Page:The time spirit; a romantic tale (IA timespiritromant00snaiiala).pdf/284

 A momentary hesitation drew a harsh, "Go on, let me hear the worst."

"Can't you guess who this girl is?" he said abruptly.

"Pray, why should one?"

"She is the girl Jack wants to marry."

A long silence followed this announcement. It would have been kind perhaps had he helped his sister to break it, but a clear perception of the first thought in her mind had raised a barrier. With a patience that was half-*malicious he waited for a speech that he knew was bound to come.

"It was to have been expected," she said at last with something perilously like a snarl of subdued anger.

"Why expected?" They were the words for which he had waited, and he seized them promptly.

"She has been too much for you, my friend."

"Whom do you mean?

"The mother, of course. She has planned this marriage so that she might be revenged upon us here."

He was quite ready to do Charlotte the justice of allowing that it was the only view she was likely to hold. The pressure of mere facts was too heavy. Words of his would be powerless against them; and yet he was determined to use every means at his command to clear that suspicion from her mind.

"I hope you will believe me when I tell you she is entirely innocent," he said in a voice of sudden emotion.

Charlotte slowly shook her head, but it was a gesture of defeat. She was beyond malice now.

"Charlotte, I give you my word that she had no part in it."