CHAPTER XL.
DAVLIN'S "POINTS."
Madeline having left the morning-room, accompanied by the tooobservant Professor, Lucian saw at once his opportunity for a fewwords with Cora. Without too great an appearance of haste, he movedacross the room, pausing before the fire, in front of which MissArthur was seated, and addressing to her a few careless words. Then heglanced at Percy, who sat at the most remote corner of the room,assuming to be much interested in some geological specimens in alittle cabinet.
Cora divined his intention. She knew, too, that this was the very bestplace for an interview, which she desired to make a brief one, beingsomewhat afraid of committing herself if she allowed him to ask toomany questions. So she moved over to the window, and seated herself ina low chair.
She had decided upon her own present course of action. She would playher part well while she remained at Oakley, and she would escape fromit as soon as she had succeeded in blinding the eyes of her jailers,for she mentally acknowledged them as such.
When Davlin at length crossed the room, and dropped carelessly down inthe chair at her side, she lifted her eyes to his, and said,inquiringly: "Well?"
He looked at her keenly for a moment. Then, not to lose any time byuseless words, came straight at the point.
"Time's precious, Co. We can't attract attention by a long dialogue,and yet we must talk things over. When can I find you alone?"
"Not at all for a day or two."
"Why not?" elevating his eyebrows.
Cora rested her head upon her hand in such a way as to conceal fromthose at the opposite end of the room, the expression of her face, andsaid:
"Because I want to be sure that we can talk without being observed.Miss Payne seems very friendly, and has given me her maid because,she says, an invalid needs waiting on, and she sleeps in mydressing-room. I don't want to excite suspicion by sending her away,in order to admit you, and--I don't see that there is much to besaid."
Lucian seemed weighing her words for a moment. Then he asked: "What doyou make of Miss Payne?"
"What do you make of her?" she retorted, quickly.
"Nothing, as yet."
"No more do I."
Another brief silence, and then he asked: "Do you think there is anyimmediate danger--for us?"
"As how?"
"From him: Arthur."
Now came Cora's grand coup. She felt pretty sure that Lucian knew ofher interview with Madeline, and believed that she would be tellinghim no news when she said:
"Listen! She went with me to my room last night, and she asked a goodmany questions about him. And I am sure of this: she is no friend tohim, and if she sees no reason for suspecting any of us, she won'ttrouble herself about him. She told me that she ran away from homebecause she had been so oppressed by him, and that his attempt tomarry her off, in order to put money in his own pocket, was only oneamong many of the things she had endured at his hands. Of one thing Iam sure: the old man may be a stumbling-block to us, but he is anobject of positive hatred to her."
Cora uttered this combination of truth and falsehood without the leastcompunction. If she could have warned him of the danger hanging overthem without jeopardizing herself, she would have done so. But that,she knew, was impossible.
He had planned this "game" which now bade fair to be such an utterfailure, and if anyone must suffer, why, let it be him. And then, too,she reasoned, she had not gathered from the words of Madeline that shesuspected Mr. Davlin of duplicity of any kind. As for the Professor,Cora cared little what became of him. She could gain nothing andmight, doubtless would, lose much by warning him.
Lastly, Cora assured herself that were their positions reversed, andLucian the one who saw that his own safety lay in leaving her to herfate, he would not scruple to make her his scapegoat. And in this shewas quite right.
Again the man seemed to puzzle over some knotty, mental question. Thenhe arose, and leaning against the window frame in a favorite attitude,glanced across at Percy and the spinster as he asked, slowly: "Did shesay anything about me?"
Cora looked up in genuine surprise. "About you? No; why should she?"
"I mean," he said, "did she say anything to cause you to think thatshe suspected us?"
"No," shortly; "why should she? She never saw either of us untilyesterday."
"What do you think brought her back here just now?"
"It's easy enough to see why she came back. She has heard of theinsanity of Mr. Arthur, and has come, as she said, to take possessionof her own."
Another pause; then Cora said: "Is the Professor 'up' to anythingnew?"
"No."
"Then don't let him take the alarm. It would hurt us. We can't runnow, and I don't think we have much to fear. We will lose themoney--that's all."
Lucian looked out upon the evergreens and graveled walks of Oakley,and said, under his breath: "Will we?"
Then he turned upon his heel and sauntered out of the room.
The question that was then uppermost in his mind, the question thathad been since the first shock of her reappearance had given him timeto think, was, why had Madeline returned to Oakley?
Was it, as she alleged, because she had changed her mind, and wantedto be mistress of her own? Or was it because he was there? If he couldconvince himself that the latter reason was the true one, then hewould know how to act.
