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diff --git a/23641.txt b/23641.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c1ee1e --- /dev/null +++ b/23641.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7883 @@ +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: ASCII + +*** 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 + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE FORSAKEN INN + +A NOVEL + +BY + +ANNA KATHARINE GREEN + +Author of + +"The Leavenworth Case," "A Matter of Millions," "Behind Closed Doors," +etc. + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + Publishers New York + + + COPYRIGHT, 1889 and 1890 + BY ROBERT BONNER'S SONS + + COPYRIGHT, 1909 + THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY + + +TO MY HUSBAND. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE OAK PARLOR 5 + + II. BURRITT 25 + + III. A FEARFUL DISCOVERY 37 + + IV. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 60 + + V. AN INTERIM OF SUSPENSE 71 + + VI. THE RECLUSE 78 + + VII. TWO WOMEN 91 + + VIII. A SUDDEN BETROTHAL 110 + + IX. MARAH 116 + + X. AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS 130 + + XI. HONORA 136 + + XII. EDWIN URQUHART 142 + + XIII. BEFORE THE WEDDING 148 + + XIV. A CASSANDRA AT THE GATE 160 + + XV. THE CATASTROPHE 171 + + XVI. A DREAM ENDED 185 + + XVII. STRANGE GUESTS 195 + + XVIII. MRS. TRUAX TALKS 204 + + XIX. IN THE HALLS AT MIDNIGHT 223 + + XX. THE STONE IN THE GARDEN 232 + + XXI. IN THE OAK PARLOR 247 + + XXII. A SURPRISE FOR HONORA 288 + + XXIII. IN THE SECRET CHAMBER 301 + + XXIV. THE MARQUIS 312 + + XXV. MARK FELT 318 + + XXVI. FOR THE LAST TIME 330 + + XXVII. A LAST WORD 334 + + + + +THE FORSAKEN INN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE OAK PARLOR. + + +[Illustration: I] + +I 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 great +that I could scarcely hope to find so much as a temporary shelter +therein. + +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. + +"What are you going to do?" he asked. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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 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." + +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. + +"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!" + +My companion shrugged his shoulders, but did not reply. The comparison +was evidently not a new one to him. + +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 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. + + + JANUARY 28, 1775. + +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 chills creep over me whenever I remember his laugh, which +was much too frequent to be decent, considering how poorly his young +wife looked. + +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. + +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, 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? + +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. + +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. + +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 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: + +"Oak walls! Ah, my soul! it has come soon!" + +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. + +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 was gazing +with rather an obtrusive curiosity at the old-fashioned room, murmuring, +as he did so, some such commonplaces to his wife as: + +"I hope you are not fatigued, my dear. Fine old house, this. Quite +English in style, eh?" + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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 +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: + +"---- you! and by what right do you ask that?" + +But before I could reply he recovered himself and was all false polish +again, bowing with exaggerated politeness, as he exclaimed: + +"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." + +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. + +[Illustration] + +"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 +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: + +"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?" + +I came back. + +"There are plenty of rooms--" I began. + +But he interrupted me without any ceremony. + +"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." + +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 now the +extreme dismalness and desolation of its appearance. + +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 a ghost seemed sitting, +gazing at you with immovable eyes that could tell tales, but would not. + +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. + +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. + +"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 experienced a sensation as of something ghostly +passing between us and the light. + +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. + +"I will soon have a rousing fire for you," I declared. "These old +fireplaces hold a large pile of wood." + +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. + +"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 would be one less for +her to spend with her surly husband alone. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 one look of sympathetic understanding, and start for the +door. + +A command from him stopped me. + +"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?" + +She roused herself up with quite a startled look of wonder. + +"Why, Edwin," she began, "I never have been in the habit--" + +But he hushed her at once. + +"I know what is best for you," said he. "A small plate of luncheon, Mrs. +Truax; and let it be nice and inviting." + +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? + +The lunch was prepared and taken to her. + +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 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. + +"It is Mrs. Urquhart!" I cried in terror, to myself; and plunging into +my clothes, I hurried down stairs. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +BURRITT. + + +[Illustration] + +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. + +"Hush!" he whispered; "they are talking. All seems to be right. I just +heard him call her darling." + +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: + +"Who is there, and what do you want?" + +"We heard a cry," was my response, "and I feared Mrs. Urquhart was ill +again." + +"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. + +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. + +"Come," said I, "there is no use of our remaining here." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. +When she came back I asked her how Mrs. Urquhart looked. + +"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." + +I glanced at the girl's palm. There was indeed a bright new crown in it. + +"Did she give you that?" I inquired. + +"Yes, ma'am; she herself. And she laughed when she did it, and said it +was for the good breakfast I had brought her." + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 make me unwilling +to trouble myself with any more of them. + +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. + +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 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. + +"Well, what is it?" I asked. + +"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?" + +The last words were uttered in such a tone I did not know for a minute +what to say. + +"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." + +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. + +"Nothing here," said I. + +"Where is it, then?" he asked. + +I frowned in displeasure. + +"Where is what?" I demanded. "You speak like a fool. Explain yourself." + +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: + +"Did you see me handling of the big box, ma'am?" + +I nodded yes. + +"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. + +"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?" + +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. + +"Burritt, you want to frighten me," I exclaimed, as soon as I could get +my voice. "The box 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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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?" + +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 +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. + +"He went roaming through the garden last night," cried Burritt, "and he +brought back that stone. Why?" + +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. + +"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. + +After a moment's consideration of it he declared: + +"It came from the river bank; that is all I can make out of it." + +And dropping the stone from his hand, he suddenly darted down the path +to the river. + +He was not gone long. When he came back, he looked still more doubtful +than before. + +"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." + +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. + +"What does it mean?" I cried. + +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: + +"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?" + +It was the question then; it is the question now. + +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 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: + +"Some one was in mortal agony at the moment I heard that cry. Was it the +young wife, or was it--" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A FEARFUL DISCOVERY. + + + APRIL 3, 1791. + +[Illustration: I] + +It 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? + +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, indeed, 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. + +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. + +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 +betokened 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. + +"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. + +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. + +"You seem to be acquainted with these parts," I ventured. He smiled. + +"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?" + +"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." + +The stranger smiled again, and followed me into the house. Here his +interest seemed to redouble. + +Instantly a thought flashed through my brain. + +"He is its ancient owner, the Englishman. I am standing in the presence +of--" + +"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?" + +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. + +"I should like to sleep on the ground floor," he added. + +"I have but one room," I began. + +"And one is all I want," he smiled. Then, with a quick glance at my +face: "I suppose you are a little particular whom you put into the oak +parlor. It is not every one who can appreciate such romantic +surroundings." + +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. + +"The room is gloomy and uninviting," I declared; "but beyond that, I do +not know of any especial claim it has upon our interest." + +"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. + +"If you mean anything concerning the Urquharts," I began doubtfully. + +"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, 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!" + +"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. + +"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 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?" + +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. + +"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?" + +I managed to shake my head. I had not strength for the experiment yet. I +wanted to prepare myself. + +"Tell me first how you heard about this room?" I entreated. + +He drew his chair nearer to mine with the greatest courtesy. + +"There is no reason why I should not tell you," replied he, "and as I +see that you are in no mood 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: + +"'A dull collection of tales, sir. Bah! if they had wanted to hear of +an inn that was really romantic, I could have told them--' + +"'What?' I involuntarily ejaculated. 