CHAPTER XVII—THE CLOSE
Would our mother have wished it?
These words, uttered in a tone of grave, sad questioning, were followed by a hush among the group which sat under the trees in the orchard that same afternoon. The two mares belonging to Mr. Craig, and Juana’s strawberry roan, were feeding close by, the summer flies their sole trouble. The group consisted of Raphael Craig, the two girls who, as he had said, were his daughters by right of all he had done for them, and Richard. Old Craig had, without any reservation, told Juana and Teresa the history of their mother, and the history of his vengeance on the man who had so cruelly wronged their mother. He explained to them, with a satisfaction which he took no trouble to hide, how Simon Lock, after a career of splendour, was now inevitably doomed to ruin. He told them how for twenty years he had lived solely for the achievement of that moment, and that, now it had come, he was content.
But Juana had said, ‘Would our mother have wished it?’ And her phrase reminded Richard of the old man’s phrase to Simon Lock in the morning—‘Hers was a gentle heart.’ The sisters looked at each other, unquiet, irresolute.
‘This Simon Lock is our real father, then?’ said Teresa.
‘Have I not just told you so?’ said the old man.
‘Let him off, father,’ Juana murmured; and Teresa’s eyes, though she said nothing, supported her sister.
‘Why?’ asked Raphael Craig.