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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:06:11 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:06:11 -0700 |
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diff --git a/23641-h/23641-h.htm b/23641-h/23641-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d547f25 --- /dev/null +++ b/23641-h/23641-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10163 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Forsaken Inn, by Anna Katharine Green. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + .poem {margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + +.hang1 {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Forsaken Inn, by Anna Katharine Green + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Forsaken Inn + A Novel + +Author: Anna Katharine Green + +Release Date: November 27, 2007 [EBook #23641] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORSAKEN INN *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 258px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="258" height="400" alt="Cover" title="Cover" /> +</div> + +<div class='bbox'> + +<h1>THE<br /> +FORSAKEN INN</h1> +</div><div class='bbox'> +<h3>A NOVEL</h3> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>ANNA KATHARINE GREEN</h2> +<div class='center'> +Author of<br /> +"The Leavenworth Case," "A Matter of Millions,"<br /> +"Behind Closed Doors," etc.<br /><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 58px;"> +<img src="images/emblem.jpg" width="58" height="92" alt="Emblem" title="Emblem" /> +</div> +</div><div class='bbox'> +<div class='center'> +GROSSET & DUNLAP<br /> +Publishers New York<br /> +<br /></div> +</div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/gs01.jpg" width="600" height="391" alt="Thrown from the horse" title="Thrown from the horse" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='center'><small> +<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1889 and 1890<br /> +<span class="smcap">By Robert Bonner's Sons</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1909<br /> +<span class="smcap">The Bobbs-Merrill Company</span><br /></small> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>TO MY HUSBAND.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left' colspan='2'><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td align='left'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Oak Parlor</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Burritt</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Fearful Discovery</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Questions and Answers</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">An Interim of Suspense</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Recluse</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Two Women</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Sudden Betrothal</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IX.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Marah</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>X.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">At the Foot of the Stairs</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Honora</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Edwin Urquhart</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Before the Wedding</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Cassandra at the Gate</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Catastrophe</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Dream Ended</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Strange Guests</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mrs. Truax Talks</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIX.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the Halls at Midnight</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XX.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Stone in the Garden</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the Oak Parlor</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Surprise for Honora</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the Secret Chamber</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXIV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Marquis</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_312">312</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mark Felt</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_318">318</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">For the Last Time</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_330">330</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXVII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Last Word</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE FORSAKEN INN.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>THE OAK PARLOR.</h3> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Letter I"> +<tr><td align='left' rowspan='2' valign='top'><img src="images/gs02a.png" width="237" height="352" alt="I illustration left" title="I illustration left" /> +</td><td align='left'><img src="images/gs02b.png" width="361" height="293" alt="I illustration right" title="I illustration right" /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='unindent'> WAS riding between Albany +and Poughkeepsie. It was raining +furiously, and my horse, already weary with +long travel, gave unmistakable signs of discouragement. +I was, therefore, greatly relieved when, +in the most desolate part of the road, I espied +rising before me the dim outlines of a house, and +was correspondingly disappointed when, upon riding +forward, I perceived that it was but a deserted +ruin I was approaching, whose fallen chimneys +and broken windows betrayed a dilapidation so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +great that I could scarcely hope to find so much +as a temporary shelter therein.</div></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>Nevertheless, I was so tired of the biting storm +that I involuntarily stopped before the decayed +and forbidding structure, and was, in truth, withdrawing +my foot from the stirrup, when I heard +an unexpected exclamation behind me, and turning, +saw a chaise, from the open front of which +leaned a gentleman of most attractive appearance.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Hide my head from the storm," was my hurried +rejoinder. "I am tired, and so is my horse, +and the town, according to all appearances, must +be at least two miles distant."</p> + +<p>"No matter if it is three miles! You must not +take shelter in that charnel-house," he muttered; +and moved along in his seat as if to show me +there was room beside him.</p> + +<p>"Why," I exclaimed, struck with sudden curiosity, +"is this one of the haunted houses we +hear of? If so, I shall certainly enter, and be +much obliged to the storm for driving me into so +interesting a spot." I thought he looked embarrassed. +At all events, I am sure he hesitated for +a moment whether or not to ride on and leave me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +to my fate. But his better impulses seemed to +prevail, for he suddenly cried: "Get in with me, +and leave mysteries alone. If you want to come +back here after you have learned the history of +that house, you can do so; but first ride on to +town and have a good meal. Your horse will +follow easily enough after he is rid of your +weight."</p> + +<p>It was too tempting an offer to be refused; so +thankfully accepting his kindness, I alighted from +my horse, and after tying him to the back of the +chaise, got in with this genial stranger. As I did +so I caught another view of the ruin I had been +so near entering.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious!" I exclaimed, pointing to +the structure that, with its projecting upper story +and ghastly apertures, presented a most suggestive +appearance, "if it does not look like a skull!"</p> + +<p>My companion shrugged his shoulders, but did +not reply. The comparison was evidently not a +new one to him.</p> + +<p>That evening, in a comfortable inn parlor, I +read the following manuscript. It was placed +in my hands by this kindly stranger, who in so +doing explained that it had been written by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +last occupant of the old inn I was so nearly on the +point of investigating. She had been its former +landlady, and had clung to the ancient house long +after decay had settled upon its doorstep and +desolation breathed from its gaping windows. +She died in its north room, and from under her +pillow the discolored leaves were taken, the words +of which I now place before you.</p> + + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">January</span> 28, 1775.<br /> +</div> + +<p>I do not understand myself. I do not understand +my doubts nor can I analyze my fears. +When I saw the carriage drive off, followed by +the wagon with its inexplicable big box, I thought +I should certainly regain my former serenity. +But I am more uneasy than ever. I cannot rest, +and keep going over and over in my mind the few +words that passed between us in their short stay +under my roof. It is her face that haunts me. It +must be that, for it had a strange look of trouble +in it as well as sickness; but neither can I forget +his, so fair, so merry, and yet so unpleasant, especially +when he glanced at her and—as I could +not help but think before they went away—when +he glanced at me. I do not like him, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +chills creep over me whenever I remember his +laugh, which was much too frequent to be decent, +considering how poorly his young wife looked.</p> + +<p>They are gone, and their belongings with them; +but I am as much afraid as if they were still here. +Why? That is what I cannot tell. I sit in the +room where they slept, and feel as strange and +terrified as if I had encountered a ghost there. I +dread to stay and dread to move and write, because +I must relieve myself in some way—that is, +if I am to have any sleep to-night. Am I ill, or +was there something unexplained and mysterious +in their actions? Let me go over the past and +see.</p> + +<p>They came last evening about twilight. I was +in the front of the house, and seeing such a good-looking +couple in the carriage, and such a pile of +baggage with them that they had to have an extra +wagon to carry it, I ran out in all haste to welcome +them. She had a veil drawn over her face, and it +was so thick that I could not see her features, but +her figure was slight and graceful, and I took a +fancy to her at once, perhaps because she held her +arms out when she saw me, as if she thought she beheld +in me a friend. He did not please me so well,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +though there is no gainsaying that he is handsome +enough, and speaks, when he wishes to, with a +great deal of courtesy. But I thought he ought +to give his attention to his young and ailing wife, +instead of being so concerned about his baggage. +Had that big box of his contained gold, he could +not have looked at it more lovingly or been more +anxious about its handling. He said it held books; +but, pshaw! what is there in books, that a man +should love them better than his wife, and watch +over their welfare with the utmost concern, while +allowing a stranger to help her out of the carriage +and up the inn steps?</p> + +<p>But I will not dwell any longer upon this. Men +are strange beings, and must not be judged by +rules that apply to women. Let me see if I can remember +when it was that I first saw her face. Ah, +yes; it was in the parlor. She had taken a seat +there while her husband looked through the house +and decided which room to take. There were four +empty, and two of them were the choicest and +airiest in the inn, but he passed by these and insisted +upon taking one that was stuffy with disuse, +because it was on the ground floor, and so convenient +for us to bring his great box into.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<p>His great box! I was so provoked at this everlasting +concern about his great box, that I ran to +the parlor, intending to ask the lady herself to interfere. +But when I got to the threshold I paused, +and did not speak, for the lady—or Mrs. Urquhart, +as I presently found she called herself—had risen +from her seat and was looking in the glass with an +expression so sad and searching that I forgot my +errand and only thought of comforting her. But +the moment she heard my step she drew down the +veil which she had tossed back, and coming quickly +toward me, asked if her husband had chosen a +room.</p> + +<p>I answered in the affirmative, and began to complain +that it was not a very cheerful one. But she +paid small attention to my words, and presently I +found myself following her to the apartment +designated. She entered, making a picture, as she +crossed the threshold, which I shall not readily +forget. For in her short, quick walk down the +hall she had torn the bonnet from her head, and +though she was not a strictly beautiful woman, she +was sufficiently interesting to make her every +movement attractive. But that is not all. For +some reason the moment possessed an importance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +for her which I could not measure. I saw it in +her posture, in the pallor of her cheeks and the +uprightness of her carriage. The sudden halt she +made at the threshold, the half-startled exclamation +she gave as her eyes fell on the interior, all +showed that she was laboring under some secret +agitation. But what was the cause of that agitation +I have not been able to determine. She went +in, but as she did so, I heard her murmur:</p> + +<p>"Oak walls! Ah, my soul! it has come soon!"</p> + +<p>Not a very intelligible exclamation, you will allow, +but as intelligible as her whole conduct. For +in another moment every sign of emotion had left +her, and she stood quite calm and cold in the center +of the room. But her pallor remained, and +I cannot make sure now whether this betokened +weary resignation or some secret and but half +recognized fear.</p> + +<p>Had I looked at him instead of at her, I might +have understood the situation better. But, though +I dimly perceived his form drawn up in the +empty space at the left of the door, it was not until +she had passed him and flung herself into a chair, +that I thought to look in his direction. Then it +was too late, for he had turned his face aside and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +was gazing with rather an obtrusive curiosity at +the old-fashioned room, murmuring, as he did so, +some such commonplaces to his wife as:</p> + +<p>"I hope you are not fatigued, my dear. Fine +old house, this. Quite English in style, eh?"</p> + +<p>To all of which she answered with a nod or +word, till suddenly, without look or warning, she +slipped from her chair and lay perfectly insensible +upon the dark boards of the worm-eaten floor.</p> + +<p>I uttered an exclamation, and so did he; but it +was my arms that lifted her and laid her on the +bed. He stood as if frozen to his place for a moment, +then he mechanically lifted his foot and set +it with an air of proprietorship on the box before +which he had been standing.</p> + +<p>"Strange and inexplicable conduct," thought I, +and looked the indignation I could not but feel. +Instantly he left his position and hastened to my +side, offering his assistance and advice with that +heartless officiousness which is so unbearable +when life and death are at stake.</p> + +<p>I accepted as little of his help as was possible, +and when, after persistent effort on my part, I saw +her lids fluttering and her breast heaving, I turned +to him with as inoffensive an air as my mingled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +dislike and distrust would admit, and asked how +long they had been married. He flushed violently, +and with a sudden rage that at once robbed +him of that gentlemanly appearance which, in +him, was but the veneer to a coarse and brutal +nature, he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"—— you! and by what right do you ask +that?"</p> + +<p>But before I could reply he recovered himself +and was all false polish again, bowing with exaggerated +politeness, as he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Excuse me; I have had much to disturb me +lately. My wife's health has been very feeble for +months, and I am worn out with anxiety and +watching. We are now on our way to a warmer +climate, where I hope she will be quite restored."</p> + +<p>And he smiled a very strange and peculiar +smile, that went out like a suddenly extinguished +candle, as he perceived her eyes suddenly open, +and her gaze pass reluctantly around the room, as +if forced to a curiosity against which she secretly +rebelled.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs03.jpg" width="500" height="384" alt="She slipped from her chair and lay perfectly insensible upon the dark boards" title="She slipped from her chair and lay perfectly insensible upon the dark boards" /> +</div> + +<p>"I think Mrs. Urquhart will do very well now," +was his hurried remark at this sight. He evidently +wished to be rid of me, and though I hated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +to leave her, I really found nothing to say in contradiction +to his statement, for she certainly looked +completely restored. I therefore turned away +with a heavy heart toward the door, when the +young wife, suddenly throwing out her arms, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Do not leave me in this horrible room alone! +I am afraid of it—actually afraid! Couldn't you +have found some spot in the house less gloomy, +Edwin?"</p> + +<p>I came back.</p> + +<p>"There are plenty of rooms—" I began.</p> + +<p>But he interrupted me without any ceremony.</p> + +<p>"I chose this room, Honora, for its convenience. +There is nothing horrible about it, and when the +lamps are lit you will find it quite pleasant. Do +not be foolish. We sleep here or nowhere, for I +cannot consent to go upstairs."</p> + +<p>She answered nothing, but I saw her eyes go +traveling once again around the walls, followed in +a furtive way by his. Whereupon I looked about +me, too, and tried to get a stranger's impression of +the place. I was astonished at its effect upon my +imagination. Though I had been in and out of the +room fifty times before I had never noticed till<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +now the extreme dismalness and desolation of its +appearance.</p> + +<p>Once used as an auxiliary parlor, it had that air +of uninhabitableness which clings to such rooms, +together with a certain something else, equally +unpleasant, to which at that moment I could give +no name, and for which I could neither find then +nor now any sufficient reason. It was paneled +with oak far above our heads, and as the walls +above had become gray with smoke, there was +absolutely no color in the room, not even in the +hangings of the gaunt four-poster that loomed +dreary and repelling from one end of the room. +For here, as elsewhere, time had been at work, +and tints that were once bright enough had gradually +been subdued by dust and smoke into one +uniform dimness. The floor was black, the fireplace +empty, the walls without a picture, and yet +it was neither from this grayness nor from this +barrenness that one recoiled. It was from something +else—something that went deeper than the +lack of charm or color—something that clung to +the walls like a contagion and caught at the heart-strings +where they are weakest, smothering hope +and awakening horror, till in each faded chair<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +a ghost seemed sitting, gazing at you with immovable +eyes that could tell tales, but would +not.</p> + +<p>There was but one window in the room, and +that looked toward the west. But the light that +should have entered there was frightened, also, +and halted on the ledge without, balked by the +thick curtains that heavily enshrouded it. A +haunted chamber! or so it appeared at that moment +to my somewhat excited fancy, and for the +first time in my life, here, I felt a dread of my +own house, and experienced the uncanny sensation +of some one walking over my grave.</p> + +<p>But I soon recovered myself. Nothing of a +disagreeable nature had ever happened in this +room, nor had we had any special reason for +shutting it up, except that it was in an out-of-the-way +place, and not usually considered convenient, +notwithstanding Mr. Urquhart's opinion to the +contrary.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said I, with a last effort to +soothe the agitated woman. "We will let in a +little light, and dissipate some of these shadows." +And I attempted to throw back the curtains of the +window, but they fell again immediately and I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +experienced a sensation as of something ghostly +passing between us and the light.</p> + +<p>Provoked at my own weakness, I tore the curtains +down and flung them into a corner. A +straggling beam of sunset color came in, but it +looked out of place and forlorn upon that black +floor, like a stranger who meets with no welcome. +The poor young wife seemed to hail it, however, +for she moved instantly to where it lay and stood +as if she longed for its warmth and comfort. I +immediately glanced at the fireplace.</p> + +<p>"I will soon have a rousing fire for you," I +declared. "These old fireplaces hold a large pile +of wood."</p> + +<p>I thought, but I must be mistaken, that he made +a gesture as if about to protest, but, if so, reason +must have soon come to his aid, for he said nothing, +though he looked uneasy, as I moved the +andirons forward and made some other trivial +arrangements for the fire which I had promised +them.</p> + +<p>"He thinks I am never going," I muttered to +myself, and took pleasure in lingering; for, anxious +as I was to have the room heated up for her +comfort, I knew that every moment I stayed there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +would be one less for her to spend with her surly +husband alone.</p> + +<p>At last I had no further excuse for remaining, +and so with the final remark that if the fire failed +to give them cheer we had a sitting room into +which they could come, I went out. But I knew, +even while saying it, that he would not grant her +the opportunity of enjoying the sitting room's +coziness; that he would not let her out of his +sight, if he did out of the room, and that for her +to remain in his presence was to be in darkness, +solitude and gloom, no matter what walls surrounded +her or in what light she stood.</p> + +<p>My impressions were not far wrong. Mr. and +Mrs. Urquhart came to supper, but that was all. +Before the others had finished their roast they had +eaten their pudding and gone; and though he +had talked, and laughed, and shown his white teeth, +the impression left behind them was a depressing +one which even Hetty felt, and she has anything +but a sensitive nature.</p> + +<p>I went to the room once again in the evening. +I found them both seated, but in opposite parts of +the room; he by his great box, and she in an easy +chair which I had caused to be brought down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +from my own room for her especial use. I did +not look at him, but I did at her, and was astonished +to see, first, how dignified she was; and +next how pretty. Had she been happy and at +her ease, I should probably have been afraid of +her, for the firelight, which now shone on her +wan young cheek, brought out evidences of character +and culture in her expression which proved +her to be, by birth and training, of a position superior +to what one would be led to expect from +her husband's aspect and manner. But she was +not happy nor at her ease, and wore, instead of +the quiet and commanding look of the great lady, +such an expression of secret dread that I almost +forgot my position of landlady, and should certainly, +if he had not been there, fallen at her side +and taken her poor, forsaken head upon my breast. +But that silent, immovable form, sitting statue-like +beside his big box, smiling, for aught I knew, +but if so, breathing out a chill that forbade all exhibition +of natural feeling, held me in check, as it +held her, so that I merely inquired whether there +was anything I could do for her; and when she +shook her head, starting a tear down her cheek as +she did so, I dared do nothing more than give her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +one look of sympathetic understanding, and start +for the door.</p> + +<p>A command from him stopped me.</p> + +<p>"My wife will need a slight supper before she +goes to bed," said he. "Will you be good enough +to see that one is brought?"</p> + +<p>She roused herself up with quite a startled +look of wonder.</p> + +<p>"Why, Edwin," she began, "I never have been +in the habit—"</p> + +<p>But he hushed her at once.</p> + +<p>"I know what is best for you," said he. "A +small plate of luncheon, Mrs. Truax; and let it be +nice and inviting."</p> + +<p>I courtesied, gave her another glance, and went +out. Her countenance had not lost its look of wonder. +Was he going to be considerate, after all?</p> + +<p>The lunch was prepared and taken to her.</p> + +<p>Not long after this the inn quieted down, and +such guests as were in the house prepared for rest. +Midnight came; all was dark in room and hall. +I was sure of this, for I went through the whole +building myself, contrary to my usual habit, which +was to leave this task to my man-of-all-work, +Burritt. All was dark, all was quiet, and I was just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +dropping off to sleep, when there shot up suddenly +from below a shriek, which was quickly +smothered, but not so quickly that I did not recognize +in it that tone which is only given by hideous +distress or mortal fear.</p> + +<p>"It is Mrs. Urquhart!" I cried in terror, to myself; +and plunging into my clothes, I hurried +down stairs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>BURRITT.</h3> + + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/gs04.jpg" width="300" height="397" alt="A figure standing near the doorway" title="A figure standing near the doorway" /> +</div> + +<p>All was quiet in the halls, but as I proceeded +toward their room I perceived a figure standing +near the doorway, which, in another moment, I +saw to be that of Burritt. He was trembling like +a leaf, and was bent forward, listening.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hush!" he whispered; "they are talking. +All seems to be right. I just heard him call her +darling."</p> + +<p>I drew the man away and took his place. Yes; +they were talking in subdued but not unkindly +tones. I heard him bid her be composed, and +caught, as I thought, a light reply that ought to +have satisfied me that Mrs. Urquhart had simply +suffered from some nightmare horror at which she +was as ready to laugh now as he. But my nature +is a contradictory one, and I was not satisfied. +The echo of her cry was still ringing in my ears, +and I felt as if I would give the world for a momentary +peep into their room. Influenced by +this idea, I boldly knocked, and in an instant—too +soon for him not to have been standing near the +door—I heard his breath through the keyhole +and the words:</p> + +<p>"Who is there, and what do you want?"</p> + +<p>"We heard a cry," was my response, "and I +feared Mrs. Urquhart was ill again."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Urquhart is very well," came hastily, almost +gayly, from within. "She had a dream, and +was willing that every one should know it. Is not +that all?" he said, seemingly addressing his wife.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a murmur within, and then I heard +her voice. "It was only a dream, dear Mrs. +Truax," it said, and convinced against my will, I +was about to return to my room, when I brushed +against Burritt. He had not moved, and did not +look as if he intended to.</p> + +<p>"Come," said I, "there is no use of our remaining +here."</p> + +<p>"Can't help it," was his whispered reply. "In +this hall I stay till morning. When I see a lamb +in the care of a wolf, I find it hard to sleep. +There is a door between us, but please God there +shan't be anything more."</p> + +<p>And knowing Burritt, I did not try to argue, +but went quietly and somewhat thoughtfully to +my room, vaguely relieved that I left him behind, +though convinced there would be no further +need of his services.</p> + +<p>And so it was. No more sounds disturbed the +house, and when I came down, with the first +streak of daylight, I found Burritt gone about his +work.</p> + +<p>Breakfast was served to the Urquharts in their +own room. I had wished to carry it in myself, +but I found this inconvenient, and so I sent Hetty.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +When she came back I asked her how Mrs. Urquhart +looked.</p> + +<p>"Very well, ma'am," was the quick reply. "And +see! I don't think she's as unhappy as we all +thought last night, or she wouldn't be giving me +a bright new crown."</p> + +<p>I glanced at the girl's palm. There was indeed +a bright new crown in it.</p> + +<p>"Did she give you that?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am; she herself. And she laughed +when she did it, and said it was for the good breakfast +I had brought her."</p> + +<p>I was busy at the time, and could not stop to +give the girl's words much thought; but as soon +as I had any leisure, I went to see for myself how +Mrs. Urquhart looked when she laughed.</p> + +<p>I was five minutes too late. She had just donned +her traveling bonnet and veil, and though I +heard her laugh slightly once, I did not see her +face.</p> + +<p>I saw his, however, and was surprised at the +good nature in it. He was quite the gentleman, +and if he had not been in such a hurry, would have +doubtless made, or endeavored to make, himself +very agreeable. But he was just watching his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +great box carried out to the wagon, and while he +took pains to talk to me—was it to keep me from +talking to her?—he was naturally a little absentminded. +He was in haste, too, and insisted upon +placing his wife in the carriage before all his baggage +was taken from the room. And she seemed +willing to go. I watched her on purpose to see, +for I was not yet satisfied that she was not playing +a part at his dictation, but I could discover +no hint of reluctance in her manner, but rather a +quiet alacrity, as if she felt glad to quit a room +to which she had taken a dislike.</p> + +<p>When I saw this, and noted the light step of +her feet, I said to myself that I had been a fool, +and lost a little of the interest I had felt for her. +Nor did I regain it till after they had driven +away, though she showed a consideration for me +at the last which I had not expected, leaning +from the carriage to give me a good-by pressure +of the hand, and even nodding again and again +as they disappeared down the road. For the fear +which could be dissipated in a night was not the +fear with which I had credited her; and of ordinary +excitements and commonplace natures I had +seen enough in my long experience as landlady to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +make me unwilling to trouble myself with any +more of them.</p> + +<p>But when the carriage and its accompanying +wagon had quite disappeared, and Mr. and Mrs. +Urquhart were virtually as far beyond my reach +as if they were already in New York, I became +conscious of a great uneasiness. This was the +more strange in that there seemed to be no especial +cause for it. They had left my house in apparently +better spirits than they had entered it, +and there was no longer any reason why I should +concern myself about them. And yet I did concern +myself, and came into the house and into the +room they had just vacated, with feelings so unusual +that I was astonished at myself, and not a +little provoked. I had a vague feeling that the +woman who had just left was somehow different +from the one I had seen the night before.</p> + +<p>But I am a busy woman, and I do not think I +should have let this trouble me long if it had not +been for Burritt. But when he came into the +room after me, and shut the door behind him and +stood with his back against it, looking at me, I +knew I was not the only one who felt uncomfortable +about the Urquharts. Rising from the chair<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +where I had been sitting, counting the cost of fitting +up that room so as to make it look habitable, I went +toward him and met his gaze pretty sharply.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," was the somewhat sullen reply. +"I don't feel right about those folks, and +yet—" He stopped and scratched his head—"I +don't know what I'm afraid of. Are you sure +they left nothing behind them?"</p> + +<p>The last words were uttered in such a tone I +did not know for a minute what to say.</p> + +<p>"Left anything behind them!" I replied. "They +left their money, if that is what you mean. I +don't know what else they could have left."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding which assertion, I involuntarily +glanced about the room as if half expecting +to see some one of their many belongings protruding +from a hitherto unsearched corner. His gaze +followed mine, but presently returned, and we +stood again looking at each other.</p> + +<p>"Nothing here," said I.</p> + +<p>"Where is it, then?" he asked.</p> + +<p>I frowned in displeasure.</p> + +<p>"Where is what?" I demanded. "You speak +like a fool. Explain yourself."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>He took a step toward me and lowered his +voice. Every one knows Burritt, so I need not +describe him. You can all imagine how he looked +when he said:</p> + +<p>"Did you see me handling of the big box, +ma'am?"</p> + +<p>I nodded yes.</p> + +<p>"Saw how I was the one to help carry it in, +and also how I was the one to first take hold on +it when he wanted it carried out?" I again nodded +yes.</p> + +<p>"Well, ma'am, that box was a heavy load to lift +into the wagon, but, ma'am"—here his voice became +quite sepulchral—"it wasn't as heavy as it +was when we lifted it out, and it hadn't the same +feel either. Now, what had happened to it, and +where is the stuff he took out of it?"</p> + +<p>I own I had never in my life felt creepy before +that minute. But with his eyes staring at me +so impressively, and his voice sunk to a depth +that made me lean forward to hear what he had +to say, I do declare I felt as if an icy breath +had been blown across the roots of my hair.</p> + +<p>"Burritt, you want to frighten me," I exclaimed, +as soon as I could get my voice. "The box<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +seemed heavier to you than it did just now. +There was no change in it, there could not be, +or we should find something here to account for +it. Remember you did not sleep last night, and +lack of rest makes one fanciful."</p> + +<p>"It does not make a man feel stronger, though, +and I tell you the box was not near so heavy to-day +as yesterday. Besides, as I said before, it +acted differently under the handling. There was +something loose in it to-day. Yesterday it was +packed tight."</p> + +<p>I shook my head, and tried to throw off the oppression +caused by his manner. But seeing his +eyes travel to the window, I looked that way too.</p> + +<p>"He didn't carry anything out of the door," declared +Burritt, at this moment, "because I watched +it, and I know. But that window is only three +feet from the ground, and I remember now that +at the instant I first laid my ear to the keyhole, +I heard a strange, grating sound just like that +of a window being lowered by a very careful +hand. Shall I look outside it, ma'am?"</p> + +<p>I replied by going quickly to the window myself, +lifting it, which I did with very little trouble, +and glancing out. The familiar garden, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +its path to the river, lay before me; but though +I allowed myself one quick look in its direction, +it was to the ground immediately beneath the +window that I turned my attention, and it was +here that I instantly, and to the satisfaction of +both Burritt and myself, discovered unmistakable +signs of disturbance. Not only was there the impression +of a finely booted foot imprinted in the +loose earth, but there was a large stone lying +against the house which we were both confident +had not been there the day before.</p> + +<p>"He went roaming through the garden last +night," cried Burritt, "and he brought back +that stone. Why?"</p> + +<p>I shuddered instead of replying. Then remembering +that I had seen the young wife well +and happy only a few minutes before, felt confused +and mystified beyond any power to express.</p> + +<p>"I will have a look at that stone," continued +Burritt; and without waiting for my sanction, he +vaulted out of the window and lifted the stone.</p> + +<p>After a moment's consideration of it he declared:</p> + +<p>"It came from the river bank; that is all I can +make out of it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> + +<p>And dropping the stone from his hand, he suddenly +darted down the path to the river.</p> + +<p>He was not gone long. When he came back, +he looked still more doubtful than before.</p> + +<p>"If I know that bank," he declared, "there +has been more than one stone taken from it, and +some dirt. Suppose we examine the floor, +ma'am."</p> + +<p>We did so, and just where the box had been +placed we discovered some particles of sand that +were not brought in from the road.</p> + +<p>"What does it mean?" I cried.</p> + +<p>Burritt did not answer. He was looking out +toward the river. Suddenly he turned his eyes +upon me and said in his former suppressed tone:</p> + +<p>"He filled the box with stone and earth, and +these were what we carried out and put into the +wagon. But it was full when it came, and very +heavy. Now, what was it filled with, and what +has become of the stuff?"</p> + +<p>It was the question then; it is the question now.</p> + +<p>Burritt hints at crime, and has gone so far as +to spend all the afternoon searching the river +banks. But he has discovered nothing, nor can +he explain what it was he looked for or expected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +to find. Nor are my own thoughts and feelings +any clearer. I remember that the times are unsettled, +that the spirit of revolution is in the air, +and try to be charitable enough to suppose that +it was treasure the young husband brought with +him, and that all the perturbation and distress +which I imagine myself to have witnessed in his +behavior and that of his wife were owing to the +purpose that they had formed of burying, in this +spot, the silver and plate which they were perhaps +unwilling to risk to the chances of war. But +when I try to stifle my graver fears with this +surmise, I recall the fearful nature of the shriek +which startled me from my sleep, and repeat, tremblingly, +to myself:</p> + +<p>"Some one was in mortal agony at the moment +I heard that cry. Was it the young wife, or was +it—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>A FEARFUL DISCOVERY.</h3> + + + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">April</span> 3, 1791.<br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Letter I"> +<tr><td align='left' rowspan='2' valign='top'><img src="images/gs05a.png" width="216" height="342" alt="I left" title="I left" /> +</td><td align='left'><img src="images/gs05b.png" width="384" height="250" alt="I right" title="I right" /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='unindent'>T is sixteen years since I wrote +the preceding chapters of this history +of mystery and crime. When the pen dropped +from my hand—why did it drop? Was it +because of some noise I heard?</div></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<p>I imagine so now, and tremble. I did not +anticipate ever adding a line to the words I had +written. The impulse which had led me to put +upon paper my doubts concerning the two Urquharts +soon passed, and as nothing ever occurred +to recall this couple to my mind, I gradually allowed +their name and memory to vanish from +my thoughts, only remembering them when +chance led me into the oak parlor. Then, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>deed, +I recollected their manner and my fears, +and then I also felt repeated, though every time +with fainter and fainter power, the old thrill of +undefined terror which stopped my record of +that day with the half-finished question as to who +had uttered the shriek that had startled me the +night before. To-day I again take up my pen. +Why? Because to-day, and only since to-day, +can I answer this question.</p> + +<p>Sixteen years ago! which makes me sixteen +years older. My house, too, has aged, and the +oak parlor—I never refurnished it—is darker, +gloomier, and more forbidding than it was then, +and in truth, why should it not be? When I remember +what was revealed to me a week ago, I +wonder that its walls did not drop fungi, and its +chill strike death through the man or woman +who was brave enough to enter it. Horrible, +horrible room! You shall be torn from my house +if the rest of the structure goes with you. Neither +I nor another shall ever enter your fatal portal +again.</p> + +<p>It was a week ago to-day that the coach from +New York set down at my door a stranger of +fine and quaint appearance, whose white hair be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>tokened +him to be aged, but whose alert and energetic +movements showed that, if he had passed +the line of fourscore, he had still enough of the +fire of youth remaining to make his presence welcome +in whatever place he chose to enter. As +had happened sixteen years before, I was looking +out of the window when the coach drove up, and, +being at once attracted by the stranger's person +and manner, I watched him closely while he was +alighting, and was surprised to observe what intent +and searching glances he cast at the house.</p> + +<p>"He could not be more interested if he were +returning to the home of his fathers," I murmured +involuntarily to myself, and hastened to +the door in order to receive him.</p> + +<p>He came forward courteously. But after the +first few words between us he turned again and +gazed with marked curiosity up and down the +road and again at the house.</p> + +<p>"You seem to be acquainted with these parts," +I ventured. He smiled.</p> + +<p>"This is an old house," he answered, "and you +are young." (I am fifty-five.) "There must have +been owners of the place before you. Do you +know their names?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I bought the place of Dan Forsyth, and he of +one Hammond. I don't know as I can go back +any further than that. Originally the house was +the property of an Englishman. There were +strange stories about him, but it was so long ago +that they are almost forgotten."</p> + +<p>The stranger smiled again, and followed me +into the house. Here his interest seemed to redouble.</p> + +<p>Instantly a thought flashed through my brain.</p> + +<p>"He is its ancient owner, the Englishman. I +am standing in the presence of—"</p> + +<p>"You wish to know my name," interrupted his +genial voice. "It is Tamworth. I am a Virginian, +and hope to stay at your inn one night. +What kind of a room have you to offer me?"</p> + +<p>There was a twinkle in his eyes I did not understand. +He was looking down the hall, and I +thought his gaze rested on the corridor leading to +the oak parlor.</p> + +<p>"I should like to sleep on the ground floor," +he added.</p> + +<p>"I have but one room," I began.</p> + +<p>"And one is all I want," he smiled. Then, with +a quick glance at my face: "I suppose you are a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +little particular whom you put into the oak parlor. +It is not every one who can appreciate such romantic +surroundings."</p> + +<p>I surveyed him, completely puzzled. Whereupon +he looked at me with an expression of surprise +and incredulity that added to the mystery +of the moment.</p> + +<p>"The room is gloomy and uninviting," I declared; +"but beyond that, I do not know of any +especial claim it has upon our interest."</p> + +<p>"You astonish me," was his evidently sincere +reply; and he walked on, very thoughtfully, +straight to the room of which we were speaking. +At the door he paused. "Don't you know the +secret of this room," he asked, giving me a very +bright and searching glance.</p> + +<p>"If you mean anything concerning the Urquharts," +I began doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Urquharts!" he carelessly repeated. "I do +not know anything about them. I am speaking of +an old tradition. I was told—let me see how +long it is now—well, it must be sixteen years at +least—that this house contained a hidden chamber +communicating with a certain oak parlor in the +west wing. I thought it was curious, and—Why,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +madam, I beg your pardon; I did not mean to +distress you. Can it be possible that you were +ignorant of this fact?—you, the owner of this +house!"</p> + +<p>"Are you sure it is a fact?" I gasped. I was +trembling in every limb, but managed to close the +door behind us before I sank into a chair. "I +have lived in this house twenty years. I know +its rooms and halls as I do my own face, and never, +never have I suspected that there was a nook +or corner in it which was not open to the light of +day. Yet—yet it is true that the rooms on this +floor are smaller than those above, this one especially." +And I cast a horrified glance about me, +that reminded me, even against my will, of the +searching and peculiar look I had seen cast in the +same direction by Mr. Urquhart sixteen years before.</p> + +<p>"I see that I have stumbled upon a bit of knowledge +that has been kept from the purchasers of +this property," observed the old gentleman. +"Well, that does not detract from the interest of +the occasion. When I knew I was to pass this way, +I said to myself I shall certainly stop at the old +inn with the secret chamber in it, but I did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +think I should be the first one to disclose its +secret to the present generation. But my information +seems to affect you strangely. Is it such +a disturbing thing to find that one's house has +held a disused spot within it, that might have been +made useful if you had known of its existence?"</p> + +<p>I could not answer. I was enveloped in a +strange horror, and was only conscious of the one +wish—that Burritt had lived to help me through +the dreadful hour I saw before me.</p> + +<p>"Let us see if my information has been correct," +continued Mr. Tamworth. "Perhaps there has +been some mistake. The secret chamber, if there +is one, should be behind this chimney. Shall I +hunt for an opening?"</p> + +<p>I managed to shake my head. I had not +strength for the experiment yet. I wanted to prepare +myself.</p> + +<p>"Tell me first how you heard about this room?" +I entreated.</p> + +<p>He drew his chair nearer to mine with the +greatest courtesy.</p> + +<p>"There is no reason why I should not tell you," +replied he, "and as I see that you are in no mood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +for a long story, I shall make my words as few as +possible. Some years ago I had occasion to spend +a night in an inn not unlike this, on Long Island. +I was alone, but there was a merry crowd in the +tap room, and being fond of good company, I +presently found myself joining in the conversation. +The talk was of inns, and many a stirring +story of adventure in out-of-the-way taverns did I +listen to that night before the clock struck twelve. +Each man present had some humorous or thrilling +experience to relate, with the exception of a certain +glum and dark-browed gentleman, who sat somewhat +apart from the rest, and who said nothing. +His reticence was in such marked contrast to the +volubility about him that he finally attracted universal +attention, and more than one of the merry-makers +near him asked if he had not some anecdote +to add to the rest. But though he replied +with sufficient politeness, it was evident that he +had no intention of dropping his reserve, and it +was not till the party had broken up and the room +was nearly cleared that he deigned to address any +one. Then he turned to me, and with a very peculiar +smile, remarked:</p> + +<p>"'A dull collection of tales, sir. Bah! if they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +had wanted to hear of an inn that was really romantic, +I could have told them—'</p> + +<p>"'What?' I involuntarily ejaculated. 