The Bond of Black Part 36

"Are you absolutely certain?"

"No, I'm not. Why do you ask?"

"Because," I answered reflectively, "because it is strange that you should have taken an engagement at the very shop where he was employed."

"It was he who gave me the introduction there," she said. "Only when I got there and commenced work did I find to my surprise that the man who had interested himself on my behalf was actually the shop-walker. He saw the look of surprise upon my face, and laughed heartily over it."

"Did you never seek to inquire how long previously he had been employed there?"

"No. It never occurred to me to do so," she answered.

"But you can discover now easily enough, I suppose?"

"Of course I can," she replied. "But why are you so anxious to know?"

"I have a reason for desiring to know the exact date on which he entered the firm's employ," I said. "You will find it out for me at once, won't you?"

"If you wish."

"Then let me know by letter as soon as you possibly can," I urged quickly.

"But you need not be jealous of him, Clifton," she said, seeking to rea.s.sure me. With her woman's quick instinct she saw that my anger had been raised against him.

"How can I help being annoyed?" I said. "The facts seem quite plain that he first took service with this firm, and then most probably obtained the dismissal of one of the girls in order to make a vacancy for you. He was in love with you, I suppose," I added, rather harshly.

"Love was never mentioned between us," she declared. "We merely went out and about together, and in business he used to chat and joke with me. But as for love--"

And she laughed scornfully, without concluding her sentence.

"And the other girls were jealous of you--eh?"

She laughed.

"I suppose they were," she answered.

"Was this man--Hibbert was his name?--an experienced shop-walker?"

"I think so," she replied. "But he was disliked on account of his harshness and his constant fining of everybody."

"Except you."

"Yes," she laughed. "I generally managed to escape."

She noticed the hard look in my face, as I pondered over the strange fact. That this man who was such an intimate acquaintance of Aline's was actually shop-walker where Muriel was employed added to the mystery considerably, rather than decreasing it.

"Why need we discuss him now?" she asked. "It is all over."

"But your acquaintance with this man who has evidently striven to win your love must still continue if you remain where you are," I said in a tone of annoyance.

"No," she replied. "It is already at an end."

"But he's your shop-walker. If you have refused to go out with him, in future he'll undoubtedly vent his spiteful wrath upon you."

"Oh no, he won't," she laughed.

"Why?"

"Because he has left."

"Left!" I echoed. "Of course you know where he is?"

"No, I don't," she replied. "He annoyed me in business by speaking harshly to me before a customer, and I told him plainly that I would never again go out in his company. He apologised, but I was obdurate, and I have never seen him since. He went away that night, and has not returned. His place was filled up to-day. At first it was thought that he might have stolen something; but nothing has been missed, and now his sudden departure is believed to be due to his natural impetuousness and eccentricity."

"Then it would seem that owing to a disagreement with you he left his employment. That's really very remarkable!" I said.

"Yes. Everybody thinks it strange, but, of course, they don't know that we quarrelled."

"And you swear to me that you have never loved him, Muriel?" I asked, looking straight into her upturned face.

"I swear to you, Clifton," she answered. "I swear that he has never once kissed me, nor has he uttered a word of affection. We were merely friends."

"Then that makes the aspect of affairs even more puzzling," I observed.

"That he had some motive for leaving secretly there is no doubt. What, I wonder, could it have been?"

"I don't know, and it really doesn't trouble me," she replied. "I was exceedingly glad when he went, and now am doubly glad that I came and sought your forgiveness."

"And I too, dearest," I said, holding her hand tenderly in mine. "But, truth to tell, I have no confidence in that man. There was something about him that I didn't like, and this latest move has increased my suspicion."

"What suspicion?"

"That his intentions were not honest ones!" I answered.

"Why, Clifton," she cried, "what an absurd fancy! Do you think that because I broke off his acquaintance, he intends to murder me?"

"I have no definite views on the subject," I answered, "except that he intended to do you some evil, and has up to the present been thwarted."

"You'll make me quite nervous if you talk like that," she responded, laughing. "Let us forget him. You once admired that woman, Aline Cloud, but that circ.u.mstance has pa.s.sed out of my mind."

"You must leave that place and go down to Stamford," I said decisively.

"A rest in the country will do you good, and in a few months we will marry."

"I'll have to give a month's notice before I leave," she answered.

"No. Leave to-morrow," I said. "For I cannot bear to think, dearest, that now you are to be my wife you should still bear that terrible drudgery."

She sighed, and her countenance grew troubled, as if something oppressed her. This caused me some apprehension, for it seemed as though, even now, she was not perfectly happy.

I gave tongue to this thought, but with a light laugh she a.s.sured me of her perfect contentment, and that her regret was only of the past.