CHAPTER 13.
Back to The Divorced Wife
Gradually the thoughts of the unhappy father were beginning to run clearer, as his perturbed feelings acquired a measure of calmness, and he was about rising with the view of going out again in order to take some steps for the discovery of his child, when he heard the faint ring of the door bell. Instantly he sprang to his feet and stood listening in an attitude of intense interest. A long, a very long time, it seemed to him, before the summons was answered, and, in his impatience, he was about to go to the door himself, when the waiter's feet were heard moving along the passage. A moment longer, and there was an exclamation from the servant; but the word uttered did not reach the ears of Mr. Waverly; then Alice stood before him, her face ashy pale.
"Where is Ada?"
The girl clasped her hands together and looked at Mr. Waverly imploringly; but, though her lips moved, no sounds issued therefrom.
"Speak! where is my child?"
"O, sir!" gasped the girl, her face becoming, if possible, still whiter.
"Speak! quick! quick! What have you done with Ada!"
"I have done nothing with her. She is, "
"Not dead?"
"O no, sir! no! She is alive — but her mother has stolen her from me!"
"Base wretch!" exclaimed the unhappy man, passionately. "It is false! you have betrayed me."
"Before Heaven, no!" replied Alice, instantly becoming calm. "Before Heaven, no! Mr. Waverly!" she repeated. "I have not betrayed you. Sooner would I have died!"
"Speak, then! Explain all!" said Mr. Waverly, in an imperative voice, but with regained self-possession.
"Mrs. Waverly has been in the city for some days," began Alice.
"Of that, I am already aware," was replied.
"She came here with the avowed purpose of getting possession of her children, wrongfully, as she declares, withheld from her. For most solemnly does she avow her innocence of the — "
"She came to get possession of her children," she repeated, checking herself.
"Well! go on!"
"And I promised to aid her."
"You? wretch! And so you stole, like a thief, into my house, and have robbed me of my child!"
"No, sir. Had I done that, I could never have returned to you as I do now. I would have picked up your children in the street and fled with them to their mother; but notbetrayed your confidence. No, Mr. Waverly!"
There was a dignity in the girl's manner that surprised Mr. Waverly.
"Go, on, then," he said, "and explain to me this horrible business."
"I called here, for the mother's sake, to see her children and carry her news of their welfare. You met me, and invited me to come back into your family. I accepted the offer, thinking that it would give me just the opportunity I needed. But, a moment's reflection told me that I could not be true to myself — and betray your confidence. And this I said to Mrs. Waverly. Then she accused me of turning against her also; of going over to your side. I refused to come; but, she insisted on my keeping my word to you, even though I declared to her that I would not give her children into her possession. And so I came. Today, under strong persuasion, I was induced to take Ada to see her. For a few minutes I left them alone, and when I returned to the room — they were gone!"
"Gone! Where?"
"I cannot tell. Mrs. Waverly fled from the house with her child in her arms. A neighbor saw this."
"Where did it happen?"
"At the house of Mrs. Grafton, in Spring Garden."
"Mrs. Grafton! Can it be possible! And she was in the plot also!"'
"So far as to give Mrs. Waverly a home for a few days."
"Wretched girl!" exclaimed Mr. Waverly, "you have betrayed me!"
"I tell you, No!" replied Alice, with energy, and she drew herself up as she spoke. "I have not betrayed you! Can you not see this? Have I not brought you immediate intelligence of what has occurred, in order that you may take steps to prevent Ada from being removed from the city?"
"Where has that wretched woman taken her?" asked Mr. Waverly.
"I do not know," replied Alice. "Where has she been residing?"
"In Baltimore."
"Do you think she will go back there?"
"That, I believe, is her intention."
Mr. Waverly drew his watch from his pocket. "Seven o'clock," said he, slowly, "and the cars leave at ten tonight."
"Where did you first meet with her?" he asked, after reflecting for some moments.
"At the Mansion House," replied Alice.
"Most likely she has gone there with Ada!" said Mr. Waverly, in a quick voice, and he began moving towards the door.
"I think it doubtful," returned Alice. Mr. Waverly's steps were arrested.
"Why?"
"She will hardly go to any place where she is likely to be known."
Mr. Waverly fixed his eyes upon the girl with a keen look of inquiry. But she did not shrink from the scrutinizing glance.
"I mean what I say, sir. I do not believe she will return to the Mansion House. Still, it may be something to know that she is not there."
"Will you go with me?"
"Yes, sir."
There was no hesitation in the girl's manner.
"Still you think it would be useless?"
"I do, certainly."
"What would you advise?"
"I can advise nothing, for I am as ignorant of the course taken by Mrs. Waverly, as you are. I had no suspicion of her design to escape with Ada, while the child was in my care. Yet, I am much to blame. I should have been on my guard. I should have known that the eager broken-hearted mother would be on the watch for any opportunity. O, sir! you have been too hard with her. You laid upon her heart a burden that it could not long bear without breaking. O, pity her, and — "
"Silence, girl! Do not speak to me in this manner," said Mr. Waverly, in a stern voice.
Alice shrank back a pace or two, closed her lips, and let her eyes sink to the floor.
Mr. Waverly now rang the bell, and, when the servant entered, told him to go and order a carriage, and to go quickly.
For several minutes the wretched man strode backward and forward through the entire length of his parlors, his eyes cast down, and his hands clasped tightly before him, while Alice stood silently awaiting his pleasure. The sister of Mr. Waverly was present, and had listened to all that had passed between him and the girl; but her mind was too much in confusion from what she had heard, to be able to see anything clearly. She did not, therefore, venture upon question or suggestion.
"What shall I do? Where shall I go?"
Exclamations like these, falling, in low tones, from Mr. Waverly, marked the state of distressing doubt into which his mind was thrown.
"Did she have interaction with any but Mrs. Grafton?" he at length asked, pausing before Alice.
"I believe not," replied the girl.
"Have you nothing to suggest?"
"Nothing."
Alice had become entirely composed, and there was something in the tone of her voice that fell upon the ear of Mr. Waverly, like an expression of indifference. And his ear did not deceive him.
Now, that the girl had relieved, to some extent, her own conscience, by doing all that she could to repair the injury occasioned through her lack of prudence and forethought — her sympathies turned, naturally, towards the mother, who had gained possession of one of her children; and there arose the wish in her mind that all pursuit might prove unavailing.
"The carriage is at the door," said a servant entering the room.
"Very well," responded Mr. Waverly. But he made no instant move to go; for, the truth was he did not know where to go, nor what step to take. From Alice, he could gain no intelligence, whatever; she was really or willfully ignorant — he was at a loss to know which.
"Will you go with me to the Mansion House?" he asked after musing some time.
"Certainly," was the prompt reply.
"Very well; come along. We'll go there first." But before Mr. Waverly had reached the door, he changed his mind and said —
"Perhaps I'd better go alone. You'll remain here until my return."
Back to The Divorced Wife