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+Project Gutenberg's Victor's Triumph, by Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
+
+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: Victor's Triumph
+       Sequel to A Beautiful Fiend
+
+Author: Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
+
+Release Date: August 19, 2009 [EBook #29729]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VICTOR'S TRIUMPH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as
+faithfully as possible; please see detailed list of printing issues at
+the end of the text.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+[Illustration: frontispiece portrait]
+
+
+
+
+VICTOR'S TRIUMPH
+
+SEQUEL TO
+
+A BEAUTIFUL FIEND
+
+BY MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH
+
+AUTHOR OF "TRIED FOR HER LIFE," "THE LOST HEIRESS,"
+"ALLWORTH ABBEY," ETC., ETC.
+
+
+  NEW YORK
+  HURST & COMPANY
+  PUBLISHERS
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+MRS. SOUTHWORTH SERIES
+
+UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME
+
+By MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH
+
+  Allworth Abbey.
+
+  Beautiful Fiend, A.
+
+  Bride's Fate, The.
+
+  Capitola, the Madcap.
+
+  Changed Brides.
+
+  Cruel as the Grave.
+
+  Curse of Clifton, The.
+
+  Deserted Wife.
+
+  Discarded Daughter.
+
+  Hidden Hand.
+
+  India.
+
+  Ishmael; or, In the Depths.
+
+  Lost Heiress, The.
+
+  Miriam, the Avenger.
+
+  Missing Bride, The.
+
+  Mother-in-Law, The.
+
+  Mystery of a Dark Hollow.
+
+  Retribution.
+
+  Self-Raised; or, From the Depths.
+
+  Three Beauties, The.
+
+  Tried for Her Life.
+
+  Victor's Triumph.
+
+  Vivia.
+
+_Price, postpaid, 50c. each, or any three books for $1.25_
+
+HURST & COMPANY
+PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+VICTOR'S TRIUMPH.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+SAMSON AND DELILAH.
+
+               Thus he grew
+    Tolerant of what he half disdained. And she,
+    Perceiving that she was but half disdained,
+    Began to break her arts with graver fits--
+    Turn red or pale, and often, when they met,
+    Sigh deeply, or, all-silent, gaze upon him
+    With such a fixed devotion, that the old man,
+    Though doubtful, felt the flattery, and at times
+    Would flatter his own wish, in age, for love,
+    And half believe her true.
+                                         --TENNYSON.
+
+
+As soon as the subtle siren was left alone in the drawing-room with the
+aged clergyman she began weaving her spells around him as successfully
+as did the beautiful enchantress Vivien around the sage Merlin.
+
+Throwing her bewildering dark eyes up to his face she murmured in
+hurried tones:
+
+"You _will_ not betray me to this family? Oh, consider! I am so young
+and so helpless!"
+
+"And so beautiful," added the old man under his breath, as he gazed with
+involuntary admiration upon her fair, false face. Then, aloud, he said:
+"I have already told you, wretched child, that I would forbear to expose
+you so long as you should conduct yourself with strict propriety here;
+but no longer."
+
+"You do not trust me. Ah, you do not see that one false step with its
+terrible consequences has been such an awful and enduring lesson to me
+that I could not make another! I am safer now from the possibility of
+error than is the most innocent and carefully guarded child. Oh, can you
+not understand this?" she asked, pathetically.
+
+And her argument was a very specious and plausible one, and it made an
+impression.
+
+"I can well believe that the fearful retribution that followed so fast
+upon your 'false step,' as you choose to call it, has been and will be
+an awful warning to you. But some warnings come too late. What _can_ be
+your long future life?" he sadly inquired.
+
+"Alas, what?" she echoed, with a profound sigh. "Even under the most
+propitious circumstances--_what?_ If I am permitted to stay here I shall
+be buried alive in this country house, without hope of resurrection.
+Perhaps fifty years I may have to live here. The old lady will die. Emma
+will marry. Her children will grow up and marry. And in all the changes
+of future years I shall vegetate here without change, and without hope
+except in the better world. And yet, dreary as the prospect is, it is
+the best that I can expect, the best that I can even desire, and much
+better than I deserve," she added, with a humility that touched the old
+man's heart.
+
+"I feel sorry for you, child; very, very sorry for your blighted young
+life. Poor child, you can never be happy again; but listen--_you can be
+good!_" he said, very gently.
+
+And then he suddenly remembered what her bewildering charms had made him
+for a moment forget--that was, that this unworthy girl had been actually
+on the point of marriage with an honorable man when Death stepped in and
+put an end to a foolish engagement.
+
+So, after a painful pause, he said, slowly:
+
+"My child, I have heard that you were about to be married to Charles
+Cavendish, when his sudden death arrested the nuptials. Is that true?"
+
+"It is true," she answered, in a tone of humility and sorrow.
+
+"But how could you venture to dream of marrying him?"
+
+"Ah, me; I knew I was unworthy of him! But he fell in love with me. I
+could not help that. Now, could I? _Now, could I?_" she repeated,
+earnestly and pathetically, looking at him.
+
+"N-n-no. Perhaps you could not," he admitted.
+
+"And oh, he courted me so hard!--so hard! And I could not prevent him!"
+
+"Could you not have avoided him? Could you not have left the house?"
+
+"Ah, no; I had no place to go to! I had lost my situation in the
+school."
+
+"Still you should never have engaged yourself to marry Charles
+Cavendish, for you must have been aware that if he had known your true
+story he would never have thought of taking you as his wife."
+
+"Oh, I know it! And I knew it then. And I was unhappy enough about it.
+But oh, what could I do? I could not prevent his loving me, do what I
+would. I could not go away from the house, because I had no place on
+earth to go to. And least of all would I go to him and tell him the
+terrible story of my life. I would rather have died than have told that!
+I should have died of humiliation in the telling--I couldn't tell him!
+Now could I? _Could I?_"
+
+"I suppose you had not the courage to do so."
+
+"No, indeed I had not! Yet very often I told him, in a general way, that
+I was most unworthy of him. But he never would believe that."
+
+"No; I suppose he believed you to be everything that is pure, good and
+heavenly. What a terrible reproach his exalted opinion of you must have
+been!"
+
+"Oh, it was--it was!" she answered, hypocritically. "It was such a
+severe reproach that, having in a moment of weakness yielded to his
+earnest prayer and consented to become his wife, I soon cast about for
+some excuse for breaking the engagement; for I felt if it were a great
+wrong to make such an engagement it would be a still greater wrong to
+keep it. Don't you agree with me?"
+
+"Yes, most certainly."
+
+"Well, while I was seeking some excuse to break off the marriage Death
+stepped in and put an end to it. Perhaps then I ought to have left the
+house, but--I had no money to go with and, as I said before, no place to
+go to. And besides Emma Cavendish was overwhelmed with grief and could
+not bear to be left alone; and she begged me to come down here with her.
+So, driven by my own necessities and drawn by hers, I came down. Do you
+blame me? _Do_ you blame me?" she coaxed, pathetically.
+
+"No, I do not blame you for that. But," said the old man, gravely and
+sadly, shaking his head, "why, when you got here, did you turn
+eavesdropper and spy?"
+
+"Oh, me!--oh, dear me!" sobbed the siren. "It was the sin of
+helplessness and cowardice. I dreaded discovery so much! Every
+circumstance alarmed me. Your arrival and your long mysterious
+conversation with madam alarmed me. I thought exposure imminent. I
+feared to lose this home, which, lonely, dreary, hopeless as it is to
+me, is yet the only refuge I have left on earth. I am penniless and
+helpless; and but for this kind family I should be homeless and
+friendless. Think if I had been cast out upon the world what must have
+been my fate!"
+
+"What, indeed!" echoed the old man.
+
+"Therefore, I dreaded to be cast out. I dreaded discovery. Your visit
+filled me with uneasiness, that, as the day wore away, reached intense
+anxiety, and finally arose to insupportable anguish and suspense. Then I
+went to listen at the door, only to hear whether your conversation
+concerned me--whether I was still to be left in peace or to be cast out
+upon the bitter cold world. Ah, do not blame me too much! Just think how
+I suffered!" she said, pathetically, clasping her hands.
+
+    "'Oh, what a tangled web we weave
+    When first we practice to deceive!'"
+
+murmured the old man to himself. Then, aloud, he said:
+
+"Poor girl, you were snared in the web of your own contriving! Yet
+still, when I caught you in that net, why did you deny your identity and
+try to make me believe that you were somebody else?"
+
+"Oh, the same sin of helplessness and cowardice; the same fear of
+discovery and exposure; the same horror of being cast forth from this
+pure, safe, peaceful home into the bitter, cold, foul, perilous world
+outside! I feared, if you found out who I was, you would expose me, and
+I should be cast adrift. And then it all came so suddenly I had no time
+for reflection. The instinct of self-preservation made me deny my
+identity before I considered what a falsehood I uttered. Ah, have you no
+pity for me, in considering the straits to which I was reduced?" she
+pleaded, clasping her hands before him and raising her eyes to his face.
+
+"'The way of the transgressor is hard,'" murmured the minister to
+himself. Then he answered her:
+
+"Yes, I do pity you very much. I pity you for your sins and sufferings.
+But more than all I pity you for the moral and spiritual blindness of
+which you do not even seem to be suspicious, far less conscious."
+
+"I do not understand you," murmured Mary Grey, in a low, frightened
+tone.
+
+"No, you do not understand me. Well, I will try to explain. You have
+pleaded your youth as an excuse for your first 'false step,' as you call
+it. But I tell you that a girl who is old enough to sin is old enough to
+know better than to sin. And if you were not morally and spiritually
+blind you would see this. Secondly, you have pleaded your
+necessities--that is, your interests--as a just cause and excuse for
+your matrimonial engagement with Governor Cavendish, and for your
+eavesdropping in this house, and also for your false statements to me.
+But I tell you if you had been as truly penitent as you professed to be
+you would have felt no necessity so pressing as the necessity for true
+repentance, forgiveness and amendment. And if you had not been morally
+and spiritually blind you would have seen this also. I sometimes think
+that it may be my duty to discover you to this family. Yet I will be
+candid with you. I fear that if you should be turned adrift here you
+might, and probably would, fall into deeper sin. Therefore I will not
+expose you--for the present, and upon conditions. You are safe from me
+so long as you remain true, honest and faithful to this household. But
+upon the slightest indication of any sort of duplicity or double dealing
+I shall unmask you to Madam Cavendish. And now you had better retire.
+Good-night."
+
+And with these words the old man walked to a side-table, took a bed-room
+candle in his hand and gave it to the widow.
+
+Mary Grey snatched and kissed his hand, courtesied and withdrew.
+
+When she got to her own room she threw herself into a chair and laughed
+softly, murmuring:
+
+"The old Pharisee! He is more than half in love with me now. I know it,
+and I feel it. Yet, to save his own credit with himself, he pretends to
+lecture me and tries to persuade himself that he means it. But he is
+half in love with me. Before I have done with him he shall be wholly in
+love with me. And won't it be fun to have his gray head at my feet,
+proposing marriage to me! And that is what I mean to bring him to before
+a month is over his venerable skeleton!"
+
+And, with this characteristic resolution, Mary Grey went to bed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+LAURA LYTTON'S MYSTERIOUS BENEFACTOR.
+
+
+There never was a closer friendship between two girls than that which
+bound Laura Lytton and Emma Cavendish together.
+
+On the night of Laura's arrival, after they had retired from the
+drawing-room, and Electra had gone to bed and gone to sleep, Laura and
+Emma sat up together in Emma's room and talked until nearly
+daylight--talked of everything in the heavens above, the earth below,
+and the waters under the earth. And then, when at length they parted,
+Laura asked:
+
+"May I come in here with you to dress to-morrow? And then we can finish
+our talk."
+
+"Surely, love! Use my room just like your own," answered Emma, with a
+kiss.
+
+And they separated for a few hours.
+
+But early in the morning, as soon as Emma was out of bed, she heard a
+tap at her chamber door, and she opened it to see Laura standing there
+in her white merino dressing-gown, with her dark hair hanging down and a
+pile of clothing over her arms.
+
+"Come in, dear," said Emma, greeting her with a kiss.
+
+And Laura entered and laid her pile of clothing on a chair, discovering
+in her hand a rich casket, which she set upon the dressing-table,
+saying:
+
+"Here, Emma, dear, I have something very curious to show you. You have
+heard me speak of some unknown friend who is paying the cost of my
+brother's and my own education?"
+
+"Yes. Haven't you found out yet who he is?" inquired Miss Cavendish.
+
+"No; and I do not even know whether our benefactor is a he or a she. But
+anyhow he has sent me this," said Laura, unlocking the casket and
+lifting the lid.
+
+"A set of diamonds and opals fit for a princess!" exclaimed Emma, in
+admiration, as she gazed upon the deep blue satin tray, on which was
+arranged a brooch, a pair of ear-rings, a bracelet and a necklace of the
+most beautiful opals set in diamonds.
+
+"Yes, they are lovely! They must have come from Paris. They are highly
+artistic," answered Laura. "But look at these others, will you? These
+are barbaric," she added, lifting the upper tray from the casket and
+taking from the recess beneath the heaviest cable gold chain, a heavier
+finger ring, and a pair of bracelets. "Just take these in your double
+hands and 'heft' them, as the children say," she concluded, as she put
+the weight of gold in Emma's open palms, which sank at first under the
+burden.
+
+"There; what do you think of that?" inquired Laura.
+
+"I think they are barbaric, as you said. Well intended, no doubt, but
+utterly barbaric. Why, this gold chain might fasten up the strongest
+bull-dog and these bracelets serve as fetters for the most desperate
+felon! Where on earth were they manufactured?" inquired Miss Cavendish.
+
+"In some rude country where there was more gold than good taste,
+evidently. However, Emma, dear, there is something very touching, very
+pathetic, to my mind, in these anonymous offerings. Of course they are
+almost useless to me. I could never wear the chain or the bracelets.
+They are far too clumsy for any one but an Indian chief; and I can never
+wear those lovely opals unless by some miracle I grow rich enough to
+have everything in harmony with them. And yet, Emma, the kindness
+and--what shall I say?--the humility of this anonymous giver so deeply
+touches my heart that I would not part with even a link of this useless
+chain to buy myself bread if I were starving," murmured Laura, with the
+tears filling her eyes, as she replaced the jewels in their casket.
+
+"And you have no suspicion who the donor is?"
+
+"None whatever. These came to me through Mr. Lyle, the agent who
+receives and pays the money for our education."
+
+"What does your brother say to all this?"
+
+"Oh, it makes him very uneasy at times. He shrinks from receiving this
+anonymous assistance. It is all Mr. Lyle can do now, by assuring him
+that in the end he will find it all right, to induce him to continue to
+receive it. And, at all events, he declares that after he graduates he
+will not take another dollar of this anonymous fund--conscience money or
+not--but that he will begin to pay back in bank, with interest and
+compound interest, the debt that he is now incurring."
+
+"I think that resolution is highly to his honor," said Emma Cavendish.
+
+"And he will keep it. I know Alden," answered Laura.
+
+And then the two girls hastened to dress themselves for breakfast. And
+very well they both looked as they left their room.
+
+Laura wore her crimson merino morning-dress, with white linen cuffs and
+collar, a costume that well became her olive complexion and dark hair
+and eyes.
+
+Emma wore a black cashmere trimmed with lusterless black silk, and
+folded book-muslin cuffs and collar. And in this dark dress her radiant
+blonde beauty shone like a fair star.
+
+They rapped at Electra's door to bring her out.
+
+She made her appearance looking quite dazzling. Electra had a gay taste
+in dress. She loved bright colors and many of them. She wore a purple
+dressing-gown with a brilliant shawl border--a dress for a portly old
+lady rather than for a slim young girl.
+
+They went down together to the breakfast-room, where they found the
+languishing widow and the old clergyman _tête-à-tête_.
+
+Mrs. Grey greeted them with a sweet smile and honeyed words, and Dr.
+Jones with a kindly good-morning and handshake.
+
+And they sat down to breakfast.
+
+This Easter Sunday had dawned clearly and beautifully. The family of
+Blue Cliffs were all going to attend divine service at Wendover.
+
+So, as soon as breakfast was over, the carriage was ordered, and the
+young ladies went upstairs to dress for church.
+
+At nine o'clock the whole party set out. Emma Cavendish, Laura Lytton
+and Electra Coroni went in the old family coach, carefully driven by
+Jerome. Mrs. Grey went in a buggy driven by the Rev. Dr. Jones.
+
+Who arranged this last drive, this _tête-à-tête_, no one knew except the
+artful coquette and her venerable victim.
+
+They all reached the church in good time.
+
+The rector, the Rev. Dr. Goodwin, read the morning service, and the Rev.
+Dr. Jones preached the sermon.
+
+At the conclusion of the services, when the congregation were leaving,
+Mr. Craven Kyte came up to pay his respects to the ladies from Blue
+Cliffs.
+
+Miss Cavendish introduced him to Dr. Jones, explaining that he had been
+a ward of her father, and was once an inmate of Blue Cliff Hall.
+
+Dr. Jones received the young man with courtesy, and in his turn
+introduced him to Miss Coroni.
+
+Then Emma Cavendish invited him to go home with them to dinner, kindly
+reminding him of the old custom of spending his holidays in his
+guardian's house.
+
+With a smile and a bow, and with a warm expression of thanks, the young
+man accepted the offered hospitality.
+
+And when the party entered their carriages to return to Blue Cliffs,
+Craven Kyte, mounted on a fine horse, attended them.
+
+But, mind, he did not ride beside the carriage that contained the three
+young ladies, but beside the gig occupied by Mary Grey and Dr. Jones.
+
+And the very first inquiry he made of Emma, on reaching the house, was:
+
+"Is the Reverend Doctor Jones a married man?"
+
+"Why, what a question!" exclaimed Emma, laughing. "No, he is not a
+married man; he is a widower. Why do you ask?"
+
+"I don't know. But I thought he was a widower. He seems very much taken
+with Mrs. Grey," sighed the young man.
+
+"Oh, is that it?" laughed Emma, as she ran away to take off her bonnet
+and mantle.
+
+And that Easter Sunday Mary Grey found herself again in a dilemma
+between her two proposed victims--the gray-haired clergyman and the
+raven-locked youth.
+
+But she managed them both with so much adroitness that at the close of
+the day, when Craven Kyte was riding slowly back to Wendover, he was
+saying to himself:
+
+"She is fond of me, after all; the beauty, the darling, the angel! Oh,
+that such a perfect creature should be fond of me! I am at this moment
+the very happiest man on earth!"
+
+And later the same night, when the Rev. Dr. Jones laid his woolen
+night-capped head upon his pillow, instead of going to sleep as the old
+gentleman should have done, he lay awake and communed with himself as
+follows:
+
+"Poor child--poor child! A mere baby. And she _is_ penitent; sincerely
+penitent. Oh, I can see that! And to think that she is not nearly so
+much in fault as we believed her to be! She tells me that she really was
+married to that man--married when she was a child only fourteen years of
+age. So her gravest error was in running away to be married! And that
+was the fault of the man who stole her, rather than of herself. And she
+is as repentant for that fault as if it were some great crime. And oh,
+how she has suffered! What she has gone through for one so young! And
+she has such a tender, affectionate, clinging nature! Ah, what will
+become of her, poor child--poor child! She ought to have some one to
+take care of her. She ought indeed to be married, for no one but a
+tender husband could take care of such a pretty, delicate, helpless
+creature. She ought to marry some one much older than herself. Not a
+green, beardless boy like that young puppy--Heaven forgive me!--I mean
+that young man Kyte. He couldn't appreciate her, couldn't be a guide or
+a guard to her. And she really needs guiding and guarding too. For see
+how easily she falls into error. She ought to marry some good, wise,
+elderly man, who could be her guide, philosopher and friend as well as
+husband."
+
+And so murmuring to himself he fell asleep to dream that he himself was
+the model guide, philosopher and friend required by the young widow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A GROWL FROM UNCLE JACKY.
+
+
+The next day, Easter Monday, brought a messenger from Lytton Lodge; a
+messenger who was no other than Mithridates, commonly called "Taters,"
+once a servant of Frederick Fanning, the landlord of White Perch Point,
+but now a hired hand of John Lytton's.
+
+Mithridates, or Taters, rode an infirm-looking old draft horse, with a
+dilapidated saddle and bridle, and wore a hat and coat exceedingly
+shabby for a gentleman's servant.
+
+He also led a second horse, furnished with a side-saddle.
+
+He dismounted at the carriage-steps, tied the horses to a tree, and
+boldly went to the front door and knocked.
+
+Jerome opened it, and administered a sharp rebuke to the messenger for
+presuming to knock at the visitors' door instead of at the servants'.
+
+"If I'd a come to the servants' I'd rapped at the servants' door; but as
+I have comed to the white folks' I rap at dere door. Here; I've fotch a
+letter from Marse Jacky Lytton to his niece, Miss Lorrer," said Taters,
+pompously.
+
+"Give it to me then, and I'll take it in to her," said Jerome.
+
+"Set you up with it! I must 'liver of this here letter with my own hands
+inter her own hands," said Taters, stoutly.
+
+"Well, come along, for a fool! You're a purty looking objick to denounce
+into the parlor, a'n't you now?" said Jerome, leading the way.
+
+At that moment, unseen by Jerome, but distinctly seen by Taters, a face
+appeared at the head of the stairs for an instant, but meeting the eye
+of Taters turned white as death and vanished.
+
+Taters uttered a terrible cry and sank, ashen pale and quaking with
+horror, at the foot of the steps.
+
+"Why, what in the name of the old boy is the matter with you, man? Have
+you trod on a nail or piece of glass, or anything that has gone through
+your foot, or what is it?" demanded Jerome, in astonishment.
+
+"Oh, no, no, no! it's worse'n that--it's worse'n that! It's no end
+worse'n that! Oh, Lor'! oh, Lor'! oh, Lor'!" cried Taters, holding his
+knees and sawing backward and forward in an agony of horror.
+
+"Ef you don't stop that howlin' and tell me what's the matter of you I'm
+blessed ef I don't get a bucket of ice water and heave it all over you
+to fetch you to your senses!" exclaimed the exasperated Jerome.
+
+"Oh, Lor', don't! Oh, please don't! I shill die quick enough now without
+that!" cried Taters, writhing horribly.
+
+"What's the matter, you born iddiwut?" roared Jerome, in a fury.
+
+"Oh, I've seen a sperrit--I've seen a sperrit! I've seen the sperrit of
+my young mistress! And it's a token of my death!" wailed the negro boy
+in agony.
+
+"What's that you say--a sperrit? A sperrit in this yer 'spectable,
+'sponsible house? Lookee here, nigger: mind what you say now, or it'll
+be the wus for you! A sperrit in this yer ginteel family as never had a
+crime or a ghost inter it! The Cavendishers nebber 'mits no crimes when
+der living, nor likewise don't walk about ondecent after der dead. And
+der a'n't no sperrits here," said Jerome, with ire.
+
+"Oh, I wish it wasn't--I wish it wasn't! But it was a sperrit! And it's
+a token of my death--it's a token of my death!" howled Taters.
+
+And now at last the noise brought the three young ladies out of the
+drawing-room.
+
+"What is the matter here, Jerome?" inquired Mrs. Cavendish. "Has any one
+got hurt? Who is that man?"
+
+"Ef you please, Miss Emma, no one a'n't got hurt, though you might a
+thought, from the squalling, that there was a dozen pigs a killin'. And
+that man, miss, is a born iddiwut, so he is--begging your pardon,
+miss!--and says he's seed a sperrit in this yer harristocraterick house,
+where there never was a sperrit yet," explained Jerome, with a grieved
+and indignant look.
+
+"But who is the man? What is he doing here? And what does he want?"
+inquired the young lady.
+
+"The man is a born iddiwut, Miss Emma, as I telled you before; that's
+who the man he is! And he's a making of a 'fernal fool of hisself;
+that's what he's doing here! And he deserves a good hiding; and that's
+what he wants!" said Jerome, irately.
+
+Miss Cavendish passed by the privileged old family servant, and went up
+to the man himself and inquired:
+
+"Who are you, boy? What brings you here? And what ails you?"
+
+"Oh, miss! I'm Taters, I am. And I come to fetch a letter from Marse
+Jacky Lytton to Miss Lorrer. And I seen a sperrit at the top o'them
+stair steps. And that's what's the matter of me," cried the boy.
+
+"A spirit! Jerome, do you think he's been drinking?" inquired the young
+lady in a low, frightened voice.
+
+For an answer Jerome, without the least hesitation, seized Taters by the
+head, pulled open his jaws, and stuck his own nose into the cavity and
+took an audible snuff. Then, releasing the head, he answered:
+
+"No, miss, he a'n't been drinking nuffin. His breff's as sweet as a
+milch cow's. I reckon he must be subjick to epperliptic fits, miss, by
+the way he fell down here all of a suddint, crying out as he'd seen a
+sperrit."
+
+"You said you had a letter, boy. Where is it?" inquired Emma.
+
+"Here, miss! Here it is! I'll give it to you, though I wouldn't give it
+to him there!" answered Taters, with a contemptuous glance toward
+Jerome.
+
+Emma took the letter, which was inclosed in a wonderfully dingy yellow
+envelope, and she read the superscription, and then called to Laura,
+saying:
+
+"Come here, my dear. Here is a letter from Lytton Lodge for you."
+
+Laura Lytton, who, with Electra, had been standing just within the
+drawing-room door, near enough to observe the group, but not to hear the
+whole of their conversation, now came when she was called and received
+her letter.
+
+"It is from dear Uncle Jacky," she said, with an affectionate smile, as
+she recognized the handwriting.
+
+And then she asked the messenger a multitude of questions, which he was
+too much agitated to answer coherently, until at length Miss Cavendish
+said:
+
+"Jerome, take the poor fellow into the kitchen and give him something to
+eat and drink. There is nothing like beef and beer to exorcise evil
+spirits. And when he is rested and refreshed we will see him again."
+
+And Jerome took Taters rather roughly by the shoulder and pulled him
+upon his feet and carried him along the hall through the back door
+toward the kitchen.
+
+"Will you excuse me now, dear Emma, while I read my uncle's letter?"
+inquired Laura, as she retreated to the drawing-room.
+
+"Certainly," smiled Miss Cavendish, following her guests.
+
+Laura went into the recess of a bay-window and opened the dingy yellow
+envelope and read as follows:
+
+
+                                  "LYTTON LODGE, April --, 18--.
+
+   "MY DEAR NIECE:--I think my nephew, Alden, has a more correcter
+   ideer of what is jue to kin and kith than what you have shown.
+
+   "Alden is spending his Easter holidays along of me and his
+   relations.
+
+   "But you haven't been nigh the house since you left it to go to
+   school. You do seem to be so wrapped up in the Cavendishers as
+   not to think anything of your own folks.
+
+   "Now I can tell you what it is. The Lyttonses are a great deal
+   older and better family than all the Cavendishers that ever
+   lived. I don't care if they was governors of the state.
+
+   "I have heard my grandfather, who was a scholar, say that the
+   Lyttonses was landed gentry in the old country long before the
+   Cavendishers followed of their lord and marster William the
+   Conkerer across the channil. And so I don't approve of your
+   sliting of the Lyttonses for them there Cavendishers. Spesherly
+   as you're a Lytton yourself. And if we don't respect ourselves
+   and each other no one a'n't a going to respect us.
+
+   "And talking of that, what do you think Hezekiah Greenfield, the
+   landlord of the Reindeer, went and done to me last week?
+
+   "Why, he came over and asked me could I supply his tavern with
+   fruits and vegetables during the summer season at the market
+   price, saying--quite as if he was a making of me a kind proposal
+   instead of offering of me a black insult--that he'd rather deal
+   with me, and I should have his money, than any one else, if so be
+   I was willing to do business.
+
+   "Now what do you think I answered him?
+
+   "Why, I set the bull-dog on him! I did that! And it was good for
+   him as he scrambled up on his horse and made off double-quick, or
+   he'd been torn to pieces before you could say Jack Robinson.
+
+   "That'll learn the tavern-keeper to insult a gentleman next time
+   by offering to buy his garden stuff!
+
+   "But what I'm writing to you for, my dear, now, is this. I think
+   you ought to come to see us, anyhow. You must come, if it's only
+   for two or three days, to see your old grandmother, and all your
+   relations, and to meet Alden, who is here, as I said. I have sent
+   Taters on horseback with a led horse and a side-saddle for you.
+   Come back along of him to-morrow morning. And give my honorable
+   compliments to the old madam and Miss Cavendish. Because, mind
+   you, I'm not a saying as the Cavendishers a'n't a good,
+   respectabil family; only I do say as they are not so good as the
+   Lyttonses, and they never was and never will be; and they know it
+   themselves, too. Well, your dear grandma, and your dear aunties
+   and cousins, all sends their love to you, with many good wishes.
+   So no more at present from your affeckshunit uncle,
+
+        "JOHN LYTTON."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE GHOST SEEN BY "TATERS."
+
+    He shuddered, as no doubt the bravest cowers,
+    When he can't tell what 'tis that doth appall.
+    How odd a single hobgoblin's nonentity
+    Should cause more fear than a whole host's identity.
+                                                  --BYRON.
+
+
+"Emma, dear, I have a letter from Uncle John Lytton," said Laura,
+gravely, going to the side of her friend.
+
+"I hope they are all well at Lytton Lodge," responded Emma.
+
+"Oh, yes, thank you, they are all quite well; but," added Laura, with a
+sigh, "Uncle John has written to me to come at once and pay them a
+visit. And to leave me no excuse, he has sent his servant Mithridates on
+horseback, with another led horse and side-saddle, to take me to Lytton
+Lodge."
+
+"Oh, dear! But you need not go, I hope?" said Emma, looking up, with a
+sigh.
+
+"I must go," answered Laura, with another sigh. "And really I ought to
+be glad to go to see such kind friends as all my relatives there have
+been to me. But, you see, Emma, I don't like to leave you for a single
+day even before I have to return to school."
+
+"Then why do you go at all? Why can you not send an excuse?"
+
+"Dear Emma, would _you_ refuse to go if you were in my place?" inquired
+Laura.
+
+Emma Cavendish could not reply.
+
+"No, you would not," added Laura, "because it would not be right to
+refuse."
+
+"But, my dear, to perform so long a journey on horseback! It must be
+over twenty miles. Let me see--it is about nine miles from here to
+Wendover, and it must be ten or eleven from Wendover to Lytton Lodge,"
+said Emma.
+
+"No; only about eight or nine. The whole distance is not more than
+seventeen or eighteen miles by the roundabout route. And if I could go
+as the crow flies it is not more than six miles. Why, you know the
+eastern extremity of your land touches the western extremity of
+uncle's."
+
+"So it does. And if, as you say, you could go as the crow flies--that
+is, straight over mountains and rivers--you could get there in two
+hours. As it is, it will take you five or six hours, and that is too
+long for a girl to be in the saddle, especially a city-bred girl,
+unaccustomed to such exercise."
+
+"I think I can stand it," smiled Laura.
+
+"But you shall not try. If you will go you must take the little
+carriage. When do you propose to start?"
+
+"To-morrow morning."
