Wyllard's Weird (Mystery Classics Series). Mary Elizabeth Braddon

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      Chapter 7.

       A Rapid Conversion.

       Table of Contents

      Three days after that compact between Bothwell and Hilda, an officious friend went out of his way to inform Mr. Heathcote that his sister and Mr. Grahame had been seen together several times of late, and that their manner indicated a more than ordinary degree of intimacy. They had been observed together at the early service on Sunday morning; they had sat in the same pew; they had walked away from the church side by side—indeed, Mr. Heathcote’s friend believed they had actually walked to The Spaniards together.

      “It is a shame that such a man as Grahame should be allowed to be on intimate terms with an innocent girl,” said the worthy rustic, in conclusion.

      “My dear Badderly, I hope I am able to take care of my sister without the help of all Bodmin,” retorted Heathcote shortly. “Everybody is in great haste to condemn Mr. Grahame; but you must not forget that my sister and I have been intimate with him and his family for years. We cannot be expected to turn our backs upon him all at once, because his conduct happens to appear somewhat mysterious.”

      Notwithstanding which kindly word for Bothwell, Edward Heathcote went straight home and questioned his sister as to her dealings with that gentleman.

      Hilda admitted that she had seen Mr. Grahame two or three times within the last week, and that she had allowed him to walk home with her after the early service.

      “Do you think it wise or womanly to advertise your friendship with a man who is suspected of a most abominable crime?” asked her brother severely.

      “I think it wise and womanly to be true to my friends in misfortune—in unmerited misfortune,” she answered firmly.

      “You are very strong in your faith. And pray what do you expect will be the end of all this?”

      “I expect—I hope—that some day I shall be Bothwell’s wife. I shall not be impatient of your control, Edward. I am only nineteen. I hope during the next two years you will find good reason to change your opinion about Bothwell, and to give your consent to our marriage—”

      “And if I do not?”

      “If you do not, I must take advantage of my liberty, when I come of age, and marry him without your consent.”

      “You have changed your tune, Hilda. A week ago you told me that you and Bothwell would never be married. Now, you boldly announce your betrothal to him.”

      “We are not betrothed—yet.”

      “O, there is a preliminary stage, is there? A kind of purgatory which precedes the heaven of betrothal. Hilda, you are doing a most ill-advised and unwomanly thing in giving encouragement to this man, in spite of your brother’s warning.”

      “Am I to be unjust because my brother condemns a friend unheard? Believe me, Edward, my instinct is wiser than your experience. Why do you not question Bothwell? He will answer you as frankly as he answered me. He will tell you his reasons for refusing to satisfy that London lawyer’s curiosity. O Edward, how can you be so cruel as to doubt him, to harden your heart against him and against me?”

      “Not against you, my darling,” her brother answered tenderly. “If I thought your happiness were really at stake, that your heart were really engaged, I would do much: but I can but think you are carried away by a mistaken enthusiasm. You would never have cared for Grahame if the world had not been against him; if he had not appeared to you as a martyr.”

      “You are wrong there, Edward,” she answered shyly, her fingers playing nervously with the collar of his coat, the darkly-fringed eyelids drooping over the lovely gray eyes. “I have liked him for a long time. Last winter we used to hunt together a good deal, you know——”

      “I did not know, or I should have taken care to prevent it,” said Heathcote.

      “O, it was always accidental, of course,” she apologised. “But in a hunting country, the fast-goers generally get together, don’t they?”

      “In your case there was some very fast-going, evidently.”

      “I used to think then that Bothwell cared for me—just a little. And then there came a change. But I know the reason of that change now; and I know that he really loves me.”

      “O, you are monstrous wise, child, and monstrous self-willed for nineteen years old,” said her brother, in those deep grave tones of his, a voice which gave weight and power to lightest words, “and you would take your own road in life without counting the cost. Well, Hilda, for your sake I will try to get at the root of this mystery. I will try to fathom your lover’s secret; and God grant I may discover that it is a far less guilty secret than I have deemed.”

      He kissed Hilda’s downcast brow and left her. She was crying; but her tears were less bitter than they had been, for she felt that her brother was now on her side; and Edward Heathcote’s championship was a tower of strength.

      Once having pledged himself to anything, even against his own convictions, Heathcote was the last man to go from his word; but if he needed a stronger inducement than his sister’s sorrowful pleading, that inducement was offered.

      He received a note from Dora Wyllard within a few hours of his conversation with Hilda.

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      “Dear СКАЧАТЬ