"
"I will not listen to such fearful impiety," said the Countess,
shuddering. "Let us dismiss this subject for the present, and recur to
it when you are calmer."
"It cannot be postponed, Frances. Time presses, and even now Lady Lake
may have got the start of us. I shall be calm enough when this is over.
Will you consent to see Luke Hatton?"
"Why need I see him?" inquired the Countess with increasing uneasiness.
"Why will you force his hateful presence upon me? If the deed must be
done, why can you not alone undertake it?"
"I will tell why I cannot," he replied in a sombre tone, and regarding
her fixedly. "I must have a partner in the crime. It will bind us to
each other in links not to be severed. I shall have no fear of losing
you then, Countess. I go to bring Luke Hatton to you."
And without waiting for her reply he strode out of the room. Lady Exeter
would have arrested him, but she had not the nerve to do so, and with an
exclamation of anguish she fell back in her chair.
"What dominion sin has usurped over me!" she mentally ejaculated. "I
have lost the power of resisting its further encroachment. I see the
enormity of the offence I am about to commit, and though my soul revolts
at it, I cannot hold back. I am as one on the brink of a precipice, who
beholds the dreadful gulf before him, into which another step must
plunge him, yet is too giddy to retreat, and must needs fall over. Pity
me, kind Heaven! I am utterly helpless without thy aid.
Pages:
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269