+
+"Well, we will send the redoubtable Mithridates back with his steeds,
+and send you on your journey in the little carriage, under the
+guardianship of old Jerome, with orders to remain with you during your
+visit; but to bring you back again, at farthest, on the third day," said
+Emma, peremptorily.
+
+Laura thanked her friend, but protested against any trouble being taken
+on her account.
+
+But Miss Cavendish was firm, and the arrangement was made according to
+her plan.
+
+In the meantime Mithridates, eating beef and bread and drinking
+home-made sweet cider in the kitchen, recovered some of his composure;
+though still, with his mouth full of meat and his eyes starting from his
+head, he persisted that he had seen the spirit of his young mistress.
+And it was a token of his death.
+
+"G'long way from her', boy! Ef I didn't know as you _wasn't_ I should
+think as you _was_ intoxified! There never was no sperrit never seen
+into this house," said Aunt Molly, indignantly.
+
+"I don't care! I did see her sperrit! So there now," persisted Taters,
+bolting a chunk of bread and choking with it for a moment. "And--and
+it's a token of my death."
+
+"Is that the reason you're a trying to kill yourself now, you iddiwut?"
+
+"No; but I seen her sperrit!"
+
+"I don't believe one word of it. You're a making of it all up out'n your
+own stoopid head! There, now, ef you're done eatin' you'd better go
+'long and put up your hosses," said Aunt Moll, seeing her guest pause in
+his gastronomic efforts.
+
+But Taters hadn't done eating, and did't get done until all the dishes
+on the kitchen table were cleared and the jug of cider emptied.
+
+Then, indeed, he gave over and went to look after his "beasts."
+
+At the same hour Mary Grey, locked fast in her room, suffered agonies of
+terror and anxiety. She, too, had seen a "ghost"--a ghost of her past
+life--a ghost that might have come to summon her from her present
+luxurious home!
+
+On her way down-stairs to the drawing-room she had been arrested on the
+head of the middle landing by the sight of a once familiar face and
+form.
+
+She met the distended eyes of this apparition, and saw at once that he
+had recognized her as surely as she had recognized him.
+
+And in an instant she vanished.
+
+She darted into her own room and locked the door and sank breathless
+into the nearest chair.
+
+And there she sat now, with beating heart and burning head, waiting for
+what should come next.
+
+A rap at the door was the next thing that came.
+
+It frightened her, of course--everything frightened her now.
+
+"Who is that?" she nervously inquired.
+
+"Only me, ma'am. The ladies are waiting luncheon for you. Miss Emma
+sends her compliments and says will you come down?" spoke the voice of
+Sarah, the lady's maid.
+
+"Love to Miss Cavendish, and ask her to excuse me. I do not want any
+luncheon," answered Mary Grey, without opening the door.
+
+Then she sank back in her chair with throbbing pulses, waiting for the
+issue of this crisis. She was really ill with intense anxiety and dread.
+She grew so weak at last that she lay down upon her sofa.
+
+Then came another rap at the door.
+
+"Who is that?" she asked again, faintly.
+
+"It is I, dear," answered the voice of Emma Cavendish.
+
+Mrs. Grey arose trembling and opened the door.
+
+"I was afraid that you were not well. I came up to see," said Emma,
+kindly, as she entered the room.
+
+"I--no, I am not quite well," faltered Mary Grey, as she retreated to
+the sofa and sat down, with her back purposely to the light and her face
+in the shadow.
+
+"You really look pale and ill. What is the matter, dear?"
+
+"I--think I have taken cold. But by keeping to my room for a few days I
+hope to be better. A cold always affects the action of my heart and
+makes me very nervous," said Mary Grey, in explanation of the tremors
+for which she could not otherwise account.
+
+Then Emma expressed sympathy and sorrow, and begged the pretended
+invalid to have some tea and cream-toast, or some wine-whey or
+chicken-broth.
+
+But Mary Grey declined all these offers, declaring that a cold always
+took her appetite away.
+
+And again Emma expressed regret.
+
+And, as Miss Cavendish talked, Mary Grey grew more composed.
+
+It was evident, she thought, that Emma as yet knew nothing of that
+strange rencounter on the stairs.
+
+Presently, Miss Cavendish said:
+
+"I am sorry to tell you that we shall lose Laura Lytton for a few days.
+Her uncle, Mr. Lytton of Lytton Lodge, has sent a messenger for her. She
+goes to visit her relations there to-morrow morning."
+
+"Indeed--a messenger?" exclaimed Mary Grey, pricking up her ears.
+
+"Yes; a queer genius, who signalized his entrance into the house by a
+scene," added Emma, smiling.
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Oh, yes! Why, you might have heard the commotion in the front hall! Did
+you hear nothing of it?"
+
+"No, dear; I have remained shut up in my room ever since breakfast--have
+not stirred from it," answered Mary Grey, lying without the least
+hesitation.
+
+"That accounts for your knowing nothing about it. But the absurd fellow
+raised quite a confusion by suddenly falling down in the front hall in a
+spasm of terror, declaring that he had seen the spirit of his young
+mistress on the middle landing of the front stairs."
+
+"An optical illusion," answered Mary Grey, in a low, tremulous tone and
+with her face carefully kept in the shadow.
+
+"Of course! And it appears that he was once a servant of that reckless
+and unlucky Frederick Fanning of White Perch Point, who married my
+mother's sister. And consequently his young mistress must have been that
+unfortunate cousin of mine," said Emma, with a sigh.
+
+"Does any one know what ever became of that wretched girl?" inquired
+Mrs. Grey, in a very low tone.
+
+"No; but I gather from the wild talk of the boy that she is supposed to
+be dead. It was her spirit that he thinks he saw."
+
+"Whatever became of her father and mother?" questioned Mary Grey in the
+same low tone and still keeping her face in the deep shadow.
+
+"I do not know. I heard that they went to California. I have not heard
+anything of them since. But, my dear, you are talking beyond your
+strength. Your voice is quite faint--scarcely audible indeed. Now I
+advise you to lie down and be quiet," said Miss Cavendish, with some
+solicitude.
+
+And then she kissed Mary Grey, begged her to ring for anything she might
+require, and then she left the room.
+
+And Mary Grey heard no more of the ghost. That cloud passed harmlessly
+over her head.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A VISIT TO LYTTON LODGE.
+
+
+Early the next morning Miss Cavendish's snug little pony-carriage, with
+a pretty pair of grays, stood before the front door waiting for Laura
+Lytton.
+
+Old Jerome sat on the front seat to drive.
+
+Taters, with his own horse and the now useless led horse, was in
+attendance.
+
+Laura Lytton, dressed for her journey and with traveling-bag in hand,
+stood with Emma Cavendish in the hall waiting for Mrs. Grey, to whom
+they had sent a message inviting her to come down and see the traveler
+off.
+
+But presently the messenger returned with Miss Grey's love and good
+wishes, and requested that they would excuse her from coming down, as
+her cold was so severe that she did not dare to leave her room.
+
+"I must go up and bid her good-bye then," said Laura, as she dropped her
+traveling-bag and ran upstairs.
+
+She found Mary Grey in a fine white merino dressing-gown playing the
+interesting invalid.
+
+She hastily kissed her, expressed a hope that she might find her better
+on returning to Blue Cliffs, and then ran out of the room and
+down-stairs as fast as she could go.
+
+She had already taken leave of every member of the family except Emma
+Cavendish, who went out with her to the carriage, saw her comfortably
+seated in it, and kissed her good-bye.
+
+The little cavalcade then set forward.
+
+It was a lovely spring morning. The woods and fields were clothed with
+the freshest green; the mountain tops beamed in the most beautiful opal
+tints, and the blue sky was without a cloud.
+
+Laura enjoyed her drive very much.
+
+At Wendover they stopped to rest and water the horses, and then they
+resumed their journey and went on to Lytton Lodge, where they arrived
+just about noon.
+
+John Lytton was evidently on the lookout for his niece, for as the
+pony-carriage drove up, amid the barking of all the dogs and the
+shouting of all the little negroes, he rushed out of the house, throwing
+up his arms; and he caught Laura and lifted her bodily from her seat,
+roaring his welcome.
+
+And Laura, as she returned his honest, hearty greeting, felt a twinge of
+self-reproach in remembering with what reluctance she had come.
+
+Uncle John took her into the house and set her down in the hall in the
+midst of all her relations, who had crowded there to welcome here.
+
+"Lor-lor-lor', John! How dare you ma-ma-make so free as that with Laura,
+and she a young 'oman?" exclaimed old Mrs. Lytton, as, in her well-known
+faded calico gown and long-eared muslin cap, she came up and kissed her
+granddaughter.
+
+"Why, because she _is_ a young 'oman, of course, and not an old man!"
+said John, saucily.
+
+"Why, how much you have improved, child!" said Miss Molly Moss, smiling
+blandly.
+
+"Oh, a'n't she though, neither?" exclaimed Octy and Ulky in a breath, as
+they seized her hands, the one clinging to her right and the other to
+her left.
+
+"Come, now, I think you had better let Laura go upstairs and take off
+her bonnet and things. Dinner's all ready to go on the table. And I
+reckon her appetite is ready also. And, Jacky, you had better go out and
+tell John Brooks to put up and feed them horses," said practical Aunt
+Kitty, as she took and faced Laura about toward the spare bed-room that
+was on the first floor.
+
+"Uncle wrote me that my brother was here. But I don't see him," said
+Laura as she laid off her bonnet.
+
+"No; he and Charley went to Perch Point fishing yesterday, intending to
+stay all night and come back this morning. I reckon they'll soon be
+here," said Aunt Kitty.
+
+Laura washed her face and hands and brushed her hair, put on clean
+collar and cuffs, and declared herself ready to join the family.
+
+Even as she spoke there was the hilarious bustle of an arrival in the
+hall outside.
+
+And as Laura emerged from the room she was caught in the arms of her
+brother Alden.
+
+"My darling sister, I am so delighted to see you!" said the young man,
+kissing her joyously.
+
+"So am I to see you, Alden, dear. But why didn't you accept Mrs.
+Cavendish's invitation to come and join our Easter party at Blue
+Cliffs?" inquired Laura.
+
+"My dear, because I thought my duty called me here," gravely replied
+Alden.
+
+"But for a day or two you might have joined us," persisted Laura.
+
+"No," said Alden. Then turning toward his red-headed fishing comrade he
+said: "Here's Cousin Charley waiting to welcome you, Laura."
+
+And Charley Lytton, blushing and stammering, held out his hand and said:
+
+"How do you do? I am very glad to see you."
+
+"And now come to dinner," said Aunt Kitty, opening the dining-room door.
+
+They all went in and sat down to as fine a dinner as was ever served in
+Blue Cliff Hall, or even at the Government House, although this was laid
+on a rough pine table, covered with a coarse, though clean linen
+table-cloth, and in a room where the walls were whitewashed and the
+floors were bare.
+
+"And now," said Uncle Jacky, as soon as he had served the turtle soup
+around to everybody, "I want you to tell me why you couldn't ride the
+gray mare, and why you came in a pony-carriage with a slap-up pair of
+bloods?"
+
+"Why, you know, I am a good-for-nothing city-bred girl, Uncle John, and
+Miss Cavendish knew it and doubted my ability to ride eighteen or twenty
+miles on horseback, and so insisted on my having the pony-carriage,"
+explained Laura, soothingly.
+
+"Well, I'm glad it was no worse. I was thinking may be as you despised
+the old family mare," said John, somewhat mollified.
+
+"Oh, no, uncle! Quite the contrary. I did not feel equal to her,"
+laughed Laura.
+
+"Well, when must we send that fine equipage back--to-night or tomorrow?"
+
+"Neither, Uncle John. It is not wanted at Blue Cliffs just at present.
+They have the barouche, the brougham and the gig. They can easily spare
+the pony-chaise. And Emma insisted on my keeping it here until I should
+be ready to return. And I promised her that I would do it."
+
+"Now I don't like that. That is a patternizing of us a great deal too
+much. We've got a carriage of our own, I reckon," said John, sitting
+back in his chair and lifting his red head pompously.
+
+"Now-now-now, John Lytton, don't you be a foo-foo-fool! Carriage! Why,
+our carriage is all to pieces! A'n't been fit to use for this six
+months! And sin-sin-since the Caverndishers have been so obleeging as to
+lend the loan of the pony-shay to Laura, I say let her keep it till she
+goes back. And while it's a staying here idle I can use it to go and see
+some of my neighbors," said old Mrs. Lytton, in that peremptory way of
+hers that did not brook contradiction from any one--even from the master
+of the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A FLIGHT FROM BLUE CLIFFS.
+
+
+Laura Lytton staid two days with her relatives at Lytton Lodge, and was
+just turning over in her mind the difficult subject of breaking the news
+of her immediate departure to Uncle Jacky, whom she felt sure would
+bitterly oppose it, when, on the evening of the second day, she received
+a surprise in the form of a call from Craven Kyte.
+
+The visitor was shown into the big parlor, where all the family, except
+Alden and Charley, were assembled, and engaged in cheerful conversation
+around the evening lamp.
+
+He came in bowing, shook hands with everybody, and then took the seat
+that was offered him and drew a letter from his pocket, saying,
+humorously:
+
+"In these latter days, when every one has a mission, it seems to me that
+my mission is to fetch and carry letters. I happened to call at Blue
+Cliffs this morning and to mention while there that I was going to White
+Perch Point and should take Lytton Lodge in my way, and would carry any
+message that was desired to Miss Laura Lytton, who I understood was on a
+visit there. And then Miss Cavendish requested me to take a letter to
+you, which she sat down and wrote right off at once. And here it is,
+miss," he concluded, placing the letter in Laura's hands.
+
+Laura asked leave of her company, and then opened the envelope and read
+as follows:
+
+
+                                  "BLUE CLIFFS, Thursday afternoon.
+
+   "MY DEAREST LAURA:--The opportune arrival of Mr. Craven Kyte, on
+   his way to White Perch Point and Lytton Lodge, furnishes me with
+   the means of communicating with you sooner than I could manage to
+   do by mail.
+
+   "You will be very much surprised at what I am about to tell you.
+
+   "_Mary Grey has left Blue Cliffs._
+
+   "She left so suddenly that I scarcely yet can realize that she
+   has gone.
+
+   "My grandmother and myself opposed her departure most earnestly.
+   We used every means in the world but absolute force to keep her
+   here.
+
+   "But she would go. She said her health and spirits required the
+   change. You know she was ailing when you left here.
+
+   "Well, she has gone to Charlottesville, where she says she has
+   some lady friend who keeps a boarding-house for the students of
+   the University. So if your brother returns to the University he
+   may have an opportunity of renewing his very pleasant
+   acquaintance with her. I do not know when, if ever, she will
+   return.
+
+   "Of course this is her home whenever she pleases to come back.
+   But I strongly suspect the pretty little widow has grown tired of
+   our country house.
+
+   "You know she has really no resources within herself for
+   enjoyment. She cares nothing for the beautiful scenery
+   surrounding our home, nor for gardening, nor reading, nor
+   visiting and instructing the poor negroes; nor, in short, for
+   anything that makes a remote country place enjoyable. And so she
+   has left us--'It may be for years, and it may be for ever,' as
+   the song says.
+
+   "But, my darling, don't _you_ desert me just at this time. Come
+   back, according to your promise. I am wearying for you. Tell that
+   excessively affectionate and hospitable Uncle John that I need
+   you so much more than he does. Or show him this letter. All the
+   Lyttons are gallant and chivalrous gentlemen. He is no exception,
+   and he will not oppose my wish, I feel sure. I shall expect you
+   at Blue Cliffs to-morrow evening.
+
+   "My grandmother has just directed me to repeat her invitation to
+   Mr. Alden Lytton, and to ask him to accompany you back to Blue
+   Cliffs and make us a visit. I hope he will do so. Mind, I shall
+   expect you both to-morrow evening. Pray present my respects to
+   Mr. and Mrs. Lytton and all their kind family. And believe me,
+   dearest Laura,
+
+      "Ever your own
+        "EMMA.
+
+   "_Postscript._--I have some strange news to tell you which I can
+   not trust upon paper. I also expect a new inmate in the family. I
+   will explain when you come.    E."
+
+
+Laura folded her letter and put it into her pocket for the present.
+
+"They want you to come back, I suppose," said Uncle John, testily.
+
+"I will show you the letter presently, uncle, so you can read and judge
+for yourself," said Laura, with a smile.
+
+"Well, all I say is this: if they want you to come back want will be
+their master. For they can't have you; so there now! I don't mean to let
+you leave us until you are obliged to go back to school. I don't
+_that_!" said John, nodding his big red head.
+
+"Did you know Mrs. Grey had left Blue Cliffs?" sorrowfully inquired Mr.
+Kyte.
+
+"Yes. Emma has written to me about her departure. When did she go?"
+
+"Early this morning. When I got to the house I was very much
+disappointed at not seeing her, and beyond measure astonished to hear
+that she had started that very morning to Wendover, to catch the first
+train to the city, _en route_ for Charlottesville. She will be a great
+loss to the domestic circle at Blue Cliffs, I think."
+
+"And who the mischief is Mrs. Grey?" inquired the sorely puzzled Uncle
+John.
+
+"She was one of the assistant teachers--the drawing-mistress, in
+fact--at Mount Ascension. But she lost her situation there. And she
+became the guest of Emma Cavendish. Afterward she was engaged to Mr.
+Cavendish. But his death prevented the marriage," Laura explained.
+
+And at this point of the conversation "Mandy" made her appearance at the
+door and said that supper was on the table.
+
+And old Mrs. Lytton arose and invited the company to follow her to the
+dining-room.
+
+After supper, as it was a clear, mild, star-lit evening, Mr. Craven Kyte
+remounted his horse and resumed his journey to White Perch Point.
+
+After his departure, when the family were once more assembled in the big
+parlor, Laura took her letter out and put it in the hands of John
+Lytton.
+
+Uncle Jacky read it through, and then quoted a part of it to the family
+circle.
+
+"'Tell that affectionate and hospitable Uncle John that I need you so
+much more than he does. Or show him this letter. All the Lyttons are
+gallant and chivalrous gentlemen.' That's so!" put in Uncle Jacky,
+nodding his red head. "'He is no exception. And he will not oppose my
+wish, I feel sure.' Now that is what I call taking a fellow at a
+disadvantage!" growled John, holding the letter before his eyes and
+staring at it. "Well, I suppose I must let you go, Laura, seeing she
+makes such a point of it. But they want Alden, too. And Alden they can't
+have! Where is the fellow, anyhow? And why wasn't he at supper?"
+
+"He and Charley are down at Uncle Bob's house, getting bait for another
+fishing match to-morrow. I told Mandy to keep the supper hot for them,"
+answered Aunt Kitty.
+
+And soon after this the little family, who kept very early hours,
+separated to go to rest.
+
+Laura and her two cousins were the first to leave the room.
+
+Aunt Kitty and Miss Molly followed.
+
+When they were gone old Mrs. Lytton turned upon her son and said:
+
+"Jacky, I ho-ho-hope you a'n't a goin' to be sich a contrairy fool as to
+stand into the light of your own flesh and blood?"
+
+"Why, what the mischief do you mean, mother? I a'n't a standing into
+nobody's light, much less my own flesh and blood's!" exclaimed John,
+raising his red head.
+
+"Yes-yes-yes, you are too! You're a standing into your own dear
+nephew's, Alden Lytton's, light, in opposing of his going to Blue Cliffs
+along of his sister to-morrow," complained the old lady.
+
+"Riddle-me-riddle-me-ree! I know no more of what you're talking than the
+fish of Zuyder Zee!"
+
+"Why-why-why then this is what I'm a talking about. Can-can-can't you
+see that Emma Cavendish is perfectly wrapped up in Laura Lytton? She's
+as fon-fon-fond of her as ever she can be. And Emma Cavendish is the
+most beau-beau-beautiful girl and the richest heiress in the whole
+state. And Alden Lytton is one of the han-han-handsomest young men I
+ever saw. And if he goes with his sister to Blue Cliffs--_don't you
+see?_"
+
+"No, I don't," said honest, obtuse John.
+
+"Well, then, the gal that is so fond of the sis-sis-sister might grow to
+be equally fond of the handsome bro-bro-brother. _Now do you see?_"
+
+"Oh, I see!" exclaimed John, with a look of profound enlightenment.
+
+"And I hope you won't go and stand into the light of your own dear
+nephew by raising up of any objections to his going along of his sister
+to Blue Cliffs," added the old lady.
+
+"_I_ stand in the light of my own poor, dear, dead brother's son!
+'Tain't likely!" exclaimed Uncle Jacky, with an injured air.
+
+"No, John, I don't think it is. And so, I hope, instead of
+oppo-po-po-opposing on him, you'll encourage him to go along of his
+sister to Blue Cliffs to-morrow," said the old lady.
+
+"Mother, I shall do what is right," answered John.
+
+"And lookee here, Jacky! Don't you let on to Alden that any on us have
+such a thought as him going there to court the heiress, for ef you do,
+he's so high and mighty he'd see us all furder fust before he'd budge a
+step to go to Blue Cliffs, sister or no sister. So mind what I tell you,
+John."
+
+"Mother, I will do all that is right," repeated John, with pompous
+dignity.
+
+"I only hope as you will. And so good-night, my son," said the old
+woman, as she lighted her bed-room taper and left the room.
+
+Laura came down-stairs early the next morning, and found her brother
+alone in the big parlor.
+
+And then she showed him Emma Cavendish's letter.
+
+And when he had read it through, she said, quite piteously:
+
+"Alden, I do want to go back and spend the rest of the Easter holidays
+at Blue Cliffs, for I love Emma Cavendish better than anybody else in
+the whole world except yourself. And I hate to disappoint her. But I
+equally hate to leave you, Alden. So I do wish you would make up your
+mind to accept Mrs. Cavendish's invitation and accompany me to Blue
+Cliffs."
+
+"Why-why-why of course he will go, Laura! Do you 'spect your own dear
+brother is a going to let you go off alone, by your own self, of a
+journey, when he's invi-vi-vited to go along of you?" exclaimed old Mrs.
+Lytton, who entered at that moment, and spoke up before Alden Lytton
+could either accept or refuse.
+
+"Certainly he will. Why, nephew's a gentleman, I reckon, and he wouldn't
+refuse to escort his own dear sister, when he is requested to do so,"
+added Uncle John, as he strode into the room.
+
+Alden Lytton smiled and bowed.
+
+In truth, now that the secret obstacle to his visit to Blue Cliffs was
+removed by the departure of Mrs. Grey for an indefinitely long absence,
+he felt no objection at all to accompanying his sister thither. So,
+still smiling, he answered:
+
+"Why, you all seem to think that I shall make some difficulty about
+complying with my sister's wishes. But I shall do nothing of the sort.
+On the contrary, I shall attend my sister with great pleasure."
+
+"That's you!" exclaimed old Mrs. Lytton.
+
+"Bully boy!" heartily cried Uncle Jacky.
+
+"I thank you, Alden," said Laura, quietly, giving him her hand.
+
+"Yes, that's all very well; but--" began Charley, who had joined the
+circle.
+
+"But what? What's the matter with you?" demanded his father.
+
+Charley, seeing all eyes turned upon him, and most especially Laura's,
+blushed crimson and remained silent.
+
+"I had arranged to go with Charley this morning to fish for trout in the
+Mad River," laughingly explained Alden.
+
+"Oh, well, it can't be helped! You feel disappointed, of course, my boy;
+but everything must give way to the will of the ladies, Charley. 'All
+the Lyttons are gallant and chivalrous gentlemen,'" said Uncle Jacky,
+proudly, quoting the words of Emma's letter. "And we are no exception to
+the rule. Miss Cavendish is anxious for the society of Laura. Laura
+wishes the escort of her brother, who has also been invited to Blue
+Cliffs. We must not oppose the will of the ladies," concluded John,
+bowing to his niece with pompous deference.
+
+Poor Charley blushed purpler than ever, and holding down his red
+head--like his father's--he mumbled something about "not wishing to
+oppose no ladies whatsoever."
+
+"Now, then, what time are you expected at Blue Cliffs?" inquired Uncle
+Jacky, turning to Laura.
+
+"This evening, uncle. Don't you remember? You read the letter."
+
+"Oh, yes! Well, then, you needn't leave till after dinner, Kitty," he
+called to his wife, "order dinner for twelve o'clock noon, sharp! I want
+Alden and Laura, if they _must_ leave, to go with full stomachs: do you
+hear?"
+
+"Why of course, Jacky! Don't we always have dinner at twelve o'clock?"
+laughingly inquired Aunt Kitty.
+
+"Well, then, mind that to-day a'n't an exception to the rule. Now
+where's that boy Taters?"
+
+"Here I am, Marse John," said Mithridates, making his appearance with
+an armful of wood, which he threw upon the fire; for the April morning
+was chilly.
+
+"Taters," said Uncle John, "you see to having the pony-chaise at the
+door at half-past twelve precisely to take Mr. Alden and Miss Laura to
+Blue Cliffs."
+
+"Yes, Marse John."
+
+"And, Taters, you saddle Brown Bill to ride and wait on them. You hear?"
+
+Taters turned dark-gray and staggered to a chair and sat down.
+
+"Why, what's the matter with the fool now?" demanded Uncle John.
+
+"Oh, Marse John, don't send me to Blue Cliffs no more, sir--please
+don't!"
+
+"Why--why shouldn't I send you there, you idiot?"
+
+"Oh, Marse John, I done see the sperrit of my young mist'ess there; and
+if I see it ag'in I shall die--'deed I shall, sir!" exclaimed the
+shuddering boy.
+
+"What the mischief does he mean, Laura? You look as if you understood
+him," inquired John Lytton.
+
+Laura laughingly told the story of the supposed spirit, adding that it
+must have been a pure hallucination on the part of the boy.
+
+"Well, anyhow, I'll not send him with you if he's takin' to makin' a
+fool of himself. It wouldn't do, you know," said John.
+
+"And really, uncle, we need no one at all as an outrider," said Laura.
+
+After an early and substantial dinner, Alden and Laura took leave of
+their kind relatives and entered the pony-carriage, whose dashing little
+grays, driven by old Jerome, were to take them to Blue Cliffs.
+
+But we must precede them thither, to find out what it was that had
+driven Mary Grey from the house in such very great haste.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A STARTLING EVENT.
+
+    What see you in these papers, that you lose
+    So much of your complexion? Look you how you change!
+    Your cheeks are paper!--why, what hear you there
+    That hath so cowarded and chased your blood
+    Out of appearance?                --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+It was on the evening of the very same day that saw the departure of
+Laura Lytton for Lytton Lodge that Peter, the post-office messenger of
+Blue Cliffs, returned from Wendover, bringing with him a well-filled
+mail-bag.
+
+He took it into the drawing-room, where Miss Cavendish and her guests,
+the Rev. Dr. Jones, Miss Electra, and Mrs. Grey, were gathered around
+the center-table, under the light of the chandelier.
+
+Emma Cavendish unlocked the mail-bag and turned its contents out upon
+the table.
+
+"Newspapers and magazines only, I believe. No letters. Help yourselves,
+friends. There are paper-knives on the pen-tray. And in the absence of
+letters, there is a real pleasure in unfolding a fresh newspaper and
+cutting the leaves of a new magazine," said the young lady, as she
+returned the empty bag to the messenger.
+
+But her companions tumbled over the mail still in the vain hope of
+finding letters.
+
+"None for me; yet I did hope to get one from my new manager at Beresford
+Manors," muttered Dr. Jones, in a tone of disappointment.
+
+"And none for me either, though I do think the girls at Mount Ascension
+might write to me," pouted Electra.
+
+"And of course there are none for me! There never are! No one ever
+writes to me. The poor have no correspondents. I did not expect a
+letter, and I am not disappointed," murmured Mary Grey, with that
+charming expression, between a smile and a sigh, that she had always
+found so effective.
+
+"Well, there is no letter for any one, it seems, so none of us have
+cause to feel slighted by fortune more than others," added Emma
+Cavendish, cheerfully.
+
+But Peter, the post-office boy, looked from one to the other, with his
+black eyes growing bigger and bigger, as he felt with his hand in the
+empty mail-bag and exclaimed:
+
+"I'clar's to de law der was a letter for some uns. Miss Emmer, 'cause I
+see de pos'marser put it in de bag wid his own hands, which it were a
+letter wid a black edge all 'round de outside of it, and a dob o' black
+tar, or somethink, onto the middle o' the back of it."
+
+As the boy spoke, the Rev. Dr. Jones began again to turn over the
+magazines and newspapers until he found the letter, which had slipped
+between the covers of the _Edinboro' Review_.
+
+"It is for you, my dear," he said, as he passed the missive across the
+table to Miss Cavendish.
+
+"I wonder from whom it comes? The handwriting is quite unfamiliar to me.
+And the postmark is New York, where I have no correspondents whatever,"
+said Emma, in surprise, as she broke the black seal.
+
+"Oh, maybe it's a circular from some merchant who has heard of the great
+Alleghany heiress," suggested Electra.
+
+"You will permit me?" said Emma, glancing at her companions as she
+unfolded her letter.
+
+And then, as one and another nodded and smiled and returned to their
+magazines and papers. Emma Cavendish glanced at the signature of her
+strange letter, started with surprise, gazed at it a second time more
+attentively, and then turned hurriedly and began to read it.
+
+And as she read her face paled and flushed, and she glanced from time to
+time at the faces of her companions; but they were all engaged with
+pamphlets and papers, except Mrs. Grey, whom Emma perceived to be
+furtively watching her.
+
+The strange letter was written in rather a wild and rambling style of
+composition, as if the writer were a little brain sick. It ran as
+follows:
+
+
+                    "BLANK HOTEL, New York City, April 27th, 18--.
+
+   "MY DEAR MISS CAVENDISH:--Our near blood relationship might
+   warrant me in addressing you as my dear Emma. But I refrain,
+   because you would not understand the familiarity any more than
+   you recognize this handwriting, which must seem as strange to you
+   as my face would seem if I were to present myself bodily before
+   you; for you have never set eyes upon me, and perhaps have never
+   even heard my name mentioned or my existence alluded to.
+
+   "And yet I am one of your family, near of kindred to yourself; in
+   fact, your own dear mother's only sister.
+
+      "'We were two daughter's of one race,
+      _She_ was the fairer in the face.'
+
+   Yes, she was literally so. Your mother was a beautiful blonde, as
+   I have been told that you, her only child, also are. I am--or,
+   rather, I _was_ before my hair turned white with sorrow--a very
+   dark brunette.
+
+   "If you have ever heard of me at all, which I doubt--for I know
+   that at home my once loved and cherished name
+
+      "'Was banished from each lip and ear,
+      Like words of wickedness or fear'--
+
+   but if you ever heard of me at all you must have heard of that
+   willful love marriage which separated me from all my family.
+
+   "Since that ill-omened marriage an unbroken succession of
+   misfortunes have attended my husband and myself until they
+   culminated in the most crushing calamity of our lives--the loss
+   of our dear and only daughter in a manner worse than death.
+
+   "Soon after that awful bereavement our creditors foreclosed the
+   mortgage on our estate at White Perch Point, and sold the place
+   over our heads.
+
+   "And my poor husband and myself went out to California, childless
+   and almost penniless, to begin life anew.
