University of Virginia Library

20. CHAPTER XX.
THE DISCOVERY.

The footman who answered the bell came to the study door
and said to the young divine,

“It is a gentleman who wishes to see you in private, on particular
business, sir!”

“Oh, then,” remarked Gertrude, rising and smiling, I suppose
we are likely to be intruders. Come, dear Judge, we will go into
the parlor, and I will then read the sermon aloud to you. Of
course Edward don't care to hear it read.”

“Yes, I would gladly Gertrude; but I must see who this is who
desires to see me. Admit him, Charles!”

“It is probably one of the wardens,” said the Judge, smiling as
he followed the young wife out and closed the door.

The next moment, by the opposite door, came back Charles ushering
in a tall man closely enveloped in a cloak. Edward eyed him
sharply, but without recognition.

“Are we alone, Mr. Manning?” asked the stranger without
removing his hat or cloak.

“Yes, sir!”

“Shall we not be intruded upon?” he asked, looking round.

“No, sir!” answered the young clergyman, surprised.

Satchell then dropped his cloak from before his face, and removed
his hat. But as his person was wholly unknown to Edward, of
course this movement explained nothing to him of the character of
his visitor, except that he had a face that struck him with instinctive
repugnance. Satchell took a seat, and then, bending over towards
the wondering young man, said, in a low tone, and with a cautions,
grave manner,

“Though I have not the pleasure of your acquaintance, Mr.
Manning, I have felt it my duty to call upon you in relation to a
painful affair that deeply interests you!”

“Pray, sir, what is it?” inquired Edward amazed, and not
without some misgiving of evil news.

“It is a matter that deeply affects your honor, and as I knew
how dear a clergyman's good name is to him, which even the
lightest breath of slander can sully, I thought it would be doing
you a favor to call on you first before proceeding to extremities.”

“Sir, your language is inexplicable! What is it that you would
communicate! Speak freely, sir? Conscious of not having done
an action in my life that I am ashamed of, I fear nothing, dark as
your words are! Pray speak freely, sir!”

“What a good thing it is for a man to have a clear conscience,”
thought Satchell to himself. “It makes him as bold as a lion.

“Well, sir, I will speak freely. When you have heard all you can
judge best what course is fitting to pursue. You once were acquainted
with a young girl, the niece of Colonel Harwood!”

“Miss Kent, certainly! I have known her very well from boyhood!”

“You were once particular in your attentions to her!”

“Indeed, sir, this is rather presuming on your part?”

“It is necessary; but if you object to answering I will take my
leave. I called on you merely to save your honor!”

“My honor!”

“Yes. Hear me, sir! Whether you are guilty or not is not for
me to say! As her lawyer I am to suppose you are! Still as your
friend, and a friend to the Church, I have thought it best to give
you an opportunity of compromising the matter!”

“Sir, be explicit!”

“I am a lawyer. Yesterday came to me Miss Caroline Kent,
and applied to me to prosecute Edward Manning for a breach of
promise; making oath that, previous to his present marriage, he
had pledged himself to marry her; but, instead of redeeming his
pledge, he did, greatly to her injury and shame, take another
woman to wife! Wherefore she desires reparation for this great
wrong done her at the hand of the law of the land!”

“Sir, who are you?” demanded Edward, springing to his feet.

“Simmons Satchell, Esq.!”

“This is a vile fabrication all! I know your reputation, sir! It
is a plan to extort money from me! Miss Kent never made such
oath!”

“I can prove it, sir!”

“You are not in practice in the courts that she should make appeal
to you!”

“I do a great deal of law business, sir, by playing into the hands
of one or two who are in practice!”

“The whole is false, sir!” cried Edward indignantly. “I never
made any promise to Miss Kent, nor can I believe she has said so!”

“I will bring her here to prove it!”

“Then she must have suddenly become a most abandoned
person!”

“Neither you or I have any thing to do with her character! She
comes forward and makes oath to a fact. You must either disprove
the charge or endure the penalty!”

