Henry Dunbar: A NovelBraddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)
General
Henry Dunbar: A Novel
Braddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)
Fiction
Margaret had waited very patiently for this time, in which Clement
would be free to give her all his help in that awful task which lay
before her—the discovery of Henry Dunbar's guilt.
"You will go to Shorncliffe with my mother," Clement Austin said, upon
the evening after his conversation with the widow; "you will go with
her, Madge, ostensibly upon a little pleasure trip. Once there, we
shall be able to contrive an interview with Mr. Dunbar. He is a
prisoner at Maudesley Abbey, laid up by the effect of his accident the
other day, but not too ill to see people, Balderby says; therefore I
should think we may be able to plan an interview between you and him.
You still hold to your original purpose? You wish to _see_ Henry
Dunbar?"
"Yes," answered Margaret, thoughtfully; "I want to see him. I want to
look straight into the face of the man whom I believe to be my father's
murderer. I don't know why it is, but this purpose has been uppermost
in my mind ever since I heard of that dreadful journey to Winchester;
ever since I first knew that my father had been murdered while
travelling with Henry Dunbar. It might, as you have said, be wiser to
watch and wait, and to avoid all chance of alarming this man. But I
can't be wise. I want to see him. I want to look in his face, and see
if his eyes can meet mine."
"You shall see him then, dear girl. A woman's instinct is sometimes
worth more than a man's wisdom. You shall see Henry Dunbar. I know that
my old schoolfellow Arthur Lovell will help me, with all his heart and
soul. I have called again upon the Scotland-Yard people, and I gave
them a minute description of the scene in St. Gundolph Lane; but they
only shrugged their shoulders, and said the circumstances looked queer,
but were not strong enough to act upon. If any body can help us, Arthur
Lovell can; for he was present at the inquest and all further
examination of the witnesses at Winchester."
If Margaret Wilmot and Clement Austin had been going upon any other
errand than that which took them to Warwickshire, the journey to
Shorncliffe might have been very pleasant to them.
To Margaret, this comfortable journey in the cushioned corner of a
first-class carriage, respectfully waited upon by the man she loved,
possessed at least the charm of novelty. Her journeys hitherto had been
long wearisome pilgrimages in draughty third-class carriages, with
noisy company, and in an atmosphere pervaded by a powerful effluvium of
various kinds of alcohol.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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