I repeat that I am
_glad_ to say it, for he richly deserved his fate, and no torture could
be too severe for one who spent his worthless life in torturing God’s
helpless animals!”

“And his wife--” commenced Margaret. “He had no wife! He was never married!”

“Never married! But this girl Harriet Brandt--”

“Has no more right to the name than you have! Henry Brandt was not
the man to regard the laws, either of God or man. There was no reason
why he should not have married--for that very cause, I suppose, he
preferred to live in concubinage.”

“Poor Harriet! Poor child! And her mother, did you know her?”

“Don’t speak to me of her mother. She was not a woman, she was a fiend,
a fitting match for Henry Brandt! To my mind she was a revolting
creature. A fat, flabby half-caste, who hardly ever moved out of her
chair but sat eating all day long, until the power to move had almost
left her! I can see her now, with her sensual mouth, her greedy eyes,
her low forehead and half-formed brain, and her lust for blood. It
was said that the only thing which made her laugh, was to watch the
dying agonies of the poor creatures her brutal protector slaughtered. But she thirsted for blood, she loved the sight and smell of it, she
would taste it on the tip of her finger when it came in her way. Her
servants had some story amongst themselves to account for this lust. They declared that when her slave mother was pregnant with her, she was
bitten by a Vampire bat, which are formidable creatures in the West
Indies, and are said to fan their victims to sleep with their enormous
wings, whilst they suck their blood. Anyway the slave woman did not
survive her delivery, and her fellows prophecied that the child would
grow up to be a murderess. Which doubtless she was in heart, if not in
deed!”

“What an awful description! And what became of her?”

“She was killed at the same time as Brandt, indeed the natives would
have killed her in preference to him, had they been obliged to choose,
for they attributed all the atrocities that went on in the laboratory
to her influence. They said she was ‘Obeah’ which means diabolical
witchcraft in their language. And doubtless their unfortunate
child would have been slaughtered also, had not the overseer of the
plantation carried her off to his cabin, and afterwards, when the
disturbance was quelled, to the Convent, where, you say, she has been
educated.”

“But terrible as all this is, dear Doctor, it is not the poor girl’s
fault. Why should we give up her acquaintance for that?”

“My dear Margaret, are you so ignorant as not to see that a child
born under such conditions cannot turn out well? The bastard of a
man like Henry Brandt, cruel, dastardly, Godless, and a woman like
her terrible mother, a sensual, self-loving, crafty and bloodthirsty
half-caste--what do you expect their daughter to become? She may seem
harmless enough at present, so does the tiger cub as it suckles its
dam, but that which is bred in her will come out sooner or later, and
curse those with whom she may be associated. I beg and pray of you,
Margaret, not to let that girl come near you, or your child, any more. There is a curse upon her, and it will affect all within her influence!”

“You have made me feel very uncomfortable, Doctor,” replied Mrs.
Pullen. “Of course if I had known all this previously, I would not have
cultivated Miss Brandt’s acquaintance, and now I shall take your advice
and drop her as soon as possible! There will be no difficulty with Miss
Leyton, for she has had a strange dislike to the girl ever since we
met, but she has certainly been very kind to my baby--”

“For Heaven’s sake don’t let her come near your baby any more!” cried
Doctor Phillips, quickly. “Certainly I will not, and perhaps it would be as well if we moved on
to Ostende or Blankenburghe, as we have sometimes talked of doing. It
would sever the acquaintance in the most effectual way!”

“By all means do so, particularly if the young lady does not go to
Brussels, as that stout party was proposing at dinner time. What an
extraordinary person she appears to be! Quite a character!”

“That is just what she is! But, Doctor, there is another thing I should
like to speak to you about, concerning Miss Brandt, and I am sure I may
trust you to receive it in the strictest confidence. It is regarding
my brother-in-law, Ralph Pullen. I am rather afraid, from one or two
things I have observed, that he likes Miss Brandt--O! I don’t mean
anything particular, for (as you know) he is engaged to be married to
Elinor Leyton and I don’t suspect him of wronging her, only--young men
are rather headstrong you know and fond of their own way, and perhaps
if you were to speak to Ralph--”

“Tell me plainly, has he been carrying on with this girl?”

“Not in the sense you would take it, Doctor, but he affects her company
and that of the Gobellis a good deal. Miss Brandt sings beautifully,
and Ralph loves music, but his action annoys Elinor, I can see that,
and since you think we should break off the intimacy----”

“I consider it most imperatively necessary, for many reasons, and
especially in the case of a susceptible young man like Captain Pullen. She has money, you say--”

“Fifteen hundred a year, so I am told!”

“And Miss Leyton has nothing, and Ralph only his pay! O! yes! you are
quite right, such an acquaintanceship is dangerous for him. The sense
of honour is not so strong now, as it was when I was a boy, and gold
is a powerful bait with the rising generation. I will take an early
opportunity of talking to Captain Pullen on the subject.”

“You will not wound his feelings, Doctor, nor betray me?”

“Trust me for doing neither! I shall speak from my own experience, as I
have done to you. If he will not take my advice, you must get someone
with more influence to caution him about it. I hardly know how to make
my meaning clear to you, Margaret, but Miss Brandt is a _dangerous_
acquaintance, for all of you. We medical men know the consequences
of heredity, better than outsiders can do. A woman born in such
circumstances--bred of sensuality, cruelty, and heartlessness--cannot
in the order of things, be modest, kind, or sympathetic. And
she probably carries unknown dangers in her train. Whatever her
fascinations or her position may be, I beg of you to drop her at once
and for ever!”

“Of course I will, but it seems hard upon her! She has seemed to crave
so for affection and companionship.”

“As her mother craved for food and blood; as her father craved for
inflicting needless agony on innocent creatures, and sneered meanwhile
at their sufferings! I am afraid I should have little faith in Miss
Brandt craving for anything, except the gratification of her own
senses!”

They were seated on the lower step of the wooden flight that led from
the Digue to the sands, so that whilst they could see what went on
above them, they were concealed from view themselves.