CHAPTER TWENTY.
The soft light of the moon attracted Kate to her bedroom window, whereshe drew up the blind, and after standing gazing at the silvery orb forsome minutes, she unfastened and threw open the casement, drew a chairforward, to sit there letting the soft air of the late autumn night giveits coolness to her aching brow.
For the silence and calm seemed to bring rest, and by degrees the dullthrobbing of her head grew less painful, the strange feeling ofconfusion which had made thinking a terrible effort began to pass away,and with her eyes fixed upon the skies she began to go over the eventsof the day, and to try and map out for herself the most sensible courseto pursue. Go from Northwood she felt that she must, and at once;though how to combat the will of her constituted guardian was not clear.Garstang, in his encounter with Wilton, had put the case only tooplainly, and there was not the vestige of a doubt in her mind as to thetruth of his words. It had all been arranged in the family, andwhatever might have been her cousin's inclinations at first, he showedonly too plainly that he looked upon her as his future wife.
She shuddered at the thought; but the weak girl passed away again, andher pale cheeks began to burn once more with indignant anger, and thethrobbing of her brow returned, so that she was glad to rest her headupon her hand.
By degrees the suffering grew less poignant, and as the pain and mentalconfusion once more died out she set herself to the task of coming tosome decision as to what she should do next day, proposing to herselfplan after plan, building up ideas which crumbled away before that onethought: her uncle was her guardian and trustee, and his power over herwas complete.
What to do?--what to do? The ever recurring question, till she feltgiddy.
It seemed, knowing what he did, the height of cruelty for Garstang tohave gone and left her, but she was obliged to own that he could donothing more than upbraid his relatives for their duplicity.
But he had done much for her; he had thoroughly endorsed her own ideasas to her position and her uncle's intentions; and at last, with thetears suffusing her eyes, as she gazed at the moon rising slowly abovethe trees, she sat motionless for a time, thinking of her happy life inthe past; and owning to herself that the advice given to her was right,she softly closed the casement, drew down the blind, and determined tofollow out the counsel.
"Yes, I must sleep on it--if I can," she said softly. "Poor Liza isright, and I am not quite alone--I am never alone, for in spirit thosewho loved me so well must be with me still."
There were two candles burning on the dressing-table, but their lighttroubled her aching eyes, and she slowly extinguished both, the softlight which flooded the window being ample for her purpose.
Crossing the room to the side furthest from the door, she bent down andbathed her aching forehead for a few minutes before beginning toundress, and was then about to loosen her hair when she was startled bya faint tap outside the window which sounded as if something had struckthe sill.
She stopped, listening for a few minutes, but all was still, and comingto the conclusion that the sound had been caused by a rat leaping downsomewhere behind the wainscot of the old room, she raised her hands toher head once more, but only for them to become fixed as she stood thereparalysed by terror, for a shadow suddenly appeared at the bottom of theblind--a dark shadow cast by the moon; and as she gazed at it inspeechless fear, it rose higher and higher, and looked monstrous insize.
She made an effort to cast off the horrible nightmare-like sense ofterror, but as she realised that to reach the door she must pass thewindow it grew stronger.
The bell!
That was by the bed's head, and for the time being she felt helpless, socompletely paralysed that she could not even cry for help.
What could it mean? Someone had placed a ladder against the window silland climbed up, and at the thought which now flashed through her brainthe helpless feeling passed away, and the hot indignation made herstrong, and gave her a courage which drove away her childish fear.
How dare he! It was Claud, and she knew what he would say--that he hadcome there when all was still in the house and no one could know, to askher forgiveness for the scene that day.
Drawing herself up, she was walking swiftly towards the door, with theintention of going at once to Liza's chamber, when there was a freshmovement of the shadow on the blind, and the dread returned, and herheart throbbed heavily.
Claud was a short-haired, smooth-faced boy--the shadow cast on the blindwas the silhouette of a broad-shouldered, bearded man.
It was plain enough now--burglars must be trying to effect an entry, andin another moment she would have cried aloud for help, but just thenthere was a light tap on one of the panes, the shadow grew smaller anddarker, as if the face had been pressed close to the window, and sheheard her name softly uttered twice.
"Kate! Kate!"
She mastered her fear once more, telling herself it must be Claud; andshe went slowly to the door; laid her hand upon the bolt to turn it, butpaused again, for once more came the low distinct voice--
"Kate! Kate!"
She uttered a spasmodic cry, turned sharply round, and half ran to thewindow with every pulse throbbing with excitement, for she felt that thehelp she had prayed for last night had come.
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