With his head bent down--as if he were facing some keen-blowing
wind--and yet there was not a breath of air stirring--Mr. Gibson
went swiftly to his own home. He rang at the door-bell; an unusual
proceeding on his part. Maria opened the door. "Go and tell Miss
Molly she's wanted in the dining-room. Don't say who it is that wants
her." There was something in Mr. Gibson's manner that made Maria obey
him to the letter, in spite of Molly's surprised question,--
"Wants me? Who is it, Maria?"
Mr. Gibson went into the dining-room, and shut the door, for an
instant's solitude. He went up to the chimney-piece, took hold of it,
and laid his head on his hands, and tried to still the beating of his
heart.
The door opened. He knew that Molly stood there before he heard her
tone of astonishment.
"Papa!"
"Hush!" said he, turning round sharply. "Shut the door. Come here."
She came to him, wondering what was amiss. Her thoughts went to the
Hamleys immediately. "Is it Osborne?" she asked, breathless. If Mr.
Gibson had not been too much agitated to judge calmly, he might have
deduced comfort from these three words.
But instead of allowing himself to seek for comfort from collateral
evidence, he said,--"Molly, what is this I hear? That you have been
keeping up a clandestine intercourse with Mr. Preston--meeting him
in out-of-the-way places; exchanging letters with him in a stealthy
way?"
Though he had professed to disbelieve all this, and did disbelieve it
at the bottom of his soul, his voice was hard and stern, his face was
white and grim, and his eyes fixed Molly's with the terrible keenness
of their research. Molly trembled all over, but she did not attempt
to evade his penetration. If she was silent for a moment, it was
because she was rapidly reviewing her relation with regard to Cynthia
in the matter. It was but a moment's pause of silence; but it seemed
long minutes to one who was craving for a burst of indignant denial.
He had taken hold of her two arms just above her wrists, as she had
advanced towards him; he was unconscious of this action; but, as his
impatience for her words grew upon him, he grasped her more and more
tightly in his vice-like hands, till she made a little involuntary
sound of pain. And then he let go; and she looked at her soft bruised
flesh, with tears gathering fast to her eyes to think that he, her
father, should have hurt her so. At the instant it appeared to her
stranger that he should inflict bodily pain upon his child, than that
he should have heard the truth--even in an exaggerated form. With a
childish gesture she held out her arm to him; but if she expected
pity, she received none.