Part 93 (1/2)
”Sign such a wicked lie as that!” said she. ”That I never will. You _are_ his son, and Huntercombe shall be yours. She is an unnatural mother.”
”Gammon!” said Reginald. ”You might as well say a fox is the son of a gander. Come now; I am not going to let you cut my throat with your tongue. Sign at once, or else come to her this moment and tell her so.”
”That I will,” said Mary Meyrick, ”and give her my mind.”
This doughty resolution was a little shaken when she cast eyes upon Lady Ba.s.sett, and saw how wan and worn she looked.
She moderated her violence, and said, sullenly, ”Sorry to gainsay _you,_ my lady, and you so ill, but this is a paper I never can sign.
It would rob him of Huntercombe. I'd sooner cut my hand off at the wrist.”
”Nonsense, Mary!” said Lady Ba.s.sett, contemptuously.
She then proceeded to reason with her, but it was no use. Mary would not listen to reason, and defied her at last in a loud voice.
”Very well,” said Lady Ba.s.sett. ”Then since you will not do it my way, it shall be done another way. I shall put my confession in Sir Charles's hands, and insist on his dismissing him from the house, and you from your farm. It will kill me, and the money I intended for Reginald I shall leave to Compton.”
”These are idle words, my lady. You daren't.”
”I dare anything when once I make up my mind to die.”
She rang the bell.
Mary Meyrick affected contempt.
A servant came to the door.
”Request Sir Charles to come to me immediately.”
CHAPTER XLIV.
”DON'T you be a fool,” said Reginald to his nurse.
”Sir Charles will send you to prison for it,” said Lady Ba.s.sett.
”For what I done along with you?”
”Oh, he will not punish his wife; he will look out for some other victim.”
”Sign, you d--d old fool!” cried Reginald, seizing Mary Meyrick roughly by the arm.
Strange to say, Lady Ba.s.sett interfered, with a sort of majestic horror. She held up her hand, and said, ”Do not dare to lay a finger on her!”
Then Mary burst into tears, and said she would sign the paper.
While she was signing it, Sir Charles's step was heard in the corridor.
He knocked at the door just as she signed. Reginald had signed already.