CHAPTER XV
SARA WRANDALL FINDS THE TRUTH
Sara had kept the three Wrandalls over for luncheon.
"My dear," said Mrs. Redmond Wrandall, as she stood before Hetty'sportrait at the end of the long living-room, "I must say that Brandonhas succeeded in catching that lovely little something that makesher so--what shall I say?--so mysterious? Is that what I want? Theword is as elusive as the expression."
"Subtle is the word you want, mother," said Vivian, standing besideLeslie, tall, slim and aristocratic, her hands behind her back, hermanner one of absolute indifference. Vivian was more than handsome;she was striking.
"There isn't anything subtle about Hetty," said Sara, with a laugh."She's quite ingenuous."
Leslie was pulling at his moustache, and frowning slightly. Thesunburn on his nose and forehead had begun to peel off in chappylittle flakes.
"Ripping likeness, though," was his comment.
"Oh, perfect," said his mother. "Really wonderful. It will makeBrandon famous."
"She's so healthy-looking," said Vivian.
"English," remarked Leslie, as if that covered everything.
"Nonsense," cried the elder Mrs. Wrandall, lifting her lorgnetteagain. "Pure, honest, unmixed blood, that's what it is. There isbirth in that girl's face."
"You're always talking about birth, mother," said her son sourly,as he turned away.
"It's a good thing to have," said his mother with conviction.
"It's an easy thing to get in America," said he, pulling out hiscigarette case. "Have a cigarette, mother? Sara?"
"I'll take one, Les," said Vivian. She selected one and passed thecase on to her mother. Sara shook her head.
"No, thanks," she said.
Mrs. Redmond Wrandall laid her cigarette down without attemptingto light it, a sudden frostiness in her manner. Vivian and Leslieblew long plumes of smoke from the innermost recesses of theirlungs.
"Nerves?" asked Vivian mildly.
"I don't like Leslie's brand," explained Sara.
"They're excellent, I think," said Mrs. Wrandall, and thereuponaccepted a light from Leslie.
"Well, let's be off," said he, somewhat irritably. "Tell MissCastleton we're sorry to have missed her."
It was then that Sara prevailed upon them to stop for luncheon."She always takes these long walks in the morning, and she will bedisappointed if she finds you haven't waited--"
"Oh, as for that--" began Leslie and stopped, but he could not havebeen more lucid if he had uttered the sentence in full.
"Why didn't you pick her up and bring her home with you?" askedSara, as they moved off in the direction of the porch.
"She seemed to be taking Brandy out for his morning exercise," saidhe surlily. "Far be it from me to--Umph!"
Sara repressed the start of surprise. She thought Hetty was alone.
"She will bring him in for luncheon, I suppose," she said carelessly,although there was a slight contraction of the eyelids. "He is aprivileged character."
It was long past the luncheon hour when Hetty came in, flushed andwarm. She was alone and she had been walking rapidly.
"Oh, I am so sorry to be late," she apologised, darting a look ofanxiety at Sara. "We grew careless with time. Am I shockingly late?"
She was shaking hands with Mrs. Redmond Wrandall as she spoke.Leslie and Vivian stood by, rigidly awaiting their turn. Neitherappeared to be especially cordial.
"What is the passing of an hour, my dear," said the old lady, "toone who is young and can spare it?"
"I did not expect you--I mean to say, nothing was said aboutluncheon, was there, Sara?" She was in a pretty state of confusion.
"No," said Leslie, breaking in; "we butted in, that's all. How areyou?" He clasped her hand and bent over it. She was regarding himwith slightly dilated eyes. He misinterpreted the steady scrutiny."Oh, it will all peel off in a day or two," he explained, going ashade redder.
"When did you return?" she asked. "I thought to-morrow was--"
"Leslie never has any to-morrows, Miss Castleton," explained Vivian."He always does to-morrow's work to-day. That's why he never hasany troubles ahead of him."
"What rot!" exclaimed Leslie.
"Where is Mr. Booth?" inquired Sara. "Wouldn't he come in, Hetty?"
"I--I didn't think to ask him to stop for luncheon," she replied,and then hurried off to her room to make herself presentable.
"Don't be long," called out Sara.
"We are starving," added Vivian.
