LEAH’S CONFESSION
‘You know what happened that day, sir,’
observed Leah, hesitating a moment, for even her hard
nature felt some compunction at the look of suffering
on her master’s face. She had eaten his
bread for years, and had deceived and duped him; but
she must have felt remorse stirring in her as she
saw him drop his head on his clasped hands again, as
though he were compelling himself to listen without
interruption.
’You had been talking to Mr. Eric a long time
in the study, Miss Etta told me; he had been going
on like mad about Mr. Edgar Brown, and having to go
to Mr. Armstrong’s office; but you had been very
firm, and had refused to hear any more, and he had
flung off to his own room in one of his passions.
Miss Gladys had followed him, and I heard him telling
her that he had forgotten himself and struck you,
and that you had turned him out of the study, and
that he was in difficulties and must have money, for
Mr. Edgar had got him into some trouble.’
’You heard this by listening at Mr. Eric’s
door, for Miss Gladys saw you,’ I observed,
not willing to let this pass.
‘What has that got to do with it?’ she
returned rudely. ’I am speaking to the
master, not you’: but she grew a shade paler
as I spoke. ’You were up late that night,
sir; I was waiting to speak to Miss Etta, and encountered
you in the passage. I went back to my own room
for a little while, and then I knocked at her door;
but there was no answer. I could see the room
was dark, but I could hardly believe she was asleep:
so I went to the bed and called Miss Etta, but I very
soon found she was not there: her gown was on
the couch and her dressing-gown missing from its place.
’I had a notion that I might as well follow
her, for somehow I guessed that she had gone to the
study; but I was certainly not prepared to see Mr.
Eric stooping over your desk. He had a letter
in his hand, and had just put down his chamber candlestick.
All at once it flashed upon my mind that Miss Etta
had told me that you had received a large cheque that
night, and that you were going up to London the next
day to cash it, and she hoped Dryden would not call
again before you went. She said it quite casually,
and I am sure then she had not thought of helping herself.
Then the thought must have come to her all of a sudden.
’I remembered the cheque, and for an instant
I suspected Mr. Eric. But as I was watching him
I saw the curtain of one of the windows move, and I
had a glimpse of yellow embroidery that certainly belonged
to Miss Etta’s dressing-gown. In a moment
I grasped the truth: she had taken the cheque
to settle Dryden’s bill. But I must make
myself certain of the fact: so I asked Mr. Eric,
rather roughly, what he was doing, and he retorted
by bidding me mind my own business.
’He had laid his letter on the desk, but when
he had gone I walked up straight to the window, and
nearly frightened Miss Etta into a fit by asking her
what she had done with the cheque. She was grovelling
on her knees before me in a moment, calling me her
dear Leah and imploring me to shield her. I was
very fierce with her at first, and was for putting
it back again, until she told me, trembling all over,
that she had endorsed it. She had copied your
writing, and only an expert could have told the difference.
