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Frederick Dalton remained in his prostrate condition, with no apparent change either for the better or for the worse, and thus a month passed. One morning Dudleigh requested an interview with Edith. On entering the room he greeted her with his usual deep respect. "I hope you will excuse me for troubling you, Miss Dalton," he said, "but I wish very much to ask your opinion about your father.
He showed, however, that Lady Dudleigh had been put under his care by Sir Lionel himself, and in the usual way; that Sir Lionel had specified the nature of her insanity to consist in the belief that she was his wife, and that so long as she maintained that belief he thought her actually insane.
Enough had been gathered from the other witnesses to enable the jury to come to a conclusion. It was felt, also, that Mrs. Dudleigh ought to have a chance; though they believed her guilty, they felt sorry for her, and did not wish her to criminate herself by any rash words. The result was that they brought in a verdict of murder against Mrs. Leon Dudleigh.
You yourself are not strong, and you must take care of yourself for his sake. I will not, therefore, give up to you all the care of your father, but I will absent myself during the afternoon, and you will then have exclusive care of him." Edith bowed without a word, and Dudleigh withdrew. This arrangement was kept up, and Edith scarcely saw Dudleigh at all.
It was the thought of that royal wife's devotion who, when her young husband lay dying from the poisoned dagger of an assassin, drew the poison from the wound, and thus snatched him from the very grasp of death. This it was, then, that was in the mind of Edith, and it was in her agonized heart at that moment to save Dudleigh even as Eleanor had saved Edward.
It was to her like the dawn of a new life, and into that life she threw herself with an abandonment of feeling that evinced itself in unrestrained enjoyment of every thing that presented itself to her view. Dudleigh, however, was very different. In him there had always appeared a certain restraint.
"I want but one thing," said Edith, "and that is to get out." "Well?" "Will you lead the way and let me follow? That is all I ask of you." "Certainly, and if you could only go out over my dead body, that price should be paid, and you should go." Dudleigh spoke quickly, but with no particular earnestness. Indeed, in all his tones there was a lack of earnestness.
Little Dudleigh seemed to understand most thoroughly the female nature, its excellences and its defects, its strength and its weaknesses. In his anecdotes about men he was never so successful. His familiarity with women's ways was quite remarkable, and extended even to the smallest details of dress and ornament.
The vigilance which her keepers maintained by day was relaxed at night, for they never suspected her of any design of leaving the house after dark. Her interview with Dudleigh must have been seen and reported, but no action that she was aware of had been taken. Perhaps Wiggins was waiting for him to make another call, when he would step forth and formally lock her up in her room.
Meanwhile the subject of all this excitement and gossip was living in his own seclusion, quite apart from the outside world. One change, however, had taken place in his life which required immediate action on his part. A great number of letters had come for "Captain Dudleigh." The receipt of these gave him trouble.
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