"Vivian!" exclaimed her mother, in a shocked voice.
"Well, _I_ am," declared her daughter promptly.
"You know you NEVER eat anything in the middle of the day," saidher mother, frowning. As Sara was paying no attention to theirremarks, Mrs. Wrandall was obliged to deliver the supplementalexplanation to Leslie, who hadn't the remotest interest in thematter. "She's so silly about getting fat."
Hetty was in a state of nervous excitement during the luncheon.The encounter with Booth had not resulted at all as she had fanciedit would. She had betrayed herself in a most disconcerting manner,and now was more deeply involved than ever before. She had beendetermined at the outset, she had failed, and now he had a claim--anincontestable claim against her. She found it difficult to meetSara's steady, questioning gaze. She wanted to be alone.
"I suppose you have heard nothing recent from poor Lord Murgatroyd,"Mrs. Wrandall was saying to her, in a most sympathetic tone.
Hetty scarcely grasped the importance of the remark. She lookedrather blankly at their guest.
Sara stepped into the breach. "What do the morning despatches say,Mrs. Wrandall?"
"He is sinking rapidly, I fear. Of course, his extreme age isagainst him. How old is he, Miss Castleton?"
"I--I haven't the remotest idea, Mrs. Wrandall," said the girl."He is very, very old."
"Ninety-two, the Sun says," supplied Vivian.
There was an unaccountable silence.
"I suppose there is--ah--really no hope," said Mrs. Redmond Wrandallat last.
"I fear not," said Hetty composedly. "Except for the heirs-at-law."
Mrs. Wrandall sat up a little straighter in her chair. "Dear me,"she said.
"They've been waiting for a good many years," commented Hetty,without emotion. "Of course, Mrs. Wrandall, you understand thatI am not one of those who will profit by his death. The estate isentailed. I am quite outside the walls."
"I did not know the--ah--"
"My father may come in for a small interest. He is in England atpresent on furlough. But there are a great many near relatives tobe fed before the bowl of plenty gets to him."
"Dear, dear!" murmured Mrs. Wrandall, quite appalled by her wayof putting it. Leslie looked at her and coughed. "What a deliciousdressing you have for these alligator pears, Sara," she went on,veering quickly. "You must tell me how it is made."
After luncheon, Leslie drew Sara aside.
"I must say she doesn't seem especially overjoyed to see me," hegrowled. "She's as cool as ice."
"What do you expect, Leslie?" she demanded with some asperity.
"I can't stand this much longer, Sara," he said. "Don't you seehow things are going? She's losing her heart to Booth."
"I don't see how we can prevent it."
"By gad, I'll have another try at it--to-night. I say, has shesaid--anything?"
"She pities you," said she, a malicious joy in her soul. "That'sakin to something else, you know."
"Confound it all, I don't want to be pitied!"
"Then I'd advise you to defer your 'try' at it," she remarked.
"I'm mad about her, Sara. I can't sleep, I can't think, I can't--yes,I CAN eat, but it doesn't taste right to me. I've just got to haveit settled. Why, people are beginning to notice the change in me.They say all sorts of things. About my liver, and all that sortof thing. I'm going to settle it to-night. It's been nearly threeweeks now. She's surely had time to think it over; how much bettereverything will be for her, and all that. She's
no fool, Sara. Anddo you know what Vivian's doing this very instant over there in thecorner? She's inviting her to spend a fortnight over at our place.If she comes,--well, that means the engagement will be announcedat once."
Sara did not marvel at his assurance in the face of what had gonebefore. She knew him too well. In spite of the original rebuff,he was thoroughly satisfied in his own mind that Hetty Castletonwould not be such a fool as to refuse him the second time.
"It is barely possible, Leslie," she said, "that she may considerBrandon Booth quite as good a catch as you, and infinitely betterlooking at the present moment."
"It's this beastly sunburn," he lamented, rubbing his nose gently,thinking first of his person. An instant later he was thinkingof the other half of the declaration. "That's just what I've beenafraid of," he said. "I told you what would happen if that portraitnonsense went on for ever. It's your fault, Sara."
"But I have reason to believe she will not accept him, if it goesso far as that. You are quite safe in that direction."
"'Gad, I'd hate to risk it," he muttered. "I have a feeling she'sin love with him."
