The Monctons Part 4

"Ashamed of my weakness, I took the sacred volume from under my pillow, and soon regained my self-possession. I felt that I was in the hands of G.o.d, and that all things regarding me would be ordered for the right. Oh, what a blessing is this trust in the care of an overruling Providence! how it relieves one from brooding over the torturing fears of what may accrue on the morrow, verifying the divine proverb: 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof!'

"A thick, dark, rainy night had closed in, when my chamber door opened, and Alice glided in. She held in her hand a small tray, on which was a large tumbler of mulled wine and some dry toast. I had not tasted food since noon, and I felt both faint and hungry. A strange, ghastly expression flitted over my sister's face, which was unusually pale, as she sat down on the side of the bed.

"'You have been a long time away,' said I, with the peevish fretfulness of an invalid. 'If you were ill and incapable of helping yourself, Alice, I would not neglect you, and leave you for hours in this way. I might have died during your absence.'

"'No fear of that, Philip. You are growing cross, which is always a good sign. I would have come sooner, but had so many things to attend to, that it was impossible. Dinah is too old to work, and all the household work falls on me. But, how are you?'

"'Better, but very hungry.'

"'I don't doubt it. It is time you took something. I have got a little treat for you--some fine mulled sherry--it will do you good and strengthen you.'

"'I don't care for it,' said I, with an air of disgust. 'I am very thirsty. Give me a cup of tea.'

"'We got tea hours ago, when you were asleep, and there is not a drop of hot water in the kettle. The wine is more nourishing. The doctor recommended it. Do taste it, and see how good it is!'

"'I tried to comply with her request. A shudder came over me as I put the tumbler to my lips. 'It's of no use,' I said, putting it back on to the tray. 'I cannot drink it.'

"'If you love me, Philip, try. Drink a little, if you can, I made it on purpose to please you.'

"She bent her large bright eyes on me with an anxious, dubious expression--a strange, wild look, such as I never saw her face wear before.

"I looked at her in return, with a curious, searching gaze. I did not exactly suspect her of any evil intention towards me, but her manner was mysterious, and excited surprise.

"She changed colour, and turned away.

"A sudden thought darted through my brain. Robert Moncton had been there. He coveted my death, for what reason I could not fathom. I only knew the fact. What if that draught were poison!--and suspicion, once aroused, whispered it is poison.

"I rose slowly in the bed, and grasped her firmly by the wrist.

"'Alice! we will drink of that gla.s.s together. You look faint and pale. The contents will set you all right. Take half and I will drink the rest.'

"'I never drink wine.'

"'You dare not drink _that_ wine,' said I.

"'If I liked it, what should hinder me?'

"'You could not like it, Alice. It is _poison_!'

"A faint cry burst from her lips.

"'G.o.d of heaven! who told you that?'

"'Flesh and blood did not reveal it to me. Alice, Alice, how could I imagine such a thing of you?'

"'How, indeed!' murmured the wretched girl, weeping pa.s.sionately.

'_She_ persuaded me to bring it to you. _He_ mixed the wine.

I--I had nothing else to do with it.'

"'Yet to you, as a willing instrument of evil, they entrusted the most important part of their h.e.l.lish mission.'

"She flung herself on her knees beside the bed, and raising her clasped hands and streaming eyes to Heaven implored G.o.d to forgive her for the crime she had premeditated against my life, binding herself in an awful curse, not only to devise means to save my life, but to remove me from the cottage.

"'As to you, Philip, I dare not ask you to forgive me: I only implore you not to curse me.'

"'I should entertain a very poor opinion of myself, if I should refuse to do the one, or attempt such an act of wickedness as is involved in the other. But, Alice, do not think that I can excuse the commission of such a dreadful crime as murder--and upon whom? A brother who loved you tenderly--who, to his own knowledge, never injured you in word, thought or deed.'

"'Philip, you are not my brother, or the deed had never been attempted.'

"'Not your brother! Who am I then?'

"'I cannot--dare not tell you. At least not now. Escape from this dreadful place, and some future time may reveal it.'

"'You talk of escape as a thing practicable and easy. I am so weak I can scarcely stand, much less walk ten paces from the house. How can I get away unknown to Dinah?'

"'Listen to me--I will tell you.' She rose from her knees, and gliding to the door which led to the outer room, she gently unclosed it, and leaning forward looked cautiously into the outer s.p.a.ce. Satisfied that it was vacant, she returned stealthily to my bed-side.

"'I must make Dinah believe that you have drank this wine. In less than two hours you will, in her estimation, be dead. Not a creature knows of your return. For our own sakes, we have kept your being here a profound secret. Robert Moncton, however, was duly informed by Dinah of your visit. He came this morning to the house, and they concocted this scheme between them. She is now absent looking for a convenient spot for a grave for your body when dead. She talked of the dark shrubbery. That spot is seldom visited by any one, because the neighbours fancy that it is haunted. You know how afraid we were of going near those dark, shadowy yews when we were children. Margaret used to call it the valley of the shadow of death.'

"'And it was there,' said I, with a shudder, 'that you meant to bury me?'

"'There--I have promised to drag your body to the spot in a sack, and help Dinah to make your grave. But hist! I thought I heard a step. We have no time to waste in idle words.'

"'She cannot bury me, you know, without my consent, before I am dead,'

said I, with a faint smile. 'Nor can I imagine how you will be able to deceive her. She will certainly discover the difference between an empty sack and a full one.'

"'I have hit on a plan, which, if well managed, will lull her suspicions to sleep. You know the broken statue of Apollo, that lies at the entrance of the Lodge? It is about your size. It once belonged to the Hall gardens, and Sir Alexander gave it to me for a plaything years ago. I did not care for such a huge doll, and it has lain there ever since. I will convey this to your chamber, and dress it in your night-clothes. The sack will cover the mutilated limbs, and by the dim, uncertain light of the dark lantern, she will never discover the cheat.'

"'But if she should insist on inspecting the body?'

"'I will prevent it. In the meanwhile you must be prepared to leave the house when I come to fetch the body.'

"I felt very sick, and buried my face in the pillows.

"'I do not care to go; let me stay here and die.'

"'You must live for my sake,' cried the unhappy girl, clasping my cold hand to her heart, and covering it with kisses. 'If you fail me now, we are both lost. Dinah would never forgive me for betraying her and Moncton. Do you doubt that what I have told you is true?'

"'Not in the least, Alice; but I am so weak and ill--so forsaken and unhappy, that I no longer care for the life you offer.'

"'It was the gift of G.o.d. You must not throw it away. He may have work on the earth which he requires you to do.'

"These words saved me. I no longer hesitated to take the chance she offered me, though I entertained small hopes of its success. Yet if the hand of Providence was stretched out to rescue me from destruction, it was only right for me to yield to its guidance with obedient grat.i.tude and praise.

"Alice was about to leave the room: she once more returned to my side.

"'Say that you forgive me, Philip.'