Too astounded to move, Peggy and her grandmother sat gazing at the young officer, thinking they saw an apparition. As he crossed the threshold, one wild scream of agony burst from Beatrice, and she swayed forward a dead weight into his arms.
“Beatrice—Beatrice—my darling—my dear, dear wife!” he cried, distractedly. Then, seeing no answering gleam of recognition in her dazed eyes, he turned appealingly to Mrs. Macallister. “Merciful God! have I killed her?”
“Nonsense!” cried Mrs. Macallister, her active mind instantly grasping the significance of the situation. “Joy never kills. Quick, Hurley,” to the butler who was standing by with mouth agape, “some champagne.” And, as he darted out of the room to obey her order, she bade Gordon lift the limp form on to the wide lounge.
With Peggy’s assistance, he chafed her cold hands, and watched with anxious eyes while Mrs. Macallister forced Beatrice to swallow some foaming champagne. The stimulant had instant effect, a little color crept up into the wan cheeks, and she made a feeble attempt to sit up, all the time keeping her eyes fixed on Gordon as if she feared he would vanish from her sight.
“Donald—Donald—is it you?” she gasped, the pent-up longing of days finding voice at last. Then, as recollection gradually returned to her, her features were distorted with agony. “Don—Don—how could you?”
“Hush, my darling, you are wrong, wrong—I am innocent!” Her eyes distended with dawning hope as she glanced from one anxious face to the other.
“Here, take another glass of this,” insisted Mrs. Macallister, who firmly believed that a sip in time often saved many ills. “You will need all your strength, for I judge there are many things which will have to be explained to-night.”
“You are right, Madam,” exclaimed Gordon. “And the one to begin is right behind you.”
Mrs. Macallister wheeled around with such energy that she knocked a cherished vase off the center table, to find Dick Tillinghast just within the door.
“Mercy on us, Dick,” she said, divided between vexation over the fate of the vase, and anxiety to hear what extraordinary events had transpired. “Come in and tell us at once what has happened.”