“The penalty? Sir, I am no criminal! I defy both you and this
young woman!” answered Edward with a flushed cheek, and his
eyes wet with the tears that forced their way at this charge against
him.

“Very well, sir, I beg your pardon for my intrusion! I thought
I should do you a service. Some men would have gone on with
the matter, and the first thing you would have heard of it would
have been a summons from the court to attend and answer to the
charge!”

“Oh, God! What fearful cloud is this upon me!”

“Good evening, sir!” and Satchell rose to go towards the door.

“Hold, sir! This thing seems incredible! Can Miss Kent be so
lost!”

“She loved you, doubtless, and perhaps you made the promise in
a weaker moment, and now, seeing you are wedded to another, she
seeks revenge. A woman's vengeance is to be dreaded, sir!”

“What does she want? What can have driven her to this attempt
to ruin me?” he cried with anguish.

“As I said, revenge! You say right in calling it ruining you,
sir! Though you may, if you stand the trial, prove yourself innocent,
yet it will always be a blot upon you! Half the world, particularly
your enemies, will believe it. Suspicion against a man in
your profession is as bad in the world's eye as guilt!”

“Sir, I feel that it is so. What can I do? What can she
want?”

“I advise you to compromise the matter!”

“I am innocent! shall I act as if I were guilty!” he cried with
distressing perplexity. “I cannot do this!”

“Then she will prosecute! To-morrow it will be announced in
the papers that the Rev. Mr. Edward Manning lately appointed
Rector of — Church has been sued for a breach of promise! This
will forever destroy you, sir, if it goes no further!”

“What can I do? If I could see her, I would talk with her!
Perhaps I could induce her to change her mind! This is dreadful,
sir! What does she want?”

“She would, probably, quash the whole matter for ten thousand
dollars!”

“Ten thousand dollars!”

“A jury would give her half that amount in damages! for you
are able to pay it! I would advise you to see her and compromise
the affair with her before it goes further!”

“The shameful girl! How can she have been so lost! Where
is she?”

“At Madame Delano's. I will go and see her now, to-night, if
you wish. To show you my disinterestedness I refuse to take any
thing myself. So that I save you and through you the sacred
character of religion from suffering, I shall feel myself amply
rewarded. The world gives me an evil name, Mr. Manning, but
the devil is not quite so black as he is painted!”

“Sir, I appreciate your kindness and consideration for my feelings.
I should like to see this young woman!”

“To-night?”

“Will she see me?”

“Yes; but I will bring her here! You had best not go there,
lest it should be whispered about. Can't be too cautious, sir! Can
you not see her here in the course of half an hour! Is there no
secret way she could enter? Your wife must suspect nothing!
Wives, be they never so loving, are quick to believe!”

“Alas, what a situation for me! Yes, sir, I can see her alone!
She can come in by this way! I will show you!”

“But write her one line, if you please! She may not come with
me without it at this late hour!” Satchell placed a pen, the pen
he had written his sermon with, in his shaking hand. He wrote
rapidly as follows:

Edward then opened a door, and led him out by the conservatory,
and thence into the garden, and so to a private gate, of which
he gave him the key. He then let him forth bidding him “haste!”

When he re-entered his study he was as pale as a dead man.
He sunk upon his knees by his chair, and then fell over upon his
forehead, and prayed to God not to desert him in that hour of trial!
After many minutes he rose up calmer. He soon heard the footsteps
of his father and young wife. He tried to compose himself,
and succeeded so well that when they entered they did not perceive
that any thing ailed him save that he was pale and sad.

“You have heard some bad news,” said the vigilant eyed loving
wife.

“No,” he answered smiling; “nothing of any consequence.
How did you like the sermon?”

“Excellent,” cried the Judge.

“Admirable!” answered Gertrude.

“I am very glad. I must correct it, now! So if you please I
shall have to be alone soon!”

“Very well; as it is not yet nine, Gerty and I will have a game
at chess;” said the Judge. Come, dear, let us go into the parlor
and leave him alone!”