Vivian approached. "Sara, you must let me have Miss Castleton forthe first two weeks in July," she said serenely.
"I can't do it, Vivian," said the other promptly. "I can't bearthe thought of being alone in this big old barn of a place. Niceof you to want her, but--"
"Oh, don't be selfish, Sara," cried Vivian.
"You don't know how much I depend on her," said Sara.
"I'd ask you over, too, dear, if there weren't so many others coming.I don't know where we're going to put them. You understand, don'tyou?"
"Perfectly," said her sister-in-law, smiling.
"But I've been counting on--Hetty."
"I say, Sara," broke in Leslie, "you COULD go up to Bar Harbourwith the Williamsons at that time. Tell her about the invitation,Vivie."
"It isn't necessary," said Sara coldly. "I scarcely know theWilliamsons." She hesitated an instant and then went on with sardonicdismay: "They're in trade, you know."
"That's nothing against 'em," protested he. "Awfully jollypeople--really ripping. Ain't they, Viv?"
"I don't know them well enough to say," said Vivian, turning away."I only know we're all snobs of the worst sort."
"Just a minute, Viv," he called out. "What does Miss Castletonsay about coming?" It was an eager question. Much depended on thereply.
"I haven't asked her," said his sister succinctly. "How could I,without first consulting Sara?"
"Then, you don't intend to ask her?"
"Certainly not."
"Oh, I'll fix it up with Sara," said he confidently.
"Eh, Sara?"
"I'd suggest that you 'fix it up' with Miss Castleton," said Sarapointedly.
Vivian shot a swift glance over her shoulder at her sister-in-law,and then broke into a good-humoured laugh. She joined Hetty andMrs. Redmond Wrandall.
"Sometimes I feel that I really like Vivian," observed Sara, asmuch to herself as to Leslie. "She's above the board, at least."
"Disagreeable as the devil at times, though," said he, biting hislip.
After the Wrandalls had departed, Sara took Hetty off to her room.The girl knew what was coming.
"Hetty," said the older woman, facing her after she had closedthe door of her boudoir, "what is going on between you and BrandonBooth? I must have the truth. Are you doing anything foolish?"
"Foolish? Heaven help me, no! It--it is a tragedy," cried Hetty,meeting her gaze with one of utter despair.
"What has happened? Tell me!"
"What am I to do, Sara darling? He--he has told me that he--he--"
"Loves you?"
"Yes."
"And you have told him that his love is returned?"
"I couldn't help it. I was carried away. I did not mean to let himsee that I--"
"You are such a novice in the business of love," said Sara sneeringly."You are in the habit of being carried away, I fear."
"Oh, Sara!"
"You must put a stop to all this at once. How can you think ofmarrying him, Hetty Glynn? Send him--"
"I do not intend to marry him," said the girl, suddenly calm anddignified.
"I am to draw but one conclusion, I suppose," said the other,regarding the girl intently.
"What do you mean?"
"Is it necessary to ask that question?"
The puzzled expression remained in the girl's eyes for a time, andthen slowly gave way to one of absolute horror.
"How dare you suggest such a thing?" she cried, turning pale, thencrimson. "How dare you?"
Sara laughed shortly. "Isn't the inference a natural one? You areforgetting yourself."
"I understand," said the girl, through pallid lips. Her eyes weredark with pain and misery. "You think I am altogether bad." Shedrooped perceptibly.
"You went to Burton's Inn," sententiously.
"But, Sara, you must believe me. I did not know he was--married.For God's sake, do me the justice to--"
"But you went there with him," insisted the other, her eyes hardas steel. "It doesn't matter whether he was married--or free. YouWENT."
Hetty threw herself upon her companion's breast and wound her strongyoung arms about her.
"Sara, Sara, you must let me explain--you must let me tell youeverything. Don't stop me! You have refused to hear my plea--"
"And I still refuse!" cried Sara, throwing her off angrily. "GoodGod, do you think I will listen to you? If you utter another word,I will--strangle you!"
Hetty shrank back, terrified. Slowly she moved backward in thedirection of the door, never taking her eyes from the impassionedface of her protector.
