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The Betrayal, a novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim |
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Chapter 34. Myself And My Stepmother |
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_ CHAPTER XXXIV. MYSELF AND MY STEPMOTHER I Saw then what a man's face may look like when he is stricken with a sudden paralysing fear. I saw my father sit in his chair and shake from head to foot. Ray's black eyes seemed to be flashing upon us all the most unutterable scorn. "What is this pleasant meeting which I seem to have interrupted, eh?" he asked, with fierce sarcasm. "Quite a family reunion!" My stepmother, very pale, but very calm, answered him. "To which you," she said, "come an uninvited guest." He laughed harshly. "You shall have others, other uninvited guests, before many hours are past," he declared. "You remember my warning, Ducaine." My father seemed to me to be on the eve of a collapse. His lips moved, and he mumbled something, but the words were wholly unintelligible. Ray turned to my stepmother. "When that man," he continued, "had the effrontery to return to this country, he sent his cursed jackal with letters to his son. I intercepted those letters, and I burned them; but I came straight to London, and I found him out. I told him then that I spared him only for the sake of his son. I told him that if ever again he attempted in any way to communicate with him, personally or by letter, nothing should stay my hand. He had a very clear warning. He has chosen to defy me. I only regret, madam, that the law has no hold upon you also." She turned from him scornfully and laid her hand upon my father's shoulder. Her very touch seemed to impart life to him. His words were not very coherent, but they were comprehensible. "I kept my word, Ray. Yes, I kept my word," he said. "I never sent for him. Ask him; ask her. We met by accident. I told him my address. That is all. He came here this afternoon with a message from the Duke." Ray laughed bitterly. There was about his manner a cold and singular aloofness. We were all judged and condemned. "An invitation to dinner, I presume," he remarked. "The Duke sent for me," my stepmother said, quietly. She did not for a moment quail before the scornful disbelief which Ray took no pains to hide. "You can see for yourself if you like," she continued, "that in a few minutes I shall leave this house, with you, if you are gallant enough to offer me your escort, and I shall go straight to Cavendish Square. You have no imagination, Colonel Ray, or you would not be so utterly surprised. Think for a moment. Does no reason occur to you why the Duke might wish to see me?" It obviously did. He frowned heavily. "If this absurd story is true," he said, "and the Duke has really sent to ask news of Blenavon from you--well, he is a bigger fool than I took him for. But there remains something else to be explained. What are those papers?" My father laid his trembling hands upon them. "They have nothing to do with you," he explained; "nothing at all! It is a little family matter-between Guy and me. Nothing more. They belong to me. Damn you, Ray, why are you always interfering in my concerns?" Ray turned to me. There was a look in his eyes which I readily understood. At that moment I think that I hated him. "What are those papers?" he asked. "Take them and see," I answered. "If I told you you would not believe me." He moved a few steps towards them, and then paused. I saw that my father was leaning forward, and in his shaking hand was a tiny gleaming revolver. A certain desperate courage seemed to have come to him. "Ray," he cried hoarsely, "touch them at your peril!" There was a moment's breathless silence. Then with an incredibly swift movement my stepmother stepped in between and snatched up the little roll. She glanced behind at the grate, but the fire was almost extinct. With a little gesture of despair she held them out to me. "Take them, Guy," she cried. Ray stood by my side, and I felt his hand descend like a vice upon my shoulder. "Give me those papers," he demanded. I hesitated for a moment. Then I obeyed him. I heard a little sob from behind. The pistol had fallen from my father's shaking fingers, his head had fallen forwards upon his hands. A tardy remorse seemed for a moment to have pierced the husk of his colossal selfishness. "It is all my fault, my fault!" he muttered. My stepmother turned upon him, pale to the lips, with blazing eyes. "You are out of your senses," she exclaimed. "Guy, this man is a bully. All his life it has been his pleasure to persecute the weak and defenceless. The papers are yours. I do not know what they are, nor does he," she added, pointing to where my father still crouched before the table. "Don't let him frighten you into giving them up. He is trying to drag you into the mesh with us. Don't let him! You have nothing to do with us, thank Heaven!" She stopped suddenly, and snatched the pistol