LOVE-MAKING AT NIGHT
Dunn went to his room that night with the feeling that a crisis was approaching.And he wished very greatly that he knew how much Ella had overheard of his talk with her stepfather, and what interpretation she had put upon it.
He determined that in the morning he would take the very first opportunity he could find of speaking to her.
But in the morning it appeared that Mrs.Dawson had had a bad night, and was very unwell, and Ella hardly stirred from her side all day.
Even when Clive called in the afternoon she would not come down, but sent instead a message begging to be excused because of her mother's indisposition, and Dunn, from a secure spot in the garden, watched the young man retire, looking very disconsolate.
This day, too, Dunn saw nothing of Deede Dawson, for that gentleman immediately after breakfast disappeared without saying anything to anybody, and by night had still not returned.
Dunn therefore was left entirely to himself, and to him the day seemed one of the longest he had ever spent.
That Ella remained so persistently with her mother troubled him a good deal, for he did not think such close seclusion on her part could be really necessary.
He was inclined to fear that Ella had overheard enough of what had passed between him and Deede Dawson to rouse her mistrust, and that she was therefore deliberately keeping out of his way.
Then too, he was troubled in another fashion by Deede Dawson's absence, for he was afraid it might mean that plans were being prepared, or possibly action being taken, that might mature disastrously before he himself was ready to act.
All day this feeling of unrest and apprehension continued, and at night when he went upstairs to bed it was stronger than ever.He felt convinced now that Ella was deliberately avoiding him.But then, if she distrusted him, that must be because she feared he was on her stepfather's side, and if it seemed to her that who was on his side was of necessity an object of suspicion to herself, then there could be no such bond of dread and guilt between them as any guilty knowledge on her part of Wright's death would involve.
The substantial proof this exercise in logic appeared to afford of Ella's innocence brought him much comfort, but did not lighten his sense of apprehension and unrest, for he thought that in this situation in which he found himself his doubts of Ella had merely been turned into doubts on Ella's part of himself, and that the one was just as likely as the other to end disastrously.
"Though I don't know what I can do," he muttered as he stood in his attic, "if I gain Deede Dawson's confidence I lose Ella's, and if I win Ella's, Deede Dawson will at once suspect me."He w I over to the window and looked out, supporting himself on his elbows, and gazing moodily into the darkness.
As he stood there a faint sound came softly to his ear through the stillness of the quiet night in which nothing stirred.
He listened, and heard it again.Beyond doubt some one was stirring in the garden below, moving about there very cautiously and carefully, and at once Dunn glided from the room and down the stairs with all that extraordinary lightness of tread and agility of movement of which his heavy body and clumsy-looking build gave so small promise.
He had not been living so many days in the house without having taken certain precautions, of which one had been to secure for himself a swift and silent egress whenever necessity might arise.
Keys to both the front and back doors were in his possession, and the passage window on the ground floor he could at need lift bodily from its frame, leaving ample room for passage either in or out.This was the method of departure he chose now since he did not know but that the doors might be watched.
Lifting the window down, he swung himself outside, replacing behind him the window so that it appeared to be as firmly in position as ever, but could be removed again almost instantly should need arise.
Once outside he listened again, and though at first everything was quiet, presently he heard again a cautious step going to and fro at a little distance.
Crouching in the shadow of the house, he listened intently, and soon was able to assure himself that there was but one footstep and that he would have only one individual to deal with.
"It won't be Deede Dawson's," he thought to himself, "but it may very likely be some one waiting for him to return.I must find out who - and why."Slipping through the darkness of the night, with whose shadows he seemed to melt and mingle, as though he were but another one of them, he moved quickly in the direction of these cautious footsteps he had listened to.
They had ceased now, and the silence was profound, for those faint multitudinous noises of the night that murmur without ceasing in the woods and fields are less noticeable near the habitations of men.
A little puzzled, Dunn paused to listen again and once more crept forward a careful yard or two, and then lay still, feeling it would not be safe to venture further till he was more sure of his direction, and till some fresh sound to guide him reached his ears.
He had not long to wait, for very soon, from quite close by, he heard something that surprised and perplexed him equally - a deep, long-drawn sigh.
Again he heard it, and in utter wonder asked himself who this could be who came into another person's garden late at night to stand and sigh, and what such a proceeding could mean.
Once more he heard the sigh, deeper even than before, and then after it a low murmur in which at first he could distinguish nothing, but then caught the name of Ella being whispered over and over again.
He bent forward, more and more puzzled, trying in vain to make out something in the darkness, and then from under a tree, whose shadow had hitherto been a complete concealment, there moved forward a form so tall and bulky there could be little doubt whom it belonged to.