"Don't, Sara, please don't!" she begged. "Don't look at me likethat! I promise--I promise. Forgive me! I would not give you aninstant's pain for all the world. You would suffer, you would--"
Sara suddenly put her hands over her eyes. A single moan escapedher lips--a hoarse gasp of pain.
"Dearest!" cried Hetty, springing to her side.
Sara threw her head up and met her with a cold, repelling look.
"Wait!" she commanded. "The time has come when you should know whatis in my mind, and has been for months and months. It concerns you.I expect you to marry Leslie Wrandall."
Hetty stopped short.
"How can you jest with me, Sara?" she cried, suddenly indignant.
"I am not jesting," said Sara levelly.
"You--you--really mean--what you have just said?" The puzzled lookgave way to one of revulsion. A great shudder swept over her.
"Leslie Wrandall must pay his brother's debt to you."
"My God!" fell from the girl's stiff lips. "You--you must be goingmad--mad!"
Sara laughed softly. "I have meant it almost from the beginning,"she said. "It came to my mind the day that Challis was buried. Ithas never been out of it for an instant since that day. Now youunderstand."
If she expected Hetty to fall into a fit of weeping, to collapse,to plead with her for mercy, she was soon to find herself mistaken.The girl straightened up suddenly and met her gaze with one inwhich there was the fierce determination. Her eyes were steady,her bosom heaved.
"And I have loved you so devotedly--so blindly," she said, in lowtones of scorn. "You have been hating me all these months while Ithought you were loving me. What a fool I have been! I might haveknown. You COULDN'T love me."
"When Leslie asks you to-night to marry him, you are to say thatyou will do so," said Sara, betraying no sign of having heard thebitter words.
"I shall refuse, Sara," said Hetty, every vestige of colour gonefrom her face.
"There is an alternative," announced the other deliberately.
"You will expose me to--him? To his family?"
"I shall turn you over to them, to let them do what they will withyou. If you go as his wife, the secret is safe. If not, they mayhave you as you really are, to destroy, to annihilate. Take yourchoice, my dear."
"And you, Sara?" asked the
girl quietly. "What explanation willyou have to offer for all these months of protection?"
Her companion stared. "Has the prospect no terror for you?"
"Not now. Not since I have found you out. The thing I have fearedall along has come to pass. I am relieved, now that you show mejust where I truly stand. But, I asked: what of you?"
"The world is more likely to applaud than to curse me, Hetty. Itlikes a new sensation. My change of heart will appear quite natural."
"Are you sure that the world will applaud your real design? Youhate the Wrandalls. Will they be charitable toward you when thetruth is given out? Will Leslie applaud you? Listen, please: I amtrying to save you from yourself, Sara. You will fail in everythingyou have hoped for. You will be more accursed than I. The worldwill pity me, it may even forgive me. It will listen to my story,which is more than you will do, and it will believe me. Ah, I amnot afraid now. At first I was in terror. I had no hope of escape.All that is past. To-day I am ready to take my chances with thebig, generous world. Men will try me, and men are not made ofstone and steel. They punish but they do not avenge when they sitin jury boxes. They are not women! Good God, Sara, is there a manliving to-day who could have planned this thing you have cherishedall these months? Not one! And all men will curse you for it, eventhough they send me to prison or to the--chair. But they will notcondemn me. They will hear my story and they will set me free. Andthen, what of you?"
Sara stood perfectly rigid, regarding this earnest reasoner withgrowing wonder.
"My dear," she said, "you would better be thinking of yourself,not of me."
"Why, when I tell my story, the world will hate you, Sara Wrandall.You have helped me, you have been good to me, no matter what sinistermotive you may have had in doing so. It is my turn to help you."
"To help me!" cried Sara, astonished in spite of herself.
"Yes. To save you from execration--and even worse."
"There is no moral wrong in marriage with Leslie Wrandall," saidSara, returning to her own project.
"No moral wrong!" cried Hetty, aghast. "No, I suppose not," shewent on, a moment later. "It is something much deeper, much blackerthan moral wrong. There is no word for it. And if I marry him,what then? Wherein lies your triumph? You can't mean that--Godin Heaven! You would not go to them with the truth when it was toolate for him to--to cast me off!"
"I am no such fool as that. The secret would be for ever safe inthat event. My triumph, as you call it, we will not discuss."
