'Poor girl--poor darling girl!' muttered Humphrey, as though communing with himself. 'What an awful fate for one so young and pretty!'
'What fate?' cried Martin Gurwood. 'Where is she now?'
'Dead,' said Humphrey Statham solemnly. 'Found killed by cold and hunger, with her baby on her breast. It seems that my poor Emily, deserted by the scoundrel who had seduced her--may the eternal--'
'Stay!' interrupted Martin Gurwood, wildly throwing up his arms; 'stay! For mercy's sake, do not add your curses to the torture which I have been suffering under for years, and which culminates in this moment!'
'You!' said Humphrey, starting back; 'you! Are you mad?'
'I would to heaven I were! I would to heaven I had been; for I should have had some excuse! The girl you speak of was called Emily Mitchell. I was the man who entrapped her from Headingly; I was the man who ruined her, body and soul!'
Humphrey Statham fell back in his chair; his lips parted, but no sound came from them.
'It is right that you should hear all now,' said Martin in a dull low tone; 'though until this instant I never knew who was the man whom I had wronged so deeply; never, of course, suspected it was you. She told me that there was a gentleman far above her station in life who intended to marry her; but she never mentioned his name. I was on a visit to a college friend when I first saw Emily and fell in love with her. I had no evil intentions then; but the thing went on from bad to worse, until I persuaded her to elope with me. Ah, my God!' he cried wildly, 'bear witness to the one long-protracted torture which my subsequent life has been--to the struggles which I have made to shake off the hypocrisy and deceit under whose dominion I have lived, and to stand confessed as the meanest of Thy creatures! Bear witness to these, and let them plead for me!'
Then he flung himself forward on the desk, and buried his face in his hands. There came a knock at the door. Humphrey Statham, all horror-stricken as he was, rushed forward to prevent any intrusion. But he was too late; the door opened quickly, and Pauline entered the room.