A voice at my heart would cry, 'No!' It may be an unreasonable prejudice, but I could not bear to see him touch Lilian's hand!"
"Did she never, then--never suffer him even to take her hand?"
"Never. Do not think so meanly of her as to suppose that she could be caught by a fair face, a graceful manner. Reflect: just before she had refused, for your sake, Ashleigh Sumner, whom Lady Haughton said 'no girl in her senses could refuse;' and this change in Lilian really began before we returned to L----,--before she had even seen Mr. Margrave. I am convinced it is something in the reach of your skill as physician,--it is on the nerves, the system. I will give you a proof of what I say, only do not betray me to her. It was during your imprisonment, the night before your release, that I was awakened by her coming to my bedside. She was sobbing as if her heart would break. 'O mother, mother!' she cried, 'pity me, help me! I am so wretched.' 'What is the matter, darling?' 'I have been so cruel to Allen, and I know I shall be so again. I cannot help it. Do not question me; only if we are separated, if he cast me off, or I reject him, tell him some day perhaps when I am in my grave--not to believe appearances; and that I, in my heart of hearts, never ceased to love him!'"
"She said that! You are not deceiving me?"
"Oh, no! how can you think so?"
"There is hope still," I murmured; and I bowed my head upon my hands, hot tears forcing their way through the clasped fingers.
"One word more," said I; "you tell me that Lilian has a repugnance to this Margrave, and yet that she found comfort in his visits,--a comfort that could not be wholly ascribed to cheering words he might say about myself, since it is all but certain that I was not, at that time, uppermost in her mind. Can you explain this apparent contradiction?"
"I cannot, otherwise than by a conjecture which you would ridicule."
"I can ridicule nothing now. What is your conjecture?"
"I know how much you disbelieve in the stories one hears of animal magnetism and electro-biology, otherwise--"
"You think that Margrave exercises some power of that kind over Lilian? Has he spoken of such a power?"
"Not exactly; but he said that he was sure Lilian possessed a faculty that he called by some hard name, not clairvoyance, but a faculty, which he said, when I asked him to explain, was akin to prevision,--to second sight. Then he talked of the Priestesses who had administered the ancient oracles. Lilian, he said, reminded him of them, with her deep eyes and mysterious smile."
"And Lilian heard him? What said she?"
"Nothing; she seemed in fear while she listened."
"He did not offer to try any of those arts practised by professional mesmerists and other charlatans?"
"I thought he was about to do so, but I forestalled him, saying I never would consent to any experiment of that kind, either on myself or my daughter."
"And he replied--"
"With his gay laugh, 'that I was very foolish; that a person possessed of such a faculty as he attributed to Lilian would, if the faculty were developed, be an invaluable adviser.' He would have said more, but I begged him to desist. Still I fancy at times--do not be angry--that he does somehow or other bewitch her, unconsciously to herself; for she always knows when he is coming. Indeed, I am not sure that he does not bewitch myself, for I by no means justify my conduct in admitting him to an intimacy so familiar, and in spite of your wish; I have reproached myself, resolved to shut my door on him, or to show by my manner that his visits were unwelcome; yet when Lilian has said, in the drowsy lethargic tone which has come into her voice (her voice naturally earnest and impressive, though always low), 'Mother, he will be here in two minutes; I wish to leave the room and cannot,' I, too, have felt as if something constrained me against my will; as if, in short, I were under that influence which Mr. Vigors--whom I will never forgive for his conduct to you--would ascribe to mesmerism. But will you not come in and see Lilian again?"
"No, not to-night; but watch and heed her, and if you see aught to make you honestly believe that she regrets the rupture of the old tic from which I have released her--why, you know, Mrs. Ashleigh, that--that--" My voice failed; I wrung the good woman's hand, and went my way.
I had always till then considered Mrs. Ashleigh--if not as Mrs. Poyntz described her--"commonplace weak"--still of an intelligence somewhat below mediocrity. I now regarded her with respect as well as grateful tenderness; her plain sense had divined what all my boasted knowledge had failed to detect in my earlier intimacy with Margrave,--namely, that in him there was a something present, or a something wanting, which forbade love and excited fear. Young, beautiful, wealthy, seemingly blameless in life as he was, she would not have given her daughter's hand to him!
CHAPTER XLIV.
The next day my house was filled with visitors. I had no notion that I had so many friends.