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Page 50
Pratt was in the position of the card-player, who, confronted by a
certain turn in the course of a game which he himself feels sure he is
bound to win, wonders whether he had better not expedite matters by
laying his cards on the table, and asking his opponent if he can
possibly beat their values and combination. He had carefully reckoned up
his own position more than once during the progress of recent events,
and the more carefully he calculated it the more he felt convinced that
he had nothing to fear. He had had to alter his ground in consequence of
the death of Harper Mallathorpe, and he had known that he would have to
fight Nesta. But he had not anticipated that hostilities would come so
soon, or begin with such evident determination on her part. How would it
be, then, at this first stage to make such a demonstration in force that
she would recognize his strength?
He looked up at last and saw Nesta regarding him sternly. But Pratt
smiled--the quiet smile which made her uneasy.
"Miss Mallathorpe!" he said. "I was thinking of two things just then--a
game at cards--and the science of warfare. In both it's a good thing
sometimes to let your adversary see what a strong hand you've got. Now,
then, a question, if you please--are you and I adversaries?"
"Yes!" answered Nesta unflinchingly. "You're acting like an enemy--you
are an enemy!"
"I've hoped that you and I would be friends--good friends," said Pratt,
with something like a sigh. "And if I may say so, I've no feeling of
enmity towards you. When I speak of us being adversaries, I mean it
in--well, let's say a sort of legal sense. But now I'll show you my
hand--that is, as far as I please. Will you listen quietly to me?"
"I've no choice," replied Nesta bluntly. "And I came here to know what
you've got to say for yourself. Say it!"
Pratt moved his chair a little nearer to his visitor.
"Now," he said, speaking very quietly and deliberately, "I'll go through
what I have to say to you carefully, point by point. I shall ask you to
go back a little way. It is now some time since I discovered a secret
about your mother, Mrs. Mallathorpe. Ah, you start!--it may be with
indignation, but I assure you I'm telling you, and am going to tell you,
the absolute truth. I say--a secret! No one knows it but myself--not one
living soul! Except, of course, your mother. I shall not reveal it to
you--under any consideration, or in any circumstances--but I can tell
you this--if that secret were revealed, your mother would be ruined for
life--and you yourself would suffer in more ways than one."
Nesta looked at him incredulously--and yet she began to feel he was
telling some truth. And Pratt shook his head at the incredulous
expression.
"It's quite so!" he said. "You'll begin to believe it---from other
things. Now, it was in connection with this that I paid a visit to
Normandale Grange one evening some months ago. Perhaps you never heard
of that? I was alone with your mother for some time in the study."
"I have heard of it," she answered.
"Very good," said Pratt. "But you haven't heard that your mother came to
see me at my rooms here in Barford--my lodgings--the very next night! On
the same business, of course. But she did--I know how she came, too.
Secretly--heavily veiled--naturally, she didn't want anybody to know.
Are you beginning to see something in it, Miss Mallathorpe?"
"Go on with your--story," answered Nesta.
"I go on, then, to the day before your brother's death," continued
Pratt. "Namely, a certain Friday. Now, if you please, I'll invite you to
listen carefully to certain facts--which are indisputable, which I can
prove, easily. On that Friday, the day before your brother's death, Mrs.
Mallathorpe was in the shrubbery at Normandale Grange which is near the
north end of the old foot-bridge. She was approached by Hoskins, an old
woodman, who has been on the estate a great many years--you know him
well enough. Hoskins told Mrs. Mallathorpe that the foot-bridge between
the north and south shrubberies, spanning the cut which was made there a
long time since so that a nearer road could be made to the stables, was
in an extremely dangerous condition--so dangerous, in fact, that in his
opinion, it would collapse under even a moderate weight. I impress this
fact upon you strongly."
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