Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

To bo sitspected of (hat ! Could any man, however good lie
might be, ever recover such a blow as even a suspicion of this
nature must be V"
Peter, in her mind, was alrea ly separated from all good men,
by being the object of a vile suspicion. And he so : young all
his friends hapiiy in his promising youth.
Was all this youthful promise to be blighted by a suspicion
such as that which she was sure would now be entertained ?
She dropped back into the depths of the great chair in which
she was sitting. O, if he had only died ! Death would have
been nothing to this !
While one sister was thus disabled and dismayed, the other,
to think and
casting her fears aside, as it were, was vigorous
act.
" Where is Hester ? " she asked.
Hester was the house and parlor maid, and Hannah was the
cook.
' A merciful Providence made me send her early to bed,
"
answ. red Hannah, with unaffected solemnity. The girl had
had a headache. I sent her up-stairs just before I went to the
garden door. Her attic being at the back, she has neither heard
nor seen anything. '
" That is well ; now we can take counsel together. Han-
knock gently to be
"Oh, come in. Is it you, Miss Lance? I was sure some
one i\ ould come directly. Hannah "
promised to return.
" You fainted ;
but you look hot now."
"I am very hot. Is it not dreadful ?
that basin of water ?
la the knife itill in
"
"Yes. I see a large unopened clasp-knife there."
"
It ought to be all told, " eaid Peter, as he sat up in bed,
with his eyes bright and his face flushed, "And I believe
that I have hurt my wrist. You know that that ia not my
knife. My knife is on the table. I picked up the other from
the ground after I fell. I saw it by the light striking on the
steel at the back, and I never doubted its having jerked out of
my pocket. O dear, what a sad and horrible thing this is !
Poor James ! and I am so disabled. How I wish I was not in
this fever with my wrist ! I'll have a surgeon to look at it. I
never w-s ill in my life, that I can recollect. Look at it, Miss
Lance. But all this while we ought to be telling everything
we know. I wonder what o'clock it is."
Miss Lance quieted Peter by looking at his wrist. It was
certainly ve. y seriously nurt.
" Indeed we must send for help," she said, "I will send
for Mr. Carter."
" But I ought to speak about the knife and my fall and the
stile. It is all evidence, you know."
Peter leaned back his head, exhausted by the feverish anxiety
of his mind, which with the pain he was suffering, bewildered
him.
" I have already sent for Mr. Breward."
'
"
O, thank you. I am very glad.
"
Keep quite quiet. I shall return very soon."
" What a trouble for you !" said Peter.
The words followed Miss LaucJ as she left the room.
She went down to the hull and opened the house-door. She
had heard some one come, and she expected to see Hannah ;
but it was Mr. Breward, and he was there alone. He explained
this by the first words he said :
" Hannah spoke i f his wrist, so I sent her to bring Carter.
Is he really hurt ?"
" li think so. But we want to speak of James Gardener.
Come here. "
81i(! showed Mr. Breward into the room where ! er sister sat,
and told him very quickly all their btory. Her concluding
AND HIA VED.
words were these :
" It i* just so much that we should do wrong to conceal it ;
and it i:i at the name BO li tlo that it noems usel'^n tu s|,<
"
Exactly," said Mr. Br. ward, witli a grave f;n-