Lady Hester | Page 9

in his hands. Emily sprang up, and tried to draw down his arm; and
she did, but he only used it to put her from him, hold her off at arm's
length, and look at her--oh! with such a tender face of firm sorrow!
"Ah! Emily," he said; "you too! It has been all on false pretences! That
will have to be all over now."
Then Emily's great brown eyes grew bigger with wonder and dismay.
"False pretences!" she cried, "what false pretences? Not that you cared
for me, Torwood."
"Not that I cared for you," he said, with a suppressed tone that made his
voice so deep! "Not that I cared, but that Lord Torwood did- -Torwood
is the baby upstairs."
"But it is you--you--you--Fulk!" said Emily, trying to creep and sidle

up to him, white doe fashion. I believe nobody had ever called him by
his Christian name before, and it made it sweeter to him, but still he did
not give in.
"Ah! that's all very well," he said, and his voice was softer then, "but
what would your mother say?"
"The same as I do," said Emily, undauntedly. "How should it change
one's feelings one bit," and she almost cried at being held back.
He did let her nestle up to him then, but with a sad sort of smile. "My
child, my darling," he said, "I ought not to allow this! It will only be the
worse after!"
But just then a servant's step made them start back, and a message came
and brought word that Mr. Blake would be glad if Lord Torwood
would step up.
Yes, my poor father was wandering in his speech, and very feverish,
mixing up Adela and Faith Le Blanc strangely together sometimes, and
at others fancying he was lying ill with his wound, and sending
messages to Faith.
We sent for the doctor, but he could not do anything really. It had been
a death-blow, though the illness lasted a full week. He knew us
generally, and liked to see us, but he always had the sense that
something dreadful had happened to us; and he would stroke my hand
or Jaquetta's, and pity us. He was haunted, too, by the sense that he
ought to do something for us which he could not do. We thought he
meant to make a will, securing us something, but he was never in a
condition in which my brother would have felt justified in getting him
to sign it. Indeed there was so little disease about him, and we thought
he would get better, if only we could keep him free from distress and
excitement; so we made his room as quiet as possible, and discouraged
his talking or thinking.
Lady Hester came every day. My brother had sent for Mr. Eagles, our
solicitor, to meet her the first time, and look at her papers.

He said he could not deny that it looked very bad for us. Of the original
marriage there was no doubt; indeed, my father had told Torwood
where to find the certificate of it, folded up in the secret drawer of his
desk, with his commission in the army; and the register of Faith's burial
was only too plain. The only chance there was for us was, that her
identity could not be established; but Mr. Eagles did not think it would
go off on this. The whole of her life seemed to be traceable; besides,
there was something about Hester that forbade all suspicion of her
being a conscious impostor. Whether she would be able to prove
herself my father's daughter was another more doubtful point. That,
however, made no difference, except as to her own rank and fortune. If
the first wife were proved to have been alive till 1836, then little Alured
was the only true heir to the title and estate, and, next after him, stood
Hester Lea and her son.
People said she was like the family; I never could see it, and always
thought the likeness due to their imagination. She took one by surprise.
She was a tall, well-made woman, with a narrow waist, and a proud,
peculiarly upright bearing, though quick, almost sharp in all her
movements, and especially with her eyes. Those eyes, I confess, always
startled me. They were clear, bright blue, well opened eyes--honest
eyes one would have called them--only they appeared to be always
searching about, and darting at one when one least expected it. The red
and white of the face too always had a clear hard look, like the eyes;
the teeth projected a little, and were so very, very white, that they
always seemed to me to flash like the eyes; and if ever she smiled, it
was as much as to