Branston? What shall I do? Go to him
at once, and tell him my suspicion, tax him broadly with treachery, and
force him to a direct confession or denial? Shall I do this? Or shall I
bide my time, wait and watch with dull dogged patience, till I can
collect some evidence of his guilt? Yes, let it be so. If he has been
base enough to do me this great wrong--mean enough to steal my betrothed
under a false name, and to keep the secret of his wrong-doing at any cost
of lies and deceit--let him go on to the end, let him act out the play to
the last; and when I bring his falsehood home to him, as I must surely
do, sooner or later,--yes, if he is capable of deceiving me, he shall
continue the lie to the last, he shall endure all the infamy of his false
position."
And then, after a pause, he said to himself,--
"And at the end, if my suspicions are confirmed, I shall have lost all I
have ever valued in life since my mother died--my plighted wife, and the
one chosen friend whose companionship could make existence pleasant to
me. God grant that this fancy of mine is as baseless as Sir David Forster
declared it to be! God grant that I may never find a secret enemy in
John Saltram!"
Tossed about thus upon a sea of doubts, Mr. Fenton returned to Lidford
House, where he was expected to be bright and cheerful, and entertain his
host and hostess with the freshest gossip of the London world.
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