'You will not torture me by +suggesting a mystery you will not explain.' + +"He looked very indifferent. + +"'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?' + +"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 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: + +"'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.' + +"Meantime I was studying the plan. + +"'The hidden chamber lies,' said I, 'between this room,' designating one +with my forefinger, 'and these two others. From which is it entered?' + +"He pointed at the one I had first indicated. + +"'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, 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.' + +"'And this house is now an inn?' I remarked. + +"'Yes.' + +"'Curious. I should like nothing better than to visit that inn.' + +"'You doubtless have.' + +"'It is not this one?' I suddenly cried, looking uneasily about me. + +"'Oh, no; it is on the Hudson River, not fifty miles this side of +Albany. It is called the Happy-Go-Lucky, 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.' + +"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 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." + +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. + +"Was he young?" I asked. "Had he a blond complexion?" + +"On the contrary," interrupted Mr. Tamworth, "he was very dark, and, in +years, as old or nearly as old as myself." + +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. + +"Are you certain this man was not in disguise?" I asked. + +"Disguise?" + +"Are you certain that he was not young, and blond, and--" + +"Quite sure," was the dry interruption. "No disguise could transform a +young blood into the man I saw that night. May I ask--" + +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?" + +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." + +"Did you not see his face?" + +"No." + +"Was he young?" + +"I should say so." + +"And blond?" + +"That I cannot say." + +"And he remained in that attitude all the time you were talking?" + +"Yes, madam." + +"And continued so when you left the room?" + +"I think so." + +"Was he within earshot? Near enough to hear all you said?" + +"Most assuredly, if he listened." + +"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?" + +"A short but telling description," commented my guest. "Let me see. Was +there such a man among them? Really, I cannot remember." + +"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." + +"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." + +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?" + +"I never thought of it before, but he did look something like him--his +figure, I mean; I did not see his face." + +"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?" + +He bowed with great urbanity. "If you wish to make the discovery +public," said he, "I, of course, have no objection." + +But I saw that he was disappointed. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +[Illustration] + +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 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 opening had been effected, and that +they were only waiting for my approach to enter it. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +[Illustration] + +"What is it?" I gasped. "Tell me at once. Is it a man or a woman or--" + +"It is a woman. See! here is a lock of her hair. Beautiful, is it not? +She must have been young." + +I stared at it like one demented. It was of a 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! + +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: + +"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." + +I scarcely heeded him. + +"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. + +"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." + +And he held out a plain gold circlet which I eagerly took, looked at, +and fell at their feet as senseless as a stone. + +On the inner surface I had discovered this legend: + + E. U. to H. D. Jan. 27, 1775. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. + + +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. + +"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. + +"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 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." + +"You speak riddles," Dr. Kenyon now declared. "You knew that something +fearful or precious had been left in your house--" + +"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?" + +"You knew, then, that a person had been murdered?" + +"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." + +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. + +They listened to me as if I were repeating a 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. + +"You think I am drawing upon my imagination," I quietly remarked, as +silence fell upon my narration. + +"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." + +"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. + +"Here!" I exclaimed, as the paper was brought, "read this, and you will +soon see how I felt about the Urquharts on the evening of the day they +left us." + +And I put into their hands the record I had made of that day's +experience. + +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? + +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. + +"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?" + +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, this awful token in the room +beyond! What should I, what could I think! + +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. + +"It surpasses the most atrocious deeds of the middle ages," quoth Mr. +Tamworth. + +"In a country deemed civilized," finished the doctor. + +"Then you think," I tremblingly began-- + +"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--" + +He paused, and Mr. Tamworth took up the word. + +"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?" + +"Unquestionably," was the firm reply. + +"You do not say how you account for her presence here," I now +reluctantly intimated. + +"I think she was hidden in the great box. It was large enough for that, +was it not, Mrs. Truax?" + +I nodded, much agitated. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Yet you must have noticed, even in a cursory glance, whether its top or +sides were broken by holes." + +"They were not, but--" + +"But what?" + +"I do remember, now, that he flung his traveling-cloak across it just as +the men went to lift it 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." + +"And the box?" + +"Was hidden by the foot of the bed behind which he had dragged it." + +"And the cloak? Was it over the box when it went out?" + +"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." + +"Very possible, but the sand with which we supposed the box had been +filled would have sifted through." + +"Not if a good firm piece of stuff was laid in first, and there were +plenty of such in the secret chamber." + +"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 this was done, as it must +have had to be done after the tragedy." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Heaven has had its eye upon them. We have been through fearful crises +since that day, and much unrighteous as well as righteous blood has +been shed in this land. They may both be dead." + +"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--" + +"Where is Hetty?" interrupted the doctor. + +"She is married, and lives in the next town." + +"So, so. Well, we must hunt her up to-morrow, and see what she has to +say about the matter now." + +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 understanding 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. + +Dr. Kenyon returned about midnight, and was met at the door by Mr. +Tamworth and myself. + +"Well?" I cried, in great excitement. + +"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." + +"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." + +"Not so," quoth Mr. Tamworth. "Though an old man, I dedicate myself to +this task. You will hear again of the Urquharts." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AN INTERIM OF SUSPENSE. + + + MAY 5, 1791. + +[Illustration: H] + +How 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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +To-morrow he will start upon his travels. + + + JUNE 12, 1791. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +I must have patience. Mr. Tamworth must write to me soon. + + + AUGUST 10, 1791. + +News, news, and such news! How could I ever have dreamed of it! But let +me transcribe Mr. Tamworth's letter: + + To Mrs. Clarissa Truax, + Mistress of the Happy-go-lucky Inn: + + RESPECTED MADAM: After a lengthy delay, + 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: + + 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. + + 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. + + With great consideration I sign myself, + + Your obedient servant, + ANTHONY TAMWORTH. + + + AUGUST 11, 8 o'clock. + +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? + + MIDNIGHT. + +No time to-night; too tired almost to write this. + + + AUGUST 12. + +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. + + + + +PART II. + +AN OLD ALBANY ROMANCE. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RECLUSE. + + +To Mrs. Clarissa Truax, + of the Happy-go-lucky Inn: + +RESPECTED MADAM: 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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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 immediately +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. + +"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: + +"Mark Felt, do you want to hear news from your friend Urquhart?" + +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: + +"He is no friend of mine, your Edwin Urquhart." + +"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." + +The wild eyes flashed as if a flame of fire had shot from them, and the +head that held them advanced till I could see the whole bearded +countenance of the man. + +"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. + +"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." + +[Illustration] + +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 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. + +He seemed to recognize the impression he had made, for his lips smiled +with a sort of scornful triumph before he said: + +"These are peculiar words for a stranger. May I ask your name and whose +interests you represent?" + +His speech was quick, and had an odd halt in it, 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. + +"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?" + +"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 heart that it has taken fifteen +years of solitude to render callous?" + +I gave no answer to this, only looked at him and stood waiting. + +"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--" + +"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--" + +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 overhanging +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. + +Gasping in a strange mood between delight and despair, he flung up his +arms. + +"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. 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." + +His arms fell with the last words, and his eyes returned again to my +face. + +"Come into the cave," said he. "I cannot tell my story in the sight of +these pure skies." + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TWO WOMEN. + + +"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. + +"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. + +"He was a gentleman with no expectations; I 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: + +"'How would you like to drink a glass with me in yonder? Better than in +the Fairfax kitchen, eh?' + +"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.' + +"'You do! Then you don't know Miss Dudleigh,' 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." + +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: + +"I probably betrayed my astonishment to Urquhart, for he gave a great +laugh, and forced me about toward the gates. + +"'We will not be turned out,' he said. 