Strange Visitors Part 10

"If you want me to leave your house, Mr. Bristed, command me and I will go, but you cannot force me to believe this horrid inference."

He must have felt the disdain with which I spurned him, for he turned upon his heel and left the room.

I then spoke to Herbert. At the sound of my voice he moved, and I seated myself by his side. Quietness seemed desirable, and I was not inclined to break it. Now and then I moistened his lips with a little wine and water.

Seeing that I still sat by the crib, the nurse lay down upon a settee and fell asleep.

Hours thus pa.s.sed. The days were short and twilight came on rapidly.

Sitting there in the gathering gloom, I began to hum inadvertently a little song which Herbert loved me to sing to him. Hearing my voice chant his favorite ditty, the poor little creature stirred in his crib, and his pale lips parted into a smile. Presently, in broken tones he asked, "Is that Miss Reef?"

"Yes, Herbert, darling, I have come to sing to you," said I, mastering my emotions and chirruping more loudly his beloved song.

The effect seemed truly magical--he endeavored to raise up his little body. "Oh sing it again," he cried.

"Would you like to sit upon my knee?"

He nodded a.s.sent, and I made an effort to lift him up, but he was weak and heavy, and I not sufficiently strong to sustain him. As he fell back, my eyes caught sight again of those fearful marks. Some power outside of myself forced me to ask, "Herbert, what ails your throat; has any one hurt you?"

At the question, a tremor fearful to witness pa.s.sed through his frame, and looking at me with an expression of preternatural intelligence, he whispered, "He tried to choke me."

Stunned with horror at this again repeated a.s.sertion, I sank down and buried my face in my hands. I could think but one thought, and that was a wish that I were dead!

CHAPTER VII

But my nature would not permit me at such a crisis to remain pa.s.sive long. I must arouse myself and act. Calling the nurse to take my place, I went to seek Mr. Bristed. I found him, as usual, in his library.

"Sir," said I, "I am calm now; will you not explain to me this frightful mystery? I will listen and thank you."

He placed a chair for me to be seated, and taking my hand, said gently:--

"Miss Reef--Agnes, you are too weak to hear this that you seek to know."

"No, no," I exclaimed, vehemently; "I am not weak; I must know all."

He arose and paced the floor hurriedly for a few moments; then muttering, "It is best--I will tell her," he said:

"You have been surprised, no doubt, Agnes, at the frankness with which I have expressed my opinion of Richard's character--let me inform you that he and I are not brothers. He is a half-brother, the offspring of my father's second marriage; though indeed I doubt if he have a right to even that relationship. I have heard dark hints thrown out that my father had been deceived, and that this child who claimed to be his son should look in a lower quarter for his father. Richard's mother was not a woman of high moral principle, and he partakes of her nature. My father provided for him well, but as I was the elder son the bulk of his large property became mine by inheritance; but Richard has always made the Hall his home when in England--indeed, he has a legal right during his lifetime to the use of the room he occupies. He has not, however, often availed himself of this right since I have had his son Herbert under my protection."

"His son Herbert?" I repeated, mechanically.

"Yes, poor child, his son; though the boy has always been taught to call him uncle. Neither Richard nor myself desire the relationship to be known, and it is only in hope of serving you that I reveal it."

"Richard married?" I said, falteringly.

"Ah, Agnes, there are many women whom he should never have seen, as he could not marry them," said he, with the slow determination of a man resolved on uttering a repulsive truth. Herbert's mother was a beautiful but penniless orphan of good family, who visited this house some years since in the capacity of companion to our great-aunt.

"During that visit I became enamoured with her, and we were secretly engaged in marriage. It was before the death of my father, and I was not my own master; but I loved her truly, and meant well by her, only desiring her to wait till I should be free to please myself. But Richard stepped in between me and my happiness. He stole this girl's heart from me; gained her love as he has endeavored to obtain yours, by flattery and dissimulation you see I am not wily and smooth enough to please women--but also he destroyed her peace under promise of marriage; leaving her soon after and going abroad without acquainting her with his purpose.

"I was temporarily from home when this occurred. On returning in the course of a month, Richard fled, as I have stated; but I was ignorant then of the cause, and it was not till in the agony of shame she came to me for help with her secret, that I became aware of his perfidy.

"I need not tell you that I gave her all the aid in my power; her child Herbert was born and secretly cared for. When he was about two years old, the great-aunt of whom I have spoken died, leaving a large proportion of her property to Alice, of whose misfortune she had never dreamed.

"Wealth came to the unfortunate girl too late. The shock she had received from Richard's deceit had preyed upon her health, and she was failing rapidly, when he, hearing of her good fortune, returned home.

