“If you love Pluma Hurlhurst better than your sense of honor this letter is of no avail. I can not see you drifting on to ruin without longing to save you. You have been cleverly caught in the net the scheming heiress has set for you. It is certainly evident she loves you with a love which is certainly a perilous one. 192 There is not much safety in the fierce, passionate love of a desperate, jealous woman. You will pardon me for believing at one time your heart was elsewhere. You will wonder why I refer to that; it will surprise you to learn, that one subject forms the basis of this letter. I refer to little Daisy Brooks.
“You remember the night you saw little Daisy home, burning with indignation at the cut direct––which Pluma had subjected the pretty little fairy to? I simply recall that fact, as upon that event hangs the terrible sequel which I free my conscience by unfolding. You had scarcely left the Hall ere Pluma called me to her side.
“‘Do not leave me, Lester,’ she said; ‘I want to see you; remain until after all the guests have left.’
“I did so. You have read the lines:
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“‘Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned’? |
“They were too truly exemplified in the case of Pluma Hurlhurst when she found you preferred little golden-haired Daisy Brooks to her own peerless self. ‘What shall I do, Lester,’ she cried, ‘to strike his heart? What shall I do to humble his mighty pride as he has humbled mine?’ Heaven knows, old boy, I am ashamed to admit the shameful truth. I rather enjoyed the situation of affairs. ‘My love is turned to hate!’ she cried, vehemently. ‘I must strike him through his love for that little pink-and-white baby-faced creature he is so madly infatuated with. Remove her from his path, Lester,’ she cried, ‘and I shall make it worth your while. You asked me once if I would marry you. I answer now: remove that girl from his path, by fair means or foul, and I give you my hand as the reward, I, the heiress of Whitestone Hall.’
“She knew the temptation was dazzling. For long hours we talked the matter over. She was to furnish money to send the girl to school, from which I was shortly to abduct her. She little cared what happened the little fair-haired creature. Before I had time to carry out the design fate drifted her into my hands. I rescued her, at the risk of my own life, from a watery grave. I gave out she was my wife, that the affair might reach your ears, and you would believe the child willfully eloped with me. I swear to you no impure thought ever crossed that child’s brain. I gave her a very satisfactory explanation as to why I had started so false a report. In her 193 innocence––it seemed plausible––she did not contradict my words.
“Then you came upon the scene, charging her with the report and demanding to know the truth.
“At that moment she saw the affair in its true light. Heaven knows she was as pure as a spotless lily; but appearances were sadly against the child, simply because she had not contradicted the report that I had circulated––that she was my wife. Her lips were dumb at the mere suspicion you hurled against her, and she could not plead with you for very horror and amazement.
“When you left her she was stricken with a fever that was said to have cost her her life. She disappeared from sight, and it was said she had thrown herself into the pit.