“I should like to be alone until I go out to the parlor, so you
won't come near! A foot fall draws my attention!”

“Not a mouse shall come within two rooms of you,” answered
Gertrude, laughing as she went out.

He looked after her, and sighed heavily.

“For her sake I will make any sacrifice! A stain upon my good
name would break her heart! For her sake as well as my own,
and for the honor of the church, I will consent to compound this
conspiracy against me! Alas, for Caroline Kent! What evil has
taken possession of her heart! She seems depraved! Yet, I have
seen that in her character that should not so much surprise me to
find that she has fallen! But that I should be the victim of her
sin!”

In less than half an hour, a half an hour passed by the young
clergyman in the most painful anxiety, Satchell entered the garden
gate accompanied by Caroline Kent. As he locked the gate, he
gave the key to her saying, “Keep it, it will be of service. Now,”
he added as they came to the entrance to the conservatory, “you
will pass to the left, and come to a mahogany door at which you

will rap. He will open it to you. When you see him do not fly
into his arms, for he will think he has you too cheaply! Besides,
by being cold and reserved you may induce him to marriage! Now
delay five minutes before you knock!

“I will obey you!” she answered, leaving him and entering the
conservatory. How her heart bounded with joy! yet she suppressed
her rising emotions that she might assume a gravity that would
bring him to offer her his hand in marriage.

Satchell passed down the garden, threw himself over the fence
into the street, and hurried round to the front door. He rang the
bell, and when the servant came, he said to him,

“Judge Manning is within, is he?”

“Yes!”

“Is he with Mrs. Edward Manning?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Take this to Mrs. Manning without delay! Place it in her
hands!”

“I will, sir!”

“I check your castle!” said Judge Manning to Gertrude, as the
servant entered. He placed in her hand a note, very thick, as if
an envelope to others. It bore her address. She broke the seal
and read,

“It is false!” she cried almost with a shriek. “Read that, sir!”
she exclaimed, as she glanced over the notes which Satchell had
read to Caroline as coming from Edward to himself and to her,
with her reply, and his last few lines scribbled to her within the last
half hour! All these notes Satchell had secured and enclosed in
the envelope. Her eyes comprehended the whole sense of each,
though she scarcely saw the words! The sentences seemed written
with a pen of fire. It burned her brain to read!

She stood by him, and gazed into his face as he read also, first
the note to her, and then those enclosed.

“It is impossible!” cried the Judge. “But I will go and see!
If she is there all is confirmed! You must not go with me, my
child!”

“I will not obey! I will go with you,” she cried, clinging to
him, and ready to fall. “I must know the worst!”

They approached the door! They listened! His voice was
heard! A female voice was heard! She had been admitted but a
moment before. He had offered her a chair without speaking; but
she declined it, and said, (just as the Judge and Gertrude were approaching

the door,) “I have come to see you, Mr. Manning, as you
request”

“I am sorry to meet you in this manner, Miss Kent!” he said
reproachfully. “I have sent for you to see if I can change your
purpose! I know not what has induced you to treat me thus!
Come, let me reason with you kindly,” he said, taking her hand!
She could not understand his words. She thought they alluded in
some way to the past.

“I forgive all,” she exclaimed; and cast herself upon his bosom.
At this moment the door was opened, and the wife and father beheld
them thus standing as if in inutual embrace.

Edward was appalled at seeing them, and she, knowing her
guilty position in the presence of the wife, broke from him as he
was making an embarrassed effort to cast her off, and fled! By the
aid of the key she escaped from the garden, and overwhelmed with
confusion and mortified pride at her discovery by his wife, she
sought to regain her apartments, to shut herself in, and give way in
tears to the bitterness of her disappointment! In her mind all was
uncertainty and terror. She had caught but a glimpse of the injured
wife's indignant countenance as she discovered her, and of
Judge Manning's angry brow. She trembled for Edward, and
feared for herself! She blamed her conduct, and even censured
him for thus exposing her! But had she remained to have witnessed
the scene that followed her departure, all her sympathies
would have been with Edward.