'Let us go in and pay our +respects.' + +"'But,' I stammered. + +"'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.' + +"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. + +"'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.' + +"He pointed to the great chimneys and imposing facade of the fine +structure before us. 'Do 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.' + +"'But Miss Dudleigh?' + +"'Oh, she's a trifle peaked and dull, but she's fond and not too +exacting.' + +"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. + +"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. + +"There was an aunt or some such relative in the room with her, but this +did not hinder the glad 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. + +"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. + +"But Urquhart showed no embarrassment. 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. + +"'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.' + +"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 delight 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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: + +"'You must be Master Felt, I take it. Master Urquhart would never be so +thrown off his balance by a simple girl like me.' + +"There are voices that pierce like arrows and sink deep into the heart, +which closes over their 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. + +"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 +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. + +"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 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. + +"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. + +"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, 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. + +"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. + +"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 +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? + +"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 making 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. + +"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 when she would grow tired of it or demand +another, and so fling it and me to the dogs? + +"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? + +"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. + +"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 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. + +"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. + +"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 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." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A SUDDEN BETROTHAL. + + +"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. + +"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, 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. + +"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. + +"She seemed to comprehend my mood, for she flung back the curtain and +drew herself up to her full height before me. + +"'Did you think I was playing the coquette?' she asked. 'Well, perhaps I +was; women like me must have their amusements; but--' + +"Oh! the languishment in that _but_. I shut my eyes as I heard it. I +could neither bear its sound, nor the sight of her face. + +"'You listened to him. He was making love to you--he, the promised +husband of another; and you--' + +"She forced me to open my eyes. + +"'And I?' she repeated, with an indescribable emphasis that called up +the blushes to my cheek. + +"'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!' + +"She sighed. Softness took the place of scorn; she involuntarily held +out her hand. + +"I was amazed; she had never done so much before. I seized that hand, I +pressed it wildly, hungrily, and with lingering fondness. + +"'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?' + +"She was silent; she had drawn her hand from mine and had locked it in +its fellow, and now stood with them hanging down before her, fixed as a +statue, in a reverie I could neither fathom nor break. + +"'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.' + +"Her lip curled and her hands parted. She lifted one rosy palm and +looked at it, then she glanced at me. + +"'I shall never work,' she said. + +"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. + +"'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. + +"'You want me?' She breathed it. I stood in a gasp of hope and fear. + +"'More than I want heaven! Or, rather, you are my heaven.' + +"'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. + +"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 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." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MARAH. + + +"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. + +"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 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. + +"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. + +"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 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: + +"'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.' + +"'You are cruel,' she murmured, 'you are tyrannical. This is a time of +revolt; shall I revolt, too?' + +"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. + +[Illustration] + +"My bold act seemed to frighten her, for she stood very still where I +had placed her, only trembling slightly when I looked at her and +cried: + +"'Did you ask that question of me? Am I to understand you want to break +your fetters?' + +"She plucked a rose from her breast and crumpled it to atoms between her +hands. + +"'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--' + +"She stopped, panting. I let my whole pent-up jealousy out in a word. + +"'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.' + +"'Don't I know it!' she flashed out. 'If it had been otherwise do you +think--' + +"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. + +"'Then you acknowledge--' I cried. + +"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.' + +"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. + +"'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 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.' + +"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.' + +"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 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. + +"'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--' + +"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 cherish; 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: + +"'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?' + +"'I expect,' she murmured, 'to marry you.' + +"'And then?' I could not help it; the words sprang to my lips +involuntarily. + +"Her eyes opened wide; she literally flashed them upon me. I felt their +lightnings play all about my doubtful nature, and scorch it. + +"'I will be your wife,' she uttered gravely. + +"I fell at her feet. I kissed the hem of her 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--' + +"'Mistress Felt, of most honorable degree,' she finished, with the half +laughing disdain she could never keep long out of her words. + +"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 promise. 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. + +"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 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? + +"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. + +"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 fallen upon her happiness, and she had come to +know what misery was. + +"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: + +"'Turn the horses' heads! I do not go to the church with you to-day. Not +if you kill me, Mark Felt!' + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS. + + +"'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.' + +"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: + +"'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.' + +"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 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. + +"'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. + +"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 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. + +"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. + +"The stopping of the carriage before the great door of Miss Dudleigh's +house roused me to the necessity for action. + +"'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. + +"'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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"'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?' + +"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. + +"'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.' + +"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 uttered no word, honored her +with no glance; merely made her a low bow and stepped back, as I +thought, master of myself again. + +"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: + +"'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!' + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HONORA. + + +"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. + +"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. + +"'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. + +"'A strange ending to the hopes of this day,' were the words that +thereupon fell from her lips. 'Is--is--Marah ill, or did one of her +strange moods overtake her?' + +"'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.' + +"'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. + +"Affected, but irresolute still, I took her hand and carried it to my +lips. + +"'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.' + +"Ah, how she sighed. + +"'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.' + +"Tears, which I could not restrain, welled up 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. + +"'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?' + +"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. + +"'It was he,' said I, and said no more. + +"The mask fell from her countenance. She clasped her hands together till +they showed white as marble. + +"'Oh! we are four miserable ones!' she cried. 'He--' + +"It was my turn to stop her. + +"'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.' + +"'She says! Ah! can you believe her? do you?' + +"'I must--or go mad.' + +"'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.' + +"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. + +"'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.' + +"I bowed, and made a movement toward the door. I could not stand much +more of this strain. + +"'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.' + +"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. + +"'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. + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +EDWIN URQUHART. + + +[Illustration: I] + +In that moment Mark Felt paused and cast a glance toward the Hudson far +below us. Then he resumed his narrative. + +"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 amazement as I met his eye, and +realized that it contained nothing but a rude sort of sympathy and good +fellowship. + +"'How? Why? What do you mean by coming back?' I cried. 