Cursed by a Fortune Part 61

She tried hard to conceal it from Garstang, and believed that he did not notice it, but it was too plain. Her efforts to appear cheerful and bright at breakfast time and when he came back at night, grew forced and painful; and under his calm smiling demeanour and pleasant chatty way of talking to her about current events, he was bracing himself for the encounter which he knew might have to take place at any moment.

It was longer than he antic.i.p.ated, but was suddenly sprung upon him one evening after an agonising day, when again and again Kate had had to fight hard to master the fierce desire to get away from the terrible solitude which seemed to crush her down.

She knew that she was unwell from the pressure of her solitary life upon her nerves; the thoughts which troubled her magnified themselves; and now with terrible force came the insistent feeling that she had behaved like a weak child in not bravely maintaining her position at her uncle's house, and forcing him to fulfill his duty of protector to his brother's child.

"Is it too late? Am I behaving like a child now?" she asked herself, and at last with a wild outburst of excitement she determined that her present life must end.

She had calmed down a little just before Garstang returned that evening, and the recollection of his chivalrous treatment and fatherly attention to her lightest wants made her shrink from declaring that in spite of everything she must have some change; for, as she had told herself in her fit of excitement that afternoon, if she did not she would go mad.

She was very quiet during dinner, and he carefully avoided interrupting the fits of thoughtfulness in which from time to time she was plunged, but an hour later, when he came after her to the library from his gla.s.s of wine, he saw that her brows were knit and that the expected moment had come.

"Tired, my dear?" he said, as he subsided into his easy chair.

"Very, Mr Garstang," she said, quickly; and the excited look in her eyes intensified.

"Well, I don't like parting from you, my child," he said; "I have grown so used to your bright conversation of an evening, and it is so restful to me, but I must not be selfish. Go to bed when you feel so disposed.

It is the weather, I think. The gla.s.s is very low."

"No," said Kate quickly, "it is not that; it is this miserable suspense which is preying upon me. Oh, guardian, guardian, when is all this dreadful life of concealment to come to an end?"

"Soon, my child, soon. But try and be calm; you have been so brave and good up to now; don't let us run risks when we are so near success."

"You have spoken to me like that so often, and--and I can bear it no longer. I must, at any risk now, have it put an end to."

"Ah!" he sighed, with a sad look; "I am not surprised to hear you talk so. You have done wonders. I would rather have urged you to be patient a little longer, my dear, but I agree with you; it is more than a bright young girl can be expected to bear. I have noticed it, though you have made such efforts to conceal it; the long imprisonment is telling upon your health, and makes you fretful and impatient."

"And I have tried so hard not to be," she cried, full of repentance now.

"My poor little girl, yes, you have," he said, reaching forward to take and pat her hand. "Well, give me a few hours to think what will be best to do, and then we will decide whether to declare war against James Wilton and cover ourselves with the s.h.i.+eld of the law, or go right away for a change. You will give me a few hours, my dear, say till this time to-morrow?"

"Oh, yes," she said, with a sigh of relief. "Pray forgive me; I cannot help all this."

"I know, I know," he said, smiling. "By the way, to-morrow is my birthday; you must try and celebrate it a little for me."

She looked at him wonderingly.

"I mean, make Sarah Plant prepare an extra dinner, and I will bring home plenty of fruit and flowers; and after dinner we will discuss our plans and strike for freedom. Ah, my dear, it will be a great relief to me, for I have been growing very, very anxious about you. Too tired to give me a little music?"

"No, indeed, no," she said eagerly. "Your words have given me more relief than I can tell."

"That's right," he said, "but to be correct, I ought to ask you to read to me, to be in accord with the poem. But no, let it be one of my favourite songs, and in that way,

"'The night shall be filled with music, And the cares which infest the day Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away.'"

"Longer than I expected," said Garstang, as she left him that night for her own room. "Now let us see."

In accordance with his wish, Kate tried to quell the excitement within her breast by entering eagerly into the preparations for the evening's repast, but the next day pa.s.sed terribly slowly, and she uttered a sigh of relief when the hands of the clock pointed to Garstang's hour of returning.

He came in, smiling and content, laden with flowers and fruit, part of the former taking the shape of a beautiful bouquet of lilies, which he handed to her with a smile.

"There," he cried; "aren't they sweet? I believe, after all, that Covent Garden is the best garden in the world. I'm as pleased as a child over my birthday. Here, Mrs Plant, take this fruit, and let us have it for dessert."

The housekeeper came at his call, and smiled as she took the basket he had brought in his cab, shaking her head sadly as she went down again.

"Hah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Garstang; "and I must have an extra gla.s.s of wine in honour of the occasion. It is all right, my dear," he whispered, with a great show of mystery. "Plans made, cut and dried. We'll have them over with the dessert."

Kate gave him a grateful look, and took up and pressed her bouquet to her lips, while Garstang went to a table drawer and took out a key.

"You have never seen the wine cellar, my dear. Come down with me. It is capitally stored, but rather wasted upon me."

He went into the hall and lit a chamber candle, returning directly.

"Ready?" he said, as she followed him down the dark stairs to the bas.e.m.e.nt, Becky being seen for a moment flitting before them into the gloom, just as Garstang stopped at a great iron-studded door, and picked up a small basket from a table on the other side of the pa.s.sage.

The door was unlocked, and opened with a groan, and Garstang handed his companion the candlestick.

"Don't you come in," he said; "the sawdust is damp, and young ladies don't take much interest in bottles of wine. But they are interesting to middle-aged men, my dear," he continued as he walked in, his voice sounding smothered and dull. Then came the c.h.i.n.k of a bottle, which he placed in the wine basket, and he went on to a bin farther in.

"Don't come," he cried; "I can see. That's right. Our party to-night is small," and he came out with the two bottles he had fetched, stamped the sawdust off his feet, re-locked the door, and led the way upstairs, conveying the wine into the dining-room.

Ten minutes later they were seated at the table, and Garstang opened the bottle of champagne he had fetched himself.

"There, my dear," he said; "you must drink my health on this my birthday," and in spite of her declining, he insisted. "Oh, you must not refuse," he said. "And, as people say, it will do you good, for you really are low and in need of a stimulus."

The result was that she did sip a little of the sparkling wine, with the customary compliments, and the dinner pa.s.sed off pleasantly enough. At last she rose to go.

"I will not keep you long, my dear," he said. "Just my customary gla.s.s of claret, and by that time my thoughts will be in order, and I can give you my full news."

Kate went into the library, growing moment by moment more excited, and trying hard to control her longing to hear Garstang's plans, which were to end the terrible life of care. It seemed as if he would never come, and he did not until some time after the housekeeper had brought in the tea things and urn.

"At last," she said, drawing a deep breath full of relief, for there was a step in the hall, the dining-room door was heard to close, and directly after Garstang entered, and she involuntarily rose from her seat, feeling startled by her new guardian's manner, though she could not have explained the cause.

"I have been growing so impatient," she said hastily, as he came to where she stood.

"Not more so than I," he said; and she fancied for the moment that there was a strange light in his eyes.

But she drove away the thought as absurd.

"Now," she cried; "I am weary with waiting. You have devised a way of ending this terrible suspense?"

"I have," he said, taking her hands in his; and she resigned them without hesitation.

"Pray tell me then, at once. What will you do?"

"Make you my darling little wife," he whispered pa.s.sionately; and he clasped her tightly in his arms.