+
+   "We began in a very humble way indeed. As he was familiar with
+   hotel business he got a place as bar-tender in a San Francisco
+   hotel; and soon afterward I got a place in the same house, to
+   look after and keep in repair the bed and table linen. And we
+   lodged in the hotel, in a small attic chamber, and took our meals
+   in the pantry.
+
+   "But we were both utterly broken down in mind and body, as well
+   as in estate.
+
+   "He soon sank into a consumption and had to give up his place. I
+   hired a room in a small house and took him to it. I still
+   retained my place at the hotel, because my salary there was the
+   only support we had. But I lived there no longer. I used to go in
+   the morning, make the daily inspection of the linen, and bring
+   home what needed mending; and working all the afternoon and half
+   the night at my husband's bedside.
+
+   "But rent and food and fuel, physic and physicians' fees were
+   very costly in San Francisco. And with all my work I fell deeper
+   and deeper into debt.
+
+   "At length my poor husband died. And it took the proceeds of the
+   sale of all our little personal effects to pay for the humblest
+   sort of funeral.
+
+   "And I was left entirely destitute. Then my courage gave way. I
+   wept myself so blind that I could no longer mend the linen at
+   the hotel, or even see whether it wanted mending. Then I fell
+   sick with sorrow and had to be taken to the hospital.
+
+   "At the end of three months I was dismissed. But where could I
+   go? What could I do, broken in health and nearly blind as I was?
+
+   "I must have perished then and there but for the timely
+   assistance of a young gold-digger who happened to hear about me
+   when he came up to the city from his distant mining-camp.
+
+   "He was a very queer young man, whom his few friends called crazy
+   on account of his lonely and ascetic manner of life, and his
+   lavish liberality.
+
+   "He sought me out to relieve my wants. And upon my telling him
+   that all I wanted was to go home to die, he bought me a whole
+   state-room to myself in the first cabin of the 'Golden City,'
+   bound from San Francisco to New York. And then he bought me an
+   outfit in clothing, good enough for a duke's widow. And he gave
+   me a sum of money besides, and started me fairly and comfortably
+   on my voyage.
+
+   "I reached New York three days ago. But my strength continues to
+   fail and my funds to waste. I have no power to work, even if I
+   could procure anything to do. And I have not money enough to
+   support me a month longer.
+
+   "I do not like to go into an alms-house. Yet what am I to do?
+
+   "But why do I write to you? you may naturally inquire.
+
+   "Why? Because, although a perfect stranger, you are, after all,
+   my niece, my only sister's only child, my own only blood
+   relation. And 'blood is thicker than water.'
+
+   "'I can not work; to beg I am ashamed.'
+
+   "I do not, therefore, beg, even of you. I do not so much as make
+   any suggestion to you. I tell you the facts of the case, and I
+   leave you to act upon them, or to ignore them entirely, at your
+   pleasure.
+
+   "I do not even know whether I may venture to sign myself your
+   aunt,          KATHERINE FANNING."
+
+
+Emma Cavendish read this letter through to the end; then she glanced at
+her companions, who were still all absorbed in the perusal of their
+journals.
+
+Even Mrs. Grey was now lost in a magazine; but it was _Les Modes de
+Paris_, and contained plates and descriptions of all the new spring
+fashions.
+
+So Miss Cavendish, seeing her friends all agreeably occupied and
+amused, returned to her singular letter and recommenced and read it
+carefully through to the end once more.
+
+At the conclusion of the second reading she looked up and spoke to the
+Rev. Dr. Jones, saying:
+
+"Are you reading anything very interesting in that _Quarterly Review_,
+my dear uncle?"
+
+"Well, yes, my child--an article entitled 'Have Animals Reason?'"
+
+"Reason for _what_?" naïvely inquired Mary Grey, looking up from her
+magazine of fashion.
+
+Every one smiled except Dr. Jones, who condescended to explain that the
+subject under discussion was whether animals were gifted with reasoning
+faculties.
+
+"Oh!" said Mrs. Grey, and returned to her _Modes_.
+
+"You needn't read any more on that subject, grandpa; I can answer that
+question for you, or any other inquirer. All intelligent animals,
+whether they go upon two feet or four, or upon wings or fins, have
+reason just in proportion to their intelligence. And all idiotic
+animals, whether they go upon two feet or four, or wings or fins, lack
+reason just in proportion to their idiocy. Lor'! why I have seen human
+creatures at the Idiot Asylum with less intellect than cats. And I have
+seen some horses with more intelligence than some legislators. You can't
+generalize on these subjects, grandpa," said Miss Electra, with an air
+of conviction.
+
+The Rev. Dr. Jones stared, much as a hen might stare to see her own
+ducklings take to the water. And then he turned to Emma Cavendish and
+said:
+
+"Whether animals have reason or not, my dear, _you_ had some reason for
+interrupting me. Now what was it?"
+
+"To ask you to read this, sir," said Miss Cavendish, putting her letter
+in the hands of her uncle.
+
+He took it and read it slowly through, muttering from time to time:
+
+"Dear, dear, how distressing! Bless my soul alive! Well, well, well!"
+
+And he glanced uneasily at Mary Grey, who fidgeted and flushed under his
+observation.
+
+At length he finished and folded the letter and returned it to Miss
+Cavendish, with the inquiry:
+
+"Well, my dear, what are you going to do in the premises?"
+
+"I shall write immediately and ask my aunt to come here and make this
+her home," answered Emma, promptly.
+
+At these words Mary Grey started, caught her breath with a gasp, and
+quickly whirled her chair around so as to bring her back to the light
+and throw her face in deep shadow.
+
+"What's the matter with you?" inquired Electra.
+
+"The light makes my eyes ache; that is all. You know I have not quite
+got rid of my cold yet," answered the widow in a low, faltering tone
+that might have attracted the attention of Miss Cavendish had not that
+young lady's thoughts been engaged with the subject of her letter.
+
+"You will consult your grandmother before making this important addition
+to the household, I presume?" inquired the old gentleman.
+
+"Yes, of course; but I am certain beforehand of my dear grandma's
+consent and co-operation in such an evident Christian duty," answered
+Miss Cavendish.
+
+And then she turned to her young friends, to whom she thought some
+explanation was due, and she added:
+
+"I have news in this letter that has much surprised and pained me. It is
+from my aunt, Mrs. Fanning. She has lost her husband, and has suffered
+very severe reverses of fortune. She is at this time alone in New York
+City, and in failing health. I shall write for her to come and live with
+us. And not to leave her a day in suspense, I shall telegraph from
+Wendover to-morrow morning."
+
+"I'm glad she's coming. The more the merrier," said Electra, gayly.
+
+Mrs. Grey said nothing. She arose as if to leave the room, tottered
+forward and fell to the floor in a dead swoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE SIREN AND THE SAGE.
+
+
+All started to their feet and rushed to the prostrate woman's
+assistance.
+
+She was but a slight creature, and Dr. Jones lifted her easily and laid
+her on one of the sofas.
+
+Electra flew upstairs to bring down a bottle of Florida water.
+
+Emma patted and rubbed her hands.
+
+Dr. Jones bathed her brow with cold water, sighing and muttering to
+himself:
+
+"Poor girl! Poor unfortunate girl!"
+
+"I take blame to myself," said Emma. "She is evidently much iller than I
+thought. I ought not to have persuaded her to leave her room so soon
+after her cold. It is my fault."
+
+At that instant Electra ran in with the Florida water and dashed a
+liberal portion of it over the head and face of the fainting woman.
+
+The shock and the penetrating odor combined to rouse her from
+insensibility; and with a few gasps she recovered her consciousness;
+though her face, after one sudden flush, settled into a deadly paleness.
+
+"My poor dear, how are you?" inquired Emma Cavendish, kindly.
+
+"Dying, I think; dying, I hope! Let some one help me to my room," she
+murmured.
+
+Dr. Jones at once lifted her in his arms and bore her upstairs, preceded
+by Electra, who flew on before to show the way to Mary Grey's room, and
+followed by Emma Cavendish, who still blamed herself for the invalid's
+supposed relapse.
+
+Dr. Jones laid her on her bed, and was about to leave her to the care of
+Emma and Electra, when she seized his hand and drew him down to her face
+and said:
+
+"I wish to speak to you for a moment _now_. Send Miss Cavendish and Miss
+Coroni out of the room for a little while."
+
+"My dear children, go away for a moment. Mrs. Grey wishes to speak to me
+alone," said Dr. Jones.
+
+And Emma and Electra softly retired, with the belief that Mary Grey only
+wished to consult the minister on religious subjects.
+
+As soon as the door was closed behind them Mary Grey seized the old
+man's hand and, fixing her great black eyes fiercely upon him, demanded:
+
+"_Do they suspect?_"
+
+"No; certainly not."
+
+"Did you drop no word during my swoon that might have led them to
+suspect?"
+
+"Not one syllable."
+
+"I thank you then!" she exclaimed, with a long sigh of relief.
+
+"But, my child, was that all you wished to talk to me about?"
+
+"That was all, except this: to beg you still to be silent as the grave
+in regard to my identity."
+
+"My child, your words disappoint and grieve me. I did hope that you
+asked this private interview with the design to consult me about the
+propriety of making yourself known."
+
+"Making myself known!" she exclaimed, with a half-suppressed shriek, as
+she started up upon her elbow and stared at the speaker. "Making myself
+known!"
+
+"The opportunity, my dear child, is such an excellent one. And, of
+course, you know that if Mrs. Fanning comes here--as she must; for there
+is no other refuge open to her--if she comes and finds you here,
+discovery is inevitable."
+
+"But she will not find me here! She shall not! I could not look her in
+the face. Sooner than do that, I will hurl myself from the turnpike
+bridge into the Mad River!" she fiercely exclaimed.
+
+"My child, do not talk so wickedly. It is frightful to hear such
+things!" cried the old man, shuddering.
+
+"You will _see_ such things, if you do not mind. I am quite capable of
+doing what I said, for I am tired and sick of this life of constant
+dependence, mortification and terror--an insupportable life!" she wildly
+exclaimed.
+
+"Because, my poor girl, it is a life of concealment, in constant dread
+of discovery and the humiliation attending discovery. Change all that
+and your life will be happier. Trust in those who are nearest to you,
+and make yourself, your name, your errors, and your sufferings and
+repentance fully known. Emma Cavendish is the ruling power in this
+house, and she is a pure, noble, magnanimous spirit. She would protect
+you," pleaded the old man, taking her hand.
+
+"Oh, yes, she is all that! Do you think that makes it any easier for me
+to shock her with the story of my own folly, weakness and cowardice? Oh,
+no, no! I could not bear the look of her clear, truthful blue eyes! And
+I would not! There; it is useless to talk to me, Doctor Jones! There are
+some things that I can not do. I can not stay here!"
+
+"My poor, poor child, whither will you go? Stay! Now I think of it, I
+can send you to my house at Beresford Manors. That shall be your home,
+if you will accept it. But what excuse can you make for leaving this
+place so abruptly?"
+
+"You are very kind, Doctor Jones. You are very kind. But a moment's
+reflection will teach you that I could not accept your hospitality. You
+have no lady, I believe, at Beresford Manors? No one there except the
+colored servants? Therefore, you see, it would not be proper for me to
+go there," said Mary Grey, affecting a prudery that she did not feel,
+and objecting to the place only because she did not choose to bury
+herself in a house more lonely, dreary and deserted, if possible, than
+Blue Cliff Hall itself.
+
+"Then where can you go, my poor girl?" compassionately questioned the
+old minister.
+
+"I have thought of that. Sudden as this emergency is, I am not quite
+unprepared for it. This crisis that I feared _might_ come _has_ come,
+that is all. Only it has come in a far different manner from what I
+feared. But the result must be the same. I must leave the house
+immediately. And you must help to smooth my way toward leaving it."
+
+"But whither will you go, poor shorn lamb?"
+
+"I have planned out all that, in view of this very contingency. I will
+go to Charlottesville, where I have a lady friend who keeps a
+boarding-house for the University students. I can stay with her, and
+make myself useful in return for board and lodging, until I get
+something to do for a living. That is all settled. I asked you for this
+interview only to satisfy myself that no hint of my identity had been
+dropped, and no suspicion of it excited, during my swoon; and, further,
+to beg you to keep my miserable secret hereafter, as you have hitherto."
+
+"I have satisfied you, I hope, upon all those subjects."
+
+"Yes; and I thank you."
+
+"But still I can not abandon the hope that you will yet heed good
+counsel and make yourself known to your best friends," pleaded the old
+man.
+
+But Mary Grey shook her head.
+
+Dr. Jones coaxed, argued, lectured, all in vain.
+
+At length, worn out by his importunities, Mary Grey, to gain her own
+ends, artfully replied:
+
+"Well, dear, good, wise friend, if ever I _do_ gain courage to make
+myself known to my family, I must do it from some little distance, and
+by letter, so as to give them time to get over the shock of the
+revelation, before I could dare to face them. Think of it yourself. How
+could we bear to look each other in the eyes while telling and hearing
+such a story?"
+
+"I believe you are right _so_ far. Yes, in _that_ view of the case it
+is, perhaps, better that you should go away and then write," admitted
+Dr. Jones.
+
+"And you will aid me in my efforts to get away at once and without
+opposition? Tell them that it is better for my health and spirits that I
+should go away for a while, and go immediately--as it really is, you
+know. Will you do this?"
+
+"Yes, I will do it, in the hope that your nervous system may be
+strengthened, and you may find courage to do the duty that lies before
+you," said the doctor, as he pressed her hand and left the room.
+
+Dr. Jones went down-stairs to the drawing-room, where the young ladies
+waited in anxious suspense.
+
+Emma Cavendish arose and looked at him in silent questioning.
+
+"There is no cause for alarm, my dear Emma. Your friend will do very
+well. No, you need not go up to her room. She requires absolutely
+nothing but to be left to repose. You can look in on her, if you like,
+just before you go to bed. That will be time enough," explained Dr.
+Jones, as he took his seat at the table and took up his _Review_ again
+as if nothing had happened to interrupt his reading.
+
+Emma Cavendish breathed a sigh of relief and resumed her seat. She and
+Electra read or conversed in a low voice over their magazines until the
+hour of retiring.
+
+Electra was the first to close her pamphlet, as with an undisguised
+yawn, for which her school-mistress would have rebuked her, she declared
+that she could not keep her eyes open a minute longer, much less read a
+line, and that she was going to bed.
+
+Dr. Jones, with as much courtesy as if he had not been her grandfather,
+arose and lighted her bedroom candle and put it in her hand.
+
+And she kissed him a drowsy good-night and went upstairs.
+
+Emma was about to follow, when the doctor motioned her to resume her
+seat.
+
+She did so, and waited.
+
+"I want a word with you about Mrs. Grey, my dear Emma. She is very much
+out of health."
+
+"I feared so," replied Emma Cavendish.
+
+"Or, to speak with more literal truth, I should say that her nervous
+system is very much disordered."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"She is full of sick fancies. She wishes to go away for a while to get a
+change of scene."
+
+"I will go with her to any watering-place she desires to visit, in the
+season," said Emma Cavendish, readily.
+
+"Yes; but, my dear, she must have this change now, immediately."
+
+"I would go with her now if I could leave my guests. You know I have
+Electra here, and Laura will return in two days perhaps, with her
+brother also."
+
+"My good child, she does not ask or need any attendance. She wants to go
+away by herself for a while. She wants to go to an old lady friend in
+Charlottesville."
+
+"I have heard her lately speak of such a friend, and of her intention,
+some day, to visit her."
+
+"Well, she wishes to go now, immediately, but is afraid to mention her
+desire lest it should meet with opposition, which she has no nerve to
+contest."
+
+"Dear uncle, how strange that she should feel this way! Why, she is not
+a prisoner here! And if she wishes to leave us for a short or a long
+time she can do so."
+
+"Of coarse she can, my dear; but she is full of sick fancies. And my
+advice to you is that you let her go at once. To-morrow morning, if she
+wishes."
+
+"Why certainly, Uncle Beresford! I have neither the power nor the will
+to prevent her."
+
+"So let it be then, my dear. And now good-night," said the doctor,
+taking his candle to leave the room.
+
+Thus the matter was settled.
+
+But the next day old Mrs. Cavendish, Electra, and, in fact, the whole
+house, were thrown into a state of consternation at the announcement of
+Mrs. Grey's immediate departure.
+
+When or how she had managed to get her personal effects together,
+whether she had kept them packed up for the emergency, or whether she
+had sat up all night to pack them, I do not know; but it is certain that
+by seven o'clock that morning she had three enormous Saratoga trunks
+packed, strapped and locked ready for the wagon that she asked for to
+take them to the railway station.
+
+It was not until her luggage was in the wagon, and the carriage was
+waiting for her at the door, and she herself in her traveling-suit and
+hat, that she went to bid the old lady good-bye.
+
+Mrs. Cavendish had been informed by Emma of the intended abrupt
+departure of Mary Grey, and she had begun to oppose it with all her
+might.
+
+But Emma endeavored to convince her that the change was vitally
+necessary to Mary Grey's health and strength.
+
+So now when the traveler entered the old lady's room the latter feebly
+arose to her feet, holding on to the arm of her chair, while she
+faltered:
+
+"Mary--Mary, this is so sudden, so shocking, so sorrowful, that I almost
+think it will make me ill! Why must you go, my dear?"
+
+"Sweet mother--may I call you so?--sweet mother, I will tell _you_ what
+I did not like to tell dear Emma, for fear it might distress her; she is
+so sensitive, you know!" murmured the siren, sitting down and tenderly
+caressing the old lady.
+
+"Tell me then, my love, tell me anything you like," said Mrs. Cavendish,
+weeping.
+
+"Well, you know that dear old lady friend in Charlottesville, of whom I
+spoke to you a week or so ago?"
+
+"Ah, yes! The bishop's widow, who is reduced to keeping a student's
+boarding-house to help support her fifteen children," sighed the ancient
+dame.
+
+"Yes, and my dear dead mother's dearest friend. Well, I have heard that
+she is in a dying condition and desires above all things to see me
+before she departs. That's what shocked me so severely as to make me
+quite ill. But I never should forgive myself if by any delay of mine she
+really should depart without having her last wish gratified. Do you
+blame me for hurrying away?"
+
+"No, no, no, my child--my own lovely child! I do not wonder my poor
+Charley worshiped you, you are so very good! Go, Mary, my darling! But
+hurry back as soon as possible."
+
+"Yes, sweet mother, I will. And now, not a word to Emma, or to any one
+else who might tell her of these distressing circumstances."
+
+"No, no; certainly not! How thoughtful you are, for one so young, my
+good child! Bend down and take my blessing."
+
+Mary Grey bowed her head.
+
+The venerable lady placed her withered hands upon the bent head, raised
+her eyes to heaven, and solemnly invoked a blessing on the traitress.
+
+And then Mary Grey arose, kissed her in silence, and left the room.
+
+And thus they parted.
+
+In the hall below she had to part with Emma and Electra.
+
+"We hope you will return to us very soon, dear Mrs. Grey," said Emma
+Cavendish, as she kissed her good-bye.
+
+"I hope so too, my dear," answered the widow.
+
+"But you will scarcely get back before I return to school, so ours must
+be a very long good-bye," said Electra, as she also kissed the "parting
+guest."
+
+"'Tis true, 'tis pity," said Mrs. Grey, between a smile and a sigh.
+
+Dr. Jones then handed her into the carriage, and followed and took a
+seat by her side, for he was to attend her to the station and see her
+off on her journey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+EMMA'S VICTORY.
+
+
+When Emma Cavendish turned back into the house she went up into the old
+lady's room with the intention of breaking to her the news of Katherine
+Fanning's widowhood and destitution, and of her own desire to invite her
+to come and live at Blue Cliffs.
+
+She found Mrs. Cavendish just finishing her nice breakfast with Aunt
+Moll in attendance upon her.
+
+"Here, take away the service now," said the old lady, putting down her
+empty coffee-cup. "And now, Emma, I am very glad you have come. I feel
+quite low about parting with Mary. What an angel she is!"
+
+"Cheer up, grandma! We shall have another addition to our family circle
+soon," said Emma, pleasantly.
+
+"Who is coming, my dear?" inquired Mrs. Cavendish, with all the
+curiosity of a recluse.
+
+"Oh, another lady!" slowly answered Miss Cavendish, to give Aunt Moll
+time to get out of the room with her breakfast tray.
+
+And when the old woman had shut the door behind her, Emma said:
+
+"Dear grandma, you will be very much surprised to hear who it is that is
+coming."
+
+And when Mrs. Cavendish looked up surprised indeed, as well as somewhat
+alarmed, Emma began and told her of the letter she had received from
+Mrs. Fanning; of her widowhood and destitution, and of her recent
+arrival in New York.
+
+"All this is very distressing, my dear Emma, but you see in it only the
+natural consequences of a low marriage," said the old aristocrat.
+
+"But the marriage is broken by death, dear grandma, and the error is
+atoned for by much suffering," said Emma, gently.
+
+"Well, my dear, what does the poor woman want us to do?" inquired Mrs.
+Cavendish.
+
+"She asks nothing, grandma. She simply writes to me, her sister's
+child--"
+
+"Her _half_-sister's child!" haughtily interrupted the old lady.
+
+"It is the same thing, grandma. Her half-sister's child, and her only
+living relative--"
+
+"Her only living relative?" again interrupted the old lady. "Where is
+her own misguided daughter?"
+
+"Supposed to be dead, dear grandma. Certainly dead to her," said Emma,
+sadly.
+
+"Well, go on, child; go on."
+
+"She writes to me, I say, and tells me of her situation--widowed,
+childless, homeless and utterly destitute in a strange city; but she
+asks nothing--suggests nothing."
+
+"Well, and what would you do--you, her only living relative?" inquired
+the ancient dame in a tone approaching sarcasm.
+
+"I would restore to her all that she has lost, if I could. I would give
+her back husband, daughter, home and competence," said Emma.
+
+"But you can't do it any more than you can give her back her lost
+caste," interrupted the old lady.
+
+Emma felt discouraged but did not yield her point.
+
+"No, dear grandma," she answered, sorrowfully, "I can not give her back
+her husband, her child, or her wealth; but I can give my mother's
+suffering sister a home and a friend."
+
+Madam Cavendish lowered her gold-rimmed spectacles from her cap frills
+to her eyes, placed her lace-mittened hands on the arms of her chair and
+looked straight and steadily into the face of her granddaughter.
+
+It was extremely disheartening, and Emma dropped her eyes before that
+severe gaze and bowed her head meekly.
+
+But Emma, though she was the young girl, was in the right; and Madam
+Cavendish, though she was an ancient and venerable dame, was in the
+wrong.
+
+Emma knew this quite well, and in the argument that ensued she lovingly,
+respectfully, yet unflinchingly, maintained her point.
+
+At length Madam Cavendish yielded, saying, scornfully: "Well, my dear,
+it is more your affair than mine. Invite her here if you will. I wash my
+hands of it. Only don't ask me to be intimate with the inn-keeper's
+widow; for I won't. And that's all about it."
+
+"My dear grandma, you shall never see or hear of her, if you do not like
+to do so. You seldom leave your two rooms. And she shall never enter
+either unless you send for her," answered Emma.
+
+"So be it then, my dear. And now let me go to sleep. I always want to
+go to sleep after an argument," said Madam Cavendish, closing her eyes
+and sinking back in her arm-chair.
+
+Emma Cavendish stooped and kissed her, and then left the room.
+
+In fifteen minutes after she had written and dispatched to the office at
+Wendover a telegram to this effect:
+
+
+   "BLUE CLIFFS, April 29th, 18--
+
+   "DEAR AUNT:--Come home to me here as soon as possible. I will
+   write to-day. EMMA CAVENDISH."
+
+
+And in the course of that day she did write a kind and comforting letter
+to the bereaved and suffering woman, expressing much sympathy with her
+in her affliction, inviting her to come and live at Blue Cliffs for the
+rest of her life, and promising all that an affectionate niece could do
+to make her life easy and pleasant.
+
+Miss Cavendish had but just finished this letter, when Mr. Craven Kyte
+was announced.
+
+Emma, who was always kind to the ward of her late father, at once
+received him and sent for Electra to help to entertain him.
+
+But notwithstanding the presence of two beautiful girls, one the fairest
+blonde, the other the brightest brunette, and both kind and affable in
+their manners to him, the young man was restless and anxious, until at
+length, with fierce blushes and faltering tones, he expressed a hope
+that Mrs. Grey was well, and made an inquiry if she were in.
+
+Electra laughed.
+
+Emma told him that Mrs. Grey had gone for change of air to
+Charlottesville, and would be absent for some time. She also
+added--although the young man had not once thought of inquiring for Miss
+Lytton--that Laura had likewise gone to visit her uncle's family at
+Lytton Lodge.
+
+The foolish young victim of the widow's false wiles looked very much
+disappointed and depressed, yet had sense enough left him to remember to
+say that, as he himself was on the road to Perch Point and should take
+Lytton Lodge on his way, he would be happy to convey any letter or
+message from the ladies of Blue Cliffs to Miss Lytton.
+
+Emma thanked him and availed herself of his offer by sending a letter,
+as we have seen.
+
+And then she went about the house, attended by old Moll, selecting and
+arranging rooms for her new-expected guests.
+
+The next afternoon she was quite surprised by another call from Craven
+Kyte. He was shown into the parlor, where she sat at work with Electra.
+
+"You have come back quickly; but we are glad to see you," she said, as
+she arose to shake hands with him.
+
+"Yes, miss," he answered, after bowing to her and to Electra; "yes,
+miss, I reached Perch Point last night, and I left it early this
+morning. In going I called at Lytton Lodge and delivered your letter,
+miss."
+
+"The family at the lodge are well, I hope."
+
+"All well, miss. And as I passed by the gate this morning the man
+Taters, who was at work on the lawn, told me that Mr. Alden and Miss
+Laura Lytton would leave for this place at noon."
+
+"Then they will be here to-night," said Electra.
+
+"Yes, miss."
+
+"Will you stay and spend the afternoon and evening with us, Mr. Kyte?
+Shall I ring and have your horse put up?" inquired Miss Cavendish.
+
+"No, thank you, miss. I must get back to Wendover to-night. Fact is, I'm
+on the wing again," said the young man, stammering and blushing.
+"Business of importance calls me to--to Charlottesville, miss. So if you
+should have a letter or a message to send to--to Mrs. Grey I should be
+happy to take it."
+
+Emma Cavendish and Electra Coroni looked at each other in comic
+surprise.
+
+"Why, you must be an amateur postman, Mr. Kyte! To fetch and carry
+letters seems to be your mission on earth," laughed Electra.
+
+"So it has often been said of me, miss. And if you or Miss Cavendish
+have any to send, I should be happy to take them," answered the young
+man, quite seriously.
+
+"I have none," said Electra.
+
+"Nor I, thank you," added Emma; "but you may, if you please, give my
+love to Mrs. Grey, and tell her we shall feel anxious until we hear of
+her safe arrival and improved health."
+
+"I will do so with much pleasure," said Mr. Kyte, rising to take leave.
+
+As soon as the visitor had left them the two young ladies exchanged
+glances of droll amazement.
+
+"As sure as you live, Emma, the business of importance that takes him to
+Charlottesville is Mrs. Mary Grey! He's taken in and done for, poor
+wretch! I shouldn't wonder a bit if he sold out his share in the fancy
+dry-goods store at Wendover and invested all his capital in college fees
+and entered himself as a student at the University, for the sake of
+being near his enchantress," said Electra.
+
+"Poor boy!" sighed Emma, with genuine pity.
+
+And before they could exchange another word, the sound of
+carriage-wheels at the gate announced the arrival of Alden and Laura
+Lytton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FALSE AND THE TRUE LOVE.
+
+    Did woman's charms thy youth beguile,
+      And did the fair one faithless prove?
+    Hath she betrayed thee with a smile
+                And sold thy love?
+
+    Live! 'Twas a false, bewildering fire:
+      Too often love's insidious dart
+    Thrills the fond soul with wild desire,
+                But kills the heart.
+
+    A nobler love shall warm thy breast,
+      A brighter maiden faithful prove,
+    And thy ripe manhood shall be blest
+                In woman's love.
+                              --MONTGOMERY.
+
+
+Emma Cavendish, with her cheeks blooming and eyes beaming with pleasure,
+ran out to meet her friends.
+
+Alden and Laura Lytton, just admitted by the footman, stood within the
+hall.
+
+Miss Cavendish welcomed Laura with a kiss and Alden with a cordial grasp
+of the hand.
+
+"I am so delighted to see you, dear Laura; and you also, Mr. Lytton,"
+she said, leading the way into the parlor.
+
+"Well as I like my kind relatives at Lytton Lodge, I am very glad to get
+back to you, Emma, dear, and that is the truth," answered Laura, as she
+sank into an arm-chair and began to draw off her gloves.
+
+Alden said nothing. He had bowed deeply in response to Miss Cavendish's
+words of welcome, and now he was thinking what a bright and beautiful
+creature she was, how full of healthful, joyous life she seemed, and
+wondering that he had never noticed all this before.
+
+But he had noticed it before. When he first saw Emma Cavendish in her
+father's house in the city he had thought her the most heavenly vision
+of loveliness that had ever beamed upon mortal eyes; and he would have
+continued to think so had not the baleful beauty of Mary Grey glided
+before him and beguiled his sight and his soul.
+
+But Mary Grey was gone with all her magic arts, and the very atmosphere
+seemed clearer and brighter for her absence.
+
+"As soon as you have rested a little come up to your room, Laura, and
+lay on your wraps. Tea will be ready by the time we come down again.
+And, Mrs. Lytton, your old attendant, Jerome, will show you to your
+apartment," said the young hostess, as she arose, with a smile, to
+conduct her guest.
+
+They left the drawing-room together.
+
+And while Laura Lytton was arranging her toilet in the chamber above
+stairs, Emma Cavendish told her the particulars of Mary Grey's
+departure, and also of the letter she had received from her
+long-estranged relative, Mrs. Fanning.
+
+They went down to tea, where they were joined by Electra and the Rev.
+Dr. Jones.
+
+Miss Cavendish presented Mr. Lytton to Dr. Jones. And then they sat down
+to the table.
+
+Alden Lytton's eyes and thoughts were naturally enough occupied and
+interested in Emma Cavendish. He had not exactly fallen in love with
+her, but he was certainly filled with admiration for the loveliest girl
+he had ever seen. And he could but draw involuntary comparisons between
+the fair, frank, bright maiden and the beautiful, alluring widow.
+
+Both were brilliant, but with this difference: the one with the pure
+life-giving light of Heaven, and the other with the fatal fire of
+Tartarus.
+
+After tea they went into the drawing-room, where they spent a long
+evening talking over old times--_their_ "old times" being something less
+than one year of age.
+
+And every hour confirmed Alden Lytton's admiration of Emma Cavendish.
+
+The next day Alden Lytton was invited upstairs to the old lady's room
+and presented to Madam Cavendish, who received him with much cordiality,
+telling him that his grandfather had been a lifelong personal friend of
+hers, and that she had known his father from his infancy up to the time
+that he had left the neighborhood to practice law in the city.
+
+And after a short interview the ancient gentlewoman and the young law
+student parted mutually well pleased with each other.