'You said you +would be gone a week. You swore--' + +"A gay laugh interrupted me. + +"'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?' + +"'Urquhart!' + +"'Felt!' + +"'Are you a monster or are you--' + +"'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.' + +"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. + +"When we were closeted, as we soon were in the room I had expended so +much upon to make worthy of my bride, he came and stood before me and +uttered these unexpected words: + +"'Felt, I like you. You are the only friend I have, and I am indebted to +you. Now, what have you against me?' + +"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: + +"'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.' + +"Was he daring me? If so, he should find me his equal. I raised my eyes +and surveyed him. + +"'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 you look on her with love; because I have surprised the passion in +your face and beheld her--' + +"'Well?' + +"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. + +"He seized the word at once. + +"'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--' + +"He paled. Was it horror of the lie he was uttering? I have never known, +never shall know. + +"'The woman I am going to marry is Honora Dudleigh.' + +"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. + +"'You love her?' I asked. + +"'I love her,' he returned. + +"'And your wedding day--' + +"'Is set.' + +"'May it have no interruptions,' I remarked. + +"He laughed--an uneasy laugh, I thought--but jealousy was not yet dead +within me. + +"'And yours?' he inquired. + +"'I have had mine,' I returned. 'I shall never have another.' + +"He shook his head and looked at me inquisitively. I repeated my +assertion. + +"'I shall never approach the altar again with a woman. I am done with +such things, and done with love.' + +"He finished his laugh. + +"'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!' + +"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, 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." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BEFORE THE WEDDING. + + +"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. + +"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 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. + +"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: + +"'Massa--Massa Felt.' + +"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 significant 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. + +"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. + +"'Will you undertake it? Can you go through with it without shrinking?' +was what the former had said. + +"'I will undertake it, and I can go through with it,' was what the +latter had replied. + +"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 rewarded 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.' + +"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? + +"Not answering this insinuation, I put to him one or two of the many +questions that were burning 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? + +"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. + +"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: + + 'HONORED MISS DUDLEIGH--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 + + Your respectful servant, + 'MARK FELT.' + +"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 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. + +"'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. + +"I saw Caesar 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: + +"'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.' + +"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. + +"Yet I should not have doubted her; I should have remembered the flame +that was always burning 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-- + +"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. + +"'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.' + +"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 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. + +"She drew a deep breath, and smiled with tender sweetness. + +"'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--' + +"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. + +"I felt that sigh go through and through me. Looking at her I took a +sudden resolution. + +"'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 reconsideration. 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.' + +"She stared at me for a moment with wide-open and appealing eyes; then +she shook her head, and answered quietly: + +"'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.' + +"'Forgive me,' I entreated. 'You know it would have been presumptuous in +me at first; afterward she stood in the way.' + +"'I know,' she answered, and turned away her head. + +"I saw she did not wish me to leave her yet; so I said: + +"'You are going away; you are going to leave Albany.' + +"'I must, or so Edwin thinks. He says I will never recover in this +climate.' + +"'Do you wish to go?' + +"'Yes; I think I do. I can never be happy here, and perhaps when we are +far away, and have 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.' + +"'But it is a long, long sea voyage. Have you strength enough to carry +you through?' + +"'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.' + +"'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?' + +"She flushed, but answered in the same spirit in which I had spoken. + +"'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.' + +"'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.' + +"The words came with effort, and hurt her as much as me. But she +answered bravely: + +"'She returns to Schenectady the same day that 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?' + +"'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.' + +"'You will have nothing to avenge,' murmured Honora; 'that is all in the +past.' + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A CASSANDRA AT THE GATE. + + +"Miss Dudleigh, moved, perhaps, by the unpleasant _eclat_ 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"But I conquered myself, as far as all betrayal of my feelings was +concerned, and turning from the spot that so enthralled me, I fixed my +gaze upon the bride. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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 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. + +"'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 +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. + +"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 Caesar, who +had pressed close to my side, if Mrs. Urquhart was not going to take a +maid with her. + +"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!' + +"'And the baggage?' I asked, troubled more than I can say by what +certainly augured anything but favorably for her future. + +"'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.' + +"'So! so! And they are going to ride?' + +"'Yes, sah. You see, dey want to catch de ship w'at set sail for +Bermudas, an' got to hurry; so massa says.' + +"By this time Urquhart and his bride had reached 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. + +"'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: + +"'Beware of oak walls! Beware of oak walls! They are more dangerous to +you than fire and water! Beware of oak walls!' + +"A shriek interrupted her. It came, not from the bride, but from the +interior of the well-nigh forsaken hall behind us. + +"Instantly the old crone drew herself up into an attitude more +threatening and more terrible than before. + +[Illustration] + +"'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!' + +"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. + +"'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. + +"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 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. + +"'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. + +"'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. + +"She was not there, nor could she be found by any searching." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE CATASTROPHE. + + +[Illustration: I] + +"I have but little more to tell," Mark Felt continued, "but that little +is everything to me. + +"When we became positively assured that Miss Leighton had disappeared +from the house and would not be on hand to take the stage to +Schenectady, 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"'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. + +"Leaving this place, I wandered aimlessly 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. + +"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: + + 'HONORED AND MUCH ABUSED FRIEND:--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 ventured + to write you these words, and ask you to + forgive me, now that I am gone. + + 'I loved him: let that explain everything. + + 'Despairingly yours, + 'MARAH LEIGHTON.' + +"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 Caesar, 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. + +"'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--' + +"I found words to ask him a question. 'When was this found, and where?' + +"'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.' + +"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. + +"'Then every one knows--' I managed to say on the threshold. + +"'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--' + +"I choked him off with a look. + +"'Who has been sent after Mr. and Mrs. Urquhart to inform them of what +has happened?' + +"'No one yet, sah. But Massa Hatton--' + +"'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--' + +"A glance from the negro's eye warned me to be careful. I smothered my +impatience and let only my earnestness appear. + +"'Mrs. Urquhart ought to know that her cousin is dead,' I declared. + +"'I'll tell Massa Hatton,' said the black. + +"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. + +"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 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? + +"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. + +[Illustration] + +"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 and bending with +peering eyes over some snag 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. + +"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 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. + +"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 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. + +"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 step forward on the road which led to this spot, a great shout +broke out in the market place: + +"'The farmers of Lexington have fired upon the king's troops!' + +"And I did not even turn my head!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A DREAM ENDED. + + +There was silence in the cave. Mark Felt's story was at an end. + +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: + +"And Marah?" + +The name did not seem unwelcome. Striking his breast, he cried: + +"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, beaming upon me in the moon rays and smiling upon +me in the sunshine till--" + +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. + +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. + +My feelings were so strong, my shrinking so manifest, that he noticed +them at last. Rising up, he surveyed me with a growing apprehension. + +"How you look at me!" he cried. "It is not 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--" + +"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. + +"If--Marah--is--dead!" he gasped, growing huskier with each intonation +till the last word was almost unintelligible. + +"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." + +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. + +"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--" + +He stopped and looked at me piteously. I saw I must speak, and summoned +up my courage. + +"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." + +"Oh!" + +The cry came suddenly, and rang through the cavern like a knell. I could +not bear it, and hurried forward my revelation. