XVIII.
SUSPENSE.
The letter which Frank sent to Edgar described his encounter withHuckins, and expressed a wish that the Doctor would employ some properperson to watch his movements and see that he did not make himselfdisagreeable to the Misses Cavanagh, whom he had evidently set himselfto annoy.
What, then, was Etheridge's surprise to receive on the following day areply from his friend, to the effect that Mr. Huckins had not onlycalled upon the young ladies mentioned by him, but had made himself verymuch at home with them, having lunched, dined, and report even saidbreakfasted at their table.
This was startling news to Frank, especially after the letter he hadwritten to Hermione, but he restrained himself from returning at once toMarston, as he was half tempted to do, and wrote her again, this timebeseeching her in plain words to have nothing to do with so suspicious aperson as he knew this Huckins to be, and advised her where to appealfor assistance in case this intolerable intruder was not willing to beshaken off. This letter brought the following answer:
DEAR MR. ETHERIDGE:
Do not be concerned about us. Mr. Huckins will not trouble us unduly. Knowing his character, we are not likely to be misled by him, and it amuses us in our loneliness to have so queer and surprising a person as our guest.
Aunt Lovell is very sharp and keeps a keen eye upon him. He does not offend us except by his curiosity, but as that is excusable in an old man introduced into a household like ours, we try to make the best of it. When you come yourself we will dismiss the intruder.
Ever sincerely yours, HERMIONE CAVANAGH.
This letter was put very near Frank's heart, but it did not relieve himfrom his anxiety. On the contrary, it added to his fears, because itadded to his mystification. What did Huckins want of the MissesCavanagh, and what was the real reason for the indulgence they showedhim? Was there a secret in their connection which he ought to know? Hebegan to hasten his business and plan to leave the city again, this timefor more than a single night.
Meantime, Dr. Sellick was not without his own secret doubts. Hide it ashe would, he still cherished the strongest affection for the oncedimpling, dainty, laughing-eyed Emma. Not a day passed but he had tocombat a fervent desire to pass her gate, though when he yielded to thistemptation he went by like an automaton, and never looked to right orleft unless it was dark night. His was a proud soul and an exacting one.His self-esteem had been hurt, and he could not bring himself to makeeven the shadow of an advance towards one who had been the instrument ofhis humiliation. And yet he trembled when he thought of misfortuneapproaching her, and was almost as anxious as Frank about the presencein her house of the hypocritical and unprincipled Huckins. Had helistened only for a moment to the pleading of his better instincts, hewould have gone to their door and lent his entreaties to those of Frankfor a speedy dismissal of their unreliable guest; but the hour had notyet come for such a self-betrayal, and so he refrained, even whilecursing himself for a pride which would not yield even at the impendingdanger of one so passionately beloved.
He however kept a man at watch upon the suspected stranger, a precautionwhich certainly did not amount to much, as the danger, if there was any,was not one which a detective stationed outside of the Misses Cavanagh'shouse would be able to avert.
Meanwhile Huckins, who was in his element, grew more insinuating andfatherly in his manner, day by day. To him this run of a house in whichthere lurked a mystery worth his penetrating, was a bliss that almostvied with that of feeling himself on the road to wealth. He pottered andpoked about in the laboratory, till there was not a spot in the room oran article on the shelves which had not felt the touch of his hand; andHermione and Emma, with what some might have thought a curious disregardof their father's belongings, let him do this, merely restricting himfrom approaching their own rooms. Possibly they felt as if some of thegloom of the place was lifted by the presence of even this evil-eyed oldman; and possibly the shadows which were growing around them both, asHermione labored day after day upon the history she was writing for herlover, made this and every other circumstance disconnected with theimportant theme they were considering, of little moment to them. Howeverthat may be, he came and went as he would, and had many sly hours in thelong, dim laboratory and in the narrow twisted corridors at the back ofthe house, and what was worse and perhaps more disastrous still, on thestairs and in the open doorways with Doris, who had learned to toss herhead and smile very curiously while busying herself in the kitchen, ortaking those brief minutes of respite abroad, which the duties of theplace demanded. And so the week passed, and Saturday night came.
