“I wish I knew,” he said to himself, “whether she has discovered anything. But it can’t be possible. She appears strangely enough. Perhaps her mind is unhinged by what I have told her. But I never could have got on with her weighing me down. We must not meet again if it can be avoided.”
Jacob resolved to remove on the very next day to the more comfortable room, which he considered suited to the improvement in his circumstances.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE DENUNCIATION.
If Margaret had been calm in her interview with Jacob Wynne, it was an unnatural calmness. Beneath the surface there were eddies of passionate emotion which must, sooner or later, force their way to the light.
A sudden revulsion of feeling swept over her when, relieved from the restraint which she had put upon herself in Jacob’s presence, she found herself standing alone on the sidewalk beneath. Her strength, which had been only kept up thus far by excitement, now gave way utterly, and she leaned, faint and exhausted, against the side of the building. Even that proved an insufficient support. Her limbs tottered, and she fell upon the pavement.
When consciousness returned, she found herself surrounded by a crowd of persons, most of whom had been attracted by curiosity, and only one or two of whom proved of real service.
“Are you feeling better?” inquired a motherly-looking woman, gazing compassionately at the wan and wasted features of Margaret.
“Where am I?” asked Margaret, looking half bewildered at the questioner.
“You have fainted on the sidewalk. I am afraid you are not strong.”
“No. I have been sick. But I remember now. I should like to see a lawyer.”