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Have you that letter? Did you keep it?" + +"No; I gave it back to the men who opened it. What was it to me?" + +"Mark Felt," I now asked, "did you know Honora Dudleigh's writing?" + +"Of course. Why should you question it? Why--" + +"And was this letter in her writing? written by her hand?" + +"Of course--of course; wasn't it signed with her name?" + +"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--" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Must be? I do not see why you should say must be! Is Honora dead? Is--" + +"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 hidden away. It is of crime that +I am speaking. Edwin Urquhart is a murderer, and his victim was--" + +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. + +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: + +"Murder." + +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: + +"Murder!" + +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: + +"Murder!" + +Filled with horror, I endeavored to take him by the arm, but he shook me +off, and cried in a terrible voice: + +"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. + +"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. + +"Yes," said I, "I have; but it will not serve to lessen your horror; it +will only add to it." + +"Nothing can add to it," was his low reply. "And yet I thank you for the +warning." + +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 could reveal, I added first your +suspicions, and then a full account of our fatal discovery in the secret +chamber. + +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: + +"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." + +Relieved to find him in this mood, I rose and shook his hand cordially. + +"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." + +"Never!" + +The echo was unexpected, but welcome. I led the way out of the cave. + +"See! it is late," I urged. + +He shook his head and cast one prolonged look around him. + +"What do I not leave behind me here? Love, grief, dreams. And to what +do I go forward? Can you tell me? Has the future in it anything for a +man like me?" + +"It has vengeance!" + +He gave a short cry. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +. . . . . + +I will not weary you, my dear Mrs. Truax, with 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. + + Most respectfully, + ANTHONY TAMWORTH. + + + + +PART III. + +RETRIBUTION. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +STRANGE GUESTS. + + + SEPTEMBER 29, 1791. + +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 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. + +The oak parlor I have shut and locked. It will not be soon entered again +by me. + +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. + +. . . . . + +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 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! + +Positively I must throw away the key of that room; its very presence in +my desk makes me the victim of visions. + + * * * * * + + OCTOBER 5, 1791. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 +as to our secret chamber. I watch, but cannot yet make out. Meanwhile a +description of these women may not come amiss. + +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. + +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 becomes 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-- + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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? + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +MRS. TRUAX TALKS. + + + OCTOBER 7, 1791. + +[Illustration: T] + +This morning I was exceedingly startled by one of my guests suddenly +asking me before several of the others, if my inn had a ghost. + +"A ghost!" I cried, for the moment quite aghast. + +"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?" + +This is a newcomer who had just been introduced. + +"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." + +"But the exterior! Surely you noticed the exterior. Such a rambling old +structure; such a 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." + +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. + +"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. + +"True," broke in a low, slow voice--that of Madame Letellier. "Do you +know of any especial tragedy that makes the house memorable?" + +I turned and gave her a look before replying. She was seated in the +shadows of a remote corner, 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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"Good!" broke in a voice from the crowd of 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--" + +"Mamma, you hurt me!" + +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?" + +"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 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?" + +"Hear! hear!" cried another young man. + +"Years ago--" I stopped again, wickedly stopped. "Madame, will you not +come forward where it is lighter?" + +"I thank you," Madame Letellier responded. + +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. + +"You do not proceed," she murmured. + +"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: + +"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?" + +"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." + +I began to hate my role, but went on stolidly. + +"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.'" + +Here I paused for breath, and to take a good look at madame. + +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: + +"It was a run-away match, and as the young husband remarked, 'a great +disappointment to my 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--' + +"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. + +"'Go in,' said I, 'I have a woman's heart, and cannot bear to see young +people in distress. When the general comes--' + +"'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.' + +"'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. + +"But before I could provide the meal with which I meant to strengthen +them for the scene that must presently ensue, I heard the anticipated +clattering of hoofs, and simultaneously with it, the unclosing of this +door and the cry of the young wife to her husband: + +"'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. + +"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 firm on the threshold, she sped from our sight down the hall. + +"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. + +"'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.' + +"'We will see about that. The girl is here, is she not?' the father +asked, turning to me. + +"'No,' was my firm reply; 'she is not.' + +"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. + +"'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 the ridge of the hill. She is here, and in half an hour +will be in my hands.' + +"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. + +"'Has she escaped from one of the windows?' I asked, moved myself to a +strange curiosity. + +"He looked at me, but made no reply. + +"'It is dark; it is late. If the general chooses to remain here +to-night--' + +"'He will not find her,' was the reply. + +"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. + +"'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.' + +"'It is impossible for me to tell you,' was my 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.' + +"'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.' + +"'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.' + +"'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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"And now comes the strangest part of the tale. + +"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: + +"'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.' + +"'I do not know where she is. We must be patient. She will return +herself as soon as she thinks it safe.' + +"I could not believe my ears. + +"'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?' + +"'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.' + +"I did not know what to say. + +"'But she is a stranger,' I murmured. 'What does she know about my +house?' + +"'She is a stranger to you,' he retorted, 'but she may not be a stranger +to the house. How long have you lived here?' + +"I could not say long. It was at the most but a year; so I merely shook +my head, but I felt strangely nonplussed. + +"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. + +"'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.' + +"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!' + +"But he never did. After that last fond look 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." + +"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?" + +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: + +"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?" + +"Perfectly," came in her even tones. "And I am sure we are all very much +obliged to you." + +I bowed and slipped away into the background. I was worn out. + +An hour later I was passing through the hall 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. + +"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?" + +I smiled, for she was smiling, and shook my head, looking directly into +her eyes. + +"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." + +"And you had nothing to found it upon? Just drew upon your fancy?" + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +But I shook my head, still smiling, and answered, quite at my ease: + +"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, I assure you. I tried to +please them, and I hope I did it." + +Her face changed at once. It was as if a black veil had been drawn away +from it. + +"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." + +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. + + * * * * * + + OCTOBER 9, 1791. + +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 mother? +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +IN THE HALLS AT MIDNIGHT. + + + OCTOBER 10, 1791. + +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. + +"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, 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." + +I drew her in, wrapped a shawl about her, and led her back to her room. + +"Your mother will return speedily," I promised. "Doubtless she felt +restless, and is taking a turn or two up and down the hall." + +"Perhaps; for her dressing gown and slippers are gone. But she never did +anything like this before, and in a strange house--" + +A slight trembling stopped the young lady from continuing. + +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: + +"You are a kind woman; you make me feel happier whenever you speak to +me." + +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 important; 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. + +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. + +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 below 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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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: + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE STONE IN THE GARDEN. + + + OCTOBER 11, 1791. + +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. + +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. + +"Let me have them!" she cried, a glad, bright color showing for a moment +on her cheek. + +"From your father?" asked the mother, in a tone of nonchalance that did +not deceive me. + +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. + +"Well, never mind," the mother exclaimed, and turned away toward the +window in a manner that gave me my dismissal. + +So I went out, having learned nothing, save the fact that mademoiselle +had a lover, and that her lips could smile. + +They did not smile again, however. Next day she looked whiter than ever, +and languid as a broken blossom. + +"She is ill," declared madame. "The stairs she has to climb are too much +for her." + +"Ah, ha!" thought I to myself. "That is the first move," and waited for +the next development. + +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. + +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. + +Consequently no one in the house but myself 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. + +"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." + +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. + +[Illustration] + +"You shock me," were her first words, uttered very slowly, and with a +transparent show of indifference. "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?" + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Ah, mamma," cried one soft voice, "I have been so lonesome!" + +"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. + + * * * * * + + OCTOBER 15, 1791. + +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 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. + + * * * * * + + OCTOBER 17, 1791. + +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 +hurried 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. + +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. + +"It is a lovely evening," I cried. "Have you been admiring the sunset?" + +"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. + + * * * * * + + 12 M. + +Another midnight adventure! Late as it is, I must put it down, for I +cannot sleep, and to-morrow will bring its own story. + +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. + +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 could not +tell, for the night was unusually dark, and my window very poorly +situated for seeing. