XXXI
A WITNESS LOST
Impossible! Incredible!
Like a wave suddenly lifted the whole assemblage rose in surprise if notin protest. But there was no outburst. The very depth of the feelingsevoked made all ebullition impossible, and as one sees the billow pauseere it breaks, and gradually subside, so this crowd yielded to its awe,and man by man sank back into his seat till quiet was again restored,and only a circle of listening faces confronted the man who had juststirred a whole roomful to its depths. Seeing this, and realising hisopportunity, Frederick at once entered into the explanations for whicheach heart there panted.
"This will be overwhelming news to him who has cared for me sinceinfancy. You have heard him call me son; with what words shall Ioverthrow his confidence in the truth and rectitude of his long-buriedwife and make him know in his old age that he has wasted years ofpatience upon one who was not of his blood or lineage? The wonder, theincredulity you manifest are my best excuse for my long delay inrevealing the secret entrusted to me by this dying woman."
An awed silence greeted these words. Never was the interest of a crowdmore intense or its passions held in greater restraint. Yet Agnes'stears flowed freely, and Amabel's smiles--well, their expression hadchanged; and to Sweetwater, who alone had eyes for her now, they weresurcharged with a tragic meaning, strange to see in one of her callousnature.
Frederick's voice broke as he proceeded in his self-imposed task.
"The astounding fact which I have just communicated to you was madeknown by my mother, with the dagger still plunged in her breast. Shewould not let me draw it out. She knew that death would follow that act,and she prized every moment remaining to her because of the bliss sheenjoyed of seeing and having near her her only living child. The love,the passion, the boundless devotion she showed in those last few minutestransformed me in an instant from a selfish brute into a deeplyrepentant man. I knelt before her in anguish. I made her feel that,wicked as I had been, I was not the conscienceless wretch she hadimagined, and that she was mistaken as to the motives which led me intoher presence. And when I saw, by her clearing brow and peaceful look,that I had fully persuaded her of this, I let her speak what words shewould, and tell, as she was able, the secret tragedy of her life.
"It is a sacred story to me, and if you must know it, let it be from herown words in the letters she left behind her. She only told me that tosave me from the fate of the children who had preceded me, the fivelittle girls and boys who had perished almost at birth in her arms, shehad parted from me in early infancy to Mrs. Sutherland, then mourningthe sudden death of her only child; that this had been done secretly andunder circumstances calculated to deceive Mr. Sutherland, consequentlyhe had never known I was not his own child, and in terror of the effectwhich the truth might have upon him she enjoined me not to enlighten himnow, if by any sacrifice on my part I could rightfully avoid it; thatshe was happy in having me hear the truth before she died; that the joywhich this gave her was so great she did not regret her fatal act,violent and uncalled for as it was, for it had showed her my heart andallowed me to read hers. Then she talked of my father, by whom I meanhim whom you call Philemon; and she made me promise I would care for himto the last with tenderness, saying that I would be able to do thiswithout seeming impropriety, since she had willed me all her fortuneunder this proviso. Finally, she gave me a key, and pointing out wherethe money lay hidden, bade me carry it away as her last gift, togetherwith the package of letters I would find with it. And when I had takenthese and given her back the key, she told me that but for one thing shewould die happy. And though her strength and breath were fast failingher, she made me understand that she was worried about the Zabels, whohad not come according to a sacred custom between them, to celebrate theanniversary of her wedding, and prayed me to see the two old gentlemenbefore I slept, since nothing but death or dire distress would have keptthem from gratifying the one whim of my father's failing mind. Ipromised, and with perfect peace in her face, she pointed to the daggerin her breast.
"But before I could lay my hand upon it she called for Batsy. 'I wanther to hear me declare before I go,' said she, 'that this stroke wasdelivered by myself upon myself.' But when I rose to look for Batsy Ifound that the shock of her mistress's fatal act had killed her and thatonly her dead body was lying across the window-sill of the adjoiningroom. It was a chance that robbed me of the only witness who couldtestify to my innocence, in case my presence in this house of deathshould become known, and realising all the danger in which it threw me,I did not dare to tell my mother, for fear it would make her lastmoments miserable. So I told her that the poor woman had understood whatshe wished, but was too terrified to move or speak; and this satisfiedmy mother and made her last breath one of trust and contented love. Shedied as I drew the dagger from her breast, and seeing this, I was seizedwith horror of the instrument which had cost me such a dear and valuablelife and flung it wildly from the window. Then I lifted her and laid herwhere you found her, on the sofa. I did not know that the dagger was anold-time gift of her former lover, James Zabel, much less that it borehis initials on the handle."
He paused, and the awe occasioned by the scene he had described was sodeep and the silence so prolonged that a shudder passed over the wholeassemblage when from some unknown quarter a single cutting voice arosein this one short, mocking comment:
"Oh, the fairy tale!"
Was it Amabel who spoke? Some thought so and looked her way, but theyonly beheld a sweet, tear-stained face turned with an air of movingappeal upon Frederick as if begging pardon for the wicked doubts whichhad driven him to this defence.
