Beguiled Read Free Page B

that wouldn’t you? Sit down, please.”
    Dr. Rutledge was sitting in a leather chair behind his desk.
Clara imagined she was supposed to be reassured by his bland demeanour but she was not. Behind his paternal gaze was a
stranger analyzing every tick and shudder in her speech and every stumble in
logic. His first question was a trap. Denying the story was not possible, but
neither was revealing the full scope of her encounter with Grace Leeds.
    “I have no objection, Doctor.” Clara sat down in a chair
opposite the desk and tried to appear sensible. “I was twelve years old,” she
began. “We were visiting Windemere Hall, the manor
home of my uncle, Leonard Hamilton. I went to the lake to take a swim. It was
there I saw a red dress floating on top of the water. The image had a strong
effect on me. I suppose I was quite disturbed by it.”
    “What made you think it was a hallucination?”
    “I didn’t at first. I thought someone had drowned.”
    “Who did you believe had drowned, Clara?”
    “A young lady who was visiting us from
Oxford. Miss Grace Leeds. She had worn a red silk afternoon dress that
weekend.”
    Clara caught the ends of her long hair and began twisting it
round her fingers. Matron had combed out her locks and tidied it off her face
and she was given a plain brown dress to make her presentable for the
appointment. Still, Clara felt she looked a fright, leaving her at a
disadvantage against the immaculately groomed Dr. Rutledge.
    “You thought Miss Leeds had drowned and yet you did not go
for help.”
    “No.” She recalled how she did not fetch help even as the
girl was being raped inside the summer house but knew better than to say so. “I
saw straight away that it was only a dress floating on the surface. There was
no body in the dress.”
    “You became curious and ventured over to the summer house.”
    “I can’t remember. I suppose I must have done.”
    “That is not what you told your father. Your accusation was
very specific. You claimed you saw him inside the summer house attacking a
young woman by the name of Grace Leeds. You asserted that he had tossed her
dress into the lake to prevent her escape. It gave your father great pain to
relate this to me but he did so in the interest of seeing you well. Do you now deny making this statement?”
    Clara bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. The anxiety was
returning despite her best efforts. If she told the truth, Arthur Hamilton
would confine her to Gateshead indefinitely. But a
lie was out of the question.
    “I had a vision I came to believe really happened. Everything
I accused my father of was real to me at the time. He confirmed it himself. I
saw what I saw but I misinterpreted the scene. I was only twelve. I didn’t know
how men and women were with each other.”
    “Are you referring to sexual intercourse?”
    “Yes.” Clara felt her face go hot. “Arthur told me the act
was consensual. Grace was not in any danger. The misapprehension was all in my
mind.”
    “Do you believe your father’s version of events, Clara?”
    She lifted her eyes to the doctor and remembered Laura
Mayhew’s admonition. Tell them whatever
they want to hear to get out of this place . “Yes, yes, I do. I only wish he
had been honest with me years ago; I might have been spared a good deal of
anguish.”
    Doctor Rutledge nodded, somberly stroking his beard. “There
is the source of your trouble. Your father’s private affairs were not your
concern. What you witnessed, disagreeable though it may be to a young girl, was
none of your business. He did not owe you an explanation—on the contrary—you
owed him your loyalty and devotion. A father has natural rights and authority
over his daughter until that authority is transferred to a husband. If you
cannot accept the natural order of woman’s place in the world, you will
continue to suffer, Clara.”
    Clara nodded in quick agreement. “Yes, yes, of course. I’m
glad to have it explained to me so