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +Alas! does that unrest spring from premeditated or already accomplished +guilt? Whichever it 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? + + * * * * * + + OCTOBER 18, 1791. + +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. + +Thus the mystery of her midnight visit is solved. She has been taking an +impression of 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. + +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. + + * * * * * + + OCTOBER 19, 1791. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +IN THE OAK PARLOR. + + + OCTOBER 20, 1791. + +[Illustration: T] + +The 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. + +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 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. + +"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?" + +I pretended not to hear her. + +"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--" + +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: + +"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." + +I had sworn to myself never to enter that room 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. + +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. + +"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." + +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 ready +for her occupancy on Friday; and with this she had to be content. + + * * * * * + + OCTOBER 21. + +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. + +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. + + +-----------------------+ + | | + | C | + | | + +--------+----+--------+---------+ + | |- | | + | B |6 | | + | D |=|= | | + | | | |=|= | | + |--------|=| | | + | 1 _ | | | + |----|2|-| | | + -| 3| | | + 4| | | | + -| | | | + | |- | | + | A |5 | | + | |- | | + +--------+ +--------+ + + +--------+ +--------+ + | | | | + + +[Illustration: A--Oak parlor. B--Bedroom. C--Kitchen, etc. D--Passage I +have had made. + +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.] + +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 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. 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. + +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. + + * * * * * + + OCTOBER 22. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +The mother's voice was still. + +"You see!" the daughter went on again, after what seemed like a moment +of helpless waiting. "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?" + +"I wonder at nothing." + +Was that madame's voice? What boundless misery! what unfathomable +passion! what hopeless despair! + +"If he were unworthy!" her daughter here exclaimed. + +"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." + +I heard the answer, though it came slowly and with apparent effort. + +"The marquis is an admirable young man, but we have another suitor in +mind whose cause we more favor. We wish you to marry Armand Thierry." + +"A shop-keeper and a revolutionist! Oh, mamma!" + +"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--" + +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. + +"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--" + +"Honora!" + +The word struck me like a blow. "Honora!" Great heaven! was that the +name of this young girl? + +"You are giving too free range to your imagination. You--" + +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. + +"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?" + +The last appeal was uttered in a passionate tone. It seemed to move the +daughter, for her voice had a sob in it as she replied: + +"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." + +The restless steps ceased. I heard a groan close to my ear; the mother +was evidently suffering frightfully. + +"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--" + +"Honora!"--the mother had turned. I heard her advance toward her +daughter--"do you really 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--" + +"Oh, mamma! Oh, mamma! Oh, mamma!" + +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." + +"Was it not," interrupted the mother, "at the great ball where he was +formally introduced to us?" + +"No, mamma." + +Madame sighed. + +"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." + +"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." + +"Oh, God!" + +Did the daughter hear that bitter exclamation? She did not appear to; +for her voice was quite calm, though immeasurably loving, as she +proceeded in these words: + +"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." + +A pause that was filled in by a kiss, and then the tender voice went on: + +"You can imagine, then, what a turmoil was aroused in my breast when one +day, while leaning 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 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." + +"An event, Honora?" + +"Yes, mamma. You remember the day you sent me with Cecile to take my +first lessons in tambour work of Madame Douay?" + +"Remember? Oh, my child, that awful day when you came near losing your +life! When the house fell with you in it, and--" + +"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." + +"Honora! And you never mentioned his name--never!" + +"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--" + +A hurried movement from the mother interrupted her. + +"Do not keep me in suspense," she pleaded; "let me hear what you have to +tell." + +"But you are cold; you shudder. Let me get a shawl." + +"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?" + +"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 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. + +"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.' + +"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 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. + +"'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?' + +"'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.' + +"'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.' + +"'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--' + +"'You?' + +"'Pardon me, I have not introduced myself, it seems. I am the Marquis de +la Roche-Guyon.'" + +Honora paused; her mother's exclamation had stopped her: + +"The marquis! Oh! Honora, and you have always said he was so good!" + +"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.' + +"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, but there is but one man in the world besides myself who could, +under any circumstances, have a right to that name.' + +"'And that man?' + +"'Is my cousin, the deceased marquis's son, long esteemed dead also, and +now legally accepted as such.' + +"'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--' + +"'Isidor!' + +"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 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: + +"'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.' + +"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. + +"'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 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.' + +"'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?' + +"'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, 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?' + +"'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 +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.' + +"The answer came, quick and furious: + +"'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 much at my command as +if my bullet were already in your heart.' + +"'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. + +"We were safe, for we had reached the flooring of the second house +before that of the first 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. + +"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 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: + +"'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: + +"'Don't do it! He is your enemy. Save yourself; he is but a murderer; +let him go.' + +"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: + +"'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.' + +[Illustration] + +"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: + +"'And to save him you would leave us to perish?' + +"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. + +"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 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. + +"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 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: + +"'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.' + +"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?" + +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. + +"My child! my child! my child!" That was all, but it seemed torn from +her heart, that bled after it. + +"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 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." + +"Pure heart!" broke from the mother's lips. "Would to God--" + +"What, dear mamma?" + +"That you had been moved by a lesser man than the Marquis de la +Roche-Guyon." + +"A lesser man?" + +"With Armand Thierry, since he is the one you will have to marry." + +"I shall not marry him." + +"Shall not?" + +"If I cannot give my hand where my heart is, I remain unmarried. I +dishonor no man with unmeaning marriage vows." + +"Honora!" + +"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." + +"But--" + +"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?" + +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. + +"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." + +"Nor tell me why?" + +"Nor tell you why." + +"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." + +"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 baptism 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." + +"Mother, mother, you are ill!" + +"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." + +Before such passion as this young Honora sank helpless. + +"Oh, mamma, mamma," she moaned, "forgive 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." + +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, 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. + +And this is the record of the first night spent by me in the secret +chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +A SURPRISE FOR HONORA. + + +OCTOBER 22, 1791. + +[Illustration: E] + +Events 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, 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. + +"Mrs.