A SURPRISE
For a while Norton stood with folded arms gazing at Cleo, his eyes smouldering fires of wonder and loathing. The woman was trembling beneath his fierce scrutiny, but he evidently had not noted the fact. His mind was busy with a bigger problem of character and the possible depths to which a human being might fall and still retain the human form. He was wondering how a man of his birth and breeding, the heir to centuries of culture and refinement, of high thinking and noble aspirations, could ever have sunk to the level of this yellow animal—this bundle of rags and coarse flesh! It was incredible! His loathing for her was surpassed by one thing only—his hatred of himself.
He was free in this moment as never before. In the fearlessness of death soul and body stood erect and gazed calmly out on time and eternity.
There was one thing about the woman he couldn't understand. That she was without moral scruple—that she was absolutely unmoral in her fundamental being—he could easily believe. In fact, he could believe nothing else. That she would not hesitate to defy every law of God or man to gain her end, he never doubted for a moment. But that a creature of her cunning and trained intelligence could deliberately destroy herself by such an act of mad revenge was unreasonable. He began dimly to suspect that her plans had gone awry. How completely she had been crushed by her own trap he could not yet guess.
She was struggling frantically now to regain her composure but his sullen silence and his piercing eyes were telling on her nerves. She was on the verge of screaming in his face when he said in low, intense tones:
"You did get even with me—didn't you?"
"Yes!"
"I didn't think you quite capable of this!"
His words were easier to bear than silence. She felt an instant relief and pulled herself together with a touch of bravado:
"And now that you see I am, what are you going to do about it?"
"That's my secret," was the quiet reply. "There's just one thing that puzzles me!"
"Indeed!"
"How you could willfully and deliberately do this beastly thing?"
"For one reason only, I threw them together and brought about their love affair——"
"Revenge—yes," Norton interrupted, "but the boy—you don't hate him—you can't. You've always loved him as if he were your own——"
"Well, what of it?"
"I'm wondering——"
"What?"
His voice was low, vibrant but quiet:
"Why, if your mother instincts have always been so powerful and you've loved my boy with such devotion"—the tones quickened to sudden menace—"why you were so willing to give up your own child that day twenty years ago?"
He held her gaze until her own fell:
"I—I—don't understand you," she said falteringly.
He seized her with violence and drew her squarely before him:
"Look at me!" he cried fiercely. "Look me in the face!" He paused until she slowly lifted her eyes to his and finally glared at him with hate. "I want to see your soul now if you've got one. There's just one chance and I'm clutching at that as a drowning man a straw."
"Well?" she asked defiantly.
Norton's words were hurled at her, each one a solid shot:
"Would you have given up that child without a struggle—if she had really been your own?"
"Why—what—do you—mean?" Cleo asked, her eyes shifting.
"You know what I mean. If Helen is really your child, why did you give her up so easily that day?"
"Why?" she repeated blankly.
"Answer my question!"
With an effort she recovered her composure:
"You know why! I was mad. I was a miserable fool. I did it because you asked it. I did it to please you, and I've cursed myself for it ever since."
Norton's grip slowly relaxed, and he turned thoughtfully away. The woman's hand went instinctively to the bruises he had left on her arms as she stepped back nearer the door and watched him furtively.
"It's possible, yes!" he cried turning again to face her suddenly. "And yet if you are human how could you dare defy the laws of man and God to bring about this marriage?"
"It's not a question of marriage yet," she sneered. "You've simply got to acknowledge her, that's all. That's why I brought her here. That's why I've helped their love affair. You're in my power now. You've got to tell Tom that Helen is my daughter, and yours—his half sister! Now that they're in love with one another you've got to do it!"
Norton drew back in amazement:
"You mean to tell me that you don't know that they are married?"
With a cry of surprise and terror, the woman leaped to his side, her voice a whisper:
"Married? Who says they are married?"
"Tom has just said so."
"But they are not married!" she cried hysterically. "They can't marry!"
Norton fixed her with a keen look:
"They are married!"
The woman wrung her hands nervously:
"But you can separate them if you tell them the truth. That's all you've got to do. Tell them now—tell them at once!"
Never losing the gaze with which he was piercing her soul Norton said in slow menacing tones:
"There's another way!"
He turned from her suddenly and walked toward the desk. She followed a step, trembling.
"Another way"—she repeated.
Norton turned:
"An old way brave men have always known—I'll take it if I must!"
Chilled with fear Cleo glanced in a panic about the room and spoke feebly:
"You—you—don't mean——"
Minerva and Andy entered cautiously as Norton answered:
"No matter what I mean, it's enough for you to know that I'm free—free from you—I breathe clean air at last!"
Minerva shot Cleo a look:
"Praise God!"
Cleo extended a hand in pleading:
"Major——"
"That will do now!" he said sternly. "Go!"
Cleo turned hurriedly to the door leading toward the stairs.
"Not that way!" Norton called sharply. "Tom has no further need of your advice. Go to the servants' quarters and stay there. I am the master of this house to-night!"
Cleo slowly crossed the room and left through the door leading to the kitchen, watching Norton with terror. Minerva broke into a loud laugh and Andy took refuge behind her ample form.