East Lynne [99]
was.
"I will join you presently, Captain Levison," he said with a wave of the hand. And he turned back with Barbara toward the open parts of the park.
"Do you like that Captain Levison?" she abruptly inquired, when they were beyond hearing.
"I cannot say I do," was Mr. Carlyle's reply. "He is one who does not improve upon acquaintance."
"To me it looks as though he had placed himself in our way to hear what we were saying."
"No, no, Barbara. What interest could it bear for him?"
Barbara did not contest the point; she turned to the one nearer at heart. "What must be our course with regard to Thorn?"
"It is more than I can tell you," replied Mr. Carlyle. "I cannot go up to the man and unceremoniously accuse him of being Hallijohn's murderer."
They took their way to the house, for there was nothing further to discuss. Captain Levison entered it before them, and saw Lady Isabel standing at the hall window. Yes, she was standing and looking still, brooding over her fancied wrongs.
"Who is that Miss Hare?" he demanded in a cynical tone. "They appear to have a pretty good understanding together. Twice this evening I have met them enjoying a private walk and a private confab."
"What did you say?" sharply and haughtily returned Lady Isabel.
"Nay, I did not mean to offend you," was the answer, for he knew that she heard his words distinctly in spite of her question. "I spoke of /Monsieur votre mari/."
CHAPTER XXIII.
CAPTAIN THORN IN TROUBLE ABOUT "A BILL."
In talking over a bygone misfortune, we sometimes make the remark, or hear it made to us, "Circumstances worked against it." Such and such a thing might have turned out differently, we say, had the surrounding circumstances been more favorable, but they were in opposition; they were dead against it. Now, if ever attendant circumstances can be said to have borne a baneful influence upon any person in this world, they most assuredly did at this present time against Lady Isabel Carlyle.
Coeval, you see, with the arrival of the ex-captain, Levison, at East Lynne, all the jealous feeling, touching her husband and Barbara Hare, was renewed, and with greater force than ever. Barbara, painfully anxious that something should be brought to light, it would have puzzled her to say how or by what means, by which her brother should be exonerated from the terrible charge under which he lay; fully believing that Frederick Thorn, captain in her majesty's service, was the man who had committed the crime, as asserted by Richard, was in a state of excitement bordering upon frenzy. Too keenly she felt the truth of her own words, that she was powerless, that she could, herself, do nothing. When she rose in the morning, after a night passed in troubled reflection more than in sleep, her thoughts were, "Oh, that I could this day find out something certain!" She was often at the Herberts'; frequently invited there--sometimes going uninvited. She and the Herberts were intimate and they pressed Barbara into all the impromptu gay doings, now their brother was at home. There she of course saw Captain Thorn, and now and then she was enabled to pick up scraps of his past history. Eagerly were these scraps carried to Mr. Carlyle. Not at his office; Barbara would not appear there. Perhaps she was afraid of the gossiping tongues of West Lynne, or that her visits might have come to the knowledge of that stern, prying, and questioning old gentleman whom she called sire. It may be too, that she feared, if seen haunting Mr. Carlyle's office, Captain Thorn might come to hear of it and suspect the agitation, that was afloat--for who could know better than he, the guilt that was falsely attaching to Richard? Therefore she chose rather to go to East Lynne, or to waylay Mr. Carlyle as he passed to and from business. It was little she gathered to tell him; one evening she met him with the news that Mr. Thorn /had/ been in former years at West Lynne, though she could not fix the date; another time she went boldly to East Lynne in eager anxiety, ostensibly to make a call on Lady
"I will join you presently, Captain Levison," he said with a wave of the hand. And he turned back with Barbara toward the open parts of the park.
"Do you like that Captain Levison?" she abruptly inquired, when they were beyond hearing.
"I cannot say I do," was Mr. Carlyle's reply. "He is one who does not improve upon acquaintance."
"To me it looks as though he had placed himself in our way to hear what we were saying."
"No, no, Barbara. What interest could it bear for him?"
Barbara did not contest the point; she turned to the one nearer at heart. "What must be our course with regard to Thorn?"
"It is more than I can tell you," replied Mr. Carlyle. "I cannot go up to the man and unceremoniously accuse him of being Hallijohn's murderer."
They took their way to the house, for there was nothing further to discuss. Captain Levison entered it before them, and saw Lady Isabel standing at the hall window. Yes, she was standing and looking still, brooding over her fancied wrongs.
"Who is that Miss Hare?" he demanded in a cynical tone. "They appear to have a pretty good understanding together. Twice this evening I have met them enjoying a private walk and a private confab."
"What did you say?" sharply and haughtily returned Lady Isabel.
"Nay, I did not mean to offend you," was the answer, for he knew that she heard his words distinctly in spite of her question. "I spoke of /Monsieur votre mari/."
CHAPTER XXIII.
CAPTAIN THORN IN TROUBLE ABOUT "A BILL."
In talking over a bygone misfortune, we sometimes make the remark, or hear it made to us, "Circumstances worked against it." Such and such a thing might have turned out differently, we say, had the surrounding circumstances been more favorable, but they were in opposition; they were dead against it. Now, if ever attendant circumstances can be said to have borne a baneful influence upon any person in this world, they most assuredly did at this present time against Lady Isabel Carlyle.
Coeval, you see, with the arrival of the ex-captain, Levison, at East Lynne, all the jealous feeling, touching her husband and Barbara Hare, was renewed, and with greater force than ever. Barbara, painfully anxious that something should be brought to light, it would have puzzled her to say how or by what means, by which her brother should be exonerated from the terrible charge under which he lay; fully believing that Frederick Thorn, captain in her majesty's service, was the man who had committed the crime, as asserted by Richard, was in a state of excitement bordering upon frenzy. Too keenly she felt the truth of her own words, that she was powerless, that she could, herself, do nothing. When she rose in the morning, after a night passed in troubled reflection more than in sleep, her thoughts were, "Oh, that I could this day find out something certain!" She was often at the Herberts'; frequently invited there--sometimes going uninvited. She and the Herberts were intimate and they pressed Barbara into all the impromptu gay doings, now their brother was at home. There she of course saw Captain Thorn, and now and then she was enabled to pick up scraps of his past history. Eagerly were these scraps carried to Mr. Carlyle. Not at his office; Barbara would not appear there. Perhaps she was afraid of the gossiping tongues of West Lynne, or that her visits might have come to the knowledge of that stern, prying, and questioning old gentleman whom she called sire. It may be too, that she feared, if seen haunting Mr. Carlyle's office, Captain Thorn might come to hear of it and suspect the agitation, that was afloat--for who could know better than he, the guilt that was falsely attaching to Richard? Therefore she chose rather to go to East Lynne, or to waylay Mr. Carlyle as he passed to and from business. It was little she gathered to tell him; one evening she met him with the news that Mr. Thorn /had/ been in former years at West Lynne, though she could not fix the date; another time she went boldly to East Lynne in eager anxiety, ostensibly to make a call on Lady