Frederick met that look with one so severe it partook of harshness;then, resuming his testimony, he said:
"It is of the Zabel brothers I must now speak, and of how one of them,James by name, came to be involved in this affair.
"When I left my dead mother's side I was in such a state of mind that Ipassed with scarcely so much as a glance the room where my new-foundfather sat sleeping. But as I hastened on toward the quarter where theZabels lived, I was seized by such compunction for his desolate statethat I faltered in my rapid flight and did not arrive at the place of mydestination as quickly as I intended. When I did I found the house darkand the silence sepulchral. But I did not turn away. Remembering mymother's anxiety, an anxiety so extreme it disturbed her final moments,I approached the front door and was about to knock when I found it open.Greatly astonished, I at once passed in, and, seeing my way perfectly inthe moonlight, entered the room on the left, the door of which alsostood open. It was the second house I had entered unannounced thatnight, and in this as in the other I encountered a man sitting asleep bythe table.
"It was John, the elder of the two, and, perceiving that he wassuffering for food and in a condition of extreme misery, I took out thefirst bill my hand encountered in my overfull pockets and laid it on thetable by his side. As I did so he gave a sigh, but did not wake; andsatisfied that I had done all that was wise and all that even my motherwould expect of me under the circumstances, and fearing to encounter theother brother if I lingered, I hastened away and took the shortest pathhome. Had I been more of a man, or if my visit to Mrs. Webb had beenactuated by a more communicable motive, I would have gone at once to thegood man who believed me to be of his own flesh and blood, and told himof the strange and heart-rending adventure which had changed the wholetenor of my thoughts and life, and begged his advice as to what I hadbetter do under the difficult circumstances in which I found myselfplaced. But the memory of a thousand past ingratitudes, together withthe knowledge of the shock which he could not fail to receive onlearning at this late day, and under conditions at once so tragic andfull of menace, that the child which his long-buried wife had onceplaced in his arms as his own was neither of her blood nor his, rose upbetween us and caused me not only to attempt silence, but to secrete inthe adjoining woods the money I had received, in the vain hope that allvisible connection between myself and my mother's tragic deat
h wouldthus be lost. You see I had not calculated on Miss Amabel Page."
The flash he here received from that lady's eyes startled the crowd, andgave Sweetwater, already suffering under shock after shock of mingledsurprise and wonder, his first definite idea that he had never rightlyunderstood the relations between these two, and that something besidesjustice had actuated Amabel in her treatment of this young man. Thisfeeling was shared by others, and a reaction set in in Frederick'sfavour, which even affected the officials who were conducting theinquiry. This was shown by the difference of manner now assumed by thecoroner and by the more easily impressed Sweetwater, who had not yetlearned the indispensable art of hiding his feelings. Frederick himselffelt the change and showed it by the look of relief and growingconfidence he cast at Agnes.
Of the questions and answers which now passed between him and thevarious members of the jury I need give no account. They but emphasisedfacts already known, and produced but little change in the generalfeeling, which was now one of suppressed pity for all who had been drawninto the meshes of this tragic mystery. When he was allowed to resumehis seat, the name of Miss Amabel Page was again called.
She rose with a bound. Nought that she had anticipated had occurred;facts of which she could know nothing had changed the aspect of affairsand made the position of Frederick something so remote from any shecould have imagined, that she was still in the maze of the numberlessconflicting emotions which these revelations were calculated to call outin one who had risked all on the hazard of a die and lost. She did noteven know at this moment whether she was glad or sorry he could explainso cleverly his anomalous position. She had caught the look he had castat Agnes, and while this angered her, it did not greatly modify heropinion that he was destined for herself. For, however other peoplemight feel, she did not for a moment believe his story. She had not apure enough heart to do so. To her all self-sacrifice was an anomaly. Nowoman of the mental or physical strength of Agatha Webb would plant adagger in her own breast just to prevent another person from committinga crime, were he lover, husband, or son. So Amabel believed and so wouldthese others believe also when once relieved of the magnetic personalityof this extraordinary witness. Yet how thrilling it had been to hear himplead his cause so well! It was almost worth the loss of her revenge tomeet his look of hate, and dream of the possibility of turning it laterinto the old look of love. Yes, yes, she loved him now; not for hisposition, for that was gone; not even for his money, for she couldcontemplate its loss; but for himself, who had so boldly shown that hewas stronger than she and could triumph over her by the sheer force ofhis masculine daring.
With such feelings, what should she say to these men; how conductherself under questions which would be much more searching now thanbefore? She could not even decide in her own mind. She must let impulsehave its way.
Happily, she took the right stand at first. She did not endeavour tomake any corrections in her former testimony, only acknowledging thatthe flower whose presence on the scene of death had been such a mystery,had fallen from her hair at the ball and that she had seen Frederickpick it up and put it in his buttonhole. Beyond this, and the inferencesit afterward awakened in her mind, she would not go, though manypresent, and among them Frederick, felt confident that her attitude hadbeen one of suspicion from the first, and that it was to follow himrather than to supply the wants of the old man, Zabel, she had left theball and found her way to Agatha Webb's cottage.