+
+"A fine young man--a very fine young man indeed; but more like his
+grandfather, as I remember him in his youth, than like his father, whom
+I could not always well approve," said the old lady to her confidential
+attendant, Aunt Moll, who had closed the chamber door after the
+departing visitor.
+
+"Dunno nuffin 'tall 'bout dat, ole mist'ess, but he monsus hansume,
+dough--umph-um; a'n't he dough? And a'n't he got eyes--umph-um!"
+
+Alden went down-stairs.
+
+"The most interesting old lady I have ever seen in my life, with the
+balsamic aroma of history and antiquity about her and all her
+surroundings," he said, as he joined the young ladies in the
+drawing-room.
+
+"Balsamic aroma of _what_?" inquired Electra, who had no taste for
+poetry and no reverence for antiquity. "Young man, it was the dried
+'yarbs' she keeps in her closet that you smelled. Besides, antiquity has
+no other odor than that of mold and must."
+
+Alden blushed, laughed and looked at Emma Cavendish.
+
+"You must not mind my cousin Electra, Mr. Lytton. She is a privileged
+person among us. By the way, Laura has told you, I presume, of our
+relationship," said Emma, pleasantly.
+
+"Oh, yes!" returned young Lytton, with a smile and a bow. "And I am
+happy to have this opportunity of congratulating you both."
+
+"Thanks," said Miss Cavendish, with a vivid blush.
+
+"I believe there was some talk about a picnic party to the top of
+Porcupine Mountain, was there not?" inquired Electra, to cut short all
+sentiment.
+
+"Yes, my dear, and the horses are ordered for eleven o'clock. It is
+half-past ten now, and we will go and put on our hats and habits,"
+replied Miss Cavendish, playfully rising and breaking up the conference.
+
+The party of young friends remained one week longer at Blue Cliffs,
+every day deepening and confirming the admiration and respect with which
+the beauty and the excellence of Emma Cavendish inspired Alden Lytton.
+But yet he was not in love with her.
+
+Every morning was spent by the young people in riding or driving about
+through the sublime and beautiful mountain and valley scenery of the
+neighborhood.
+
+And every evening was passed in fancy work, music, reading or
+conversation in the drawing-room.
+
+And so the pleasant days of the Easter holidays passed away, and the
+time for study and for work commenced.
+
+Laura and Electra went away from Blue Cliffs on the same day--Laura
+escorted by her brother Alden, and Electra by her grandfather, the Rev.
+Dr. Jones.
+
+As the party were assembled in the front hall to take leave of their
+fair young hostess before entering the large traveling carriage that
+was to take them to the Wendover railway station, Emma Cavendish went up
+to Alden Lytton and placed a letter in his hand, saying, with a frank
+smile:
+
+"As you are going direct to Charlottesville, Mr. Lytton, I will trouble
+you to take charge of this letter to our mutual friend, Mrs. Grey, who,
+you know, is now staying in that town. Will you do so?"
+
+"Certainly--with great pleasure," stammered Alden in extreme confusion,
+which he could scarcely conceal, and without the slightest consciousness
+that he was telling an enormous falsehood, but with full assurance that
+he should like to oblige Miss Cavendish.
+
+"I hope it will not inconvenience you to deliver this in person, Mr.
+Lytton," added Emma.
+
+"Certainly not, Miss Cavendish," replied Alden, telling unconscious fib
+the second.
+
+"For, you see, I am rather anxious about our friend. She left in ill
+health. She is almost a stranger in Charlottesville. And--this is the
+point--I have not heard from her, by letter or otherwise, since she left
+us; so I fear she may be too ill to write, and may have no friend near
+to write for her. This is why I tax your kindness to deliver the letter
+in person and find out how she is; and--write and let us know. I am
+asking a great deal of you, Mr. Lytton," added Emma, with a deprecating
+smile.
+
+"Not at all. It is a very small service that you require. And I hope you
+know that I should be exceedingly happy to have the opportunity of doing
+any very great service for you, Miss Cavendish," replied Alden,
+truthfully and earnestly.
+
+For in itself it was a very small service that Miss Cavendish had
+required of him, and he would have liked and even preferred another and
+a greater, and, in fact, a different service.
+
+"Many thanks," said Miss Cavendish, with a frank smile, as she left the
+letter in his hands.
+
+Then the adieus were all said, and promises of frequent correspondence
+and future visits exchanged among the young ladies. And the travelers
+departed, and the young hostess re-entered her lonely home and resumed
+her usual routine of domestic duties.
+
+She was anxious upon more than one account.
+
+More than a week had passed since the departure of Mary Grey, and yet,
+as she had told Alden Lytton, she had never heard even of her safe
+arrival at Charlottesville, and she feared that her _protégée_ might be
+suffering from nervous illness among strangers.
+
+More than a week had also passed since she had telegraphed and written
+to her Aunt Fanning in New York. But no answer had yet come from that
+unhappy woman. And she feared that the poor relative whom she wished to
+succor might have met with some new misfortune.
+
+However, Emma had hoped, from day to day, that each morning's mail might
+bring her good news from Charlottesville or New York, or both.
+
+And even to-day she waited with impatience for the return of Jerome, who
+had driven the traveling-carriage containing the departing visitors to
+Wendover, and who might find letters for Blue Cliffs waiting at the
+post-office.
+
+Emma could not be at rest all that day, partly because she missed her
+young companions, whose society had made the lonely house so cheerful,
+and partly because she half expected news with the return of Jerome.
+
+She wandered up and down the deserted drawing-room, and then went
+upstairs to the chambers just vacated by her young friends, where she
+found Sarah, the chamber-maid, engaged in dismantling beds and
+dressing-tables preparatory to shutting up the "spare rooms" for the
+rest of the season.
+
+All this was very dreary and dispiriting.
+
+She left these apartments and would have gone into the old lady's room,
+only that she knew her grandmother was at this hour taking the first of
+her two daily naps.
+
+As she turned to go down-stairs she glanced through the front hall
+window and caught a glimpse of the traveling-carriage, with Jerome
+perched upon the box, slowly winding its way around the circular avenue
+that led to the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A SURPRISE.
+
+
+She ran down-stairs briskly enough now, and ran out of the front door.
+
+"Any letters to-day, Jerome?" she inquired.
+
+"No, miss," answered Jerome, shaking his head.
+
+"Oh, dear, how depressing!" sighed Emma, as she turned to go into the
+house.
+
+But a sound arrested her steps--the opening of the carriage-door. She
+turned and saw Jerome standing before it and in the act of helping some
+one to alight from the carriage.
+
+Another moment and a tall, thin, dark-eyed woman, with very white hair,
+and clad in the deepest widow's weeds, stood before Miss Cavendish.
+
+By instinct Emma recognized her aunt. And she felt very much relieved,
+and very much rejoiced to see her, even while wondering that she should
+have come unannounced either by letter or telegram.
+
+As for Jerome, he stood wickedly enjoying his young lady's astonishment,
+and looking as if he himself had performed a very meritorious action.
+
+"Miss Emma Cavendish, I presume?" said the stranger, a little
+hesitatingly.
+
+"Yes, madam. And you are my Aunt Fanning, I am sure. And I am very glad
+to see you," answered Emma Cavendish.
+
+And she put her arms around the stranger's neck and kissed her.
+
+"Dat's better'n letters, a'n't it, Miss Emmer?" inquired Jerome,
+grinning from ear to ear, and showing a double row of the strongest and
+whitest ivories, as he proceeded to take from the carriage various
+packages, boxes and traveling-bags and so forth.
+
+"Yes, better than letters, Jerome. Follow us into the house with that
+luggage. Come, dear aunt, let us go in. Lean on my arm. Don't be afraid
+to lean heavily. I am very strong," said Emma; and drawing the poor
+lady's emaciated hand through her own arm she led her into the house.
+
+She took her first into the family sitting-room, where there was a
+cheerful fire burning, which the chilly mountain air, in this spring
+weather, made very acceptable.
+
+She placed her in a comfortable cushioned rocking-chair and proceeded to
+take off the traveling-bonnet and shawl with her own hands, saying:
+
+"You must get well rested and refreshed here before you go up to your
+room. You look very tired."
+
+"I am very weak, my dear," answered the lady, in a faint voice.
+
+"I see that you are. I am very sorry to see you so feeble; but we will
+make you stronger here in our exhilarating mountain air. If I had known
+that you would come by this train I should have gone to the railway
+station in person to meet you," said Emma, kindly.
+
+Mrs. Fanning turned her great black eyes upon the young lady and stared
+at her in surprise.
+
+"Why, did you not get my letter?" she inquired.
+
+"No," said Emma. "I anxiously expected to hear from you from day to day,
+but heard nothing either by letter or telegram."
+
+"That is strange! I wrote to you three days ago that I should be at
+Wendover this morning, and so, when I found your carriage there, I
+thought that you had sent for me."
+
+"It was very fortunate that the carriage was there, and I am very glad
+of it; but it was not in fact sent to meet you, for, not having received
+your letter, I did not know that you would arrive to-day. The carriage
+was sent to take some visitors who had been staying with us, and were
+going away, to the railway station. It is a wonder Jerome had not
+explained this to you. He is so talkative," said Emma, smiling.
+
+"I never talk to strange servants," gravely replied the lady. "But I
+will tell you how it happened. I really arrived by the earliest train,
+that got in at Wendover at five o'clock in the morning. There was no
+carriage from Blue Cliffs waiting for me at the railway station, and, in
+fact, no carriage from any place, except the hack from the Reindeer
+Hotel. So I got into that, and, having previously left word with the
+station-master to send the Blue Cliffs carriage after me to the Reindeer
+when it should come, I went on to the hotel to get breakfast and to lie
+down and rest. But when half the forenoon had passed away without any
+arrival for me, I began to grow anxious, fearing that some mistake had
+been made."
+
+"I am very sorry you had to suffer this annoyance, immediately upon your
+arrival here too," said Emma, regretfully.
+
+"Oh, it did not last long! About noon the landlord, Greenfield, rapped
+at my door and told me that the Blue Cliffs carriage had come, and that
+the ostler was watering the horses while the coachman was taking a glass
+of beer at the bar."
+
+"Jerome had doubtless taken our visitors to the station, and called at
+the Reindeer to refresh himself and his horses."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so. Almost at the same moment that the landlord came to
+my door to announce the carriage, I heard some one else, under my
+window, saying to the coachman that there was a lady here waiting to be
+taken to Blue Cliffs; and I went down and got into the carriage with bag
+and baggage. Jerome, if that's his name, very gravely, with a silent
+bow, put up the steps and closed the door and mounted his box and drove
+off."
+
+"But you must have left some baggage behind."
+
+"Yes, three trunks; one very large. Mr. Greenfield, of the Reindeer,
+promised to send them right after me in his wagon."
+
+While they had been speaking, Emma Cavendish had touched the bell and
+given a whispered order to the servant who answered it.
+
+So now the second footman, Peter, appeared with a waiter in his hands,
+on which was served tea, toast, a broiled squab and glass of currant
+jelly.
+
+This was set upon a stand beside Mrs. Fanning's easy-chair.
+
+"I think that you had better take something before you go upstairs,"
+said the young hostess, kindly, as she poured out a cup of tea.
+
+Consumptives are almost always hungry and thirsty, as if nature
+purposely created an unusual appetite for nourishment in order to supply
+the excessive waste of tissue caused by the malady.
+
+And so Mrs. Fanning really enjoyed the delicate luncheon set before her
+so much that she finished the squab, the jelly, the toast and the tea.
+
+When she had been offered and had refused a second supply, Emma proposed
+that she should go up to her room, and she took her at once to the
+beautiful corner chamber, with its southern and eastern aspect, that had
+been fitted up for her.
+
+Here she found that her traveling-trunks, which had already arrived from
+Wendover, were placed.
+
+And here, when she had changed her traveling-dress for a loose wrapper,
+she laid down on a lounge to rest, while Emma darkened the room and left
+her to repose.
+
+Miss Cavendish went straight to the old lady's apartment.
+
+Mrs. Cavendish was sitting in her great easy-chair by the fire, with her
+gold-rimmed spectacles on her nose and her Bible lying open on her lap.
+
+As Emma entered the room the old lady closed the book and looked up with
+a welcoming smile.
+
+"I have come to tell you, my dear grandma, that Aunt Fanning has
+arrived," said Emma, drawing a chair and seating herself by the old
+lady's side.
+
+"Yes, my dear child; but I'll trouble you not to call her Aunt Fanning,"
+said Madam Cavendish, haughtily.
+
+"But she _is_ my aunt, dear grandma," returned Emma, with a deprecating
+smile.
+
+"Then call her Aunt Katherine. I detest the name of that tavern-keeper
+whom she married."
+
+"Grandma--grandma, the man has gone where at least there can be no
+distinctions of mere family rank," said Emma.
+
+"That's got nothing to do with it. We are _here_ now. Well, and when
+did Katherine arrive, and where have you put her? Tell me all about it."
+
+Emma told her all about it.
+
+"Well," said the old lady, "as she is here, though sorely against my
+approbation--still, as she is here we must give her a becoming welcome,
+I suppose. You may bring her to my room to-morrow morning."
+
+"Thank you, grandma, dear; that is just what I would like to do,"
+replied the young lady.
+
+Accordingly, the next morning Mrs. Fanning was conducted by Emma to the
+"Throne Room," as Electra had saucily designated the old lady's
+apartment.
+
+Madam Cavendish was dressed with great care, in a fine black cashmere
+wrapper, lined and trimmed with black silk, and a fine white lace cap,
+trimmed with white piping.
+
+And old Moll, also in her best clothes, stood behind her mistress's
+chair.
+
+The old lady meant to impress "the tavern-keeper's widow" with a due
+sense of reverence.
+
+But the gentlewoman's heart was a great deal better than her head. And
+so, when she saw the girl whom she had once known a brilliant,
+rich-complexioned brunette, with raven hair and sparkling eyes and
+queenly form changed into a woman, old before her time, pale, thin, gray
+and sorrow-stricken, her heart melted with pity, and she held out her
+hand, saying, kindly:
+
+"How do you do, Katie, my dear? I am very sorry to see you looking in
+such ill-health. You have changed very much from the child I knew you,
+twenty-five years ago."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Fanning, as she took and pressed the venerable hand
+that was held out to her. "I have changed. But there is only one more
+change that awaits me--the last great one."
+
+"Moll, wheel forward that other easy-chair. Sit down at once, my poor
+Katie. You look ready to drop from weakness. Emma, my child, pour out a
+glass of that old port wine and bring it to your aunt. You will find it
+in that little cabinet," said Madam Cavendish, speaking to one and
+another in her hurry to be hospitable and to atone for the hard thoughts
+she had cherished and expressed toward this poor suffering and desolate
+woman.
+
+And Mrs. Fanning was soon seated in the deep, soft "sleepy hollow," and
+sipping with comfort the rich old port wine.
+
+"Yes, Katie," said the old lady, resuming the thread of the
+conversation, "that last great change awaits us all--a glorious change,
+Katie, that I for one look forward to with satisfaction and desire
+_always_--with rapture and longing _sometimes_. What will the next life
+be like, I wonder? We don't know. 'Eye hath not seen--ear heard,'" mused
+the old lady.
+
+The interview was not a long one. Soon Emma Cavendish took her aunt from
+the room.
+
+"You must come in and see me every day, Katie, my dear," said the old
+lady, as the two visitors left.
+
+And from that time the desolate widow, the homeless wanderer, found
+loving and tender friends, and a comfortable and quiet home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ALDEN AND HIS EVIL GENIUS MEET AGAIN.
+
+
+Meanwhile the visitors that had left Blue Cliffs that morning traveled
+together until they reached Richmond.
+
+The train got in at ten o'clock that night.
+
+There was no steamboat to Mount Ascension Island until the next day.
+
+So the party for that bourne were compelled to spend the night at
+Richmond.
+
+Alden, although he might have gone on to Charlottesville that night,
+determined to remain with his friends.
+
+The whole party went to the Henrico House, where they were accommodated
+with adjoining rooms.
+
+The next morning they resumed their journey, separating to go their
+several ways. Alden saw the two young ladies safely on the steamboat
+that was to take them to Mount Ascension, and then bade them good-bye,
+leaving them in charge of the Rev. Dr. Jones, who was to escort them to
+the end of their journey.
+
+He had barely time to secure his seat for Charlottesville, where he
+arrived on the afternoon of the same day.
+
+The letter he had to deliver to Mary Grey "burned in his pocket." He
+could not have done otherwise than promise to deliver it in person, when
+fair Emma Cavendish had requested him to do so. And now, of course, he
+must keep his word and go and carry the letter to her, although he would
+rather have walked into a fire than into that false siren's presence.
+
+It is true that his love for her was dead and gone. But it had died such
+a cruel and violent death that the very memory of it was full of pain
+and horror, and to meet her would be like meeting the specter of his
+murdered love. Nevertheless he must not shrink from his duty; he must go
+and do it.
+
+Before reporting at his college, he went to a hotel and changed his
+clothes, and then started out to find Mary Grey's residence. That was
+not so easily done. She had omitted to leave her address with her
+friends at Blue Cliffs, and Emma's letter was simply directed to Mrs.
+Mary Grey, Charlottesville.
+
+True, Charlottesville was not a very large place; but looking for a lady
+there was something like looking for the fabulous needle in the
+haystack.
+
+Still, he had formed a plan of action to find her. He knew that she
+pretended to great piety; that she was a member of the Protestant
+Episcopal Church, and that wherever she might happen to sojourn she
+would be sure to join the church and make friends with the clergy of her
+own denomination.
+
+So Alden bent his steps to the house of the Episcopal minister at
+Charlottesville.
+
+He found the reverend gentleman at home, and received from him, as he
+had expected to do, the address of Mrs. Grey.
+
+"A most excellent young woman, sir--an earnest Christian. She lost not a
+day in presenting her church letter and uniting herself with the church.
+She has been here but ten days, and already she has taken a class in the
+Sunday-school. A most meritorious young woman, sir," said the worthy
+minister, as he handed the card with Mrs. Grey's new address written
+upon it.
+
+To Alden, who knew the false-hearted beauty so well, all this was
+surprising.
+
+But he made no comment. He simply took the card, bowed his thanks, and
+left the house to go and seek the home of Mrs. Grey.
+
+Among many falsehoods, the woman had told one truth when she had
+informed Emma Cavendish that she had a lady friend at Charlottesville
+who kept a students' boarding-house. She had met this lady just previous
+to engaging as drawing-mistress at Mount Ascension. And by her alluring
+arts she had won her sympathy and confidence. She was staying with this
+friend at the time that Alden sought her out.
+
+He now easily found the house.
+
+And when he inquired of the negro boy who answered the bell whether Mrs.
+Grey was at home, he was answered in the affirmative and invited to
+enter the house.
+
+The boy opened a door on the right hand of the narrow entrance passage,
+and Alden passed into the parlor and found himself, unannounced, in the
+presence of his false love.
+
+There was no one with her, and she was sitting at a table, with drawing
+materials before her, apparently engaged in copying a picture.
+
+Hearing the door open and shut, she lifted her head and looked up.
+
+Seeing Alden Lytton standing before her, she dropped the pencil from her
+fingers, turned deathly pale and stared at him in silence.
+
+Alden, if the truth must be told, was scarcely less agitated; but he
+soon recovered his self-command.
+
+"I should apologize," he said, "for coming in unannounced; but I did not
+know that you were here. I was shown into this room by the waiter,
+supposing that I was to remain here until he took my card to you."
+
+She neither moved nor spoke, but sat and stared at him.
+
+"I have only come as the bearer of a letter to you from Miss
+Cavendish--a letter that I promised to deliver in person. Here it is,"
+he said, laying the little packet on the table before her.
+
+Still she made no answer to his words, nor any acknowledgment of his
+service. She did not even take up Emma's letter.
+
+"And now, having done my errand, I will bid you good-afternoon, Mrs.
+Grey," he said, bowing and turning to leave the room.
+
+That broke the panic-stricken spell that held her still.
+
+She started up and clasped her hands suddenly together, exclaiming:
+
+"No, no, no; for pity's sake don't go yet! Now that you are here, for
+Heaven's sake stay a moment and listen to me!"
+
+"What can you possibly have to say to me, Mrs. Grey?" coolly inquired
+the young man.
+
+"Oh, sit down--sit down one little moment and hear me! I have not got
+the plague, that you should hasten from me so," she pleaded.
+
+It was in Alden's thoughts to say that moral plagues were even more
+dangerous and fatal than material ones; but the woman before him looked
+so really distressed that he forbore.
+
+"I know that you have ceased to love me," she went on in a broken voice.
+"I know, of course, that you have ceased to love me--"
+
+"Yes, I am thoroughly cured of that egregious boyish folly," assented
+Alden, grimly.
+
+"I know it, and I would not seek to recover your lost, lost love; but--"
+
+Her voice, that had been faltering, now quite broke down, and she burst
+into tears and sobbed as if her heart was breaking.
+
+And her grief was as real as it was violent; for she had loved the
+handsome young law student, and she mourned the loss of his love.
+
+Alden sat apparently unmoved, but in truth he was beginning to feel very
+sorry for this woman, but it was with the sorrow we feel for a suffering
+criminal, and totally distinct from sympathy or affection.
+
+Presently her gust of tears and sobs exhausted itself, and she sighed
+and dried her eyes and said:
+
+"Yes, I know that all love is quite over between us."
+
+"Quite over," assented Alden, emphatically.
+
+"And it is not to renew that subject that I asked you to stay and listen
+to me."
+
+"No," said Alden, gently, "I presume not."
+
+"But, though all thoughts of love are forever over between us, yet I can
+not bear that we should live at enmity. As for me, I am not your enemy,
+Alden Lytton."
+
+"Nor am I yours, Mrs. Grey. You and I can live as strangers without
+being enemies."
+
+"Live as strangers! Oh, but that is just what would break my heart
+utterly! Why should we live as strangers? If all love is over between
+us, and if we are still not enemies, if we have forgiven each other, why
+should we two live as strangers in this little town? Why may we not meet
+at least as the common friends of every day?"
+
+"Because the memory of the past would preclude the possibility of our
+meeting pleasantly or profitably."
+
+"Oh, Alden, you are very hard! You have not forgiven me!"
+
+"I have utterly forgiven you."
+
+"But you cherish hard thoughts of me?"
+
+"Mrs. Grey, I must regard your actions--the actions that separated
+us--as they really are," answered Alden, sadly and firmly, as he arose
+and took his hat to leave the room.
+
+"No, no, no; _don't_ go yet! You _must_ hear me--you _shall_ hear me!
+Even a convicted murderer is allowed to speak for himself!" she
+exclaimed, with passionate tears.
+
+Alden sighed and sat down.
+
+"You must regard my actions as they really are, you say. Ah, but the
+extenuating circumstances, the temptations, the motives--aye, the
+motives!--have you ever thought of them?"
+
+"I can see no motive that could justify your acts," said Alden, coldly.
+
+"No, not justify--I do not justify them even to myself--not justify, but
+_palliate_ them, Alden--palliate them at least in your eyes, if in no
+others."
+
+"And why in my eyes, Mrs. Grey?"
+
+"Oh, Alden, all was planned for your sake!"
+
+"For _my_ sake? I pray you do not say that!"
+
+"Listen, then, and consider all the circumstances. I loved you and
+promised to be your wife at that far distant day when you should come
+into a living law practice. But I was homeless, penniless and helpless.
+I had lost my situation in the school, and I had no prospect of getting
+another. The term of my visit to Emma Cavendish had nearly expired and I
+had nowhere to go. Governor Cavendish loved me with the idolatrous love
+of an old man for a young woman, and besought me to be his wife with
+such insane earnestness that I thought my refusal would certainly be his
+death, especially as it was well known that he was liable to apoplexy
+and that any excitement might bring on a fatal attack. Under all these
+circumstances I think I must have lost my senses; for I reasoned with
+myself--most falsely and fatally reasoned with myself thus: Why should
+not I, who am about to be cast out homeless and penniless upon the wide
+world--why should not I secure myself a home and save this old man's
+life for a few years longer by accepting his love and becoming his wife?
+It is true that I do not love him, but I honor him very much. And I
+would be the comfort of his declining years. He could not live long, and
+when he should come to die I should inherit the widow's third of all his
+vast estates. And then, after a year of mourning should be over, I could
+marry my true love, and bring him a fortune too. There, Alden, the
+reasoning was all false, wicked and fatal. I know that now. But oh,
+Alden, it was not so much for myself as for others that I planned thus!
+I thought to have blessed and comforted the old man's declining years,
+and after his death to have brought a fortune to you. These were my
+motives. They do not justify, but at least they palliate my conduct."
+
+She ceased.
+
+Alden did not reply, but stood up again with his hat in his hand.
+
+"And now, Alden, though we may never be lovers again, may we not meet
+sometimes as friends? I am so lonely here! I am, indeed, all alone in
+the world. We may meet sometimes as friends, Alden?" she asked,
+pathetically.
+
+"No, Mrs. Grey. But yet, if ever I can serve you in any way I will do so
+most willingly. Good-afternoon," said the young man.
+
+And he bowed and left the room.
+
+As he disappeared her beautiful face darkened with a baleful cloud. "No
+fury like a woman scorned," wrote one who seemed to know. Her face
+darkened like a thunder-storm, and from its cloud her eyes shot forked
+lightning. She set her teeth, and clinched her little fist and shook it
+after him, hissing:
+
+"He scorns me--he scorns me! Ah, he may scorn my love! Let him beware of
+my hate! He will not meet me as a friend, but he will serve me
+willingly! Very well; he shall be often called upon to serve me, if only
+to bring him under my power!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+MARY GREY'S MANEUVER.
+
+    She'd tried this world in all its changes,
+    States and conditions; had been loved and happy.
+    Scorned and wretched, and passed through all its stages;
+    And now, believe me, she who knew it best,
+    Thought it not worth the bustle that it cost.
+                                                   --MADDEN.
+
+
+Mary Grey now set systematically to work. Partly from love or its base
+counterfeit, partly from hate, but mostly from vanity, she determined to
+devote every faculty of mind and body to one set object--to win Alden
+Lytton's love back again and to subjugate him to her will.
+
+To all outward seeming she led a most blameless and beneficent life.
+
+She lived with the bishop's widow, and made herself very useful and
+agreeable to the staid lady, who refused to take any money for her
+board.
+
+And although the house was full of students, who boarded and lodged and
+spent their evenings there, with the most wonderful self-government she
+forebore "to make eyes" at any of them.
+
+She now no longer said in so many words that "her heart was buried in
+the grave," and so forth; but she quietly acted as if it was.
+
+She put away all her mourning finery--her black tulles and silks and
+bugles and jet jewelry--and she took to wearing the plainest black
+alpacas and the plainest white muslin caps. She looked more like a
+Protestant nun than a "sparkling" young widow. But she looked prettier
+and more interesting than ever, and she knew it.
+
+She was a regular attendant at her church, going twice on Sunday and
+twice during the week.
+
+On Sunday mornings she was always sure of finding Alden Lytton in his
+seat, which was in full sight of her own. But she never looked toward
+him. She was content to feel that he often looked at her, and that he
+could not look at her and remain quite indifferent to her.
+
+She was also an active member of all the parish benevolent societies, a
+zealous teacher in the Sunday-school, an industrious seamstress in the
+sewing-circle, and a regular visitor of the poor and sick.
+
+Her life seemed devoted to good works, apparently from the love of the
+Lord and the love of her neighbor.
+
+She won golden opinions from all sorts of men, and women too. Only there
+was one significant circumstance about her popularity--_she could not
+win the love of children_. No, not with all her beauty and grace of
+person, and sweetness and softness of tone and manner, she could not win
+the children. Their sensitive spirits shrank from the evil within her
+which the duller souls of adults could not even perceive. And many an
+innocent child was sent in disgrace from the parlor because it either
+would not kiss "sweet Mrs. Grey" at all, or would kiss her with the air
+of taking a dose of physic.
+
+But all the people in Charlottesville praised the piety and, above all,
+the prudence of Mrs. Grey--"Such a young and beautiful woman to be so
+entirely weaned from worldliness and self-love and so absorbed in
+worship and good works!"
+
+All this certainly produced an effect upon Alden Lytton, who, of course,
+heard her praises on all sides, who saw her every Sunday at church, and
+who met her occasionally at the demure little tea-parties to which both
+might happen to be invited.
+
+When they met thus by chance in private houses he would bow and say,
+quietly:
+
+"Good-evening, madam;" a salutation which she would return by a grave:
+
+"Good-evening, sir."
+
+And not another word would pass between them during the evening.
+
+But all the young man observed in her at such times was a certain
+discreet reserve, which he could but approve.
+
+"She seems to be much changed. She seems to be truly grieved for the
+past. Perhaps I have judged her too harshly. And yet what a base part
+that was she proposed to play! may be that she herself did not know how
+base it was. Such ignorance would prove an appalling moral blindness.
+But then, again, should she be held responsible for her moral blindness?
+It sometimes requires suffering to teach the nature of sin. A child does
+not know that fire is dangerous until it burns itself. _Her_ suffering
+must have opened her eyes to the 'exceeding sinfulness of sin.' For her
+own sake I hope it is so. As for myself, it does not matter. I have
+ceased to regard her with any other feeling than pity and charity. And
+although she would become a saint I could never love her again," he said
+to himself one night, after passing an evening with her at one of the
+professor's houses.
+
+And his thoughts reverted to that lovely maiden whose golden hair formed
+an appropriate halo around her white brow, and whose pure soul looked
+frankly forth from her clear blue eyes.
+
+He was not in love with Miss Cavendish, he said to himself, but he could
+not help feeling the difference between radiant frankness and dark
+deceit.
+
+One evening, about this time, they met at a strawberry festival, held in
+the lecture-room of the church, for the benefit of the Sunday-school.
+
+While the festival was at its height a thunder-storm came up, with a
+heavy shower of rain. But the company at the festival cared little about
+that. They were housed, and enjoyed themselves with light music, fruits,
+flowers and friends. And before the hour of separation the storm would
+probably be over, and carriages, or at least water-proof cloaks,
+overshoes and umbrella's, would be in attendance upon every one.
+
+So they made merry until eleven o'clock, when the storm was passing away
+with a steady light rain.
+
+Every lady who had a carriage in waiting offered to give Mrs. Grey a
+seat and to set her down at her own door.
+
+Mary Grey thanked each in succession and declined the kind offer, adding
+that she expected some one to come for her.
+
+At last nearly everybody had left the room but the treasurer of the
+festival, who was counting the receipts, and the sexton, who was
+covering the tables, preparatory to closing for the night.
+
+Alden Lytton had lingered to make a quiet donation to the charity, and
+he was passing out, when, he saw Mary Grey standing shivering near the
+door.
+
+As he came up to her she stepped out into the darkness and the rain.
+
+He hastened after her, exclaiming:
+
+"Mrs. Grey! I beg your pardon! Are you alone?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Lytton," she answered, quietly.
+
+"And you have no umbrella!" he said, quickly, as he hoisted his own and
+stepped to her side. "Permit me to see you safe to your door. Take my
+arm. It is very dark and the walking is dangerous. The sidewalks are
+turned to brooks by this storm," he added, as he held his umbrella
+carefully over her.