'You +will not torture me by suggesting a mystery you +will not explain.'</p> + +<p>"He looked very indifferent.</p> + +<p>"'It is nothing,' he declared, 'only I know of +an inn—at least it is used for an inn now—which +has in its interior a secret chamber so deftly hidden +away in the very heart of the house that I +doubt if even its present owner could find it without +the minutest directions from the man who +saw it built. I knew that man. He was an Englishman, +and he had a fancy to make his fortune +through the aid of smuggled goods. He did it; +and though always suspected, was never convicted, +owing to the fact that he kept all his goods in this +hidden room. The place is sold now, but the +room remains. I wonder if any forgotten treasures +lie in it. Imagination could easily run riot +over the supposition, do you not think so, sir?'</p> + +<p>"I certainly did, especially as I imagined myself +to detect in every line of his able and crafty face +that he bore a closer relation to the Englishman +than he would have me believe. I did not betray<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +my feelings, however, but urged him to tell me +how in a modern house, a room, or even a closet, +could be so concealed as not to awaken any one's +suspicion. He answered by taking out pencil and +paper, and showing me, by a few lines, the secret +of its construction. Then seeing me deeply interested, +he went on to say:</p> + +<p>"'We find what we have been told to search +for; but here is a case where the secret has been +so well kept that in all possibility the question of +this room's existence has never arisen. It is just +as well.'</p> + +<p>"Meantime I was studying the plan.</p> + +<p>"'The hidden chamber lies,' said I, 'between +this room,' designating one with my forefinger, +'and these two others. From which is it entered?'</p> + +<p>"He pointed at the one I had first indicated.</p> + +<p>"'From this,' he affirmed. 'And a quaint, old-fashioned +room it is, too, with a wainscoting of +oak all around it as high as a man's head. It used +to be called the oak parlor, and many a time has +its floor rung to the tread of the king's soldiers, +who, disappointed in their search for hidden +goods, consented to take a drink at their host's +expense, little recking that, but a few feet away,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +behind the carven chimneypiece upon which they +doubtless set down their glasses, there lay heaps +and heaps of the richest goods, only awaiting their +own departure to be scattered through the length +and breadth of the land.'</p> + +<p>"'And this house is now an inn?' I remarked.</p> + +<p>"'Yes.'</p> + +<p>"'Curious. I should like nothing better than to +visit that inn.'</p> + +<p>"'You doubtless have.'</p> + +<p>"'It is not this one?' I suddenly cried, looking +uneasily about me.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, no; it is on the Hudson River, not fifty +miles this side of Albany. It is called the <b>Happy-Go-Lucky</b>, +and is in a woman's hands at present; +but it prospers, I believe. Perhaps because she +has discovered the secret, and knows where to +keep her stores.' And with a shrug of his shoulders +he dismissed the subject, with the remark: +'I don't know why I told you of this. I never +made it the subject of conversation before in my +life.'</p> + +<p>"This was just before the outbreak in Lexington, +sixteen years ago, ma'am, and this is the first +time I have found myself in this region since that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +day. But I have never forgotten this story of a +secret room, and when I took the coach this morning +I made up my mind that I would spend the +night here, and, if possible, see the famous oak +parlor, with its mysterious adjunct; never dreaming +that in all these years of your occupancy you +would have remained as ignorant of its existence +as he hinted and you have now declared."</p> + +<p>Mr. Tamworth paused, looking so benevolent +that I summoned up my courage, and quietly informed +him that he had not told me what kind of +a looking man this stranger was.</p> + +<p>"Was he young?" I asked. "Had he a blond +complexion?"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," interrupted Mr. Tamworth, +"he was very dark, and, in years, as old or nearly +as old as myself."</p> + +<p>I was disappointed. I had expected a different +reply. As he talked of the stranger, I had, rightfully +or wrongfully, with reason or without reason, +seen before me the face of Mr. Urquhart, and this +description of a dark and well-nigh aged man completely +disconcerted me.</p> + +<p>"Are you certain this man was not in disguise?" +I asked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Disguise?"</p> + +<p>"Are you certain that he was not young, and +blond, and—"</p> + +<p>"Quite sure," was the dry interruption. "No +disguise could transform a young blood into the +man I saw that night. May I ask—"</p> + +<p>In my turn I interrupted him. "Pardon me," I +entreated, "but an anxiety I will presently explain +forces another question from me. Were you and +this stranger alone in the room when you held this +conversation? You say that it had been full a few +minutes before. Were there none of the crowd +remaining besides your two selves?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Tamworth looked thoughtful. "It is sixteen +years ago," he replied, "but I have a dim remembrance +of a man sitting at a table somewhat near us, +with his face thrown forward on his arms. +He seemed to be asleep; I did not notice him +particularly."</p> + +<p>"Did you not see his face?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Was he young?"</p> + +<p>"I should say so."</p> + +<p>"And blond?"</p> + +<p>"That I cannot say."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And he remained in that attitude all the time +you were talking?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, madam."</p> + +<p>"And continued so when you left the room?"</p> + +<p>"I think so."</p> + +<p>"Was he within earshot? Near enough to hear +all you said?"</p> + +<p>"Most assuredly, if he listened."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Tamworth," I now entreated, "try, if possible, +to remember one other fact. If each man present +told a story that night, you must have had +ample opportunity of noting each man's face and +observing how he looked. Now, of all that sat in +the room, was there not one of an age not exceeding +thirty-five, of fair complexion and gentlemanly +appearance, yet with a dangerous look in his small +blue eye, and a something in his smile that took +all the merriment out of it?"</p> + +<p>"A short but telling description," commented +my guest. "Let me see. Was there such a man +among them? Really, I cannot remember."</p> + +<p>"Think, think. Hair very thin above the temples, +mustache heavy. When he spoke he invariably moved +his hands; seemed to be nervous, and anxious to +hide it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I see him," was Mr. Tamworth's sudden remark. +"That description of his hands recalls him +to my mind. Yes; there was such a man in the +room that night. I even recollect his story. It +was coarse, but not without wit."</p> + +<p>I advanced and surveyed Mr. Tamworth very +earnestly. "The man you thought asleep—the man +who was near enough to hear all the Englishman +said—was he or was he not the same we have +just been talking about?"</p> + +<p>"I never thought of it before, but he did look +something like him—his figure, I mean; I did not +see his face."</p> + +<p>"It was he," I murmured, with intense conviction, +"and the villain—" But how did I know he +was a villain? I paused and pointed to the huge +mantel guarding the fireplace. "If you know +how to enter the secret room, do so. Only I should +like to have a few witnesses present besides myself. +Will you wait till I call one or two of my +lodgers?"</p> + +<p>He bowed with great urbanity. "If you wish +to make the discovery public," said he, "I, of +course, have no objection."</p> + +<p>But I saw that he was disappointed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I can never confront the secret of that room +alone," I insisted. "I must have Dr. Kenyon +here at least." And without waiting for my impulses +to cool, I sent a message to the doctor's +room, and was rewarded in a moment by the +appearance at the door of that excellent +man.</p> + +<p>It did not take many words for me to explain +to him our intentions. We were going to search +for a secret chamber which we had been told +opened into the room in which we then found +ourselves. As I did not wish to make any mystery +of the affair, and as I naturally had my +doubts as to what the room might disclose, I asked +the support of his presence.</p> + +<p>He was gratified—the doctor always is gratified +at any token of appreciation—and perceiving that +I had no further reason for delay, I motioned to +Mr. Tamworth to proceed.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs06.jpg" width="500" height="382" alt="The hidden panel" title="The hidden panel" /> +</div> + +<p>How he discovered the one movable panel in +that old-fashioned wainscoting, I have never inquired. +When I saw him turn toward the fireplace +and lay his ear to the wall, I withdrew in +haste to the window, feeling as if I could not bear +to watch him, or be the first to catch a glimpse of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +the mysterious depths which in another moment +must open before his touch. What I feared I cannot +say. As far as I could reason on the subject, I had +no cause to fear anything; and yet my shaking +frame and unevenly throbbing heart were but the +too sure tokens of an excessive and uncontrollable +agitation. The view from the window increased +it. Before me lay the river from whose banks +sand and stone had been taken sixteen years before +to replace—what? I knew no more this +minute than I did then. I might know in the next. +By the faint tapping that came to my ears I must—and +it was this thought that sent a chill through +me, and made it so difficult for me to stand. And +yet why should it? Was not that old theory of +ours, that the Urquharts had brought treasure in +their great box, still a plausible one? Nay, more, +was it not even a probable one, since we had discovered +that the house held so excellent a hiding +place, unknown to the world at large, but known +to this man, as Mr. Tamworth's story so plainly +showed? Yes; and yet I started with uncontrollable +forebodings, when I heard an exclamation of +satisfaction behind me, and hardly found courage +to turn around, even when I knew that an open<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>ing +had been effected, and that they were only +waiting for my approach to enter it.</p> + +<p>And it took courage, both on my part and on +theirs; for the air which rushed from the high and +narrow slit of darkness before us was stifling and +almost deadly. But in a few minutes, after one or +two experiments with a lighted candle, Dr. Kenyon +stepped through the opening, followed by +Mr. Tamworth, and, in a long minute afterward, +by myself.</p> + +<p>Shall I ever forget my emotions as I looked +about me and saw, by the lamp which the doctor +carried, nothing more startling than an old oak +chest in one corner, a pile of faded clothing in +another, and in a third—Heavens! what is it? +We all stare, and then a shriek escapes my lips +as piercing and terror-stricken as any that ever +disturbed those fearful shadows; and I rush blindly +from the spot, followed by Mr. Tamworth, +whose face, as I turn to look at him, gives me +another pang of fear, so white and sick it looks in +the sudden glare of day.</p> + +<p>Worse than I had thought, worse than I had +dreamed! I cannot speak, and fall into a chair, +waiting in mortal terror for the doctor, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +stayed some minutes behind. When his kindly +but not undisturbed countenance showed itself +again in the gap at the side of the fireplace, I could +almost have thrown myself at his feet.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/gs07.jpg" width="300" height="341" alt="We all stare" title="We all stare" /> +</div> + +<p>"What is it?" I gasped. "Tell me at once. Is +it a man or a woman or—"</p> + +<p>"It is a woman. See! here is a lock of her +hair. Beautiful, is it not? She must have been +young."</p> + +<p>I stared at it like one demented. It was of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +peculiar reddish-brown, with a strange little kink +and curl in it. Where had I seen such hair before? +Somewhere. I remembered perfectly how the +whole bright head looked with the firelight playing +over it. Oh, no, no, no, it was not that of +Mrs. Urquhart. Mrs. Urquhart went away from +this house well and happy. I am mad, or this +strand of gleaming hair is a dream. It is not her +head it recalls to me, and yet—my soul, it is!</p> + +<p>The doctor, knowing me well, did not try to +break the silence of that first grewsome minute. +But when he saw me ready to speak, he remarked:</p> + +<p>"It is an old crime, perpetrated, probably, before +you came into the house. I would not make +any more of it than you can help, Mrs. Truax."</p> + +<p>I scarcely heeded him.</p> + +<p>"Is there no bit of clothing or jewelry left upon +her by which we might hope to identify her?" I +asked, shuddering, as I caught Mr. Tamworth's +eye, and realized the nature of the doubts I there +beheld.</p> + +<p>"Here is a ring I found upon the wedding finger," +he replied. "It was doubtless too small to +be drawn off at the time of her death, but it came +away easily enough now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<p>And he held out a plain gold circlet which I +eagerly took, looked at, and fell at their feet as +senseless as a stone.</p> + +<p>On the inner surface I had discovered this legend:</p> + +<div class="center">E. U. to H. D. Jan. 27, 1775.</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.</h3> + + +<p>Never have I felt such relief as when, upon my +resuscitation, I remembered that I had put upon +paper all the events and all the suspicions which +had troubled me during that fatal night of January +the 28th, sixteen years before. With that in +my possession, I could confront any suspicion +which might arise, and it was this thought which +lent to my bearing at this unhappy time a dignity +and self-possession which evidently surprised the +two gentlemen.</p> + +<p>"You seem more shocked than astonished," was +Mr. Tamworth's first remark, as, mistress once +more of myself, I led the way out of that horrible +room into one breathing less of death and the +charnel house.</p> + +<p>"You are right," said I. "Mysteries which +have troubled me for years are now in the way of +being explained by this discovery. I knew that +something either fearful or precious had been left +in the keeping of this house or grounds; but I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +did not know what this something was, and least +of all did I suspect that its hiding place was between +walls whose turns and limitations I thought +I knew as well as I do the paths of my garden."</p> + +<p>"You speak riddles," Dr. Kenyon now declared. +"You knew that something fearful or +precious had been left in your house—"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," I interrupted; "I said house or +grounds. I thought it was in the grounds, for +how could I think that the house could, without +my knowledge, hold anything of the nature I have +just suggested?"</p> + +<p>"You knew, then, that a person had been murdered?"</p> + +<p>"No," I persisted, with a strange calmness, considering +how agitated I was, both by my memories +and the fears I could not but entertain for the +future; "I know nothing; nor can I, even with +the knowledge of this discovery, understand or +explain what took place in my house sixteen years +ago."</p> + +<p>And in a few hurried words I related the story +of the mysterious couple who had occupied that +room on the night of January 27, 1775.</p> + +<p>They listened to me as if I were repeating a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +fairy tale, and as I noted the sympathizing air +with which Dr. Kenyon tried to hide his natural +incredulity, I again congratulated myself that I +had been a weak enough woman to keep an account +of the events which had so impressed me.</p> + +<p>"You think I am drawing upon my imagination," +I quietly remarked, as silence fell upon my +narration.</p> + +<p>"By no means," the doctor began, hurriedly; +"but the details you give are so open to question, +and the conclusions you expect us to draw from +them are so serious, that I wish, for your own +sake, we had heard something of the Urquharts, +and your doubts and suspicions in their regard, +before we had made the discovery which points +to death and crime. You see I speak plainly, +Mrs. Truax."</p> + +<p>"You cannot speak too plainly, Doctor Kenyon; +and my opinion so entirely coincides with +yours that I am going to furnish you with what +you ask." And without heeding their looks of +astonishment, I rang the bell for one of the girls, +and sent her to a certain drawer in my desk for +the folded paper which she would find there.</p> + +<p>"Here!" I exclaimed, as the paper was brought,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +"read this, and you will soon see how I felt about +the Urquharts on the evening of the day they left +us."</p> + +<p>And I put into their hands the record I had +made of that day's experience.</p> + +<p>While they were reading it, I puzzled myself +with questions. If this body which we had just +found sepulchered in my house was, as the initials +in the ring seemed to declare, that of Honora +Urquhart, who was the woman who passed for +her at the time of the departure of this accused +couple from my doors? I was with them, and saw +the lady, and supposed her to be the same I had +entertained at my table the night before. But +then I chiefly noted her dress and height, and did +not see her face, which was hidden by her veil, +and did not hear her voice beyond the short and +somewhat embarrassed laugh she gave at some +little incident which had occurred. But Hetty +had seen her, and had even received money from +her hand; and Hetty could not have been deceived, +nor was Hetty a girl to be bribed. How +was I, then, to understand the matter? And where, +in case another woman had taken Mrs. Urquhart's +place, had that woman come from?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p>I thought of the low window, and the ease with +which any one could climb into it; and then, with +a flash of startled conviction, I thought of the +huge box.</p> + +<p>"Great heavens!" I ejaculated, feeling the hair +stir anew on my forehead. "Can it be that he +brought her in that? That she was with them all +the time, and that the almost hellish tragedy to +which this ring points was the scheme of two vile +and murderous lovers to suppress an unhappy +wife that stood in the way of their desires?"</p> + +<p>I could not think it. I could not believe that +any man could be so void of mercy, or any woman +so lost to every instinct of decency, as to plan, and +then coolly carry out to the end, a crime so unheard +of in its atrocity. There must be some +other explanation of the facts before us. Why, +the date in the ring is enough. If that speaks +true, the marriage between Edwin Urquhart and +the gentle Honora was but a day old, and even +the worst of men take time to weary of their wives +before they take measures against them. Yet, +the look and manner of the man! His affection +for the box, and his manifest indifference for his +wife! And, lastly, and most convincing of all,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +this awful token in the room beyond! What +should I, what could I think!</p> + +<p>At this point in my surmises I grew so faint that +I turned to Dr. Kenyon and Mr. Tamworth for +relief. They had just finished my record of the +past, and were looking at each other in surprise +and horror.</p> + +<p>"It surpasses the most atrocious deeds of the +middle ages," quoth Mr. Tamworth.</p> + +<p>"In a country deemed civilized," finished the +doctor.</p> + +<p>"Then you think," I tremblingly began—</p> + +<p>"That you have harbored two demons under +your roof, Mrs. Truax. There seems to be no +doubt that the woman who went away with Mr. +Urquhart was not the woman who came with +him. She lies here, while the other—"</p> + +<p>He paused, and Mr. Tamworth took up the word.</p> + +<p>"It seems to have been a strangely triumphant +piece of villainy. The woman who profited by it +must have had great self-control and force of +character. Don't you think so, doctor?"</p> + +<p>"Unquestionably," was the firm reply.</p> + +<p>"You do not say how you account for her +presence here," I now reluctantly intimated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think she was hidden in the great box. It was +large enough for that, was it not, Mrs. Truax?"</p> + +<p>I nodded, much agitated.</p> + +<p>"His care of it, his call for a supper, the change +in its weight, and the fact that its contents were of +a different character in going than coming, all +point to the fact of its having been used for the +purpose we intimated. It strikes one as most horrible, +but history furnishes us with precedents of +attempts equally daring, and if the box was well +furnished with holes—did you notice any breathing +places in it?"</p> + +<p>"No," I returned; "but I did not cast two +glances at the box. I was jealous of it, for the +young wife's sake, though, as God knows, I had +little idea of what it contained, and merely noticed +that it was big and clumsy, and capable of holding +many books."</p> + +<p>"Yet you must have noticed, even in a cursory +glance, whether its top or sides were broken by +holes."</p> + +<p>"They were not, but—"</p> + +<p>"But what?"</p> + +<p>"I do remember, now, that he flung his traveling-cloak +across it just as the men went to lift it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +from the wagon, and that the cloak remained upon +it all the time it was in their hands, and until after +we had all left the room. But it was taken away +later, for when I went in the second time, I saw it +lying across the chair."</p> + +<p>"And the box?"</p> + +<p>"Was hidden by the foot of the bed behind +which he had dragged it."</p> + +<p>"And the cloak? Was it over the box when it +went out?"</p> + +<p>"No; but I have thought since we have been +talking, that the box might have been turned +over after its occupant left it. The holes, if there +were any, would thus be on the bottom, and +would escape our detection."</p> + +<p>"Very possible, but the sand with which we +supposed the box had been filled would have +sifted through."</p> + +<p>"Not if a good firm piece of stuff was laid in +first, and there were plenty of such in the secret +chamber."</p> + +<p>"That is true. But Burritt, you write, was +listening at the door, and yet you mention no remarks +of his concerning any noises heard by him +from within. And noise must have been made if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +this was done, as it must have had to be done +after the tragedy."</p> + +<p>"I know I do not," was the hurried reply. +"But Burritt probably did not remain at the door +all the time. There is a window seat at the end +of the corridor, and upon it he probably lolled +during the few hours of his watch. Besides, you +must remember that Burritt left his post some +time before daylight. He had his duties to attend +to, some of which necessitated his being in the +stables by four o'clock, at least."</p> + +<p>"I see; and so the affair prospered, as most +very daring deeds do, and they escaped without +suspicion, or rather without suspicion pointed +enough to lead to their being followed. I wonder +where they escaped to, and if in all the years that +have elapsed, they have for one moment imagined +that they were happy."</p> + +<p>"Happy!" was my horrified exclamation. "Oh, +if I could find them! If I could drag them both +to this room and make them keep company with +their victim for a week, I should feel it too slight +a retribution for them."</p> + +<p>"Heaven has had its eye upon them. We have +been through fearful crises since that day, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +much unrighteous as well as righteous blood has +been shed in this land. They may both be dead."</p> + +<p>"I do not believe it," I muttered. "Such +wretches never die." Then, with a renewed remembrance +of Hetty, I remarked: "Curses on +the duties that kept me out of this room on that +fatal morning. Had I seen the woman's face, this +horrid crime would at least been spared its triumph. +But I was obliged to send Hetty, and she +saw nothing strange in the woman, though she +received money from her hand, and—"</p> + +<p>"Where is Hetty?" interrupted the doctor.</p> + +<p>"She is married, and lives in the next town."</p> + +<p>"So, so. Well, we must hunt her up to-morrow, +and see what she has to say about the matter now."</p> + +<p>But we soon found ourselves too impatient to +wait till the morrow, so after we had eaten a good +supper in a cheerful room, Dr. Kenyon mounted +his horse, and rode away to the farm house where +Hetty lived. While he was gone, Mr. Tamworth +summoned up courage to re-enter that cave of +horror, and bring out the contents of the oak +chest we had seen there. These were mostly +stuffs in a more or less good state of preservation, +and all the assistance they lent to the understand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>ing +of the tragedy that mystified us was the fact +that the chest contained nothing, nor the room +itself, of sufficient substance to help the wicked +Urquhart in giving weight to the box which he +had emptied of its living freight. This is doubtless +the reason he resorted to the garden for the +sand and stone he found there.</p> + +<p>Dr. Kenyon returned about midnight, and was +met at the door by Mr. Tamworth and myself.</p> + +<p>"Well?" I cried, in great excitement.</p> + +<p>"Just as I supposed," he returned. "She did not +see the lady's face either. The latter was in bed, +and the girl took it for granted that the arm and +hand which reached her out a silver piece from +between the bed curtains were those of Mrs. +Urquhart."</p> + +<p>"My house is cursed!" was my sudden exclamation. +"It has not only lent itself to the success +of the most demoniacal scheme that ever entered +into the heart of man, but it has kept its secret so +long that all hope of explaining its details or +reaching the guilty must be abandoned."</p> + +<p>"Not so," quoth Mr. Tamworth. "Though an +old man, I dedicate myself to this task. You will +hear again of the Urquharts."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>AN INTERIM OF SUSPENSE.</h3> + + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">May 5, 1791.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 210px;"> +<img src="images/gs08.jpg" width="210" height="300" alt="H" title="H" /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>OW fearful! To hear a spade in +the night and know that this +spade is digging a grave! I sit +at my desk and listen to +hear if any one in the house +has been aroused or is suspicious, +and then I turn to +the window and try to +pierce the gloom to see if +anything can be discerned, from the house, of the +grewsome act now being performed in the garden. +For after much consultation and several conferences +with the authorities, we have decided to +preserve from public knowledge, not only the +secret of the room hidden in my house, but of the +discovery which has lately been made there. But +while much harm would accrue to me by revelations +which would throw a pall of horror over +my inn, and make it no better than a place of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +morbid curiosity forever, the purposes of justice +would be rather hindered than helped by a publicity +which would give warning to the guilty +couple, and prevent us from surprising them in +the imagined security which the lapse of so many +years must have brought them.</div> + +<p>And so a grave is being dug in the garden, +where, at the darkest hour of night, the remains +of the sweet and gentle bride are to be placed +without tablet or mound.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile do there hide in any part of this +wicked world two hearts which throb with unusual +terrors this night? Or does there pass +across the mirror of a guilty memory any unusual +shapes of horror prognostic of detection and +coming punishment? It would comfort my uneasy +heart to know; for the spirit of vengeance +has seized upon me, and my house will never +seem washed of its stain, or my conscience be +quite at rest as to the past, till that vile man and +woman pay, in some way, the penalty of their +crime.</p> + +<p>That we know nothing of them but their names +lends an interest to their pursuit. The very difficulty +before us, the hopelessness almost of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +task we have set ourselves, have raised in me a +wild and well-nigh superstitious reliance on Providence +and the eternal justice, so that it seems +natural for me to expect aid even from such +sources as dreams and visions, and make the inquiry +in which I have just indulged the reasonable +expression of my belief in the mysterious +forces of right and wrong, which will yet bring +this long triumphant, but now secretly threatened, +pair to justice.</p> + +<p>Dr. Kenyon, who is as practical as he is pious, +smiles at my confidence; but Mr. Tamworth neither +mocks nor frowns. He has shouldered the +responsibility of finding this man, and has often +observed, in his long life, that a woman's intuitions +go as far as a man's reasoning.</p> + +<p>To-morrow he will start upon his travels.</p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">June 12, 1791.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>It is foolish to put every passing thought on +paper, but these sheets have already served me so +well that I cannot resist the temptation of making +them the repositories of my secret fears and hopes. +Mr. Tamworth has been gone a month, and I have +heard nothing from him. This is all the more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +difficult to bear that Dr. Kenyon also has left me, +thus taking from my house all in whom I can +confide or to whom I can talk. For I will not +place confidence in servants, and there are no +guests here at present upon whose judgment I +can rely concerning even a lesser matter than this +which occupies all my thoughts.</p> + +<p>I must talk, then, to thee, unknown reader of +these lines, and declare on paper what I have said +a thousand times to myself—what a mystery this +whole matter is, and how little probability there +is of our ever understanding it! Why was it that +Edwin Urquhart, if he loved one woman so well +that he was willing to risk his life to gain her, +would subject himself to the terrors which must +follow any crime, no matter how secretly performed, +by marrying a woman he must kill in +twenty-four hours? Marriages are not compulsory +in this country, and any one must acknowledge +that it would be easier for a strong man—and +he certainly was no weakling—to refuse a +woman at the nuptial altar than to undertake and +carry out a scheme so full of revolting details and +involving so much risk as this which we have +been forced to ascribe to him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then the woman, the unknown and fearful creature +who had allowed herself to be boxed up and +carried, God knows, how many fearful miles, just +for the purpose of assuming a position which she +seemingly might have obtained in ways much less +repulsive and dangerous! Was it in human nature +to go through such an ordeal, and if it were, +what could the circumstances have been that +would drive even the most insensible nature into +such an adventure! I question, and try to answer +my own inquiries, but my imagination falters over +the task, and I am no nearer to the satisfaction of +my doubts than I was in the harrowing minute +when the knowledge of this tragedy first flashed +upon me.</p> + +<p>I must have patience. Mr. Tamworth must +write to me soon.</p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">August 10, 1791.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>News, news, and such news! How could I ever +have dreamed of it! But let me transcribe Mr. +Tamworth's letter:</p> + +<div class="blockquot">To Mrs. Clarissa Truax,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Mistress of the Happy-go-lucky Inn:</span><br /> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Respected Madam</span>: After a lengthy delay,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +occupied in researches, made doubly difficult by +the changes which have been wrought in the +country by the late conflict, I have just come +upon a fact that has the strongest bearing upon +the serious tragedy which we are both so +interested in investigating. It is this:</p> + +<p>That every year the agent of a certain large +estate in Albany, N. Y., forwards to France a +large sum of money, for the use and behoof of one +Honora Quentin Urquhart, daughter of the late +Cyrus Dudleigh, of Albany, and wife of one Edwin Urquhart, +a gentleman of that same city, to +whom she was married in her father's house on +January 27, 1775, and with whom she at once departed +for France, where she and her husband +have been living ever since.</p> + +<p>Thus by chance, almost, have I stumbled upon +an explanation of the tragedy we found so inexplicable, +and found that clew to the whereabouts +of the wretched pair which is so essential to their +apprehension and the proper satisfaction of the +claims of justice.</p> + +<p>With great consideration I sign myself,</p> + +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">Your obedient servant,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Anthony Tamworth</span>.<br /> +</div></div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">August 11</span>, 8 o'clock.<br /> +</div> + +<p>I was so overwhelmed by the above letter that +I found it impossible at the time to comment +upon it. To-day it is too late, for this morning a +packet arrived from Mr. Tamworth containing +another letter of such length that I am sure it +must be one of complete explanation. I burn to +read it, but I have merely had time to break the +seal and glance at the first opening words. Will +my guests be so kind as to leave me in peace to-night, +so that I may satisfy a curiosity which has +become almost insupportable?</p> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">Midnight.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>No time to-night; too tired almost to write this.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">August 12.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>The packet is read. I am all of a tremble. +What a tale! What a— But why encumber +these sheets with words of mine? I will insert +the letter and let it tell its own portion of the +strange and terrible history which time is slowly +unrolling before us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PART II.</h2> + +<h3>AN OLD ALBANY ROMANCE.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>THE RECLUSE.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'>To Mrs. Clarissa Truax,<br /> + + +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">of the Happy-go-lucky Inn:</span><br /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Respected Madam</span>: Appreciating your anxiety, +I hasten to give you the particulars of an +interview which I have just had with a person +who knew Edwin Urquhart. They must be acceptable +to you, and I shall make no excuse for +the length of my communication, knowing that +each detail in the lives of the three persons connected +with this crime must be of interest to one +who has brooded upon the subject as long as you +have.</p> + +<p>The person to whom I allude is a certain Mark +Felt, a most eccentric and unhappy being now +living the life of a recluse amid the forests of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +Catskills. I became acquainted with his name at +the time of my first investigation into the history +of the Dudleigh and Urquhart families, and it was +to him I was referred when I asked for such particulars +as mere neighbors and public officials +found it impossible to give.</p> + +<p>I was told, however, at the same time, that I +should find it hard to gain his confidence, as for +sixteen years now he had avoided the companionship +of men, by hiding in the caves and living +upon such food as he could procure through the +means of gun and net. A disappointment in love +was said to be at the bottom of this, the lady he +was engaged to having thrown herself into the +river at about the time of the marriage of his +friend.</p> + +<p>He was, notwithstanding, a good-hearted man, +and if I could once break through the reserve he +had maintained for so many years, they thought I +would be able to surprise facts from him which I +could never hope to reach in any other way.</p> + +<p>Interested by these insinuations, and somewhat +excited, for an old man, at the prospect of bearding +such a lion in his den, I at once made up my +mind to seek this Felt; and accordingly one bright<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +day last week crossed the river and entered the +forest. I was not alone. I had taken a guide +who knew the location of the cave which Felt was +supposed to inhabit, and through his efforts my +journey was made as little fatiguing as possible. +Fallen brambles were removed from my path, +limbs lifted, and where the road was too rough +for the passage of such faltering feet as mine, I +found myself lifted bodily, in arms as strong and +steadfast as steel, and carried like a child to where +it was smoother.</p> + +<p>Thus I was enabled to traverse paths that at +first view appeared inaccessible, and finally reached +a spot so far up the mountain side that I gazed +behind me in terror lest I should never be able to +return again the way I had come. My guide, +seeing my alarm, assured me that our destination +was not far off, and presently I perceived before me +a huge overhanging cliff, from the upper ledges +of which hung down a tangle of vines and branches +that veiled, without wholly concealing, the yawning +mouth of a cave.</p> + +<p>"That is where the man we are seeking lives, +eats, and sleeps," quoth my guide, as we paused +for a moment to regain our breath. And imme<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>diately +upon his words, and as if called forth by +them, we perceived an unkempt and disheveled +head slowly uprear itself through the black gap +before us, then hastily disappear again behind the +vines it had for a moment disturbed.</p> + +<p>"I will encounter him alone," I thereupon declared; +and leaving the guide behind me, I pushed +forward to the cliff, and pausing before the entrance +of the cave, I called aloud:</p> + +<p>"Mark Felt, do you want to hear news from +your friend Urquhart?"</p> + +<p>For a moment all was still, and I began to fear +that my somewhat daring attempt had failed in its +effect. But this was only for an instant, for presently +something between a growl and a cry issued +from the darkness within, and the next moment the +wild and disheveled head showed itself again, and +I heard distinctly these words:</p> + +<p>"He is no friend of mine, your Edwin Urquhart."</p> + +<p>"Then," I returned, without a moment's hesitation, +"do you want to hear news of your enemy?—for +I have some, and of the rarest nature, +too."</p> + +<p>The wild eyes flashed as if a flame of fire had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +shot from them, and the head that held them advanced +till I could see the whole bearded countenance +of the man.</p> + +<p>"Is he dead?" he asked, with an eagerness and +underlying triumph in the voice that argued well +for the presence of those passions upon the rousing +of which I relied for the revelations I sought.</p> + +<p>"No," said I, "but death is looking his way. +With a little more knowledge of his early life and +a little more insight into his character at the time +he married Honora Dudleigh, the law will have +so firm a hold upon him that I can safely promise +any one who longs to see him pay the penalty of +his evil deeds a certain opportunity of doing so."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs09.jpg" width="500" height="369" alt="The vines trembled" title="The vines trembled" /> +</div> + +<p>The vines trembled and suddenly parted their +full length, and Mark Felt stepped out into the +sunshine and confronted me. What he wore I +cannot say, for his personality was so strong I +received no impression of anything else. Not +that he was tall or picturesque, or even rudely +handsome. On the contrary, he was as plain a +man as I had ever seen, with eyes to which some +defect lent a strange, fixed glare, and a mouth +whose under jaw protruded so markedly beyond +the upper that his profile gave you a shock when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +any slight noise or stir drew his head to one side +and thus revealed it to you. Yet, in spite of all +this, in spite of tangled locks and a wide, rough +beard, half brown, half white, his face held something +that fixed the attention and fascinated the +eye that encountered it. Did it lie in his eyes? +How could it, with one looking like a fixed stone +of agate and the other like a rolling ball of fire? +Was it in his smile? How could it be when his +smile had no joy in it, only a satisfaction that was +not of good, but evil, and promised trouble rather +than relief or sympathy? It must be in the general +expression of his features, which seemed +made only to mirror the emotions of a soul full of +vitality and purpose—a soul which, if clouded by +wrongs and embittered by heavy memories, possessed +at least the characteristic of force and the +charm of an unswerving purpose.</p> + +<p>He seemed to recognize the impression he had +made, for his lips smiled with a sort of scornful +triumph before he said:</p> + +<p>"These are peculiar words for a stranger. May +I ask your name and whose interests you represent?"</p> + +<p>His speech was quick, and had an odd halt in it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +such as might be expected from one who had not +conferred with his fellows for years. But there +was no rudeness in its tone, nor was there any +mistaking the fact that he was, both by nature and +education, a gentleman. I began to take an interest +in him apart from my mission.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Felt," I replied, "my name is Tamworth. +I am from Virginia, and only by chance have I +become involved in a matter near to you and the +man who, you tell me, is, or was, your enemy. +As for the interests I represent, they are those of +justice, and justice only; and it is in her behalf +and for the triumph of law and righteousness that +I now ask you for your confidence and such details +concerning your early intercourse with Edwin +Urquhart as will enable me to understand a past +that will certainly yield us a clew to the present. +Are you willing to give them?"</p> + +<p>"Will I give them?" he laughed. "Will I +break the seal which guards the tablets of my +youth, and let a stranger's eyes read lines to +which I have shut my own for these many years! +Do you not know that for me to tell you what I +once knew of Edwin Urquhart is to bare my own +breast to view, and subject to new sufferings a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +heart that it has taken fifteen years of solitude to +render callous?"</p> + +<p>I gave no answer to this, only looked at him +and stood waiting.</p> + +<p>"You have hunted me out, you have touched +the last string that ceases to vibrate in a man's +breast—that of a wild desire for vengeance—and +now you ask me—"</p> + +<p>"To ease your memories of a burden. To +drag into light the skeleton of old days, and by +the light thus thrown upon it to see that it is only +a skeleton, that, once beheld, should be buried +and its old bones forgotten. You are too much +of a man, Felt, to waste away in these wilds. +Come! forget I am a stranger, and relieve yourself +and me by opening these tablets you speak of, +even if it does cost you a pang of the old sorrow. +The talk we have had has already made a flutter +in the long-closed leaves, and should I leave you +this minute you could not smother the thoughts +and memories to which our conversation has given +rise. Then why not think to purpose and—"</p> + +<p>He raised one hand and stopped me. The gesture +was full of fire, and so was the eye he now +turned away from me to gaze up at the overhang<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>ing +steeps above, with their great gorges and +magnificent play of light and shadow; at the +valley beneath, with its broad belt of shining +water winding in and out through fertile banks +and growing towns, and finally at the blue dome +of the sky, across which great clouds went sailing +in shapes so varied and of size so majestic that it +was like a vision of floating palaces on a sea of +translucent azure.</p> + +<p>Gasping in a strange mood between delight and +despair, he flung up his arms.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I have loved these hills. Of all the longings +and affections that one by one have perished +from my heart, the solitary passion for nature has +alone remained, unlessened and undisturbed. I +love these trees with their countless boughs; these +rocks, with their hidden pitfalls and sudden precipices. +The sky that bends above me here is +bluer than any other sky; and when it frowns and +gathers its storms together, and hurls them above +these ledges and upon my uncovered head, I +throw up my arms as I do now and exult in the +tumult, and become a part of it, till the hunger in +my soul is appeased, and the blood in my veins +runs mildly again. And now I must quit all this.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +I must give to men thoughts that have been +closely wedded to Nature. I must tear her image +from my heart, and in her pure place substitute +interests in a life I thought forever sacrificed to +her worship. It is a bitter task, but I will perform +it. There are other calls than those which reverberate +from yon peaks. I have just heard one, +and my feet go down once more into the valleys."</p> + +<p>His arms fell with the last words, and his eyes +returned again to my face.</p> + +<p>"Come into the cave," said he. "I cannot tell +my story in the sight of these pure skies."</p> + +<p>I followed him without a word. He had affected +me. The invocation in which he had indulged, +and which, from another man, and other circumstances, +would have struck me as a theatrical +attempt upon my sympathy as forced as it was +unnatural, was in him so appropriate, and in such +keeping with the grandeur of the scene by which +we were surrounded, that I was disarmed of criticism, +and succumbed without resistance to his +power.</p> + +<p>The cave, once entered, was light enough. On +the ground were spread in profusion leaves and +twigs of the sweet-smelling cedar, making a carpet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +as pleasing as it was warm and healthful. On one +side I saw a mound of the same, making a couch, +across which a great cloak was spread; while beyond, +the half-defined forms of a rude seat and +table appeared, lending an air of habitableness to +the spot, which, from the exterior, I had hardly +expected to find. A long slab of stone served as +a hearth, and above it I perceived a hole in the +rock, toward which a thin column of smoke was +rising from a few smouldering embers that yet +remained burning upon the great stone below. +Altogether, it was a home I had entered; and +awed a little at the remembrance that it had been +the refuge of this solitary man through years +pregnant with events forever memorable in the +history of the world as those which gave birth to +a new nation, I sank down upon the pile of cedar +he pointed out to me, and waited in some impatience +for him to begin his tale.</p> + +<p>This he seemed in no hurry to do. He waited +so long with his chin sunk in his two hands and +his eyes fixed upon vacancy, that I grew restless +and was about to break the silence myself, when, +without moving, he suddenly spoke.