Vendale,"
Bintrey begin. "You had not left England four-and-twenty hours before
your niece committed an act of imprudence which not even your penetration
could foresee. She followed her promised husband on his journey, without
asking anybody's advice or permission, and without any better companion
to protect her than a Cellarman in Mr. Vendale's employment."
"Why did she follow me on the journey? and how came the Cellarman to be
the person who accompanied her?"
"She followed you on the journey," answered Bintrey, "because she
suspected there had been some serious collision between you and Mr.
Vendale, which had been kept secret from her; and because she rightly
believed you to be capable of serving your interests, or of satisfying
your enmity, at the price of a crime. As for the Cellarman, he was one,
among the other people in Mr. Vendale's establishment, to whom she had
applied (the moment your back was turned) to know if anything had
happened between their master and you. The Cellarman alone had something
to tell her. A senseless superstition, and a common accident which had
happened to his master, in his master's cellar, had connected Mr. Vendale
in this man's mind with the idea of danger by murder. Your niece
surprised him into a confession, which aggravated tenfold the terrors
that possessed her. Aroused to a sense of the mischief he had done, the
man, of his own accord, made the one atonement in his power.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179