human
My dear lady, ejaculated that functionary, arising in consternation,
gpt
Mr. Davenport, will you send for Dr. Gay? I have something of importance to communicate to you both.
human
Certainly--certainly. I'll send immediately. No, I'll go myself. You won't object to sitting by my nice warm fire here until I come back? And I'll lock you in, if you like.
gpt
I don't object.
human
Good day, my dear Miss Walsingham, said the little doctor, drawing a chair close beside her;
gpt
I hear you have something on your mind to tell us. I think you might have sent for us, instead of walking here in your state of health; it scarcely looks well, my dear, especially--especially as it is you, my dear.
human
I cannot help it. What I have to say outweighs in importance the trivial question of whether I come to you, or you visit me. You both, I have no doubt, were surprised at the manner in which I insisted on leaving your house, Dr. Gay, and taking up my abode at Seven-Oak Waaste?
gpt
I had a secret reason for my course of action, continued the ward, looking from one to the other,
human
My dear, said the lawyer,
gpt
It is going to lead you to the man whom I left at Seven-Oak Waaste.
human
Is the colonel at Seven-Oak Waaste?
gpt
Yes.
human
And you here?
gpt
In spite of etiquette--yes.
human
Have you made a deed of gift of Seven-Oaks to St. Udo, and are you here for more testimonials?
gpt
You have not fathomed my secret at all, answered Margaret, in a repressed tone, though she was in a state of high excitement;
human
But, my dear girl, St. Udo is not dead!
gpt
Good gracious, what do you mean? sputtered the lawyer.
human
You may take the property by refusing to marry the colonel, or you may keep the property by quarreling with him and making him glad to leave you, but you can't take the property on the plea of his death, when he is by your own showing sitting in Castle Brand at this moment.
gpt
That brings me to my accusation, cried Margaret, almost wildly;
human
I have convinced myself that the person who has come here in the semblance of St. Udo Brand, to woo me, and to be in time the master of Seven-Oak Waaste, is a villain who has weighed well the risks he runs, is, in short, an _impostor_!
gpt
Good Heavens!
human
Your proofs, madam,
gpt
My proofs are these, answered Margaret, forcing herself to speak quietly.
human
He acts exactly as a man would act who was personating some one else. He knows the true St. Udo's history to a certain extent, and cleverly acts upon it; but go beyond the part he has rehearsed, and he betrays the most extraordinary confusion. When first I saw him I was astonished at the change which a few months in America had made. The longer I studied him the more palpable became his disguise to my eyes; and I am now morally convinced that my suspicions are well founded.
gpt
All this is nothing, said Mr. Davenport.
human
You have advanced no proofs, except to show that from the first day of his return you conceived a dislike to him.
gpt
I made him commit himself wholly to-day, continued Margaret, anxiously.
human
The first time he betrayed his ignorance of the contents of that letter which St. Udo Brand wrote me upon leaving the castle; the second time he was so puzzled by the fastening of the library glass door, that he could not open it. That door, Mr. Davenport, which Mrs. Brand's grandson used exclusively.
gpt
And would you condemn a man upon such accidents of memory as these?
human
Had St. Udo Brand that cowardly glance, that crime-darkened visage, that crawling, scheming softness? cried Margaret, with flashing eyes.
gpt
Ugh! he is a serpent drawing his slimy folds into our midst--he is a travesty on the dead hero of yonder battle-field.
human
You did not always think so well of Captain Brand, retorted the lawyer, with another exchange of glances with Gay;
gpt
I am not deceived, said Margaret;