Willing to Die: A Novel. Le Fanu Joseph Sheridan

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ ought to be ashamed, I thought, of having introduced such a person.

      I had not time to think a great deal, before the man of the harsh voice and restless eyes suddenly addressed me again.

      "You are coming out, you say, Miss Ware, when you are eighteen?"

      I made him no answer.

      "You are now seventeen, and a year intervenes," he continued, and turning to Mr. Carmel, "Edwyn, run you down to the house, and tell the man to put my horse to."

      So Mr. Carmel crossed the stile at the road-side, and disappeared by the path leading to the stables of Malory. And then turning again to me, the stranger said:

      "Suppose your father and mother have placed you in my sole charge, with a direction to remove you from Malory, and take you under my immediate care and supervision, to-day; you will hold yourself in readiness to depart immediately, attended by a lady appointed to look after you, with the approbation of your parents – eh?"

      "No, sir, I'll not go. I'll remain with Miss Grey. I'll not leave Malory," I replied, stopping short, and turning towards him. I felt myself growing very pale, but I spoke with resolution.

      "You'll not? what, my good young lady, not if I show you your father's letter?"

      "Certainly not. Nothing but violence shall remove me from Malory, until I see papa himself. He certainly would not do anything so cruel!" I exclaimed, while my heart sank within me.

      He studied my face for a moment with his dark and fiery eyes.

      "You are a spirited young lady; a will of your own!" he said. "Then you won't obey your parents?"

      "I'll do as I have said," I answered, inwardly quaking.

      He addressed Miss Grey now.

      "You'll make her do as she's ordered?" said this man, whose looks seemed to me more sinister every moment.

      "I really can't. Besides, in a matter of so much importance, I think she is right not to act without seeing her father, or, at least, hearing directly from him."

      "Well, I must take my leave," said he. "And I may as well tell you it is a mere mystification; I have no authority, and no wish to disturb your stay at Malory; and we are not particularly likely ever to meet again; and you'll forgive an old fellow his joke, young ladies?"

      With these brusque and eccentric sentences, he raised his hat, and with the activity of a younger man, ran up the bank at the side of the road; and, on the summit, looked about him for a moment, as if he had forgotten us altogether; and then, at his leisure, he descended at the other side and was quite lost to view.

      Laura Grey and I were both staring in the direction in which he had just disappeared. Each, after a time, looked in her companion's face.

      "I almost think he's mad!" said Miss Grey.

      "What could have possessed Mr. Carmel to introduce such a person to us?" I exclaimed. "Did you hear his name?" I asked, after we had again looked in the direction in which he had gone, without discovering any sign of his return.

      "Droqville, I think," she answered.

      "Oh! Laura, I am so frightened! Do you think papa can really intend any such thing? He's too kind. I am sure it is a falsehood."

      "It is a joke, he says himself," she answered. "I can't help thinking a very odd joke, and very pointless; and one that did not seem to amuse even himself."

      "Then you do not think it is true?" I urged, my panic returning.

      "Well, I can't think it is true, because, if it were, why should he say it was a joke? We shall soon know. Perhaps Mr. Carmel will enlighten us."

      "I thought he seemed in awe of that man," I said.

      "So did I," answered Miss Grey. "Perhaps he is his superior."

      "I'll write to-day to papa, and tell him all about it; you shall help me; and I'll implore of him not to think of anything so horrible and cruel."

      Laura Grey stopped short, and laid her hand on my wrist for a moment, thinking.

      "Perhaps it would be as well if we were to turn about and walk a little further, so as to give him time to get quite away."

      "But if he wants to take me away in that carriage, or whatever it is, he'll wait any time for my return."

      "So he would; but the more I think over it, the more persuaded I am that there is nothing in it."

      "In any case, I'll go back," I said. "Let us go into the house and lock the doors; and if that odious Mr. Droqville attempts to force his way in, Thomas Jones will knock him down; and we'll send Anne Owen to Cardyllion, for Williams, the policeman. I hate suspense. If there is to be anything unpleasant, it is better to have it decided, one way or other, as soon as possible."

      Laura Grey smiled, and spoke merrily of our apprehensions; but I don't think she was quite so much at ease as she assumed to be.

      Thus we turned about, I, at least, with a heart thumping very fast; and we walked back towards the old house of Malory, where, as you have this moment heard, we had made up our minds to stand a siege.

      CHAPTER VII

      tasso

      Idaresay I was a great fool; but if you had seen the peculiar and unpleasant face of Monsieur Droqville, and heard his harsh nasal voice, in which there was something of habitual scorn, you would make excuses. I confess I was in a great fright by the time we had got well into the dark avenue that leads up to the house.

      I hesitated a little as we reached that point in the carriage-road, not a long one, which commands a clear view of the hall-door steps. I had heard awful stories of foolish girls spirited away to convents, and never heard of more. I have doubts as to whether, had I seen Monsieur Droqville or his carriage there, I should not have turned about, and ran through the trees. But the courtyard in front of the house was, as usual, empty and still. On its gravel surface reposed the sharp shadows of the pointed gables above, and the tufts of grass on its surface had not been bruised by recent carriage wheels. Instead, therefore, of taking to flight, I hurried forward, accompanied by Laura Grey, to seize the fortress before it was actually threatened.

      In we ran, lightly, and locked the hall door, and drew chain and bolt against Monsieur Droqville; and up the great stairs to our room, each infected by the other's panic. Safely in the room, we locked and bolted our door, and stood listening, until we had recovered breath. Then I rang our bell furiously, and up came Anne Owen, or, as her countrymen pronounce it, Anne Wan. There had been, after all, no attack; no human being had attempted to intrude upon our cloistered solitude.

      "Where is Mrs. Torkill?" I asked, through the door.

      "In the still-room, please, miss."

      "Well, you must lock and bolt the back-door, and don't let any one in, either way."

      We passed an hour in this state of preparation, and finally ventured downstairs, and saw Rebecca Torkill. From her we learned that the strange gentleman who had been with Mr. Carmel had driven away more than half an hour before; and Laura Grey and I, looking in one another's faces, could not help laughing a little.

      Rebecca had overheard a portion of a conversation, which she related to me; СКАЧАТЬ