+
+"I thank you very much, Mr. Lytton; but indeed I do not wish to give you
+so much trouble. I can go home quite well enough alone. I have often to
+do it," she answered, shrinking away from him.
+
+"It is not safe for you to do so, especially on such a night as this.
+Will you take my arm?" he said; and, without waiting for her answer, he
+took her hand and drew it through his arm and walked on with her in
+silence, wondering at and blaming the heartlessness of the ladies of her
+circle who had carriages in attendance, and had, as he supposed, every
+one of them, gone off without offering this poor lonely creature a seat,
+leaving her to get home through the night and storm as she could.
+
+As they walked on he felt Mary Grey's arm trembling upon his own, and
+involuntarily he drew it closer, and, in so doing, he perceived the
+tremor and jar of her fast-beating heart, and he pitied her with a deep,
+tender, manly pity.
+
+"I am afraid you feel chilled in this rain," he said, by way of saying
+something kind.
+
+"No," she answered, softly, and said no more.
+
+They got to the door of her dwelling, and he rang the bell and waited
+there with her until some one should come.
+
+"I am very much indebted to you, Mr. Lytton," she said, softly and
+coolly; "but I am also very sorry to have given you so much trouble."
+
+"I assure you it was no trouble; and I beg that you will not again
+attempt to go alone at night through the streets of Charlottesville," he
+answered, sadly.
+
+"But why?" she asked. "What harm or danger can there be in my doing so?"
+
+"Ladies never go out alone at night here. Many of the wild students are
+on the streets at night and are not always in their senses."
+
+"Oh, I see! Well, I will try to take care of myself. I hear the page
+coming to open the door. Good-night, Mr. Lytton. You have been very
+kind. I thank you very much," said Mrs. Grey, coldly.
+
+He touched his hat and turned away just as the door was opened.
+
+Alden Lytton went back to the college with somewhat kinder thoughts of
+Mary Grey.
+
+And Mrs. Grey went into the house and into the back parlor, where the
+bishop's widow was waiting up for her.
+
+"Why, my dear, your shoes are wet through and your skirts are draggled
+up to your knees! Is it possible you walked home through the rain?"
+inquired the lady.
+
+"Yes, madam; but it will not hurt me."
+
+"But how came you to walk home when Mrs. Doctor Sage promised faithfully
+to bring you home in her carriage?"
+
+"Oh, my dear friend, the storm came up, and so many people were afraid
+of wetting their feet that I gave up my seat to another lady," answered
+Mary Grey.
+
+"Always the same self-sacrificing spirit! Well, my dear, I hope your
+reward will come in the next world, if not in this. Now go upstairs and
+take off your wet clothes and get right to bed. I will send you up a
+glass of hot spiced wine, which will prevent you from taking cold," said
+the hospitable old lady.
+
+Mary Grey kissed her hostess, said good-night, and ran away upstairs to
+her own cozy room, where, although it was May time, a bright little wood
+fire was burning in the fire-place to correct the dampness of the air.
+
+"Well," she said, with her silent laugh, as she began to take off her
+sodden shoes, "it was worth the wetting to walk home with Alden Lytton,
+and to make one step of progress toward my object."
+
+And the thought comforted her more than did the silver mug of hot spiced
+wine that the little page presently brought her.
+
+A few days after this she met Alden Lytton again, by accident, at the
+house of a mutual friend. Alden came up to her and, after the usual
+greeting, said:
+
+"I have received a short note from Miss Cavendish inquiring of me
+whether I had delivered her letter to you, and saying that she had
+received no answer from you, and indeed no news of you since your
+departure from Blue Cliffs. Now if I had not supposed that you would
+have answered Miss Emma's letter immediately I should certainly have
+written myself to relieve her anxiety on your account."
+
+"Oh, indeed I beg her pardon and yours! But I have sprained the
+fore-finger of my right hand and can not write at all. Otherwise I am
+quite well. Pray write and explain this to Emma, with my love, and my
+promise to write to her as soon as my finger gets well," said Mary Grey.
+
+And then she arose to take leave of her hostess, and, with a distant bow
+to Alden Lytton, she left the house.
+
+Two days after this she received a very kind letter from Miss Cavendish
+expressing much regret to hear of her disabled hand, and affectionately
+inquiring of her when she should return to Blue Cliffs, adding that Mrs.
+Fanning had arrived, and was then domiciled at the house; and, though a
+widow and an invalid, she was a very agreeable companion.
+
+This letter also inclosed a check for the amount of the quarterly
+allowance Emma Cavendish wasted upon Mary Grey.
+
+"For whether you abandon us or not, dear Mrs. Grey, or wherever you may
+be, so long as I can reach you I will send you this quarterly sum, which
+I consider yours of right," she wrote. And with more expressions of
+kindness and affection the letter closed.
+
+This letter was a great relief to Mary Grey's anxiety; for now that this
+worshiper of mammon was sure of her income she had no fears for the
+future.
+
+But she dared not herself answer the letter. While Mrs. Fanning should
+remain at Blue Cliffs, Mary Grey must not let her handwriting go there,
+lest it should be seen and recognized by Frederick Fanning's widow.
+
+But the next day was Sunday, and Mrs. Grey went to church, taking Emma's
+letter in her pocket.
+
+Usually she avoided Alden Lytton on these occasions, refraining even
+from looking toward him during the church service or afterward, for she
+did not wish him to suppose that she _sought_ his notice.
+
+But now she had a fair and good excuse for speaking to him; so when the
+service was over and the congregation was leaving the church she waited
+at the door of her pew until Alden passed by, when she said, very meekly
+and coolly:
+
+"Mr. Lytton, may I speak with you a moment?"
+
+"Certainly, madam," said Alden, stopping at once.
+
+"I have a letter from dearest Emma, but I can not answer it. Ah, my poor
+crippled finger! Would you be so very kind as to write and tell my
+darling that I have received it and how much I thank her? And here;
+perhaps, as you are to acknowledge the letter for me, you had better
+read it. There is really nothing in it that a mutual friend may not
+see," she said, drawing the letter from her pocket and putting it into
+his hand.
+
+"Certainly, madam, if you wish me to do so; certainly, with much
+pleasure," answered Alden Lytton, with more warmth than he had intended;
+because, in truth, he was beginning to feel delight in every subject
+that concerned Emma Cavendish, and he was now especially pleased with
+having the privilege of reading her letter and the duty of acknowledging
+it.
+
+"Many thanks! You are very kind! Good-morning," said Mary Grey, with
+discreet coolness, as she passed on before him to leave the church.
+
+"Step number two! I shall soon have him in my power again!" chuckled the
+coquette, as she walked down the street toward her dwelling.
+
+For Mary Grey had utterly misinterpreted the warmth of Alden Lytton's
+manner in acceding to her request. It never entered her mind to think
+that this warmth had anything to do with the idea of Emma Cavendish. She
+was much too vain to be jealous.
+
+She did not really think that there was a man in the world who could
+withstand her charms, or a woman in the world who could become her
+rival.
+
+And certainly her personal experience went far to confirm her in that
+vain theory. Therefore she did not fear Emma Cavendish as a rival.
+
+And while she did not dare to write to Blue Cliffs, she did not hesitate
+to make Alden Lytton the medium of communication with Emma Cavendish.
+
+Her other lover, the counterpart of Alden Lytton, had not appeared since
+he had called on her on his first visit to Charlottesville.
+
+But he wrote to her six times a week, and she knew what he was doing--he
+was trying hard to settle up his business at Wendover, with the distant
+hope of removing to Charlottesville and opening a store there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+IN THE TOILS.
+
+
+Affairs went on in this way for one year longer. Emma Cavendish
+continued to write regularly to Mrs. Grey, telling her all the little
+household and neighborhood news. Among the rest, she told her how Mrs.
+Fanning, by her gentleness and patience, was winning the affections of
+all her household, and especially of Madam Cavendish, who had been most
+of all prejudiced against her; and how much the invalid's health was
+improving.
+
+"She will never be perfectly well again; but I think, with proper care,
+and under Divine Providence, we may succeed in preserving her life for
+many years longer."
+
+Now, as Mary Grey could not venture to return to Blue Cliffs, or even to
+write a letter to that place with her own hand, so long as Mrs. Fanning
+should live in the house, the prospect of her doing either grew more and
+more remote.
+
+She could not plead her sprained finger forever as an excuse for not
+writing; so one day she put on a very tight glove and buttoned it over
+her wrist, and then took a harder steel pen than she had ever used
+before, and she sat down and wrote a few lines by way of experiment. It
+was perfectly successful. Between the tight-fitting glove and the hard
+steel pen her handwriting was so disguised that she herself would never
+have known it, nor could any expert ever have detected it. So there was
+no possible danger of any one at Blue Cliffs recognizing it as hers.
+
+Then, with this tightly-gloved hand and this hard steel pen, she sat
+down and wrote a letter to Emma Cavendish, saying that she could no
+longer deny herself the pleasure of writing to her darling, though her
+finger was still so stiff that she wrote with great difficulty, as might
+be seen in the cramped and awkward letters, "all looking as if they had
+epileptic fits," she jestingly added.
+
+When Miss Cavendish replied to this letter she said that indeed Mrs.
+Grey's hand must have been very severely sprained, and that she herself
+would never have known the writing.
+
+After this all Mrs. Grey's letters to Miss Cavendish were written by a
+hand buttoned up in a tight glove, and with a hard steel pen, and
+continued to be stiff and unrecognizable.
+
+And in all Emma's answers there was surprise and regret expressed for
+the long-continued lameness of Mary Grey's right hand.
+
+One day Emma communicated a piece of neighborhood gossip that quite
+startled Mary Grey.
+
+"You will be sorry to hear," she wrote, "that our excellent pastor, Dr.
+Goodwin, has had a paralytic stroke that disables him from preaching.
+The Rev. Mr. Lyle, formerly of Richmond, is filling the pulpit."
+
+Mary Grey was very much interested in this piece of news, that her own
+old admirer should be even temporarily located so near Blue Cliffs, with
+the possibility of his being permanently settled there.
+
+She had not heard from this devoted clerical lover once since she had
+left Mount Ascension. She did not understand his sudden withdrawal, and
+she had often, with much mental disquietude, associated his unexpected
+estrangement with her own unceremonious dismissal from her situation as
+drawing-mistress at that academy.
+
+It is true that when they corresponded, in answer to his ardent
+love-letters, she would write only such kind and friendly notes that
+could never have compromised her in any way, even if they should have
+been read in open court or published in a Sunday newspaper.
+
+And he had sometimes complained of the formal friendliness of these
+letters from one for whom he had truly professed the most devoted love,
+and who had also promised to be his wife--if ever she was anybody's.
+
+But Mrs. Grey had artfully soothed his wounded affection without
+departing from her prudential system of writing only such letters as she
+would not fear to have fall in the hands of any living creature, until
+suddenly he ceased to write at all.
+
+At the time of this defection she had been too much taken up with her
+purpose of winning the affection of the wealthy and distinguished
+statesman, Governor Cavendish, to pay much attention to the fact of the
+Rev. Mr. Lyle's falling away.
+
+But in these later and calmer days at Blue Cliffs and at Charlottesville
+she had pondered much on the circumstance in connection with her
+simultaneous dismissal from her situation at Mount Ascension; and she
+thought all but too likely that Mr. Lyle had, like Mrs. St. John,
+learned something of her past life so much to her disadvantage as to
+induce him to abandon her.
+
+And now to have him so near Blue Cliffs as Wendover parish church
+seemed dangerous to Mary Grey's interests with the Cavendish family.
+
+Sometimes the unhappy woman seemed to think that the net of Fate was
+drawing around her. Mrs. Fanning was at Blue Cliffs. Mr. Lyle was at
+Wendover. What next?
+
+Why, next she got a letter from Emma Cavendish that struck all the color
+from her cheeks and all the courage from her soul.
+
+Miss Cavendish, after telling the domestic and social news of the week,
+and adding that the Rev. Mr. Lyle was now settled permanently at
+Wendover, as the assistant of the Rev. Dr. Goodwin, whose health
+continued to be infirm, wrote:
+
+   "And now, dearest Mrs. Grey, I have reserved the best news for
+   the last.
+
+   "Laura Lytton and Electra have left school 'for good.' They will
+   arrive here this evening on a visit of some months.
+
+   "Next week we are all going to Charlottesville, to be present at
+   the Commencement of the Law College, when Mr. Alden Lytton
+   expects to take his degree.
+
+   "Aunt Fanning, whose health is much improved, will accompany us
+   as our chaperon, and the Rev. Mr. Lyle will escort us.
+
+   "So you see, my dear Mrs. Grey, though you will not come to us,
+   we will go to you.
+
+   "But we will form quite a large party. And I know that
+   Charlottesville will receive an inundation of visitors for the
+   Commencement, and that there will be a pressure upon all the
+   hotels and boarding-houses. Therefore I will ask you to be so
+   good as to seek out and engage apartments for us. There will be
+   four ladies and one gentleman to be accommodated; we shall want
+   at least three rooms--one for Mr. Lyle, one for Aunt Fanning and
+   myself, and one for Laura and Electra. We want our rooms all in
+   the same house, if possible; if not, then Mr. Lyle can be
+   accommodated apart from the set; but we women must remain
+   together.
+
+   "Please see to it at once, and write and let me know.
+
+   "By the way: after Mr. Lytton takes his degree he will make us a
+   short visit at Blue Cliffs, after which he will go to Richmond to
+   commence the practice of law, where _he_ thinks the prestige of
+   his father's name, and _I_ think his own talents, will speedily
+   advance him to fame and fortune.
+
+   "But what am I telling you? That of which you probably know much
+   more than I do; for of course Mr. Lytton must have informed you
+   of his plans.
+
+   "We confidently hope to persuade you to accompany us when we go
+   back to Blue Cliffs. Our summer party will be such a very
+   pleasant one: there will be Laura, Electra, Mrs. Grey and Aunt
+   Fanning among the ladies, and Mr. Lyle, Mr. Lytton and Dr. Jones
+   among the gentlemen. I shall have your rooms made ready for you."
+
+There was much more of kind and affectionate planning for the summer's
+work and pleasure. But Mary Grey read no further. Dropping the letter
+upon her lap, she clasped her hands and raised her pale face toward
+heaven, murmuring:
+
+"She is coming here. I dare not meet her. I must go away again. I am
+hunted to death--I am hunted to death! I was hunted from Blue Cliffs,
+and now I am hunted from Charlottesville! Where shall I go next? To
+Richmond? Yes, of course, to Richmond! And there I will stay. For there
+is room to hide myself from any one whom I do not wish to see. And in a
+few weeks _he_ will go to Richmond to settle there permanently. But I
+will go some few weeks in advance of him, so that he will never be able
+to say that I followed him there!"
+
+Having formed this resolution, Mary Grey then set about, immediately to
+engage lodgings for the Blue Cliffs party.
+
+She knew that her hostess, the bishop's widow, had one vacant room: that
+would accommodate two of the ladies, and therefore she resolved to make
+a virtue of her own necessities and give up her own room for the
+accommodation of the other two.
+
+She proposed this plan to her hostess, who at first opposed the
+self-sacrifice, as she called it. But finally, being persuaded by Mary
+Grey, she yielded the point, and fervently praised the beautiful,
+unselfish spirit of her young guest, who was ever so ready to sacrifice
+her own comfort for the convenience of others.
+
+Mary Grey then wrote to Miss Cavendish, telling her of the arrangement,
+and then explaining:
+
+   "You must know, my dear girl, that my health is not improved. For
+   the last twelve months it has been growing steadily worse. My
+   nervous system is shattered. I can not bear noise or tumult or
+   excitement. I dread even to meet strangers. Therefore I think I
+   shall go away and stay during this carnival of a Commencement. I
+   hope that you and Laura will occupy my vacant chamber. The
+   chamber adjoining is already vacant, and I have engaged it for
+   Mrs. Fanning and Electra. I know I have paired your party off
+   differently from _your_ pairing; but then I like the thought of
+   having you and Laura in my deserted chamber. I think I shall go
+   to some very quiet village far from the bustle of company.
+   Forgive me for not remaining to meet you, and set me down as
+   very, _very_ nervous; or, if that will not excuse me in your
+   eyes, set me down as _crazy_; but never, _never_ as ungrateful or
+   unloving.
+
+        MARY.
+
+   "P.S.--Mr. Lyle must find accommodations at the hotel."
+
+Having finished, sealed and dispatched this letter, Mary Grey went to
+work and packed her three great trunks for her journey. That kept her
+busy all the remainder of the day.
+
+The next morning she dressed herself and went to call upon her friends
+and bid them good-bye. They were very much surprised at the suddenness
+of her departure; but she explained to one and all that she rather
+wished to avoid the crowd, bustle and confusion of Commencement week,
+and had therefore determined to leave town for a few days, and that her
+rooms with the bishop's widow would be occupied in the meantime by her
+friend Miss Cavendish, of Blue Cliffs, and her party.
+
+This made an impression upon all minds that "sweet Mrs. Grey," with her
+spirit of self-sacrifice, had left town at this most interesting period
+for no other reason than to give up her quarters to her friends.
+
+Lastly, Mary Grey went to her pastor and obtained from him a letter to
+the pastor of St. John's Church in Richmond.
+
+Furnished with this, she would obtain entrance into the most respectable
+society in the city, if she desired to do so.
+
+On the third day from this, Mrs. Grey left Charlottesville for Richmond.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+AN OLD FACE REAPPEARS.
+
+
+What the Carnival is to Rome, and the Derby is to London, the
+Commencement week of its great University is to the little country town
+of Charlottesville.
+
+It is looked forward to for weeks and months. A few days previous to
+Commencement week the little town begins to fill. The hotels and
+boarding-houses are crowded with the relatives and friends of the
+students and professors, and even with numbers of the country gentry,
+who though they may have no relative at the University yet take an
+interest in the proceedings of Commencement week.
+
+Emma Cavendish and her friends were therefore peculiarly fortunate in
+having had comfortable apartments pre-engaged for them.
+
+It was late on the evening of the Monday beginning the important week
+that they arrived at Charlottesville, and proceeded at once to the house
+of the bishop's widow.
+
+They found the house hospitably lighted up, and open.
+
+Their hostess, a dignified gentlewoman, received them with great
+cordiality, and rather as guests than as lodgers.
+
+She showed the ladies to the two communicating rooms on the first floor
+that they were to occupy--large, airy, pleasant rooms, with a fresh
+breeze blowing from front to back. Each room had two neat white-draped
+single beds in it.
+
+"If you please, Mrs. Wheatfield, which of these was Mrs. Grey's
+apartment?" inquired Emma Cavendish.
+
+"This back room overlooking the flower-garden. But as the front room was
+unoccupied she had the use of that also, whenever she wished it,"
+answered the bishop's widow.
+
+"I was very sorry to hear from her by letter that she would not be able
+to remain here to receive us," said Miss Cavendish.
+
+"Ah, my dear, I was just as sorry to have her go away! A sweet woman she
+is, Miss Cavendish," answered Mrs. Wheatfield.
+
+"Why did she go? Is her health so very bad, Mrs. Wheatfield?"
+
+"My dear, I think that her malady is more of the mind than of the body.
+But I believe that she went away only to give up these rooms to you and
+your friends, because there were no other suitable rooms to be obtained
+for you in Charlottesville."
+
+"I am very sorry to hear that; for indeed I and my companions would
+rather have given up our journey than have turned Mary Grey out of her
+rooms. It was really too great a sacrifice on her part," said Emma
+Cavendish, regretfully.
+
+"My dear, that angel is always making sacrifices, for that matter. But I
+do think that _this_ sacrifice did not cost her much. Love made it
+light. I feel sure she was delighted to be able to give up her quarters
+to friends who could not in any other way have been accommodated in the
+town," said the bishop's widow, politely.
+
+"I am sorry, however, not to have met her," murmured Emma Cavendish.
+
+"And now, ladies, here are the apartments. Arrange as to their
+occupancy and distribution among yourselves as you please," said the
+hostess, as she nodded pleasantly and left the room.
+
+The ladies had brought but little luggage for their week's visit, and it
+had already arrived and was placed in their rooms.
+
+They washed, dressed their hair, changed their traveling-suits for
+evening-dresses and went down into the parlor, where they found Alden
+Lytton--who had walked over from the University to meet his sister--in
+conversation with Mr. Lyle.
+
+There was quite a joyous greeting. But Alden had to be introduced to
+Mrs. Fanning, who had changed so much in the years that had passed since
+their last meeting that the young man would never have known her again.
+
+But every one remarked that when the lady and the student were
+introduced to each other their mutual agitation could not be concealed.
+And every one marveled about its cause.
+
+Alden Lytton found fair Emma Cavendish more beautiful than ever, and he
+now no longer tried to deny to himself the truth that his heart was
+devoted to her in the purest, highest, noblest love that ever inspired
+man.
+
+"Do you know, Mr. Lytton, where Mrs. Grey has gone? She did not tell me
+in her letter where she intended to go; I believe she had not then quite
+made up her mind as to her destination," said Miss Cavendish.
+
+"I was not even aware of her departure until I learned it from Mrs.
+Wheatfield this evening," answered Alden Lytton.
+
+"Then no one knows. But I suppose we shall learn when we hear from her,"
+said Emma, with a smile.
+
+Then Alden produced cards for the Commencement, with tickets inclosed
+for reserved seats in the best part of the hall, which he had been
+careful to secure for his party. These he gave into the charge of Mr.
+Lyle, who was to attend the ladies to the University.
+
+And then, as it was growing late, the two gentlemen arose and took
+leave.
+
+They left the house together and walked down the street as far as the
+corner, where Alden Lytton paused and said:
+
+"Our ways separate here, I am sorry to say. I have to walk a mile out to
+the University. Your hotel is about twenty paces up the next street, on
+your right. You will be sure to find it."
+
+And Alden lifted his hat and was about to stride rapidly away when Mr.
+Lyle laid his hand on his arm and said:
+
+"One moment. I did not know our paths parted so soon or I might have
+spoken as we left the house. The fact is, I have a very large sum of
+money--ten thousand dollars--sent me to be paid to you as soon as you
+shall have taken your degree. It is to be employed in the purchase of a
+law library and in the renting and furnishing of a law office in the
+best obtainable location. I wish to turn this money over to you as soon
+as possible."
+
+"It is from my unknown guardian, I presume," said Alden, gravely.
+
+"Yes, it is from your unknown guardian."
+
+"Then we will talk of this after the Commencement. I hardly know, Mr.
+Lyle, whether I ought to accept anything more from this lavish
+benefactor of ours. I may never be able to repay what we already owe
+him."
+
+"You need have no hesitation in accepting assistance from this man, as I
+have often assured you. But, as you say, we will talk of this some other
+time, when we have more leisure. Good-night!"
+
+And the gentlemen separated: Alden Lytton striding westward toward the
+University, and Mr. Lyle walking thoughtfully toward his hotel.
+
+His room had been secured and his key was in his pocket, so that he
+possessed quite an enviable advantage over the crowd of improvident
+travelers who thronged the office clamoring for quarters, and not half
+of whom could by any possibility be accommodated.
+
+As it was long after the minister's usual hour for retiring, he walked
+through the crowded office into the hall and up the stairs to his
+room--a very small chamber, with one window and a single bed, both
+window and bed neatly draped with white.
+
+Mr. Lyle sat down in a chair by the one little table, on which stood a
+bright brass candlestick with a lighted spermaceti candle, and took from
+his pocket a small Bible, which he opened with the intention of reading
+his customary chapter before going to bed, when a rap at his door
+surprised him.
+
+"Come in," he said, supposing that only a country waiter had come with
+towels or water, or some other convenience.
+
+The door opened and a waiter indeed made his appearance. But he only
+said:
+
+"A gemman for to see yer, sah!" and ushered in a stranger and closed the
+door behind him.
+
+Mr. Lyle, much astonished, stared at the visitor, whom he thought he had
+never seen before.
+
+The stranger was a tall, finely-formed, dark-complexioned and very
+handsome man, notwithstanding that his raven hair was streaked with
+silver, his brow lined with thought, and his fine black eyes rather
+hollow. A full black beard nearly covered the lower part of his face.
+
+"Mr. Lyle," said the visitor, holding out his hand.
+
+"That is my name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said the
+minister.
+
+"You do not know me?" inquired the stranger in sad surprise.
+
+"I do not, indeed."
+
+"I am Victor Hartman!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE RETURNED EXILE.
+
+    Danger, long travel, want, or woe,
+    Soon change the form that best we know;
+    For deadly fear can time outgo,
+      And blanch at once the hair;
+    Hard time can roughen form and face,
+    And grief can quench the eyes' bright grace;
+    Nor does old age a wrinkle trace
+      More deeply than despair.
+                                       --SCOTT.
+
+
+"Victor Hartman!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, in a tone of astonishment and joy,
+as he sprang from his chair and grasped both the hands of the traveler
+and shook them heartily--"Victor Hartman! My dear friend, I am so
+delighted--and so surprised--to see you! Sit down--sit down!" he
+continued, dragging forward a chair and forcing his visitor into it.
+"But I never should have known you again," he concluded, gazing intently
+upon the bronzed, gray, tall, broad-shouldered man before him.
+
+"I am much changed," answered the stranger, in a deep, mellifluous
+voice, that reminded the hearer of sweet, solemn church music.
+
+"Changed! Why, you left us a mere stripling! You return to us a mature
+man. To all appearance, you might be the father of the boy who went
+away," said the minister, still gazing upon the stranger.
+
+"And yet the time has not been long; though indeed I have lived much in
+that period," said the traveler, in the same rich, deep tone, and with
+a smile that rendered his worn face bright and handsome for the moment.
+
+"Well, I am delighted to see you. But how is it that I have this joyful
+surprise?" inquired the minister.
+
+"What brings me here, you would ask; and why did I not write and tell
+you that I was coming?" said Hartman, with an odd smile. "Well, I will
+explain. When I got your letter acknowledging the receipt of the last
+remittance I sent to you for my children, I learned for the first time
+by that same letter that my boy would graduate at this Commencement, and
+hoped to take the highest honors of his college. Well, a steamer was to
+sail at noon that very day. I thought I would like to be present at the
+Commencement and see my boy take his degree. I packed my trunk in an
+hour, embarked in the 'Porte d'Or' in another hour, and here I am."
+
+"That was prompt. When did you arrive?"
+
+"Our steamer reached New York on Thursday noon. I took the night train
+for Washington, where I arrived at five on Friday morning. I took the
+morning boat for Aquia Creek, and the train for Richmond and
+Charlottesville. I got here about noon."
+
+"And you have not seen your _protéges_?"
+
+"Yes, I have seen my boy pass the hotel twice to-day. I knew him by his
+likeness to his unfortunate father. But I did not make myself known to
+him. I do not intend to do so--at least not at present."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Why not?" echoed Hartman, sorrowfully. "Ah, would he not shrink from me
+in disgust and abhorrence?"
+
+"No; not if he were told the awful injustice that has been done you."
+
+"But if he were told, would he believe it? We have no proof that any
+injustice has been done me, except those anonymous letters and the word
+of that strange horseman who waylaid me on my tramp and thrust a bag of
+gold in my hands, with the words, 'You never intended to kill Henry
+Lytton, and you never killed him. Some one else intended to kill him,
+and some one else killed him.'"
+
+"Have you ever heard anything more of that mysterious horseman?"
+
+"Not one word."
+
+"Have you no suspicion of his identity?"
+
+"None, beyond the strong conviction that I feel that he himself was the
+homicide and the writer of the anonymous letters."
+
+"Well, I can not tell you why, but I always felt persuaded of your
+innocence, even before the coming of those anonymous letters, and even
+while _you_ were bitterly accusing yourself."
+
+"You knew it from intuition--inward teaching."
+
+"May I ask you, Hartman, _why_ after you discovered that you had nothing
+to do with the death of Henry Lytton, you still determined to burden
+yourself with the support and education of his children--a duty that was
+first assumed by you as an atonement for an irreparable injury you
+supposed you had done them?"
+
+"Why I still resolved to care for them after I learned that I had
+nothing to do with their great loss? Indeed I can not tell you.
+Perhaps--partly because I sympathized with them in a sorrow that was
+common to us all, in so far as we all suffered from the same cause;
+partly, I also think, because it was pleasant to have _some one_ to live
+for and work for; partly because I was so grateful to find myself free
+from blood guiltiness that I wished to educate those children as a
+thank-offering to Heaven! It was also very pleasant to me to think of
+this boy at college and this girl at school, and to hope that some day
+they might come to look upon me with affection instead of with horror.
+And then I took so much pride in talking to my brother miners about my
+son at the University and my daughter at the Academy! And then, again,
+your letters--every one of them telling of the progress my children made
+and the credit they were doing me. I tell you, sir, all this was a great
+comfort to me, and made me feel at home in this strange, lonesome
+world," said the exile, warmly.
+
+"Hartman, you have a noble soul! You must have made a very great
+pecuniary sacrifice for the sake of these young people," said the
+minister, earnestly.
+
+"No, sir; no sacrifice at all. That was the strangest part of it; for it
+seemed to me the more I gave the more I had."
+
+"How was that?"
+
+"I don't know how it was, sir; but such was the fact. But I will tell
+you what I do know."
+
+"Yes, tell me, Hartman."
+
+"You may remember, Mr. Lyle, that when I told you I was going back to
+California I explained to you that I knew a place where I felt sure
+money was to be made."
+
+"Yes, I remember."
+
+"Well, sir, the place was a gully at the foot of a certain spur of the
+mountains, called the Red Cleft. Now, at that time I knew very little of
+geology. I know more now. Also, I had had but little experience in
+mining; and, moreover, whenever I mentioned Red Ridge I was simply
+laughed at by my mates. I was laughed out of giving the place a fair
+trial. But even after I left the Gold State the idea of the treasure
+hidden in the gully at the foot of Red Ridge haunted me day and night,
+something always prompting me to go back there and dig. Sir, it was
+intuition--inward teaching. When I went back to California I made for
+Red Ridge. Sir, when I first went to Red Ridge I dug there eight weeks
+without finding gold. That was the time my mates laughed at me. When I
+next went back--the time I now speak of--I worked four hours and then
+struck--struck one of the best paying mines in the Gold State. It is
+worked by a company now, but I have half of all the shares."
+
+"You have been wonderfully blessed and prospered, Hartman."
+
+"Yes," said the traveler, reverently bowing his head; "for their sakes,
+I have."
+
+"And for your own, I trust, Hartman."
+
+"Mr. Lyle--"
+
+"Well, Hartman."
+
+"May I ask you a favor?"
+
+"Certainly you may."
+
+"You addressed all your letters to me under the name of Joseph Brent."
+
+"Yes, certainly--at your request."
+
+"Continue, then, to call me Joseph Brent. That name is mine by act of
+legislature."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes, and I have a still better claim. It was the name of my
+grandfather--my mother's father. It was also the name of his eldest son,
+my uncle, who died recently a bachelor, in the State of Missouri, and
+left me his farm there, on condition that I should take his name. I was
+more anxious to have his name than his estate. So I applied to the
+legislature, and the name that I had borrowed so long became my own of
+right."
+
+"So I am to introduce you to my young friends as Mr. Joseph Brent?"
