“I was wishing,” she began, then hesitated, rose suddenly, and went and stood beside her governess, putting one little hand on the elder woman’s. “You are so kind, so thoughtful,” she said, gently. “You ask me no questions, do not examine me as to why I have come to-night. I must leave Hurstley, and at once; there is a reason, but I cannot tell you yet. Still you will believe and trust me, will you not? Yes, yes, I know you will. I have only you to help me now in the whole world, and you will not fail me.”
“You wish me to do something more?”
“I want to be lost to Hurstley. I want no one but you to know where I have gone. I want you to keep my secret.”
Miss Lawson drew the girl into the fast-fading light, and scrutinized her face earnestly, almost sternly. The weary sadness in the beautiful eyes, the trembling lips, the wistful expression, told their tale. Miss Lawson was satisfied.
“Yes,” she promised, “I will do as you wish—your secret shall be safe.”
CHAPTER XIII.
Immediately on her return to the castle, Vane Charteris sought her aunt, and whispered to her the success of her mission. Mrs. Crosbie willingly agreed to drive over early the next morning, and see what could be done with respect to dispatching Margery from the village; and Vane went up to her room, both satisfied and triumphant. Stuart’s eagerness was fed by fictitious tender messages from Margery, which Vane uttered glibly and without the slightest effort; and so the first part of her plot proved most successful. She learned from her aunt that the mother and son had met, and that Mrs. Crosbie had carried out her part to the letter, thereby causing Stuart no little surprise and pleasure.
The news of Margery’s disappearance came like a thunderclap to Vane. She had never contemplated this dénouement, and was a little puzzled how next to act, until Mrs. Crosbie, in recounting the occurrences of her morning’s drive, incidentally mentioned that she had met Mrs. Bright, who was in great distress about her son.
“What has happened to him, Aunt Constance?” asked Vane, with assumed indifference.
“I thought I said that he was in love with this girl—wished to marry her, in fact—and is so troubled at her refusal that he has determined to leave England.”