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>TWO WOMEN.</h3> + + +<p>"You want to hear about Edwin Urquhart. +Well, you shall, but first I promise you that I +shall talk much less of him than of another person. +Why? because it is on account of this other +person that I hate him, and solely because of this +other person that I avenge myself, or seek to +assist others in avenging the justice you say he +has outraged.</p> + +<p>"We were friends from boyhood. Reared in +the same town and under the same influences, +there was a community of interests between us +that threw us together and made us what is called +friends. But I never liked him. That is, I never +felt a confidence in him which is essential to a +mutual understanding. And, though I accepted +his companionship, and was much with him at the +most critical time of my life, I always kept one +side, and that the better side, of my nature closed +to him.</p> + +<p>"He was a gentleman with no expectations; I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +the inheritor of a small fortune that made my +friendship of temporary use to him, even if it did +not offer him much to rely on in the future. We +lived, he with an uncle who was ready to throw +him off the moment he was assured that he would +not marry one of his daughters, and I in my own +house, which, if no manor, was at least my own, +and for the present free from debt. I myself +thought that Urquhart intended to marry one of +the girls to whom I have just alluded. But it +seems that he never meant to do this, and only +encouraged his uncle to think so because he was +not yet ready to give up the shelter he enjoyed +with him. But of this, as I say, I was ignorant, +and was consequently very much astonished when, +one nightfall, in passing the great Dudleigh place, +he remarked:</p> + +<p>"'How would you like to drink a glass with me +in yonder? Better than in the Fairfax kitchen, +eh?'</p> + +<p>"I thought he was joking. ''Tis a fine old +house,' I observed. 'No doubt its wines are good. +But it is no tavern, and I question if Miss Dudleigh +would make either of us very welcome.'</p> + +<p>"'You do! Then you don't know Miss Dud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>leigh,' +he vaunted, with a proud swelling of his +person, and a lift of his head that almost took my +breath away. For, though he was a handsome +fellow—too handsome for a man no worthier than +he—I should no more have presumed to have +associated him in my thoughts with Miss Dudleigh +than if he had been a worker in her fields. +Not so much because she was rich—very rich for +that day and place—or that her family was an old +one, and his but a mushroom stock, as that she was +a being of the gentlest instincts and the purest +thoughts, while he was what you may have gathered +from my words—vain, coarse, cowardly and +mean; an abject cur beside her, who was, and is, +one of the sweetest women the sun ever shone +upon."</p> + +<p>At this expression of admiration on the part of +the hermit, which proved him to be in entire +ignorance of the crime which had been perpetrated +against this woman, I found myself struck +so aghast that I could not forbear showing it. +But he was too engrossed in his reminiscences to +notice my emotion, and presently continued his +story by saying:</p> + +<p>"I probably betrayed my astonishment to Ur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>quhart, +for he gave a great laugh, and forced me +about toward the gates.</p> + +<p>"'We will not be turned out,' he said. 'Let us +go in and pay our respects.'</p> + +<p>"'But,' I stammered.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, it's all right,' he pursued. 'The fair lady +is of age and has the privilege of choosing her +future husband. I shall live in clover, eh? Well, +it is time I lived in something. I have had a hard +enough time of it so far, for a none too homely +fellow.'</p> + +<p>"I was overwhelmed; more than that, I was +sickened by these words, whose import I understood +only too well. Not that I had any special +interest in Miss Dudleigh; indeed, I hardly knew +her; but any such woman inspires respect, and I +could not think of her as allied to this man without +a spasm of revolt that almost amounted to fear.</p> + +<p>"'You are going to marry her, this white rose!' +I exclaimed. 'I should as soon have thought of +your marrying a princess of the royal house. I +hope you appreciate your unbounded good fortune.'</p> + +<p>"He pointed to the great chimneys and imposing +facade of the fine structure before us. 'Do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +you think I am so blind as not to know the advantage +of being the master in a house like that? +You must not think me quite a fool if I am not as +clever a fellow as you are. Remember that I am +a poorer one and like my ease better.'</p> + +<p>"'But Miss Dudleigh?'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, she's a trifle peaked and dull, but she's +fond and not too exacting.'</p> + +<p>"I was angry, but had no excuse for showing +it. Righteous indignation he could never have +understood, and to have provoked a quarrel without +any definite end in view would have been +folly. I remained silent, therefore, but my heart +burned within me.</p> + +<p>"It had not lost its heat when we entered her +house, and when my eyes fell upon her seated at +her spinet in front of a latticed window that +brought out her gentle figure in all its sweet simplicity, +I felt like clutching, and flinging back +over the threshold, which his desecrating foot +should never have crossed, the hollow-hearted +being at my side, who could neither see her beauty +nor estimate the worth of her innocent affection.</p> + +<p>"There was an aunt or some such relative in the +room with her, but this did not hinder the glad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +smile from rising to her lips as she saw us—or +rather him, for she hardly seemed to notice +my presence. I learned afterward that this aunt +had been greatly instrumental in bringing these +incongruous natures together; that for reasons of +her own, which I have never attempted to fathom, +she thought Edwin Urquhart the best husband +that her niece could have, and not only introduced +him into the house, but stood so much his friend +during the first days of his courtship that she +gradually imparted to her niece her own enthusiasm, +till the poor girl saw—or thought she saw—the +ideal of her dreams in the base and shallow +being whom I called my friend.</p> + +<p>"However that may be, she certainly rose from +her spinet that night in a pretty confusion that +made her absolutely lovely, and advancing with +the mingled dignity of the heiress and the tender +bashfulness of the maiden in the presence of him +she loved, she tendered us a courtesy whose grace +put me out of ease with myself, so much it expressed +the manners of people removed from the +sphere in which it had hitherto been my lot to +move.</p> + +<p>"But Urquhart showed no embarrassment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +His fine figure—he had that—bent forward with +the most courtly of bows, and after the introduction +of my humble self to her notice, he entered +into a conversation which, if shallow, was at least +bright, and for the moment interesting. As I had +no wish to talk, I gave myself up to watching +her, and came away at last more fixed than ever +in my belief of her extreme worthiness and of +his extreme presumption in thinking of calling so +perfect a creature his.</p> + +<p>"'Would to God she was as poor as Janet Fairfax,' +I thought to myself. 'Then she would never +have attracted his attention, and might have +known what happiness was with some man who +could appreciate her. Now she is doomed, and +being fatherless and motherless, will rush on to +her fate, and no one can stop her.'</p> + +<p>"Thus I thought, and thus I continued to think +as chance and Urquhart's stubborn will led me +more and more to her house, and within the radius +of her gentle influence. But my thoughts never +went further. I never saw her, even in my dreams, +fostered by me, or soothed of an old grief by my +love and affection. For though she was a dainty +and gracious being, with beauty enough to de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>light +the eyes and warm the heart, she was not +the one destined to move me, and awake the tumultuous +passions that lay dormant in my own +scarcely understood nature. Urquhart, therefore, +was not acting unwisely in taking me there so +often, though, if I could have foreseen what was +likely to be the result of those visits, I should have +leaped from my house's roof on to the stones below +before I had passed again under those fatal portals.</p> + +<p>"And yet—would I? Do we fear suffering or +apathy most? Is it from experience or the monotony +of a commonplace existence that we quickest +flee? A man with passions like mine must love; +and if that love comes girt with flame and mysterious +death, he still must embrace it, and rise and +fall as the destinies will.</p> + +<p>"But I talk riddles. I have not yet told you of +her; and yet speak of fire and death. I will try +to be more coherent, if only to show that the +years have brought me some mastery over myself. +One day—it was a fall day and beautiful as limpid +sunshine and a world of yellowing woods could +make it—I went to Miss Dudleigh's house to +apologize for my friend, who had wished to improve +the gorgeous sunshine elsewhere.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I had by this time lost all fear of her, as well +as of her rich and spacious surroundings, and +passed through the hospitable door and along the +wide halls to the especial room in which we were +wont to find her, with that freedom engendered +by an intimacy as cordial as it was sincere. It +was the room where first I had seen her, the room +with the wide latticed window at the back, and +the spinet beneath it, and the old carven chair +of oak in which her white-clad form had always +looked so ethereal; and I entered it smiling, expecting +to see her delicate figure rise from the +window, and advance toward me with that look +of surprise and possible disappointment which +the absence of Urquhart would be apt to arouse +in this too loving nature. But the room was +empty and the spinet closed, and I was about +turning to find a servant, when I felt an influence +stealing over me so subtile and so peculiar +that I stood petrified and enthralled, hardly knowing +if it were music that held me spell-bound or +some unknown and subduing perfume, that, filling +my senses, worked upon my brain, and made me +feel like a man transported at a breath from the +land of reality into a land of dreams.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So potent the spell, so inexplicable its action, +that minutes may have elapsed before I wrenched +myself free from its power and looked to see what +it was that so moved me. When I did, I found +myself at a loss to explain it. Whether it was +music or perfume, or just the emanation from an +intense personality, I have never determined. I +only know that when I turned, I saw standing +before me, in an attitude of waiting, a woman of +such marvelous attractions, and yet of an order +of beauty so bizarre and out of keeping with the +times and the place in which she stood, that I +forgot to question everything but my own sanity +and the reality of a vision so unprecedented in +all my experience. I therefore simply stood like +her, speechless and lost, and only came to myself +when the figure before me suddenly melted from +a statue into a woman, and, with a deep and +graceful courtesy, almost daring in its abandonment, +said:</p> + +<p>"'You must be Master Felt, I take it. Master +Urquhart would never be so thrown off his +balance by a simple girl like me.'</p> + +<p>"There are voices that pierce like arrows and +sink deep into the heart, which closes over their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +sweetness forever. So it was with this voice. +From its first sound to its last it held me enthralled, +and had she shown but half the beauty +she did, those accents of hers would have made +me her slave. As it was, I was more than her +slave. I instantly became all and everything to +her. I breathed but as she breathed, and in the +absorbing delight which from that moment took +hold of me I lost all sense of the proprieties and +conventionalities of social intercourse, and only +thought of drinking in at one draught the strange +and mysterious loveliness which I saw revealed +before me.</p> + +<p>"She was not a tall woman, no taller than Miss +Dudleigh. Nor was she of marked carriage or +build. Her form, indeed, seemed only made to +express suppleness and passion, and was as speaking +in its slight proportions as if it had breathed +forth the nobler attributes of majesty and strength. +Her dress was dark, and clung to every curve +with a loving persistence bewildering in its effect +upon an eye like mine. Upon the bust, and just +below the white throat, burned a mass of gorgeous +flowers as ruddy as wine; and from one +delicate hand a long vine trailed to the floor. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +it was in her face that her power lay; in her eyes +possibly, though I scarcely think so, for there +were curves to her lips such as I have never seen +in any other, and a delicate turn to her nostril +that at times made me feel as if she were breathing +fire. Her skin was pale, her forehead broad +and low, her nose straight, and her lips of a brilliant +vermilion. I, however, saw only her eyes, +though I may have been influenced by the rest of +her bewildering physiognomy; they were so large, +so changeful, so full of alternating flames and languor, +so indeterminate in color, and yet so persistent +in their effect upon the eye and the feelings. +Looking at them, I swore she was an anomaly. +Gazing into them, I resolved that she was this +only because she let herself be natural and sought +to smother none of the fires which had been enkindled +by a bountiful nature within her soul.</p> + +<p>"While I was reasoning thus, she made me +another mock courtesy, and explaining her presence +by saying she was a cousin of Miss Dudleigh's, +ventured to remark that, if Master Felt +would be kind enough to state his errand, she +would be glad to carry it to Miss Dudleigh. I +answered confusedly, but with a fervor she could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +not fail to understand, and following up this effort +by another, led her into a conversation in which +my responses gradually became such as she should +expect from a gentleman and an equal.</p> + +<p>"For with her, notwithstanding her beauty, and +the sense of splendor and luxury which breathed +from her mysterious presence, I never felt that +sense of personal inferiority I experienced at first +with Miss Dudleigh. Whether I recognized then, +as now, the lack of those high qualities which lift +one mortal above another, I do not know. I am +only certain that, while I regarded her as a +woman to be obeyed, to be loved, to be followed +through life, through death, into whatsoever regions +of horror, danger, and pain she might lead +me, I never looked upon her as a being out of my +world or beyond my reach, except so far as her +caprice might carry her.</p> + +<p>"It was therefore with the fixed determination +to force from her some of the interest she had +awakened in me, that I grasped at this first opportunity +of conversation; and in spite of her unrest—she +did not want to linger—held her to the spot +till I had made her feel that a man had come into +her life whose will meant something, and to whom,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +if she did not subdue the light of her glances, she +must give account for every added throb she +caused to beat in his proud heart.</p> + +<p>"This done I let her go, for Miss Dudleigh was +not well and needed her, and the door closed behind +her mysterious smile, and the sound of her +steps died out in the hall, and in fancy only could +I behold her supple, dark-clad form go up the +broad staircase, projecting itself now against the +golden daylight falling through one window, and +now against the clustering vines that screened +another, till she disappeared in regions of which I +knew nothing and whither even my daring imagination +presumed not to follow. And the vision +never left my eyes nor her form my heart, and I +went out in my turn, a burning, eager, determined +man, where in a short half hour before I had entered +cold and self-satisfied, without hope and +without exaltation.</p> + +<p>"This was the beginning. In a week the earth +and sky held nothing for me but that woman. +Her name, which I had not learned at our first interview, +was Marah Leighton—a fitting watch-word +for a struggle that could terminate only with +my life! For I had got to the pass that this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +woman must be mine. I would have her for my +wife or see her dead; she should never leave the +town with another. Yes; homely as I was, without +recommendation of family, or more means +than enough to keep a wife from want, I boldly +entered upon this determination, and in the face +of some dozen lovers, that at the first revelation +of her beauty began to swarm about her steps, +pressed my claims and pushed forward my suit +till I finally gained a hearing, and after that a +promise, which, if vague, was more than any of +her other lovers could boast of, or why did they +all gradually withdraw from the struggle, leaving +me alone in my homage?</p> + +<p>"The uncertainties of her position (she was an +orphan and dependent upon Miss Dudleigh for +subsistence) had added greatly to my tenderness +for her. It also added to my hope. For if I were +poor, she was poorer, and ought to find in the +managing of my humble home a satisfaction she +could not experience in the enjoyment of a relative's +bounty, even if that relative was a woman +like Honora Dudleigh. And yet one doubts an +exultant happiness; and as I grew to know her +better, I realized that if I ever did succeed in mak<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>ing +her mine, I must see to it that my fortunes +bettered, as she would never be happy as a poor +man's wife, even if that man brought her independence +and love.</p> + +<p>"She loved splendor, she loved distinction, she +loved the frivolities of life. Not with a childish +pleasure or even a girlish enthusiasm, but with a +woman's strong and determined spirit. I have +seen her pace through and through those great +halls just for the pleasure of realizing their spaciousness; +and though the sight made my heart +cringe, I have admired her step and the poise of +her head as much as if she had been the queen of +it all, and I her humblest vassal. Then her luxury! +It showed as plainly in her poverty as it +could have done in wealth. If it were flowers she +handled, it was as a goddess would handle them. +None were too beautiful, or too costly, or too rare +for her restless fingers to pluck, or her dainty feet +to tread on. Had she possessed jewels, she would +have worn them like roses, and flung them away +almost as freely if they had displeased her or she +had grown weary of them. Love was to her a +jewel, and she wore it just now because it suited +her fancy to do so; but would not the day come<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +when she would grow tired of it or demand +another, and so fling it and me to the dogs?</p> + +<p>"I did not ask. I was permitted to walk at her +side, and pay her my court, and now and then, +when the humor took her, to press her hand or +drop a kiss upon the rosy palm; and while I +could do this, was it for me to question a future +which seemed more likely to hold fewer pleasures +than more?</p> + +<p>"But I grow diffuse; I must return to facts. +Honora Dudleigh, who saw my devotion, encouraged +it. I wondered at it sometimes, for she +knew the smallness of my fortune, and must have +known the nature of the woman I expected to +share it. But as time passed I wondered less, for +her woman's intuition must have told her, what +observation had as yet failed to tell me, that there +was trouble in the air, and that Marah needed a +protector.</p> + +<p>"The day that I first recognized this fact made +an era in my life. I had been so happy, so at ease +with myself, so sure of her growing confidence +and of my coming happiness. That I had cause +for this, the conduct of her friends and the jealousy +of her lovers seemed to prove. Though she gave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +no visible token of her regard, she clung to me as +to a support, and allowed my passion the constant +feast of her presence and the stimulation of her +voice.</p> + +<p>"Her enchantments, and they were innumerable, +were never spared me, nor did she stint +herself of a smile that could allure, nor of a glance +that could arouse or perplex.</p> + +<p>"I was happy, and questioned only the extent of +my patience, which I felt fast giving way as the +preparations for Miss Dudleigh's marriage proceeded +without my seeing any immediate prospect +of my own. You can realize, then, the maddening +nature of the shock which I received when, +coming quietly into the house as I did one day, I +beheld her face disappearing through one of the +doorways, with that look upon it which I had +always felt was natural to it, but which no passion +of mine had ever been able to evoke, and then perceived +in the shadow from which she had just +glided, Edwin Urquhart, pale as excessive feeling +could make him, and so shaken by the first real +emotion which had ever probably moved his selfish +soul that he not only failed to see me when I advanced, +but hastened by me, and away into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +solitudes of the garden, without noticing my existence, +or honoring with a reply the words of +wrath and confusion which, in my misery and despair, +I threw after him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>A SUDDEN BETROTHAL.</h3> + + +<p>"As for myself," continued Mark Felt, "I stood +crushed, and after the first torrent of emotion had +swept by, lifted my head like a drowning man and +looked wildly about, as if, in the catastrophe +which overwhelmed me, all nature must have +changed, and I should find myself in a strange +place. The sight of the door through which +Marah Leighton had passed stung me into tortured +existence again. With a roar of passion and +hate I sprang toward it, burst it open, and passed +in. Instantly silence and semi-darkness fell upon +me, through which I felt her presence exhaling its +wonted perfume, though I could see nothing but +the dim shapes of unaccustomed articles of furniture +grouped against a window that was almost +completely closed from the light of day.</p> + +<p>"Advancing, I gazed upon chair after chair. +They were all empty, and not till I reached the +further corner did I find her, thrown at full length +upon a couch, with her head buried in her arms,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +and motionless as any stone. Confused, appalled +even, for I had never seen her otherwise than erect +and mocking, I stumbled back, and would have +fled, but that she suddenly arose, and flinging back +her head, gave me one look, which I felt rather +than saw, and bursting into a peal of laughter, +called me to account for disturbing the first minute +of rest she had known that day.</p> + +<p>"I was dumfounded. If she had consulted all +her wiles, and sought for the one best way to silence +me, she could not have chanced on one surer +than this. I gazed at her quite helpless, and forgot—actually +forgot—what had drawn me into her +presence, and only asked to get a good glimpse of +her face, which, in the dim light, was more like +that of a spirit than of a woman—a mocking spirit, +in whom no love could lodge, whatever my fancy +might have pictured in the delirium of the moment +that had just passed.</p> + +<p>"She seemed to comprehend my mood, for she +flung back the curtain and drew herself up to her +full height before me.</p> + +<p>"'Did you think I was playing the coquette?' +she asked. 'Well, perhaps I was; women like +me must have their amusements; but—'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh! the languishment in that <i>but</i>. I shut my +eyes as I heard it. I could neither bear its sound, +nor the sight of her face.</p> + +<p>"'You listened to him. He was making love to +you—he, the promised husband of another; and +you—'</p> + +<p>"She forced me to open my eyes.</p> + +<p>"'And I?' she repeated, with an indescribable +emphasis that called up the blushes to my cheek.</p> + +<p>"'And you,' I went on, answering her demand +without hesitation, 'the beloved of an honest man +who would die to keep you true, and will die if +you play him false!'</p> + +<p>"She sighed. Softness took the place of scorn; +she involuntarily held out her hand.</p> + +<p>"I was amazed; she had never done so much +before. I seized that hand, I pressed it wildly, +hungrily, and with lingering fondness.</p> + +<p>"'Do you not know that you are everything to +me?' I asked. 'That to win you I am ready to do +everything, barter anything, suffer anything but +shame! You are my fate, Marah; will you not +let me be yours?'</p> + +<p>"She was silent; she had drawn her hand from +mine and had locked it in its fellow, and now stood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +with them hanging down before her, fixed as a statue, +in a reverie I could neither fathom nor break.</p> + +<p>"'You are beautiful,' I went on, 'too beautiful +for me; but I love you. You are proud, also, and +would grace the noblest palaces of the old world; +but they are far away, and my home is near +and eager to welcome you. You are dainty and +have never taught your hands to toil, or your +feet to walk our common earth; but there are +affections that sweeten labor, and under my roof +you will be so honored, so aided and so beloved, +that you will soon learn there are pleasures of the +fireside that can compensate for its cares, and +triumphs of the affections that are beyond the +dignities of outside life.'</p> + +<p>"Her lip curled and her hands parted. She +lifted one rosy palm and looked at it, then she +glanced at me.</p> + +<p>"'I shall never work,' she said.</p> + +<p>"My heart contracted, but I could not give her +up. Madness as it was to put faith and life in the +grasp of such a woman, I was too little of a man +or too much of a one to turn my back upon a +hope which, even in its realization, could bring +me nothing but pain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'You shall not work,' I declared. And I +meant it. If I died she should not handle anything +harsher than rose leaves in her new home.</p> + +<p>"'You want me?' She breathed it. I stood in +a gasp of hope and fear.</p> + +<p>"'More than I want heaven! Or, rather, you +are my heaven.'</p> + +<p>"'We will be married before Honora,' she murmured. +And gliding from my side before I had +recovered from the shock of a promise so unexpected, +a bliss so unforeseen and immediate, she +vanished from my sight, and nothing but the perfume +which lingered behind her remained to tell +me that it was not all a dream, and I the most +presumptuous being alive.</p> + +<p>"And so the hour that opened in disaster ended +in joy; and from the heart of what I deemed an +irredeemable disaster rose a hope that for several +days put wings to my feet. Then something began +to tarnish my delight, an impalpable dread +seized me, and though I worked with love and +fury upon my house, which I had begun adorning +for my bride, I began to question if she had +played the coquette in smiling upon Edwin Urquhart, +and whether in the mockery of the laugh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +with which she had dismissed my accusations +there had not been some regret for a love she +dared not entertain, but yet suffered to lose. The +memory of the glow in her eyes, as she turned +away from him at my step, returned with growing +power, and I decided that if this were coquetry, +it were sweeter than love, and longed to ask +her to play the coquette with me. But she +never did, and though she did not smile upon +him again in my presence, I felt that her beauty +was more bewildering, her voice more enchanting, +when he was in the room with us than when +chance or my purpose found us alone. To settle +my doubts, I left watching her and began to +watch him, and when I found that he betrayed +nothing, I turned my attention from them both +and bestowed it upon Miss Dudleigh."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>MARAH.</h3> + + +<p>"Great heaven! why had I not noticed Miss +Dudleigh before! In her changed face, and in +the wasting of her delicate form, I saw that my +fears were not all vain, inasmuch as they were +shared by her; and shocked at evidences so +much beyond my expectations, I knew not +whether to shed the bitter tears which rose to +my eyes in pity for her or in rage for myself.</p> + +<p>"We were sitting all together, and I had a full +opportunity to observe the mournful smile that +now and then crossed her lips as Marah uttered +some brighter sally than common or broke—as +she often did—into song that rippled for a minute +through the heavy air and then ceased as suddenly +as it had begun. She looked much oftener at +Marah than at Urquhart, and seemed to be asking +in what lay the charm that subdued everybody, +even herself. And when she seemed to receive +no answer to her secret questioning, her eyes fell +and a sigh stirred her lips, which, if unheard by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +the preoccupied man at her side, rang on in my +ears long after I had bidden farewell to her and +the siren whose smiles, intentionally or unintentionally, +seemed destined to bring shipwreck into +three lives.</p> + +<p>"It was not the last time I heard that sigh. As +the weeks progressed it fluttered oftener and oftener +from between those pale lips, and at last the +change in Miss Dudleigh became so marked that +people stopped in the midst of their talk about the +stamp act to remark upon Miss Dudleigh's growing +weakness, and venture assertions that she +would never live to be a bride. And yet the preparations +for her bridal and for mine went on, and +the day set apart for the latter drew bewilderingly +near.</p> + +<p>"Marah saw my perplexity and her cousin's +grief, but did nothing to dispel the one or assuage +the other. She seemed to be too busy. She was +embroidering a famous stomacher for herself, and +while a sprig of it remained unworked she had +neither eyes nor attention for anything else, even +for the bleeding hearts around her. She would +smile—O yes, smile upon me, smile upon Honora, +and not smile upon him; but she would not meet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +her cousin's true eyes, nor would she grant me one +minute apart from the rest in which I could utter +my fears or demand the breaking of that spell +whose effects were so visible, even if its workings +were secret and imperceptible. But at last the +stomacher was finished, and as it dropped from +her hands I threw myself at her feet, and from +this position, looking into her eyes, I whispered:</p> + +<p>"'This is the last thing that shall ever flaunt +itself between us. You are to be mine now, and +in token of your truth come with me into the +conservatory, for I have words to utter that will +not be put off.'</p> + +<p>"'You are cruel,' she murmured, 'you are +tyrannical. This is a time of revolt; shall I revolt, +too?'</p> + +<p>"Maddened, for her eyes were not looking at +me, but at him, I leaped to my feet, and, regardless +of everything but my determination to end +this uncertainty then and there, I lifted her and +carried her out of the room into another, where +I could have her alone, and without the humiliating +sense of his presence.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs10.jpg" width="500" height="321" alt="I lifted her" title="I lifted her" /> +</div> + +<p>"My bold act seemed to frighten her, for she +stood very still where I had placed her, only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +trembling slightly when I looked at her and +cried:</p> + +<p>"'Did you ask that question of me? Am I to +understand you want to break your fetters?'</p> + +<p>"She plucked a rose from her breast and +crumpled it to atoms between her hands.</p> + +<p>"'O why are they not golden ones!' she asked. +'I am miserable because we must be poor; because—because +I want to ride in a carriage, because +I want to wear jewels and own a dozen servants, +and trample on the pride of women plainer than +myself. I hate your humble home, I hate your +stiff Dutch kitchen, I hate your sordid ways and +the decent respectability that is all you can offer +me. Were you beautiful as Adonis, it would +make no difference. I was born to drink wine +and not water, and I shall never forgive you for +forcing me to take your crystal goblet in my +hands, while, if I had waited—'</p> + +<p>"She stopped, panting. I let my whole pent-up +jealousy out in a word.</p> + +<p>"'Edwin Urquhart has not even a crystal goblet +to offer you. He is poorer than I am, and will +remain so till he has actually married Miss Dudleigh.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Don't I know it!' she flashed out. 'If it had +been otherwise do you think—'</p> + +<p>"She had the grace or the wisdom to falter. +I regret it now. I regret that she did not go on +and reveal her whole soul to me in one fell burst +of feeling. As it was, I trembled with jealousy +and passion, but I did not cast her from me.</p> + +<p>"'Then you acknowledge—' I cried.</p> + +<p>"But she would acknowledge nothing. 'I love +no one,' she asserted, 'no one. I want what I want, +but none of you can give it to me.'</p> + +<p>"Then blame me as you will, I took a great resolve. +I determined to give her what she craved; +convinced of her sordid nature, convinced of her +heartlessness and the folly of ever thinking she +could even understand, much less reciprocate my +passion, I was so much under her sway at that moment +that I would have flung at her feet kingdoms +had I possessed them. Flushing, I seized her +hand.</p> + +<p>"'You do not know what a man in love can do,' +I cried. 'Trust me; give me yourself as you have +promised, and sooner or later I will give you what +you have asked. I am not a weak man or an incompetent +one. Politics opens a vast field to an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +ambitious nature, and if war breaks out, as we all +expect it will, you will see me rise to the front, if +I have you for my wife and inspiration.'</p> + +<p>"The scorn in her eyes did not abate. 'O you +men!' she cried. 'You think you give us everything +with a promise. A war! What is the history +of wars? Demolished homes, broken fortunes, +rack, ruin and desolation. Is there gold, or honor, +or ease in these? A war! It will not be a war. +It will be a struggle in which men will fight barefoot +and on empty stomachs for the privilege of +calling themselves free. I have no sympathy with +such a war. It robs us of comfort in the present +and brings nothing worth waiting for in the future. +Were I to have my will, I would take the arm of +the first officer returning to England and remain +there. I hate this country, so new, so crude, so +democratic! I should like to live where I could +ride over the necks of common people.'</p> + +<p>"A tory and an aristocrat! Another gulf between +us. I looked at her in horror, but, alas! the +horror was strangely mixed with admiration. She +was such a burning embodiment of pride. Her peculiar +beauty—the source of which I have never to +this day been able to fathom—lent itself so readily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +to the expression of fury and disdain, that, recoil as +I would from her principles, I could not shut my +eyes to the fascination of her glance or the torturing +charm that hid in the corners of her pouting +lips. She was a queen. Oh, yes, but the queen +of some strange realm in a distant oriental land, +where right and wrong were only words, and the +sole end of beauty was delight, without reference +to God or one's fellows. I saw it all, I felt it all, +yet I lingered. She was to be my wife in three +days, and the intoxication of this prospect was in +my blood and brain.</p> + +<p>"'You will do so and so,' were her next words. +'You will give me what I ask when you have won +it. But I cannot wait for the winning; I want it +now. Do you know what I would do to get the +wealth I was born to? I would risk life! I would +walk on burning plowshares! I would—'</p> + +<p>"She stopped, and I saw the lines come out in +her forehead. She was thinking—thinking deeply. +I felt the shadow of a great horror creeping over +me. I caught her impetuously in my arms. I +kissed her passionately to drive away the demons. +I begged and implored her to forget her evil +thoughts, and be the woman I could love and che<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>rish; +and finally I moved her. She shook herself +free, but she also shook the shadow from her brow. +She even found a smile to bestow upon me; and +was it a tear? Could it have been a tear I saw +for a moment glisten in her eye as she turned +half petulantly, half imperiously away? I have +never known, but the very suspicion filled my +heart to overflowing, and the great sobs rose in my +breast; and—fool that I was—I was about to beg +her pardon, when she gave me one other look, and +I merely faltered out:</p> + +<p>"'Where will you find another love like mine, +Marah? If you got your gold, you would soon +miss something which only comes with love. You +would be unhappy, and curse the day you left my +arms. I am your master, Marah; why not make +me a happy one?'</p> + +<p>"'I expect,' she murmured, 'to marry you.'</p> + +<p>"'And then?' I could not help it; the words +sprang to my lips involuntarily.</p> + +<p>"Her eyes opened wide; she literally flashed +them upon me. I felt their lightnings play all +about my doubtful nature, and scorch it.</p> + +<p>"'I will be your wife,' she uttered gravely.</p> + +<p>"I fell at her feet. I kissed the hem of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +robe. In that moment I adored her. 'O best and +fairest!' I cried, 'I will make you happy. I will +fill your hopes to the full. You shall ride in a +carriage, and your will shall be a law to those who +smile in scorn upon you now, and you will be—'</p> + +<p>"'Mistress Felt, of most honorable degree,' she +finished, with the half laughing disdain she could +never keep long out of her words.</p> + +<p>"And thus I became again her slave, and lived +in that sweet, if servile, condition till the hour of +our nuptials came, and I went to conduct her to +the church where, in sight of half the town, she +was to be made my wife. Shall I ever forget +that morning? It was a December day, but the +heavens were blue and the earth white, and not a +cloud bespoke a rising storm. As for me, I +walked on air, all the more that I knew Urquhart +was out of town and would not be present at the +wedding. He had gone away on some behest of +Miss Dudleigh's immediately after the last interview +I have mentioned, and would not come back, +or so I had been told, till after Miss Leighton had +been Mistress Felt for a week. So there was +nothing to mar my day or make my entrance into +Miss Dudleigh's house anything but one of pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>mise. +I saw Miss Dudleigh first. She was standing +in the vast colonial hall when I entered, and in +her gala robes, and with the sunshine on her head, +she looked almost happy. Yet she was greatly +changed from her old self, and I felt much like +pouring out my soul to her and bidding her to +break a tie that would never bring her peace, or +even honor. But I feared to shatter my own +hopes. Selfish being that I was, I dreaded to have +her made free, lest— What? My thoughts did +not interpret my fears, for at that moment a sunbeam +struck down the stairs and through my +heart, and, looking up, I saw Marah descending, +and thought and reason flew to greet her.</p> + +<p>"She had been robed by her cousin's bounteous +hand, and her dress of stiff yellow brocade burned +in the morning light with almost as much brilliance +as the sunshine itself. Folded across her +bust was the wonderful stomacher, under whose +making I had suffered so many emotions that each +sprig of work upon it seemed to have its own tale +of misery for my eyes, and fixed against this and +her white throat were those masses of flowers +without which her beauty never seemed quite +complete. In her hair, which was piled high<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +above her forehead, flashed a huge golden comb, +and upon her arm gleamed two bracelets, whose +exquisite workmanship was well known to me, +for they had been an heirloom in my family for +years. She was fair as a dream, proud as a queen, +cold as a statue, but she was mine! Was not the +minister waiting for us at the church? and were +not the horses that were to take us there even +now champing their bits before the door?</p> + +<p>"She rode with me. Four white horses had +been attached to Miss Dudleigh's coach, and behind +these we passed in state out through the noble +park that separated this lordly house from the +rest, into the closely packed streets, where hundreds +waited to catch a glimpse of the most beautiful +woman in Albany, going to be made a +bride.</p> + +<p>"Miss Dudleigh rode behind us in another coach, +and the murmur which greeted our appearance +did not die out till after she had passed, for they +knew she would soon be riding the same road +with even greater state, if not with so much +beauty; and the people of Albany loved Honora +Dudleigh, for she was ever a beneficent spirit to +them, and more than ever, since a shadow had fal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>len +upon her happiness, and she had come to know +what misery was.</p> + +<p>"And thus we passed on, Marah with a glowing +flush of triumph burning on her cheek and I in +one of those moods of happiness whose rapture was +so unalloyed that I scarcely heard the half-laughing +comments of those who saw with wonder how +plain was the man who had succeeded in carrying +off this well-known beauty. And the greater part +of the way was traversed, and the bells of the old +North Church became audible, and in a moment +more we should have seen the belfry of the church +itself rising before us, when, suddenly, the woman +that I loved, the woman whose nuptials the minister +was waiting to celebrate, gave a great start, +and, turning quickly toward me, cried:</p> + +<p>"'Turn the horses' heads! I do not go to the +church with you to-day. Not if you kill me, Mark +Felt!'</p> + +<p>"You have heard of stray bullets coming singing +from some unknown quarter and striking a +person seated at a feast. Such a bullet struck me +then. I looked at her in horror."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS.</h3> + + +<p>"'You think I am playing with you,' she murmured. +'I am not. I have sickened of these nuptials +and am going back. If you want to, you may +kill me where I sit. You carry a dagger, I know; +one more red blossom will not show on my breast. +Give it to me if you will, but turn the horses.'</p> + +<p>"She meant it, however much my lost heart +might cry out for its happiness and honor. Leaning +forward, I told the pompous driver that Miss +Leighton had been taken very ill, and bade him +drive back; and then with the calmness born of +utter despair and loss, I said to her:</p> + +<p>"'In pity for my pride drop your head upon my +shoulder. I have said you were sick, and sick you +must be. It is the least you can do for me now.'</p> + +<p>"She obeyed me. That head on which in fancy +I had set the crowns of empires, for whose every +hair my heart had given a throb, sank coldly +down till it rested upon the heart she had broken; +and while I steadied my nerves to meet the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +changed faces of the crowd, the carriage gave a +sudden turn, and amid murmurings that fell almost +unheeded on my benumbed senses, we wheeled +about and faced again the gates through which +we had so lately issued.</p> + +<p>"'She is ill,' I shouted to Miss Dudleigh, as we +passed her carriage. But she gave me no reply. +She was gazing over the heads of the crowd at +some distant object that enthralled her every look +and sense; and moved by her expression as I +thought never to be moved by anything again, I +followed her glance, and there, on the outskirts of +the crowd, crouching amid branches that yet refused +to hide him, I saw Edwin Urquhart; and +the miserable truth smote home to my heart that +it was he who had stopped my marriage—he, +whom I had thought far distant, but who had now +come to hinder, by some secret gesture or glance, +my bride on her path to the altar.</p> + +<p>"A dagger was hidden in my breast, and I still +wonder that I did not leap from the carriage, +burst through the crowd, and slay him where he +crouched in cowardly ambush. But I let the moment +go by, perhaps because I dreaded to bring +the shadow of another woe into Miss Dudleigh's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +white face, and almost immediately the throng had +surged in thickly between us, and Miss Dudleigh's +carriage had turned after ours, and there was +nothing further to do but to ride back, with the +false face pressed in seeming insensibility to my +breast, and that false heart beating out its cold +throbs of triumph upon mine.</p> + +<p>"I bore it, glancing down but once upon her. +Had the ride before me been one of miles I should +have gone on in the same mechanical way, for my +very being was petrified. Rage, fear, sorrow and +despair, all seemed like dreams to me. I wondered +that I had ever felt anything, and stared on +and on at the blue sky before me, conscious of +but one haunting thought that repeated itself +again and again in my brain—that her power lay +not in her eyes, as I had always been assured, but +in those strange curves about her mouth. For +her eyes were closed now, and yet I was coldly +conscious of the fact that she had never looked +more beautiful or more fitted to move a man, if +a man had any heart left to be moved.</p> + +<p>"The stopping of the carriage before the great +door of Miss Dudleigh's house roused me to the +necessity for action.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'I must carry you in,' I whispered. 'I beg +your pardon for it, but it is necessary to the +farce.' And following up my words by action, I +lifted her from the seat, cold and unresponsive as +a stone, and carried her into the house and set +her down before the astonished eyes of such +servants as had remained to guard the house in +our absence.</p> + +<p>"'Miss Leighton has not been married,' I cried. +'She was taken ill on the way to church, and I +have brought her back. She needs no attendance.' +And I waved them all back, for their +startled, gaping countenances infuriated me, and +threatened to shatter the dreadful calmness which +was my only strength.</p> + +<p>"As they disappeared, murmuring and peering, +Miss Dudleigh entered. I gave her one glance +and dropped my eyes. She and I could not bear +each other's looks yet. Meantime Marah stood +erect in the center of the hall, her face pale, her +lips set, her eyes fixed upon vacancy. Not a +word passed our three mouths. At last a petulant +murmur broke the dreadful silence, and +Marah, tossing her head in disdain, turned away +before our eyes and began to mount the stairs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I felt my blood, which for many minutes had +seemed at a standstill, pour with a rush through +vein and artery, and darting to her side, I caught +her by the hand and held her to her place.</p> + +<p>"'You shall not go up,' I cried, 'till you and I +have understood each other. You have refused +to marry me to-day. Was it some caprice that +moved you, or—' I paused and looked behind me; +Miss Dudleigh had shrunk from sight into one of +the rooms—'or because you saw Edwin Urquhart +in the crowd and followed his commanding gesture?'</p> + +<p>"The hand which I held grew cold as ice. She +drew it away and looked at me haughtily, but I +saw that I had frightened her.</p> + +<p>"'Edwin Urquhart is nothing to me,' came in +low but emphatic tones from her lips. 'I did not +want to marry any one, and I said so. It would +be better if more brides hesitated on the threshold +of matrimony instead of crossing it to their +ruin.'