第33章

Ihavewaitedinthehopethatyouwouldrideoverfromyourbrother’splace，andseeme——andIhavewaitedinvain。Yourconducttomeiscrueltyitself；Iwillbearitnolonger。Consider!inyourowninterests，consider——beforeyoudrivethemiserablewomanwhohastrustedyoutodespair。Youhavepromisedmemarriagebyallthatissacred。Iclaimyourpromise。IinsistonnothinglessthantobewhatyouvowedI

shouldbe——whatIhavewaitedallthiswearytimetobe——whatI

_am_，inthesightofHeaven，yourweddedwife。LadyLundiegivesalawn-partyhereonthe14th。Iknowyouhavebeenasked。I

expectyoutoacceptherinvitation。IfIdon’tseeyou，Iwon’tanswerforwhatmayhappen。Mymindismadeuptoendurethissuspensenolonger。Oh，Geoffrey，rememberthepast!Befaithful——bejust——toyourlovingwife，“ANNESILVESTER。“

Mr。Bishopriggspaused。Hiscommentaryonthecorrespondence，sofar，wassimpleenough。“Hotwords(inink)fromtheleddytothegentleman!“Heranhiseyeoverthesecondletter，onthefourthpageofthepaper，andadded，cynically，“Atriflecaulder(inpencil)fromthegentlemantotheleddy!Thewayo’thewarld，Sirs!Fromthetimeo’Adamdownwards，thewayo’thewarld!“

Thesecondletterranthus：

“DEARANNE，——JustcalledtoLondontomyfather。Theyhavetelegraphedhiminabadway。Stopwhereyouare，andIwillwriteyou。Trustthebearer。Uponmysoul，I’llkeepmypromise。

Yourlovinghusbandthatistobe，“GEOFFREYDELAMAYN。“

WINDYGATESHOUSE，_Augt。_14，4P。M。

“Inamortalhurry。Trainstartsat4。30。“

Thereitended!

“Whoarethepairtiesintheparlor？Isaneo’them’Silvester？’

andt’other’Delamayn？’“ponderedMr。Bishopriggs，slowlyfoldingtheletterupagaininitsoriginalform。“Hech，Sirs!

what，beingintairpreted，maya’thismean？“

Hemixedhimselfasecondglassoftoddy，asanaidtoreflection，andsatsippingtheliquor，andtwistingandturningtheletterinhisgoutyfingers。Itwasnoteasytoseehiswaytothetrueconnectionbetweentheladyandgentlemanintheparlorandthetwolettersnowinhisownpossession。Theymightbethemselvesthewritersoftheletters，ortheymightbeonlyfriendsofthewriters。Whowastodecide？

Inthefirstcase，thelady’sobjectwouldappeartohavebeenasgoodasgained；forthetwohadcertainlyassertedthemselvestobemanandwife，inhisownpresence，andinthepresenceofthelandlady。Inthesecondcase，thecorrespondencesocarelesslythrownasidemight，forallastrangerknewtothecontrary，provetobeofsomeimportanceinthefuture。Actingonthislatterview，Mr。Bishopriggs——whosepastexperienceas“abitclerkbody，“inSirPatrick’schambers，hadmadeamanofbusinessofhim——producedhispenandink，andindorsedtheletterwithabriefdatedstatementofthec