"About the master?"

"It be like it. And the man rides a gray horse too. Drat the man, to

come with news on a gray horse! It be that unlucky, as no one in their

seven senses would do it."

"For sure it be! When I was a young wench at school"--and then, as she

folded up the loose ribbons, Letty told a gruesome story of a farmer

robbed and murdered; but as she came to the part the gray horse played

in the tale, Katherine slowly walked into the room, with a letter in her

hand. She was white, even to her lips; and with a mournful shake of her

head, she motioned to the girls to leave her alone. She put the paper

out of her hand, and stood regarding it. Fully ten minutes elapsed ere

she gathered strength sufficient to break its well-known seal, and take

in the full meaning of words so full of agony to her.

"It is midnight, beloved Katherine, and in six hours I may be dead. Lord

Paget spoke of my cousin to me in such terms as leaves but one way out

of the affront. I pray you, if you can, to pardon me. The world will

condemn me, my own actions will condemn me; and yet I vow that you, and

you only, have ever had my love. You I shall adore with my last breath.

Kate, my Kate, forgive me. If this comes to you by strange hands, I

shall be dead or dying. My will and papers of importance are in the

drawer marked "B" in my escritoire. Kiss my son for me, and take my last

hope and thought."

These words she read, then wrung her hands, and moaned like a creature

that had been wounded to death. Oh, the shame! Oh, the wrong and sorrow!

How could she bear it? What should she do? Captain Lennox, who had

brought the letter, was waiting for her decision. If she would go to her

husband, then he could rest and return to London at his leisure. If not,

Hyde wanted his will, to add a codicil regarding the eight thousand

pounds left him by Lady Capel. For he had been wounded in his side; and

a dangerous inflammation having set in, he had been warned of a possible

fatal result.

Katherine was not a rapid thinker. She had little, either, of that

instinct which serves some women instead of all other prudences. Her

actions generally arose from motives clear to her own mind, and of whose

wisdom or kindness she had a conviction. But in this hour so many

things appealed to her that she felt helpless and uncertain. The one

thought that dominated all others was that her husband had fought and

fallen for Lady Suffolk. He had risked her happiness and welfare, he had

forgotten her and his child, for this woman. It was the sequel to the

impertinence of the pedler's visit. She believed at that moment that the

man had told her the truth. All these years she had been a slighted and

deceived woman.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024