</p> + +<p>"I could have killed her, but I subdued myself. +I knew that I had lost her; that in another +moment she would be gone, never to enter my +presence again as my promised wife; but I utter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>ed +no word, honored her with no glance; merely +made her a low bow and stepped back, as I +thought, master of myself again.</p> + +<p>"But in that final instant one last arrow entered +my breast, and darting back to her side, I whispered, +in what must have been a terrible voice:</p> + +<p>"'Go, falsest of the false! I have done with +you! But if you have lied to me—if you think +to trip up Edwin Urquhart in his duty, and break +Honora Dudleigh's noble heart, and shame my +honor—I will kill you as I would a snake in the +grass! You shall never approach the altar with +another as nearly as you have this day with me!'</p> + +<p>"And with the last mockery of a look, in which +every detail of her beauty flashed with almost +an unbearable insistence upon my eyes, I turned +my back upon her and strode toward the outer +door."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>HONORA.</h3> + + +<p>"But I did not pass it. A sound struck my ear. +It was that of a smothered sob, and it came from +the room where I had first seen Miss Dudleigh. +Instantly a vision of that sweet form bowed in +misery struck upon my still palpitating heart; and +moved at a grief I knew to be well nigh as bitter +as my own, I stopped before the half-closed door, +and gently pushed it open.</p> + +<p>"Miss Dudleigh at once advanced to meet me. +Tears were on her cheeks, but she walked very +firmly, and took my hand with an inquiry in her +soft eyes that almost drove me distracted.</p> + +<p>"'What shall I do?' I cried to myself. 'Tell +this woman to beware, or leave her to fight her +battles alone?' No answer came from my inmost +soul. I was appalled by her weakness and my +own selfishness, and bowed my head and said +nothing.</p> + +<p>"'A strange ending to the hopes of this day,' +were the words that thereupon fell from her lips.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +'Is—is—Marah ill, or did one of her strange moods +overtake her?'</p> + +<p>"'I do not understand Miss Leighton,' I replied. +'The time I have spent in the study of her character +has been wasted. I shall never undertake to +open the book again.'</p> + +<p>"'Then,' she faltered, and an absolute terror +grew in her eyes, 'you are going to leave her. +She is going to be free, and—' The white cheeks +grew scarlet. She evidently feared that she had +shown me her heart.</p> + +<p>"Affected, but irresolute still, I took her hand +and carried it to my lips.</p> + +<p>"'Let me thank you,' said I, 'for glimpses into +a nature so noble and womanly that I am saved +in this hour from cursing all womankind.'</p> + +<p>"Ah, how she sighed.</p> + +<p>"'You are good,' she murmured. 'You have +deserved a better fate. But it is the lot of goodness +and truth ever to meet with misappreciation +and disdain. Here, here, only,' and she struck her +breast with her clenched right hand, 'lie the rewards +for honesty, long-suffering, and tenderness. +In the world without there is nothing.'</p> + +<p>"Tears, which I could not restrain, welled up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +to my eyes. I could never have wept for my +own suffering, but for hers it seemed both natural +and real. Ah, why had she thrown the treasures +of her heart away upon a fool? Why had she +given the trust of her heart to a villain? I opened +my lips to speak; she saw his name faltering on +my tongue, and stopped me.</p> + +<p>"'Don't!' she breathed. 'I know what you +would say and I cannot bear it. I was motherless, +fatherless, almost friendless, and I relied upon the +wisdom of an aunt, whose judgment was, perhaps, +not all that it should have been. But it is too +late now for regrets. I have launched my boat, +and it must sail on; only—you are an honest man +and will respect my confidence—was it Mr. Urquhart +I saw on the outskirts of the crowd to-day?'</p> + +<p>"I bowed. I knew she had not asked because +she had any doubts as to the fact of his being +there, but because she wanted to see if I had recognized +him and owed any of my misery to that +fact.</p> + +<p>"'It was he,' said I, and said no more.</p> + +<p>"The mask fell from her countenance. She +clasped her hands together till they showed white +as marble.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Oh! we are four miserable ones!' she cried. +'He—'</p> + +<p>"It was my turn to stop her.</p> + +<p>"'I would rather you did not say it,' I exclaimed. +'I can bear much, but not to hear another +person utter words that will force me to think +of the dagger I carry always in my breast. Besides, +we may be mistaken.' I did not believe it, +but I forced myself to say it. 'She declares he is +nothing to her, and if that is so, you might wish to +have kept silent.'</p> + +<p>"'She says! Ah! can you believe her? do you?'</p> + +<p>"'I must—or go mad.'</p> + +<p>"'Then I will believe her, too. I am so slightly +tied to this world that has deceived me, that I +will trust on a little while longer, even if my trust +lands me in my grave. I had rather die than discover +deceit where I had looked for honesty and +gratitude.'</p> + +<p>"I was a coward, perhaps, but I did not try +to dissuade her. Though she was fatherless and +motherless, and loverless and friendless, I let her +grasp at this wisp of hope and cling to it, though +I knew it would never hold, and that her only +chance for happiness was passing from her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'If he were not poor,' she now breathed rather +than whispered, 'I would find it easier to rend +myself free. But he has nothing but what lies in +my future, and if I should make a mistake and do +injustice to a man that is merely suffering under +a temporary intoxication, I should rob him of his +only hope, without adding one chance to my +own.'</p> + +<p>"I bowed, and made a movement toward the +door. I could not stand much more of this +strain.</p> + +<p>"'You are going?' she cried. 'Well, I cannot +keep you. But that dagger! You will promise +me to throw it away? You do not need it in defense, +and you do not want to kill me before my +time.'</p> + +<p>"No, no; I did not want to kill her. Grief was +doing that fast enough; so I thought at that time. +Shuddering, but resolute, I drew the tiny steel +from my breast and laid it in her hand.</p> + +<p>"'It is all I can give you to show you my appreciation +of your goodness.' And not trusting myself +to linger longer lest I should take it again from +her hand, I went out and walked hastily from the +house.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you asked me what road I took, or through +what streets I passed, or whose eye I encountered +in my next hour's walking through the town, I +could not tell you. If jeers followed me, I heard +them not; if I was the recipient of sympathizing +looks and wondering conjectures, they were all +lost upon eyes that were blind and ears that were +deaf. I did not even feel; and did not realize till +night that I had been wandering for hours without +my cloak, which I had left in the carriage and +forgotten to take again when I went out. The first +knowledge I had of my surroundings was when I +found an obstruction in my path, and looking up, +saw myself in front of my own door, and not two +feet from me, Edwin Urquhart."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>EDWIN URQUHART.</h3> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Letter I"> +<tr><td align='left' rowspan='2' valign='top'><img src="images/gs11a.png" width="176" height="513" alt=""I" left" title=""I" left" /> +</td><td align='left'><img src="images/gs11b.png" width="424" height="462" alt=""I" right" title=""I" right" /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='unindent'>N that moment Mark Felt +paused and cast a glance toward +the Hudson far below us. Then he resumed his +narrative.</div></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<p>"I drew back," he said, "and clenched my +hands to keep myself from strangling Urquhart. +Then I broke into hurried pants, that subsided +gradually into words of perplexity and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +amazement as I met his eye, and realized that it +contained nothing but a rude sort of sympathy +and good fellowship.</p> + +<p>"'How? Why? What do you mean by coming +back?' I cried. 'You said you would be gone +a week. You swore—'</p> + +<p>"A gay laugh interrupted me.</p> + +<p>"'And must a man keep every oath he makes, +especially when it separates him from a charming +betrothed, and a friend who swore that he would +make this day his wedding one?'</p> + +<p>"'Urquhart!'</p> + +<p>"'Felt!'</p> + +<p>"'Are you a monster or are you—'</p> + +<p>"'A self-possessed man who is going to take in +charge a crazy one. Come into the house, Mark, +a dozen eyes can see us here.'</p> + +<p>"He took me in charge; he piloted me into my +own dwelling—he whose whole body I had always +esteemed weaker than my little finger; my enemy +too, or so I considered him; the cause of half my +grief, of all my shame, the beginning and end of +my hatreds.</p> + +<p>"When we were closeted, as we soon were in +the room I had expended so much upon to make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +worthy of my bride, he came and stood before me +and uttered these unexpected words:</p> + +<p>"'Felt, I like you. You are the only friend I +have, and I am indebted to you. Now, what have +you against me?'</p> + +<p>"I was astonished. His whole look and bearing +were so different from what I had expected, +so different from anything I had ever seen in him +before. I began to question my doubts, and +dropped my eyes as he pursued:</p> + +<p>"'You have been disappointed in your marriage, +I hear; but that need not make you as +downcast as this. A woman as capricious as Miss +Leighton might easily imagine she was too ill to +go through the ceremony to-day. But she must +have repented of her folly by this time, and in a +week will reward you as your patience deserves. +But what have I got to do with it? For incredible +as it appears, your every look and tone assures +me that you blame me for this mishap.'</p> + +<p>"Was he daring me? If so, he should find me +his equal. I raised my eyes and surveyed him.</p> + +<p>"'Shall I tell you why this is so—why I associate +Miss Leighton's caprice with your return, and +regard both with suspicion? Because I have seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +you look on her with love; because I have surprised +the passion in your face and beheld her—'</p> + +<p>"'Well?'</p> + +<p>"The tone was indescribable. It was as if a +hand had taken me by the throat and choked me. +I drew off and was silent.</p> + +<p>"He seized the word at once.</p> + +<p>"'You have seen nothing. If you think you +have, then have you deceived yourself. Marah +Leighton has beauty, but it is not a kind that +moves me—'</p> + +<p>"He paled. Was it horror of the lie he was +uttering? I have never known, never shall +know.</p> + +<p>"'The woman I am going to marry is Honora +Dudleigh.'</p> + +<p>"I gazed at him, determined to find the truth if +it were in him. He bore my look unflinchingly, +though his color did not return, and his hands +trembled nervously.</p> + +<p>"'You love her?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'I love her,' he returned.</p> + +<p>"'And your wedding day—'</p> + +<p>"'Is set.'</p> + +<p>"'May it have no interruptions,' I remarked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He laughed—an uneasy laugh, I thought—but +jealousy was not yet dead within me.</p> + +<p>"'And yours?' he inquired.</p> + +<p>"'I have had mine,' I returned. 'I shall never +have another.'</p> + +<p>"He shook his head and looked at me inquisitively. +I repeated my assertion.</p> + +<p>"'I shall never approach the altar again with a +woman. I am done with such things, and done +with love.'</p> + +<p>"He finished his laugh.</p> + +<p>"'Wait till you see Marah Leighton smile again,' +he cried; and with the first reappearance of his +old manner that I had seen in him since the beginning +of this interview, he caught up a wine +glass off the table, and filling it with wine, exclaimed +jovially: 'Here's to our future wives! +May they be all that love paints them!'</p> + +<p>"I thought his mirth indecent, his manner out +of keeping with the occasion, and the whole situation +atrocious. But I saw he was about to leave, +and said nothing; but I did not drink his toast. +When he was gone, I broke his glass by flinging +it at my own reflection, in a glass I had bought to +mirror her beauty; and before the day was spent,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +I had destroyed every destructible article in the +house whose value or whose prettiness spoke of +the attempt I had made to alter my home from a +bachelor's abode to the nest I had thought in +keeping with the dove I had failed to place there. +As I did it I filled the house with mocking laughter; +that I should have thought that this or that +would please her, who would have found a palace +open to criticism, and the splendors of a throne +room scarce grand enough for her taste! I was +but suffering the stings of a lifetime compressed +into a day, and was miserable because I could see +no prospect but further addition to my suffering."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>BEFORE THE WEDDING.</h3> + + +<p>"Two weeks after this I was sitting beside my +solitary hearth, musing upon my misery and longing +for the blessed relief of sleep. There was no +one with me in the house. I had dismissed every +servant; for I would have no spies about me, prying +into my misery; and though I could not keep +the world of men and women from my doors, I +could at least refuse to admit them; and this I did—living +the life of a recluse almost as much as I +do here, but with less ease, because the wind +would bring whispers, and the walls were not +thick enough to shut out from my fancy the +curious glances I felt to be cast upon them by +every passer-by that wandered through the street.</p> + +<p>"On this night I had been thinking of Miss +Dudleigh, of whose visibly failing health various +murmurs had reached me, and I felt, notwithstanding +my determination to hold myself aloof +from every one and everything that could in any +way reopen my still smarting wound, I could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +more easily find the sleep I longed for if some +word from the great house would relieve the suspense +in which my ignorance kept me. But I +would not go there if I died of my anxiety, nor +would I stoop to question any of the market men +or women, who were the only persons admitted +now within my doors.</p> + +<p>"The clock was striking, and the strange sense +of desolation which is inseparable from this sound +to a solitary man (you see I have no clock here) +was stealing over me, when I heard a tap on one +of the windows overlooking my small garden, +and a voice came through the lattice, crying:</p> + +<p>"'Massa—Massa Felt.'</p> + +<p>"I knew the voice at once. It was that of one +of Miss Dudleigh's servants, an honest black, who +had always been devoted to me from the day he +did me some trifling service with Miss Leighton. +Hearing it now, and after such thoughts, I was so +moved by the promise it gave of news from the +one quarter I desired, that I stumbled as I rose, +and found difficulty in answering him. Nor did I +recover my self-possession for hours; for the +story he had to tell—after numerous apologies for +his presumption in disturbing me—was so signifi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>cant +of coming evil that my mind was thrown +again into turmoil, and the passions which I had +tried to smother were roused again into action.</p> + +<p>"It was simply this: That one evening after +Mr. Urquhart's departure, and the extinguishing +of all the lights in the house, he had occasion to +cross the garden. That in doing this he had heard +voices, and, stepping cautiously forward, perceived, +lying upon the snow-covered ground, near a +certain belt of evergreens, the shadows of two +persons, whose forms were hidden from his +sight. Being both curious and concerned, he +halted before coming too close and, listening, heard +Mr. Urquhart's voice, and presently that of Miss +Leighton, both speaking very earnestly.</p> + +<p>"'Will you undertake it? Can you go through +with it without shrinking?' was what the former +had said.</p> + +<p>"'I will undertake it, and I can go through with +it,' was what the latter had replied.</p> + +<p>"Frightened at a discovery which might mean +nothing and which might mean misery to a mistress +the day of whose marriage was scarcely +a month away, the negro held his breath, determined +to hear more. He was immediately re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>warded +by catching the words: 'You are a brave +girl and my queen!' and then something like a +prayer for a kiss, or some such favor, as a seal to +their compact. But to this she returned a vigorous +'No,' followed by the mysterious sentence: 'I +shall give you nothing till I am dead, and then I +will give you everything.'</p> + +<p>"After which they made a move as if to separate, +which action so alarmed the now deeply disconcerted +negro that he drew back in haste, hiding +behind some neighboring bushes till they had +passed him and disappeared, he out of the gate, +and she through the small side entrance into the +house. This was the previous night, and for nearly +twenty-four hours the poor negro had tortured +himself as to what he should do with the information +thus surreptitiously gained. He lacked the +courage to tell his mistress, and finally he had +thought of me, who was her best friend, and who +must have known there was something amiss with +Miss Leighton, or why had I not married her +when everything was ready and the minister waiting +with his book in his hand?</p> + +<p>"Not answering this insinuation, I put to him +one or two of the many questions that were burn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>ing +in my brain. Had he told any of the other +servants what he had seen? And did Miss Dudleigh +look as if she suspected there was anything +wrong?</p> + +<p>"He answered that he had not dared to speak a +word of it even to his wife; and as for Miss Dudleigh, +she was ill so much of the time that it was +hard to tell whether she had any other cause for +uneasiness or not. He only knew that she was +greatly changed since this miserable deceiver +came into the house.</p> + +<p>"I believed him, and amid all my struggle and +wrath tried to fix my mind upon her alone. I succeeded +only partially, but enough to enable me to +write this line, which I entreated him to carry to +her:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'<span class="smcap">Honored Miss Dudleigh</span>—You will forgive +me if I overstep the bounds of friendship in yielding +to the inner voice which compels me to say +that if before or on your marriage day you need +advice or protection, you may command both +from</p> + +<div class='right'> +<div style="margin-right: 4em;">Your respectful servant,</div><br /> +'<span class="smcap">Mark Felt</span>.'<br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p>"I did not expect a reply to this note, and I did +not receive any. I thought I went as far as my +position toward her allowed, but I have questioned +it since—questioned if I should not have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +told her what the negro had heard and seen, and +let her own judgment decide her fate. But I was +not in my right mind in those days. I was too +much a part of all this misery to be a fair judge of +my own duty; and then the mysterious nature of +Miss Leighton's remark, the incomprehensibility +of the words—'I shall give you nothing till I am +dead, and then I shall give you everything'—added +such unreality to the scene, and awakened such +curious conjectures, that I did not know where +any of us stood, or to what especial misery the +future pointed.</p> + +<p>"'Till she was dead!' What could she, what +did she mean? She would then give him everything! +Ah! ah!—when she was dead! Well, so +be it. Meanwhile, there was no prospect of death +for any one, unless it was for Miss Dudleigh, whom +rumor acknowledged to be still fading, though +everything was being done for her comfort, and +physician after physician employed.</p> + +<p>"I saw Cæsar once again in these days. I met +him in the street, seemingly greatly to his delight, +for he smiled till his teeth shone from ear to +ear, and made haste to remark, in quite a jovial +voice:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'I specs it's all right, massa. Massa Urquhart +never looks at Miss Leighton now, but always +doin' his best for missus, making her smile quite +happy when she isn't coughing that dreadful +cough. We will have a gay wedding yet. Yes; +Miss Leighton seems to spect that; for she all de +time making pretty things and trying them on +missus, and laughing and cheering her up, just as +if she didn't spect any one to die.'</p> + +<p>"Yes, but this change of manner frightened me. +I grew feverishly anxious, and spent night and +day in asking myself unanswerable questions. Nor +did these in any way abate when one day I was +startled by the tidings that all preparations for refitting +the great house had stopped; that the doctors +had decided that Miss Dudleigh must remove +to a warmer climate, and that accordingly upon +her marriage she and her husband would set sail +for the Bermudas, there to take up their abode till +her health was quite restored. I doubted my ears; +I doubted the facts; I doubted Urquhart, and I +doubted one other most of all whose name I find it +hard to mention even to myself.</p> + +<p>"Yet I should not have doubted her; I should +have remembered the flame that was always burn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>ing +in the depths of her eyes, and had confidence +in that, if in nothing else. What if she had always +been cold to me; she was not cold to him, and I +should have known this and prepared myself. But +I did not. I knew neither the extent of his villainy +nor that of her despair. Had I done so, I +might not have been crouching here a disappointed +and hopeless man, while she—</p> + +<p>"But I am running beyond my tale. After the +news I had just imparted, I heard nothing more +till the very week of the wedding. Then one of +Miss Dudleigh's servants came to me with a note, +the result of which was, that I walked out in the +afternoon, and that she passed me in her carriage, +and seeing me, stopped the horses and took me +in, and that we rode on a short distance together.</p> + +<p>"'I wish to talk to you,' she said. 'I wish to +proffer you a request; to beg of you a favor. I +want you,' she stammered and her eyes filled +with tears, 'to see me married.'</p> + +<p>"I opened my eyes with a quick denial, but I +closed them again without speaking. After all, +why not please her? Could I suffer more at this +wedding than in thinking over it in my dungeon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +of a room at home? She would be there, of +course, but I need not look at her; and if he or +she meditated any treachery, where ought I to be +but in the one place where my presence would be +most useful? I decided to gratify Miss Dudleigh, +almost before the inquiry in her eyes had +changed to a look of suspense. 'Yes, I will come,' +said I.</p> + +<p>"She drew a deep breath, and smiled with tender +sweetness.</p> + +<p>"'I thank you,' she rejoined. 'I thank you +most deeply and most truly. I do not know +why I desired it so much. Possibly because I +feel something like a sister to you, possibly because +I feel afraid—'</p> + +<p>"She stopped, blushing. 'I do not mean afraid. +Why should I feel afraid? Edwin is very good +to me; very good. I did not know he could be +so attentive.' And she sighed.</p> + +<p>"I felt that sigh go through and through me. +Looking at her I took a sudden resolution.</p> + +<p>"'Honora,' I said (I had never called her by +her first name before), 'do not give your happiness +into Edwin Urquhart's keeping. You +have yet three days before you for reconsidera<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>tion. +Break your bonds, and, unhampered by +uncongenial ties, seek in another climate for that +peace of mind you will never enjoy here or elsewhere +as his wife.'</p> + +<p>"She stared at me for a moment with wide-open +and appealing eyes; then she shook her head, and +answered quietly:</p> + +<p>"'One broken-off wedding in the family is +enough. I cannot shock society with another. +But, oh, Mark! why did you not warn me at first? +I think I would have listened; I think so.'</p> + +<p>"'Forgive me,' I entreated. 'You know it +would have been presumptuous in me at first; +afterward she stood in the way.'</p> + +<p>"'I know,' she answered, and turned away her +head.</p> + +<p>"I saw she did not wish me to leave her yet; +so I said:</p> + +<p>"'You are going away; you are going to leave +Albany.'</p> + +<p>"'I must, or so Edwin thinks. He says I will +never recover in this climate.'</p> + +<p>"'Do you wish to go?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes; I think I do. I can never be happy +here, and perhaps when we are far away, and have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +only each other to think of, the love and confidence +of which I have dreamed may come. At all events, +I comfort myself with that hope.'</p> + +<p>"'But it is a long, long sea voyage. Have you +strength enough to carry you through?'</p> + +<p>"'If I have not,' she intimated, with a mournful +smile, 'he will be free, and I released without +scandal from a marriage that fills you with apprehension.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh,' I cried, 'would I were your brother indeed! +This should never go on.' Then impelled +by what I thought to be my duty, I inquired: +'And your money, Honora?'</p> + +<p>"She flushed, but answered in the same spirit +in which I had spoken.</p> + +<p>"'As little of it as may be will remain with him. +That much my old guardian insisted upon. Do not +ask me any more questions, Mark.'</p> + +<p>"'None of a nature so personal,' I promised. +'But there is one thing—can you not guess what +it is?—which I ought to know. It is about +Marah.'</p> + +<p>"The words came with effort, and hurt her as +much as me. But she answered bravely:</p> + +<p>"'She returns to Schenectady the same day that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +we depart. I hoped she would not linger to the +wedding, but she seems to have a strange desire +to face again the people who have talked about +her so freely these last few weeks. So what can +I say to dissuade her?'</p> + +<p>"'Let her stay,' I muttered; 'but let her beware +how she behaves on that day, for there will +be two eyes watching her, prompt to see any +treachery, and prompt, too, to avenge it.'</p> + +<p>"'You will have nothing to avenge,' murmured +Honora; 'that is all in the past.'</p> + +<p>"I prayed to Heaven she might be right, and +ere long bowed in adieu and left her. I saw +neither herself nor any one else again till I entered +the Dudleigh mansion three days later to witness +her nuptials."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>A CASSANDRA AT THE GATE.</h3> + + +<p>"Miss Dudleigh, moved, perhaps, by the unpleasant +<i>eclat</i> which had followed the broken-off +marriage of her cousin, chose to celebrate her own +wedding in her own house, and with as little ceremony +as possible. Only her most intimate friends, +therefore, were invited, but these were numerous +enough to fill the halls and most of the lower +rooms.</p> + +<p>"When I entered there was a sudden cessation +of conversation; but this I had expected. If anything +could add to the interest of the occasion, +certainly it was my presence; and, feeling this, I +made them all a profound obeisance, and, neither +shirking their glances nor inviting them, I took +my place in the spot I had chosen for myself, and +waited, with a face as impassive as a mask, but +with a heart burning with fury and love, not for +the coming of the bride, but of her who in this +hour ought to have been standing at my side as +my wife.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I miscalculated if I thought she would +enter with them. Even her bold and arrogant +spirit shrank from a position so conspicuous, and +it was not till they had presented themselves and +taken their places in front of the latticed window +so associated with my past, that I felt that +peculiar sensation which always followed the entrance +of Marah into the same room with myself, +and, yielding to the force that constrained me, +I searched the throng with eager looks, and there, +where the crowd was thickest, and the shadow +deepest, I saw her. She was gazing straight at +me, and there was in her great eyes a look which +I did not then understand, and about which I have +since tortured myself by asking again and again if +it were remorse, entreaty, farewell, or despair that +spoke through it. Sometimes I have thought it +was fear. Sometimes— But why conjecture? It +was an unreadable expression to me then, and even +in remembrance it is no clearer. Whatever it betokened, +my pride bent before it, and a flood of the +old feeling rushed over my heart, making me +quite weak for a moment.</p> + +<p>"But I conquered myself, as far as all betrayal +of my feelings was concerned, and turning from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +the spot that so enthralled me, I fixed my gaze +upon the bride.</p> + +<p>"She was looking beautiful; more beautiful than +any one had seen her look for weeks. A bright +color suffused her delicate cheeks, and in her eyes +burned a strange excitement, which did the work +of happiness in lighting up her face. But it was +a transient glow which faded imperceptibly but +surely, as the ceremony proceeded, and passed +completely away as the last inexorable words were +uttered which made her the wife of the false being +at her side.</p> + +<p>"He, on the contrary, was pale up to that same +critical moment—very pale, when one remembers +his naturally florid complexion; but as her color +went, his rose, and when the minister withdrew, +and friends began to crowd around them, he grew +so jovial and so noisy that more than one person +glanced at him with suspicion, and cast pitying +looks at the now quiet and immobile young +wife.</p> + +<p>"Meantime I sought with eager anxiety to +catch one more glimpse of Marah. But she had +shrunk from sight, and was not to be found. And +the gayety ran high and the wine was poured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +freely, and the bridegroom drank with ever-increasing +excitement, toasting his bride, but never +looking at her, though her eyes turned more than +once upon him with an appeal that affected painfully +more than one person in the crowd. At last +she rose, and, at this signal, he put down his glass, +and, with a low bow to the company, prepared to +follow her from the room. They passed close to +the place where I stood, and I caught one glance +from his eyes. It was a laughing one, but there +was uneasiness in it. There might have been +something more, but I had not time to search for +it, for at that moment I felt her dress brush against +my sleeve, and turned to give her the smile which +I knew her friendly heart demanded.</p> + +<p>"'You will wait till we go?' fell in a whisper +from her lips; and I nodded with another smile, +and they went on and I stood where they had left +me, in one of those moods which made me, as far +as all human intercourse is concerned, as much of +an isolated being as I am in these mountains. I +did not wake again from this abstraction till that +same premonitory feeling, of which I have so often +spoken, told me that something in which I was +deeply interested was about to happen. Looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +up, I found myself in the room alone. During the +hour of my abstraction the guests had gone out, +and I had neither noticed their departure nor the +gradual cessation of the noise which at one time +had filled my ears with hubbub. But the bride +had not gone. She was at that moment coming +down the stairs, and it was this fact which had +pierced to my inner consciousness, and aroused +once more in me a vivid sense of my surroundings. +He was with her, and behind them, gliding like a +wraith from landing to landing, came Marah, clad +like the bride in a traveling dress, but without the +bonnet which betokened an instant departure.</p> + +<p>"Not anticipating her presence so near, I felt +my courage fail, and pushing forward, joined the +group of servants at the door. They, seeing in +this departure of their mistress a possibly endless +separation, were weeping and uttering exclamations +that not only showed their devotion, but +their fears. Shocked lest these words should reach +her ears, I quieted them; and then seeing that the +carriage which stood outside had a stranger for a +driver, and that there was no accompanying wagon +filled with their body servants and baggage, I +asked the friendly Cæsar, who had pressed close<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +to my side, if Mrs. Urquhart was not going to +take a maid with her.</p> + +<p>"The negro at once growled out an injured +'No!' and when I expressed my astonishment, he +explained that 'There was no one here good +enough to please Massa Urquhart. That he was +going to pick up with some one in New York. +That, though missus was sick, he would not even +let her have her own gal go wid her as far as +the city; said he would do everything for her +hisself—as if any man could do for missus like +her own Sally, who had been wid her ever since +'fore she was born!'</p> + +<p>"'And the baggage?' I asked, troubled more +than I can say by what certainly augured anything +but favorably for her future.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, massa send dat round to his house. He +got books, an' a lot o' things to add to it. Dere's +enough o' dat; an' den more went down de ribber +on a sloop a week an' more ago.'</p> + +<p>"'So! so! And they are going to ride?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, sah. You see, dey want to catch de ship +w'at set sail for Bermudas, an' got to hurry; so +massa says.'</p> + +<p>"By this time Urquhart and his bride had reach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>ed +the door. He was still gay and she was still +quiet. But in her eye glistened a tear, while in +his there gleamed nothing softer than that vague +spark of triumph which one might expect to see +in a man who had just married the richest heiress +in Albany.</p> + +<p>"'Good-by! good-by! good-by!' came in soft +tones from her lips; and she was just stepping +over the threshold, when there suddenly appeared +at the foot of the steps an old crone, so seamed and +bowed with age, so weird and threatening of aspect, +that we all started back appalled, and were +about to draw Mrs. Urquhart out of her path, +when the unknown creature raised her voice, and +pointing with one skinny hand straight into the +bride's face, shrieked:</p> + +<p>"'Beware of oak walls! Beware of oak walls! +They are more dangerous to you than fire and +water! Beware of oak walls!'</p> + +<p>"A shriek interrupted her. It came, not from +the bride, but from the interior of the well-nigh +forsaken hall behind us.</p> + +<p>"Instantly the old crone drew herself up into +an attitude more threatening and more terrible +than before.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs12.jpg" width="500" height="338" alt="At the foot of the steps an old crone" title="At the foot of the steps an old crone" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'And you,' she cried, pointing now beyond us +toward a figure which I could feel shrinking in +inexplicable terror against the wall. 'And you +cannot trust them either! There is death within +oak walls. Beware! beware!'</p> + +<p>"A curse, a rush, and Edwin Urquhart had +flung himself at the old witch's throat. But he +fell to the pavement without touching her. With +the utterance of her last word, she had slipped +from before our eyes and melted into the crowd +which curiosity and interest had drawn within the +gates, to watch this young couple's departure.</p> + +<p>"'Who was that creature? Let me have her! +Give her up, I say!' leaped from the infuriated +bridegroom's lips, as he rushed up and down before +the crowd with threatening arms and flashing +eyes.</p> + +<p>"But there was no response from the surging +throng; while from his frightened wife such an +appealing cry rung out that he returned from the +vain pursuit, and regaining his place at Honora's +side, put her into the carriage. But as he did so +he could not refrain from casting a stealthy look +behind him, which betrayed to me, if to no one +else, that his anger was more on account of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +words uttered to Marah than to the tender being +clinging to his arm. And a jealous fury took hold +of me also, and I should not have been sorry if I +had seen him fall then and there, the victim of a +thunderbolt more certain, if not more terrible, than +that which had just overwhelmed the two women +nearest to our hearts.</p> + +<p>"'Good-by! good-by! good-by!' came again +from the bride's pale lips; and this time I felt that +the words were for me, and I waved my hand in +response, but could not speak. And so they rode +away, followed by the lamentations of the servants, +from whom the old crone's ominous outburst had +torn the last semblance of self-control.</p> + +<p>"'Another carriage for Miss Leighton!' I now +heard uttered somewhere like a command. And +startled at the pang it caused me, I darted back +into the house, determined to have one parting +word with my lost love.</p> + +<p>"She was not there, nor could she be found by +any searching."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>THE CATASTROPHE.</h3> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Letter I"> +<tr><td align='left' rowspan='2' valign='top'><img src="images/gs13a.png" width="204" height="594" alt=""I" left" title=""I" left" /> +</td><td align='left' valign='top'><img src="images/gs13b.png" width="296" height="473" alt=""I" right" title=""I" right" /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='unindent'>HAVE but little more to tell," +Mark Felt continued, "but that +little is everything to me.</div></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>"When we became positively assured that Miss +Leighton had disappeared from the house and +would not be on hand to take the stage to Sche<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>nectady, +the excitement, which had been increasing +on all sides since the ceremony, culminated, +and the whole town was set agog to find her, if +only to solve the mystery of a nature whose +actions had now become inexplicable.</p> + +<p>"I was the first to start the pursuit. Haunted +by her last look, and thrilled to every extremity +by the terror of the shriek she had uttered, I did +not wait for the alarm to become public, but +rushed immediately up stairs at the first intimation +of her disappearance.</p> + +<p>"Though I had never pierced those regions +before, my good or evil fate took me at once to a +room which I saw at one glance to be hers. The +boxes waiting to be carried down, the tags and +ends of ribbons that I recognized, the nameless +something which speaks of one particular personality +and no other, all were there to assure me +that I stood in the chamber which for six months +or more had palpitated with the breath of the +one being I loved.</p> + +<p>"But of that I dared not think; it was no time +for dreams; and only stopping to see that her +bonnet had been taken, but her gloves left, I +hurried down again and out of the house.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> + +<p>"An impulse which I cannot understand took +me to Edwin Urquhart's house, or, rather, to that +portion of a house which he had hired for his use +since he had been looking forward to his marriage +with Miss Dudleigh. Why I should go there I +cannot say, unless jealousy whispered that only +in this place could she hope for one final word +with him, as he and his bride stopped at the door +for his portion of the baggage. Be this as it may, +I turned neither to right nor left till I came to his +house, and when I had reached it I found that, +with all my haste, I was too late, for not a soul +was in its empty rooms, while far down the street +which leads to the bridge I saw a carriage disappearing, +which, from the wagon following it so +closely, I knew to be the one containing Urquhart +and his bride.</p> + +<p>"'She has not been here,' thought I, 'or I should +have met her, unless—' and my eye stole with a +certain shrinking terror toward the river which +skirted along the garden at the back—'unless'— But +even my thoughts stopped here. I would +not, could not, think of what, if it were true, +would end all things for me.</p> + +<p>"Leaving this place, I wandered aimlessly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +through the streets, studying each face that I met +for intimations which should guide me in my +search. If not a madman, I was near enough to one +to make the memory of that hour hideous to me; +and when at last, worn out as much by my emotions +as by the countless steps I had taken, I +returned to my house for a bite and sup, something +in the sight of its desolation overpowered me, and +yielding to a despair which assured me that I +should never again see her in this world, I sank +on the floor inert and powerless, and continued +thus till morning, without movement and almost +without consciousness.</p> + +<p>"Fatal repose! And yet I do not know if I +should call it so. It only robbed me of a few +hours less of conscious misery. For when I +roused, when I became again myself, and looked +about my house, there on the floor, underneath a +curtain window which had been left unlatched, I +saw a letter containing these words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'<span class="smcap">Honored and Much Abused Friend</span>:—When +you read this, Marah will be no more. +After all that has passed—after our broken marriage +and the departure of my cousin—life has +become insupportable; and, believing that you +would rather know me dead than miserable, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +ventured to write you these words, and ask you +to forgive me, now that I am gone.</p> + +<p>'I loved him: let that explain everything.</p> + +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">'Despairingly yours,</span><br /> +'<span class="smcap">Marah Leighton</span>.'<br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p>"With shrieks I tore from the house. Marah +dying! Marah dead! I would see about that. +Racing down to the gate, I paused. Some one +was leaning on it. It was Cæsar, and at the first +glimpse I had of his face I knew I was too late—that +all was over, and that the whole town knew it.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, massa, I wanted to go in, but I was +frightened. I's been waiting here an hour, sah; +when dey told me dat dey had found her bonnet +floating on de ribber, I know'd how you'd feel, sah, +and so I come here and—'</p> + +<p>"I found words to ask him a question. 'When +was this found, and where?'</p> + +<p>"'This morning, sah, at daybreak. It was +caught by one of the strings to that old log, sah, +that lies out in the ribber back of—' he hesitated—'Massa +Urquhart's house, sah.'</p> + +<p>"I knew; and I had glanced that way just as +her bright head was perhaps sinking under the +water. I threw up my arms in anguish and stumbled +back into the house.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Then every one knows—' I managed to say +on the threshold.</p> + +<p>"'Dat she cared for him? Yes, sah; I fear so. +How could dey help it, sah? Mor'n one person +saw her run down de street and go into massa's +old house just before de carriage stopped thar, and +as she didn't come out again, I 'specs it was from +dat big log at the foot of the garden she jumped +into de ribber. All de folks pities you very much, +sah—'</p> + +<p>"I choked him off with a look.</p> + +<p>"'Who has been sent after Mr. and Mrs. Urquhart +to inform them of what has happened?'</p> + +<p>"'No one yet, sah. But Massa Hatton—'</p> + +<p>"'Mr. Hatton is an old man. We must have a +young one for this business. Go saddle me the +quickest horse in your stables. I will ride after +them, and overtake them, too, before they can +reach Poughkeepsie. He shall know—'</p> + +<p>"A glance from the negro's eye warned me to +be careful. I smothered my impatience and let +only my earnestness appear.</p> + +<p>"'Mrs. Urquhart ought to know that her cousin +is dead,' I declared.</p> + +<p>"'I'll tell Massa Hatton,' said the black.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But my caution was now too much aroused +for me to make Mr. Hatton the medium of my request—he +was Mrs. Urquhart's old guardian and +future agent; and subduing the extreme fury of +my feelings, I obtained his permission to act as his +messenger. Had he known of the letter which +had been thrown into my window, he might not +have given his consent so freely; but I had told +no man of that, and he and others saw me ride +away without a seeming suspicion of the murderous +thoughts that struggled with my grief, and +almost overwhelmed it.</p> + +<p>"For to me her death—if she were dead—was +the result of a compact entered into with the despicable +Urquhart, who, if he could not have her +for himself, was willing she should go where no +other man could have her. Though the idea +seemed quixotic, though it be an anomaly in human +experience, for a woman thus to sacrifice +herself, I could not ascribe any other motive to +her deed; for the memory of that interview she +had held with her cousin's future husband in the +garden was still fresh in my mind. Do you remember +the words as told me by the negro who +overheard them? First, the question from his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +lips: 'Will you undertake it? Can you go through +with it without shrinking and without fear?' And +the reply from hers: 'I will undertake it, and I +can go through with it,' followed by that assurance +which struck me as being so inexplicable at +the time, and which, with all the light that this +late horrible event has thrown upon it, still preserves +its mystery for me. 'I shall give you +nothing till I am dead, and then I will give you +everything.' If the conclusions I drew seemed +wild, were they not warranted by these words? +Did she not speak of death, and did he not encourage +her?</p> + +<p>"If she were not dead—and sometimes this +thought would cross my burning brain—then she +was with him, forced into the company of his unwilling +wife in that last interview which they +must have held in his cottage. In either case he +was a villain and a coward, deserving of death; +and death he should have, and from the hand of +him whom he had doubly outraged.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs14.jpg" width="500" height="343" alt="I approached the river" title="I approached the river" /> +</div> + +<p>"But as I rode out of town and came in sight +of the river, I found myself seized by terrifying +thoughts. Should I have to ride by the place +where I could see them stooping with boat hooks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +they had brought up from the river bottom? +Could I endure to face this picture, then to pass +it, then to ride on, feeling it ever at my back, +blackening the morning, destroying the noontide, +making more horrible the night? Could I go +from this place till I knew whether or not the +sullen waters would yield up their beautiful prey, +and would my body proceed while my heart was +on this river bank, and my jealousy divided between +the wretch who had urged her on to death +and these other men who might yet touch her unconscious +form and gaze upon her disfigured +beauty? And the answer which welled up from +within me was, yes, I could go; I could pass that +picture; I could feel it glooming ever and ever +upon me from behind my back, and never turn my +head;—such an impetus of hate was upon me, +driving me forward after the wretch fleeing in +self-complacency and triumph into a future of +wealth and social consideration.