“Never mind—lie down. There, I shall say very little to Leo. What I do say to the point shall be in your presence, dear. Good night.”
“Good night,” he repeated, as he walked softly downstairs, and out through the drawing-room into the garden, to see that Leo’s window remained open, when he sighed deeply, went back, and sat down to watch for his sister’s return.
Volume Three—Chapter Five.
A Wayward Sister.
Hartley Salis was not the only watcher. Mary lay with her eyes burning and brain throbbing with contending emotions. She was in agony, for she had to combat, in addition to the horror of the discovery that her sister could be so shameless in her acts, a sensation of gratification that would force itself to the front.
It was terrible, but it was true; and she knew that she could not help a feeling of exultation that Horace North had discovered something of her sister’s character before it was too late. She felt ashamed of this feeling, but it was utterly unselfish, and born of the love she felt for North. He could never be more than a friend to her, but she would like to see him happy, and that he could never be with Leo for his wife.
She wept bitterly as she lay helplessly there, for it seemed like rejoicing that her sister was found out; but the thoughts would come, and they mastered her.
And there to share the watch of Hartley Salis was Dally Watlock, as she sat behind her curtained window with the casement just ajar. She could see nothing below, but she made sure that “Master” would not go to bed till “Miss Leo” returned.