"With his specious address he might have regained his old ascendancy over her had I not interfered. You know well, Agnes, his peculiar gift of fascination. I believe he could by some unexplainable psychological process make any great wrong appear right to a woman. But I induced her to bequeath her wealth to Herbert, and secure it, for a time at least, beyond Richard's control--and he owes me a grudge for it.

"Herbert, she left under my care, unless, of his own free will, he chose to reside with Richard, who in that case was to become his guardian; and in the event of Herbert's death before reaching his majority, the whole property was to revert to Richard Bristed. You see she loved him still.

Unjust but womanlike, her love was stronger than her judgment.

"Well," said he, after eyeing me thoughtfully, "you listen as if you did not rightly comprehend what I have been saying!"

I was indeed stunned by his communication. Could it be, I thought, with suppressed fear, that the shadowy figure which had haunted my bed-chamber and had visited me in dreams was the same wronged Alice? Had she arisen from her grave beneath the granite of the church-yard to warn me? Or are the dead jealous of their rights? Do they cling to their earthly love? I queried. But when he spoke I shook off these thoughts that were rising like mist to obscure my judgment, and answered, "_I_ am. I am listening; proceed."

"Agnes, through your influence Richard has hoped to obtain possession of Herbert and control over his fortune. He has thought to entrap you as he did Alice, and through his power over you has calculated to carry out the project of his prolific brain."

Till this moment I had listened silently to his strange recital, but I could not brook this insinuation. The story, to my mind, did not appear clear. How could Richard expect to obtain, through my agency, possession of a son whom he had never acknowledged? Tis true I remembered him to have said that he feared I would miss my pupil very much. He had asked playfully what would Herbert do without me, but he had not suggested taking the child away with us, and therefore Mr. Bristed's charge appeared to my mind unfounded, and I told him so.

"Ah, my child!" he replied, "you know not the devising power of this man.

He has an agent here in this place, in the shape of old Crisp, the hunchback. It has been his plan, under promise of marriage, to decoy you from this house; he would probably have left his child to Crisp's good agency, with orders to join you. Herbert loves you, and would have gone willingly in your company, but alone with Richard he would not have moved one step. Once out of my reach in some distant city, he would have had the reins in his own hand. It was by an unexpected, but I hope fortunate chance, that I overheard a conversation to this effect between him and the deformed servant. I could not ascertain the day set for this adventure, but I surmised that it was at no remote date, and I have kept alert. You have avoided me, Miss Reef, and I have been obliged to watch your movements distantly. Not from suspicion of you, for I know you to be pure and honorable, but because you are under my protection, and because"--he hesitated--I wondered what was coming next. I had a presentiment that he was about to make an avowal which I ought to shun, but before I could evade him he turned suddenly toward me, his face white with emotion, and continued--"I love you, Agnes, though it is no time now to speak of my pa.s.sion, and have watched over you as a father, a brother, a _lover_ would watch."

This announcement affected me more than I care to confess, considering I did not return his love, but it was the allusion to his sheltering care that moved me.

"Yes, I have watched over you; orphan that you are, you need some guardian care. I knew by your frequent journeys to the village, by your cloistering in your own apartment, and more than all, by your speaking countenance, that you were preparing for some great event in your life.

"Last night I could not sleep; I laid my head upon my pillow, but finding it impossible to close my eyes I arose and dressed. Sitting by my window I thought I heard a commotion in your room. I listened until my surmises grew into certainty. The hour was midnight, and your door, which at that season is usually closed like a cloister-gate, swung on its hinges.

"This alarmed me; I unlocked my door and looked out. Soon a hasty step retreating from your chamber met my ear. Descending the stairs, this untimely visitor entered the room where Herbert lay sleeping. A strange suspicion came over me. Can the intruder be Richard? I thought. If so, what was he doing at that hour of the night? I seized a lighted candle and rushed to the boy's apartment, and there I found Richard, maddened, and beside himself with liquor and frenzy. I was just in time to save Herbert's life from his insane fury.

"I know not what had occurred between you and him, Agnes, but this I know, he had failed in some diabolical plot he had contemplated. Chance or a friendly Providence had thwarted his purpose. I had him in my power, and compelled him to leave the house, not to return until you have been removed where he will never find you.

"I cannot leave my beautiful bird, my pet dove, where the charms of this wily serpent may ensnare her."

He ceased. My eyes were dry, my heart turned to stone. I arose, and mechanically moved toward the door.

"Where are you going, Agnes? Tell me of your plans; regard me as your friend, I beg."

"Take me away--take me away," I cried hysterically; "I must go! Oh, oh, oh!" I should have fallen, but he caught me in his arms.

CHAPTER VIII.

On reviving came the dread feeling that I must go. Go whither? I had no home. I could not return to my uncle who had cast me adrift. The inquisitive glance of his grim housekeeper would annihilate me. But go I must, and that speedily.