+
+"Yes, if you please. Let the name of poor Victor Hartman sink quietly
+into the grave. And do not let them know that I was Victor Hartman, or
+that Joseph Brent was ever their benefactor," said the exile, gravely.
+
+"I will keep your counsel so long as you require me to do so, hoping
+that the time may speedily come when all shall be made as clear to these
+young people as it is to me."
+
+"Now when will you introduce me to my children?"
+
+"To-morrow, after the ceremonies are concluded. But, my friend, it is a
+little strange to hear you call these grown-up young people your
+children, when you yourself can be but little older than the young man."
+
+"In years, yes. But in long experience, suffering, thought, how much
+older I am than he is! You yourself said that, to all outward
+appearance, I might be the father of the boy who went away two years
+ago."
+
+"Yes, for you are very much changed--not only in your person, but in
+dress and address."
+
+"You mean that I speak a little more correctly than I used to do? Well,
+sir, in these two years all the time that was not spent in work was
+spent in study. Or, rather, as study was to me the hardest sort of work,
+it would be most accurate to say all the time not spent by me in manual
+was spent in mental labor. I had had a good public-school education in
+my boyhood. I wished to recover all I had lost, and to add to it. You
+see, Mr. Lyle, I did not want my boy and girl to be ashamed of me when,
+if ever, we should meet as friends," said Hartman, with his old smile.
+
+"That they could never be. Any other than grateful and affectionate they
+could never be to you--if I know them."
+
+"I believe that too. I believe my children will love me when they
+understand all."
+
+"Be sure they will. But, Hartman--by the way, I like the name of
+Hartman, and I hope you will let me use it when we are alone, on
+condition that I promise never to use it when we are in company."
+
+"As you please, Mr. Lyle."
+
+"Then, Hartman, I was about to say that when I hear you speak of Henry
+Lytton's son and daughter as your boy and girl, the wonder comes over me
+as to whether you never think of marriage--of a wife and children of
+your own."
+
+"Mr. Lyle, since my mother went away to heaven I have never felt any
+interest in any woman on earth. I have been interested in some girls,
+but they happened to be children: and I could count them with the
+fingers of one hand and have a finger or two left over. Let me see,"
+said Hartman, with his odd smile. "First there was Sal's Kid."
+
+"Sal's Kid?" echoed the minister, who had never heard the name before,
+but thought it a very eccentric one.
+
+"Yes, Sal's Kid--a wild-eyed, elf-locked, olive-skinned little imp,
+nameless, but nicknamed Sal's Kid, who lived in a gutter called Rat
+Alley, down by the water-side in New York. I used to be fond of the
+child when I was cook's galley-boy, and our ship was in port there. I
+haven't seen her for ten years, yet I've never forgotten her. And I
+would give a great deal to know whatever became of Sal's Kid. Probably
+she has gone the way of the rest. They were all beggars, thieves, or
+worse," added Hartman, with a deep sigh.
+
+"And the next?" inquired the minister, with a wish to recall his visitor
+from sorrowful thoughts.
+
+"The next girl that interested me," continued Hartman, looking up with a
+bright smile, as at the recollection of some celestial vision, "was as
+different from this one as the purest diamond from a lump of charcoal.
+She was a radiant blonde, with golden hair and sapphire eyes and a
+blooming complexion. In the darkest hour of my life she appeared to me a
+heavenly messenger! They were leading me from the Court House to the
+jail, after my sentence. I was passing amid the hooting crowd, bowed
+down with despair, when this fair vision beamed upon me and dispersed
+the furies. She looked at me with heavenly pity in her eyes. She spoke
+to me and told me to pray, and said that she too would pray for me. At
+her look and voice the jeering crowd fell back in silence. I thought of
+that picture of Doré's where the celestial visitant dispersed the
+fiends. I have never, never seen her since."
+
+"And you do not know who she was?"
+
+"Her companions called her 'Emma.' That is all I know."
+
+"The third girl in whom you became interested?"
+
+"Is my child Laura Lytton, whom I have never seen. During the weeks I
+was in Mr. Lytton's law office I never once beheld his son or daughter."
+
+"Then personally you are a stranger to both?"
+
+"Yes, personally I am a stranger to both. But to-morrow I hope to know
+them, although I can not be perfectly made known to them. Remember, Mr.
+Lyle, I do not wish them to know that I was ever Victor Hartman, or that
+Joseph Brent was ever their benefactor."
+
+"I will remember your caution. But I will hope, as I said before, for
+the time when they shall know and esteem you as I know and esteem you."
+
+"Your confidence in me has been, and is, one of my greatest earthly
+supports," said Hartman, earnestly, as he arose to bid his friend
+good-night.
+
+Long after his visitor had left him, Mr. Lyle sat at his window in an
+attitude of deep thought.
+
+The unexpected meeting with Victor Hartman had deprived him of all power
+or wish to sleep.
+
+He sat at the window watching the crowd that thronged the village
+streets with his outward eyes, but reviewing all the past with his inner
+vision. It was long after midnight before he retired.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+VICTOR MEETS "HIS CHILDREN."
+
+
+The next morning revealed the full measure of the crowd that filled the
+little country town to overflowing. And the road leading from the
+village westward to the University was crowded with foot-passengers,
+horsemen and carriages of every description.
+
+Those who had no reserved seats set out early, to secure the most
+eligible of the unreserved places.
+
+The ceremonies were to commence at twelve noon.
+
+Our party, consisting of Emma Cavendish, Laura Lytton, Electra Coroni,
+Mrs. Fanning, Mrs. Wheatfield and Dr. Jones occupied the whole of the
+third form from the front.
+
+They were in their places just a few moments before the overture was
+played.
+
+The hall was crowded to overflowing. Not only was every form filled, but
+chairs had to be set in the space between the audience and the
+orchestra, and also in the middle and side aisles, to accommodate ladies
+who could not otherwise be seated; while every foot of standing room was
+occupied by gentlemen.
+
+Mr. Lyle had given up his seat next to Laura Lytton in favor of a lady,
+and had explained to his party that he had a friend from San Francisco
+who was present and with whom he could stand up.
+
+And he went away and took up his position in a corner below the
+platform, beside Victor Hartman, but entirely out of the range of his
+party's vision.
+
+I will not weary my readers with any detailed account of this
+Commencement, which resembled all other college commencements in being
+most interesting to those most concerned.
+
+There was an overture from a new opera.
+
+Then there was an opening oration by one of the learned professors of
+the University, which was voted by the savants to be a masterpiece of
+erudition and eloquence, but which the young people present found
+intolerably dull and stupid. And when the great man sat down a storm of
+applause followed him.
+
+Then ensued the usual alternation of opera music and orations.
+
+And the young people listened to the opera music, and yawned behind
+their fans over the orations.
+
+And the savants gave heed to the orations, and closed their senses, if
+not their ears, to the music.
+
+At length the time for the distribution of the diplomas arrived, and the
+names of the successful graduates were called out, and each in turn went
+up to receive his diploma and make the customary deep bow, first to the
+faculty and then to the audience.
+
+Then followed the offertory of beautiful bouquets and baskets of flowers
+from friends to the graduates. But the most beautiful offering there was
+a basket of delicate silver wire filled with fragrant pure white lilies
+sent by Emma Cavendish to Alden Lytton.
+
+Laura Lytton, in a patriotic mood, sent a bouquet composed of red, white
+and blue flowers only.
+
+The other ladies of the party sent baskets of geraniums.
+
+The valedictory address was delivered by Alden Lytton, who had, besides,
+taken the highest honors of the college.
+
+His address was pronounced to be a great success. And his retiring bow
+was followed by thunders of applause from the audience.
+
+There were several proud and happy fathers there that day; but perhaps
+the proudest and the happiest man present was Victor Hartman.
+
+With tearful eyes and tremulous tones he said, as he grasped Mr. Lyle's
+arm:
+
+"My boy pays me for all--my boy pays me for all! He is a grand fellow!"
+
+The people were all going out then.
+
+"Come," said Mr. Lyle, himself moved by the generous emotion of Victor.
+"Come, let me introduce you to your boy."
+
+"No, not now. Let me go away by myself for a little while. I will see
+you an hour later at the hotel," said Hartman, as he wrung his friend's
+hand and turned away.
+
+Mr. Lyle joined his party, with whom he found the most honored graduate
+of the day, who was holding his silver basket of lilies in his hand and
+warmly thanking the fair donor.
+
+Mr. Lyle shook hands with Alden and heartily congratulated him on his
+collegiate honors, adding:
+
+"We shall see you on the Bench yet, Mr. Lytton."
+
+Alden bowed and laughingly replied that he should feel it to be his
+sacred duty to get there, if he could, in order to justify his friend's
+good opinion.
+
+"But what have you done with your Californian, Mr. Lyle?" inquired Laura
+Lytton.
+
+"Sent him back to his hotel. By the way, ladies, he is a stranger here.
+Will you permit me to bring him to see you this evening?"
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Lyle," promptly replied Emma Cavendish, speaking for
+all.
+
+But then she gave a questioning glance toward her aunt, the chaperon of
+the party.
+
+"Of course," said Mrs. Fanning, in answer to that glance. "Of course the
+Reverend Mr. Lyle's introduction is a sufficient passport for any
+gentleman to any lady's acquaintance."
+
+Mr. Lyle bowed and said:
+
+"Then I will bring him at eight o'clock this evening."
+
+And, with another bow, he also left the party and hurried off to the
+hotel.
+
+That evening, at eight o'clock, the three young ladies were seated alone
+together in the front drawing-room of their boarding-house. Their
+elderly friends were not present.
+
+Dr. Jones was dining at the college with Alden Lytton and his
+fellow-graduates.
+
+Mrs. Fanning, fatigued with the day's excitement, had retired to a
+dressing-gown and sofa in her own room.
+
+Mrs. Wheatfield was in consultation with her book concerning the next
+day's bill of fare.
+
+Thus the three beauties were left together, and very beautiful they
+looked.
+
+Emma Cavendish, the "radiant blonde, with the golden hair and sapphire
+eyes and blooming complexion," was dressed in fine pure white tulle,
+with light-blue ribbons.
+
+Electra, the wild-eyed, black-haired, damask-cheeked brunette, was
+dressed in a maize-colored silk, with black lace trimmings.
+
+Laura Lytton, the stout, wholesome, brown-haired and brown-eyed lassie,
+wore a blue _barége_ trimmed, like Electra's dress, with black lace.
+
+The room was brilliant with gas-light, and they were waiting for their
+friends and visitors.
+
+Dr. Jones had promised to return, and bring Alden with him, by eight
+o'clock at latest. And Mr. Lyle had promised to come and bring "the
+Californian."
+
+The clock struck eight and with dramatic punctuality the bell rang.
+
+The next moment the little page of the establishment opened the
+drawing-room door and announced:
+
+"Mr. Lyle and a gemman."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+AN INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+The three young ladies looked up, to see Mr. Lyle enter the room,
+accompanied by a tall, finely-formed, dark-complexioned man, with deep
+dark eyes, and black hair and full black beard, both lightly streaked
+with silver, which, together with a slight stoop, gave him the
+appearance of being much older than he really was.
+
+Mr. Lyle bowed to the young ladies, and then, taking his companion up to
+Emma Cavendish, he said, with old-fashioned formality:
+
+"Miss Cavendish, permit me to present to you my friend Mr. Brent, of San
+Francisco."
+
+"I am glad to see you, Mr. Brent," said the young lady, with a graceful
+bend of her fair head.
+
+But in an instant the Californian seemed to have lost his
+self-possession.
+
+He stared for a moment almost rudely at the young lady: he turned red
+and pale, drew a long breath; then, with an effort, recovered himself
+and bowed deeply.
+
+Miss Cavendish was surprised; but she was too polite and self-possessed
+to let her surprise appear. She mentally ascribed the disturbance of her
+visitor to some passing cause.
+
+Mr. Lyle, who had not noticed his companion's agitation, now presented
+him to Laura Lytton and to Electra Coroni.
+
+To Laura he bowed gravely and calmly.
+
+But when he met the wild eyes of Electra he started violently and
+exclaimed:
+
+"Sal's--" then stopped abruptly, bowed and took the chair that his
+friend placed for him.
+
+He sat in perfect silence, while Emma Cavendish, pitying, without
+understanding, his awkwardness, tried to make conversation by
+introducing the subject of California and the gold mines.
+
+But Victor Hartman replied with an effort, and frequently and furtively
+looked at Emma, and looked at Electra, and then put his hand to his head
+in a perplexed manner.
+
+At length his embarrassment became obvious even to unobservant Mr. Lyle,
+who longed for an opportunity of asking him what the matter was.
+
+But before that opportunity came there was another ring at the street
+door-bell, followed by the entrance of Dr. Jones and Alden Lytton.
+
+The last-comers greeted the young ladies and Mr. Lyle, and acknowledged
+the presence of the stranger with a distant bow.
+
+But then Mr. Lyle arose and asked permission to introduce his friend Mr.
+Brent, of California.
+
+And Dr. Jones and Mr. Lytton shook hands with the Californian and
+welcomed him to Virginia.
+
+Then Alden Lytton, who had some dim dreams of going to California to
+commence life, with the idea of one day becoming Chief Justice of the
+State, began to draw the stranger out on the subject.
+
+Victor Hartman, the unknown and unsuspected benefactor, delighted to
+make the acquaintance of "his boy," and, to learn all his half-formed
+wishes and purposes, talked freely and enthusiastically of the Gold
+State and its resources and prospects.
+
+"If all that I have heard about the condition of society out there be
+true, however, it must be a much better place for farmers and mechanics,
+tradesmen and laborers, than for professional men."
+
+"What have you heard, then, of the condition of society out there?"
+inquired Victor.
+
+"Well, I have heard that the climate is so healthy that the well who go
+there never get sick, and the sick who go there get well without the
+doctor's help. And, furthermore, that all disputes are settled by the
+fists, the bowie-knife, or the revolver, without the help of lawyer,
+judge or jury! So, you see, if all that is told of it is true, it is a
+bad place for lawyers and doctors."
+
+"'If all that is told of it is true?' There is not a word of it true! It
+is all an unpardonable fabrication," said Victor Hartman, so indignantly
+and solemnly that Alden burst out laughing as he answered:
+
+"Oh, of course I know it is an exaggeration! I did think of trying my
+fortune in the Gold State; but upon reflection I have decided to devote
+my poor talents to my mother state, Virginia. And not until she
+practically disowns me will I desert her."
+
+"Well said, my dear bo--I mean Mr. Lytton!" assented the Californian.
+
+He had begun heartily, but ended by correcting himself with some
+embarrassment.
+
+Alden looked up for an instant, a little surprised by his disturbance;
+but ascribed it to the awkwardness of a man long debarred from ladies'
+society, as this miner seemed to have been.
+
+Gradually Victor Hartman recovered his composure and talked
+intelligently and fluently upon the subject of gold mining, Chinese
+emigration, and so forth.
+
+Only when he would chance to meet the full gaze of Electra's "wild
+eyes," or catch the tones of Emma's mellifluous voice, then, indeed, he
+would show signs of disturbance. He would look or listen, and put his
+hand to his forehead with an expression of painful perplexity.
+
+At ten o'clock the gentlemen arose to bid the young ladies good-night.
+
+It was then arranged that the whole party should visit the University
+the next day and go through all the buildings on a tour of inspection.
+
+When the visitors had gone, Electra suddenly inquired:
+
+"Well, what do you think of the Californian?"
+
+"I think him very handsome," said Laura, "but decidedly the most awkward
+man I ever saw in all the days of my life. Except in the matter of his
+awkwardness he seems to be a gentleman."
+
+"Oh, that is nothing! One of the most distinguished men I ever met in my
+father's house--a gentleman by birth, education and position, a
+statesman of world-wide renown--was unquestionably the most awkward
+human being I ever saw in my life. He knew very well how to manage men
+and nations, but he never knew what to do with his feet and hands: he
+kept shuffling them about in the most nervous and distracting manner,"
+said Emma Cavendish, in behalf of the stranger.
+
+"Somehow or other that man's face haunts me like a ghost," mused
+Electra, dreamily.
+
+"So it does me," quickly spoke Emma. "I feel sure that I have met those
+sad, wistful dark eyes _somewhere_ before."
+
+"I'll tell you both what. Whether you have ever met him before or not,
+he _thinks_ he has seen you. He seemed to me to be trying to recollect
+_where_ all the evening," said Laura Lytton, with her air of
+positiveness.
+
+"Then that might account for his awkwardness and embarrassment," added
+Emma.
+
+"But he is certainly very handsome," concluded Electra, as she took her
+candle to retire.
+
+Meanwhile the four gentlemen walked down the street together to a
+corner, where they bade each other good-night and separated--Dr. Jones
+and Alden Lytton to walk out to the University, and Mr. Lyle and Victor
+Hartman to go to their hotel.
+
+"What on earth was the matter with you, Victor?" inquired Mr. Lyle, as
+they walked on together.
+
+"What?" exclaimed Hartman, under his breath, and stopping short in the
+street.
+
+"Yes, what! I never saw a man so upset without an adequate cause in all
+my life."
+
+"Don't let us go into the house yet," said Victor; for they were now
+before the door of the hotel. "It is only ten o'clock, and a fine night.
+Take a turn with me down some quiet street, and I will tell you."
+
+"Willingly," agreed Mr. Lyle; and they walked past the hotel and out
+toward the suburbs of the little town.
+
+"Mr. Lyle, I have seen them both!" exclaimed Victor, when they were out
+of hearing of every one else.
+
+"Both? Whom have you seen, Hartman?" inquired the minister a little
+uneasily, as if he feared his companion was not quite sane.
+
+"First, I have seen again the heavenly vision that appeared and
+dispersed the furies from around me on that dark day when I passed, a
+condemned criminal, from the Court House to the jail," replied Victor
+Hartman, with emotion.
+
+"Hartman, my poor fellow, are you mad?"
+
+"No; but it was enough to make me so. To meet one of them, whom I never
+expected to see again in this world, would have been enough to upset me
+for a while; but to meet both, and to meet them together, who were so
+widely apart in place and in rank, I tell you it was bewildering! I felt
+as if I was under the influence of opium and in a delightful dream from
+which I should soon awake. I did not quite believe it all to be real. I
+do not quite believe it to be so yet. Have I seen that celestial
+visitant again?" he inquired, putting his hand to his head in the same
+confused manner.
+
+"Now, which one of these young ladies do you take to have been your
+'celestial visitant,' as you most absurdly call her?"
+
+"Oh, the fair, golden-haired, azure-eyed angel, robed so appropriately
+in pure white!"
+
+"That was Miss Emma Cavendish," said Mr. Lyle, very uneasily; "and you
+talk of her like a lover, Hartman--and like a very mad lover too! But
+oh, I earnestly implore you, do not become so very mad, so frenzied as
+to let yourself love Emma Cavendish! By birth, education and fortune she
+is one of the first young ladies in the country, and a bride for a
+prince. Do not, I conjure you, think of loving her yourself!"
+
+Victor Hartman laughed a little light laugh, that seemed to do him good,
+as he answered:
+
+"Do not be afraid. I worship her too much to think of loving her in the
+way you mean. And, besides, if I am not greatly mistaken, _my boy_ has
+been before me."
+
+"Alden Lytton?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I saw it all. I was too much interested not to see it. My boy
+and my angel like one another. Heaven bless them both! They are worthy
+of each other. They will make a fine pair. He so handsome; she so
+beautiful! He so talented; she so lovely! His family is quite as good as
+hers. And as for a fortune, his shall equal hers!" said Victor, warmly.
+
+"Will you give away all your wealth to make your 'boy' happy?" inquired
+Mr. Lyle, with some emotion.
+
+"No! The Red Cleft mine is not so easily exhausted. Besides, in any
+case, I should save something for my girl She must have a marriage
+portion too!"
+
+"You really ought to have a guardian appointed by the court to take care
+of you and your money, Victor. You will give it all away. And,
+seriously, it grieves me to see you so inclined to rob yourself so
+heavily to enrich others, even such as these excellent young people,"
+said Mr. Lyle, with feeling.
+
+"Be easy! When I have enriched them both I shall still have an
+unexhausted gold mine! By the way, parson--parson!"
+
+"Well, Hartman?"
+
+"I saw something else beside the love between my angel and my boy. I
+saw--saw a certain liking between my girl and my friend."
+
+If the bright starlight had been bright enough Victor Hartman might have
+seen the vivid blush that mantled all over the ingenuous face of Stephen
+Lyle.
+
+"I certainly admire Miss Lytton very much. She is a genuine girl," said
+Mr. Lyle, as composedly as if his face was not crimson.
+
+"And I see she certainly admires you very much. She evidently thinks you
+are a genuine man. So, my dear friend, go in and win. And my girl shall
+not miss her marriage portion," said Hartman, cordially.
+
+Mr. Lyle was beginning to feel a little embarrassed at the turn the
+conversation had taken, so he hastened to change it by saying:
+
+"You told me that you had met them _both_ whom you never had expected to
+see again in this world. One was Miss Cavendish, your 'heavenly vision;'
+who was the other?"
+
+"Can you be at a loss to know? There were but three young ladies
+present. My own girl, whom I went to see and did expect to meet; Miss
+Cavendish, whom you have just identified as one of the two alluded to,
+and the brilliant little creature whom you introduced by a heathenish
+sort of name which I have forgotten."
+
+"Miss Electra?"
+
+"Aye, that was the name; but however you call her, I knew her in Rat
+Alley as Sal's Kid."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, stopping short and trying to gaze through
+the darkness into the face of his companion; for Mr. Lyle had never
+happened to hear of the strange vicissitudes of Electra's childhood.
+
+"She is Sal's Kid, I do assure you. Her face is too unique ever to be
+mistaken. I could never forget or fail to recognize those flashing eyes
+and gleaming teeth. And, I tell you, I would rather have found her again
+as I found her to-night than have discovered another gold mine as rich
+as that of Red Cleft."
+
+"Hartman, you were never more deceived in your life. That young lady,
+Electra Coroni, is the granddaughter of Dr. Beresford Jones, and is the
+sole heiress of Beresford Manors. She was educated at the Mount
+Ascension Academy for Young Ladies in this State, from which she has
+just graduated."
+
+"Whoever she is, or whatever she is, or wherever she lives now, when I
+knew her she was Sal's Kid, and lived in Rat Alley, New York. And she
+knew me as Galley Vick, the ship cook's boy."
+
+"Hartman, you have certainly 'got a bee in your bonnet!'"
+
+"We shall see. She almost recognized me to-night. She will quite know me
+soon," answered Victor, as they turned their steps toward their hotel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+VICTOR AND ELECTRA.
+
+    Heaven has to all allotted, soon or late,
+    Some lucky revolution of their fate;
+    Whose motions, if we watch and guide with skill--
+    For human good depends on human will--
+    Our fortune rolls as from a smooth descent,
+    And from a first impression takes its bent;
+    But if unseized, she glides away like wind,
+    And leaves repenting folly far behind,
+    Now, now she meets you with a glorious prize,
+    And spreads her locks before her as she flies.
+                                            --DRYDEN.
+
+
+The next morning at the appointed hour the Rev. Mr. Lyle and Victor
+Hartman left their hotel together and went to Mrs. Wheatfield's, to
+escort the ladies to the University, where Dr. Jones and Alden Lytton
+were to meet them and introduce them to the president. The two gentlemen
+found the young ladies already dressed and waiting.
+
+Miss Cavendish explained that her aunt did not care about seeing more of
+the University than she had already seen, and preferred to remain in the
+house with the bishop's widow and rest that day.
+
+And so, under the circumstances, they--Miss Cavendish and her young
+friends--had decided not to have a carriage, but to take advantage of
+the fine morning and walk the short mile that lay between the village
+and its great seat of learning.
+
+Nothing could have pleased their escorts better than this plan.
+
+And soon they--the party of five--set out upon the pleasant country road
+that led out to the University.
+
+Emma Cavendish and Laura Lytton led the way, and by Laura's side walked
+the Rev. Mr. Lyle. Electra dropped a little behind, and was attended by
+Victor Hartman.
+
+They talked of the fine morning and of the beautiful country, of the
+grand Commencement of the preceding day and of the University they were
+going to see; but they talked in an absent-minded manner, as if, indeed,
+they were both thinking of something else.
+
+This lasted until they were half-way to the place, when at length
+Electra turned suddenly upon Victor and said:
+
+"Do you know, Mr. Brent, that your face seems a very familiar one to
+me?"
+
+"Indeed!" said Victor, bending his head nearer to her.
+
+"Yes, indeed! Your face struck me as being familiar the first moment I
+saw you, and this impression has grown deeper every moment we have been
+walking together; and now I _know_ of whom you remind me," answered
+Electra; and then she paused and looked at him.
+
+He made no remark.
+
+"You do not care to know who that was, it seems," she said.
+
+"Oh, yes, I do, I assure you, Miss Coroni, if you please to tell me!"
+
+"Then you remind me of a poor lad whom I once knew and liked very much
+in New York, when I was as poor as himself," said Electra, meaningly.
+
+"It is very kind of you to remember the poor lad after so many years and
+so many changes," replied Victor.
+
+"I wonder if that poor lad ever thinks of _me_, 'after so many years and
+so many changes?'" murmured Electra, musingly.
+
+"I don't know. Tell me his name, and then perhaps I can answer your
+question. I have roamed around the world a good deal and seen a great
+many different sorts of people. Who knows but I may have met your poor
+lad? Let us have his name," said Victor, gravely.
+
+They were both, to use a household phrase, "beating about the bush."
+
+"Oh, he was too poor to own a name! But he was cook's boy on board a
+merchantman, and they called him 'Galley Vick.' I never knew him by any
+other name. Did you ever see him at all?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I've seen him! A good-for-nothing little vagabond he was! No,
+I don't suppose he ever dares to think about such a fine young lady as
+you are. But he cherishes the memory of a poor little girl he once knew
+in Rat Alley, New York. And only the day before yesterday, when I
+happened to be with him, he was saying how much he would give to know
+what had become of that poor little girl."
+
+"Yes, it was very nice of him to remember her," said Electra, musingly.
+
+"You say that you knew the poor lad in New York. Perhaps, as they were
+so much together, you may have known the poor little girl also?" said
+Victor.
+
+"I can not tell you unless you give me her name. There were so many
+poor little girls in New York," answered Electra, shaking her head.
+
+"_She_, like the boy, was too poor then to own a name. They called her
+'Sal's Kid.' I never knew her by any other name," answered Victor.
+
+And then their eyes met, and both laughed and impulsively put out their
+hands, which were then clasped together.
+
+"I knew you at the very first sight, Vick," said Electra, giving full
+way to her feelings of pleasure in meeting her old playmate again.
+
+"And so did I you. Heaven bless you, child! I am so happy and thankful
+to find you here, so healthy and prosperous. You were a sickly, poor
+little thing when I knew you," said Victor, with much emotion.
+
+"I was a famished poor little thing, you mean, food has made all the
+difference, Victor," laughed Electra.
+
+"My name is Joseph Brent, my dear," said Hartman, who almost trembled to
+hear the old name spoken.
+
+"Ah, but Sal's Kid knew you only as Galley Vick. I thought Vick was the
+short for Victor. But it seems you really had a name all the time as
+well as I had, though neither of us suspected we possessed such an
+appendage."
+
+Hartman bowed in silence.
+
+"And now I suppose you would like to know how it happens that you find
+poor little ragged, famished, sickly Sal's Kid, who used to live in Rat
+Alley among thieves and tramps, here--well lodged, well dressed and in
+good company?"
+
+"Yes, I really would."
+
+"Well, it was 'all along of' a grandfather."
+
+"A grandfather!"
+
+"Yes, a grandfather. I really had a grandfather! And I have him still.
+And you have seen him, and his name is Dr. Beresford Jones. And,
+moreover, I had a great-grandfather back of _him_; and also forefathers
+behind _them_, and ancestors extending away back to antiquity. In fact,
+I think they ran away back to Adam!"
+
+"I dare say they did," answered Victor, with a smile; "but tell me about
+that grandfather."
+
+"Well, you must know that he was wealthy. He owned Beresford Manors. He
+had one child, 'sole daughter of the house.' She married a poor young
+Italian music-master against her father's will. Her father cast her off.
+Her husband took her to New York, where they fell by degrees into the
+deepest destitution. They both died of cholera, leaving me to the care
+of the miserable beings who were their fellow-lodgers in the old
+tenement house. I believe I was passed from the hands of one beggar to
+those of another, until my identity was lost and my real name forgotten.
+But I do not clearly remember any of my owners except Sal. And I was
+called 'Sal's Kid.'"
+
+"It was then I knew you," said Victor.
+
+"So it was. Well, you know all about that period. It was soon after you
+went to sea that Sal's husband, being mad with drink and jealousy,
+struck his wife a fatal blow and killed her."
+
+"Horrible!"
+
+"Yes, horrible! I have heard since that the man died of _mania-à-potu_
+in the Tombs, before his trial came on."
+
+"And you?"
+
+"I was taken by the Commissioners of Charity and put into the Orphan
+Asylum at Randall's Island."
+
+"And how did your grandfather ever find you there, where your very name
+was lost?"
+
+"You may well ask that. My name was lost. I suppose, hearing me called
+Sal's Kid, they mistook that for Sal Kidd. Any way they registered my
+name on the books of the Island as Sarah Kidd."
+
+Victor laughed at this piece of ingenuity on the part of the
+authorities, and again expressed wonder as to how her grandfather ever
+found her.
+
+"If I were a heathen, I should say he found me by chance. It looked
+like it. You see, he had met with misfortunes. His wife--my
+grandmother--died. And he was growing old, and his home was lonely and
+his life was dreary. And so he relented toward his poor daughter, and
+even toward her husband."
+
+"But too late!" put in Victor.
+
+"Yes; too late. He relented too late," sighed Electra. "He went to New
+York, where they had been living when he had last heard of them, and
+after making the most diligent inquiries he only learned that they had
+been dead several years, and had left an orphan girl in great
+destitution. Well, he advertised for the child, offering large rewards
+for her discovery."
+
+"But in vain, I suppose?" said Victor.
+
+"Ah, yes, in vain, for I was at Randall's Island, registered under
+another name."
+
+"The case seemed hopeless," said Victor.
+
+"Entirely hopeless. And then, partly from his disappointment and partly
+from seeing so much of suffering among children, he became a sort of
+city missionary. It was in his character of missionary that he went one
+day to an examination of the pupils of the girls' school on Randall's
+Island. There he saw me, and recognized me by my striking likeness to my
+mother. Indeed he has since told me that I am a counterpart of what my
+mother was at my age."
+
+"And your face is such a very peculiar and, I may say, unique face, that
+the likeness could not have been accidental, I suppose," observed
+Victor.
+
+"That is what he thought. Well, without saying a word to me then of his
+recognition, he commenced with the slight clew that he had in his hands
+and pursued investigations that in a few days proved me to be the child
+of Sebastian and Electra Coroni. Then he came to the Island and took me
+away, and put me to school at Mount Ascension. There I made the
+acquaintance of the young lady friend that I am now staying with. Miss
+Cavendish is my cousin. Last month I graduated from Mount Ascension. And
+on the first of next month I am going to Beresford Manors, to commence
+my new life there as my grandfather's housekeeper. And, Victor--I beg
+your pardon!--Mr. Brent, I hope that you will come and visit us there,"
+concluded Electra, with a smile.