--" + +"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." + +He bowed, but flushed with embarrassment. + +"And mademoiselle? She is well, I trust?" + +"Quite well." + +"And yourself?" + +"Quite well, also. May I ask what has brought you into these parts, +whom we thought in another and somewhat distant country?" + +"Need you ask?" + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"Oh, mamma! what has happened?" + +The mother's reply was delayed, but it came at last: + +"My face is becoming strangely communicative. You will read all my +thoughts next. What makes you think anything has happened? Is this a +place for occurrences?" + +"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--" + +"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--" + +"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?" + +"It is too early for the mail." + +"True, true. Some one has come, then; a messenger, perhaps, from New +York. M. Dubois--" + +"Dubois is a traitor. He has not kept the secret of our whereabouts. We +have to settle with Monsieur and Madame Dubois, meanwhile--" + +"What?" + +"Honora, can I trust you?" + +"Trust me?" + +"Ah! who is trembling now?" + +"I! I! But how can I help it! You glance toward the door; you seem +afraid some one will come. You--you--" + +"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?" + +"See him?" It was all the poor girl had heard. + +"Yes; see him. You have come from Paris--why not he? Since Dubois has +proved himself a traitor--" + +"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--" + +"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--" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"You may trust me." There was despair in the tones now.... + +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. + +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. + +He did not seem to feel any apprehension himself. His eyes were bright; +his smile beaming; 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. + +But his aspect changed materially when, in walking up and down the +paths, I casually remarked: + +"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." + +"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 the house. "I know those ladies, and anything +in connection with them is interesting to me." + +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: + +"They are from Paris, I understand. A fine woman, Madame Letellier. Must +be much admired in her own land?" + +He seemed to have no reason for resenting my curiosity. + +"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." + +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. + +"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 you ever heard any of +the traditions connected with it?" + +"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." + +"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. + +"Madame must inform me. I have too little acquaintance with this country +to venture among its traditions." + +"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: + +"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 walk lest my interest in the romance then +going on should be suspected and my usefulness thus become abridged. + +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: + + "DEAR MRS. TRUAX: 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? + + "Very truly your debtor, if you accomplish + this, MADAME LETELLIER." + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +IN THE SECRET CHAMBER. + + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +"Look in the glass," the mother now commanded. "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?" + +I nodded. + +"You will do what I ask?" + +I nodded again. Deliberate falsehood it was, but I showed no faltering. + +"Then I will excuse you now." + +I rose. + +"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." + +She did look better. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 against the wall. She was crawling in my +direction, and at each instant I heard the pants grow louder. + +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: + +"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!" + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +Broken sounds, unintelligible murmurings, were all that greeted me. + +"You are punished," I went on, "in the misery of your daughter. Nemesis +has reached you. The blood of Honora Urquhart has called aloud 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." + +"Mercy!" came in one quick gasp from the crushed heap of humanity before +me. + +But I was inexorable. I remembered Honora Urquhart's sweet face, and at +that moment could think of nothing else. So I went on. + +"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!" + +Moved by the name, she stood up. Tottering 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. + +"Hark!" she cried. + +It was a knock, a faint, low, trembling knock that we heard, then the +word "Mamma" came in muffled accents from the hallway. + +A convulsion crossed the countenance of the miserable woman before me. + +"Oh, God! my daughter, my daughter!" she cried. And falling at my feet, +she groveled in anguish as she pleaded: + +"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 demon! 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--" + +"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." + +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. + +"Oh, mamma!" she began, "I could not keep my word--" + +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 prevailed 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. + +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: + +"Your mother's hand. Give it a kiss, mademoiselle, but do not part the +curtains." + +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. + +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." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE MARQUIS. + + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +"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--" + +"_Ma foi!_" 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--" + +"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--" + +"What is this you say?" came again in the quick and hurried tones of +despair. "Mrs. Urquhart--" + +"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." + +He recoiled sharply, with a gesture of complete disbelief. + +"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--" + +"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." + +He stared, seemed shaken, but presently hastened to remark: + +"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." + +"The woman he brought here was his bride. Edwin Urquhart is no common +criminal, Marquis de la Roche-Guyon." + +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 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. + +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. + +You may, therefore, imagine my feelings when, after a long delay--an +hour at least--he suddenly remarked: + +"We have been a proud family. From time immemorial we have held +ourselves aloof from 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." + +"Marquis--" I commenced. + +But he cut my words short with a firm and determined gesture. + +"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." + +'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. + +"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?" + +The answer came brokenly, but with unwavering strength: + +"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." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +MARK FELT. + + +[Illustration: S] + +Subjected 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. + +As it was late and I was almost exhausted, I began to think of rest. But +my uneasiness in regard 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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: + +"Mr. Felt!" + +The utterance of this name seemed to cause no surprise to my new guest. + +"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 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." + +I was speechless. Good God! were the old psychological influences at +work, and had they acted upon him at forty miles distance? + +"You come from Albany?" I at last stammered forth. "You must have had a +wet time of it; it storms heavily, I see." + +"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." + +I felt awe-struck. Would he guess next what that something was? + +"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?" + +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. + +"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?" + +"Perhaps," I tremblingly assented. "There is 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?" + +"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?" + +"I shrink from answering," I returned; "the human heart is a curious +thing. If he alone were to suffer--" + +"Ah, he!" was the bitter ejaculation. + +"Or if she," I proceeded, "were bound by no ties appealing to the +sympathies! But she is a mother--" + +"Good God!" + +I had not thought it would affect him so, and stood appalled. + +"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 child has lived, I suppose; is +grown up and--and--" + +"Is the sweetest, purest, most unworldly of beautiful women that these +eyes have ever rested upon." + +I thought he would spring upon me, he leaned forward with so much +impetuosity. + +"How do you know?" he asked, and my heart stood still at the question. + +"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." + +He did not seem to take in my words. + +"You have been to France?" he declared. + +"No," I corrected; "Miss Urquhart has been here." + +He fell back, then started forward again, opened his lips and stared +wildly, half fearfully about the room. + +"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?" + +"They had reason; besides, she did not come alone." + +This time he understood me. + +"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?" + +I shook my head. + +"The man had less courage," I declared. "Perhaps because he was more +guilty; perhaps because he had less love." + +"Love?" + +"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." + +"Explain; I do not understand. How could she hope to find happiness for +her child here?" + +"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." + +"And they are here now?" + +"They are here." + +"And she has discovered--" + +"The futility of all her hopes." + +He drew back, and his heavy breath echoed in deep pants through the +room. + +"What an end for Marah Leighton!" he gasped. + +"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?" + +"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 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--" + +"Wait!" he cried, catching me painfully by the arm. "When was this day? +To-day--to-night?" + +"Not two hours ago." + +His brow took on a look of awe. + +"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." + +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. + +"And the daughter?" he urged. "Does she know of the opprobrium which +must fall upon her head?" + +"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 shame may follow his loyalty. I have his word for that." + +"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. + +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. + +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 looked, and shuddered still more as I approached the bed +and paused firmly before it. + +"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." + +I received no reply. + +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. + +"Madame," said I, "the marquis knows your guilt, yet consents to marry +your daughter." + +But the silence within remained unbroken, and not a movement displaced +the somber falling curtains. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +FOR THE LAST TIME. + + +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. + +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. + +"What has happened?" he asked, importunately. "Your face is as pale as +death." + +"Because death is in the house. Madame--" + +"Ah!" + +"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!" + +"In her daughter's room? At her daughter's bedside?" + +"No; in the secret chamber." + +He gazed at me with wild and haggard aspect. + +"You are right," he hoarsely assented. "Let us go; let us seek her; it +may not be too late." + +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 +succeeded in lighting up his anxious and heavily bedewed forehead. + +"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." + +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. + +"You cannot reach her that way," I declared. "Perhaps my hand may be +more skillful. Let me try." + +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. + +"Go in," he gasped, "go in." + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A LAST WORD. + + +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. + +The letter I afterward read. It was as follows: + + +TO THE MAN WHO GAVE ALL, BORE ALL, AND REAPED NOTHING BUT SUFFERING: + + 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. + + I did not perish sixteen years ago in the + Hudson 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. + + 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. + + 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 upon + me from which woman naturally shrinks. 