This Man's Wife Part 115

He made a step or two towards the door, for Thisbe had thrown it open, having seen Bayle pa.s.s the window with Sir Gordon. Then he seized the door to fling it in their faces; but Thisbe held it firmly, and they walked in, Hallam himself giving way.

"Coward!" snarled Crellock in his ear, as he started up, whip in hand.

"Mrs Hallam," said Sir Gordon, "you must forgive this intrusion. I am sure we are wanted here."

"Wanted here!" cried Hallam savagely; "no, you are not wanted here.

I'll have no more interferences from such as you; you've both been the curse of my life."

Sir Gordon turned upon him with a calm look of disgust and contempt, which at another time would have made him quail; but, fevered with brandy as he was, the effect was to make him more beside himself.

"As you are here, both of you, let me tell you this: that I don't kick you out because one of you is a weak, doddering old idiot, the other-- oh, his cloth must protect Mr Bayle. Now what do you want?"

"Be calm, Julia," whispered Bayle. "No harm shall befall either of you."

Crellock advanced menacingly, but Sir Gordon interposed.

"Mrs Hallam, as your father's old friend, I must interfere for your protection now."

"Must you?" cried Hallam fiercely, "then I tell you that you won't.

This is my house, taken by my wife. That is my wife. That is my child, and in a few days she will be the wife of this gentleman, my oldest friend. Now go. Millicent--Julie--get on your things, and come, or, by all that's holy, we'll drag you through the streets."

Julia clung to Bayle, and turned her flushed face to him as if asking help; while, with a look of calm contempt, he patted the hand he held, and glanced at Mrs Hallam, for something seemed to warn him that the crisis had arrived.

"I have told you, Robert Hallam," she said, in a calm, firm voice, that grew in strength as she went on, "that from this hour we are separated, never to be man and wife again. I clung to you in all a woman's proud faith in her husband. I loved you as dearly as woman could love. When you were condemned of all, I defended you, and believed you honest."

"Bah!" he exclaimed; "enough of this!" and he took a step forward, but quailed before her gaze.

"You crushed my love. You made me your wretched innocent tool and slave when you brought me here, and at last you brutally told me all the cruel truth. Even then, heartbroken, I clung to you, and suffered in silence.

G.o.d knows how I tried to bring you to penitence and a better life. I forgave all for the sake of our child; and in my love for her I would have gone on bearing all."

"Have you nearly done?" he said mockingly.

"Nearly," she said, in the same firm, clear tones; and she seemed to tower above him, pale and n.o.ble of aspect, while he, drink-brutalised and blotched, seemed to shrink.

"I say I would have borne everything, even if you had beaten me like a dog. But when--oh, my G.o.d, judge between us and forgive me if I have done wrong!--when I am called upon to see my innocent child dragged down by you to the fate of being the wife of the villain who has been your partner in all your crimes, my soul revolts, and I say--from this hour all between us is at an end."

"And I say," he yelled, "that you are my wife, this my child, and you shall obey me. Come; I am master here."

He made a s.n.a.t.c.h at her arm, but she raised it before him, with outstretched palm, and her voice rang out with a cry that made him shrink and cower.

"Stop!"

There was a moment's utter silence, broken by the softly heard tramp of feet.

"Husband no longer, father of my child no more. Robert Hallam, you are my convict servant! I discharge you. Leave this house!"

Hallam took a step back, literally stunned by the words of the outraged woman, who for so long a time had been his slave, while Bayle uttered a long sighing sound as if relieved of some terrible weight.

For a time no one spoke, but all turned from gazing on the prominent figure of that group, to Hallam, who stood clenching and unclenching his hands, and gasping as if trying to recover from the shock he had received.

He essayed to speak as he glared at Mrs Hallam, and scowled at her as if each look were an arrow to wound and bring her to his feet humbled and appealing as of old; but the arrows glanced from the armour of indignant maternal love with which she was clothed; and, drawn up to her full height, scornful and defiant as she seemed, her look absolutely made him quail.

_Tramp--tramp--tramp--tramp_.

The regular march of disciplined men coming nearer and nearer, but heard by none within that room, as Crellock, with a coa.r.s.e laugh, bent forward, and whispered in his companion's ear:

"Why, man, are you going to submit to this?"

"No!" roared Hallam, as if his gang-companion's words had broken a spell. "No! The woman's mad! Julia, you are my child. Come here!"

Julia met the eyes that were fixed fiercely upon her, and stepped forward.

Bayle tried to arrest her, but she raised her hand to keep him back, and then placed it on her father's arm, trembling and looking white. Then she reached up, and kissed him solemnly upon the cheek.

"There, gentlemen," he cried triumphantly. "You see. Now, wife--my wife, come to your convict servant--come--home."

He pa.s.sed his arm round Julia's waist, and signed to Crellock to come forward, but his child glided from his grasp.

"Good-bye--father--good-bye--for ever."

He made a s.n.a.t.c.h at her hand; but she had gone, and was clinging to Bayle.

Hallam uttered a fierce oath, and then listened: stopped short with his head wrenched round to gaze at the door.

For at that moment the tramp of feet reached the entrance, and a voice rang out:

"Halt!"

There was the rattle of muskets on the path, and as, ghastly of face, and with starting eyes, Robert Hallam saw in imagination the interior of the prison, the grim convict dress, the chains, and the lash, the door was thrown open, and Captain Otway entered, followed by a sergeant and a file of the convict guard, a squad remaining outside, drawn up before the house.

Otway glanced round, his brow furrowed, and his lips tightened, as his eyes fell on Mrs Hallam and her child.

It was but a momentary emotion. Then the stern military precision a.s.serted itself, and he said quickly:

"Robert Hallam, number 874, a.s.signed servant, I arrest you for breaking the terms of your pa.s.s. Sergeant, remove this man."

Two men stepped to Hallam's side on the instant.

"Curse you," he yelled, as he started forward to reach his wife, but a strong hand on either arm stayed him. "This is your work."

She shook her head slowly, and Julia darted to her side, for the firmness that had sustained her so far was failing fast.

"No," she said slowly; "it is no work of mine."

"Then I have to thank my dear friend the Baronet here," he cried with a vindictive look at Sir Gordon.

"No, Hallam. I have known for months past that you have been living in wild excess on the money you stole from me, but I spared you for others'

sake."