+
+"But how would your grandfather, Dr. Beresford Jones of Beresford
+Manors, take a visit from a poor adventurer like me?" inquired Victor.
+
+"He will take it very kindly; for he also will ask you to come," said
+Electra.
+
+Victor bowed and walked on in silence.
+
+Electra spoke again:
+
+"I have told you without reserve how it was that I was so suddenly
+raised from extreme poverty to wealth, and now--"
+
+She paused and looked at her companion.
+
+"And now you want to know how I came by my fortune?" smilingly inquired
+Victor.
+
+"Yes, of course I do," answered Electra.
+
+"The explanation is short and simple enough. I became suddenly rich, as
+some few other poor vagabonds have, by a fortunate stroke of the
+pick--by a California gold mine," quietly answered Victor.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Electra.
+
+And she stopped and put him away from her a step, and stood and stared
+at him.
+
+Victor laughed. And then they went on, for their companions were at the
+gates of the University, waiting for them to come along.
+
+They entered the beautiful grounds occupied by the extensive buildings
+of the University, and where several of the professors, as well as a few
+of the students who had not yet left for the vacation, were taking their
+morning walks.
+
+The visitors were soon met by Dr. Jones and Alden Lytton, who came up
+together to welcome them.
+
+After the usual greetings, Alden introduced his party to several of the
+professors, who received them with great courtesy, and attended them
+through the various buildings, pointing out to them the most notable
+objects of interest, and entertaining them with the history, statistics
+and anecdotes of the institution.
+
+They were taken into the various libraries, where they saw collected
+vast numbers of the most valuable books, among which were a few very
+unique black letter and illuminated volumes of great antiquity.
+
+They were then led into the several halls, where were collected costly
+astronomical and chemical apparatus.
+
+And finally they visited the museum, filled with cabinets of minerals,
+shells, woods, fossils, and so forth.
+
+And after an interesting but very fatiguing tour of inspection, that
+occupied four hours, they were invited to rest in the house of one of
+the professors, where they were refreshed with a dainty lunch, after
+which they returned to the village.
+
+And the evening was spent socially in Mrs. Wheatfield's drawing-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+A SURPRISE.
+
+
+In the course of that evening they were surprised by a visit. It was
+from Mr. Craven Kyte, who came to call on Miss Cavendish.
+
+He was invited into the drawing-room and introduced to the whole party.
+
+Mr. Kyte was in the deepest state of despondency.
+
+He told Miss Emma that a few days previous he had received a letter from
+Mrs. Grey, saying that she was about to leave Charlottesville for a
+little while, in order to give up her rooms to Miss Cavendish and her
+party, and that she did not know exactly where she should go, but that
+she would write and tell him as soon as she should get settled.
+
+"And since that, Miss Emma, I have not heard one word from her, nor do I
+know where she is, or how she is, or how to find out," concluded Mr.
+Kyte, in the most dejected tone.
+
+"How long has it been, Mr. Kyte?" inquired Miss Cavendish.
+
+"Five days," answered the young man, as solemnly as if he had said five
+years.
+
+"That is but a short time. I do not think you have cause to be anxious
+yet awhile," said Emma, with a smile.
+
+"But you haven't heard from her yourself even, have you, Miss Emma?" he
+anxiously inquired.
+
+"Certainly not, else I should have told you at once," replied Miss
+Cavendish.
+
+"For mercy's sake, you never came all the way from Wendover to
+Charlottesville to ask that question, did you, Mr. Kyte?" inquired
+irrepressible Electra, elevating her eye-brows.
+
+The lover, who had so unconsciously betrayed himself, blushed violently
+and stammered forth:
+
+"No--not entirely. The fact is, for more than a year past I have been
+watching and waiting for an opportunity to change my business from
+Wendover to Charlottesville. And I came up partly about that also. But
+as a--a friend of Mrs. Grey, I do feel anxious about her mysterious
+absence and silence."
+
+"I assure you, Mr. Kyte, that Mrs. Grey is quite capable of taking
+excellent care of herself," added plain-spoken Laura Lytton.
+
+"Come, Mr. Kyte, cheer up! We are going on a pilgrimage to Monticello
+to-morrow and you must join our party," said Miss Cavendish, kindly.
+
+But Mr. Kyte excused himself, saying that he could not leave his
+business long, and must start for Wendover the next morning.
+
+And soon after this he took leave.
+
+The next day was devoted by our party to a pious pilgrimage to the
+shrine of classic Monticello, once the seat, now the monument of Thomas
+Jefferson.
+
+The whole party, young and old, gentlemen and ladies, went.
+
+The bishop's widow forgot her housekeeping cares and took a holiday for
+that day.
+
+And even Mrs. Fanning, who did not care to see the great University,
+could not miss the opportunity of a pilgrimage to that mecca.
+
+The party was a large one, consisting of five ladies and four
+gentlemen.
+
+And so it required two capacious carriages and two saddle horses to
+convey them.
+
+They formed quite a little procession in leaving the village.
+
+In the first carriage rode Mrs. Fanning, Emma Cavendish, Electra and Dr.
+Jones.
+
+In the second carriage rode Mrs. Wheatfield, Laura Lytton and Mr. Lyle.
+
+Alden Lytton and Victor Hartman rode on horseback, and brought up the
+rear.
+
+Their way lay through the most sublime and beautiful mountain and valley
+scenery.
+
+Monticello is built upon a mountain, some three miles south of the
+village.
+
+Perhaps there is no private dwelling in the whole country occupying a
+more elevated site, or commanding a more magnificent panorama of
+landscape, than Monticello.
+
+It is a fine country house of great architectural beauty and strength,
+built upon a lofty and slightly inclined plain, formed by grading the
+top of the mountain.
+
+It commands a stupendous prospect, bounded only by the spherical form of
+the earth. And standing there, with the earth beneath and the heavens
+all around, one fully realizes that we live upon a great planet rolling
+in its orbit through immense space.
+
+Our party spent a long summer's day up there in the sunshine, and then,
+after eating the luncheon they had brought with them, they set out on
+their return to the village, where they arrived in time for one of Mrs.
+Wheatfield's delicious early teas.
+
+The remaining days of the week were passed in walking, riding or driving
+to the most interesting points of the neighborhood.
+
+On Saturday morning they took leave of the bishop's widow and set out
+for Richmond, _en route_ for Wendover and Blue Cliffs.
+
+They reached the city late on the same night, and took up their old
+quarters at the Henrico House.
+
+They staid over the Sabbath, and went to hear Mr. Lyle preach, morning
+and evening, to his old congregation.
+
+On Monday morning the whole party resumed their journey, and arrived at
+Wendover early in the afternoon of the same day.
+
+There the party were destined to divide.
+
+There were carriages from Blue Cliffs waiting by appointment at the
+railway station to meet Miss Cavendish and her friends; and there was
+the hack from the Reindeer Hotel for the accommodation of any other
+travelers who might require it.
+
+Mrs. Fanning, Emma Cavendish, Laura Lytton and Electra, attended by Dr.
+Jones and Alden Lytton, entered their carriages to go to Blue Cliff
+Hall.
+
+Mr. Lyle and Victor Hartman took leave of them at their carriage doors,
+saw the horses start, and then set out to walk together to the bachelor
+home of Mr. Lyle, where Hartman was to be a guest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+AT THE PARSONAGE.
+
+
+Mr. Lyle lived in a pretty white cottage, covered nearly to the roof
+with fragrant creeping vines, and standing in the midst of a beautiful
+flower-garden.
+
+Here he lived his bachelor life quite alone but for the occasional sight
+of the old negro couple that were waiting on him--Aunt Nancy, who did
+all his housework, and Uncle Ned, who worked in the garden.
+
+He found the faithful old couple prepared to receive him and his guest.
+
+A tempting repast, combining the attractions of dinner and tea, was
+ready to be placed upon the table just as soon as the gentlemen should
+have made their toilets after their long journey.
+
+Mr. Lyle led his guest into a fresh, pretty room, with white muslin
+curtains at the vine-clad windows and a white dimity spread on the bed,
+and white flower enameled cottage furniture completing the appointments.
+
+"This is a room for a pretty girl rather than for a grim miner," said
+Victor Hartman, looking admiringly around the little apartment.
+
+"I call it the 'Chamber of Peace,' and that is why I put you in it,"
+said Mr. Lyle.
+
+After they had washed and dressed they went down together to the cozy
+little dining-room, where they did such justice to the tea-dinner as
+made Aunt Nancy's heart crow for joy.
+
+And when that was over they went into the snug little parlor and sat
+down to talk over their plans.
+
+It was then that Mr. Lyle informed Victor Hartman that he was doing all
+the work of the parish during Dr. Goodwin's hopeless indisposition, and
+that he had been doing it for the last twelve months.
+
+"You will succeed him here as rector, I presume?" said Victor.
+
+"I presume so; but I do not like to speak of that," gravely replied Mr.
+Lyle.
+
+"No, of course you do not. And I really beg your pardon. I should not
+have spoken myself, only in my girl's interests. You see, I felt a
+little curious and anxious to know where her future life would be likely
+to be passed, and I thought it would be a much happier life if passed
+here, near her dear friend Miss Cavendish, that's all," explained
+Victor.
+
+"You seem to consider that quite a settled matter," replied Mr. Lyle, a
+little incoherently, and blushing like a maiden.
+
+"Yes, of course I consider it all quite settled! You, in your
+earnestness, can not conceal your liking for my girl, and she, in her
+innocent frankness, does not even try to conceal hers from you. And I
+heartily approve the match and am ready to dower the bride," said
+Victor.
+
+"But I have not ventured to speak to her yet," stammered Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Then you may do so just as soon as you please," answered Victor.
+
+"And now about Alden," said Mr. Lyle, by way of changing the
+conversation.
+
+"Yes, now about Alden. He does not suspect that I am his banker, I
+hope?"
+
+"No, indeed! I paid him over the munificent sum you intrusted to me for
+him. He feels--well, I may say painfully grateful, and is confident that
+he must some time repay you, with interest and compound interest."
+
+"Yes, my boy will certainly repay me, but not in the way he thinks,"
+observed Victor, gravely.
+
+"After a week's visiting with his sister at Blue Cliffs, he will go up
+to Richmond and select a site for his office and purchase his law
+library, though I think he will have to go to Philadelphia to do that."
+
+"Yes, I suppose he will," admitted Hartman.
+
+"What are your own plans about yourself, Victor, if I may be allowed to
+ask?" inquired the minister.
+
+"Well, I haven't any. I came on here to see my boy and girl, and settle
+them in life as well as I can. I shall stay till I do that anyway. After
+that I don't know what I shall do. I do not care about going back to
+California. My business there is in the hands of a capable and
+trustworthy agent. And somehow I like the old mother State; and now
+that you lead me to think about it, perhaps I shall spend the rest of my
+life here; but, as I said before, I don't know."
+
+"By the way, dear Victor, you spoke to me with much simple frankness of
+my most private personal affairs. May I take the same liberty with you?"
+inquired Mr. Lyle, very seriously.
+
+"Why, of course you may, if you call it a liberty, which I don't, you
+know!" answered Victor, with a smile.
+
+"Then, my dear Hartman, how about Miss Electra? I was not so absorbed in
+my own interests as not to have an eye to yours."
+
+"Ah, Miss Electra! Well, parson, she _was_ my little old acquaintance of
+Rat Alley, when I flourished in that fragrant neighborhood as Galley
+Vick."
+
+"No!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, opening his eyes wide with astonishment.
+
+"Yes," quietly answered Victor Hartman. "And it is a wonder that you,
+who know the family so well, do not know this episode in its history."
+
+"How was I to know, my friend, when no one ever told me? I suppose that
+few or none but the family know anything about it."
+
+"I suppose you are right," said Victor. "Well, you see, she recognized
+me, as surely as I did her, at first sight. We had an explanation as we
+walked out to the University that day."
+
+"But how came the granddaughter of Dr. Beresford Jones ever to have had
+such a miserable childhood?"
+
+"Well, you see, there was a disobedient daughter, a runaway marriage, a
+profligate husband, and the consequences--poverty, destitution, early
+death, and an orphan child left among beggars and thieves! Her
+grandfather found her at last and took her under his guardianship. That
+is the whole story in brief."
+
+"Well, well, well!" mused Mr. Lyle, with his head on his breast; then,
+raising it, he went back to the previous question: "But what about Miss
+Electra?"
+
+"I have just told you about her," replied Victor.
+
+"Oh, yes, I know! You have told me something about her, but you haven't
+told me all. Take me into your confidence, Victor."
+
+"What do you mean?" inquired Hartman, in some embarrassment.
+
+"Why, that you and your little old acquaintance seem to be very fond of
+each other."
+
+Victor laughed in an embarrassed manner, and then said: "Do you know
+that when we were in Rat Alley, and she was a tiny child and I was a
+lad, there was a promise of marriage between us?"
+
+"That was funny too! Well, what about it?"
+
+"Nothing. Only, if I dared, I would, some day, remind her of it."
+
+"Do, Victor! Believe me, she will not affect to have forgotten it," said
+Mr. Lyle, earnestly.
+
+"Ah, but when I think of all I have passed through I dare not ask a
+beautiful and happy girl to unite her bright life with my blackened one!
+I dare not," said Hartman, very sadly.
+
+"Nonsense, Victor! You are morbid on that subject. Yours is a nobly
+redeemed life," said Mr. Lyle, solemnly.
+
+"But--my past!" sighed Victor.
+
+"She had a dark past too poor child! But no more of that. In both your
+cases
+
+    "'Let the dead past bury its dead!
+    Live--live in the living present,
+    Heart within and God o'erhead!'
+
+And now it is time to retire, dear Victor. We keep early hours here,"
+said Mr. Lyle, as he reached down the Bible from its shelf, preparatory
+to commencing evening service.
+
+Then they read the Word together, and offered up their prayers and
+thanksgivings together, and retired, strengthened.
+
+This week, to which Alden Lytton's holiday visit to Blue Cliffs was
+limited, was passed by the young people in a succession of innocent
+entertainments.
+
+First there was a garden-party and dance at Blue Cliff Hall, at which
+all the young friends and acquaintances of Miss Cavendish assisted,
+which the Rev. Dr. Jones and the Rev. Mr. Lyle endorsed by their
+presence, and in which even Victor Hartman forgot, for the time being,
+his own dark antecedents.
+
+Next Mr. Lyle himself opened his bachelor heart and bachelor home to the
+young folks by giving them a tea-party, which delighted the hearts of
+Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ned, who both declared that this looked something
+_like_ life.
+
+But the third and greatest event of the week took place on Friday
+evening, when Dr. Beresford Jones gave a great house-warming party, on
+the occasion of his carrying home his granddaughter and sole heiress,
+Electra Coroni.
+
+Not only all our own young friends, including the reverend clergy and
+the California miner, but all the neighborhood and all the county were
+there.
+
+And they kept up the festivities all day and well into the night.
+
+Emma Cavendish and Laura Lytton remained with Electra for a few days
+only, for Alden Lytton was to leave the neighborhood for Richmond on the
+Monday morning following the party at Beresford Manors.
+
+And during all this time no word was heard of Mary Grey.
+
+That baleful woman had heard all that had passed at Charlottesville and
+at Wendover, and her vain and jealous spirit was filled with such
+mortification and rage that she was now hiding herself and deeply
+plotting the ruin of those who had been her best friends and
+benefactors.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+MORE MANEUVERS OF MRS. GREY.
+
+    She, under fair pretense of saintly ends,
+    And well-placed words of sweetest courtesy
+    Baited with reason, not unplausible,
+    Glides into the easy hearts of men,
+    And draws them into snares.
+                              --MILTON'S _Comus_.
+
+
+When Mary Grey reached Richmond she went first to a quiet family hotel,
+where she engaged a room for a few days.
+
+Then she took a carriage and drove to the rectory of old St. John's
+Church and presented her letter to the rector.
+
+The reverend gentleman received her very kindly and cordially, and
+glanced over her letter, saying, as he returned it to her:
+
+"But this was not at all necessary, my dear madam. I remember you
+perfectly, as a regular attendant and communicant of this church, while
+you were on a visit to the family of the late lamented Governor of this
+State."
+
+"Yes, sir; but then I was only a visitor at the church, just as I was a
+guest at the Government House. Now I wish to be a member of the church,
+as I intend to become a permanent resident of the city," Mary Grey
+explained, with her charming smile.
+
+The pastor expressed himself highly gratified, and added:
+
+"Your large circle of friends, that you won during your long visit here
+two or three years ago, will be delighted to hear of this."
+
+Mary Grey bowed gracefully and said:
+
+"The pleasure, she believed, would, like the advantage, be mostly on her
+own side."
+
+Then she inquired of the rector--with an apology for troubling him with
+her own humble affairs--whether he could recommend her to any private
+boarding-house among the members of his own church, where the family
+were really earnest Christians.
+
+The rector could not think of any suitable place just then, but he
+begged to have the pleasure of introducing Mrs. Grey to his wife, who,
+he said, would most likely be able to advise her.
+
+And he rang the bell and sent a message to Mrs. ----, who presently
+entered the study.
+
+The introduction took place, and the rector's wife received the visitor
+as cordially as the rector had.
+
+She knew of no boarding-house of the description required by Mrs. Grey,
+but she promised to inquire among her friends and let that lady know the
+result.
+
+Soon after this Mrs. Grey took leave.
+
+Many of her former friends were, at this season of the year, out of
+town, as she felt sure; but some among them would probably be at home.
+
+So, before she returned to her hotel, she made a round of calls, and
+left her cards at about a dozen different houses.
+
+She then went back to her room at the hotel and spent the remainder of
+the day in unpacking and reviewing her elegant wardrobe.
+
+There was no sort of necessity for doing this, especially as she
+intended to remain but a few days at the house; and the operation would
+only give her the trouble of repacking again to move.
+
+But Mary Grey never read or wrote or sewed or embroidered if she could
+avoid it, and had nothing on earth else to occupy or amuse her; so her
+passion for dress had to be gratified with the sight of jewels, shawls
+and mantles, laces, silks and satins, even though she durst not wear
+them.
+
+Next day the rector's wife called on her and recommended a very superior
+boarding-house to her consideration.
+
+It was a private boarding-house, in a fashionable part of the town, kept
+by two maiden ladies of the most aristocratic family connections and of
+the highest church principles.
+
+This was exactly the home for Mrs. Grey.
+
+And the rector's wife kindly offered to take her, then and there, in the
+rectory carriage, to visit "the Misses Crane," the maiden ladies in
+question.
+
+"The Misses Crane," as they were called, dwelt in a
+handsomely-furnished, old-fashioned double house, standing in its own
+grounds, not very far from the Government House.
+
+The Misses Crane were two very tall, very thin and very fair ladies,
+with pale blue eyes and long, yellow, corkscrew curls each side of their
+wasted cheeks.
+
+They were dressed very finely in light checked summer silks, and flowing
+sleeves and surplice waists, with chemisettes and undersleeves of linen
+cambric and thread lace.
+
+They were very poor for ladies of their birth. They had nothing in the
+world but their handsome house, furniture and wardrobe.
+
+They depended entirely upon their boarders for their bread; yet their
+manners were a mixture of loftiness and condescension that had the
+effect of making their guests believe that they--the guests--were highly
+honored in being permitted to board at the Misses Cranes'.
+
+But if not highly honored they were certainly much favored, for the
+Misses Crane kept neat and even elegant rooms, dainty beds and an
+excellent table.
+
+Presented by the rector's lady, Mrs. Grey was received by the Misses
+Crane with a lofty politeness which overawed even her false pretensions.
+
+Presently the rector's lady, leaving Mrs. Grey to be entertained by Miss
+Romania Crane, took the elder Miss Crane aside and explained to her the
+nature of their business call.
+
+"I think she is just the kind of boarder that will suit you, as your
+house is just the kind of home needed by her," added the lady.
+
+Miss Crane bowed stiffly and in silence.
+
+"She is, like yourself, of an old aristocratic family, and of very
+high-church principles; and she has, besides, an ample income, much of
+which she spends for benevolent purposes," continued Mrs. ----.
+
+Miss Crane bowed and smiled a ghastly smile, revealing her full set of
+false teeth.
+
+"She is, I should tell you, also entitled to all our sympathy. She has
+suffered a great disappointment in her affections. She was engaged to be
+married to the late lamented Governor of the State, when, as you know,
+he was suddenly struck down with apoplexy, and died a few days before
+the day appointed for the wedding."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" breathed Miss Crane, in a low, eager voice, losing all her
+stiffness and turning to glance at the interesting widowed bride elect.
+
+"Yes. And you will find her a most interesting young person--devoted to
+good works, one of the excellent of the earth. When she was here, two or
+three years ago--in the same season that she was engaged to our honored
+and lamented Governor--she was quite famous for her charities."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" again aspirated Miss Crane, glancing at Mrs. Grey.
+
+"I am sure that you will be mutually pleased with each other, and, as
+she has declared her intention to make Richmond her permanent residence,
+I should not wonder if she also should make your pleasant house her
+permanent home," added the lady.
+
+"Much honored, I'm sure," said Miss Crane, with a mixture of hauteur and
+complacency that was as perplexing as it was amusing.
+
+"And now, if you please, we will rejoin your sister and Mrs. Grey," said
+the rector's lady, rising and leading the way to the front windows, near
+which the other two ladies were sitting.
+
+The end of all this was that the Misses Crane engaged to take Mrs. Grey
+as a permanent boarder, only asking a few days to prepare the first
+floor front for her occupation.
+
+No arrangement could have pleased Mary Grey better than this, for she
+wished to remain at the hotel a few days longer to receive the calls of
+her old friends, who would naturally expect to find her there, as she
+had given that address on the cards that she had left for them.
+
+So it was finally arranged that Mrs. Grey should remove from the hotel
+to the Misses Cranes' on the Monday of the next week.
+
+Then the two took leave, and the rector's lady drove the widow back to
+her hotel and left her there.
+
+The next day Mrs. Grey had the gratification of hearing from the cards
+she had left at the different houses of her old acquaintances. Several
+ladies called on her and welcomed her to the city with much warmth.
+
+And on the Saturday of that week she had a surprise.
+
+The Rector of St. John's paid her a morning visit, bringing a letter
+with the Charlottesville postmark.
+
+"It came this morning, my dear madam. It was inclosed in a letter to me
+from Mrs. Wheatfield, the esteemed widow of my late lamented friend,
+Bishop Wheatfield," said the rector, as he placed the letter in her
+hand.
+
+She thanked the reverend gentleman, and held the letter unopened,
+wondering how Mrs. Wheatfield could have found out that she was in
+Richmond.
+
+When the rector had taken his leave, she opened her letter and read:
+
+
+                                "CHARLOTTESVILLE, July 15, 18--.
+
+   "MY DEAREST MARY:--We have not heard a word from you since you
+   left us.
+
+   "All your friends here suffer the deepest anxiety on your
+   account, fearing that you may be ill among strangers.
+
+   "Only on Sunday last, when I happened to speak to our minister,
+   after the morning service, I got a slight clew to you; for he
+   told me that you had asked him for a church letter to the Rector
+   of St. John's Parish in Richmond.
+
+   "That information gives me the opportunity of writing to you,
+   with some prospect of having my letter reach you, for I can
+   inclose it to the Rector of St. John's, who will probably by this
+   time know your address.
+
+   "And now, having explained how it is that I am enabled to write
+   to you, I must tell you the news.
+
+   "The great nuisance of the Commencement is abated. It is all
+   over; the students, the visitors and the vagrants have nearly all
+   gone, and the town is empty and--peaceful.
+
+   "One set of visitors I lamented to lose. They went on Saturday.
+
+   "I mean, of course, your friends from Blue Cliffs. They were all
+   charming.
+
+   "I was very much interested in Miss Cavendish.
+
+   "And now, my dear child, although I am no gossip and no meddler,
+   as you are well aware, I really must tell you what I would not
+   tell to any other living being, and which I tell you only because
+   I know you to be perfectly discreet, and also deeply interested
+   in the parties of whom I shall take the liberty of writing.
+
+   "There are three marriages in prospect, my dear. I see it quite
+   plainly. Our young people are the frankest and most innocent of
+   human beings. They have no disguises.
+
+   "Who are to be married? you ask me.
+
+   "I will tell you who, I _think_, will be married.
+
+   "First, Mr. Alden Lytton and Miss Emma Cavendish.
+
+   "Not a prudent marriage for her, because she is a minor, with an
+   immense fortune. And he is a young lawyer, with not a dollar of
+   his own and his way yet to make in the world.
+
+   "But what can we do about it?
+
+   "With one guardian in her dotage and the other at the antipodes
+   Miss Cavendish is practically, if not legally, her own mistress.
+
+   "The only comfort is that the young man in question is rich in
+   _everything else_, if not in money.
+
+   "Well, the second prospective marriage pleases me better. The
+   Rev. Mr. Lyle, a worthy young clergyman, is devoted to Miss Laura
+   Lytton.
+
+   "The third approaching nuptials interest me least of all, in any
+   manner. A dark, brigandish-looking Californian, of almost
+   fabulous wealth, who is the friend and guest of Mr. Lyle, has
+   evidently fallen in love at first sight with pretty little
+   sparkling Electra Coroni.
+
+   "They have all gone down to Wendover together, and the Lyttons
+   are to make a long visit at Blue Cliffs.
+
+   "I must not forget to tell you that worthy young man, Mr. Kyte,
+   has been here inquiring after you with much anxiety. He went back
+   to Wendover a day or two before our young people left.
+
+   "Now, my dearest Mary, let me hear that you are well, and believe
+   me ever your devoted friend,
+
+        "MARIA WHEATFIELD."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+A DIABOLICAL PLOT.
+
+    Between the acting of a dreadful thing
+    And the first motion, all the interim is
+    Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream;
+    The genius and the mortal instruments
+    Are then in council; and the state of man,
+    Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
+    The nature of an insurrection.
+                  --SHAKESPEARE'S _Julius Cæsar_.
+
+
+No language can adequately describe the mortification and rage that
+filled the bosom of Mary Grey as she read the foregoing letter.
+
+Two of her once ardent worshipers--handsome Alden Lytton and eloquent
+Stephen Lyle--had forsaken her shrine and were offering up their
+devotion to other divinities.
+
+They had wounded her vanity to the very quick.
+
+And to wound Mary Grey's vanity was to incur Mary Grey's deadly hatred.
+
+She was always a very dangerous woman, and under such an exasperation
+she could become a very desperate enemy.
+
+She had felt so sure that no woman, however young and lovely, could ever
+become her rival, or even her successor, in any man's affections. So
+sure, also, that no man, however wise and strong, could ever resist her
+fascinations or escape from her thraldom.
+
+And now that charming illusion was rudely dispelled! She saw herself
+even contemptuously abandoned by her subjects, who transferred their
+allegiance to a couple of "bread-and-butter school-girls," as she
+sneeringly designated Emma Cavendish and Laura Lytton.
+
+She was consumed with jealousy--not the jealousy born of love, which is
+like the thorn of the rose, a defence of the rose--but the jealousy born
+of self-love, which is like the thorn of the thorn-apple, a deadly
+poison.
+
+She sat on one of her trunks, with her elbows on her knees and her
+clutched fists supporting her chin. Her lips were drawn back from her
+clinched teeth and her black eyes gleamed like fire from the deathly
+whiteness of her face.
+
+And so she sat and brooded and brooded over her mortification, and
+studied and studied how she might pull down ruin upon the heads of those
+hated young people who were loving each other and enjoying life at the
+cost of her humiliation.
+
+And of course the foul fiend very soon entered into her counsels and
+assisted her.
+
+"I have one devoted slave--one willing instrument left yet," she
+muttered to herself: "he would pay any price--yes, the price of his
+soul--for my love! He shall pay _my_ price down! He shall be the means
+of drawing destruction upon all their heads! Yes, Miss Cavendish, marry
+Alden Lytton, if you _will_, and afterward look honest men and women in
+the face if you _can_! Yes, Stephen Lyle, become the husband of Laura
+Lytton, and then hold up your head in the pulpit--if you dare! Ah, if my
+plot succeed! Ah, if my plot succeed, how terribly will I be avenged!
+And it _shall_ succeed!" she hissed through her grinding teeth, with a
+grim hatred distorting her white features and transforming her beautiful
+face for an instant into demoniac hideousness.
+
+She started up and commenced traversing the floor, as a furious tigress
+her den.
+
+When she had raged herself into something like composure she opened her
+writing-case and wrote the following letter:
+
+
+                                    "RICHMOND, VA., Aug. --, 18--.
+
+  "TO CRAVEN KYTE, ESQ.
+
+   "_Dear Friend_:--My wanderings have come to a temporary end here
+   in this city, where I expect to remain for some weeks, even if I
+   do not conclude to make it my permanent residence.
+
+   "Shall I trouble you to do me a favor? Some time ago I left in
+   the hands of the jeweler at Wendover a little pearl brooch, which
+   I forgot to call for when I left, and have neglected to send for
+   ever since.
+
+   "The brooch in itself is of small intrinsic value; but as it is
+   an old family relic I should like to recover it. Will you,
+   therefore, please go to the jeweler's and get it and send it to
+   me in a registered letter by mail? and I shall be very much
+   indebted to you. And if you should happen to come to this city
+   during my stay here I hope you will call to see me; for I should
+   be very glad to see any old friend from Wendover.
+
+      "Yours truly,
+        M. GREY."
+
+
+She immediately sealed this letter, rang for a waiter, and dispatched it
+to the post-office.
+
+This letter had been written for but one purpose--to bring Craven Kyte
+immediately to Richmond, without seeming especially to invite him to
+come.
+
+She always wrote her letters with an eye to the remote contingency of
+their being produced in court or read in public.
+
+This letter to Craven Kyte was a sample of her non-committal style--it
+compromised no one.
+
+When she had sent it off she began to pack up her effects, in
+preparation for their removal, on Monday morning, to the Misses Cranes'.
+
+Even after that work was done she could not be still. Like an uneasy
+beast of prey, she must needs move to and fro.
+
+So she put on her bonnet, called a carriage and drove out to the rectory
+to spend the evening.
+
+But though she was received in the most friendly manner she could not
+enjoy the visit. She was absent and distracted during the whole evening.
+
+She returned late to a restless bed. And then she got up and took
+laudanum to put her to sleep. And this was not the first time she had
+had to resort to the same dangerous narcotic.
+
+No more rest for Mary Grey!
+
+Remorse sometimes begins _before_ the commission of a contemplated and
+determined crime; repentance never. That is one difference between the
+two.
+
+On Sunday morning, to keep herself actively employed, as well as to win
+"golden opinions," Mrs. Grey dressed herself plainly, but very
+becomingly, and went early to the Sunday-school at old St. John's, to
+offer herself as a teacher.
+
+She was soon appointed to the temporary charge of a class of little
+girls, whose regular teacher was then absent on a summer tour of the
+watering places.
+
+Afterward she attended both morning and afternoon services, and went to
+a missionary meeting in the evening.
+
+Still, after all the fatigues of the day, she was unable to sleep at
+night, and again she had recourse to the deadly drug.
+
+On Monday morning she paid her week's bill at the hotel and removed to
+the Misses Cranes'.
