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Page 56
Would it be better, wiser, if she kept all this to herself at present,
and waited for events to develop? But at the mere thought of that, she
shrank, feeling mentally and physically afraid--to keep all that
knowledge to herself, to brood over it in secret, to wonder what it all
meant, what lay beneath, what might develop, that was more than she felt
able to bear. And when Eldrick came back she looked at him and nodded.
"I should like to talk to you and Mr. Collingwood," she said quietly.
Collingwood came across to Eldrick's office at once. And to these two
Nesta unbosomed herself of every detail that she could remember of her
interview with Pratt--and as she went on, from one thing to another, she
saw the men's faces grow graver and graver, and realized that this was a
more anxious matter than she had thought.
"That's all," she said in the end. "I don't think I've forgotten
anything. And even now, I don't know if I've done right to tell you all
this. But--I don't think I could have faced it--alone!"
"My dear Miss Mallathorpe!" said Eldrick earnestly. "You've done the
wisest thing you probably ever did in your life! Now," he went on,
looking at Collingwood, "just let us all three realize what is to me a
more important fact. Nobody would be more astonished than Pratt to know
that you have taken the wise step you have. You agree, Collingwood?"
"Yes!" answered Collingwood, after a moment's reflection. "I think so."
"Miss Mallathorpe doesn't quite see what we mean," said Eldrick, turning
to Nesta. "We mean that Pratt firmly believed, when he told you what he
did, that for your mother's sake and your own, you would keep his
communication a dead secret. He firmly believed that you would never
dare to tell anybody what he told you. Most people--in your
position--wouldn't have told. They'd have let the secret eat their lives
out. You're a wise and a sensible young woman! And the thing is--we
must let Pratt remain under the impression that you are keeping your
knowledge to yourself. Let him continue to believe that you'll remain
silent under fear. And let us meet his secret policy with a secret
strategy of our own!"
Again he glanced at Collingwood, and again Collingwood nodded assent.
"Now," continued Eldrick, "just let us consider matters for a few
minutes from the position which has newly arisen. To begin with. Pratt's
account of your mother's dealings about the foot-bridge is a very clever
and plausible one. I can see quite well that it has caused you great
pain; so before I go any further, just let me say this to you--don't you
attach one word of importance to it!"
Nesta uttered a heartfelt cry of relief.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "If you knew how thankful I should be to know that
it's all lies--that he was lying! Can I really think that--after what I
saw?"
"I won't ask you to think that he's telling lies--just now," answered
Eldrick, with a glance at Collingwood, "but I'll ask you to believe that
your mother could put a totally different aspect and complexion on all
her actions and words in connection with the entire affair. My
impression, of course," he went on, with something very like a wink at
Collingwood, "is that Mrs. Mallathorpe, when she wrote that letter to
Pratt, intended to have the bridge mended first thing next morning, and
that something prevented that being done, and that when she was seen
about the shrubberies in the afternoon, she was on her way to meet Pratt
before he could reach the dangerous point, so that she could warn him.
What do you say, Collingwood?"
"I should say," answered Collingwood, regarding the solicitor earnestly,
and speaking with great gravity of manner, "that that would make an
admirable line of defence to any charge which Pratt was wicked enough to
prefer."
"You don't think my mother meant--meant to----" exclaimed Nesta, eagerly
turning from one man to the other. "You--don't?"
"There is no evidence worth twopence against your mother!" replied
Eldrick soothingly. "Put everything that Pratt has said against her
clear out of your mind. Put all recent events out of your mind! Don't
interfere with Pratt--just now. The thing to be done about Pratt is
this--and it's the only thing. We must find out--exactly, as secretly as
possible--what this secret is of which he speaks. What is this hold on
Mrs. Mallathorpe? What is this document to which he refers? In other
words, we must work back to some point which at present we can't see. At
least, I can't see it. But--we may discover it. What do you say,
Collingwood?"
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