第74章

"I want you to be near me while I am speaking to Horace," she said."It will give me courage if I can feel that I am speaking to you as well as to him.I can count on your sympathy--and sympathy is so precious to me now! Am I asking too much, if I ask you to leave the door unclosed when you go back to the dining-room? Think of the dreadful trial--to him as well as to me! I am only a woman; I am afraid I may sink under it, if I have no friend near me.And I have no friend but you."In those simple words she tried her powers of persuasion on him for the first time.

Between perplexity and distress Julian was, for the moment, at a loss how to answer her.The love for Mercy which he dared not acknowledge was as vital a feeling in him as the faith in her which he had been free to avow.To refuse anything that she asked of him in her sore need--and, more even than that, to refuse to hear the confession which it had been her first impulse to make to him --these were cruel sacrifices to his sense of what was due to Horace and of what was due to himself.But shrink as he might, even from the appearance of deserting her, it was impossible for him (except under a reserve which was almost equivalent to a denial) to grant her request.

"All that I can do I will do," he said."The doors shall be left unclosed, and I will remain in the next room, on this condition, that Horace knows of it as well as you.I should be unworthy of your confidence in me if I consented to be a listener on any other terms.You understand that, I am sure, as well as I do."She had never thought of her proposal to him in this light.Woman-like, she had thought of nothing but the comfort of having him near her.She understood him now.A faint flush of shame rose on her pale cheeks as she thanked him.He delicately relieved her from her embarrassment by putting a question which naturally occurred under the circumstances.

"Where is Horace all this time?" he asked."Why is he not here?""He has been called away," she answered, "by a message from Lady Janet."The reply more than astonished Julian; it seemed almost to alarm him.He returned to Mercy's chair; he said to her, eagerly, "Are you sure?""Horace himself told me that Lady Janet had insisted on seeing him.""When?"

"Not long ago.He asked me to wait for him here while he went upstairs."Julian's face darkened ominously.

"This confirms my worst fears," he said."Have you had any communication with Lady Janet?"Mercy replied by showing him his aunt's note.He read it carefully through.

"Did I not tell you," he said, "that she would find some excuse for refusing to hear your confession? She begins by delaying it, simply to gain time for something else which she has it in her mind to do.When did you receive this note? Soon after you went upstairs?""About a quarter of an hour after, as well as I can guess.""Do you know what happened down here after you left us?""Horace told me that Lady Janet had offered Miss Roseberry the use of her boudoir.""Any more?"

"He said that you had shown her the way to the room.""Did he tell you what happened after that?""No."

"Then I must tell you.If I can do nothing more in this serious state of things, I can at least prevent your being taken by surprise.In the first place, it is right you should know that I had a motive for accompanying Miss Roseberry to the boudoir.I was anxious (for your sake) to make some appeal to her better self--if she had any better self to address.I own I had doubts of my success--judging by what I had already seen of her.My doubts were confirmed.In the ordinary intercourse of life I should merely have thought her a commonplace, uninteresting woman.Seeing her as I saw her while we were alone--in other words, penetrating below the surface--I have never, in all my sad experience, met with such a hopelessly narrow, mean, and low nature as hers.Understanding, as she could not fail to do, what the sudden change in Lady Janet's behavior toward her really meant, her one idea was to take the cruelest possible ad vantage of it.So far from feeling any consideration for you , she was only additionally imbittered toward you.She protested against your being permitted to claim the merit of placing her in her right position here by your own voluntary avowal of the truth.She insisted on publicly denouncing you, and on forcing Lady Janet to dismiss you, unheard, before the whole household! 'Now I can have my revenge! At last Lady Janet is afraid of me!' Those were her own words--I am almost ashamed to repeat them--those, on my honor, were her own words! Every possible humiliation to be heaped on you; no consideration to be shown for Lady Janet's age and Lady Janet's position; nothing, absolutely nothing, to be allowed to interfere with Miss Roseberry's vengeance and Miss Roseberry's triumph! There is this woman's shameless view of what is due to her, as stated by herself in the plainest terms.I kept my temper; I did all I could to bring her to a better frame of mind.I might as well have pleaded--I won't say with a savage; savages are sometimes accessible to remonstrance, if you know how to reach them--I might as well have pleaded with a hungry animal to abstain from eating while food was within its reach.I had just given up the hopeless effort in disgust, when Lady Janet's maid appeared with a message for Miss Roseberry from her mistress: 'My lady's compliments, ma'am, and she will be glad to see you at your earliest convenience, in her room.'"Another surprise! Grace Roseberry invited to an interview with Lady Janet! It would have been impossible to believe it, if Julian had not heard the invitation given with his own ears.