We sent
him a statement in proper form, a few hours later. It's horrible what
those two have suffered! And then, to-day--it's too dark for you to
read his precious letter, but if you really don't mind, I'll
tell you the gist of it."
He summarized it--quite fairly--yet with a contempt he did not try to
conceal. The girl at his side, muffled in a blue cloak, with a dark hood
framing the pale gold of the hair, and the delicate curves of the face,
listened in silence. At the end she said:
"Tell me on what grounds you think Mr. Melrose has left his property to
Mr. Faversham?"
"Everybody believes it! My Carlisle lawyers whom I saw this morning are
convinced of it. Melrose is said to have spoken quite frankly about it to
many persons."
"Not very strong evidence on which to condemn a man so utterly as you
condemn him," said Lydia, with sudden emotion. "Think of the difficulty
of his position! May he not be honestly trying to steer his way? And may
not we all be doing our best to make his task impossible, putting the
worst construction--the very worst!--on everything he does?"
There was silence a moment. Tatham and Lydia were looking into each
other's faces; the girl's soul, wounded and fluttering, was in her
eyes. Tatham felt a sudden and choking sense of catastrophe. Their
house of cards had fallen about them, and his stubborn hopes with it.
She, with her high standards, could not possibly defend--could not
possibly plead--for a man who was behaving so shabbily, so dishonourably,
except--for one reason! He leapt indignantly at certainty; although it
was a certainty that tortured him.
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