She had kept herself informed of affairs at Oakley. Then she must haveknown of the fact that the so-called brother of John Arthur's wife wasLucian Davlin. She must have known that. Of course she knew it. Didnot her manner on the evening of her arrival prove that? Not for oneinstant did she lose her self-possession. Had his presence beenunexpected, she could hardly have restrained every sign of emotion, ofrecognition. Clearly, she was prepared for their meeting.
Ah! now he was getting at things. If she came to Oakley, knowing himto be established there as a member of the family, she came_expecting_ to meet him. She was not afraid of him, then. She was notaverse to meeting him. Perhaps--he began to think it highlyprobable--she came solely to meet him. If so, did she come for love,or--for revenge?
If she came for revenge why did she not denounce him? But no, shewould hardly do that. What woman would? But she might have assumedtoward him a more hostile attitude.
Finally, his masculine vanity helped him to a conclusion. A womanseldom forgets her first love so easily, and he could meet her sodifferently now. She had _not_ forgotten her love for him. He couldwin it back, and her forgiveness with it. And then--then, if he couldbut manage Cora, what would hinder him from marrying her, and beingin clover ever after! He was tired of roving; they could go to thecity; he need not give up gaming, and--he really loved the girl; hadloved her since the day she had escaped from his snare.
Having arrived at this stage in his day-dream, he began to feelbuoyant. And when he heard from the Professor the result of Madeline'svisit to her step-father, his complacency was at high tide.
"It's all in a nutshell to me," said the Professor, as they smokedtheir confidential cigars in the privacy of Lucian's own room. "Mind,I don't suppose she _is_ up to our game; she can't be, you know; butshe is pretty thoroughly convinced that what she thinks is hisinsanity, is but temporary."
"How do you know that?" interrupted Lucian, sharply.
"Not from anything _she_ said; I had very few words with her. But lookhere, Davlin, isn't this a clear case enough? When I went up to seethe old fool, after their interview, I find him in a paroxysm of rage.Of course he makes his complaint; his _ravings_ informed me of this:She told him that she did not really think him very crazy herself, buttwo doctors _did_, and she didn't feel called to dispute them. Shetold him that he could not prove himself sane in any court in America;and that he, being insane, was dead in law; and she was going tochoose another guardian."
Lucian Davlin fairly bounded from the chair. "That's it!" heejaculated under his breath.
"Then," pursues the Professor, puffing away tranquilly, "she comesstraight from this intervi
ew and meets me, to whom she says that, 'Itis a most deplorable and dangerous case; that he is really liable toattack me or Henry at any moment; that I must take every precautionand guard against his sudden attack, even if I were forced to confinehim still more closely; and that she had suspected him of partialinsanity long ago.' Now, what do you think of that?"
Precisely what he thought it was not Mr. Davlin's intention to tell.One idea, however, he expressed promptly enough: "I think," he said,leaning a little forward and looking full at his companion, "that youhad better take the advice of Miss Payne. Confine him close, thecloser the better; but don't drug him any more at present!"
The Professor nodded serenely as he said: "Right, quite right. Justwhat I was about to suggest."
He might have added that he had resolved upon taking the courseindicated, even if the suggestion had not been made. "The young ladyholds the winning cards," he had assured himself. "I will take herorders before I get myself in too deep!" His "too deep" meant deep asthe grave.
And now Lucian had a new subject for conjecture. If Miss Payneproposed to appoint for herself a guardian, who would she select? Whohad been caring for her during all these months? Was it man or woman?
The only information she had volunteered had been implied rather thanspoken. In answer to Miss Arthur's rather abrupt query at thebreakfast table, as to how she had managed to prosper so well in astrange city where she had no friends, the girl had replied, with alittle laugh:
"I suppose it has never occurred to either yourself or Mr. Arthur thatI might have found out some of my mother's friends. I was put inpossession of my mother's journal on the very day that I ran away fromOakley. I am not so friendless as you may think."
Lucian was again puzzled, but knowing the girl as he did, he was notprepared to believe that a guardian, in the form of a lover, wouldappear. He was now convinced that Cora, whom at first he had somewhatdoubted, was not for some unknown reason attempting to deceive him.
The Professor's story had corroborated hers, and given him, as heexpressed it, "a fresh point" in his game. But alas for Lucian! Everyfancied discovery only beguiled him farther and farther from thetruth, and rendered him more and more blind to the chains that werebeing forged about him.
Madeline Payne, the Detective's Daughter Page 41