“You will not wound his feelings, Doctor, nor betray me?”
“Trust me for doing neither! I shall speak from my own experience, as I have done to you. If he will not take my advice, you must get someone with more influence to caution him about it. I hardly know how to make my meaning clear to you, Margaret, but Miss Brandt is a dangerous acquaintance, for all of you. We medical men know the consequences of heredity, better than outsiders can do. A woman born in such circumstances—bred of sensuality, cruelty, and heartlessness—cannot in the order of things, be modest, kind, or sympathetic. And she probably carries unknown dangers in her train. Whatever her fascinations or her position may be, I beg of you to drop her at once and for ever!”
“Of course I will, but it seems hard upon her! She has seemed to crave so for affection and companionship.”
“As her mother craved for food and blood; as her father craved for inflicting needless agony on innocent creatures, and sneered meanwhile at their sufferings! I am afraid I should have little faith in Miss Brandt craving for anything, except the gratification of her own senses!”
They were seated on the lower step of the wooden flight that led from the Digue to the sands, so that whilst they could see what went on above them, they were concealed from view themselves.
Just then, Harriet Brandt’s beautiful voice, accompanied by the silvery strains of the mandoline, was heard to warble Gounod’s “Marguerite” from the open window of the Baroness’s sitting-room. Margaret glanced up. The apartment was brilliantly lighted—on the table were bottles of wine and spirits, with cakes and fruit, and Madame Gobelli’s bulky form might be seen leaning over the dishes. She had assembled quite a little party there that night. The two Brimonts were present, and Captain Pullen’s tall figure was distinctly visible under the lamplight. Harriet was seated on the sofa, and her full voice filled the atmosphere with melody.
“There’s something like a voice!” remarked the old doctor.
“That is the very girl we have been talking of!” replied Mrs. Pullen. “I told you she had a lovely voice, and was an accomplished musician.”
“Is that so?” said Doctor Phillips, “then she is still more dangerous than I imagined her to be! Those tones would be enough to drag any man down to perdition, especially if accompanied by such a nature as I cannot but believe she must have inherited from her progenitors!”
“And see, Doctor, there is Ralph,” continued Margaret, pointing out her brother-in-law! “I left him with Miss Leyton. He must have got rid of her by some means and crept up to the Gobellis. He cannot go for them. He is so refined, so fastidious with regard to people in general, that a woman like the Baroness must grate upon his feelings every time she opens her mouth, and the Baron never opens his at all. He can only frequent their company for the sake of Harriet Brandt! I have seen it for some time past and it has made me very uneasy.”