The situation became a little embarrassing. Was it my place to speak
first? I wondered. At last I could endure the silence no longer.
"Quite an unpleasant evening," I remarked politely.
There was a rustle of movement, the sound of a short gasp, and a soft,
mournful voice broke on my ear.
"Mr. Dudley--can you forgive me?"
The astonishment I felt to hear my own name once more--the name that
seemed now to belong to a former state of existence--was swallowed up
as the magnetic tones carried their revelation to my mind.
I was stricken dumb for a moment at the discovery they had brought.
Then I gasped:
"Mrs. Knapp!"
"Yes, Mrs. Knapp," she said with a mournful laugh. "Did you never
suspect?"
I was lost in wonder and confusion, and even yet could not understand.
"What brings you out in this storm?" I asked, completely mystified. "I
thought I was to meet another person."
"Indeed?" said Mrs. Knapp with a spark of animation. "Well, I am the
other person."
I was paralyzed in mind and nerve for a moment with the astonishment of
the disclosure. Even yet I could not believe.
"You!" I exclaimed at last. "Are you the protector of the boy? The
employer--" Then I stopped, the tangle in my mind beginning to
straighten out.
"I am she," said Mrs. Knapp gently.
"Then," I cried, "who is he? what is he? what is the whole dreadful
affair about? and what--"
Mrs. Knapp interrupted me.
"First tell me what has become of Henry Wilton?" she said with sorrow
in her voice.
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