from my father's nerveless grasp. Then her hand flashed out. Ray was covered, and her white fingers never quivered. Even Ray took a quick step backwards. "Give him back those papers," she commanded. I intervened, stepping into the line of fire. "I gave them to him willingly," I told her. "I do not wish to have them back. He is one of my employers, and he has a right to claim them." I spoke firmly, and she saw that I was at any rate in earnest. Yet the look which she threw upon me was a strange one. I felt that she was disappointed, that a certain measure of contempt too was mingled with her disappointment. She threw the pistol on to the sofa and shrugged her shoulders. "After all," she said, "I suppose you are right. The whole affair is not worth these heroics. I am ready to go with you to the Duke, Guy, unless Colonel Ray has any contrary orders for us." Ray turned to me. "You must come with me at once to my rooms," he said coldly. "This person can find the Duke by herself, if indeed the Duke has sent for her." I understood then why people hated Ray. There was a vein of positive brutality somewhere in the man's nature. "I am sorry," I answered him, "but I cannot come to your rooms at present. The Duke is my present employer, and I am here to take Mrs. Smith-Lessing to him. As long as she is willing to accept my escort I shall certainly carry out my instructions." "Don't be a fool, boy," Ray exclaimed sharply. "I want to give you a last chance before I go to Lord Chelsford." "I do not think," I answered, "that I care about accepting any favours from you just now, Colonel Ray. Nor am I at all sure that I need them," I added. He turned on his heel, but at the door he hesitated again. "Guy," he said in a low tone, "will you speak to me for a moment outside?" I stood on the landing with him. He closed the door leading into the sitting-room. "Guy," he said, "you know that if I leave you behind, you link your lot with--them. You will be an outcast and a fugitive all your days. You will have to avoid every place where the English language is spoken. You will never be able to recover your honour, you will be the scorn of all Englishmen and English--women. I speak to you for your mother's sake, boy. You have started life with a cursed heritage. I want to make allowance for it." I looked him straight in the face. "I am afraid, Colonel Ray," I said, "that you are not inclined to give me credit for very much common sense. Take those papers to Lord Chelsford. I will come round to your rooms as soon as possible." He looked at me with eager, searching gaze. "You mean this?" "Certainly!" I answered. He seemed about to say something, but changed his mind. He left me without another word. I stepped back into the sitting-room. My father, with an empty tumbler in his hand, was crouched forward over the table, breathing heavily. My stepmother, with marble 'face and hard set eyes, was leaning forward in her chair, looking into the dying fire. She scarcely glanced at me as I entered. "Has he gone?" she asked. "Yes," I answered. "Will you get ready, please? I want to take you to the Duke." She rose to her feet at once, and moved towards the door. I was left alone with my father, but he never stirred during her absence, nor did I speak to him. She returned in a few minutes, dressed very quietly, and wearing a veil which completely obscured her features. We walked to the corner of the square, and then I called a hansom. "I know nothing about Lord Blenavon," she said, a little wearily. "I suppose the Duke will not believe that, but it is true." "You can do no more than tell the truth," I remarked. "Tell me what he is like--the Duke?" she asked abruptly. "He is a typical man of his class," I answered. "He is stiff, obstinate, punctilious, with an extreme sense of honour, to gratify which, by-the-bye, he has just deliberately pauperized himself. He will not remind you in the least of Lord Blenavon." "I should imagine not," she answered. Then there was a short silence, and I could see that she was crying under her veil. I laid my hand upon hers. "I am afraid," I said gently, "that I have misled you a little. You are worrying about me, and it isn't half so necessary as you imagine. You thought me mad to listen to my father's offer, and a coward to give up those papers to Ray. Isn't that so?" My words seemed to electrify her. She pushed up her veil and looked at me eagerly. "Well? Go on!" she exclaimed. "There are some things," I said, "which I have made up my mind to tell no one. But at least I can assure you of this. I am not nearly in so desperate a position as you and Colonel Ray seem to think." She caught hold of my hand and grasped it convulsively. The hard lines seemed to have fallen away from her face. She smiled tremulously. "Oh, I am glad!" she declared. "I am glad!" Just then a carriage passed us, and I saw Lady Angela lean a little forward in her seat as though to gain a better view of us. _ |
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