It was seven o'clock, and train-time, and the blinds in the Cavanaghhouse guarding the front windows were tipped just a little. Behind oneof these sat Emma, listening to the restless tread of Hermione pacingthe floor in the room above. She knew that the all-important letter wasdone, but she could not know its contents, or what their effect would beupon the free, light-hearted man whose approach they were expecting. Shethought she ought to know all that Hermione had been through in the yearwhich had passed, yet the wild words uttered by her sister in their latememorable interview, had left a doubt in her mind which a week'smeditations had only served to intensify. Yet the fears to which it hadgiven rise were vague, and she kept saying to herself: "There cannot beanything worse than I know. Hermione exaggerated when she intimated thatshe had a secret bitterer than that we keep together. She has sufferedso much she cannot judge. I will hope that all will go right, and thatMr. Etheridge will receive her explanations and so make her hiseverlasting debtor. If once she is made to feel that she owes himsomething, she will gradually yield up her resolve and make both him andme happy. She will see that some vows are better broken than kept,and----"
Here her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Hermione. Thelatter had not been able to walk off her excitement, and so had comedown-stairs to bear the moments of suspense with her sister.
"I hope he will not stop," she cried. "I do not feel as if I could seehim till----"
"You will have to," murmured Emma, "for here he comes." And the nextmoment the ardent, anxious face of the young lawyer appeared at thegate, making the whole outside world seem brighter to one pair of eyeswhich watched him.
"He wants to talk about our visitor," declared Hermione. "I cannot talkabout anything so trivial to-day; so do you see him, and when he risesto go, say that Doris will bring a certain packet to his door to-night.I will not meet his eyes till that ordeal is passed." And with a gaspthat showed what this moment was to her, she flew from the room, just asDoris' step was heard in the hall on her way to the front door.
"Where is your sister?" were the first words uttered by Frank, as hecame into the room.
"Upstairs," answered Emma. "She does not feel as if she can see youagain till everything is clear between you. The letter she promised iswritten, and you shall have it to-night. Then if you wish to comeagain----" her smile completed the sentence.
He took heart at this smile.
"I do not doubt," said he, "that I shall be here very early in themorning." And then he glanced all around him.
"Does Huckins still bother you?" he asked.
"Oh," she cried, with some constraint, "we allow him to come here. 'Tisthe least we can do for one----"
She paused, and seemed to bite off her words.
"Do not let us talk of trivialities," she completed, "till the greatquestion of all is settled. To-morrow, if you come, we will speak ofthis visitor of whom you so little approve."
"Very well," he rejoined, with some wistfulness, and turned with hisusual impetuosity towards the door. "I will go to Dr. Sellick's, then,at once, that I may receive your sister's communication the sooner. Tellher every moment will be an hour till it is in my hands."
"Doris will carry it to you as soon as it is dark. Had we known you weregoing to stop here, she might have had it ready now. As it is, look forit as I have said, and may it bring you
no deeper pain than the mysteryof our seclusion has already done. Hermione has noble qualities, and ifher temper had never been injured by the accident which befell her inher infancy, there might have been no call for Doris' errand to-night."
"I will remember that," said he, and left the house with the confidentsmile of a man who feels it impossible to doubt the woman towards whomhis heart has gone out in the fullest love.
When the door was shut behind him, Hermione came stealing againdown-stairs.
"Does he--is he--prepared to receive the letter?" she asked.
Emma nodded. "I promised that it should go as soon as it is dusk."
"Then send Doris to me in half an hour; and do not try to see me againto-night. I must bear its long and tedious hours alone." And for asecond time Hermione disappeared from the room.
In half an hour Doris was sent upstairs. She found Hermione standing inthe centre of her room with a thick packet in her hand. She was verypale and her eyes blazed strangely. As Doris advanced she held out thepacket with a hand that shook notwithstanding all her efforts to renderit firm.
"Take this," she said; "carry it to where Mr. Etheridge stays when here,and place it in his hands yourself, just as you did a former note Ientrusted to you."
