“She brung me that half sheet to-night,” said Hepsy, in conclusion, “and told me what to do, and said how all she wanted was for Mr. Lawrence to marry Lilian. There, dear sir, that’s all I know, as true as I live and draw the breath of life. Now, please let me go home, I’ll give up the fifty dollars and the silk gown,” and without waiting for permission, she seized her green calash, and darting from the room went tearing down the walk at a rate highly injurious to her corns, and the “spine in her back,” of which she had recently been complaining.
Thus forsaken by Hepsy, Geraldine bowed her head upon the table, but refused to speak, until Richard said to her:
“Madame, silence will avail you nothing, for unless you confess the whole, I shall to-morrow morning start in quest of Esther Bennett, who will be compelled to tell the truth.”
There was something in Richard’s manner which made Geraldine quail. She was afraid of him, and knowing well that Esther would be frightened into betraying her, she felt that she would rather the story should come from herself. So, after a few hysterical sobs and spasmodic attempts to speak, she began to tell how she first overheard Mr. Thornton talking to his son of Esther Bennett, and how the idea was then conceived of using that information for her own purposes if it should be necessary. Once started, it seemed as if she could not stop until her mind was fully unburdened, and almost as rapidly as Hepsy herself she told how she had gone to New York, ostensibly to buy the wedding dress, but really in quest of Esther Bennett, who was easily found, and for a certain sum enlisted in her service.
“I was well acquainted with the particulars of Cousin Helen’s marriage,” she said, “well acquainted with Mildred’s being left at Beechwood, and this made the matter easy, for I knew just what to say. I had also in my possession one of Helen’s letters; her handwriting was much like my own, and by a little practice I produced that letter which deceived even Uncle Thornton. I told Esther what to say and what to do, when to come to Mayfield and how to act.”
“The Old Nick himself never contrived a neater trick,” chimed in the Judge; “but what in Cain did you do it for?”
“For Lilian,—for Lilian,” answered Geraldine. “She is all I have to love in the wide world, and when I saw how her heart was set on Lawrence Thornton, I determined that she should have him if money and fraud could accomplish it!”
“Yes, my fine madame,” whispered the Judge again, “but what reason had you to think Lawrence would marry Lilian, even if he were Milly’s uncle?”
“I thought,” answered Geraldine, “that when recovered from his disappointment he would turn back to her, for he loved her once, I know.”
“Don’t catch me swallowing that,” muttered the Judge; “he love that putty head!”