“That I saw Dr. Delano and Miss Wills in Dover yesterday, at four o’clock in the afternoon, riding together in an open carriage.”
“Might you not possibly have been deceived?”
“No, madam, it was your husband; and as for Miss Wills, she recognized me. I may add that she told me distinctly, a few days ago, that she was going to Wolfboro’ yesterday, which was a falsehood.”
“I thank you, Colonel Murdock, and beg you to excuse me for troubling you,” and with a smile upon her lips, and a manner perfectly calm, she left him, and soon after went to her room. It is folly to try to describe the long horrors of that night. They had to be lived through, and Clara counted the hours one by one, for she never touched her bed nor dreamed of sleeping. Early in the evening she had packed her trunk, carefully putting away in Albert’s, everything that belonged to him. Some time during the night, she wrote a note to him. The stage was to leave early in the morning. A little while before it started, she ordered a cup of coffee and sent for the landlord. He came in bland and smiling, and asked what he could do to serve her.
“Mr. Hammond,” she said, with the air of one confident of carrying all points. “I must leave this morning, and I wish you to loan me fifty dollars.”
“Well, madam, doubtless your husband——”
“No, no,” she said, cutting him short. “I must have it on my own responsibility. Take my watch as security, and understand that my husband is not to pay this under any circumstances. I shall return you the money without delay.”
The polite landlord refused the security, and furnished the money. This, with what Clara had in her purse, enabled her to just meet her traveling expenses, and to pay the hotel bill of herself and her guest, Miss Wills, which had been running since Albert left. A few minutes later, after running the gauntlet of a few curious boarders lounging on the veranda, the smiling landlord handed Clara into the coach with great deference.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE.
There was great excitement for the rest of the day in the Kearsarge House, and when the evening coach brought Ella from the railroad station, she was surprised at the coldness with which everybody greeted her; but she was a rich heiress, and scandal handled her with gloves. She explained to one or two, whose lead others would be likely to follow, that her meeting with Dr. Delano in Dover was the purest accident. “Why!” she exclaimed, “what else could it have been?” and this passed current, for Colonel Murdock had said nothing, except to Clara, of his knowledge of Ella’s pretence that she was going to Wolfboro’. Still, there were some who knew the secret of the letter, and these avoided all further recognition of her, except a few fawners who pretended that that part of the scandal was a pure fabrication. The next day Albert returned, having waited over only for appearance’ sake, for he might just as well have come with Ella. He went immediately up to his rooms, and seeing no one, concluded his wife must be out riding or walking; still it was strange, for he had written, informing her of his intended return, and naturally she would have met him at the veranda. Very soon he went to the office and asked the clerk where Mrs. Delano was, but the answer being very indefinite, Colonel Murdock, who had just bought a cigar, volunteered the following: