Cursed by a Fortune Part 62

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.

For a few moments Kate Wilton was pa.s.sive in Garstang's arms. The suddenness of the act--the surprise, stunned her, and his words seemed so impossible that she could not believe her hearing. Then horror and revulsion came; she knew it was the truth, and like a flash it dawned upon her that all that had gone before, the chivalrous behaviour, the benevolence and paternal tenderness, were the clever acting of an unscrupulous man--the outcome of plans and schemes, and for what? To obtain possession of the great fortune by which she felt more than ever that she was cursed.

With a faint cry of horror she thrust him back with both hands upon his breast, and struggled wildly to escape from his embrace.

But the effort was vain; he clasped her tightly once again, in spite of her efforts, and covered her face, her neck, her hair, with his kisses.

"Silly, timid little bird!" he whispered, as he held her there, horrified and panting; "what ails you? The first kisses, of course.

There, don't be so foolish, my darling child; they are the kisses of him who loves you, and who is going to make you his wife. Come, have I not been tender and patient, and all that you could wish, and is not this an easy solution of the difficulties by which you are surrounded?"

"Mr Garstang, loose me, I insist!" she cried. "How dare you treat me so!"

"I have told you, my beautiful darling. Come, come, be sensible; surely the love of one who has wors.h.i.+pped you from the first time he met you is not a thing to horrify you. Am I so old and repulsive, that you should go on like this? Only a few hours ago you were pressing my hands, holding your face to mine for my kisses; while now that I declare myself you begin struggling like a newly-captured bird. Why, Kate, my darling, I am talking to you like a poetic lover in a sentimental play. Really, dry lawyer as I am, I did not know that I could rise to such a flow of eloquence. Yes, pet, and you are acting too. There, that is enough for appearances, and there is no one to see, so let's behave like two sensible matter-of-fact people. Come and sit down here."

"I wish to go--at once," she cried, striving hard to be firm, feeling as she did that everything, in her hopeless state, depended upon herself.

"We'll talk about that quietly, when you have seated yourself. No--you will not?" he cried playfully. "Then you force me to show you that you must," and raising her in his arms, he bore her quickly to the couch, and sat beside her, pinioning her firmly in his grasp.

"There," he said, "man is the stronger in muscles, and woman must obey; but woman is stronger in the silken bonds with which she can hold man, and then he obeys."

She sat there panting heavily, ceasing her struggles, as she tried to think out her course of action, for she shrank from shrieking aloud for help, and exposing her position to the two women in the house.

"That's better," he said; "now you are behaving sensibly. Don't pretend to be afraid of me. Now listen--There, sit still; you cannot get away.

If you cry out not a sound could reach the servants, for I have sent them to bed; and if a dozen men stood here and shouted together their voices could not be heard through curtains, shutters, and double windows. There, I am not telling you this to frighten you, only to show you your position."

She turned and gazed at him wildly, and then dragged her eyes away in despair as he said, caressingly.

"How beautiful you are, Kate! That warm colour makes you more attractive than ever, and tells me that all this is but a timid girl's natural holding back from the embraces of the man whom she has enslaved.

There is no ghastly pallor, your lips are not white, and you do not turn faint, but are strong and brave in your resistance; so now let's talk sense, little wifie. You fancy I have been drinking; well, I have had a gla.s.s or two more than usual, but I am not as you think, only calm and quiet and ready to talk to you about what you wished."

"Another time--to-morrow. Mr Garstang, I beg of you; pray let me go to my own room now."

"To try the front door on the way, and seek to do some foolish thing?

There, you see I can read your thoughts, my darling. So far from having exceeded, I am too sensible for mat; but you could not get out of the house, for the door is locked, and I have the key here. There; to begin; you would like to leave here to-night?"

"Yes, yes, Mr Garstang; pray let me go."

"Where? You would wander about the streets, a prey to the first ruffian who meets you. To appeal to the police, who would not believe your story; and even if they did, where would you go? To-morrow back to Northwood, to be robbed of your fortune; to go straight to that n.o.ble cousin's arms. No, no, that would not do, dear. Now, let's look the position in the face. I am double your age, my child. Well, granted; but surely I am not such a repellent monster that you need look at me like that I love you, my pretty one, and I am going to marry you at once. As my wife, you will be free from all persecution by your uncle.

He will try to make difficulties, and refuse to sign papers, and do plenty of absurd things; but I have him completely under my thumb, and once you are my wife I can force him to give up all control of you and yours."