</p> + +<p>"But when I had done all this, when my too +fleet horse had carried me beyond sight of the city, +and nature, with its irresistible beauty, had begun +to influence my understanding, other thoughts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +came trooping in upon me, and a vision of Honora +Dudleigh's face as she took the dagger from my +hands and an implied promise from my lips, rose +before me till I could see nothing else. Honora, +Honora, Honora who trusted me! who had suffered +everything but the sight of blood! who was +a bride, and whom it would be base ingratitude +for me to plunge into the depths of dishonor and +despair! And the struggle was so fierce, and the +torture of it so keen, that ere long my brain succumbed +to the strain, and from the height of anguished +feeling I sank into apathy, and from apathy +into unconsciousness, till I no longer knew +where I was or possessed power to guide my +horse. In this condition I was found wandering +in a field and thence carried to a farm house, +where I remained a prey to fever. When I +returned to consciousness, three weeks had +elapsed.</p> + +<p>"As soon as I could be moved, I went back to +Albany. I found the community there settled in +the belief that I had joined in death the woman I +so much loved, and was shown a letter which had +been sent me, and which had been opened by the +authorities after all hope had been given up of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +return. It was from Mrs. Urquhart, and related +how they had changed their plans upon reaching +New York. Having found a ship on the point of +sailing for France, they had determined to go +there instead of to the Bermudas, and, consequently, +requested me to inform Mr. Hatton of +the fact, and also assure him that he would hear +from them personally as soon as a letter could +reach him from the other side. As she was in +haste—in truth, was writing this in the post office +on the way to the ship—she would only add that +her health had been improved by her long journey +down the river, and that when I heard from her +again, she was sure she would be able to write +that all her fondest hopes had been fully +realized.</p> + +<p>"And so Marah was in the river, and Urquhart +on the seas. I had been robbed of everything, +even vengeance, and life had nothing for me, and +I was determined to leave it, not in the vulgar way +of suicide, but by cloistering myself in the great +forests. As no one said me nay, I at once carried +out this scheme; and to show you how dead I +had become to the world, I will tell you that as +I turned the lock of my door and took my first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +step forward on the road which led to this spot, a +great shout broke out in the market place:</p> + +<p>"'The farmers of Lexington have fired upon +the king's troops!'</p> + +<p>"And I did not even turn my head!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>A DREAM ENDED.</h3> + + +<p>There was silence in the cave. Mark Felt's +story was at an end.</p> + +<p>For a moment I sat and watched him; then, as +I realized all that I must yet gather from his lips, +I broke the stillness by saying, in my lowest and +most suggestive tone, these two words:</p> + +<p>"And Marah?"</p> + +<p>The name did not seem unwelcome. Striking +his breast, he cried:</p> + +<p>"She lies here! Though she despised me, deceived +me, broke my heart in life, and in death +betrayed a devotion for another that was at once +my dishonor and the downfall of my every hope, I +have never been able to cast her out of my heart. +I love her, and shall ever love her, and so I am +never lonely. For in my dreams I imagine that +death has changed her. That she can see now +where truth and beauty lie; that she would fain +come back to them and me; and that she does, +walking with softened steps through the forest,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +beaming upon me in the moon rays and smiling +upon me in the sunshine till—"</p> + +<p>Great sobs broke from the man's surcharged +breast. He flung himself down on the floor of the +cave and hid his face in his hands. He had forgotten +that I had come on an errand of vengeance. +He had forgotten the object of that vengeance; he +had forgotten everything but her.</p> + +<p>I saw the mistake I had made, and for the moment +I quailed before the prospect of rectifying +it. He had shown me his heart. I had peered +into its depths, and it seemed an impossible thing +to tear the last hope from his broken life; to show +her in her true light to his horrified eyes; to tell +him she was not dead; that it was Honora Urquhart +who was dead; and that the woman he +mourned and beheld in his visions as a sanctified +spirit was not only living upon the fruits of a +crime, but triumphing in them; that, in short, he +had thrown away communion with men to brood +upon a demon.</p> + +<p>My feelings were so strong, my shrinking so +manifest, that he noticed them at last. Rising up, +he surveyed me with a growing apprehension.</p> + +<p>"How you look at me!" he cried. "It is not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +only pity for the past I see in your eyes, but fear +for the future. What is it? What can threaten +me now of importance enough to call up such an +expression to your face? Since Marah is dead—"</p> + +<p>"Wait!" I cried. "First let me ask if Marah is +dead." His face, which was turned toward me, grew +so pale I felt my own heart contract.</p> + +<p>"If—Marah—is—dead!" he gasped, growing huskier +with each intonation till the last word was almost +unintelligible.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I continued, ignoring his glance and talking +very rapidly; "her body was never found. You +have no proof that she perished. The letter that +she wrote you may have been a blind. Such things +have happened. Try and remember that such things +have happened."</p> + +<p>He did not seem to hear me. Turning away, he +looked about him with wide-open and questioning +eyes, like a child lost in a wood.</p> + +<p>"I cannot follow you," he murmured. "Marah +living?" His own words seemed to give him life. +He turned upon me again. "Do you know that she +is living?" he asked. "Is it this you have come to +tell me? If so, speak, speak! I can bear the news. +I have not lost all firmness. I—I—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> + +<p>He stopped and looked at me piteously. I saw +I must speak, and summoned up my courage.</p> + +<p>"Marah may not be living," I said, "but she did +not perish in the river. It would have been better +for you, though, and infinitely better for her +if she had. She only lived to do evil, Mr. Felt. +In bemoaning her you have wasted a noble manhood."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>The cry came suddenly, and rang through the +cavern like a knell. I could not bear it, and hurried +forward my revelation.</p> + +<p>"You tell me that you received a letter from +Mrs. Urquhart before she set sail for France. +Was it the only letter which she has ever sent +you? Have you never heard from her since?"</p> + +<p>"Never!" He looked at me almost in anger. +"I did not want to. I bade the postmaster to destroy +any letters which came for me. I had cut +myself loose from the world."</p> + +<p>"Have you that letter? Did you keep it?"</p> + +<p>"No; I gave it back to the men who opened it. +What was it to me?"</p> + +<p>"Mark Felt," I now asked, "did you know +Honora Dudleigh's writing?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course. Why should you question it? +Why—"</p> + +<p>"And was this letter in her writing? written by +her hand?"</p> + +<p>"Of course—of course; wasn't it signed with +her name?"</p> + +<p>"But the handwriting? Couldn't it have been +an imitation? Wasn't it one? Was it not written +by Marah, and not Honora? She was a clever +woman, and—"</p> + +<p>"Written by Marah? By Marah? Great heavens, +did she go with them, then? Were my +secret doubts right? Is she lost to me in eternity +as well as here? Is she living with him?"</p> + +<p>"She was living with him, and there is good +reason to believe she is doing so still. There is a +Mr. Urquhart in Paris, and a Mrs. Urquhart. As +Marah is the woman he loved, she must be this +latter."</p> + +<p>"Must be? I do not see why you should say +must be! Is Honora dead? Is—"</p> + +<p>"Honora is dead—has been dead for sixteen +years. The woman who sailed with Mr. Urquhart +called herself Honora, but she was not Honora. +She who rightfully bore this name was dead and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +hidden away. It is of crime that I am speaking. Edwin +Urquhart is a murderer, and his victim was—"</p> + +<p>It was not necessary to say more. In the suddenly +outstretched hand, with its open palm; in +the white face so drawn that his mother would not +have known it; in the gradual sinking and collapsing +of the whole body, I saw that I had driven +the truth home at last, and that silence now was +the only mercy left to show him.</p> + +<p>I was silent, therefore, and waited as we wait +beside a death bed for the final sigh of a departing +spirit. But life, and not death, was in the +soul of this man before me. Ere long he faintly +stirred, then a smothered moan left his lips, followed +by one word, and that word was the echo +of my own:</p> + +<p>"Murder."</p> + +<p>The sound it made seemed to awake whatever +energy of horror lay dormant within him. Bestirring +himself, he lifted his head and repeated +again that fearsome word:</p> + +<p>"Murder!"</p> + +<p>Then he leaped to his feet, and his aspect grew +terrible as he looked up and shouted, as it were, +into the heavens that same dread word:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Murder!"</p> + +<p>Filled with horror, I endeavored to take him by +the arm, but he shook me off, and cried in a terrible +voice:</p> + +<p>"A fiend, a demon, a creature of the darkest +hell! I have worshiped her, pardoned her, dreamed +of her for fifteen years in solitudes dedicated +to God! O Creator of all good! What sacrilege +I have committed! How shall I ever atone for a +manhood wasted on a dream, and for thoughts +that must have made the angels of Heaven veil +their faces in wonder and pity.</p> + +<p>"You must have a story to tell," he now said, +turning toward me, with the first look of natural +human curiosity which I had seen in his face since +I came.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said I, "I have; but it will not serve to +lessen your horror; it will only add to it."</p> + +<p>"Nothing can add to it," was his low reply. +"And yet I thank you for the warning."</p> + +<p>Encouraged by his manner, which had become +strangely self-possessed, I immediately began, and +told him of the visit of this bridal party at your +inn; then as I saw that he had judged himself +correctly, and that he was duly prepared for all I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +could reveal, I added first your suspicions, and +then a full account of our fatal discovery in the +secret chamber.</p> + +<p>He bore it like a man upon whom emotion has +spent all its force; only, when I had finished, he +gave one groan, and then, as if he feared I would +mistake the meaning of this evidence of suffering, +he made haste to exclaim:</p> + +<p>"Poor Honora! My heart owes her one cry of +pity, one tear of grief. I shall never weep for +any one else; though, if I could, it would be for +myself and the wasted years with which I have +mocked God's providence."</p> + +<p>Relieved to find him in this mood, I rose and +shook his hand cordially.</p> + +<p>"You will come back to Albany with me?" I +entreated. "We have need of you, and this spot +will never be a home to you again."</p> + +<p>"Never!"</p> + +<p>The echo was unexpected, but welcome. I led +the way out of the cave.</p> + +<p>"See! it is late," I urged.</p> + +<p>He shook his head and cast one prolonged look +around him.</p> + +<p>"What do I not leave behind me here? Love,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +grief, dreams. And to what do I go forward? +Can you tell me? Has the future in it anything +for a man like me?"</p> + +<p>"It has vengeance!"</p> + +<p>He gave a short cry.</p> + +<p>"In which she is involved. Talk to me not of +that! And yet," he presently added, "what it is +my duty to do, I shall do. It is all that is left to +me now. But I will do nothing for vengeance. +That would be to make a slave of myself again."</p> + +<p>I had no answer for this, and therefore gave +none. Instead I shouted to my guide, and after +receiving from him such refreshments as my weary +condition demanded, I gave notice that I was +ready to descend, and asked the recluse if he was +ready to accompany me.</p> + +<p>He signified an instant acquiescence, and before +the sun had quite finished its course in the west +we found ourselves at the foot of the mountains. +As civilization broke upon us Mr. Felt drew himself +up, and began to question me about the +changes which the revolution had made in our +noble country.</p> + +<div class='center'><big><b>. . . . . . . . .</b></big></div> + +<p>I will not weary you, my dear Mrs. Truax, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +the formalities which followed upon our return to +Albany. I will merely add that you may expect +a duly authorized person to come to you presently +for such testimony in this matter as it may be in +your power to give; after which a suitable person +will proceed to France with such papers as may +lead to the delivering up of these guilty persons +to the United States authorities; in which case +justice must follow, and your inn will be avenged +for the most hideous crime which has ever been +perpetrated within our borders.</p> + +<div class='right'> +<div style="margin-right: 4em;">Most respectfully,</div><br /> +<span class="smcap">Anthony Tamworth.</span><br /></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PART III.</h2> + +<h3>RETRIBUTION.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>STRANGE GUESTS.</h3> + + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">September 29, 1791.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Two excitements to-day. First, the appearance +at my doors of the person of whose coming I +was advised by Mr. Tamworth. He came in his +own carriage, and is a meager, hatchet-faced man, +whose eye makes me restless, but has not succeeded +in making me lose my self-possession. He +stayed three hours, all of which he made me +spend with him in the oak parlor, and when he +had finished with me and got my signature to a +long and complicated affidavit, I felt that I would +rather sell my house and flee the place than go +through such another experience. Happily it is +likely to be a long time before I shall be called +upon to do so. A voyage to France and back is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +no light matter; and what with complications +and delays, a year or more is likely to elapse before +the subject need be opened again in my hearing. +I thank God for this. For not only shall I +thus have the opportunity of regaining my equanimity, +which has been sorely shaken by these +late events, but I shall have the chance of adding +a few more dollars to my store, against the time +when scandal will be busy with this spot, and public +reprobation ruin its excellent character and +custom.</p> + +<p>The oak parlor I have shut and locked. It +will not be soon entered again by me.</p> + +<p>The other excitement to which I referred was +the coming of two new guests from New York, +elegant ladies, whose appearance and manners +quite overpowered me in the few minutes of conversation +I held with them when they first entered +my house.</p> + +<div class='center'><big><b>. . . . . . . . .</b></big></div> + +<p>Good God! what is that? I thought I felt +something brush my sleeve. Yet there is no one +near me, and nothing astir in the room! And +why should such a sudden vision of the old oak +parlor rise before my eyes? And why, if I must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +see it, should it be the room as it looked to me on +that night when the two Urquharts sat within it, +and not the room as I saw it to-day!</p> + +<p>Positively I must throw away the key of that +room; its very presence in my desk makes me the +victim of visions.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October 5, 1791.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Why is it that we promise ourselves certain +things, even swear that we will perform such and +such acts, and yet never keep our promises or hold +to our oaths? Sixteen years ago I expressed a +determination to refit the oak parlor and make it +look more attractive to the eye; I never did it. A +year since I declared in language as strong as I +knew how to employ, not that I would refit the +oak parlor, but that I would tear it from the house, +even at the cost of demolishing the whole structure.</p> + +<p>And now, only a week since, I promised myself, +as my diary will testify, that I would throw away +the key of this place, if only to rid myself of unpleasant +reminders. But the key is still with me, +and the room intact. I have neither the power +nor the inclination to touch it. The ghost of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +woman who perished there restrains me. Why? +Because we are not done with that room. The +end of its story is not yet. This I feel; and I feel +something further; I feel that it will be entered +soon, and that the person who is to enter it is already +in my house.</p> + +<p>I have spoken of two ladies—God knows with +but little realization of the fatal interest they +would soon possess for me. They came without +servants some four days ago, and saying they +wished to remain for a short time in this beautiful +spot, at once accepted the cheerful south room +which I reserve for such guests as these. As they +are very handsome and distinguished-looking, I +felt highly gratified at their patronage, and was +settling down to a state of complacency over +the prospects of a profitable week, when something, +I cannot tell what, roused in me a spirit of +suspicion, and I began to notice that the elder lady +was of a very uneasy disposition, exhibiting a +proneness to wander about the house and glide +through its passages, especially those on the +ground floor, which at first made me question her +sanity, and then led me to wonder if through some +means unknown to me she had not received a hint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +as to our secret chamber. I watch, but cannot yet +make out. Meanwhile a description of these women +may not come amiss.</p> + +<p>They are both beautiful, the younger especially. +When I first saw them seated in my humble parlor, +I thought them the wife and daughter of one +of our great generals, they looked so handsome +and carried themselves so proudly. But I was +presently undeceived, for the name they gave was +a foreign one, which my English tongue finds it +very hard even yet to pronounce. It is written +Letellier, with a simple Madame before it for the +mother, and Mademoiselle for the daughter, but +how to speak it—well, that is a small matter. I do +speak it and they never smile, though the daughter's +eye lights up at times with a spark of what I +should call mirth, if her lips were not so grave and +her brow so troubled.</p> + +<p>Yes; troubled is the word, though she is so +young. I find it difficult to regard her in any +other light than that of a child. Though she +endeavors to appear indifferent and has a way of +carrying herself that is almost noble, there is certainly +grief in her eye and care on her brow. I +see it when she is alone, or rather before she be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>comes +aware of another's presence; I see it when +she is with her mother; but when strangers come +in or she assembles with the rest of the household +in the parlor or at the table, then it vanishes, and +a sweet charm comes that reminds me—</p> + +<p>But this is folly, sheer folly. How could she +look like Mrs. Urquhart? Imagination carries +me too far. Equal innocence and a like gentle +temper have produced a like result in sweetening +the expression. That is all, and yet I remember +the one woman when I look at the other, and +shudder; for the woman who calls this child +daughter has her eye on the oak parlor, and may +meditate evil—must, if she knows its secret and +yet wishes to enter it. But my imagination is +carrying me too far again. This woman, whatever +her faults, loves her daughter, and where +love is there cannot be danger. Yet I shudder.</p> + +<p>Madame Letellier merits the description of an +abler pen than mine. I like her, and I hate her. +I admire her, and I fear her. I obey her, and yet +hold myself in readiness for rebellion, if only to +prove to myself that I will be strong when the +time comes; that no influence, however exerted, +or however hidden under winning smiles or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +quietly controlling glances, shall have power to +move me from what I may consider my duty, or +from the exercise of such vigilance as my secret +fears seem to demand. I hate her; let me remember +that. And I distrust her. She is here +for evil, and her eye is on the oak parlor. Though +it is locked and the key hidden on my person, she +will find means to possess herself of that key +and open that door. How? We will see. Meantime +all this is not a description of Madame Letellier.</p> + +<p>She is finely formed; she is graceful; she is +youthful. She dresses with a taste that must +always make her conspicuous wherever she may +be. You could not enter a room in which she +was without seeing her, for her glance has a +strange power that irresistibly draws your glance +to it, though her eyes are lambent rather than +brilliant, and if large, rarely opened to their full +extent. Her complexion is dark; that is, in comparison +with her daughter's, which is of a marble-like +purity. But it has strange flushes in it, and +at times seems almost to sparkle. Her hair is +brown, and worn high, with a great comb in it, +setting off the contour of her face, which is almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +perfect. But it is in the expression of her mouth +that her fascination lies. Without sweetness, +except when it smiles upon her daughter, without +mirth, without any expression speaking of good-will +or tenderness, there is yet a turn to the lips +that moves the gazer peculiarly, making it dangerous +to watch her long unless you are hardened +by doubts, as I am. Her hands are exquisite, and +her form beauty itself.</p> + +<p>The daughter is statuesque; not in the sense of +coldness or immobility, but in the regularity of +her features and the absence of any coloring in +her cheeks. She is lovely, and there breathes +through every trait a gentle soul that robs my admiration +of all awe and makes my old and empty +heart long to serve her. Her eyes are gray and +her hair a reddish brown, with kinks and curls in +it like— But, pshaw! there comes that dream +again! Was Honora Urquhart's hair so very +unique that a head of wavy brown hair should +bring her up so startlingly to my mind?</p> + +<p>They are stopping here on their way to Albany—so +the elder lady says. They came from New +York. So they did, but if my intuitions are not +greatly at fault, the place they started from was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +France. The fact that the marks and labels have +all been effaced from their baggage is suspicious in +itself. Can they be friends of the two miserable +wretches who dishonored my house with a ghastly +crime? Is it from them that madame's knowledge +comes, if she has any knowledge? The thought +awakens my profoundest distrust. Would that +Mr. Tamworth were within reach! I think I will +write him. But what could I write that would +not look foolish on paper? I had better wait +a while till I see something or hear something +more definite.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>MRS. TRUAX TALKS.</h3> + + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October</span> 7, 1791.<br /> +</div> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/gs15.png" width="400" height="435" alt="T" title="T" /> +</div> +<div class='unindent'>HIS morning I was exceedingly +startled by one of +my guests suddenly asking +me before several of +the others, if my inn had +a ghost.</div> + +<p>"A ghost!" I cried, for +the moment quite aghast.</p> + +<p>"Yes," was the reply; "it has the look of a +house which could boast of such a luxury. Don't +you think so, Mr. Westgate?"</p> + +<p>This is a newcomer who had just been introduced.</p> + +<p>"Well," observed the latter, "as I have seen +only this room, and as this room is anything but +ghostlike at the present moment, I hardly consider +myself competent to judge."</p> + +<p>"But the exterior! Surely you noticed the exterior. +Such a rambling old structure; such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +beetling top to it, as if it had settled down here +to brood over a mysterious past. I never see it, +especially at twilight, that I don't wonder what +lies so heavily upon its conscience. Is it a crime? +There would be nothing strange about it if it was. +Such old houses rarely have a clean past."</p> + +<p>It was nonchalantly said, but it sank deep into +my heart. Not that I felt that he had any motive +in saying it—I knew the young scapegrace too +well—but that I was conscious from his first word +of two eyes burning on my face, which robbed me +of all self-possession, though I think I sat without +movement, and only paled the slightest in the +world.</p> + +<p>"A house that dates back to a time when the +white men and the red fought every inch of the +territory on which it stands would be an anomaly +if it did not have some drops of blood upon it," I +ventured to say, as soon as I could command my +emotions.</p> + +<p>"True," broke in a low, slow voice—that of Madame +Letellier. "Do you know of any especial +tragedy that makes the house memorable?"</p> + +<p>I turned and gave her a look before replying. +She was seated in the shadows of a remote corner,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +and had so withdrawn herself behind her daughter +that I could see nothing of her face. But her +hands were visible, and from the force with which +she held them clasped in her lap I perceived that +the subject we were discussing possessed a greater +interest for her than for any one else in the room. +"She has heard something of the tragedy connected +with this house," was my inward comment, +as I prepared to answer her.</p> + +<p>"There is one," I began, and paused. Something +of the instinct of the cat with the mouse had +entered into me. I felt like playing with her suspense, +cruel as it may seem.</p> + +<p>"Oh, tell us!" broke in the daughter, a sudden +flush of interest suffusing for a moment her white +cheek. "That is, if it is not too horrible. I never +like horrible stories; they frighten me. And as +for a ghost—if I thought you kept such a creature +about your house, I should leave it at once."</p> + +<p>"We have no ghosts," I answered, with a gravity +that struck even myself unpleasantly, it was in +such contrast to her mellow and playful tones. +"Ghosts are commonplace. We countenance +nothing commonplace here."</p> + +<p>"Good!" broke in a voice from the crowd of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +young men. "The house is above such follies. It +must have some wonderful secret, then. What is +it, Mrs. Truax? Do you own a banshee? Have +you a—"</p> + +<p>"Mamma, you hurt me!"</p> + +<p>The cry was involuntary. Madame had caught +her daughter by the hand and was probably unaware +what passion she had put into her clasp. +Mademoiselle Letellier blushed again at the sound +of her own voice, and prayed her mother's pardon +with the most engaging of smiles. As she did so, +I caught a glimpse of that mother's face. It was +white as death. "Decidedly, she knows more than +she ought to," thought I. "And yet she wants to +know more. Why?"</p> + +<p>"The Happy-Go-Lucky Inn," I observed, as +soon as the flutter caused by this incident had +subsided, "is no more haunted by a banshee than +by a ghost. But that is not saying it should not +be. It is old enough, it is respectable enough; it +has traditions enough. I could tell you tales of +its owners, and incidents connected with the coming +and going of the innumerable guests who have +frequented it both before and during the revolution, +that would keep you here till morning. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +the one story I will tell must suffice. We should +lose our character of mystery if I told you all. +Besides, how could I tell all? Who could ever tell +the complete story of such a house as this?"</p> + +<p>"Hear! hear!" cried another young man.</p> + +<p>"Years ago—" I stopped again, wickedly stopped. +"Madame, will you not come forward where +it is lighter?"</p> + +<p>"I thank you," Madame Letellier responded.</p> + +<p>She rose deliberately and came forward, tall, +mute and commanding. She sat down in the light; +she looked me in the face; she robbed me even of +my doubts. I felt my heart turn over in my breast +and wondered.</p> + +<p>"You do not proceed," she murmured.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," said I; and assuming a nonchalance +I was far from feeling, I commenced again. +I had played with her fears. I would play with +them further. I would see how much she could +bear. I resumed:</p> + +<p>"Years ago, when I was younger and had been +mistress of this place but a short time, there entered +this place one evening, at nightfall, a young +couple. Did you speak, madame? Excuse me, +it was your daughter, then?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," chimed in the latter, coming forward +and taking her stand by the mother, greatly to the +delight of the young gentlemen present, who asked +for nothing better than an opportunity to gaze +upon her modest but exquisite face. "Yes; it was +I. I am interested, that is all."</p> + +<p>I began to hate my role, but went on stolidly.</p> + +<p>"They were a handsome pair, and I felt an interest +in them at once. But this interest immeasurably +heightened when the young man, almost +before the door had closed upon them, drew me +apart and said: 'Madame, we are an unhappy +couple. We have been married just four +hours.'"</p> + +<p>Here I paused for breath, and to take a good +look at madame.</p> + +<p>She was fixed as a stone, but her eyes were +burning. Evidently she expected the relation of +a story which she knew. I would disappoint her. +I would cause in her first a shock of relief, and +then I would reawaken her fears and probe her +very soul. Slowly, and as if it were a matter of +course, I proceeded to say:</p> + +<p>"It was a run-away match, and as the young +husband remarked, 'a great disappointment to my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +wife's father, who is an English general and a great +man. My wife loves me, and will never allow +herself to be torn from me; but she is not of age, +and her father is but a few minutes' ride behind +us. Will you let us come in? We dare not risk +the encounter on the road; he would shoot me +down like a dog, and that would kill my young +wife. If we see him here, he may take pity on +our love, and—'</p> + +<p>"He needed to say no more. My own compassion +had been excited, as much by her countenance +as by his words, and I threw open the +doors of this very room.</p> + +<p>"'Go in,' said I, 'I have a woman's heart, and +cannot bear to see young people in distress. +When the general comes—'</p> + +<p>"'We shall hear him,' cried the girl; 'he has +half a dozen horsemen with him. We saw them +when we were on the brow of the hill.'</p> + +<p>"'Take comfort, then,' I cried, as I closed the +door, and went to see after the solitary horse +which had brought them to this place.</p> + +<p>"But before I could provide the meal with +which I meant to strengthen them for the scene +that must presently ensue, I heard the antici<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>pated +clattering of hoofs, and simultaneously with +it, the unclosing of this door and the cry of the +young wife to her husband:</p> + +<p>"'I cannot bear it. At his first words I should +fall in a faint; and how could I resist him then? +No; let me fly; let me hide myself; and when +he comes in, swear that you are here alone; that +you brought no bride; that she left you at the +altar—anything to baffle his rage and give us +time.' And the young thing sprang out before +me, and lifting her hands, prayed with great +wide-open eyes that I would assist the lie, and +swear to her father, when he came in, that her +husband had ridden up alone.</p> + +<p>"I was not as old then as I am now, I say, +and I was very tender toward youthful lovers. +Though I thought the scheme a wild one and +totally impracticable, she so governed me by her +looks and tones that I promised to do what she +asked, saying, however, that if she hid herself +she must do it well, for if she were found my +reputation for reliability would be ruined. And +standing there where you see that jog in the +wall, she promised, and giving just one look of +love to her companion, who stood white but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +firm on the threshold, she sped from our sight +down the hall.</p> + +<p>"A moment later the general's foot was where +hers had been, and the general's voice was filling +the house, asking for his daughter.</p> + +<p>"'She is not here,' came from the young man +in firm and stern accents. 'You have been +pleased to think she was with me all these miles, +but you will not find her. You can search if you +please. I have nothing to say against that. But +it will be time wasted.'</p> + +<p>"'We will see about that. The girl is here, is +she not?' the father asked, turning to me.</p> + +<p>"'No,' was my firm reply; 'she is not.'</p> + +<p>"I do not know how I managed the lie, but I +did. Something in the young man's aspect had +nerved me. I began to think she would not be +found, though I could see no good reason for this +conclusion.</p> + +<p>"'Scatter!' he now shouted to his followers. +'Search the house well. Do not leave a nook or +cranny unpenetrated. I am not General B—— for +nothing.' And turning to me, he added: 'You +have brought this on yourself by a lie. I saw my +daughter in this fellow's arms as they passed over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +the ridge of the hill. She is here, and in half an +hour will be in my hands.'</p> + +<p>"But the clock on the staircase struck not only +the half hour, but the hour, and yet, though every +room and corridor, the cellar and the garret, were +searched, no token was found of the young wife's +presence. Meanwhile the husband stood like a +statue on the threshold, waiting with what seemed +to me a strange certitude for the return of the +father from his fruitless search.</p> + +<p>"'Has she escaped from one of the windows?' +I asked, moved myself to a strange curiosity.</p> + +<p>"He looked at me, but made no reply.</p> + +<p>"'It is dark; it is late. If the general chooses +to remain here to-night—'</p> + +<p>"'He will not find her,' was the reply.</p> + +<p>"I was frightened—I know not why, but I was +frightened. The young man had a supernatural air. +I began to think of demon lovers, and was glad when +the general finally appeared, storming and raving.</p> + +<p>"'It is a conspiracy!' was his cry. 'You are +all in league to deceive me. Where is my daughter, +Mrs. Truax? I ask you because you have a +character to lose.'</p> + +<p>"'It is impossible for me to tell you,' was my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +reply. 'If she was to be found in my house, you +must have found her. As you have not, there is +but one conclusion to draw. She is not within +these walls.'</p> + +<p>"'She is not outside of them. I set a watch +in the beginning, at the four corners of the house. +None of my men have seen so much as a flutter +of her dress. She is here, I say, and I ask you to +give her up.'</p> + +<p>"'This I am perfectly willing to do,' I rejoined, +'but I do not know where to find her. Let that +but once be done, and I shall not stand in the way +of your rights.'</p> + +<p>"'Very well,' he cried. 'I will not search further +to-night; but to-morrow—' A meaning gesture finished +his sentence; he turned to the young man. +'As for you,' he cried, 'you will remain here. Unpleasant +as it may be for us both, we will keep +each other's company till morning. I do not insist +upon conversation.' And without waiting for +a reply, the sturdy old soldier took up his station +in the doorway, by which action he not only shut +the young man in, but gave himself a position of +vantage from which he could survey the main hall +and the most prominent passages.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The rest were under charge of his followers, +whom he had stationed all through the house, +just as if it were in a state of siege. One guarded +the east door and another the west, and on each +landing of the staircase a sentinel stood, silent but +alert, like a pair of living statues.</p> + +<p>"I did not sleep that night; the mystery of the +whole affair would have kept me awake even if my +indignation had let me rest. I sat in the kitchen +with my girls, and when the morning came, I joined +the general again with offers of a breakfast.</p> + +<p>"But he would eat nothing till he had gone +through the house again; nor would he, in fact, +eat here at all; for his second search ended as +vainly as his first, and he was by this time so +wroth, not only at the failure to recover his child, +but at the loss which his dignity had suffered by +this failure, that he had no sooner reached this +spot, and found the young husband still standing +where he had left him, than with a smothered execration, +leveled not only at him, but the whole +house, he strode out through the doorway, and +finding his horse ready saddled in front, mounted +and rode away, followed by all his troop.</p> + +<p>"And now comes the strangest part of the tale.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He was no sooner gone, and the dust from his +horse's hoofs lost in the distance, than I turned to +the young husband, and cried:</p> + +<p>"'And now where is she? Let us have her here +at once. She must be hungry, and she must be +cold. Bring her, my good sir.'</p> + +<p>"'I do not know where she is. We must be +patient. She will return herself as soon as she +thinks it safe.'</p> + +<p>"I could not believe my ears.</p> + +<p>"'You do not know where she is?' I repeated. +'How could you be so self-possessed through all +these hours and all this maddened searching if you +did not know she was safe?'</p> + +<p>"'I did know she was safe. She swore to me +before she set foot on your doorstep that she could +so hide herself in these walls that no one could +ever find her till she chose to reveal herself; and +I believed her, and felt secure.'</p> + +<p>"I did not know what to say.</p> + +<p>"'But she is a stranger,' I murmured. 'What +does she know about my house?'</p> + +<p>"'She is a stranger to you,' he retorted, 'but +she may not be a stranger to the house. How +long have you lived here?'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I could not say long. It was at the most but +a year; so I merely shook my head, but I felt +strangely nonplussed.</p> + +<p>"This feeling, however, soon gave way to one +much more serious as the moments fled by and +presently the hours, and she did not come. We +tried to curb our impatience, tried to believe that +her delay was only owing to extra caution; but as +morning waxed to noon, alarm took the place of +satisfaction in our breasts, and we began to search +the house ourselves, calling her name up and +down the halls and through the empty rooms, till +it seemed as if the very walls must open and reveal +us the being so frantically desired.</p> + +<p>"'She is not in the house,' I now asserted to +the almost frenzied bridegroom. 'Our lies have +come back upon our heads, and it is in the river +we must look for her.'</p> + +<p>"But he would not agree with me in this, and +repeated again and again: 'She said she would +hide here. She would not deceive me, nor would +she have sought death alone. Leave me to look +for her another hour. I must, I can, I will find her +yet!'</p> + +<p>"But he never did. After that last fond look<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +with which she turned down that very hall you +see before you, we saw her no more; and if my +house owns no ghost and never echoes to the +sound of a banshee's warning, it is not because it +does not own a mystery which is certainly thrilling +enough to give us either."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried out several voices, as I ceased, "is +that all? And what became of the poor bridegroom? +And did the father ever come back? And +haven't you ever really found out where the poor +thing went to? And do you think she died?"</p> + +<p>For reply I rose. I had never taken my eye +off madame, and the strain upon us both had +been terrible; but I let my glance wander now, +and smiling genially into the eager faces which +had crowded around me, I remarked:</p> + +<p>"I never spoil a good story by too many explanations. +You have heard all you will from +me to-night. So do not question me further. +Am I not right, madame?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly," came in her even tones. "And I +am sure we are all very much obliged to you."</p> + +<p>I bowed and slipped away into the background. +I was worn out.</p> + +<p>An hour later I was passing through the hall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +above on my way to my own room. As I passed +madame's door, I saw it open, and before I had +taken three steps away I felt her soft hand on my +arm.</p> + +<p>"Your pardon, Mrs. Truax," were her words; +"but my daughter has been peculiarly affected by +the story you related to us below. She says it is +worse than any ghost story, and that she cannot +rid herself of the picture of the young wife flitting +out of sight down the hall. I am really +afraid it has produced a very bad effect upon her, +and that she will not sleep. Is it—was it a true +story, Mrs. Truax, or were you merely weaving +fancies out of a too fertile brain?"</p> + +<p>I smiled, for she was smiling, and shook my +head, looking directly into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Your daughter need not lose her sleep," I said, +"on account of any story of mine. I saw they +wanted something blood-curdling, so I made up +a tale to please them. It was all imagination, +madame; all imagination. I should not have told +it if it had been otherwise. I think too much of +my house."</p> + +<p>"And you had nothing to found it upon? Just +drew upon your fancy?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> + +<p>I smiled. Her light tone did not deceive me as +to the anxiety underlying all this; but it was not +in my plan to betray my powers of penetration. +I preferred that she should think me her +dupe.</p> + +<p>"Oh," I returned, as ingenuously as if I had +never had a suspicious thought, "I do not find it +difficult to weave a tale. Of course such a story +could not be true. Why, I should be afraid to stay +in the inn myself if it were. I could never abide +anything mysterious. Everything with me must +be as open as the day."</p> + +<p>"And with me," she laughed; but there was a +false note in her mirth, though I did not appear +to notice it. "I did not suppose the story was +real, but I thought you must have some old +tradition to found it upon; some old wife's tale +or some secret history which is a part and parcel +of the house, and came to you with it."</p> + +<p>But I shook my head, still smiling, and answered, +quite at my ease:</p> + +<p>"No old wife's tale that I have ever heard +amounts to much. I can make up a better story +any day than those which come down with a house +like this. It was all the work of my imagination,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +I assure you. I tried to please them, and I hope +I did it."</p> + +<p>Her face changed at once. It was as if a black +veil had been drawn away from it.</p> + +<p>"My daughter will be so relieved," she affirmed. +"I don't mind such lugubrious tales myself, +but she is young and sensitive, and so tender-hearted. +I am sure I thank you, Mrs. Truax, for +your consideration, and beg leave to wish you a +good-night."</p> + +<p>I returned her civility, and we passed into our +several rooms. Would I could know with what +thoughts, for my own were as much a mystery to +me as were hers.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October</span> 9, 1791.<br /> +</div> + +<p>Madame never addresses her daughter by her +first name. Consequently we do not know it. +This is a matter of surprise to the whole house, +and many are the conjectures uttered by the +young men as to what it can be. I have no +especial curiosity about it—I would much rather +know the mother's, and yet I frequently wonder; +for it seems unnatural for a mother always to address +her child as mademoiselle. Is she her mo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>ther? +I sometimes think she is not. If the interest +in the oak parlor is what I think it is, then she +cannot be, for what mother would wish to bring +peril to her child? And peril lies at the bottom +of all interest there; peril to the helpless, the +trusting and the ignorant. But is she as interested +there as I thought her? I have observed nothing +lately to assure me of it. Perhaps, after all, +I have been mistaken.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE HALLS AT MIDNIGHT.</h3> + + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October</span> 10, 1791.<br /> +</div> + +<p>I was not mistaken. Madame is not only interested +in, but has serious designs upon the oak parlor. +Not content with roaming up and down the +hallway leading to it, she was detected yesterday +morning trying to open its door, and when politely +questioned as to whom she was seeking, answered +that she was looking for the sitting room, +which, by the way, is on the other side of the +house. And this is not all. As I lay in my bed +last night resting as only a weary woman can rest, +I heard a light tap at my door. Rising, I opened +it, and was astonished to see standing before me +the light figure of mademoiselle.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me for troubling you," said she, in her +pure English—they both speak good English, +though with a foreign accent—"I am sorry to +wake you, but I am so anxious about my mother. +She went to bed with me, and we fell asleep; but +when I woke a little while ago she was missing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +and though I have waited for her a long time, she +does not return. I am not well, and easily frightened! +Oh, how cold it is."</p> + +<p>I drew her in, wrapped a shawl about her, and +led her back to her room.</p> + +<p>"Your mother will return speedily," I promised. +"Doubtless she felt restless, and is taking a turn +or two up and down the hall."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps; for her dressing gown and slippers +are gone. But she never did anything like this +before, and in a strange house—"</p> + +<p>A slight trembling stopped the young lady from +continuing.</p> + +<p>Urging her to get into bed, I spoke one or two +further words of a comforting nature, at which +the lovely girl seemed to forget her pride, for she +threw her arms about my neck with a low sigh, +and then, pushing me softly from her, observed:</p> + +<p>"You are a kind woman; you make me feel +happier whenever you speak to me."</p> + +<p>Touched, I made some loving reply, and withdrew. +I longed to linger, longed to tell her how +truly I was her friend; but I feared the mother's +return—feared to miss the knowledge of madame's +whereabouts, which my secret suspicion made im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>portant; +so I subdued my feelings and hastened +quickly to my room, where I wrapped myself in +a long, dark cloak. Thus equipped, I stole back +again to the hall, and gliding with as noiseless a +step as possible, found my way to the back stairs, +down which I crept, holding my breath, and listening +intently.</p> + +<p>To many who read these words the situation of +those back stairs is well known; but there may be +others who will not understand that they lead +directly, after a couple of turns, to that hall upon +which opens the oak parlor. Five steps from the +lower floor there is a landing, and upon this landing +there is a tall Dutch clock, so placed as to offer +a very good hiding place behind it to any one +anxious to gaze unobserved down the hall. But +to reach the clock one has to pass a window, and +as this looks south, and was upon this night open +to the moonlight, I felt that the situation demanded +circumspection.