Doris, with a flush, seized the letter, her face one question, but herlips awed from speaking by the expression of her mistress' face.
"You will do what I say?" asked Hermione.
The woman nodded.
"Go then, and do not wait for an answer; there will be none to-night."
Her gesture of dismissal was imperative and Doris turned to go.
But Hermione had one word more to say. "When you come back," she added,"come to my door and tap on it three times. By that I shall know youhave delivered the letter; but you need not come in."
"Very well, Miss," answered the woman, speaking for the first time. Andas Hermione turned her back, she gave her young mistress one burning,inquisitive look and then slid out of the room with her eyes on thepacket which she almost seemed to devour with her eyes.
As she passed the laboratory door she detected the thin weasel-like faceof Huckins looking out.
"What is that?" he whispered, pointing eagerly at the packet.
"Be in the highway at Dobbins' corner, and I'll tell you," she slylyreturned, going softly on her way.
And he, with a chuckle which ought to have sounded through that houselike a premonition of evil, closed the laboratory door with a carefulhand, and descending the twisted staircase which led to the hall below,prepared to follow out her injunction in his own smooth and sneakingway.
"I think I'll spend the evening at the prayer-meeting," he declared,looking in at Emma, as he passed the sitting-room door. "I feel the needof such comfort now and then. Is there anything I can do for either ofyou up street?"
Emma shook her head; she was glad to be rid of his company for this oneevening; and he went out of the front door with a quiet, benevolent airwhich may not have imposed on her, but which certainly did on Doris, whowas watching from the garden to see him go.
They met, as she had suggested, at Dobbins' corner. As it was not quitedark, they walked into a shaded and narrow lane where they supposedthemselves to be free from all observation.
"Now tell me," said he, "what your errand is. That it is important Iknow from the way you look. What is it, good, kind Doris; anything thatwill help us in our plans?"
"Perhaps," said she. "It is a letter for Mr. Etheridge; see how big andthick it is. It ought to tell a deal, this letter; it ought to explainwhy she never leaves the house."
The woman's curious excitement, which was made up of curiosity and areal desire to know the secret of what affected her two young mistressesso closely, was quickly communicated to the scheming, eager old man.Taking the packet from her hand, he felt of it with trembling andinquisitive fingers, during which operation it would have been hard todetermine upon which face the desire to break the seal was most marked.
"It may contain papers--law papers," he suggested, his thumb andforefinger twitching as they passed over the fastening.
But Doris shook her head.
"No," she declared vivaciously, "there are no law-papers in thatenvelope. She has been writing and writing for a week. It is her secret,I tell you--the secret of all their queer doings, and why they stay inthe house so persistently."
"Then let us surprise that secret," said he. "If we want to help themand make them do like other reasonable folks, we must know with what wehave to contend."
"I am sure we would be justified," she rejoined. "But I am afraid MissHermione will find us out. Mr. Etheridge will tell her somebody meddledwith the fastening."
"Let me take the letter to the hotel, and I will make that all right. Itis not the first----" But here he discreetly paused, remembering thatDoris was not yet quite ready to receive the full details of hishistory.
"But the time? It will take an hour to open and read all there iswritten here, and Miss Hermione is waiting for me to tell her that Ihave delivered it to Mr. Etheridge."
"Tell her you had other errands. Go to the stores--the neighbors. Sheneed never know you delivered this last."
"But if you take it I won't know what is in it, and I want to read itmyself."
"I will tell you everything she writes. My memory is good, and you shallnot miss a word."
"But--but----"
"It is your only chance," he insinuated; "the young ladies will nevertell you themselves."
"I know it; yet it seems a mean thing to do. Can you close the letter sothat neither he nor they will ever know it has been opened?"
"Trust me," he leered.
"Hurry then; I will be in front of Dr. Sellick's in an hour. Give me theletter as you go by, and when I have delivered it, meet me on my wayback and tell me what she says."
He promised, and hastened with his treasure to the room he still keptat the hotel. She watched him as long as he was in sight and then wentabout her own improvised errands. Did she realize that she had just putin jeopardy not only her young mistresses' fortunes, but even theirlives?