ARTHUR
79

This conjecture of the author and the motives between positions is suspended by more pressing considerations. I asked for an interview with the guard, and asked how Carlton could be well accommodated.

He said that all his rooms were full except for one, which, as a result of the sacking of three people in the morning, currently has only one tenant. This person had just arrived, was sick, and was with him, at this moment, one of his friends. Carlton probably split the room with this guy. No doubt his approval would be immediately given; although this arrangement, as the best one, had to be made whether he agreed or not.

This agreement I decided immediately to search, and, for that purpose, wanted to be taken to the room. The apartment door was closed. I knocked to get in. It opened, and I went in. The first person to meet my view is— Arthur Mervyn.

I started with astonishment. Mervyn's facial features showed nothing but satisfaction during the interview. Traces of fatigue and anxiety give place to tenderness and joy. It immediately occurred to me that Mervyn was the author of the letter I had recently received. Meeting him within these walls, and at this moment, is the most distant and unwanted of all possibilities. The same clock has made me know the same and unwanted fate of the two beings I love the most.

I barely had time to return his embrace, when, taking my hand, he took me to a bed standing in one corner. On it lay a person who at a glance allowed me to call his name, even though I had never seen him before. The living portrait that Mervyn drew was conspicuous in a sunken and haggard face before me. This face does have proportions and lines that can never be forgotten or misinterpreted. Welbeck, when seen or explained, is easily distinguished from the rest of humanity. He has a stronger motive than anyone else to avoid guilt, trouble concealing or disguising himself to be ten times greater in himself than anyone else, because of the indelible and eye-catching mark that nature has set upon her.

He's pale and skinny. He did not open his eyes at my entrance. He seemed to be asleep; but, before I could exchange glances with Mervyn, or to ask the nature of the scene, he woke up. When he saw me he started, and threw a reproachful look at my friend. The latter understood his emotions, and tried to calm him down.

"This man," he said, "is my friend. He was also a doctor; and, seeing that you needed medical help, I ventured to call him."

Welbeck replied, contemptuously and angrily, "You mistook my condition, son. My illness lies deeper than any of his surveillance has ever achieved. I wish you were gone. Your interests are well intended, but they aggravate my misery."

She now got out of bed, and continued, in a firm and resolute tone, "You are the intruder to this apartment. It's mine, and I want to be left alone."

Mervyn returned, at first, no answer to this address. He drowned in confusion. Finally, raising his eyes from the floor, he said, "My intentions are indeed honest, and I am sad because I want the power of persuasion. Tomorrow, perhaps, I can be more convincing with your despair, or your gift.The mood may change. To help my own weakness, I will beg this friend's help."

These words evoke a new spirit in Welbeck. His confusion and anger increased. His tongue stammered as he exclaimed, "Oh my God! Whatchu mean? With a cold and rash head like you, you wouldn't share with this person your knowledge of me?" Here he examined himself, aware that the words he had spoken tended to the end he feared. This awareness, adds to the terror of the wider revelations, which may be driven by Mervyn's simplicity and honesty to make it, chained her tongue, and covered it anxiously.

Mervyn did not long answer: "I understand your fears and desires. I have to tell you the truth. To this person, your story has been told. Whatever I witnessed under your roof, whatever I heard from your lips, has been revealed faithfully to him."

"Cannot be. Such great deeds are beyond your strength. Your quality is amazing. Each of your new actions surpasses the last, and belies the latest calculations. , this blindness to the future, is remarkable." There he paused; while he looked as if calling Mervyn to a contradiction from his first statement.

"I know very well how foolish or evil my actions will seem to you, but I will not lie or lie. I repeat, that every thing is known to him. Your birth, your early luck, the incidents in Charleston and Wilmington; your treatment of the brother and sister; your interview with Watson, and the fatal problem of the interview I've told him everything, just as I was told."

Here the shock Welbeck felt overcame his vigilance and strength. He drowned on the side of the bed. The air was still in disbelief, and he kept staring at Mervyn. He spoke in a not-so-loud tone:

“And did you then betray me? Do you close every road to the return of my honor? Am I known as a seductress and a murderer? Have you contemplated all the evils, and have done the worst?

"Death and humiliation are my part. I know it is reserved for me; but I do not think of accepting it from your hands, that under the guise of the innocent there lurks a dangerous and cruel heart. But go; leave me alone. This stroke has wiped out the rest of my hopes. Let me prepare my neck for the straps, and my lips for this last and bitter cup."

Mervyn struggled with her tears, and replied, "All this has been foreseen, and all this I am ready to endure. My friend and I will stand down, as you wish; but tomorrow I return; not to defend my faith or my humanity; not to make you retract your accusation, or forgive the wrongs I seem to have done, but to deliver you from your present evil, or to arm you with fortitude."

While saying so, he led the way out of the room. I followed him in silence. The weirdness and rudeness of this scene left me with no strength to take part in it. I saw with a new and indescribable sensation. I got to the road before my memory recovered perfectly. I then contemplated the purpose that led me to Welbeck's room. This goal has not yet been achieved. I want Mervyn to linger while I return home. I once again asked the guard, and told him that I should hand him the province to introduce Welbeck with the necessity of sharing his apartment with foreigners. I soon rejoined Mervyn on the way.

I wasted no time in asking for an explanation of the scene I had witnessed. "How do you once again become a Welbeck escort? Why don't you tell me by mail about your arrival in Malverton & about what happened during your absence?

What about Mr Hadwin and Wallace?"

"Darling!" saying, "I see that, even though I have written, you have never received my letters. The story of what has happened since we parted is long and varied. I not only wanted to but wanted to tell that story; but this was not a suitable place. Be patient until we get to your house. I have entangled myself in danger and shame from which I rely on your advice and help to set me free."

I had just reached my own door, when I was overtaken by a servant, who I knew came from the family where Carlton and his sister lived. The message, therefore, is easy to guess. He came, as I expected, to ask my friend, who had left his house in the morning with a stranger, and had not returned. His absence has caused unrest, and his sister has sent me this message, to get information on the cause of his detention that I can provide.