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. + + 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. + + 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. + + 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 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. + + 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. + + 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. + + MARAH. + + * * * * * + + OCTOBER 23, 1791. + +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. + +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. + + * * * * * + + NOVEMBER 30, 1791. + +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. + +But there is no peace. This morning another horrible tragedy defiled my +doorstep. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +. . . . . + +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. + + * * * * * + + FEBRUARY 3, 1792. + +This week I have fulfilled the threat of years ago. I have had the oak +parlor and its hideous adjunct torn from my house. + +Now, perhaps, I can sleep. + + * * * * * + + MARCH 16. + +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 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. + + * * * * * + + SEPTEMBER 5, 1795. + +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. + +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. + +The marquis--I shall always call him thus--has found a friend in General +Washington, and though 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. + +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. + +Her husband agrees with me in this opinion, and is so happy that she +said to me one day: + +"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 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." + +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. + +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 little cane with which I strive to give aid to my +tottering and uncertain steps. + +The grace of God has fallen at last upon the Happy-Go-Lucky Inn. + +[Illustration] + + + + +FAMOUS COPYRIGHT BOOKS IN POPULAR PRICED EDITIONS + + +Re-issues of the great literary successes of the time. Library size. +Printed on excellent paper--most of them with illustrations of marked +beauty--and handsomely bound in cloth. Price, 75 cents a volume, +postpaid. + + +BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK. By George Barr McCutcheon. With Color Frontispiece +and other illustrations by Harrison Fisher. Beautiful inlay picture in +colors of Beverly on the cover. + + "The most fascinating, engrossing and + picturesque of the season's novels."--_Boston + Herald._ "'Beverly' is altogether + charming--almost living flesh and + blood."--_Louisville Times._ "Better than + 'Graustark'."--_Mail and Express._ "A sequel + quite as impossible as 'Graustark' and quite as + entertaining."--_Bookman._ "A charming love + story well told."--_Boston Transcript._ + + +HALF A ROGUE. By Harold MacGrath. With illustrations and inlay cover +picture by Harrison Fisher. + + "Here are dexterity of plot, glancing play at + witty talk, characters really human and humanly + real, spirit and gladness, freshness and quick + movement. 'Half a Rogue' is as brisk as a + horseback ride on a glorious morning. It is as + varied as an April day. It is as charming as + two most charming girls can make it. Love and + honor and success and all the great things + worth fighting for and living for the involved + in 'Half a Rogue.'"--_Phila. Press._ + + +THE GIRL FROM TIM'S PLACE. By Charles Clark Munn. With illustrations by +Frank T. Merrill. + + "Figuring in the pages of this story there are + several strong characters. Typical New England + folk and an especially sturdy one, old Cy + Walker, through whose instrumentality Chip + comes to happiness and fortune. There is a + chain of comedy, tragedy, pathos and love, + which makes a dramatic story."--_Boston + Herald._ + + +THE LION AND THE MOUSE. A story of American Life. By Charles Klein, and +Arthur Hornblow. With illustrations by Stuart Travis, and Scenes from +the Play. + + The novel duplicated the success of the play; + in fact the book is greater than the play. A + portentous clash of dominant personalities that + form the essence of the play are necessarily + touched upon but briefly in the short space of + four acts. All this is narrated in the novel + with a wealth of fascinating and absorbing + detail, making it one of the most powerfully + written and exciting works of fiction given to + the world in years. + + +THE AFFAIR AT THE INN. By Kate Douglas Wiggin. With illustrations by +Martin Justice. + + "As superlatively clever in the writing as it + is entertaining in the reading. It is actual + comedy of the most artistic sort, and it is + handled with a freshness and originality that + is unquestionably novel."--_Boston Transcript._ + "A feast of humor and good cheer, yet subtly + pervaded by special shades of feeling, fancy, + tenderness, or whimsicality. A merry thing in + prose."--_St. Louis Democrat._ + + +ROSE O' THE RIVER. By Kate Douglas Wiggin. With illustrations by George +Wright. + + "'Rose o' the River,' a charming bit of + sentiment, gracefully written and deftly + touched with a gentle humor. It is a dainty + book--daintily illustrated."--_New York + Tribune._ "A wholesome, bright, refreshing + story, an ideal book to give a young + girl."--_Chicago Record-Herald._ "An idyllic + story, replete with pathos and inimitable + humor. As story-telling it is perfection, and + as portrait-painting it is true to the + life."--_London Mail._ + + +TILLIE: A Mennonite Maid. By Helen R. Martin. With illustrations by +Florence Scovel Shinn. + + The little "Mennonite Maid" who wanders through + these pages is something quite new in fiction. + Tillie is hungry for books and beauty and love; + and she comes into her inheritance at the end. + "Tillie is faulty, sensitive, big-hearted, + eminently human, and first, last and always + lovable. Her charm glows warmly, the story is + well handled, the characters skilfully + developed."--_The Book Buyer._ + + +LADY ROSE'S DAUGHTER. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. With illustrations by Howard +Chandler Christy. + + "The most marvellous work of its wonderful + author."--_New York World._ "We touch regions + and attain altitudes which it is not given to + the ordinary novelist even to + approach."--_London Times._ "In no other story + has Mrs. Ward approached the brilliancy and + vivacity of Lady Rose's Daughter."--_North + American Review._ + + +THE BANKER AND THE BEAR. By Henry K. Webster. + + "An exciting and absorbing story."--_New York + Times._ "Intensely thrilling in parts, but an + unusually good story all through. 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."--_Chicago Evening Post._ + + +LAVENDER AND OLD LACE. By Myrtle Reed. + + 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. + + +DOCTOR LUKE OF THE LABRADOR. By Norman Duncan. With a frontispiece and +inlay cover. + + 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, _Doctor Luke_ 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. + + +THE DAY'S WORK. By Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated. + + The _London Morning Post_ 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. + + +ELEANOR LEE. By Margaret E. Sangster. With a frontispiece. + + A story of married life, and attractive picture + of wedded bliss * * * an entertaining story of + 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." + + +THE COLONEL OF THE RED HUZZARS. By John Reed Scott. Illustrated by +Clarence F. Underwood. + + "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."--_Gazette-Times_, Pittsburg. "A + slap-dashing day romance."--_New York Sun._ + + +THE FAIR GOD; OR, THE LAST OF THE TZINS. By Lew Wallace. With +illustrations by Eric Pape. + + "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."--_New York Commercial Advertiser._ + + "_Ben Hur_ 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."--_Athenaeum._ + + +THE CAPTAIN OF THE KANSAS. By Louis Tracy. + + 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. + + +A MIDNIGHT GUEST. A Detective Story. By Fred M. White. With a +frontispiece. + + 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. + + +THE HONOUR OF SAVELLI. A Romance. By S. Levett Yeats. With cover and +wrapper in four colors. + + Those who enjoyed Stanley Weyman's _A Gentleman + of France_ will be engrossed and captivated by + this delightful romance of Italian history. It + is replete with exciting episodes, hair-breadth + 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. + + +SISTER CARRIE. By Theodore Drieser. With a frontispiece, and wrapper in +color. + + 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. + + +THE SHUTTLE, By Frances Hodgson Burnett With inlay cover in colors by +Clarence F. Underwood. + + 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. + + +THE MAKING OF A MARCHIONESS, By Frances Hodgson Burnett + +Illustrated with half tone engravings by Charles D. Williams. With +initial letters, tail-pieces, decorative borders. Beautifully printed, +and daintily bound, and boxed. + + 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. + + Graceful, sprightly, almost delicious in its + dialogue and action. It is a book about which + one is tempted to write ecstatically. + + +THE METHODS OF LADY WALDERHURST, By Francis Hodgson Burnett + +A Companion Volume to "The Making of a Marchioness." + +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. + + "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. + + +VAYENNE, By Percy Brebner With illustrations by E. Fuhr. + + This romance like the author's _The Princess + Maritza_ 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. + + +DARREL OF THE BLESSED ISLES. By Irving Bacheller. With illustrations by +Arthur Keller. + + "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."--_Boston + Transcript._ + + +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. + + "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."--_New + York Times._ + + +EBEN HOLDEN: A Tale of the North Country. By Irving Bacheller. + + "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. + + +SILAS STRONG: Emperor of the Woods. By Irving Bacheller. With a +frontispiece. + + "A modern _Leatherstocking_. 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."--_Chicago Record-Herald._ + + +VERGILIUS: A Tale of the Coming of Christ. By Irving Bacheller. + + 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. + + 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. + + * * * * * + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, - NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Page 336, "shrink" changed to "shrinks" (woman naturally shrinks) + +Page 345, "personalties" changed to "personalities" (of dominant +personalities) + +Page 347, "or" changed to "of" (story of a) + +Page 348, "breath" changed to "breadth" (hair-breadth escapes) + +There were some typesetting errors in the original text resulting in +misplaced lines on pages 139 and 177. + +Original text page 139: + +deceit where I had looked for honesty and gratitude.' + +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. + +Original page 177 text: + +almost overwhelmed it. + +"For to me her death--if she were dead--was + +"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 + +This was changed to: + +Page 139: + +deceit where I had looked for honesty and gratitude.' + +"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. + +and Page 177: + +almost overwhelmed it. + +"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 + + + + + +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.txt or 23641.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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