Part 86 (1/2)

”He was frightfully pale. His eyes looked at me with a terrible despair in them. He never answered when I expressed my surprise at his coming in so much sooner than usual; he wouldn't even tell me, when I asked the question, if he was ill. Pointing peremptorily to the chair from which I had risen on his entering the room, he told me to sit down again; and then, after a moment, added these words: 'I have something serious to say to you.'

”I thought of what I had done--or, no, of what I had tried to do--in that interval between half-past ten and half-past eleven, which I have left unnoticed in my diary--and the deadly sickness of terror, which I never felt at the time, came upon me now. I sat down again, as I had been told, without speaking to Midwinter, and without looking at him.

”He took a turn up and down the room, and then came and stood over me.

”'If Allan comes here to-morrow,' he began, 'and if you see him--'

”His voice faltered, and he said no more. There was some dreadful grief at his heart that was trying to master him. But there are times when his will is a will of iron. He took another turn in the room, and crushed it down. He came back, and stood over me again.

”'When Allan comes here to-morrow,' he resumed, 'let him come into my room, if he wants to see me. I shall tell him that I find it impossible to finish the work I now have on hand as soon as I had hoped, and that he must, therefore, arrange to find a crew for the yacht without any a.s.sistance on my part. If he comes, in his disappointment, to appeal to you, give him no hope of my being free in time to help him if he waits.

Encourage him to take the best a.s.sistance he can get from strangers, and to set about manning the yacht without any further delay. The more occupation he has to keep him away from this house, and the less you encourage him to stay here if he does come, the better I shall be pleased. Don't forget that, and don't forget one last direction which I have now to give you. When the vessel is ready for sea, and when Allan invites us to sail with him, it is my wish that you should positively decline to go. He will try to make you change your mind; for I shall, of course, decline, on my side, to leave you in this strange house, and in this foreign country, by yourself. No matter what he says, let nothing persuade you to alter your decision. Refuse, positively and finally!

Refuse, I insist on it, to set your foot on the new yacht!'

”He ended quietly and firmly, with no faltering in his voice, and no signs of hesitation or relenting in his face. The sense of surprise which I might otherwise have felt at the strange words he had addressed to me was lost in the sense of relief that they brought to my mind. The dread of _those other words_ that I had expected to hear from him left me as suddenly as it had come. I could look at him, I could speak to him once more.

”'You may depend,' I answered, 'on my doing exactly what you order me to do. Must I obey you blindly? Or may I know your reason for the extraordinary directions you have just given to me?'

”His, face darkened, and he sat down on the other side of my dressing-table, with a heavy, hopeless sigh.

”'You may know the reason,' he said, 'if you wish it.' He waited a little, and considered. 'You have a right to know the reason,' he resumed, 'for you yourself are concerned in it.' He waited a little again, and again went on. 'I can only explain the strange request I have just made to you in one way,' he said. 'I must ask you to recall what happened in the next room, before Allan left us to-night.'

”He looked at me with a strange mixture of expressions in his face. At one moment I thought he felt pity for me. At another, it seemed more like horror of me. I began to feel frightened again; I waited for his next words in silence.

”'I know that I have been working too hard lately,' he went on, 'and that my nerves are sadly shaken. It is possible, in the state I am in now, that I may have unconsciously misinterpreted, or distorted, the circ.u.mstances that really took place. You will do me a favor if you will test my recollection of what has happened by your own. If my fancy has exaggerated anything, if my memory is playing me false anywhere, I entreat you to stop me, and tell me of it.'

”I commanded myself sufficiently to ask what the circ.u.mstances were to which he referred, and in what way I was personally concerned in them.

”'You were personally concerned in them in this way,' he answered. 'The circ.u.mstances to which I refer began with your speaking to Allan about Miss Milroy, in what I thought a very inconsiderate and very impatient manner. I am afraid I spoke just as petulantly on my side, and I beg your pardon for what I said to you in the irritation of the moment. You left the room. After a short absence, you came back again, and made a perfectly proper apology to Allan, which he received with his usual kindness and sweetness of temper. While this went on, you and he were both standing by the supper-table; and Allan resumed some conversation which had already pa.s.sed between you about the Neapolitan wine. He said he thought he should learn to like it in time, and he asked leave to take another gla.s.s of the wine we had on the table. Am I right so far?'

”The words almost died on my lips; but I forced them out, and answered him that he was right so far.

”'You took the flask out of Allan's hand,' he proceeded. 'You said to him, good-humoredly, ”You know you don't really like the wine, Mr.

Armadale. Let me make you something which may be more to your taste. I have a recipe of my own for lemonade. Will you favor me by trying it?”

In those words, you made your proposal to him, and he accepted it. Did he also ask leave to look on, and learn how the lemonade was made? and did you tell him that he would only confuse you, and that you would give him the recipe in writing, if he wanted it?'

”This time the words did really die on my lips. I could only bow my head, and answer 'Yes' mutely in that way. Midwinter went on.

”'Allan laughed, and went to the window to look out at the Bay, and I went with him. After a while Allan remarked, jocosely, that the mere sound of the liquids you were pouring out made him thirsty. When he said this, I turned round from the window. I approached you, and said the lemonade took a long time to make. You touched me, as I was walking away again, and handed me the tumbler filled to the brim. At the same time, Allan turned round from the window; and I, in my turn, handed the tumbler to _him_.--Is there any mistake so far?'

”The quick throbbing of my heart almost choked me. I could just shake my head--I could do no more.

”'I saw Allan raise the tumbler to his lips.--Did _you_ see it? I saw his face turn white in an instant.--Did _you_? I saw the gla.s.s fall from his hand on the floor. I saw him stagger, and caught him before he fell.

Are these things true? For G.o.d's sake, search your memory, and tell me--are these things true?'

”The throbbing at my heart seemed, for one breathless instant, to stop.

The next moment something fiery, something maddening, flew through me.

I started to my feet, with my temper in a flame, reckless of all consequences, desperate enough to say anything.

”'Your questions are an insult! Your looks are an insult!' I burst out.