"How you must hate me, to be willing to do such an infamous thingto me!"
"I do not hate you, Hetty."
"In heaven's name, what do you call it?"
"Justification. Listen to me now. I am saying this for your goodsense to seize and appreciate. Would it be right in me to allowyou to marry any other man, knowing all that I know? There is butone man you can in justice marry: the one who can repair the wreckthat his own blood created. Not Brandon Booth, nor any man saveLeslie Wrandall. He is the man who must pay."
"I do not intend to marry," said Hetty.
"But Leslie will marry some one, and I intend that it shall be you.He shall marry the ex-chorus girl, the artist's model, the--theprostitute! Wait! Don't fly at me like that! Don't assume thatlook of virtuous horror! Let me say what I have to say. This muchof your story shall they know, and no more. They will be proud ofyou!"
Hetty's eyes were blazing. "You use that name--you call me THAT--andyet you have kissed me, caressed me--loved me!" she cried hoarsewith passion.
"He will ask you to-night for the second time. You will accept him.That is all."
"You must take back what you have just said to me--of me,--SaraWrandall. You must unsay it! You must beg my pardon for THAT!"
"I draw no line between mistress and prostitute."
"But I--"
"Enough!"
"You wrong me vilely! You must let me--"
"I have an excellent memory, and it serves me well."
Hetty suddenly threw herself upon the couch and buried her face inher arms. Great sobs shook her slender frame.
Sara stood over her and watched for a long time with pitiless eyes.Then a queer, uneasy, wondering light began to develop in thosedark, ominous eyes. She leaned forward the better to listen to thechoked, inarticulate words that were pouring from the girl's lips.At last, moved by some power she could not have accounted for,she knelt beside the quivering body, and laid her hand, almosttimorously, upon the girl's shoulder.
"Hetty,--Hetty, if I have wronged you in--in thinking that ofyou,--I--I--" she began brokenly. Then she lifted her eyes, andthe harsh light tried to steal back into them. "No, no! What am Isaying? What a fool I am to give way--"
"You have wronged me--terribly, terribly!" came in smothered tonesfrom the cushions. "I did not dream you thought that of me."
"What was I to think?"
Hetty lifted her head and cried out: "You would not let me speak!You refused to hear my story. You have been thinking this of me allalong, holding it against me, damning me with it, and I have beencloser to you than--My God, what manner of woman are you?"
Sara seized her hands and held them in a fierce, tense grip. Hereyes were glowing with a strange fire.
"Tell me--tell me now, on your soul, Hetty;--were you--were you--"
"No! No! On my soul, no!"
"Look into my eyes!"
The girl's eyes did not falter. She met the dark, penetratinggaze of the other and, though dimmed by tears, her blue eyes weresteadfast and resolute. Sara seemed to be searching the very soulof her, the soul that laid itself bare, denuded of every vestigeof guile.
"I--I think I believe you," came slowly from the lips of thesearcher. "You are looking the truth. I can see it. Hetty, Hetty,I--I don't understand myself. It is so--so overwhelming, sotremendous. It is so incredible. Am I really believing you? Is itpossible that I have been wrong in--"
"Let me tell you everything," cried the girl, suddenly throwingher arms about her.
"Not now! Wait! Give me time to think. Go away now. I want to bealone." She arose and pushed the girl toward the door. Her eyeswere fixed on her in a wondering, puzzled sort of way, and she wasshaking her head as if trying to discredit the new emotion thathad come to displace the one created ages ago.
Slowly Hetty Castleton retreated toward the door. With her hand onthe knob, she paused.
"After what has happened, Sara, you must not expect me to stay withyou any longer. I cannot. You may give me up to the law, but--"
Some one was tapping gently on the door.
"Shall I see who it is?" asked the girl, after a long period ofsilence.
"Yes."
It was Murray. "Mr. Leslie has returned, Miss Castleton, and asksif he may see you at once. He says it is very important."
"Tell him I will be down in a few minutes, Murray."
After the door closed, she waited until the footman's steps diedaway on the stairs.
"I shall say no to him, Sara, and I shall say to him that youwill tell him why I cannot be his wife. Do you understand? Are youlistening to me?"
Sara turned away without a word or look of response.
Hetty quietly opened the door and went out.