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Page 29
"Yes, yes--go on. I am listening."
"Was there, in all the world, at that time, more than one person whose
kiss had the power to thrill you as that kiss thrilled you? Answer me,
Margie Harrison!"
"I will not! You have no right to ask me!" she replied, passionately.
"It is useless to attempt disguise, Margie. I can read your very
thoughts. At the moment you felt that touch, you knew instinctively who
was near you. You felt and acknowledged the presence of one who had no
right to be kissing the hand of another man's promised wife. And yet
the forbidden sin of that person was sweet to you. You stooped and
pressed your lips where his had been! Whose?"
"I do not know--indeed I do not! Why do you torture me so, Alexandrine?"
"My poor child, I will say no more. Good-night, Margie. I trust you will
have a pleasant evening with Mr. Trevlyn."
Margie caught the flowing skirt of Miss Lee's dress.
"You shall tell me all! I must know. I have heard too much to be kept in
ignorance of the remainder."
"So be it. You shall hear all. You know that Archer Trevlyn was in the
graveyard, or near it, that night, though you might not see him. Yet you
were sure of his presence--"
"I was not! I tell you, I was not!" she cried, fiercely. "I saw no one;
not a person!"
"Then, if you were not sure of his presence, you loved some other; else
why did you put your lips where those of a stranger had been? In that
case, you were doubly false!"
Margie's cheeks were crimson with shame. She covered her face with her
hands, and was silent.
"How many can you love at once, Margie Harrison?"
"Alexandrine, you are cruel!--cruel! Is it not enough for you to tell me
the truth, without torturing me thus?"
A flash of conscious triumph crossed the cold face of Miss Lee, and then
she was calm as before.
"No, I am not cruel--only truthful. You cannot deny that you knew
Archer Trevlyn was near you. You will not deny it. Margie, I know
what love is--I know something of its keen, subtle instincts. I should
recognize the vicinity of the man I loved, though all around me were
black as midnight."
"Well, what then?" asked Margie, defiantly.
"Wait and see. I followed you out that night, with no definite purpose in
my mind. Perhaps it was curiosity to see what a romantic woman, about to
be married to a man she does not love, would do, I stood outside the
hedge of arbor vitae while you were inside. I saw the tall, shadowy
figure which bent its head upon your hand, and I saw you put your mouth
where his had been. When you went away I did not go. Something kept me
behind. A moment afterward, I heard voices inside the hedge--just one
exclamation from each person--I could swear to that! and then--O
heaven!"
"What then!"
"A blow! a dull, terrible thud, a smothered groan, a fall--and I stood
there powerless to move--stricken dumb and motionless! And while I stood
transfixed, some person rushed past me, breathless, panting, reckless of
everything save escape! Margie, it was so dark that I could not be
positive, but I am morally certain that the person I saw was Archer
Trevlyn!"
"My God!" Margie cowered down to the floor, and hid her face in the folds
of Alexandrine's dress.
"Hear me through," Miss Lee went on relentlessly, her face growing
colder and harder with every word. "Hear me through and then decide for
yourself. Let no opinion of mine bias your judgment. I stood there a
moment longer, and then, when suspended volition came back to me, I fled
from the place. Margie, words cannot express to you my distress, my
bitter, burning anguish! It was like to madness. But sooner than have
divulged my suspicions, I would have killed myself! For I loved Archer
Trevlyn with a depth and fervor which your cool nature has no conception
of. I love him still, though I feel convinced, from the bottom of my
soul, that he is a murderer!"
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