concealingthe effect of her words upon him, he sank into a chair and covered hisface with his hands. She viewed him with an air of triumph, whichbrought back some of her beauty. When she spoke it was to say:
"If you wish to join me in Springfield before the time I have set, welland good. I am willing that the time of our separation should beshortened, but it must not be lengthened by so much as a day. Now, ifyou will excuse me, I will go and pack my trunks."
He shuddered; her voice penetrated him to the quick.
Drawing herself up, she looked down on him with a strange mixture ofpassion and elation.
"You need fear no indiscretion on my part, so long as our armisticelasts," said she. "No one can drag the truth from me while any hoperemains of your doing your duty by me in the way I have suggested."
And still he did not move.
"Frederick?"
Was it her voice that was thus murmuring his name? Can the tiger snarlone moment and fawn the next?
"Frederick, I have a final word to say--a last farewell. Up to this hourI have endured your attentions, or, let us say, accepted them, for Ialways found you handsome and agreeable, if not the master of my heart.But now it is love that I feel, love; and love with me is no fancy, buta passion--do you hear?--a passion which will make life a heaven or hellfor the man who has inspired it. You should have thought of this whenyou opposed me."
And with a look in which love and hatred contended for mastery, she bentand imprinted a kiss upon his forehead. Next moment she was gone.
Or so he thought. But when, after an interval of nameless recoil, herose and attempted to stagger from the place, he discovered that she hadbeen detained in the hall by two or three men who had just come in bythe front door.
"Is this Miss Page?" they were asking.
"Yes, I am Miss Page--Amabel Page" she replied with suave politeness."If you have any business with me, state it quickly, for I am about toleave town."
"That is what we wish to prevent," declared a tall, thin young man whoseemed to take the lead. "Till the inquest has been held over theremains of Mrs. Webb, Coroner Talbot wishes you to regard yourself as apossible witness."
"Me?" she cried, with an admirable gesture of surprise and a wideopening of her brown eyes that made her look like an astonished child."What have I got to do with it?"
"You pointed out a certain spot of blood on the grass, and--well, thecoroner's orders have to be obeyed, miss. You cannot leave the townwithout running the risk of arrest"
"Then I will stay in it," she smiled. "I have no liking for arrests,"and the glint of her eye rested for a moment on Frederick. "Mr.Sutherland," she continued, as that gentleman appeared at thedining-room door, "I shall have to impose upon your hospitality for afew days longer. These men here inform me that my innocent interest inpointing out to you that spot of blood on Mrs. Webb's lawn has awakenedsome curiosity, and that I am wanted as a witness by the coroner."
Mr. Sutherland, with a quick stride, lessened the distance betweenhimself and these unwelcome intruders. "The coroner's wishes areparamount just now," said he, but the look he gave his son was not soonforgotten by the spectators.