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Page 76
Gordon roused himself, however. "Be more careful another time, Emma," he
said sharply.
Emma tossed her head. "Doctor Elliot moved jest as I was coming with the
cup," she said in a thin, waspish voice.
"He did no such thing," Gordon said harshly, "and if he had, it was your
business to be careful. Get Doctor Elliot another cup of tea."
Emma obeyed with a jerk. She set the cup and saucer down beside James's
plate as hard as she dared, and James at the first sip found that the
tea was salted. However, he said nothing. Gordon after his outburst had
resumed his former state of apathy, and was eating and drinking like a
machine, whose works were rusty and almost run down. He could not
trouble him with such an absurdity. Then, too, he was too vexed to
please the girl so much. He forced himself to drink the tea without a
grimace, knowing that Emma's eyes were upon him. But the climax was
almost reached. That night when on his return he wished to change his
collar before dinner, he found every one with the buttonholes torn. It
was skilfully done, so skilfully that no one could have declared
positively that it had not been done accidentally in the laundry. James
would not appear at the dinner-table in a soiled collar, and was forced
to hurry out to the village store and purchase new ones. These, with the
exception of the one he put on, he locked in his trunk. He was late for
dinner, and the soup was quite cold. When Doctor Gordon complained
irritably, Emma replied with one of her characteristic tosses of the
head that she couldn't help it, Doctor Elliot was late. James said
nothing. He swallowed his luke-warm soup in silence. He began to wonder
what he could do. He did not wish to complain to Doctor Gordon,
especially as the result might be the dismissal of Emma, and he felt
that he could say nothing to Clemency about it. Clemency appeared at the
dinner-table, but she looked pale and forlorn, and said good evening to
James without lifting her eyes. When her uncle asked if her head was
better, she said, "Yes, thank you," in a spiritless tone. She ate almost
nothing. After dinner, James had a call to make, and, on his return,
entered by the office door. He found Gordon fast asleep in his chair,
with the dog at his feet. The dog started up at sight of James, but he
motioned him down, and went softly out into the hall. There was a light
there, but none in the parlor. James heard distinctly a little sob from
the parlor. He hesitated a moment, then he entered the room. It was
suffused with moonlight. All the pale objects stood out like ghosts.
Clemency by the window, in a little white wool house-gown, looked,
ghostly.
James went straight across to her, pulled up a chair beside her, seated
himself, and pulled one of her little hands away from her face almost
roughly, and held it firmly in spite of her weak attempt to remove it.
"Now, Clemency," he said in a determined voice, "this has gone quite far
enough. You told your uncle that you wished to break your engagement to
me. I have no wish to coerce you. If you really do not want to marry me,
why, I must make the best of it, but I have a right to know the reason
why, and I will know it."
Clemency was silent, except for her sobs.
"Tell me," said James.
"Don't," whispered Clemency.
"Tell me."
Then Clemency let her other hand, which contained a moist little ball of
handkerchief, fall. She turned full upon him her tearful, swollen face.
"If you want to know what you know already," said she, in a hard voice,
"here it is. She wasn't my mother, but I loved her like one, and you
killed her."
CHAPTER XV
James sat as if turned to stone. All in a second he realized what it
must be. He let Clemency's hand go, and leaned back in his chair. "What
do you mean, Clemency?" he asked finally, but he realized how senseless
the question was. He knew perfectly well what she meant, and he knew
perfectly well that he was utterly helpless before her accusation.
"You know," said Clemency, still in her unnatural hard voice. "You
killed her."
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