</p> + +<p>I, therefore, paused when I reached the last +step above the platform, and listened intently before +proceeding further. There was no noise; +all was quiet, as a respectable house should be at +two o'clock in the morning. Yet from the hall be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>low +came an undefinable something which made +me feel that she was there; a breathing influence +that woke every nervous sensibility within me, +and made my heart-beats so irregular that I tried +to stop them lest my own presence should be betrayed. +She was there, a creeping, baleful figure, +blotting the moonshine with her tall shadow, as +she passed, panther-like, to and fro before that +closed door, or crouched against the wall in the +same attitude of listening which I myself assumed. +Or so I pictured her as I clung to the balustrade +above, asking myself how I could cross that strip +of moonlight separating me from that vantage-point +I longed to gain. For that I knew her to +be there was not enough. I must see her, and +learn, if possible, what the attraction was which +drew her to this fatal door. But how, how, how? +If she were watching, as secrecy ever watches, I +could not take a step upon that platform without +being discerned. Not even if a friendly cloud +came to obscure the brightness of the moon, could +I hope to project my dark figure into that belt +of light without discovery. I must see what was +to be seen from the step where I stood, and to do +this I knew but one way. Taking up the end of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +long cloak, I advanced it the merest trifle beyond +the edge of the partition that separated me from +the hall below. Then I listened again. No sound, +no stir. I breathed deeply and thrust my arm +still further, the long cloak hanging from it dark +and impenetrable to the floor below. Then I +waited. The moonlight was not quite as bright +as it had been; surely that was a cloud I saw +careering over the face of the sky above me, and +in another moment, if I could wait for it, the hall +would be almost dark. I let my arm advance an +inch or so further, and satisfied now that I had +got the slit which answers for an arm-hole into a +position that would afford me full opportunity +of looking through the black wall I had thus improvised, +I watched the cloud for the moment of +comparative darkness which I so confidently expected. +It came, and with it a sound—the first I +had heard. It was from far down the hall, and +was, as near as I could judge, of a jingling nature, +which for an instant I found it hard to understand. +Then the quick suspicion came as to what it was, +and unable to restrain myself longer I separated +the slit I have spoken of with the fingers of my +right hand, and looked through.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> + +<p>There she was, standing before the door of the +oak parlor, fitting keys. I knew it at my first +glimpse, both from her attitude and the slight +noise which the keys made. Taken aback, for I +had not expected this, I sank out of sight, cloak +and all, asking myself what I should do. I finally +decided to do nothing. I would listen, and if the +least intimation came to prove that she had succeeded +in her endeavor, I would then spring down +the steps that separated us and hold her back by +the hair of her head. Meanwhile I congratulated +myself that the lock of that room was a peculiar +one, and that the only key I knew of that would +unlock it was under the pillow of the bed I had +just left.</p> + +<p>She worked several minutes; then the moon +came out. Instantly all was still. I knew whither +she had gone. Near the door she was tampering +with is a short passageway leading to another +window. Into this she had slipped, and I could +look out now with impunity, sure that she would +not see me.</p> + +<p>But I remained immovable. There was another +cloud rushing up from the south, and in another +moment I was confident that I should hear again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +the slight clatter of the key against the lock. +And I did, and not only once, but several times, +which fact assured me that she had not only +brought a handful of keys with her, but that +these keys must have come from some more distant +quarter than the town; that indeed she had come +provided to the Happy-Go-Lucky for this nocturnal +visit, and that any doubts I might cherish +were likely to have a better foundation in fact than +is usual with women circumstanced like myself.</p> + +<p>She did not succeed in her efforts. Had she +brought burglar's tools I hardly think she would +have been able to open that lock; as it was, there +was no hope for her, and presently she seemed to +comprehend this, for the slight sounds ceased and, +presently, I heard a step, and peering recklessly +from my corner, I perceived her gliding away toward +the front stairs. I smiled, but it could not +have been in a way she would have enjoyed seeing, +and crept noiselessly to my own room, and +our doors closed simultaneously.</p> + +<p>This morning I watched with some anxiety for +her first look. It was slightly inquiring. Summoning +up my best smile, I gave her a cheerful +good-morning, and then observed:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am glad to see you look so well this morning! +Your daughter seemed to be concerned about you +in the night because you had left your bed. But +I told her I was sure all was right, that you were +feeling nervous, and only wanted a breath of the +fresh air you would find in the halls." And my +glance did not flinch, nor my mouth lose its smile, +though she surveyed me keenly with eyes whose +look might penetrate a stone.</p> + +<p>"You understand your own sex," was her light +reply, after this short study of my face. "Yes; I +was very nervous. I have cares on my mind, and, +though my daughter does not realize it, I often +lie awake at her side, longing for space to breathe +in and freedom to move as freely as my uneasiness +demands. Last night my feelings were too much +for my self-control, and I arose. I hope I did not +seriously disturb you, or awaken anybody, with +my restless pacing up and down the hall."</p> + +<p>I assured her that it took more than this to disturb +me, and that after quieting her daughter I +had immediately fallen asleep; all of which she +may have believed or may not; I had no means +of reading her mind, as she had no means of reading +mine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> + +<p>But whether she was deceived or whether she +was not, she certainly looked relieved, and after +some short remarks about the weather, turned +from me with the most cheerful air in the world, +to greet her daughter.</p> + +<p>As for me, I have made up my mind to change +my room. I shall not say anything about it or +make any fuss on the subject, but to-night, and for +some nights to come, I intend to take up my abode +in a certain small room in the west wing, +not very far removed from the dreadful oak +parlor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>THE STONE IN THE GARDEN.</h3> + + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October 11, 1791.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>This morning the post brought two letters for +my strange guests. Being anxious to see how +they would be received, I carried them up to +Madame Letellier's room myself.</p> + +<p>The ladies were sitting together, the daughter +embroidering. At the sight of the letters in my +hand they both rose, the daughter reaching me first.</p> + +<p>"Let me have them!" she cried, a glad, bright +color showing for a moment on her cheek.</p> + +<p>"From your father?" asked the mother, in a +tone of nonchalance that did not deceive me.</p> + +<p>The girl shook her head. A smile as exquisite +as it was sad made her mouth beautiful. +"From—" she began, but stopped, whether from +an instinct of maidenly shame or some secret signal +from her mother, I cannot say.</p> + +<p>"Well, never mind," the mother exclaimed, and +turned away toward the window in a manner that +gave me my dismissal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + +<p>So I went out, having learned nothing, save the +fact that mademoiselle had a lover, and that her +lips could smile.</p> + +<p>They did not smile again, however. Next day +she looked whiter than ever, and languid as a +broken blossom.</p> + +<p>"She is ill," declared madame. "The stairs +she has to climb are too much for her."</p> + +<p>"Ah, ha!" thought I to myself. "That is the +first move," and waited for the next development.</p> + +<p>It has not come as soon as I expected. Two +days have passed, and though Mademoiselle Letellier +grows paler and thinner, nothing more has +been said about the stairs. But the time has not +passed without its incident, and a serious enough +one, too, if these women are, as I fear, in the secret +of the hidden chamber.</p> + +<p>It is this: In the garden is a white stone. It is +plain-finished but unlettered. It marks the resting-place +of Honora Urquhart. For reasons which +we all thought good, we have taken no uninterested +person into the secret of this grave, +any more than we have into that of the hidden +chamber.</p> + +<p>Consequently no one in the house but myself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +could answer Madame Letellier, when, stopping +in her short walk up and down the garden path, +she asked what the white stone meant and what +it marked. I would not answer her. I had seen +from the window where I stood the quick surprise +with which she had come to a standstill at +the sight of this stone, and I had caught the tremble +in her usually steady voice as she made the +inquiry I have mentioned above. I therefore hastened +down and joined her before she had left the +spot.</p> + +<p>"You are wondering what this stone means," I +observed, with an indifferent tone calculated to +set her at her ease. Then suddenly, and with a +changed voice and a secret look into her face, I added: +"It is a headstone; a dead body lies here."</p> + +<p>She quivered, and her lids fell. For all her +self-possession—and she is the most self-possessed +person I ever saw in my life—she showed a change +that gave me new thoughts and made me summon +up all the strength I am mistress of, in order +to preserve the composure which her agitation +had so deeply shaken.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs16.jpg" width="500" height="358" alt="Madame Letellier stopping in her short walk" title="Madame Letellier stopping in her short walk" /> +</div> + +<p>"You shock me," were her first words, uttered +very slowly, and with a transparent show of in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>difference. +"It is not usual to find a garden used +for a burial place. May I ask whose body lies +here? That of some faithful black or of a favorite +horse?"</p> + +<p>"It is not that of a horse," I returned, calmly. +And greatly pleased to find that I had placed her +in a position where she would be obliged to press +the question if she would learn anything more, +I walked slowly on, convinced that she would +follow me.</p> + +<p>She did, giving me short side glances, which I +bore with an equanimity that much belied the +tempest of doubt, repugnance and horror that +were struggling blindly in my breast. But she +did not renew the subject of the grave. Instead +of that, she opened one of her most fascinating +conversations, endeavoring by her wiles and +graces to get at my confidence and insure my +good will.</p> + +<p>And I was hypocrite enough to deceive her +into thinking she had done so. Though I showed +her no great warmth, I carefully restrained myself +from betraying my real feelings, allowing her +to talk on, and giving her now and then an encouraging +word or an inviting smile.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> + +<p>For I felt that she was a serpent and must be +met as such. If she were the woman I thought +her, I should gain nothing and lose all by betraying +my distrust, while if she felt me to be her dupe +I might yet light upon the secret of her interest in +the oak parlor.</p> + +<p>Her daughter was waiting for us in the doorway +when we reached the house. At the sight of her +pure face, with its tender gray eyes and faultless +features, a strong revulsion seized me, and I found +it difficult not to raise my arms in protest between +her beauty and winning womanliness and the subtile +and treacherous-hearted being who glided so +smoothly toward her. But the movement, had I +made it, would have been in vain. At the sight of +each other's faces a lovely smile arose on the +daughter's lips, while on the mother's flashed a +look of love which would be unmistakable even +on the countenance of a tiger, and which was at +this moment so vivid and so real that I never +doubted again, if I had ever doubted before, +that mademoiselle was her own child—flesh of +her flesh, and bone of her bone.</p> + +<p>"Ah, mamma," cried one soft voice, "I have +been so lonesome!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Darling," returned the other, in tones as true +and caressing, "I will not leave you again, even +for a walk, till you are quite well." And taking +her by the waist, she led her down the hall toward +the stairs, looking back at me as she did so, +and saying: "I cannot take her to Albany until +she is better. You must think what we can do to +make her strong again, Mrs. Truax." And she +sighed as she looked up the short flight of stairs +her daughter had to climb.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October</span> 15, 1791.<br /> +</div> + +<p>That stone in the garden seems to possess a +magnetic attraction for madame. She is over it +or near it half the time. If I go out in the early +morning to gather grapes for dinner, there she is +before me, pacing up and down the paths converging +to that spot, and gazing with eager eyes at +that simple stone, as if by the force of her will she +would extract its secret and make it tell her what +she evidently burns to know. If I want flowers +for the parlor mantel, and hurry into the garden +during the heat of the day, there is madame with +a huge hat on her head, plucking asters or pulling +down apples from the low-hanging branches of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +the trees. It is the same at nightfall. Suspicious, +always suspicious now, I frequently stop, in passing +through the upper western hall, to take a peep +from the one window that overlooks this part +of the garden. I invariably see her there; and +remembering that her daughter is ill, remembering +that in my hearing she promised that daughter +that she would not leave her again, I feel impelled +at times to remind her of the fact, and see what reply +will follow. But I know. She will say that +she is not well herself; that the breeze from the +river does her good; that she loves nature, and +sleeps better after a ramble under the stars. I +cannot disconcert her—not for long—and I cannot +compete with her in volubility and conversational +address, so I will continue to play a discreet part +and wait.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October 17, 1791.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Madame has become bolder, or her curiosity +more impatient. Hitherto she has been content +with haunting the garden, and walking over and +about that one place in it which possesses peculiar +interest for her and me. But this evening, when +she thought no one was looking, when after a hur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>ried +survey of the house and grounds she failed +to detect my sharp eyes behind the curtain of the +upper window, she threw aside discretion, knelt +down on the sod of that grave, and pushed aside +the grass that grows about the stone, doubtless to +see if there was any marks or inscription upon it. +There are none, but I determined she should not +be sure of this, so before she could satisfy herself, +I threw up the window behind which I stood, +making so much noise that it alarmed her, and she +hastily rose.</p> + +<p>I met her hasty look with a smile which it was +too dark for her to see, and a cheerful good evening +which I presume fell with anything but a cheerful +sound upon her ears.</p> + +<p>"It is a lovely evening," I cried. "Have you +been admiring the sunset?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, so much!" was her quick reply, and she began +to saunter in slowly. But I knew she left her +thoughts out there with that mysterious grave.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +12 <span class="smcap">m.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Another midnight adventure! Late as it is, +I must put it down, for I cannot sleep, and to-morrow +will bring its own story.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span></p> + +<p>I had gone to bed, but not to sleep. The anxieties +under which I now labor, the sense of mystery +which pervades the whole house, and the +secret but ever-present apprehension of some impending +catastrophe, which has followed me ever +since these women came into the house, lay heavily +on my mind, and prevented all rest. The +change of room may also have added to my disturbance. +I am wedded to old things, old ways, +and habitual surroundings. I was not at home in +this small and stuffy apartment, with its one narrow +window and wretched accommodations. Nor +could I forget near what it lay, nor rid myself +of the horror which its walls gave me whenever +I realized, as I invariably did at night, that only +a slight partition separated me from the secret +chamber, with its ghastly memories and ever to +be remembered horrors.</p> + +<p>I was lying, then, awake, when some impulse—was +it a magnetic one?—caused me to rise and +look out of the window. I did not see anything +unusual—not at first—and I drew back. But the +impulse returned, and I looked again, and this +time perceived among the shadows of the trees +something stirring in the garden, though what I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +could not tell, for the night was unusually dark, +and my window very poorly situated for seeing.</p> + +<p>But that there was something there was enough, +and after another vain attempt to satisfy myself +as to its character, I dressed and went out into the +hall, determined to ascertain if any outlet to the +house was open.</p> + +<p>I did not take a light, for I know the corridors +as I do my own hand. But I almost wished I had +as I sped from door to door and window to window; +for the events which had blotted my house +with mystery were beginning to work upon my +mind, and I felt afraid, not of my shadow, for I +could not see it, but of my step, and the great +gulfs of darkness that were continually opening +before my eyes.</p> + +<p>However, I did not draw back, and I did not delay. +I tried the front door, and found it locked; then +the south door, and finally the one in the kitchen. +This last was ajar. I knew then what had happened. +Madame has had more than one talk with +Chloe lately, and the good negress has not been +proof against her wiles, and has taught her the +secret of the kitchen lock. I shall talk to Chloe +to-morrow. But, meantime, I must follow madame.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> + +<p>But should I? I know what she is doing in the +garden. She is wandering round and round that +grave. If I saw her I could not be any surer of +the fact, and I would but reveal my own suspicions +to her by showing myself as a spy. No; I will +remain here in the shadows of the kitchen, and +wait for her to return. The watch may be weird, +but no weirder than that of a previous night. Besides, +it will not be a long one; the air is too +chilly outside for her to risk a lengthy stay in it. +I shall soon perceive her dark figure glide in +through the doorway.</p> + +<p>And I did. Almost before I had withdrawn +into my corner I heard the faint fall of feet on +the stone without, then the subdued but unmistakable +sound of the opening door, and lastly the +locking of it and the hasty tread of footsteps as +she glided across the brick flagging and disappeared +into the hall beyond.</p> + +<p>"She has laid the ghost of her unrest for to-night," +thought I. "To-morrow it will rise +again." And I felt my first movement of pity for +her.</p> + +<p>Alas! does that unrest spring from premeditated +or already accomplished guilt? Whichever it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +may be—and I am ready to believe in either or +both—she is a burdened creature, and the weight +of her fears or her intentions lies heavily upon her. +But she hides the fact with consummate address, +and when under the eyes of people smiles so +brightly and conducts herself with such a charming +grace that half the guests that come and +go consider her as lovely and more captivating +than her daughter. What would they think if +they could see her as I do rising in the night to +roam about a grave, the unmarked head-stone of +which baffles her scrutiny?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October 18, 1791.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>This morning I rose at daybreak, and going +into the garden, surveyed the spot which I had +imagined traversed by Madame Letellier the night +before. I found it slightly trampled, but what +interested me a great deal more than this was the +fact that, on a certain portion of the surface of the +stone I have so often mentioned, there were to be +seen small particles of a white substance, which I +soon discovered to be wax.</p> + +<p>Thus the mystery of her midnight visit is +solved. She has been taking an impression of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +what, in her one short glimpse of yesterday +evening, she had thought to be an inscription. +What a wonderful woman she is! What skill she +shows; what secrecy and what purpose. If she +cannot compass her end in one way, she will in +another; and I begin to have, notwithstanding +my repugnance and fear, a wholesome respect +for her ability and the relentless determination +which she shows in every action she performs.</p> + +<p>When she finds that her wax shows her nothing +but the natural excrescences and roughnesses of +an unhewn stone, will she persist in her visits to +the garden? I think not.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October</span> 19, 1791.<br /> +</div> + +<p>My last surmise was a true one. Madame has +not spent a half hour all told in the garden since +that night. She has turned her attention again to +the oak parlor, and soon we shall see her make +some decided move in regard to it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE OAK PARLOR.</h3> +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October</span> 20, 1791.<br /> +</div> +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Letter T"> +<tr><td align='left' rowspan='2' valign='top'><img src="images/gs17a.png" width="294" height="498" alt=""T" left" title=""T" left" /> +</td><td align='left' valign='top'><img src="images/gs17b.png" width="206" height="385" alt=""T" right" title=""T" right" /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='unindent'>HE long expected move has +been made. This morning madame asked me if +I had not some room on the ground floor which I +could give to her daughter and her in exchange +for the one they now occupy. Her daughter had +been accustomed to living on one floor, and felt +the stairs keenly.</div></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>I answered at first—"No." Then I appeared to +bethink me, and told her, with seeming reluctance, +that there was one room below which I sometimes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +opened to guests, but that just now it was in +such a state of dilapidation I had shut it up till +I could find the opportunity of repairing it.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she replied, subduing her eagerness to +the proper point, "you need not wait for that. +We are not particular persons. Only let me see +the roses come back to my daughter's cheeks, and +I can bear any amount of discomfort. Where is +this room?"</p> + +<p>I pretended not to hear her.</p> + +<p>"It would take two days to get it into any sort +of condition fit for sleeping in," I murmured reflectively. +"The floor is so loose in places that +you cannot walk across it without danger of falling +through. Then there is the chimney—"</p> + +<p>She was standing near me and I heard her draw +her breath quickly, but she gave no other sign of +emotion, not even in the sound of her voice as +she interrupted me with the words:</p> + +<p>"Oh! if you have got to make the room all +over, we might as well not consider the subject. +But I am sure it is not necessary. Do let me see +it, and I can soon tell you whether we can be +comfortable there or not."</p> + +<p>I had sworn to myself never to enter that room<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +again, but such oaths are easily broken. Leaving +her for a moment, I procured my key, and taking +her with me down the west hall, I unlocked the +fatal door and bade her enter.</p> + +<p>She hesitated for an instant, but only for an +instant. Then she walked coolly in, and stood +waiting while I crossed the floor to the window +and threw it open. Her first glance flashed to the +mantel and its adjacent wainscoting; then, finding +everything satisfactory in that direction, it +flew over the desolate walls and stiff, high-backed +chairs, till it rested on the bare four-poster, denuded +of its curtains and coverlets.</p> + +<p>"A gloomy place!" she declared; "but you can +easily make it look inviting with fresh curtains +and a cheerful fire. I am sure that, dismal as it +is, it will be more welcome to my daughter than +the sunny room up stairs. Besides, the window +looks out on the river, and that is always interesting. +You will let us come here, will you not? I +am sure, if we are willing, you ought to be."</p> + +<p>I gasped inwardly, and agreed with her. Yet I +made a few more objections. But as I intended +that she should sleep in this room, I finally cleared +my brow, and announced that the room should be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +ready for her occupancy on Friday; and with this +she had to be content.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October 21.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>Bless God that I am mistress in my own house! +I can order, I can have performed whatever I +choose, without fuss, without noise, and without +gossip. This is very fortunate just now, for while +I am openly having the floor mended in the oak +parlor, I am secretly having another piece of work +done, which, if once known, would arouse suspicions +and awaken conjectures that would destroy +all my plans concerning the mysterious +guests who insist upon inhabiting the accursed +oak parlor.</p> + +<p>What this work is can be best understood by a +glance at the accompanying diagram, which is a +copy of the one drawn up by the Englishman for +Mr. Tamworth.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 259px;"> +<img src="images/diag.jpg" width="259" height="300" alt="A—Oak parlor. B—Bedroom. C—Kitchen, etc. D—Passage I have had made." title="A—Oak parlor. B—Bedroom. C—Kitchen, etc. D—Passage I have had made." /> +<span class="caption"><small>A—Oak parlor. B—Bedroom. C—Kitchen, etc. D—Passage I have had made.<br /><br />1—Secret chamber. 2—Fire-place. 3—Secret spring. 4—Garden +window. 5—Door to oak parlor. 6—Clock on stairs to second +story. Entrance to room B under stairway.</small></span> +</div> + + + +<p>Here you see that the secret chamber lies +between the rooms A and B. A is the parlor and +B is the small room in which I had put up my +bed after the nocturnal adventure of October 10. +It has always been used as a store room until +now, and as no one handles the keys of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +house but myself, the fact of my using it for any +other purpose is known only to Margery and a +certain quiet and reticent workman from Cruger's +shop, to whom I have intrusted the task of +opening a passage at D through the wall. For I +must have proper means of communication with +this room before I can allow Madame Letellier +and her daughter to take up their abode in it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +Though the former's plans are a mystery to me; +though I feel that she loves her daughter, and, +therefore, cannot meditate evil against her, still +my doubts of her are so great that I must know +her intentions, if possible, and to do this I contemplate +keeping a watch over that den of wicked +memories which will be at once both unsuspected +and vigilant.</p> + +<p>The flooring of the parlor is nearly completed, +and to-night will see the door of communication +between my room and the secret chamber hung +and ready for use.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October</span> 22.<br /> +</div> + +<p>A month ago, if any one had told me that I +would not only walk of my own free will into the +secret chamber, but take up my abode in it, eat in +it and sleep in it, I would have said that person +was mad. And yet this is just what I have +done.</p> + +<p>The result of my first vigil was unexpected. I +had looked for—well, I hardly know what I did +look for. My anticipations were vague, but they +did not lead me in the right direction. But let me +tell the story. After I had installed my guests in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +their new apartment, I informed them that I would +have to say good-by for a season, as I had an affection +of the eyes—which was true enough—which +at times compelled me to shut myself up in a dark +room and forego all company. That I felt one of +these spells coming on—which was not true—and +that by a speedy resort to darkness and quiet, I +hoped to prevent the attack from reaching its +usual point of distress. Mademoiselle Letellier +looked disappointed, but madame ill disguised her +relief and satisfaction. Convinced now beyond all +doubt that she had some plan in mind which made +her dread my watchfulness, I made such final arrangements +as were necessary, and betook myself +at once to my new room. Once there, I moved +immediately into the dark chamber, and walking +with the utmost circumspection, crossed to the +wall adjoining the oak parlor, and laying my ear +against the opening into that room, I listened.</p> + +<p>At first I heard nothing, probably because its +inmates were still. Then I caught an exclamation +of weariness, and soon some words of desultory +conversation. Relieved beyond expression, not +only because I could hear, but because they talked +in English, I withdrew again into my own room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +The most difficult problem in the world was solved. +I had found the means by which I could insinuate +myself, unseen and unsuspected, into the secret +confidences of two women, at moments when they +felt themselves alone and at the mercy of no judgment +but that of God. Should I learn enough to +pay me for the humiliation of my position? I did +not weary myself by questioning. I knew my motive +was pure, and fixed my mind upon that.</p> + +<p>Several times before the day was over did I return +to the secret chamber and bend my ear to the +wall. But in no instance did I linger long, for if +the two ladies spoke at all it was on trivial subjects, +and in such tones as indicated that neither +their passions nor any particular interests were +engaged. For such talk I had no ear.</p> + +<p>"It will not be always so," I thought to myself. +"When night comes and the heart opens, they will +speak of what lies upon their minds."</p> + +<p>And so it happened. As the inn grew quiet and +the lights began to disappear from the windows, +I crept again to my station against the partition, +and in a darkness and atmosphere that at any other +time in my life would have completely unnerved +me, hearkened to the conversation within.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma," were the first words I heard, +uttered in English, as all their talk was when they +were moved or excited, "if you would only explain! +If you would only tell me why you do +not wish me to receive letters from him! But this +silence—this love and this silence are killing me. +I cannot bear it. I feel like a lost child who hears +its mother's voice in the darkness, but does not +know how to follow that voice to the refuge it bespeaks."</p> + +<p>"Time was when daughters found it sufficient +to know that their parents disapproved of an act, +without inquiring into their reasons for it. Your +father has told you that the marquis is not eligible +as a husband for you, and he expects this to content +you. Have I the right to say more than he?"</p> + +<p>"Not the right, perhaps, mamma. I do not appeal +to your sense of right, but to your love. I +am very unhappy. My whole life's peace is trembling +in the balance. You ought to see it—you +do see it—yet you let me suffer without giving +me one reason why I should do so."</p> + +<p>The mother's voice was still.</p> + +<p>"You see!" the daughter went on again, after +what seemed like a moment of helpless waiting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +"Though my arms are about you, and my cheek +pressed close to yours, you will not speak. Do +you wonder that I am heart-broken—that I feel +like turning my face to the wall and never looking +up again?"</p> + +<p>"I wonder at nothing."</p> + +<p>Was that madame's voice? What boundless +misery! what unfathomable passion! what hopeless +despair!</p> + +<p>"If he were unworthy!" her daughter here exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"It you could point to anything he lacks. But +he has wealth, a noble name, a face so handsome +that I have seen both you and papa look at him in +admiration; and as for his mind and attainments, +are they not superior to those of all the young +men who have ever visited us? Mamma, mamma, +you are so good that you require perfection in a +son-in-law. But is he not as near it as a man may +be? Tell me, darling, for in my dreams he always +seems so."</p> + +<p>I heard the answer, though it came slowly and +with apparent effort.</p> + +<p>"The marquis is an admirable young man, but +we have another suitor in mind whose cause we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +more favor. We wish you to marry Armand +Thierry."</p> + +<p>"A shop-keeper and a revolutionist! Oh, mamma!"</p> + +<p>"That is why we brought you away. That is +why you are here—that you might have opportunity +to bethink yourself, and learn that the +parents' views in these matters are the truest +ones, and that where we make choice, there you +must plight your troth. I assure you that our +reasons are good ones, if we do not give them. It +is not from tyranny—"</p> + +<p>Here the set, strained voice stopped, and a sudden +movement in the room beyond showed that +the mother had risen. In fact, I presently heard +her steps pacing up and down the floor.</p> + +<p>"I know it is not tyranny," the daughter finished, +in the soft tones that were so great a contrast +to her mother's. "Tyranny I could have understood; +but it is mystery, and that is not so easily +comprehended. Why should you and papa be +mysterious? What is there in our simple life to +create secrecy between persons who love each +other so dearly? I see nothing, know nothing; +and yet—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Honora!"</p> + +<p>The word struck me like a blow. "Honora!" +Great heaven! was that the name of this young +girl?</p> + +<p>"You are giving too free range to your imagination. +You—"</p> + +<p>I did not hear the rest. I was thinking of the +name I had just heard, and wondering if my suspicions +were at fault. They would never have +called their child Honora. Who were these +women, then? Friends of the Dudleighs? Avengers +of the dead? I glued my ear still closer to +the wall.</p> + +<p>"We have cherished you." The mother was +still speaking. "We have given you all you +craved, and more than you asked. From the +moment you were born we have both lavished +all the tenderness of our hearts upon you. And +all we ask in return is trust." The hard voice, +hard because of emotion, I truly believe, quavered +a little over that word, but spoke it and went +on. "What we do for you now, as always, is +for your best good. Will you not believe it, +Honora?"</p> + +<p>The last appeal was uttered in a passionate tone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +It seemed to move the daughter, for her voice had +a sob in it as she replied:</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; but why not enlighten me as to your +reasons for a course so remarkable? Most parents +desire their daughters to do well, but you, on the +contrary, not only wish, but urge me to do ill. A +noble lover sues for my hand, and his cause is +slighted; an ignoble one requests the same favor, +and you run to grant it. Is there love in this? +Is there consideration? Perhaps; but if so, you +should be able to show where it lies. I am not a +child, young as I am; I will understand any reasons +you may advance. Then let me have your +confidence; it is all I ask, and surely it is not +much, when you see how I suffer from my disappointment."</p> + +<p>The restless steps ceased. I heard a groan close +to my ear; the mother was evidently suffering +frightfully.</p> + +<p>"Papa is prosperous," the daughter pleadingly +continued. "I know your decision cannot be the +result of financial difficulties. And then, if it were, +the marquis is rich, and—"</p> + +<p>"Honora!"—the mother had turned. I heard +her advance toward her daughter—"do you real<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>ly +love the marquis? You have seen him but a +few times, have held hardly any intercourse with +him, and at your age fancy often takes the place of +love. You do not love him, Honora, my child; +you cannot; you will forget—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma! Oh, mamma! Oh, mamma!"</p> + +<p>The tone was enough. Silence reigned, broken +at last by Mademoiselle Letellier saying: "It is +not necessary to see such a man as he is very +many times in order to adjudge him to be the +best and noblest that the world contains. But, +mamma, you are not correct in saying that I +scarcely know him. Though you will not be frank +with me, I am going to be frank with you and tell +you something that I have hitherto kept closely +buried in my breast. I did not think I should ever +speak of it to any one, not even to you. Some +dreams are so sweet to brood upon alone. But +the shadow which your silence has caused to fall +between us has taught me the value of openness +and truth. I shall never hide anything from you +again; so listen, sweet mamma, while I open to +you my heart, and learn, as you can only learn +from me, how your Honora first came to know +and appreciate the Marquis de la Roche-Guyon."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Was it not," interrupted the mother, "at the +great ball where he was formally introduced to +us?"</p> + +<p>"No, mamma."</p> + +<p>Madame sighed.</p> + +<p>"Girls are all alike," she cried. "You think +you know them, and lo! there comes a day when +you find that it is in a stranger's hand you must +look for a key to their natures."</p> + +<p>"And is not this what God wills?" suggested +the child. "Indeed, indeed, you must blame nature +and not me. I did not want to deceive you. +I only found it impossible to speak. Besides, if +you had looked at me closely enough, you +would have seen yourself that I had met the marquis +before. Such blushes do not come with a +first introduction. I remember their burning heat +yet. Are my cheeks warm now? I feel as if they +ought to be. But there is nothing to grieve you +in these blushes. It is only the way a loving heart +takes to speak. There is no wicked shame in them; +none, none."</p> + +<p>"Oh, God!"</p> + +<p>Did the daughter hear that bitter exclamation? +She did not appear to; for her voice was quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +calm, though immeasurably loving, as she proceeded +in these words:</p> + +<p>"I was always a mother-girl. From the first +day I can remember, I have known nothing +sweeter than to sit within reach of your fondling +hand. You were always so tender with me, +mamma, even when I must have grieved you or +disappointed your hopes or your pride. If I were +in the way I never saw it, nor can I remember, of +all the looks which have sometimes puzzled me in +your face, one that spoke of impatience or lack of +sympathy with my pleasures or my griefs. With +papa it was not always so. No; don't stop me. +You must let me speak of him. Though he has +never been unkind to me, he has a way of frowning +at times that frightens me. Whether he is +displeased or simply ill I cannot say, but I have +always felt a dread of papa's presence which I +never felt of yours; and yet you frown, too, at +times, though never upon me, mamma, dear—never +upon me."</p> + +<p>A pause that was filled in by a kiss, and then the +tender voice went on:</p> + +<p>"You can imagine, then, what a turmoil was +aroused in my breast when one day, while leaning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +from the window, I saw a face in the street below +that awakened within me such strange feelings I +could not communicate them even to my mother. +I who had hitherto confessed to her every trivial +emotion of my life, shrank in a moment, as it were, +from revealing a secret no deeper than that I had +looked for one half minute upon the form of a +passing stranger, and in that minute learned more +of my own heart and of the true meaning of life +than in all the sixteen years I had hitherto lived. +You have seen him since, and you know he possesses +every grace that can render a man attractive; +but to me that day he did not look like a +man at all, or if I thought of him as such, I thought +of him as one who set a pattern to his fellows, +while retaining his own immeasurable superiority. +He did not see me. I do not know that I wished +him to. I was quite content to watch him from +where I stood, and note his lordly walk and kindly +mien, and dream—oh, what did I dream that +day! The memory of your own girlhood must +tell you, mamma. I did not know his name; I +did not suspect his rank; but from his youth I +judged him to be single, from his bearing I knew +him to be noble, and from his look, which called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +out a reflected brightness on every face he +chanced to pass, I was assured that he was happy +and that he was good. And what does a girl's +fancy need more? Still a glimpse so short might +not have had such deep consequences if it had not +been followed by an event which rendered those +first impressions indelible."</p> + +<p>"An event, Honora?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, mamma. You remember the day you +sent me with Cecile to take my first lessons in +tambour work of Madame Douay?"</p> + +<p>"Remember? Oh, my child, that awful day +when you came near losing your life! When the +house fell with you in it, and—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, mamma, and I came home looking +so pale you thought I was hurt, and fainted away, +and would have died yourself if I had not kissed +you back to life. Well, mamma, dear, I was hurt, +but not in my body. It was my heart that had +received a wound—a wound from which I never +shall recover, for it was made by the greatness, +the goodness, the noble self-sacrifice of the marquis."</p> + +<p>"Honora! And you never mentioned his name—never!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I know, I know, mamma; but you have already +forgiven me for that. You know it was +from no unworthy motive. Think how you felt +when you first saw papa. Think—"</p> + +<p>A hurried movement from the mother interrupted +her.</p> + +<p>"Do not keep me in suspense," she pleaded; +"let me hear what you have to tell."</p> + +<p>"But you are cold; you shudder. Let me get +a shawl."</p> + +<p>"No, no, child, I am not cold, only impatient. +Go on with your story—go on. How came you +to meet the marquis in that place?"</p> + +<p>"Ah," cried the daughter, "it was a strange occurrence. +It all came about through a mistake of +Cecile's. Madame Douay, as we were told by the +concierge, lived on the fourth floor, but Cecile +made a miscount and we went up to the fifth, and +as there was a Madame Douay there also, we did +not detect our error, but went into her apartments +and were seated in the small salon to await madame's +presence. We had not told our errand, so +we could not blame the maid who admitted us, +nor, though madame failed to appear, did we ever +remember to blame any one, for presently through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +the open window near which we sat there came +the sound of voices from the room above, and a +drama began of such startling interest that we +could think of nothing else.</p> + +<p>"Two men were talking. Young men they +seemed, and though I could not see them, I could +tell from the fresh, fine voice of the one that he +was a true man, and from the sneering, smothered +tones of the other that he was not only a cynic, +but of vicious tendencies. The first one was saying, +'I never suspected this,' when my attention +was first called to their words, and the answer +which came was as follows: 'If you had, I should +not have had the pleasure of seeing you here. +Men are not apt to rush voluntarily upon their +deaths, and that you are a dead man you already +know; for I have sworn to kill you as the clock +strikes three, and it is but ten minutes of that +time, and you have not a weapon with which to +defend yourself.'</p> + +<p>"Mamma, you can imagine my feelings at hearing +these words, though they were uttered by a +person I could not see, to another person equally +unknown to me? I looked at Cecile and she looked +at me, but we could neither of us move. Every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +faculty seemed paralyzed save that of hearing. We +held our breaths and listened for the reply. It came +instantly and without a thrill in its clear accents.</p> + +<p>"'You are a gentleman, and no common assassin. +How can you reconcile such an act as this +with your honor, or with what sophistries quiet the +stings of your conscience when time shall have +shown you the sin of so unprovoked an onslaught?'</p> + +<p>"'It is not unprovoked,' was the harsh and bitter +reply. 'You promised to marry Mademoiselle +de Fontaine, and yesterday, at three o'clock—ah, +I was there!—you formally renounced your +claims. This is an insult that calls for blood, +and blood it shall have. Twenty-four hours have +elapsed less ten minutes, since you cast this slur +upon a noble lady's good name. When the hour +is ripe, you will pay the penalty it requires with +your life.'</p> + +<p>"'But,' urged his young companion, 'Mademoiselle +de Fontaine had herself requested the +breaking off of this contract. I am but following +the lady's behests in withdrawing from a position +forced upon us against our will, and in direct opposition +to her happiness.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'And by what right do you presume to follow +the behests of a lady still under age? Has she +not guardians to consult? Should not I—'</p> + +<p>"'You?'</p> + +<p>"'Pardon me, I have not introduced myself, it +seems. I am the Marquis de la Roche-Guyon.'"</p> + +<p>Honora paused; her mother's exclamation had +stopped her:</p> + +<p>"The marquis! Oh! Honora, and you have always +said he was so good!"</p> + +<p>"Wait, mamma; remember it is the cynical +voice which is speaking, and the marquis's voice +is not cynical. The words, however, are what I +have told you; 'I am the Marquis de la Roche-Guyon.'</p> + +<p>"Of course, not knowing either party, nor this +name, least of all realizing that it was the one by +which the gentleman addressed was himself known, +I did not understand why it should create so great +an impression. But that it did was evident, not +only from the momentary hush that followed, but +from the violent exclamation that burst from the +young man's lips. 'You scoundrel!' was his cry. +But instantly he seemed to regret the word, for he +said almost with the same breath: 'Your pardon,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +but there is but one man in the world besides myself +who could, under any circumstances, have a +right to that name.'