'I fainted, and fell off my chair. The noise startled Mr. Ravengar, and
he came round into my room. Young Powitt met him at the door, and, to
explain his presence there, he said that he had come to see his brother.
Mr. Ravengar said: "Your brother is in the next room." But instead of
going into the next room, young Powitt ran off. Then Mr. Ravengar
perceived me on the floor. My first words to him when I recovered
consciousness were: "Why did you hang him up again, Mr. Ravengar?" He
was staggered. He actually tried to justify himself, and said it was
best for the old man--the old man had wanted to die, and so on. Mr.
Ravengar certainly thought that young Powitt had seen what I had seen.
That very night young Powitt was arrested for another theft, from his
own employers, and it was not till after his arrest that he learnt that
his brother had committed suicide. He got four years. When he received
sentence, he swore that he would kill Mr. Ravengar immediately he came
out of prison. I heard his threat. I knew him, and I knew that he meant
it. He argued that Mr. Ravengar's financial operations had ruined
thousands of people, including his brother and himself.
'But the inquest on old Powitt--I seem to remember about it. Why didn't
you give evidence?'
'Because I was ill with brain-fever. When I recovered, all was finished.
What was I to do? I warned Mr. Ravengar that young Powitt meant to kill
him. He laughed. Of course, I left him. It is my belief that Mr.
Ravengar was always a little mad. If he was not so before, this affair
had strained his intelligence too much.'
'You did a very wrong thing,' said Hugo, 'in keeping silence.'
'Put yourself in my place,' Camilla answered. 'Think of all the facts.
It was all so queer, And--and--Mr. Ravengar had found me in the room
with young Powitt. Suppose he had--'
'Say no more,' Hugo besought her. 'How long is this ago?'
'Three years last June. In six months young Powitt's sentence will be
up.'
Hugo nearly leapt from his chair.
'Is it possible, Mrs. Tudor,' he asked her eagerly, 'that you are not
aware that in actual practice a reasonably well-behaved prisoner never
serves the full period of his sentence? Marks for good conduct are
allowed, and each mark means so many days deducted from the term.'
'I didn't know,' said Camilla simply. 'How should I know a thing like
that?'
'I have no doubt that young Powitt is already free. And if he is--'
'You think that Mr. Ravengar's suicide may not have been a suicide?'
Hugo hesitated.
'Yes,' he said, and lapsed into reflection.
* * * * *
'I shall see you home,' he said.
'I am going to walk,' she replied. 'And I have to get my things from the
cloak-room.'
'I will walk with you,' he said.
'What style the woman has!' he thought, enraptured.
They proceeded southwards in silence. Then suddenly she asked how he had
left Mr. Darcy, and they began to talk about Darcy and Paris. Hugo
encouraged her. He wished to know the worst.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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