This Man's Wife Part 111

"Wake up!" he said excitedly. "Hallam! Wake up, man."

He had to shake him heavily before the drink stupefaction pa.s.sed off, and then Hallam stood trembling and haggard, trying to comprehend his companion's words.

"Wrong?" he said. "Wrong? What's wrong?"

"I don't know yet. Look sharp! Run up to your wife's room. Take the candle. Quick, man; are you asleep?"

In his dazed state Hallam staggered, and his hand trembled so that he could hardly keep the light anything like steady. There was the knowledge, though faintly grasped, that something was terribly wrong.

He gathered that from his companion's excited manner, and, stumbling on into the hall, blundered noisily up the stairs while Crellock stood breathing hard and listening.

"Here, Millicent! Julie!" he cried hoa.r.s.ely; "what's the matter?"

Crellock heard the lock handle turn, and the door thrown open so violently that it struck against the wall, but there was no reply from the voices of frightened women.

"Do you hear? Milly--Julie! Why don't you answer?" came from above, and Crellock's harsh breathing became like the panting of some wild beast.

For a few moments there was absolute silence; then the sound of stumbling, heavy steps, and Hallam came out on to the landing.

"Steve!" he cried excitedly, perfectly sober now, "what is it? What does it mean? They've gone!"

"I knew it," cried Crellock with a furious cry. "I might have seen it if I had not been a fool. Come down quick! They've not gone far."

Candle in hand, Hallam came staggering down the stairs with his eyes staring and his face blotched with patches of white.

"They've gone," he stammered hoa.r.s.ely. "What for? Where have they gone?"

"Out into the dark night," cried Crellock furiously. "There is only one way that they could go, and we must have them before they reach the town."

"Town!" faltered Hallam; "town!" for in the horror of his waking and the conscience hauntings of the moment, he seemed to see two ghastly white faces looking up at him from the black waters of the harbour.

"Yes, come along, follow me as quickly as you can," roared Crellock; and going swiftly through the dining-room he crossed the verandah and dashed out into the thick darkness that seemed to rise up as a protecting wall on behalf of those whom he pursued.

VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

THE FLIGHT.

"I am so weak, my child," sighed Mrs Hallam, "that my heart fails me.

What shall I do?"

Julia stood over her dressed for flight, and a chill of despair seized her.

"Oh, mother, try--try," she whispered.

"I am trying, Julie. I am fighting so hard, but you cannot realise the step I am trying to take; you cannot see it, my child, as it is spread before me."

"Let us stay then," whispered Julie, "and to-morrow I will appeal to Sir Gordon to come to our help."

"No," said Mrs Hallam, firmly, as if the words of her child had given her strength, "we can ask help of no one in such a strait as this, Julie; the act must be mine and mine alone; but now the time has come, my child, I feel that it is too much."

"Mother!" sobbed Julie, "that man horrifies me. You heard all that my father said. I would sooner die than become his wife."

Mrs Hallam caught her arm with a sharp grip, and remained silent for a few moments. "Yes," she said at last, "and much as I love you, my own, I would sooner see you dead than married to such a man as he. You have given me the courage I failed in, my darling. For myself, I would live and bear until the end; but I am driven to it--I am driven to it.

Come."

They were standing in the dark, and now for the time being Mrs Hallam seemed transformed. Gathering her cloak about her, she went quickly to the door and listened, and then turned and whispered to Julia.

"Come at once," she said. "Follow me down." Julia drew a long breath and followed her, trembling, the boards of the lightly-built house cracking loudly as she pa.s.sed quickly to the stairs. And again in the silence and darkness these cracked as they pa.s.sed down.

In the hall Mrs Hallam hesitated for a moment, and then, putting her lips to Julia's ear:

"Stop!" she whispered.

Julia stood listening, and with her eyes strained towards where a light shone beneath the ill-fitting study-door from which, in the stillness, the heavy stertorous breathing of Hallam could be heard. She could hear, too, the faint rustle of Mrs Hallam's dress as she paced along the hall; and as Julia gazed in the direction she had taken, the light that streamed from beneath, and some faint rays from the side, showed indistinctly a misty figure which sank down on its knees and remained for a few moments.

The silence was awful to the trembling girl, who could not repress a faint cry as she heard a loud cough coming from beyond the dining-room.

But she, too, drew her breath hard, and set her teeth as if the nearness of her enemy provoked her to desperate resistance, and she stood waiting there firmly, but wondering the while whether they would be able to escape or be stopped in the act of flight by Crellock, whom she knew to be watching there.

She dare not call, though she felt that her mother was again overcome by the terrors of the step they had resolved to take, and the moments seemed interminable before there was a change in the light beneath the door, and a faint rustle mingled with the heavy breathing. Then her hand was clasped by one like ice in its coldness, and, as if repeating the prayer she had been uttering, Julia heard her mother say in a faint whisper:

"It is for her sake--for hers alone."

Julia drew her into the drawing-room as they had planned, and closed the door. Then Mrs Hallam seemed to breathe more freely.

"The weakness has pa.s.sed," she said softly. "We must lose no time."

They crossed the room carefully to where a dim light showed the French window to be, and Mrs Hallam laid her hand upon it firmly, and turned the fastening after slipping the bolt.

"Keep a good heart, my darling," she said. "You are not afraid?"

"Not of our journey, mother," said Julia in agitated tones; "but of--a listener."

"Hist!" whispered Mrs Hallam, drawing back; and the window which she had opened swung to with a faint click, as the firm pace of Crellock was heard coming along the verandah; and as they stood there in the darkness they could see the dim figure pa.s.s the window.

Had he stretched forth a hand, he would have felt the gla.s.s door yield, and have entered and found them there; and, knowing this, they stood listening to the beating of their hearts till the figure pa.s.sed on and they heard the step of the self-const.i.tuted sentry grow faint on the other side of the house.

"Julie, are you ready?"

"Yes, mother; let us go--anywhere, so that I may not see that man again."

Mrs Hallam uttered a sigh of relief, for her child's words had supplied her once more with the power that was failing.

"It is for her sake," she muttered again. Then, in a low whisper: "Quick! your hand. Come." And they stepped out into the verandah, drew the door to without daring to stop to catch it, and the next minute they were threading their way amongst the trees of the garden, and making for the gate.

The darkness was now intense, and though the faint twinkling of lights showed them the direction of the town, they had not gone far before they found themselves astray from the path, and after wandering here and there for a few minutes, Mrs Hallam paused in dread, for she found that there was now another enemy in her way upon which she had not counted.

She spoke very calmly, though, as Julia uttered a gasp.

"The wind is rising," she said, "and it will soon grow lighter. Let us keep on."