</p> + +<p>"'And that man?'</p> + +<p>"'Is my cousin, the deceased marquis's son, long +esteemed dead also, and now legally accepted as +such.'</p> + +<p>"'And what assures you that I am not he? Your +eyes? Well, I am changed, Louis, but not so +changed that a good look should not satisfy you +that I am the man I claim to be. Besides, you +should know this mark on my forehead. You +gave it to me—'</p> + +<p>"'Isidor!'</p> + +<p>"I could not comprehend it then, but I have +learned since that the marquis—our marquis, I +mean—had only just come into his title; that +the son of the preceding Marquis de la Roche-Guyon +had been so long missing that the courts had +finally adjudged him dead, and given up his inheritance +to his cousin; that the first act of the new +marquis was to liberate the Demoiselle de Fontaine +from an engagement that stood in the way +of her marriage with one more desirable to her; +and that the unexpected appearance of the real<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +heir in this sudden and mysterious manner was +as great a surprise to him as any mortal circumstance +could be. Yet to me, who waited with palpitating +heart and anxious ears for what should +be said next, there was no evidence of this in +his tone. With the politeness we are accustomed +to in Frenchmen he observed:</p> + +<p>"'You are welcome, Isidor;' and then, as if +struck himself by the incongruity between this +phrase and the look and manner of his companion, +he added, in slow tones—'even if you do bring a +sword with you.'</p> + +<p>"The other, the real marquis, as I suppose, +seemed to hesitate at this, and I began to hope +he was ashamed of his dreadful threats and would +speedily beg the other's pardon. But I did not +know the man, or realize the determination which +lay at the bottom of his furious and uncompromising +words. But he soon made it evident to us.</p> + +<p>"'Louis,' he exclaimed, 'you have always been +my evil genius. From our childhood you have +stood in my way with your superior strength, +beauty, prowess and address. When I was young +I simply shrank from you in shame and distaste, +but as I grew older I learned to detest you; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +now that I see you again, after five years of +absence, handsome as ever, taller than ever, and +radiant, notwithstanding your nearness to death, +with memories such as I have never known, nor +can know, and beliefs such as I have never cherished +nor will cherish, I hate you so that I find it +difficult to wait for the five minutes yet to elapse +before my word will let me lift my pistol and fire +upon you.'</p> + +<p>"'Then it is your hate of me, and not your +fondness for your sister, that has led you to lay +this trap for me?' exclaimed the other. 'I +should think your hate would be satisfied by the +change which your return will make in my prospects. +From the marquisate of La Roche-Guyon +to a simple captaincy in his majesty's guards is +quite a step, Isidor. Will it not suffice to soothe +an antagonism which I never shared?'</p> + +<p>"'Nothing can soothe it, not even your death! +You have robbed me of too much. First, of the +world's esteem, then of my mother's confidence, +and, lastly, of my father's love. Yes; deny it if +you will, my father loved you better than he did +me. This was the reason he sent me from home; +and when, shipwrecked and captured by savages,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +I found myself thrown into an Eastern dungeon, +half my misery and all my rage were in the +thought that he would not consider my loss a misfortune, +but die in greater peace and hope from +knowing that his family honors would devolve +upon one more after his own heart than myself. +Oh! I have had cause, and I have had time to +nourish my hate. Five years in a dungeon affords +one leisure, and on every square stone of that +wall, and upon every inch of its relentless pavement, +I have beaten out this determination with my +bare hands and manacled feet, that if I ever did +escape, and ever did return to the home of my +fathers, I would have full pay for the suffering +you have caused me, even if I had it in your blood. +I have returned, and I find my father dead, and +in his place yourself, happy, insolent, and triumphant. +Can you blame me for remembering my +vows, for resenting what will ever seem an insult +to my sister, and for wishing to hurry the time +that moves so slowly toward the fatal stroke of +three?'</p> + +<p>"'I do not blame you, because you are a madman. +I do not fear you, because, having no one +in the world to love, I do not greatly dread a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +sudden release from it. But I pity you because +you have suffered, and will defend myself because +your sufferings will be increased rather than diminished +by the success of your crazy intentions.'</p> + +<p>"The answer came, quick and furious:</p> + +<p>"'I do not want your pity, and I scorn any defense +which you can make. Do you think I have +not made my calculations well? There is nothing +here which can give you hope. We are alone on +the sixth story. Beneath us are only women, and +if you call from the window, I can shoot you dead +before your voice can reach the street. Perhaps, +though, you do not think of saving yourself, but +of ensnaring me. Bah! as if the sight of the headsman +would stop me now. Besides, I am prepared +for flight. Have you looked at this house? It is +not like other houses; it is double, and the room +in which we stand has other foundations and walls +from this one behind me which I guard with my +pistol. Let the deed be once done—and the clock, +as you see, gives us but one minute more—and I +leap into this other apartment, down another flight +of stairs from those you came up, and so to another +door that opens upon another street. Then shout, +if you will; I am safe. As to your life, it is as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +much at my command as if my bullet were already +in your heart.'</p> + +<p>"'We will see!' was the thundering reply, and +with these words a rush was made that shook the +floor above our heads, and scattered bits of plaster +down upon us. Released by the action from the +fearful spell which had benumbed my limbs, I felt +that I could move at last, and, leaping to my feet, +I uttered scream after scream. But they perished +in my throat, smothered by a new fear; for at this +moment my arm was caught by Cecile, and following, +with horrified gaze, the pointing of her uplifted +hand, I saw the straight line of the window-ledge +before me dip and curve, and yielding to the force +of her agonized strength, I let myself be dragged +across the floor, while before us, beneath us, +above us, all was one chaos of heaving and crashing +timbers, which, in another instant, broke into +a thunder of confused sounds, and we beheld beneath +us a pit of darkness, death, and tumult, +where, but an instant before, were all the +appurtenances of a comfortable and luxurious +home.</p> + +<p>"We were safe, for we had reached the flooring +of the second house before that of the first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +had completely fallen, but I could not think of +myself, narrow as my escape had been, and marvelous +as was the warning which had revealed +to Cecile the only path of safety. For in the +clouded space above me, overhanging a gulf I +dared not measure with my eyes or sound with +my imagination, I saw clinging by one arm to a +beam the awful figure of a man, while crouching +near him on a portion of flooring that still clung +intact to the wall, I beheld another in whose noble +traits, distorted though they were by the emotions +of the moment, I recognized him who, but a +month before, had changed the world for me with +his look.</p> + +<p>"Ah! mamma, and a thousand deaths lay between +us; and we could neither reach him nor give any +alarm, for the space in which we found ourselves +was small and shut from the outer world by a door +which was locked. How it became locked I never +knew, but I have thought that the maid in +flying might have turned the key behind her, +under some wild impression that by this means she +would shut out destruction. However that may +be, we were helpless and threatened by death. +But our own situation did not alarm us, for theirs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +was so much more terrible, especially that of the +man whose straining arm clung so frantically to a +support that threatened every moment to slip from +his grasp. I could not look at him, and scarcely +could I look at the other. But I did, for in his +face there was such a high and noble resolve that +it made me forget his danger, till suddenly I +heard him speak high above the sounds that arose +in a tempest from the street:</p> + +<p>"'Do not despair, Isidor. I think I can reach +you and pull you up upon the beam. You shall +not die a dog's death if I can help it. Hold on +and I will come.' And he began to move and +raise himself upon the narrow platform on which +he stood, and I saw that he meant what he said, and +involuntarily and with but little reason I cried:</p> + +<p>"'Don't do it! He is your enemy. Save yourself; +he is but a murderer; let him go.'</p> + +<p>"I said that; I who never had a cruel thought +before in my life. But he, without looking to +see whence this voice came, answered boldly:</p> + +<p>"'It is because he is my enemy that I wish to +save him. I could never enjoy a safety won at +the expense of his death. Isidor, you must live! +So hold on, my cousin.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs18.jpg" width="500" height="344" alt=""You have conquered!"" title=""You have conquered!"" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And without saying anything further, this +brave man set about a task that seemed to me at +that moment not only superhuman but impossible. +Gathering himself up, he prepared to make +a spring, and in another instant would have +launched himself toward that rocking beam, if +Cecile, driven to extremity by the slow tottering +of the floor upon which we stood, had not shrieked:</p> + +<p>"'And to save him you would leave us to perish?'</p> + +<p>"He paused and gave one look. 'Yes!' he cried. +'God help you, but you look like innocent women, +while he—' The leap was made. He lay clinging +to the beam. His cousin, who had not fallen, +cast one glance up; their eyes met, and Isidor, as +he was called, gave one great sob. 'Oh, Louis!' +he murmured, and was silent.</p> + +<p>"And then, mamma, there began a struggle for +rescue such as I dare not even recall. I saw it +because I could not look elsewhere, but I crushed +its meaning from my consciousness, lest I should +myself perish before I saw him safe. And all the +while the figure hanging over us swayed with +the rocking of the beam, and gave no help until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +that last terrible moment when his cousin, reaching +down, was able to sustain him under the arm +till he could get his other hand up and clasp it +around the beam. Then it all looked well, and we +began to hope, when suddenly and without warning +the nearly rescued man gave a great shriek, +and crying, 'You have conquered!' unloosed his +grasp, and fell headlong into the abyss.</p> + +<p>"Mamma, I did not faint. An unnatural strength +seemed given to me. But I looked at the marquis, +and for the first time he looked at me, and I +saw the expression of horrified amaze with which +he had beheld his cousin disappear gradually +change to one of the softest and divinest +looks that ever visited a noble visage, and knew +that even out of that pit of death love had arisen +for us two, and that henceforth we belonged to +each other, whether our span of life should be cut +short in a moment or extended into an eternity of +years. His own heart seemed to assure him of the +same sweet fact, for the next moment he was renewing +his superhuman efforts, but this time for +our rescue and his own. He worked himself along +that beam; he gave another leap; he landed at +our side, and tore a way for us through that closed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +door. In another five minutes we were in the +street, with half Paris surging about us, but before +the crowd had quite seized upon me, he had +found time to whisper in my ear:</p> + +<p>"'I am the Marquis de la Roche-Guyon. It will +always be a matter of thankfulness to me that I was +not left to sacrifice the fairest woman in the world +to the rescue of a thankless coward.'</p> + +<p>"Mamma, do you blame me for giving such a +man my heart, and do you wonder that what I +have dedicated to this hero I can never yield to +any other man?"</p> + +<p>The mother was silent—for a long time silent. +Was she horror-stricken at the story of a danger +she had never fully comprehended till now? Or +were her thoughts busy with her own past, and its +possible incommunicable secrets of blood and horror? +The cry she gave at last betrayed anguish, +but did not answer this question.</p> + +<p>"My child! my child! my child!" That was +all, but it seemed torn from her heart, that bled +after it.</p> + +<p>"He was not long in seeking me out, mamma, +dear. With grace and consideration he paid me +his court, and I was happy till I saw that you and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +papa frowned upon an alliance that to me seemed +laden with promise. I could not understand it, +nor could I understand our hurried departure +from France, nor our secret journey here. All has +been a mystery to me; but your will is my will, +and I dare not complain."</p> + +<p>"Pure heart!" broke from the mother's lips. +"Would to God—"</p> + +<p>"What, dear mamma?"</p> + +<p>"That you had been moved by a lesser man +than the Marquis de la Roche-Guyon."</p> + +<p>"A lesser man?"</p> + +<p>"With Armand Thierry, since he is the one you +will have to marry."</p> + +<p>"I shall not marry him."</p> + +<p>"Shall not?"</p> + +<p>"If I cannot give my hand where my heart +is, I remain unmarried. I dishonor no man with +unmeaning marriage vows."</p> + +<p>"Honora!"</p> + +<p>"I may never be happy, but I will never be base. +You yourself cannot wish me to be that. You, +who married for love, must understand that a woman +loses her title to respect when she utters +vows to one man while her heart is with another."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>"You did marry for love, didn't you, sweet +mamma? I like to think so. I like to think that +papa never cared for any other woman in all the +world but you, and that from the moment you +first saw him, you knew him to be the one man +capable of rousing every noble instinct within you. +It is so sweet to enshrine you in such a pure romance, +mamma. Though you have been married +sixteen years—ah, how old I am!—I see you sit +and look at papa sometimes, for a long, long time +without speaking, and though you do not smile, I +think, 'She is dreaming of the days when life +was pure joy, because it was pure love,' and I long +to ask you to tell me about those days, because I am +sure, if you did, you would tell me the sweetest +story of mutual love and devotion. Isn't it so, +mamma mine?"</p> + +<p>Would that mother answer? Could she? I +seemed to behold her figure pausing petrified in +the darkness, drawing deep breaths, and scarcely +knowing whether to curse or pray. I listened and +listened, but it was long before the answer came. +Then it was short and hurried, like the pants of +one dying.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Honora, you hurt me." Another silence. "You +make my task too hard. If I know what love +is—" She found it hard to go on; but she did—"all +the more anguish it must cost me to deny you +what is so deeply desired. I—I would make you +happy if I could. I will make you happy if it is +in my power to do so, but I can hold out no hope—none, +none."</p> + +<p>"Nor tell me why?"</p> + +<p>"Nor tell you why."</p> + +<p>"Mamma, you suffer. I see it now, and somehow +it makes it easier for me to bear my own suffering. +You do not willfully deny me what is as +much as my life to me."</p> + +<p>"Willfully! Honora! Listen." The mother +had stopped in her walk, for I heard her restless +tread no more. "You say that I suffer, child. I +have never had one happy day. Whatever romance +you have woven about me, I have never +known, from the hour of my birth till now, one +moment of such delight as you experienced when +you saw the character of the marquis unfold before +you so grandly. The nearest I have ever come to +bliss was when you were first placed in my arms. +Then, indeed, for one wild moment, I felt the bap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>tism +of true love. I looked at you, and my heart +opened. Alas! it was to take in pain as well as +joy. You had the face— Oh, Heaven! what am +I saying? This darkness unnerves me, Honora. +Let us have light, light, anything to keep my reason +from faltering."</p> + +<p>"Mother, mother, you are ill!"</p> + +<p>"No. I am simply weak. I always am when I +recall your birth and the first few days that followed +it. I was so glad to have something I +could really love; so glad to feel that my heart +beat, and to know that it beat for one +so innocent, so sweet, so helpless as yourself. +What if I had pains and hours of darkness, did I +not have your smile, also, and, later on, your love? +Child, if there has been any good in my life—and +sometimes I have thought there was a little—it +came from you. So, never even question again if +I could hurt you willfully. I not only could not +do this and live, but to save you from pain I would +dare— What would I not dare? Let man or +angels say."</p> + +<p>Before such passion as this young Honora sank +helpless.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma, mamma," she moaned, "forgive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +me. I did not know—how could I know? Don't +sob, mamma, dear; let me hold you—so; now lay +your cheek against mine and simply love me. I +will lie quite still and ask no questions, and you +will rest, too; and God will bless us, as he always +blesses the loving and the true."</p> + +<p>But madame did not comply with this endearing +request. Satisfying her daughter with a few +kisses and some words that the paroxysm of her +grief was past, she resumed her walk up and down +the room, pausing every now and then as if to listen, +and hastily resuming her walk as some slight +exclamation from the bed assured her that mademoiselle +was not yet asleep. As these pauses always +took place when she was near the wall behind +which I crouched, I frequently heard her breath, +which came heavily, and once the rustle of her +gown. But I did not stir. As long as her uneasy +form flitted about the room, I clung to the partition, +listening, determined that nothing should +move me—not even my own terrors. And though +night presently merged into midnight, and the +silence and horror of the spot became frightful, I +kept my post, for the stealthy tread continued, +and so did the desultory scraps of conversation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +which proved that, if the mother was waiting for +the daughter to sleep, the daughter was equally +waiting for the mother to retire. And so daylight +came, and with it exhaustion to more than one of +us three watchers.</p> + +<p>And this is the record of the first night spent by +me in the secret chamber.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>A SURPRISE FOR HONORA.</h3> + + + + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October</span> 22, 1791.<br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Letter E"> +<tr><td align='left' rowspan='2' valign='top'><img src="images/gs19a.png" width="134" height="556" alt=""E" left" title=""E" left" /> +</td><td align='left'><img src="images/gs19b.png" width="265" height="501" alt=""E" right" title=""E" right" /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><div class='unindent'>VENTS crowd. This morning the +one girl I have taken into my confidence came to my room with a strange tale. A stranger had +arrived, an elegant young gentleman of foreign +appearance, who had not yet given his name, but +who must be a person of importance, if bearing and +address go for anything. He came on horseback,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +attended by his valet, and his first word, after +some directions in regard to his horse, was a request +to see the landlady. When told she was +ill, he asked for the clerk, and to him was about +to put some question, when an exclamation from +the doorway interrupted them. Turning, they +saw madame standing there, her face petrified +into an expression of terrified surprise.</div></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>"Mrs.—"</p> + +<p>"Hush!" sprang from the lady's lips before he +could finish his exclamation; and advancing, she +laid her hand on his arm, saying, in French, +which, by the way, my clerk understands: "If you +hope anything from us, do not speak the name +that is faltering on your tongue. For reasons of +our own, for reasons of a purely domestic nature, +we are traveling incognito. Let me ask you as +a gentleman to humor our whim, and to know +us at present as Madame and Mademoiselle Letellier."</p> + +<p>He bowed, but flushed with embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"And mademoiselle? She is well, I trust?"</p> + +<p>"Quite well."</p> + +<p>"And yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Quite well, also. May I ask what has brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +you into these parts, whom we thought in another +and somewhat distant country?"</p> + +<p>"Need you ask?"</p> + +<p>They had drawn a little apart by this time, and +the clerk heard no more; but their manner—the +lady's especially—was so singular that he thought +I ought to know that she was here under a false +name, and so had sent Margery to me with the +news. As for the gentleman and Madame Letellier, +they were still conversing in the lowest +tones together.</p> + +<p>Interested intensely in this new development +in the drama hourly unfolding before my eyes, I +dismissed Margery with an instruction or two, +and passed into the hidden chamber, where I +again laid my ear to the wall. The mother would +have something to say when she returned, and I +determined to hear what it was.</p> + +<p>I had to wait a long time, but was rewarded at +last by the sound of voices and the distinct exclamation +from the daughter's lips:</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma! what has happened?"</p> + +<p>The mother's reply was delayed, but it came at +last:</p> + +<p>"My face is becoming strangely communica<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>tive. +You will read all my thoughts next. What +makes you think anything has happened? Is this +a place for occurrences?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma! you cannot deceive me. Your +very limbs are trembling. See, you can hardly +stand; and then, how you look at me! Oh, +mamma, dear! is it good news or bad? for from +your eyes it might be either. Has he—"</p> + +<p>"He, he—always he!" the mother passionately +interrupted. "You do not love your mother. +You are thinking always of one whom you never +saw till a year ago. My doubts, my fears, my +sufferings are nothing to you. I might die—"</p> + +<p>"Hush! hush! Whenever did you speak like +this before, mamma? Love you! Did ever a +child love her mother more? But our affection is +sure, while that of him you do not like me to mention +is threatened, and its existence forbidden. I cannot +help but think, mamma, and of him. If I could, +I were a traitor to the noblest instincts that sway +a woman's heart. I may not marry him—you say +I never will—but think of him I must, and pray +for him I will, till the last breath has left my lips. +So, what is your news, dear mamma? Has papa +written?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is too early for the mail."</p> + +<p>"True, true. Some one has come, then; a messenger, +perhaps, from New York. M. Dubois—"</p> + +<p>"Dubois is a traitor. He has not kept the secret +of our whereabouts. We have to settle with Monsieur +and Madame Dubois, meanwhile—"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Honora, can I trust you?"</p> + +<p>"Trust me?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! who is trembling now?"</p> + +<p>"I! I! But how can I help it! You glance +toward the door; you seem afraid some one will +come. You—you—"</p> + +<p>"Tut! do not mind me! Answer what I ask. +Could you see the marquis—talk to him, hear him +urge his love and plead for yours, without forgetting +that your obedience is mine, and that you are +not to give him so much as the encouragement of +a glance, till I either give you permission to do so +or command from you his immediate and unqualified +dismissal?"</p> + +<p>"See him?" It was all the poor girl had heard.</p> + +<p>"Yes; see him. You have come from Paris—why +not he? Since Dubois has proved himself a +traitor—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma!" came now in great sobs, "you +are not playing with me. He has come; he is +here; the horse I heard stop at the door—"</p> + +<p>"Was that of the marquis," acknowledged the +mother. "He is in the sitting room, child, but he +does not expect you at present. This evening you +shall see him if you will promise me what I have +asked. Otherwise he must go. I will have no +complications arising out of a secret betrothal. If +you have not sufficient strength—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have strength, mamma! I have strength. +Only let me see him, and prove to myself that he +is not worn by trouble and suspense, and I will do +all you ask of me. Ah, how well I feel! What a +beautiful—what a lovely day this is! Must I not +go out till evening? May I not take one wee walk +in the garden?"</p> + +<p>"Not one, my child. At nine o'clock you may +go to the sitting room for a half hour. Till then, +think over what I have said, and prepare your lips +to be dumb and your eyes to remain downcast; +for I am firm in my demands, and nothing will +make me change them."</p> + +<p>"You may trust me." There was despair in the +tones now. . . .<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span></p> + +<p>As they talked but little after this, and as I was +greatly interested in seeing the young man who +had been heralded by such glowing descriptions, +I stole back to my room, and, putting on a green +shade, hastened to join my guests in the front part +of the house. One glance from beneath my hurriedly +uplifted shade was sufficient to assure me as +to which of the gentlemen there assembled was +the one I sought. So frank a face, so fine a form, so +attractive a manner, were not often seen in my inn, +and prepossessed at once in his favor, I advanced +to the owner of all these graces, and, calling him +by name, bade him welcome to my house.</p> + +<p>He must understand our language well, for he +immediately turned with gentle urbanity, and +discerning, perhaps, something in my face which +assured him of my sympathy and respect, entered +into a fluent conversation with me that at once increased +my admiration and awakened my pity. +For I saw that his nature was strong and his feelings +deep, and as the future could have nothing +but shame and misery, I instinctively felt oppressed +by the fate which awaited him.</p> + +<p>He did not seem to feel any apprehension himself. +His eyes were bright; his smile beaming;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +his bearing full of hope. Now and then his glance +would steal toward the door or through the open +windows, as if he longed to catch a glimpse of +some passing face or form; and at last, swayed +by that sympathy which we women all feel for +true love in man or woman, I asked him to accompany +me into the garden, promising him a +view that would certainly delight him. As the +garden was plainly visible from the oak parlor, +you can readily understand to what view I alluded. +But he had no suspicion of my meaning, and +followed me with some reluctance.</p> + +<p>But his aspect changed materially when, in +walking up and down the paths, I casually remarked:</p> + +<p>"This is the least inhabited side of the inn. +Only one room is occupied, and that by two foreigners—Madame +and Mademoiselle Letellier. +Yet it has a pleasant outlook, as you yourself can +see."</p> + +<p>"Is she—are they behind those windows?" he +asked, with an impetuosity I could not but admire +in a man with so much to recommend him to the +consideration of others. "I beg your pardon," +he added, a moment later, after a stolen glance at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +the house. "I know those ladies, and anything +in connection with them is interesting to me."</p> + +<p>I believed it, and had hard work to hide my +secret trouble. But his preoccupation assisted +me, and at length I found courage to remark:</p> + +<p>"They are from Paris, I understand. A fine +woman, Madame Letellier. Must be much admired +in her own land?"</p> + +<p>He seemed to have no reason for resenting my +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"She is," was his quick reply. "She is not only +admired, but respected. I have never heard her +name mentioned but with honor. I am happy to +be known as her friend."</p> + +<p>I gave him one quick look. Good God! What +lay before this man! And he so unconscious! I +felt like wishing the inn would fall to atoms before +our eyes, crushing beneath it the sin of the past +and his false hopes for the future. He saw nothing. +He was smiling upon a rose which he had +plucked and was holding in his hand.</p> + +<p>"This inn is one of the antiquities," I now observed, +anxious to know if any hint of its secrets had +ever reached his ears. "They say it is one of +the first structures reared on the river. Have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +you ever heard any of the traditions connected +with it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," he smiled. "The Happy-Go-Lucky +is quite a stranger to me. You cherish up all its +legends, though, I have no doubt. Are there any +tales of ghosts among them? I can easily imagine +certain disembodied spirits wandering through its +narrow halls and up and down its winding staircases."</p> + +<p>"What spirits?" I asked, convinced, however, +by his manner that he was talking at random, with +the probable aim of prolonging our walk within +view of the window behind which his darling +might stand concealed.</p> + +<p>"Madame must inform me. I have too little acquaintance +with this country to venture among its +traditions."</p> + +<p>"There is a story," I began; but here a finely +modulated but piercing voice rang musically down +the paths from the house, and we heard:</p> + +<p>"Your eyes will certainly suffer, Mrs. Truax, if +you let the hot sun glare upon them so mercilessly." +And, turning, we saw madame's smiling face +looking from her casement with a meaning that +struck us both dumb and led me to shorten our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +walk lest my interest in the romance then going +on should be suspected and my usefulness thus +become abridged.</p> + +<p>Was it to forestall my suspicions, rid herself of +my vigilance, or to insure herself against any forgetfulness +on her daughter's part, that madame, +some two hours later, sent me the following +note:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Mrs. Truax</span>: I can imagine that after +your walk in the blazing sunlight you do not feel +very well this evening. I must nevertheless request +of you a favor, my need being great and you +being the only person who can assist me. The +Marquis de la Roche-Guyon, with whom I saw +you promenading, has come to this place with the +express intention of paying court to my daughter. +As I am not prepared to frown upon his suit, and +equally unprepared to favor it, I do not feel at +liberty to refuse him the pleasure of an interview +with my daughter, and yet do not desire them to +enjoy such an interview alone. As I am ill, quite +ill, with a sudden and excruciating attack of pain +in my right hip, may I ask if you will fulfill the +office of chaperon for me, and, without embarrassment +to either party, take such measures as will +prevent an absolute confidence between them, till +I have obtained the sanction of my husband to an +intimacy which I myself dare not encourage?</p> + +<p>"Very truly your debtor, if you accomplish +this, <span class="smcap">Madame Letellier</span>."</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs20.jpg" width="500" height="320" alt="The walk" title="The walk" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE SECRET CHAMBER.</h3> + + +<p>Have only twenty-four hours elapsed? Is it but +yesternight that all the terrible events took place, +the memory of which are now making my frame +tremble? So the clock says, and yet how hard it +is to believe it. Madame Letellier— But I will +preserve my old method. I will not anticipate +events, but relate them as they occurred.</p> + +<p>To go back then to the note which I received +from madame. I did not like it. I did not see its +consistency, and I did not mean to be its dupe. If +she intended remaining in the oak parlor, then +over the oak parlor I would keep watch; for from +her alone breathed whatever danger there might +be for any of us, and to her alone did I look for the +explanation of her mysterious presence in a spot +that should have held a thousand repellent forces +for her and hers. As for her sudden illness, that +was nonsense. She was as well as I was myself. +Had I not seen her standing at the window an +hour or two before?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span></p> + +<p>But here I made a mistake. Madame was really +ill, as I presently had occasion to observe. For +not only was a physician summoned, but word +came that she wished to see me, also; and when I +went to her room I found her in bed, her face pallid +and distorted with pain, and her whole aspect +betraying the greatest physical suffering.</p> + +<p>It was a rheumatic attack, affecting mainly her +right limb, and made her so helpless that, for a +moment, I stood aghast at what looked to me like +a dispensation of Providence. But in another +instant I began to doubt again; for though I knew +it was beyond anybody's power to simulate the +suffering under which she evidently labored, I +was made to feel, by her penetrating and restless +looks, that her mind retained its hold upon its purpose, +whatever that purpose might be, and that +for me to relax my vigilance now would be to +give her an advantage that would be immediately +seized upon.</p> + +<p>I therefore held my sympathies in check; and, +while acting the part of the solicitous landlady, +watched for that glance or word which should reveal +her secret intentions. Her daughter, whose +eyes were streaming with tears, stood over her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +like a pitying angel, and not till we had done all +we could to relieve her mother, and subdue her +pain, did she allow her longing eyes to turn toward +the clock that beat out the passing moments +with mechanical precision. It was just a quarter +to nine.</p> + +<p>The mother saw that glance, and hid her face +for a moment; then she took mademoiselle by the +hand, and drawing her down to her, whispered +audibly:</p> + +<p>"I expect you to keep your appointment. Mrs. +Truax will send one of the girls to sit with me. +Besides, I feel better, and as if I could sleep. +Only remember your promise, dear. No look, no +hint of your feelings."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle flushed scarlet. Stealing a look +at me, she drew back embarrassed, but oh! how +joyous. I felt my old heart quiver as I surveyed +her, and in spite of the dread form of the redoubtable +woman stretched before me, in spite of the +grewsome room and its more than grewsome secrets, +something of the fairy light of love seemed +to fall upon my spirit and lift the darkness from +the place for one short and glowing moment.</p> + +<p>"Look in the glass," the mother now command<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>ed. +"You need to tie up your curls again and to +put a fresh flower at your throat. I do not wish +you to show weariness. Mrs. Truax"—these +words to me in low tones, as her daughter withdrew +to the other side of the room—"you received +my note?"</p> + +<p>I nodded.</p> + +<p>"You will do what I ask?"</p> + +<p>I nodded again. Deliberate falsehood it was, +but I showed no faltering.</p> + +<p>"Then I will excuse you now."</p> + +<p>I rose.</p> + +<p>"And do not send any one to me. I wish to +sleep, and another's presence would disturb me. +See, the pain is almost gone."</p> + +<p>She did look better.</p> + +<p>"Your wishes shall be regarded," I assured her. +"If you do feel worse, ring this bell and Margery +will notify me." And placing the bell rope near +her hand, I drew back and presently quitted the +room.</p> + +<p>Lingering in the hall just long enough to see the +lovely Honora flit across the threshold of the sitting-room +which I had purposely ordered vacant +for her use, I hurried to my room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was dark, dark as the secret chamber into +which I now stole with the lightest and wariest of +steps. Horror, gloom, and apprehension were in +the air, which brooded stiflingly in the narrow spot, +and had it not been for the righteous purpose sustaining +me, I should have fallen at this critical +moment, crushed beneath the terrible weight of +my own feelings.</p> + +<p>But one who has to listen, straining every faculty +to catch the purport of what is going on +behind an impenetrable wall, soon forgets himself +and his own sensations. As I pressed my ear to +the wall and caught the sound of a prolonged and +painful stir within, I only thought of following the +movements of madame, who, I was now sure, had +left her bed and was dragging herself, with what +difficulty and distress I could but faintly judge by +the involuntary groans which now and then left +her, across the floor toward the door, the key of +which I presently heard turn.</p> + +<p>This done, a heavy silence followed, then the +slow, dragging sound began again, interrupted +now by weary pants and heavy sobs that at first +chilled me and then shook me with such fear that +it was with difficulty that I could retain my place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> +against the wall. She was crawling in my direction, +and at each instant I heard the pants grow +louder.</p> + +<p>I gradually withdrew, step by step, till I +found myself pressed up against the wall in the +remotest corner I could find. And here was I +standing, enveloped in darkness and dread, when +the sounds changed to that of a shuddering, rushing +noise which I had heard once before in my life, and +from a narrow gap through which the faint light +in the room beyond dimly shone in a thread of +lesser darkness, the aperture grew, till I could feel +rather than see her form, crawling, not walking, +through the opening, and hear, distinct enough, +her horrible, gurgling tones as she murmured:</p> + +<p>"I shall have to grope for what I want—touch +it, feel it, for I cannot see. O God! O God! +What horror! What punishment!"</p> + +<p>Nearer, nearer over the floor she came, dragging +her useless limb behind her. Her outstretched +arm groped, groped about the floor, while I +stood trembling and agonized with horror till her +hand touched the skirt of my dress, when, with a +great shriek of suddenly liberated feeling, I pushed +her from me, and crying out, "Murderess! do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +you seek the bones of your victim?" I flung open +the door against which I stood and let the light +from my own room stream in upon us two.</p> + +<p>Her face as I saw it at that moment has never +left my memory. She had fallen in a heap at my +first move, and now lay crushed before me, with +only her wide-staring eyes and shaking lips to tell +me that she lived.</p> + +<p>"You thought I did not know you," I burst +forth. "You thought, because I had never seen +your face, you could come back here, bringing +your innocent daughter with you, and cast yourself +into the very atmosphere of your crime without +awakening the suspicion of the woman whose +house you had made a sepulcher of for so many +years. But crime was written too plainly on your +brow. The spirit of Honora Urquhart, breaking +the bounds of this room, has walked ever beside +you, and I knew you from the first moment that +you strayed down this hall."</p> + +<p>Broken sounds, unintelligible murmurings, were +all that greeted me.</p> + +<p>"You are punished," I went on, "in the misery +of your daughter. Nemesis has reached you. +The blood of Honora Urquhart has called aloud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +from these walls, and not yourself only, but the +still viler being whose name you have so falsely +shared, must answer to man and God for the life +you so heartlessly sacrificed and the rights you so +falsely usurped."</p> + +<p>"Mercy!" came in one quick gasp from the +crushed heap of humanity before me.</p> + +<p>But I was inexorable. I remembered Honora +Urquhart's sweet face, and at that moment could +think of nothing else. So I went on.</p> + +<p>"You have had years of triumph. You have +borne your victim's name, worn your victim's +clothes, sported with your victim's money. And +he, her husband, has looked on and smiled. Day +after day, month after month, year after year, you +have gone in and out before your friends, unmolested +and unafraid; but God's vengeance, though +it halts, is sure and keen. Across land and across +water the memories of this room have drawn you, +and not content with awakening suspicion, you +must make suspicion certainty by moving a spring +unknown even to myself, and entering this spot, +from which the bones of your victim were taken +only two months ago, Marah Leighton!"</p> + +<p>Moved by the name, she stood up. Tottering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +and agonized with pain, but firm once more and +determined, she towered before me, her face turned +toward the room she had left, her hand lifted, +her whole attitude that of one listening.</p> + +<p>"Hark!" she cried.</p> + +<p>It was a knock, a faint, low, trembling knock +that we heard, then the word "Mamma" came in +muffled accents from the hallway.</p> + +<p>A convulsion crossed the countenance of the +miserable woman before me.</p> + +<p>"Oh, God! my daughter, my daughter!" she +cried. And falling at my feet, she groveled in +anguish as she pleaded:</p> + +<p>"Will you kill her? She knows nothing, suspects +nothing. The whole fifteen years of her life +are pure. She is a flower. I love her—I love +her, though she looks like the woman I hated +and killed. She bears her name—why, I do not +know—I could not call her anything else; she is +my living reproach, and yet I love her. Do you +not see it was for her I crossed the water, for her +I plunged my living hand into this tomb to learn +if our secret had ever been discovered, and if there +was any hope that she might yet be made happy? +Ah, woman, woman, you are not a wretch—a de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>mon! +You will not sentence this innocent soul to +disgrace and misery. Even if I must die—and I +swear that I will die if you say so—leave to my +child her hopes; keep secret my sin, and take the +blessing of the most miserable being that crawls +upon the earth, as a solace for your old age. +Hear me; hear a wretched mother's plea—"</p> + +<p>"It is too late," I broke in. "Even were I silent +there are others upon your track. I doubt if +your husband does not already know that the day +of his prosperity is at an end."</p> + +<p>She gave a low cry, and tottered from the +place. Entering her own room, she threw herself +upon the bed. I followed, drawing the curtains +about her. Then closing the door of communication +between the oak parlor and the chamber +beyond, I passed to the door behind which we +could yet hear her daughter's soft voice calling, +and, unlocking it, let the radiant creature in.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma!" she began, "I could not keep +my word—"</p> + +<p>But here I held up my hand, and drawing her +softly out, told her that her mother needed rest +just now, and that if she would come to my room +for a little while it would be best; and so prevail<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>ed +upon her that she promised to do what I asked, +though I saw her cast longing glances through the +partly opened door toward the somber bed so like +a tomb, and which at that moment was a tomb, +had she known it—a tomb of hope, of joy, of +peace for evermore.</p> + +<p>I was just going out, when a slight stir detained +me. Looking back, I saw a hand thrust +out from between the falling curtains. Just a +hand, but how eloquent it was! Pointing it out +to mademoiselle, I said:</p> + +<p>"Your mother's hand. Give it a kiss, mademoiselle, +but do not part the curtains."</p> + +<p>She smiled and crossed to that ominous bed. +Kneeling, she kissed the hand, which thereupon +raised itself and rested on her head. In another +instant it was drawn slowly away, and, with a +startled look, the half-weeping daughter rose and +glided again to my side.</p> + +<p>As I closed the door I thought of those words: +"And the sins of the father shall be visited upon +the children to the third and fourth generation."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE MARQUIS.</h3> + + +<p>But the events of the night are not over. As +soon as I had seen mademoiselle comfortably ensconced +in my old room up stairs, I returned to +the sitting room, where the marquis still lingered. +He was standing in the window when I entered, +and turned with quite a bright face to greet me. +But that brightness soon vanished as he met my +glance, and it was with something like dismay that +he commented upon my paleness, and asked if I +were ill.</p> + +<p>I told him I was ill at ease; that events of a +most serious nature were transpiring in the house; +that he was concerned in them heavily, grievously; +that I could not rest till I had taken him into +my confidence, and shown him upon what a precipice +he was standing.</p> + +<p>He evidently considered me demented, but as +he looked at me longer, and noted my steady and +unflinching gaze, he gradually turned pale, and +uttered, in irrepressible anxiety, the one word—"Honora!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Miss Urquhart is well," I began, "and is as +ignorant as yourself of the shadows that hover +over her. She is all innocence and truth, sir. +Honor, candor and purity dwell in her heart, and +happiness in her eyes. Yet is that happiness +threatened by the worst calamity that can befall a +sensitive human being, and if you hold her in esteem—"</p> + +<p>"<i>Ma foi!</i>" he broke in, with violent impetuosity. +"I do not esteem her; I love her. What are these +dreadful secrets? How is her happiness threatened? +Tell me without hesitation, for I have +entreated her to be my wife, and she—"</p> + +<p>"She thinks it is a parent's whim, alone, which +keeps her from responding fully to your wishes," +I finished. "But madame's objections have deeper +ground than that. Miserable woman as she is, +she has some idea of honor left. She knew her +daughter could not safely marry into a high and +noble family, and so—"</p> + +<p>"What is this you say?" came again in the quick +and hurried tones of despair. "Mrs. Urquhart—"</p> + +<p>"Wait," I broke in. "You call her Mrs. Urquhart, +but she has no claim to that title. She and +Edwin Urquhart have never been married."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span></p> + +<p>He recoiled sharply, with a gesture of complete +disbelief.</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" he demanded. "They +are strangers to you. I have known them in their +own home. All the world credits their marriage, +and—"</p> + +<p>"All the world does not know what transpired +in this house sixteen years ago, when Edwin Urquhart +stopped here with his bride on his way to +France."</p> + +<p>He stared, seemed shaken, but presently hastened +to remark:</p> + +<p>"Ah, madame, you acknowledge that she is his +wife. You said bride. One does not call a woman +by that name without acknowledging a marriage +service."</p> + +<p>"The woman he brought here was his bride. +Edwin Urquhart is no common criminal, Marquis +de la Roche-Guyon."