"To-morrow--to-morrow," she said, pleadingly, as she felt how hopeless it was to struggle. "I am sick and faint, Mr Garstang; pray, pray let me go to my room now."

"Not yet," he said playfully, and without relaxing his grasp; "there is a deal more to say. You have to make me plenty of promises, that you will act sensibly; and I want these promises, not from fear, but because you love me, dear. Silent? Well, I must tell you a little more. I made up my mind to this, my child, when I came to you that night. 'I'll marry her,' I said; 'it will solve all the difficulties and make her the happiest life.'"

"No, no, it is impossible, Mr Garstang," she cried. "There, you have said enough now. You must--you shall let me go. Is this your conduct towards the helpless girl who trusted you?"

"Yes," he said laughingly, "it is my conduct towards the helpless girl who trusted me; and it is the right treatment of one who cannot help herself."

"No," she cried desperately; "and so I trusted to you, believing you to be worthy of that trust."

"And so I am, dear; more than worthy. Kate, dearest, do you know that I am going to make you a happy woman, that I give you the devotion of my life? Every hour shall be spent in devising some new pleasure for you, in making you one of the most envied of your s.e.x. I am older, but what of that? Perhaps your young fancy has strayed toward some hero whom your imagination has pictured; but you are not a foolish girl. You have so much common sense that you must see that your position renders it compulsory that you should have a protector."

"A protector!" she cried bitterly.

"Yes; I must be plain with you, unless you throw off all this foolish resistance. Come, be sensible. To-morrow, or the next day, we will be married, and then we can set the whole world at defiance."

"Mr Garstang, you are mad!" she cried, with such a look of repugnance in her eyes that she stung him into sudden rage.

"Mad for loving you?" he cried.

"For loving me!" she said scornfully. "No, it is the miserable love of the wretched fortune. Well, take it; only loose me now; let me go. You are a lawyer, sir, and I suppose you know what to do. There are pens and paper. Loose me, and go and sit down and write; I promise you I will not try to leave the room; lock the door, if you like, till you have done writing."

"It is already locked," he said mockingly; and he smiled as he saw her turn pale.

"Very well," she said calmly; "then I cannot escape. Go and write, and I will sign it without a murmur. I give everything to you; only let me go. It is impossible that we can ever meet again."

"Indeed!" he said, laughing. "Foolish child, how little you know of these things! Suppose I do want your money; do you think that anything I could write, or you could sign, would give it me without this little hand? Besides, I don't want it without its mistress--my mistress--the beautiful little girl who during her stay here has taught me that there is something worth living for. There, there, we are wasting breath.

What is the use of fighting against the inevitable? Love me as your husband, Kate. I am the same man whom you loved as your guardian.

There, I want to be gentle and tender with you. Why don't you give up quietly and say that you will come with me like a sensible little girl, and be my wife?"

"Because I would sooner die," she said, firmly.

"As young ladies say in old-fas.h.i.+oned romances," he cried mockingly.

"There, you force me to speak very plainly to you. I must; and you are wise enough to see that every word is true. Now listen. You have not many friends; I may say I, your lover, am the only one; but when you took that step with me one night, eloping from your bedroom window, placing yourself under my protection, and living here secluded with me in this old house for all these months, what would they say? Little enough, perhaps nothing; but there is a significant shrug of the shoulders which people give, and which means much, my child, respecting a woman's character. You see now that you must marry me."

"No," she said calmly; "I trusted myself to the guardians.h.i.+p of a man almost old enough to be my grandfather. He professed to be my father's friend, and I fled to him to save myself from insult. Will the world blame me for that, Mr Garstang?"

"Yes, the world will, and will not believe."

"Then what is the opinion of the world, as you term it, worth? Now, sir, I insist upon your letting me go to my room."

As she spoke, she struggled violently, and throwing herself back over the head of the couch made a s.n.a.t.c.h at the bell-pull, with such success that the smothered tones of a violent peal reached where they were.

Garstang started up angrily, and taking advantage of her momentary freedom, Kate sprang to the door and turned the key, but before she could open it he was at her side.

"You foolish child!" he said, in a low angry voice; "how can you act--"

Half mad with fear, she struck at him, the back of her hand catching him sharply on the lips, and before he could recover from his surprise, she had pa.s.sed through the door and fled to her room, where she locked and bolted herself in, and then sank panting and sobbing violently upon her knees beside her bed.

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.

"Yes; what is it?"

Kate Wilton raised her head from where it rested against the bed as she crouched upon the floor, and gazed round wonderingly, conscious that someone had called her by name, but with everything else a blank.

There was a tapping at the door.