The Argosy — page 369: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

346 The White Witch. ‘‘And you will not let me chase you away from the Abbey?” she said, as they turned to the open window again. ‘Tt is not that: not anything you have said: you-did well to be indignant. But you will forgive me if I go away. At the end of two or three months, when I come back, you will have forgotten it, perhaps.” ‘*Do you think one forgets such an accusation as that?” She spoke so gently, so sadly now, with no passion, no hardness. ‘I can never forget it; I think you will understand that when you recall what a dreadful charge it is that you would bring against me.” ‘‘No, no, I brought no charge. I will tell you what I thought ; I know how devoted you can be, by your fondness for your mother : I thought it was just possible that someone in whom you and your mother were interested, some relative, or—or a lover 6s ‘‘T have never loved anyone,” she quietly interrupted: and in her face there shone a look of noble steadfastness that made Godfrey’s heart leap. ‘*Never. Do you believe me?” ‘“‘T do believe you,” he said. ‘‘ Now will you answer one ques- tion: why do you avoid Sir William Hunt?” There was an instant’s pause. “I do not avoid Sir William Hunt.” ‘Surely you cannot say that?” ‘T do say it.” Godfrey leant against the window-frame, wholly taken by surprise, sick with disgust and bitter disappointment. Through all his doubts, he had not expected a bold, deliberate falsehood from her. “ After that, of course I have no more to say, Miss Dixon.” ‘ But I have,” she answered. ‘‘ You have asked for a confession, for my confidence ; you shall have them both. ‘Then you will see why I have kept them back for so long. ‘There is a secret that con- cerns Sir William Hunt; but it is not mine. It is my mother’s.” ‘Mrs. Mayne’s!” exclaimed Godfrey. ‘Yes, And I cannot compliment you on your penetration in not having discovered as far as that for yourself. Who was it that turned faint at the first mention of Sir William’s name? Who was it that wanted to refuse the invitation to Goule Park altogether ?—for I know that did not escape you. Who was it that was taken with nervousness to-night in time to avoid going to the dinner ?” Godfrey could not help wondering, as she put these questions slowly and forcibly, why this view of the matter had never struck him before. But Mrs. Mayne had seemed so very impossible a person to have a secret of her own—at least one of any importance. “ Try to think over all the times when Sir William or Goule Park has been mentioned, and to remember who it was that showed the most emotion,” she continued. “Mrs. Mayne, certainly. But she shows her feelings more readily than you do.” ‘She had more reason in this case. You shall judge for yourself. Gomichbooks (e(0)