</p> + +<p>It was hard to make him understand. It was +hard to undermine his trust, step by step, inch by +inch, till he found no hope, no shred of doubt to +cling to. But it had to be done. If only to avert +worse calamities and more heart-rending scenes, +he must know at once, and before he took another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +step in relation to Miss Urquhart, just what her +position was, and to what shame and suffering he +was subjecting himself by accepting her love and +pledging his own.</p> + +<p>The task was not done till I had shown him this +diary of mine, and related all that had just occurred +in the room below. Then, indeed, he seemed +to comprehend his position, and completely crushed +and horror-stricken, subsided into a dreadful +silence before me, the lines of years coming into +his face as I watched him, till he became scarcely +recognizable for the lordly and light-hearted cavalier +whose dreams of love I had so fearfully interrupted +some half hour or so before. From this +lethargy of despair I did not seek to rouse him. I +knew when he had anything to say he would speak, +and till he had faced the situation and had made +up his mind to his duty, I could wait his decision +with perfect confidence in his fine nature +and nice sense of honor.</p> + +<p>You may, therefore, imagine my feelings when, +after a long delay—an hour at least—he suddenly +remarked:</p> + +<p>"We have been a proud family. From time +immemorial we have held ourselves aloof from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +whatever could be thought to stain our honor or +impeach our good name. I cannot drag the unfathomable +disgrace of all these crimes into a record +so pure as that of the Roche-Guyon race. +Though I had wished to bestow upon my wife a +name and position of which she could be proud, I +must content myself with merely giving her the +comfort of a true heart and such support as can +be provided by a loving but unaccustomed hand."</p> + +<p>"Marquis—" I commenced.</p> + +<p>But he cut my words short with a firm and determined +gesture.</p> + +<p>"My name is Louis de Fontaine," he explained. +"Henceforth my cousin will be known as the marquis. +It is the least I can do for the old French +honor."</p> + +<p>'Twas so simply, so determinedly done that I +stood aghast as much at the serenity of his manner +as the act which required such depth of sacrifice +from one of his traditions and rearing.</p> + +<p>"Then you continue to consider yourself the +suitor of Miss Urquhart," I stammered. "You +will marry her, though her parents may be called +upon to perish upon the scaffold in an ignominy +as great as ever befell two guilty mortals?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span></p> + +<p>The answer came brokenly, but with unwavering +strength:</p> + +<p>"Did you not say that she was innocent? Is +she to be crushed beneath the guilt of her parents? +Am I to take the last prop from one so soon to +be bereft of all the supports upon which she has +leaned from infancy? If I cling to her, she may +live through her horror and shame; but should +I fail her—great heavens! would we not have +another life to answer for before God? Besides," +he added, with the simplicity which marked his +whole bearing, "I love her. I could not do +otherwise if I would."</p> + +<p>To this final word I could make no rejoinder. +With a reverence unmingled with the taint of compassion, +I took my departure, and being anxious +by this time to know how my young charge was +bearing her seclusion, I went to the room where +I had left her, and softly opened the door.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>MARK FELT.</h3> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/gs21.jpg" width="300" height="329" alt="S" title="S" /> +</div> +<div class='unindent'>UBJECTED as I have been +in the last three hours to +distress and turmoil, I was +delighted to find mademoiselle +asleep, and to behold +her peaceful face. Gazing +at it, and noting the happy smile which unconsciously +lingered on her lips, I could not but feel +that, despite the hideous revelations which lay +before her, her lot was an enviable one, allied as +it promised to be with that of one of such high +principles as the marquis. Though I am old now +and have had my day, the love of the innocent +and pure is sacred to me, and in this case it +certainly has the charm of a spotless lily blooming +in the jaws of hell.</div> + +<p>As it was late and I was almost exhausted, I +began to think of rest. But my uneasiness in re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>gard +to madame would not let me sleep till I had +made another visit to her room. So, leaving the +gentle sleeper lapped in serenest dreams, I proceeded +to descend once more. As I passed the +great clock on the stairs, I noticed that it was +almost midnight and began to hasten my steps, +when I heard a loud knock at the front door.</p> + +<p>This is not an infrequent sound with us, but it +greatly startled me this night. I even remember +pausing and looking helplessly up and down the +hall, as if it were a question whether I should +obey the unwelcome summons. But such knocking +as speedily followed could not be long +ignored. So, subduing my impatience, I hastened +to the door, and unlocking it, threw it open. +A gust of rain and wind greeted me.</p> + +<p>This was my first surprise, for I had not even +noticed that the weather was unpleasant, so completely +had I been absorbed by what had been +going on in the house. My next was the bearing +and appearance of the stranger who demanded +my hospitality. For though both face and form +were unknown to me, there was that in his aspect +which stirred recollections not out of keeping +with the unhappy subject then occupying all my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> +thoughts. Yet I could not speak his name, or put +into words the anticipations that vaguely agitated +me, and led him through the hall and into the +comfortable sitting room so lately vacated by the +marquis, with no more distinct impression in my +mind than that something was about to happen +which would complete rather than interrupt the +horrors of this eventful night.</p> + +<p>And when the light fell full upon him, and I could +see his eager eyes, this feeling increased, and no +sooner had his cloak fallen from his shoulders and +his hat left his head, than I recognized the prominent +jaw and earnest face, and putting no curb on +my impetuosity, I exclaimed at once, and without +a doubt:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Felt!"</p> + +<p>The utterance of this name seemed to cause no +surprise to my new guest.</p> + +<p>"The same," he replied; "and you are Mrs. +Truax, of course. Mr. Tamworth has described +you to me, also this inn, till I feel as if I knew its +every stone. I did not wish to visit it, but I could +not help myself. An unknown influence has been +drawing me here for days, and though I resisted +it with all my strength, it finally became so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> +powerful that I rose from my bed at night, saddled +my horse, and started in this direction. I +have been twenty hours on the road, but part of +these I have spent in the thicket just over against +you on the opposite side of the road. For the +sight of the house awakened in my mind such a +disturbance that I feared to show myself at the +door. A voice out of the air seemed to cry, 'Not +yet! not yet!' Nevertheless I could not go back +nor leave the spot, which, once seen, possessed for +me a fatal fascination."</p> + +<p>I was speechless. Good God! were the old +psychological influences at work, and had they +acted upon him at forty miles distance?</p> + +<p>"You come from Albany?" I at last stammered +forth. "You must have had a wet time of it; it +storms heavily, I see."</p> + +<p>"Storms?" he repeated, glancing at the cloak he +had thrown off. "Great Heaven! my cloak is +saturated, and I did not even know it rained. A +touch of the old spell," he murmured. "Something +is about to happen to me; something has +drawn me with purpose to this house."</p> + +<p>I felt awe-struck. Would he guess next what +that something was?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span></p> + +<p>"At eleven o'clock," he went on, with the abstracted +air of one recalling an experience, "I felt +a pang shoot through my breast. I had been +looking steadfastly at these walls, and somewhere +about the building a light seemed to go out, for a +pall of darkness suddenly settled upon it, simultaneously +with the cessation of that imaginary cry +which had hitherto detained me. Where was that +light, Mrs. Truax, and what has happened here +that I should feel myself called upon to cross this +threshold to-night?"</p> + +<p>I did not answer at once, for I was trembling. +Was I to be subjected to another such an ordeal as +I had experienced earlier in the evening and be +forced to prepare, by such means as lay in my +power, a much abused man for a most dreadful +revelation? It began to look so.</p> + +<p>"What has called me here?" he repeated. "Danger +to her or death to him? They are thousands +of miles away, and Tamworth could not have yet +reached them, but peril of some deadly nature +menaces them, I know. A stroke has gone home +to him or her, and it is in this place I am to learn +it; is it not so, Mrs. Truax?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," I tremblingly assented. "There is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> +a gentleman here from France who may be able +to tell you something of the man and the woman +you mean. Would it affect you very much to +hear disastrous news of them?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot say," he answered; "it should not. +Mr. Tamworth tells me that he has acquainted +you with the story of my life. Do you think I +should feel overwhelmed at any retribution following +a crime that was committed almost as much +against me as against the pure and noble being +who was the visible sufferer?"</p> + +<p>"I shrink from answering," I returned; "the +human heart is a curious thing. If he alone were +to suffer—"</p> + +<p>"Ah, he!" was the bitter ejaculation.</p> + +<p>"Or if she," I proceeded, "were bound by no +ties appealing to the sympathies! But she is a +mother—"</p> + +<p>"Good God!"</p> + +<p>I had not thought it would affect him so, and +stood appalled.</p> + +<p>"A mother!" he repeated; "she! she! the +tigress, the heartless one, with no more soul than +the naked dagger I should have plunged into +her breast and did not! Great Heaven! and this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> +child has lived, I suppose; is grown up and—and—"</p> + +<p>"Is the sweetest, purest, most unworldly of beautiful +women that these eyes have ever rested upon."</p> + +<p>I thought he would spring upon me, he leaned +forward with so much impetuosity.</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" he asked, and my heart +stood still at the question.</p> + +<p>"Because I have seen her," I presently rejoined. +"Because I have had opportunities for studying +her heart. She is called Honora, and she is like +Miss Dudleigh, only more beautiful and with more +claims to what is called character."</p> + +<p>He did not seem to take in my words.</p> + +<p>"You have been to France?" he declared.</p> + +<p>"No," I corrected; "Miss Urquhart has been +here."</p> + +<p>He fell back, then started forward again, opened +his lips and stared wildly, half fearfully about the +room.</p> + +<p>"Here?" he repeated, evidently overcome at the +idea. "Why did they send her here? I should +as soon have expected them to send her into the +murk of the bottomless pit. A girl, an innocent +girl, you say, and sent here?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They had reason; besides, she did not come +alone."</p> + +<p>This time he understood me.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he shrieked, "she in the house. I might +have known it," he went on more calmly; "I did, +only I would not believe it. Her crime has drawn +her to the place of its perpetration. She could +not resist the magnetic influence which all places +of blood have upon the guilty. She has come +back! And he?"</p> + +<p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>"The man had less courage," I declared. "Perhaps +because he was more guilty; perhaps because +he had less love."</p> + +<p>"Love?"</p> + +<p>"It was love for the daughter which drew the +mother here, not the spell of her crime or the +accusing spirit of the dead. The woman who +wronged you has some heart; she was willing +to risk detection, and with it her reputation and +life, to see if by any possibility she could venture +to give happiness to the one being whom she really +loves."</p> + +<p>"Explain; I do not understand. How could +she hope to find happiness for her child here?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span></p> + +<p>"By settling the question which evidently tortured +her. By determining once for all whether +the crime of sixteen years back had ever been +discovered, and if she found it had not, to satisfy +at once her own pride and her daughter's heart +by giving that daughter to as noble a gentleman +as ever carried a sword."</p> + +<p>"And they are here now?"</p> + +<p>"They are here."</p> + +<p>"And she has discovered—"</p> + +<p>"The futility of all her hopes."</p> + +<p>He drew back, and his heavy breath echoed in +deep pants through the room.</p> + +<p>"What an end for Marah Leighton!" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"What an end! And she is here!" he went on, +after a moment of silent emotion—"under this +roof! No wonder I felt myself called hither. +And she knows her crime is detected? How came +she to know this? Did you recognize her and tell +her?"</p> + +<p>"I recognized her and told her. There was +no other course. We met in the secret chamber, +whither she had come to make her own terrible +investigations; and the sight of her there, on the +spot where she had left the innocent to die, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> +too much for my sense of justice. I accused her +to her face, and she crouched before me as under +the lash. There was no possibility of denial after +that, and she now lies—"</p> + +<p>"Wait!" he cried, catching me painfully by the +arm. "When was this day? To-day—to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Not two hours ago."</p> + +<p>His brow took on a look of awe.</p> + +<p>"You see," he murmured, "she has power over +me yet. When her hope broke, something snapped +within me here. I abhor her, but I feel her +grief. She was once all the world to me."</p> + +<p>I recognized his right to emotion, and did not +profane it by any words of mine. Instead of that +I sought to leave him, but he would not let me go +till he had asked me another question.</p> + +<p>"And the daughter?" he urged. "Does she +know of the opprobrium which must fall upon +her head?"</p> + +<p>"She sleeps," I replied, "with a smile of the +shyest delight upon her lips. Her lover has followed +her to this place, and the last words she +heard to-night were those of his devotion. Her +suffering must come to-morrow; yet it will be +mitigated, for he will not forsake her, whatever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> +shame may follow his loyalty. I have his word +for that."</p> + +<p>"Then the earth holds two lovers," was Mark +Felt's rejoinder. "I thought it held but one." +And with a sigh he let go my arm and turned to +the window, with its background of driving rain +and pitiless flashes of lightning.</p> + +<p>I took the opportunity to excuse myself for +a few minutes, and hurrying again into the hall, +hastened, with nervous fear and an agitation +greatly heightened by the unexpected interview +I had just been through, to the now oft-opened +door leading into the oak parlor.</p> + +<p>I found it closed but not locked, and pushing it +open, listened for a moment, then took a glance +within. All was quiet and ghostly. A single +candle guttering on the table at one end of the +room lent a partial light by which I could discern +the funereal bed and the other heavy and desolate-looking +articles of furniture with which the room +was encumbered. Honora's flowers, withering +on the window seat, spoke of tender hopes not +yet vanished from her tender dreams, but elsewhere +all was hard, all was dreary, all was inexorably +forbidding and cold. I shuddered as I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> +looked, and shuddered still more as I approached +the bed and paused firmly before it.</p> + +<p>"Madame Letellier"—it was the only name by +which I could bring myself to address her at that +instant—"there is one gleam of brightness in your +sky. The marquis knows the story of your guilt, +yet consents to marry your daughter."</p> + +<p>I received no reply.</p> + +<p>Shaken by fresh doubts, and moved by an inexplicable +terror, I stood still for a moment gathering +up my strength, then I repeated my words, +this time with sharp emphasis and scarcely concealed +importunity.</p> + +<p>"Madame," said I, "the marquis knows your +guilt, yet consents to marry your daughter."</p> + +<p>But the silence within remained unbroken, and +not a movement displaced the somber falling curtains.</p> + +<p>Agitated beyond endurance, I stretched forth +my hands and drew those curtains aside. An unexpected +sight met my eyes. There was no madame +there; the bed was empty.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>FOR THE LAST TIME.</h3> + + +<p>My eyes turned immediately in the direction of +the secret chamber. Its entrance was closed, but +I knew she was hidden there as well as if the +door had been open and I had seen her.</p> + +<p>What should I do? For a moment I hesitated, +then I rushed from the room and hastened back +to Mr. Felt. I found him standing with his face +to the door, eagerly awaiting my return.</p> + +<p>"What has happened?" he asked, importunately. +"Your face is as pale as death."</p> + +<p>"Because death is in the house. Madame—"</p> + +<p>"Ah!"</p> + +<p>"Lies not in her bed, nor is she to be found in +her room. There is another place, however, in +which instinct tells me we shall find her, and if +we do, we shall find her dead!"</p> + +<p>"In her daughter's room? At her daughter's +bedside?"</p> + +<p>"No; in the secret chamber."</p> + +<p>He gazed at me with wild and haggard aspect.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are right," he hoarsely assented. "Let +us go; let us seek her; it may not be too late."</p> + +<p>The entrance to this hidden room was closed, +as I have said, and as I had never assisted at its +opening, I did not know where to find the hidden +spring by means of which the panel was moved. +We had, therefore, to endure minutes of suspense +while Mr. Felt fumbled at the wainscoting. The +candle I held shook with my agitation, and though +I had heard nothing of the storm before, it seemed +now as if every gust which came swooping down +upon the house tore its way through my shrinking +consciousness with a force and menace that scattered +the last remnant of self-possession. Not an +instant in the whole terrible day had been more +frightful to me, no, not the moment when I first +heard the sliding of this very panel and the sound +of her crawling form approaching me through +the darkness. The vivid flashes of lightning that +shot every now and then through the cracks of +the closely shuttered window, making a skeleton +of its framework, added not a little to its terror, +there being no other light in the room save that +and the flickering, almost dying flame, with which +I strove to aid Mr. Felt's endeavors and only suc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>ceeded +in lighting up his anxious and heavily +bedewed forehead.</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh!" was my moan; "this is terrible! +Let us quit it or go around to my own room, +where there is an open door."</p> + +<p>But he did not hear me. His efforts had become +frantic, and he tore at the wainscoting as if +he would force it open by main strength.</p> + +<p>"You cannot reach her that way," I declared. +"Perhaps my hand may be more skillful. Let +me try."</p> + +<p>But he only increased his efforts. "I am coming, +Marah; I am coming!" he called, and at once, +as if guided by some angel's touch, his fingers +slipped upon the spring. Immediately it yielded, +and the opening so eagerly sought for was made.</p> + +<p>"Go in," he gasped, "go in."</p> + +<p>And so it was that the fate which had forced +me against my will, and in despite of such intense +shrinking, to pass so frequently into that hideous +spot, where death held its revel and Nemesis +awaited her victim, drove me thither once again, +and, as I now hope, for the last time. For, there +upon the floor, and almost in the same spot where +we had found lying the remains of innocent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> +Honora Urquhart, we saw, as my premonition had +told me we should, the outstretched form of the +unhappy being who had usurped her place in life, +and now, in retribution of that act, had laid her +head down upon the same couch in death. She +was pulseless and quite cold. Upon her mouth +her left hand lay pressed, as if, with her last breath, +she sought to absorb the pure kiss which had been +left there by the daughter she so much loved.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3>A LAST WORD.</h3> + + +<p>Did Marah Leighton will the coming of her old +lover to my inn on that fatal night? That is the +question I asked, when, with the first breaking of +the morning light, I discovered lying on the table +under an empty phial, a letter addressed, not to +her husband, nor to her child, but to him, Mark +Felt. It is a question that will never be answered, +but I know that he comforts himself with the supposition, +and allows the trembling hope to pass, at +times, across his troubled spirit, that in the bitterness +of those last hours some touch of the divine +mercy may have moved her soul and made her +fitter for his memory to dwell upon.</p> + +<p>The letter I afterward read. It was as follows:</p> + + +<div class='center'><span class="smcap">To the Man Who Gave All, Bore All, and +Reaped Nothing but Suffering:</span></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I am not worthy to write you, even with the +prospect of death before me. But an influence I +do not care to combat drives me to make you, of +all men, the confidant of my remorse.</p> + +<p>I did not perish sixteen years ago in the Hud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>son +River. I lived to share in and profit by a +crime that has left an indelible stain upon my life +and an ineffaceable darkness within my soul. You +know, or soon will know, what that crime was and +how we prospered in it. Daring as it was dreadful, +I heard its fearful details planned by his lips, +without a shudder, because I was mad in those +days, mad for wealth, mad for power, mad for adventure. +The only madness I did not feel was +love. This I say to comfort a pride that must +have been sorely wounded in those days, as sorely +wounded as your heart.</p> + +<p>Edwin Urquhart could make my eyes shine and +my blood run swiftly, but not so swiftly as to make +me break my troth with you, had he not sworn to +me that through him I should gain what moved +me more than any man's love. How he was to +accomplish this I could not see in the beginning, +and was so little credulous of his being able to +keep his oaths that I let myself be drawn by you +almost to the church door.</p> + +<p>But I got no further. There in the crowd he +stood with a command in his eyes which forbade +any further advance. Though I comprehended +nothing then, I obeyed his look and went back, for +my heart was not in any marriage, and it was in +the hopes to which his looks seemed to point. +Later he told me what those hopes were. He had +been down to Long Island, and, while there, had +chanced to hear in some tavern of the Happy-Go-Lucky +Inn and its secret chamber, and he saw, or +thought he saw, how he could make me his without +losing the benefit of an alliance with Miss Dudleigh. +And I thought I saw also, and entered into his plans, +though they comprised crime and entailed horrors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> +upon me from which woman naturally <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'shrink'">shrinks</ins>. I +was hard as the nether millstone of which the +Bible speaks, and went determinedly on in the +path of dissimulation and crime which had been +marked out for me, till we came to this inn. Then, +owing, perhaps, to my long imprisonment in the +dreadful box, I began to feel qualms of physical +fear and such harrowing mental forebodings that +more than once during that terrible evening I came +near shouting for release.</p> + +<p>But I was held back by apprehensions as great +as any from which a premature release from my +place of hiding could have freed me. I dared not +face Honora, and I dared not subject Edwin Urquhart +to the consequences of a public recognition +of our perfidy, and so I let my opportunity go by, +and became the sharer, as I was already the instigator, +of the unheard-of crime by which I became, +in the eyes of the world, his wife.</p> + +<p>What I suffered during its perpetration no word +of mine can convey. I cringed to her moans; I +shook under the blow that stifled them. And +when all was over, and the bolts which confined +me were shot back, and I found myself once more +on my feet and in the free air of this most horrible +of rooms, I looked about, not for him, but her, +and when I did not see her or any token of her +death, I was seized by such an agony of revulsion +that I uttered a great and irrepressible cry which +filled the house, and brought more than one startled +inquirer to our door.</p> + +<p>For retribution and remorse were already busy +within me, and in the lurking shadows about the +fireplace I thought I saw the long and narrow +slit made by the half-closed panel standing open<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> +between me and the secret place of her entombment. +And though it was but an optical delusion, +the panel being really closed, it might as well +have been the truth, for I have never been able +to rid myself of the sight of that chimerical strip +of darkness, with its suggestions of guilt and +death. It haunted my vision; it ruined my life; +it destroyed my peace. If I shut my eyes at night, +it opened before me. If I arrayed myself in jewels +and rich raiment, and paused to take but a +passing look at myself in the glass, this horror +immediately came between me and my own image, +blotting the vision of wealth from my eyes; +so that I went into the homes of the noble or the +courts of the king a clouded, miserable thing, +seeing nothing but that black and narrow slit closing +upon youth and beauty and innocence forever +and forever and forever.</p> + +<p>My child came. Ah! that I should have to +mention her here! I do it in penance; I do it in +despair; since with her my heart woke, and for +her that heart is now broken, never to be healed +again. Oh, if the knowledge of my misery wakens +in you one thought that is not of revenge, cast a +pitying eye upon this darling one, left in a hateful +country without friends, without lover, without +means. For friends and lover and means will all +leave her with the revelations which the morning +will bring, and unless Heaven is merciful to her +innocence as it has been just to my guilt, she will +have no other goal before her than that which has +opened its refuge to me.</p> + +<p>As for her father, let Heaven deal with him. +He gave me this darling child; so I may not curse +him, even if I cannot bless.</p> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">Marah.</span><br /> +</div> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">October</span> 23, 1791.<br /> +</div> + +<p>I have seen one bright thing to-day, and that +was the faint and almost unearthly gleam which +shot for a moment from beneath Honora's falling +lids as I told her what love was and how the marquis +only awaited her permission to speak to assure +her of his boundless affection and his undying +purpose to be true to her even to the point +of assuming her griefs and taking upon himself +the protection of her innocence.</p> + +<p>If it had not been for this, I should have felt that +the world was too dark to remain in, and life too +horrible to be endured.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">November</span> 30, 1791.<br /> +</div> + +<p>I thought that when Honora Urquhart left my +house to be married to M. De Fontaine, in the +church below the hill, peace would return to us +once more.</p> + +<p>But there is no peace. This morning another +horrible tragedy defiled my doorstep.</p> + +<p>I was sitting in the open porch waiting for the +mail coach, for it seemed to me that it was about +time I received some word from Mr. Tamworth. +It was yet some minutes before the time when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span> +rumble of the coach is usually heard, and I was +brooding, as was natural, over the more than terrible +occurrences of the last few weeks, when I +heard the clatter of horses' hoofs, and looking +up and down the road, saw a small party of men +approaching from the south. As they came nearer, +I noticed that one of the riders was white-haired +and presumably aged, and was interesting myself +in him, when he came near enough for me to distinguish +his features, and I perceived it was no +other than Mr. Tamworth.</p> + +<p>Rising in perturbation, I glanced at the men behind +and abreast of him, and saw that one of these +rode with lowered head and oppressed mien, and +was just about to give that person a name in my +mind when the horse he bestrode suddenly reared, +bolted, and dashed forward to where I sat, flinging +his rider at the very threshold of my house, +where he lay senseless as the stone upon which +his head had fallen.</p> + +<p>For an instant both his companions and myself +paused aghast at a sight so terrible and bewildering; +then, amid cries from the road and one wild +shriek from within, I rushed forward, and turning +over the head, looked upon the face of the fallen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> +man. It was not a new one to me. Though +changed and seamed and white now in death, I +recognized it at once. It was that of Edwin Urquhart.</p> + +<div class='center'><big><b>. . . . . . . . .</b></big></div> + +<p>This noon I took down the sign which has swung +for twenty years over my front door. "Happy-Go-Lucky" +is scarcely the name for an inn accursed +by so many horrors.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">February</span> 3, 1792.<br /> +</div> + +<p>This week I have fulfilled the threat of years +ago. I have had the oak parlor and its hideous +adjunct torn from my house.</p> + +<p>Now, perhaps, I can sleep.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">March</span> 16.<br /> +</div> + +<p>News from Honora. The distant relative who +succeeded to the estates and the title of the Marquis +de la Roche-Guyon has fallen a victim to the +guillotine. Would this have been the fate of +Honora's husband had he forsaken her and returned +home? There is reason to believe it. At +all events, she finds herself greatly comforted by +this news for the sacrifice which her husband<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> +made to his love, and no longer regrets the exile +to which he has been forced to submit for her +sake. Wonderful, wonderful Providence! I +view its workings with renewed awe every day.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='right'> +<span class="smcap">September</span> 5, 1795.<br /> +</div> + +<p>I have been from home. I have been on a visit +to New York. I have tasted of change, of brightness, +of free and cheerful living, and I can settle +down now in this old and fast-decaying inn with +something else to think about than ruin and fearful +retribution.</p> + +<p>I have been visiting Madame De Fontaine. She +wished me to come, I think, that I might see how +amply her married life had fulfilled the promise of +her courtship days. Though she and her noble +husband live in peaceful retirement, and without +many of the appurtenances of wealth, they find +such resources of delight in each other's companionship +that it would be hard for the most exacting +witness of their mutual felicity to wish them +any different fate, or to desire for them any wider +field of social influence.</p> + +<p>The marquis—I shall always call him thus—has +found a friend in General Washington, and though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> +he is never seen at the President's receptions, or +mingles his voice in the councils of his adopted +country, there are evidences constantly appearing +of the confidence reposed in him by this great +man, which cannot but add to the exile's contentment +and satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Honora has developed into a grand beauty. +The melancholy which her unhappy memories +have necessarily infused into her countenance have +given depth to her expression, which was always +sweet, and frequently touching. She looks like a +queen, but like a queen who has known not only +grief, but love. There is nothing of despair in +her glance, rather a lofty hope, and when her +affections are touched, or her enthusiasm roused, +she smiles with such a heavenly brightness in her +countenance, that I think there is no fairer woman +in the world, as I am assured there is none worthier.</p> + +<p>Her husband agrees with me in this opinion, +and is so happy that she said to me one day:</p> + +<p>"I sometimes wonder how my heart succeeds +in holding the joy which Heaven has seen fit to +grant me. In it I read the forgiveness of God for +the unutterable sins of my parents; and though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> +the shadows will come, and do come, whenever +I think upon the past, or see a face which, like +yours, recalls memories as bitter as ever overwhelmed +an innocent girl in her first youth, I find +that with every year of love and peaceful living +the darkness grows less, as if, somewhere in the +boundless heavens, the mercy of God was making +itself felt in the heart of her who once called herself +my mother."</p> + +<p>And hearing her speak thus, I felt my own breast +lose something of the oppression which had hitherto +weighed it down. And as the days passed, +and I experienced more and more of the true +peace that comes with perfect love and perfect +trust, I found my tears turned to rejoicing and the +story of my regrets into songs of hope.</p> + +<p>And so I have come back comforted and at rest. +If there are yet ghosts haunting the old inn, I do +not see them, and though its walls are dismantled, +its custom gone, and its renown a thing of the past, +I can still sit on its grass-grown doorstep and roam +through its fast-decaying corridors without discovering +any blacker shadow following in my +wake than that of my own figure, bent now with +age, and only held upright by the firmness of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> +little cane with which I strive to give aid to my +tottering and uncertain steps.</p> + +<p>The grace of God has fallen at last upon the +Happy-Go-Lucky Inn.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/gs22.jpg" width="300" height="259" alt="The Happy-Go-Lucky Inn" title="The Happy-Go-Lucky Inn" /> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>FAMOUS COPYRIGHT BOOKS<br /> +IN POPULAR PRICED EDITIONS</h2> + + +<p>Re-issues of the great literary successes of the time. 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There +is a love affair of real charm and most novel surroundings, there is a +run on the bank which is almost worth a year's growth, and there is +all manner of exhilarating men and deeds which should bring the +book into high and permanent favor."—<i>Chicago Evening Post.</i></p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span></p> + +<div class='hang1'>LAVENDER AND OLD LACE. By Myrtle Reed.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A charming story of a quaint corner of New England where bygone +romance finds a modern parallel. One of the prettiest, sweetest, and +quaintest of old-fashioned love stories * * * A rare book, exquisite +in spirit and conception, full of delicate fancy, of tenderness, +of delightful humor and spontaneity. A dainty volume, especially +suitable for a gift.</p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>DOCTOR LUKE OF THE LABRADOR. By Norman +Duncan. With a frontispiece and inlay cover.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>How the doctor came to the bleak Labrador coast and there in saving +life made expiation. In dignity, simplicity, humor, in sympathetic +etching of a sturdy fisher people, and above all in the echoes of the +sea, <i>Doctor Luke</i> is worthy of great praise. Character, humor, poignant +pathos, and the sad grotesque conjunctions of old and new civilizations +are expressed through the medium of a style that has distinction +and strikes a note of rare personality.</p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>THE DAY'S WORK. By Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The <i>London Morning Post</i> says: "It would be hard to find better +reading * * * the book is so varied, so full of color and life from +end to end, that few who read the first two or three stories will lay it +down till they have read the last—and the last is a veritable gem +* * * contains some of the best of his highly vivid work * * * +Kipling is a born story-teller and a man of humor into the bargain.</p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>ELEANOR LEE. By Margaret E. Sangster. With a frontispiece.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A story of married life, and attractive picture of wedded bliss * * * +an entertaining story <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'or'">of</ins> a man's redemption through a woman's love +* * * no one who knows anything of marriage or parenthood can +read this story with eyes that are always dry * * * goes straight +to the heart of every one who knows the meaning of "love" and +"home."</p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>THE COLONEL OF THE RED HUZZARS. By John +Reed Scott. Illustrated by Clarence F. Underwood.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Full of absorbing charm, sustained interest, and a wealth of +thrilling and romantic situations. So naively fresh in its handling, +so plausible through its naturalness, that it comes like a mountain +breeze across the far-spreading desert of similar romances."—<i>Gazette-Times</i>, +Pittsburg. "A slap-dashing day romance."—<i>New York Sun</i>.</p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span></p> + +<div class='hang1'>THE FAIR GOD; OR, THE LAST OF THE TZINS. +By Lew Wallace. With illustrations by Eric Pape.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The story tells of the love of a native princess for Alvarado, and it +is worked out with all of Wallace's skill * * * it gives a fine picture +of the heroism of the Spanish conquerors and of the culture and +nobility of the Aztecs."—<i>New York Commercial Advertiser</i>.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ben Hur</i> sold enormously, but The Fair God was the best of the +General's stories—a powerful and romantic treatment of the defeat of +Montezuma by Cortes."—<i>Athenæum.</i></p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>THE CAPTAIN OF THE KANSAS. By Louis Tracy.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A story of love and the salt sea—of a helpless ship whirled into the +hands of cannibal Fuegians—of desperate fighting and tender romance, +enhanced by the art of a master of story telling who describes with +his wonted felicity and power of holding the reader's attention * * * +filled with the swing of adventure.</p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>A MIDNIGHT GUEST. A Detective Story. By Fred M. +White. With a frontispiece.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The scene of the story centers in London and Italy. The book is +skilfully written and makes one of the most baffling, mystifying, exciting +detective stories ever written—cleverly keeping the suspense +and mystery intact until the surprising discoveries which precede +the end.</p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>THE HONOUR OF SAVELLI. A Romance. By S. Levett +Yeats. With cover and wrapper in four colors.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Those who enjoyed Stanley Weyman's <i>A Gentleman of France</i> +will be engrossed and captivated by this delightful romance of Italian +history. It is replete with exciting episodes, hair-<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'breath'">breadth</ins> escapes, +magnificent sword-play, and deals with the agitating times in Italian +history when Alexander II was Pope and the famous and infamous +Borgias were tottering to their fall.</p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>SISTER CARRIE. By Theodore Drieser. With a frontispiece, +and wrapper in color.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In all fiction there is probably no more graphic and poignant study +of the way in which man loses his grip on life, lets his pride, his courage, +his self-respect slip from him, and, finally, even ceases to struggle +in the mire that has engulfed him. * * * There is more tonic value +in Sister Carrie than in a whole shelfful of sermons.</p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span></p> + +<div class='unindent'><b>THE SHUTTLE, By Frances Hodgson Burnett</b></div> +<div class='right'><b>With inlay cover in colors by Clarence F. Underwood.</b></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This great international romance relates the story of an American +girl who, in rescuing her sister from the ruins of her marriage +to an Englishman of title, displays splendid qualities of courage, +tact and restraint. As a study of American womanhood of modern +times, the character of Bettina Vanderpoel stands alone in literature. +As a love story, the account of her experience is magnificent. +The masterly handling, the glowing style of the book, give it a +literary rank to which very few modern novels have attained.</p></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><b>THE MAKING OF A MARCHIONESS,</b></div> +<div class='right'><b>By Frances Hodgson Burnett</b></div> + +<p>Illustrated with half tone engravings by Charles D. Williams. +With initial letters, tail-pieces, decorative borders. Beautifully +printed, and daintily bound, and boxed.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A delightful novel in the author's most charming vein. The +scene is laid in an English country house, where an amiable English +nobleman is the centre of matrimonial interest on the part of +both the English and Americans present.</p> + +<p>Graceful, sprightly, almost delicious in its dialogue and action. +It is a book about which one is tempted to write ecstatically.</p></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><b>THE METHODS OF LADY WALDERHURST,</b></div> +<div class='right'><b>By Francis Hodgson Burnett</b></div> + +<p>A Companion Volume to "The Making of a Marchioness."</p> + +<p>With illustrations by Charles D. Williams, and with initial +letters, tail-pieces, and borders, by A. K. Womrath. Beautifully +printed and daintily bound, and boxed.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Methods of Lady Walderhurst" is a delightful story +which combines the sweetness of "The Making of a Marchioness," +with the dramatic qualities of "A Lady of Quality." Lady Walderhurst +is one of the most charming characters in modern fiction.</p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'><b>VAYENNE, By Percy Brebner</b><br /> +With illustrations by E. Fuhr.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This romance like the author's <i>The Princess Maritza</i> is charged +to the brim with adventure. Sword play, bloodshed, justice grown +the multitude, sacrifice, and romance, mingle in dramatic episodes +that are born, flourish, and pass away on every page.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span></p> +<div class='hang1'>DARREL OF THE BLESSED ISLES. By Irving Bacheller. +With illustrations by Arthur Keller.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Darrel, the clock tinker, is a wit, philosopher, and man of mystery. +Learned, strong, kindly, dignified, he towers like a giant above the +people among whom he lives. It is another tale of the North Country, +full of the odor of wood and field. Wit, humor, pathos and high +thinking are in this book."—<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>D'RI AND I: A Tale of Daring Deeds in the Second War +with the British. Being the Memoirs of Colonel Ramon +Bell, U. S. A. By Irving Bacheller. With illustrations by +F. C. Yohn.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Mr. Bacheller is admirable alike in his scenes of peace and war. +D'ri, a mighty hunter, has the same dry humor as Uncle Eb. He +fights magnificently on the 'Lawrence,' and was among the wounded +when Perry went to the 'Niagara.' As a romance of early American +history it is great for the enthusiasm it creates."—<i>New York Times.</i></p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>EBEN HOLDEN: A Tale of the North Country. By Irving +Bacheller.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"As pure as water and as good as bread," says Mr. Howells. "Read +'Eben Holden'" is the advice of Margaret Sangster. "It is a forest-scented, +fresh-aired, bracing and wholly American story of country +and town life. * * * If in the far future our successors wish to +know what were the real life and atmosphere in which the country +folk that saved this nation grew, loved, wrought and had their being, +they must go back to such true and zestful and poetic tales of 'fiction' +as 'Eben Holden,'" says Edmund Clarence Stedman.</p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>SILAS STRONG: Emperor of the Woods. By Irving Bacheller. +With a frontispiece.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A modern <i>Leatherstocking</i>. Brings the city dweller the aroma of +the pine and the music of the wind in its blanches—an epic poem +* * * forest-scented, fresh-aired, and wholly American. A stronger +character than Eben Holden."—<i>Chicago Record-Herald.</i></p></div> + + +<div class='hang1'>VERGILIUS: A Tale of the Coming of Christ. By Irving +Bacheller.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A thrilling and beautiful story of two young Roman patricians whose +great and perilous love in the reign of Augustus leads them through +the momentous, exciting events that marked the year just preceding +the birth of Christ.</p> + +<p>Splendid character studies of the Emperor Augustus, of Herod and +his degenerate son, Antipater, and of his daughter "the incomparable" +Salome. A great triumph in the art of historical portrait painting.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>GROSSET & DUNLAP, - NEW YORK</h4> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> + +<p>Variations in page numbering are due to placement of illustrations and blank pages +occurring in the original text.</p> +<p>The original text had some printing errors resulting in repeated and missing text. The +orginal text is preserved here:</p> +<div class='unindent'><a href="#Page_139">Original text from page 139:</a></div> +<div class='blockquot'>deceit where I had looked for honesty and +gratitude.'<br /> + +the result of a compact entered into with the despicable +Urquhart, who, if he could not have her +grasp at this wisp of hope and cling to it, though +I knew it would never hold, and that her only +chance for happiness was passing from her.</div> + +<div class='unindent'><a href="#Page_177">Original text from page 177:</a></div> +<div class='blockquot'>almost overwhelmed it.<br /> + +<p>"For to me her death--if she were dead--was</p> + +<p>"I was a coward, perhaps, but I did not try +to dissuade her. Though she was fatherless and +motherless, and loverless and friendless, I let her +for himself, was willing she should go where no</p></div> + + +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Forsaken Inn, by Anna Katharine Green + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORSAKEN INN *** + +***** This file should be named 23641-h.htm or 23641-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/6/4/23641/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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