+
+She was received with lofty politeness by the two maiden ladies; and she
+was put in immediate possession of her apartment--a spacious chamber,
+with a balcony overhanging the front flower-garden.
+
+She had scarcely finished unpacking her effects and transferring them
+from her trunks to the bureaus and wardrobes of the chamber, before a
+card was brought to her by the neat parlor-maid of the establishment.
+
+The card bore the name of Mr. Craven Kyte.
+
+"Where is the gentleman?" inquired Mrs. Grey.
+
+"In the drawing-room, madam," answered the maid.
+
+"Ask him to be so kind as to wait. I will be down directly," said Mrs.
+Grey.
+
+The girl left the room to take her message, and Mrs. Grey began to
+change her dress, smiling strangely to herself as she did so.
+
+She gave a last finishing touch to the curls of her glossy black hair,
+and a last lingering look at the mirror, and then she went down-stairs.
+
+There, alone in the drawing-room, stood the one devoted lover and slave
+that she had left in the whole world.
+
+He came down the room to meet her.
+
+"You here! Oh, I'm so delighted to see you!" she said, in a low tone,
+full of feeling, as she went toward him, holding out both her hands.
+
+He trembled from head to foot and turned pale and red by turns as he
+took them.
+
+"I am so happy--You are so good to say so! I was almost afraid--I
+thought you might consider it a liberty--my coming," faltered the poor
+fellow, in sore confusion.
+
+"A liberty? How could you possibly imagine I would consider your coming
+here a liberty on your part? Why, dearest friend, I consider it a favor
+from you, a pleasure for me! Why should you think otherwise?" inquired
+Mary Grey, with her most alluring smile.
+
+"Oh, thanks--thanks! But it was your letter!"
+
+"My letter? Sit down, Craven, dear, and compose yourself. Here, sit
+here," she said, seating herself on the sofa and signing for him to take
+the place by her side.
+
+He dropped, trembling, flushing and paling, into the indicated seat.
+
+"Now tell me what there was in my harmless letter to disturb you," she
+murmured, passing her soft fingers over his forehead and running them
+through the dark curls of his hair.
+
+"Nothing that was _meant_ to disturb me, I know. It was all kindness.
+You could not write to me, or to any one, otherwise than kindly,"
+faltered the lover.
+
+"Well, then?" inquired Mary Grey, in a pretty, reproachful tone.
+
+"But I felt it was cold--cold!" sighed the young man.
+
+"Why, you dearest of dears, one must be discreet in writing letters!
+Suppose my letter had expressed all my feelings toward you, and then had
+fallen into the hands of any one else? Such mistakes are made in the
+mails sometimes. How would you have liked it?" she inquired, patting his
+cheeks.
+
+"I should have been wild. But it would only have been at the loss of
+your letter. As for me, Heaven knows, I should not mind if all the world
+knew how much I adore you. On the contrary, I should glory in it," added
+the lover.
+
+"But a lady feels differently. She only lets her _lover_ know how well
+she loves him; and not always does she even let him know," softly
+murmured the beautiful temptress, as she lightly caressed his raven
+curls. "And now tell me the news, dear Craven. How are all our friends
+at Blue Cliffs?" she archly inquired.
+
+"I only want to tell you how much I adore you," whispered the lover, who
+was beginning to recover his composure.
+
+"That would be a vain repetition, darling, especially as I know it all
+quite well," murmured Mary Grey, with a smile, and still passing her
+hand with mesmeric gentleness over his hair.
+
+"Aye; but when will you make me completely happy?" sighed the poor
+fellow.
+
+"Whew!" smiled Mary Grey, with a little bird-like whistle. "How fast we
+are getting on, to be sure! Why, a few minutes ago we were afraid that
+we were taking a liberty in coming here to call on our lady-love at all!
+And now we are pressing her to name the day! See here, you impatient
+boy, answer me this: When did I ever promise to 'make you happy' _at
+all_?" she inquired, in a bantering tone.
+
+"But you gave me hopes--oh, do not say that you never gave me hopes!" he
+pleaded, turning red and pale and trembling from head to foot as before.
+
+"Well, I don't say it; for I know I promised if ever I should marry
+living man I should marry you. I repeat that promise now, dear Craven,"
+she added, gravely and tenderly.
+
+"Ah, Heaven bless you for those blessed words! But when--_when_ will you
+make me happy? Oh, if I possess your love, when--_when_ shall I possess
+your hand?" he pleaded.
+
+And then, as if suddenly ashamed of his own vehemence, he stopped in
+confusion.
+
+"You have won my love, you petulant boy!" she answered, archly. Then,
+dropping her voice to its tenderest music, she murmured: "What would you
+do to win my hand?"
+
+"Anything--anything under the sun!" he answered, wildly, and forgetting
+all his embarrassment. "Whatever man has done to win woman would I do to
+win you--more than ever man did to win woman would I do to win you! I
+would renounce my friends, betray my country, abjure my faith, _lose my
+soul_ for you!"
+
+"Words, words, words! You talk recklessly! You know you would not do the
+least one of these dreadful deeds for me," answered Mary Grey, laying
+her hand on his lips.
+
+"Try me!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE PRICE OF A SOUL.
+
+    I love you, love you; for your love would lose
+    State, station, heaven, mankind's, my own esteem.
+                                               --BYRON.
+
+
+He spoke these two words with such a desperate look, in such a desperate
+tone, that Mary Grey was half frightened; for she saw that he was in
+that fatal mood in which men have been driven to crime or death for the
+love of woman.
+
+This was the mood to which she wished to bring him, and in which she
+wished to keep him until he should have done his work; and yet it half
+frightened her now.
+
+"Hush--hush!" she murmured. "Be quiet! There are people in the next
+room. They may hear you. And I am sure they should do so they would take
+you for a lunatic."
+
+"But--do you believe me? Do you believe that I would defy the universe
+in your service? Do you believe me? If not, try me!" he aspirated,
+vehemently.
+
+"I _do_ believe you. And some day I _will_ try you. You have won my
+love; but he who wins my hand must first prove his love for me in a way
+that will leave no doubt upon the fact."
+
+"Then I am safe, for I am sure to prove it," he said, with a sigh of
+intense relief.
+
+She looked at him again, and knew that he spoke as he felt. Yes, for her
+sake he would "march to death as to a festival."
+
+"Now, then, will you be good and quiet and tell me news of my old
+neighbors at Wendover and Blue Cliffs?" she archly inquired.
+
+"I do not think I can. I wish to sit here and look at you and think only
+of you. It would be a painful wrench to tear away my thoughts from you
+and employ them upon anything else. Let me sit here in my heaven!" he
+pleaded.
+
+"Yes, love; but remember I am very anxious to know something about my
+dear friends, whom I have not heard from for a month. Can not you
+gratify me?" coaxed Mary Grey.
+
+"I can not fix my mind upon them long enough to remember anything. You
+absorb it all," he answered, dreamily gazing upon her.
+
+"But if I ask you questions surely you can answer them," said Mary Grey,
+who, though very anxious for information later than that afforded by
+Mrs. Wheatfield's letter, was not ill-pleased at the devotion which
+baffled her curiosity.
+
+"Yes, I will answer any question you ask. That will not be so much of a
+wrench," he said.
+
+"Then how is my dear friend, Emma Cavendish?" inquired the traitress.
+
+"Well and happy, at Blue Cliffs," answered the lover.
+
+"Is it true, as I hear, that she is to marry--" Mary Grey hesitated for
+a moment before her choking voice could pronounce his name--"Mr. Alden
+Lytton?"
+
+"Yes, I believe so. Everybody says so."
+
+"When?"
+
+"As soon as he gets established in his profession, I suppose."
+
+"Tell me about him."
+
+"Well, he is coming here on the first of the month to find an office and
+fit it up. And then he is going on to Philadelphia to select books for a
+law library."
+
+"Ah, he is coming here and he is going on to Philadelphia. Yes, yes,
+yes, yes! That will do," murmured Mary Grey, to herself.
+
+"What did you say?" inquired Craven Kyte.
+
+"I said that it was a good plan; but it will take money," answered Mrs.
+Grey.
+
+"Yes, that it will. And he has got it. That mysterious guardian of his
+has sent him ten thousand dollars to begin with."
+
+"A round sum! When did you say he was coming here?"
+
+"On the first of next month; or, perhaps, before the end of this month."
+
+"Good! Very good!"
+
+"Good for what?" innocently inquired Craven Kyte.
+
+"Good for his professional prospects, of course! The sooner he begins
+the better, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh, yes; certainly!"
+
+"And when does he go to Philadelphia?"
+
+"Just as soon as he has selected his law office and set painters and
+glaziers and paper-hangers and upholsterers and such to fit it up. For
+no expense is to be spared, and the young lawyer is to set up in style.
+For such is the wish of his guardian."
+
+"You know this?"
+
+"Yes, I know it. One knows everything that anybody else knows in a small
+village like Wendover."
+
+"You do not know when Mr. Lytton and Miss Cavendish are to be married?"
+
+"No, because I do not think they know themselves. But the people say it
+will be as soon as the young gentleman gets settled in his practice."
+
+"Good again! The delay is favorable," muttered Mary Grey to herself.
+
+"What did you say?" again inquired the ingenuous young man.
+
+"I say the delay is wise, of course."
+
+"Oh, yes; certainly!" assented Mr. Kyte.
+
+"And now tell me about the others," said Mrs. Grey.
+
+But her lover took her hand and gazed into her face, murmuring:
+
+"Oh, my love, my life, let me sit here and hold your thrilling little
+hand and gaze into your beautiful eyes, and think only of you for a
+moment!"
+
+She put her hand around his head and drew it toward her and pressed a
+kiss upon his forehead, and then said:
+
+"There! Now you will go on for me, will you not?"
+
+"I would die for you!" he earnestly exclaimed.
+
+"I would rather you would live for me, you mad boy!" she answered,
+smiling archly.
+
+"I will do anything for you."
+
+"Then answer my questions. Is it also true that Mr. Lyle and Miss Lytton
+are to be married?"
+
+"Oh, yes! That is certain. Their engagement is announced. There is no
+secret about that."
+
+"When are they to be married?"
+
+"Well, there is a slight obstacle to their immediate union."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"An old school-girl compact between Miss Cavendish and Miss Lytton, in
+which they promised each other that they would both be married on the
+same day or never at all."
+
+"A very silly, girlish compact."
+
+"Very."
+
+"Why do they not break it by mutual consent?"
+
+"Because mutual consent can not be had. Miss Cavendish indeed offers to
+release Miss Lytton from her promise; but Miss Lytton refuses to be
+released. And although her clerical lover presses her to name an earlier
+day, she will name no other than the day upon which Miss Cavendish also
+weds, be that day sooner or later."
+
+"So it is settled that they will be married upon the same day?"
+
+"Quite settled."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Everything is known in a little country town like Wendover, as I said
+before."
+
+"They will be married the same day. Better and better. If I had arranged
+it all myself it could not be better for my plans," muttered Mary Grey
+to herself.
+
+"What did you say?" inquired Craven Kyte.
+
+"I say I think, upon the whole, the arrangement is a good one."
+
+"Oh, yes; certainly!" admitted the young man.
+
+"Where are you stopping, Craven?" softly inquired Mrs. Grey.
+
+"Oh, at the same hotel from which you dated your letter! I thought you
+were there, and so I went directly there from the cars. When I inquired
+for you--I hope you will pardon my indiscretion in inquiring for you,"
+he said, breaking off from his discourse.
+
+"Oh, yes, I will pardon it! But it was a very great indiscretion, you
+thoughtless boy, for a handsome youth like you to be inquiring for a
+young widow like me at a public hotel. Now go on with what you were
+talking about."
+
+"Well, when I inquired for you they told me you had left this very
+morning, and they gave me your present address."
+
+"That was the way in which you found me?"
+
+"That was the way I found you. But, before starting to come here, I
+engaged my room at that hotel; for, after it had been blessed by your
+dear presence, it had quite a home-like feeling to me," said the lover,
+fervently.
+
+"How long do you stay in the city, Craven, dear?" sweetly inquired the
+siren.
+
+His face clouded over.
+
+"I must return to-morrow," he said. "It was the only condition upon
+which our principal would consent to my leaving yesterday. He is going
+North to purchase his fall and winter goods, you see, and wants me to be
+there."
+
+"How long will he be absent?"
+
+"He says only four days, at the longest."
+
+"And when does he go?"
+
+"By the next train following my return."
+
+"Then he will be back again at his post by Saturday evening?"
+
+"Yes; in fact, he intends to be back by the end of the week, and that is
+the very reason why he is so anxious to get away to-morrow night."
+
+"Craven, dear, when your senior partner gets back do you think you will
+be able to return here for a few days?"
+
+"Do you really wish me to come back so soon?" exclaimed the lover, his
+face flushing all over with pleasure.
+
+"Yes; but don't cry out so loud--that's a dear! I repeat, there are
+people in the next room. But you have not yet answered my question."
+
+"Oh, yes, I can return here as soon as my partner gets back! He promised
+that I should take a week's holiday then. So, if he gets back on
+Saturday evening, expect to see me here on Sunday morning, in time to
+wait on you to church."
+
+"Stop; not so fast, my dear! You can take your week's holiday at any
+time, I suppose?"
+
+"At any time this month or next."
+
+"Very well. Now, dear boy, I want you to promise me two or three
+things."
+
+"I will promise you anything in the world you wish."
+
+"Then listen. Every time I write to you I will inclose within my letter
+another letter, sealed and directed to me, which you must stamp and post
+at the Wendover post-office. Will you do that for me?"
+
+While she spoke the young man gazed at her in unqualified amazement.
+
+"Will you do that for me?" she repeated.
+
+"I solemnly promise to do that for you, although I am all in the dark as
+to what you would be at," earnestly answered Craven Kyte.
+
+"I thank you, dearest dear," cooed the siren, caressing him tenderly.
+
+"I would do anything in the world for you," he answered fervently. "I
+would die for you or live for you!"
+
+"Well, secondly, I want you, when you go back, to keep an eye on Mr.
+Alden Lytton. Find out, if possible, the day that he comes to this city.
+And precede him here yourself by one train. Or, if that is not possible,
+if you can not find out beforehand the day that he is to come, at least
+you can certainly know when he actually does start, for every passenger
+from Wendover is noticed. And then follow him by the next train, and
+come directly from the depot to me, before going to a hotel or showing
+yourself at any other place. Will you do that for me?"
+
+"I promise, on my sacred word and honor, that I will, although I have
+not the slightest idea why you wish me to do this," said Craven.
+
+"You are a true knight, worthy of any lady's love! Well, thirdly, and
+lastly, as the preachers say, I wish you to promise me never to divulge
+to a human being anything that has been said between us during this
+interview."
+
+"I not only promise, but I solemnly vow, in the sight of Heaven and all
+the holy angels, sacredly to observe the silence you require of me,
+although I feel more and more deeply mystified by all this."
+
+"You must trust in me, my dear, blindly trust in me for the present, and
+in time you shall know why I require these things of you," she said,
+very sweetly.
+
+"I trust in you blindly, utterly, eternally!" answered the lover.
+
+"And now, do you know what your reward shall be?"
+
+"Your smile of approval will be my all-sufficient reward!" exclaimed the
+young man, earnestly.
+
+"Ah, but you shall hear! When you have done these little favors for me,
+and _one more_, which I will tell you about when you come back from
+Wendover, then--" she said, pausing and looking at him with a
+bewildering smile.
+
+"Then? Yes! Then?" eagerly aspirated the young man, gazing at her in
+rapt admiration and expectancy.
+
+"Then I will give you my hand in marriage. I solemnly promise it."
+
+"Oh, you angel--you angel! You have made me so happy!" fervently
+breathed the infatuated lover, as he drew her, unresisting, and pressed
+her to his heart.
+
+At this point there was heard the sound of light footsteps approaching.
+
+And the moment after, several of the lady boarders opened the door and
+entered the room.
+
+Craven Kyte, always shy of strangers, arose to take leave.
+
+As he did so, he seemed suddenly to recollect something.
+
+He put his hand in his breast-pocket and drew forth a little box, which
+he handed to Mrs. Grey, saying:
+
+"It is your brooch that you requested me to get from the jeweler."
+
+And then, with a bow, he left her.
+
+Mary Grey went back to her room.
+
+"I shall succeed in ruining them all now!" she said, her dark eyes on
+fire with anticipated triumph.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+A VERY DESPERATE GAME.
+
+    I have set my life upon a cast,
+    And I will stand the hazard of the die.
+                               --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+Craven Kyte, the infatuated and doomed instrument and victim of a cruel
+and remorseless woman, returned to Wendover and resumed his place in
+Bastiennello's establishment, where he culpably neglected his business,
+and lived only on the thought of receiving her daily letters and of soon
+returning to Richmond to be blessed by her promised hand in marriage.
+
+Every morning he was the first man at the post-office, waiting eagerly,
+impatiently, for the arrival and opening of the mail.
+
+And he was never disappointed of receiving her letter, and--never
+satisfied with its contents.
+
+Every letter was in itself something of a mortification to him,
+containing no expression of confidence or affection, no word by which
+any one might suspect that the correspondent was writing to one she
+loved and trusted, much less to her betrothed husband.
+
+Every letter began and ended in the most polite and formal manner; never
+alluded to the matrimonial intentions between the correspondents, but
+treated only of church services, Sunday-schools, sewing circles and
+missionary matters, until the young man, famishing for a word of
+affection, with pardonable selfishness, sighed forth:
+
+"She is a saint; but oh, I wish she was a little less devoted to the
+heathen, and all that, and a little more affectionate to me!"
+
+But the instant afterward he blamed himself for egotism, and consoled
+himself by saying:
+
+"She always told me that, however much she loved, she would never write
+love-letters, as they might possibly fall into the hands of irreverent
+and scoffing people who would make a mockery of the writer. It is a
+far-fetched idea; but still it is _her_ idea and I must submit. It will
+be all right when I go to Richmond and claim her darling hand."
+
+And the thought of this would fill him with such ecstasy that he would
+long to tell some one, his partner especially, that he was the happiest
+man on earth, for he was to be married in a week to the loveliest woman
+in the world. But he was bound by his promise to keep his engagement, as
+well as all other of his relations with the beautiful widow, a profound
+secret. And though the poor fellow _was_ a fool, he was an _honorable_
+fool, and held his pledged word sacred.
+
+Every letter that came to him also contained another letter, to which it
+never referred by written word. This inclosed letter was sealed in an
+envelope bearing the initial "L" embossed upon its flap. And it was
+directed to "Mrs. Mary Grey, Old Crane Manor House, Richmond."
+
+Craven Kyte would gaze at this mysterious letter in the utmost confusion
+and obscurity of mind.
+
+"Now, why in the world does she write a letter and direct it to
+_herself_ and send it to me to post privately, by night, at the Wendover
+post-office? And why did she give me only verbal instructions about it?
+And why does she avoid even alluding to it in her letter to me? Why is
+the envelope stamped with the letter L? And why, oh, why does the
+handwriting so closely resemble that of Mr. Lytton?" he inquired of
+himself, as his eyes devoured the superscription of the letter. "I can
+not tell," he sighed. "It is too deep for my fathoming. I give it up. I
+must blindly do her bidding, trusting to her implicitly, as I do, and as
+I will."
+
+Then, following her verbal instructions, given him in Richmond, in
+regard to these mysterious letters, he put it away until dark, and then
+stole out and dropped it secretly into the night-box at the post-office.
+
+Five days passed, in which he received and re-mailed three of these
+inexplicable documents.
+
+Then, on Saturday morning, Bastiennello, the head of his firm, returned
+to Wendover and resumed the control of his business.
+
+On the evening of the same day a van arrived from Blue Cliff Hall,
+bringing the heavy baggage of Mr. Alden Lytton, to be deposited at the
+railway station and left until Monday morning, when the owner intended
+to start for Richmond by the earliest train.
+
+When Craven Kyte heard this he went straight to his principal and
+claimed his promised leave of absence.
+
+"Why, Kyte, you are in a tremendous hurry! Here I have not been back
+twelve hours and you want to be off," said Bastiennello, with a shrug of
+his shoulders.
+
+"It is a case of necessity, sir, believe me," pleaded Craven Kyte.
+
+"And this is Saturday night, the busiest time in the whole week,"
+complained Bastiennello.
+
+"Well, sir, you will not keep open after twelve, will you?"
+
+"Certainly not after eleven."
+
+"Nor will you need my services after that hour?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"Then that will enable me to serve here as usual until the hour of
+closing, and then give me time to catch the midnight train to Richmond."
+
+"Oh, well, if you can do that it will be all right, and I can have no
+objection to your going to-night," said Bastiennello.
+
+And so the affair was concluded.
+
+The great village bazaar closed at eleven that night.
+
+As soon as he had put up the last shutter, Craven Kyte rushed off to his
+humble lodgings, stuffed a carpet-bag full of needed clothing and
+hurried to the railway station to catch the train.
+
+It came thundering along in due time, and caught up the waiting victim
+and whirled him along on his road to ruin, as far as Richmond, where it
+dropped him.
+
+It was nearly eleven o'clock in the morning, and all the church bells
+were ringing, when the train ran in to the station.
+
+Craven Kyte, carpet-bag in hand, rushed for the gentlemen's
+dressing-room nearest the station, hastily washed his face, combed his
+hair, brushed his clothes, put on a clean collar and bosom-piece, and
+fresh gloves, and hurried off to old St. John's Church, which he thought
+the most likely place on that Sunday forenoon to meet Mary Grey.
+
+The service was more than half over when he reached the church, but he
+slipped in and seated himself quietly on one of the back seats near the
+door and looked all over the heads of the seated congregation to see if
+he could discover his beloved in the crowd.
+
+Yes, there she was, in a front pew of the middle aisle, immediately
+under the pulpit.
+
+To be sure he could only see the back of her head and shoulders, but he
+felt that he could not be mistaken.
+
+And from that moment he paid but little attention to the service.
+
+Do not mistake the poor soul. He was not impious. He had been
+religiously brought up in the family of the late Governor Cavendish. He
+was accustomed to be devout during divine worship. And on this occasion
+he wrestled with Satan--that is, with himself--and tried to fix his mind
+in succession on anthems, psalms, collects and sermon. All to little
+purpose. His mind went with his eyes toward Mary Grey.
+
+And even when he closed those offending orbs he still found her image in
+his mind.
+
+At length the sermon was finished and the benediction pronounced.
+
+The congregation began to move out.
+
+Craven Kyte went out among the first, and placed himself just outside
+the gate to wait until his adored should pass by.
+
+In a continued stream the congregation poured forth out of the church
+until nearly all had passed out, but still he did not see Mary Grey.
+
+In truth, that popularity-seeking beauty was lingering to bestow her
+sweet smile and honeyed words upon "all and sundry" who would give her
+the opportunity.
+
+At length, among the very last to issue from the church, was Mrs. Grey.
+
+She came out chatting demurely with a group of her friends.
+
+Craven Kyte made a single step toward her, with the intention of
+speaking; but seeing that she did not notice him, and feeling abashed by
+the presence of strangers about her, he withdrew again and contented
+himself with following at a short distance until he saw her separate
+herself from the group and turn down a by-street.
+
+Then he quickened his footsteps, turned down the same street and joined
+her.
+
+At the same instant she looked back upon him with a smile, saying:
+
+"You clever boy, how good and wise of you to refrain from speaking to me
+before so many strangers! Now what is the news?"
+
+"The news is--Oh, my dear, dearest, dearest Mary! I am so delighted to
+meet you!" he exclaimed, breaking suddenly off from his intended
+communications.
+
+"So am I to see you, darling. But that is no news. Come, this is a quiet
+street, and leads out of the city. Let us walk on, and as we walk you
+can tell me all the news," she said, smilingly, resting her delicate
+hand on his arm.
+
+"I can tell you nothing--nothing yet, but that I love you--I love you!"
+he fervently breathed, as he drew her arm within his own and pressed her
+hand to his bosom.
+
+"And I love you," she murmured, in the lowest, sweetest music. And then,
+after a moment's pause, she added, gayly: "And now tell me what has
+brought you here so suddenly."
+
+"Did I not promise you that I would be in Richmond this Sunday morning,
+in time to attend you to church?"
+
+"Yes, you did, but--"
+
+"Well, I could not get in so early as I intended, because I came on by
+the train that leaves Wendover at midnight. So I did not reach the city
+until nearly noon to-day. However, if I was not in time to attend you
+_to_ church, I was in time to attend you _from_ church. So I kept my
+promise tolerably well."
+
+"Yes; but, my dear friend, I particularly requested that you would wait
+at Wendover and watch certain events, and not come to Richmond until
+something had happened or was about to happen."
+
+"Well then?"
+
+"You gave me your word that you would do as I directed you."
+
+"Yes, certainly I did."
+
+"Then, seeing you here, I am to presume that all the conditions of your
+engagement have been fulfilled."
+
+"Yes, they have, dear lady mine."
+
+"First, then, as you were not to come here until Mr. Alden Lytton was
+about to start or had started for this place, why, I am to presume, by
+seeing you here, that Mr. Lytton is either present in the city or on his
+way here."
+
+"Mr. Lytton will leave Wendover for Richmond by the earliest train
+to-morrow. He will be here to-morrow evening," said Craven Kyte,
+gravely.
+
+"You are absolutely sure of this?" inquired Mrs. Grey.
+
+"As sure of it as any one can be of any future event. His heavy baggage
+came over from Blue Cliff Hall yesterday evening, and was left at the
+station to be ready for transportation on Monday morning, when Mr.
+Lytton intended to take the earliest train for this city."
+
+"Then there can be no mistake," said Mary Grey.
+
+"None whatever, I think."
+
+"You say you have fulfilled all the conditions of our engagement?"
+
+"Yes, dearest, I have indeed."
+
+"How about those letters I inclosed to you to be re-mailed?"
+
+"I received them all, and re-mailed them all. Did you get them? You
+never acknowledged the receipt of one of them, however," said Craven
+Kyte, thoughtfully.
+
+"I got them all safe. There was no use in acknowledging them by letter,
+as I expected to see you so soon, and could acknowledge them so much
+better by word of mouth. But that is not exactly what I meant by my
+question, darling. Of course I knew without being told that you had
+re-mailed all those letters, as I had received them all."
+
+"Then what was it you wished me to tell you, dearest Mary? Ask me
+plainly. I will tell you anything in the world that I know."
+
+"Only this: Did you post those letters with great secrecy, taking
+extreme care that no one saw you do it?"
+
+"My dearest, I took such care that I waited until the dead of night,
+when no one was abroad in the village, and I stole forth then, and, all
+unseen, dropped the letters into the night box."
+
+"You darling! How good you are! What shall I ever do to repay you?"
+exclaimed the traitress, with well-acted enthusiasm.
+
+"Only love me--only love me! That will richly repay me for all. Ah, only
+love me! Only love me truly and I will die for you if necessary!"
+fervently breathed the poor doomed young man, fondly gazing upon her,
+who, to gain her own diabolical end, was almost putting his neck into a
+halter.
+
+"You foolish darling! Why, you would break my heart by dying! You can
+only make me happy by living for me," she said, with a smile.
+
+"I would live for you, die for you, suffer for you, sin for you--do
+anything for you, bear anything for you, be anything for you!" he burst
+forth, in a fervor of devotion.
+
+"There, there, dearest, I know you would! I know it all! But now tell
+me: Have you kept our engagement a profound secret from every human
+being, as I requested you to do?"
+
+"Yes, yes, a profound secret from every human being, on my sacred word
+and honor! Although it was hard to do that. For, as I walked up and down
+the streets of Wendover, feeling so happy--so happy that I am sure I
+must have looked perfectly wild, as the people stared at me so
+suspiciously--I could scarcely help embracing all my friends and saying
+to them, 'Congratulate me, for I am engaged to the loveliest woman in
+the world, and I am the happiest man on earth!' But I kept the secret."
+
+"You mad boy! You love too fast to love long, I doubt! After a month or
+two of married life you will grow tired of me, I fear," said Mary Grey,
+with mock gravity.
+
+"Tired of you! Tired of heaven! Oh, no, no, no!" he burst forth,
+ardently.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+THE HAUNTED COTTAGE.
+
+
+She suddenly brought him down to the earth with a homely remark.
+
+"I am tired of walking. And here is a vacant house placarded 'To Let,'
+with a nice long porch in front. Come, let [us] go in and sit down on
+one of the benches and rest."
+
+And she drew him toward the little gate that led into the yard in front
+of the house.
+
+It was a rustic two-story frame cottage, with a long porch in front, all
+overgrown with honeysuckles, clematis, woodbine and wild roses.
+
+They went in together and sat down on the porch, under the shadow of the
+blooming and fragrant vines.
+
+Then she turned and looked at him attentively for the first time since
+they met at the church.
+
+"You look tired," she said, with alluring tenderness. "You look more
+exhausted than I feel. And that is saying a great deal, for I am quite
+out of breath."
+
+"I am grieved that you feel so, dearest! It was selfish and thoughtless
+in me to keep you walking so long," said Craven, compunctiously.
+
+"Oh, it is nothing! But about yourself. You really look quite
+prostrated."
+
+"Do I, dearest? I am not conscious of fatigue. Though indeed I should
+never be conscious of that by your dear side."
+
+"Now tell the truth," she said, again bringing him down from his
+flights. "Have you had your breakfast this morning?"
+
+"Breakfast? I--don't remember," he said, with a perplexed air.
+
+"Come to your senses and answer me directly. What have you taken this
+morning?" she demanded, with a pretty air of authority.
+
+"I--Let me see. I believe I bought a package of lemon-drops from a boy
+that was selling them in the cars. I--I believe I have got some of them
+left yet," he said, hesitating, and drawing from his pocket one of those
+little white packets of candy so commonly sold on the train.
+
+Mary Grey burst into a peal of soft, silvery laughter as she took them,
+and said:
+
+"An ounce of lemon-drops and nothing else for breakfast! Oh, Cupid, God
+of Love, and Hebe, Goddess of Health, look here, and settle it between
+you!"
+
+"But I do not feel hungry. It is food enough for me to sit here and
+feast upon the sight of your face, your beautiful face!"
+
+"You frenzied boy! I see that I must take care of you. Come, now that we
+have recovered our breath, we will go on a little further to a nice,
+quiet, suburban inn, kept by an old maid. I have never been there
+myself, but I have seen it in driving by with the rector's family. It is
+such a nice place that the school children go there to have picnic
+parties in the grounds. We will go and engage a parlor, and have a quiet
+little breakfast or dinner, whichever you may please, for it shall
+combine the luxuries of both. Now will you go?" said Mary Grey, rising
+from her shady seat.
+
+"Of course, if you wish me to do so; but indeed I do not need anything."
+
+"But I do; for I breakfasted at seven o'clock this morning, before going
+to the Sunday-school. It is now one o'clock. I have been fasting six
+hours, and as I intend to spend the most of the day with you, I shall
+miss our luncheon at home; for, you see, we are deadly fashionable at
+the Misses Cranes'. We lunch at two and dine at six. So come along."
+
+Craven Kyte arose and gave her his arm, and they walked on together
+until they reached the little cottage, half farmhouse, half hotel, that
+was so well-kept by the nice old maiden hostess.
+
+The good woman looked rather surprised to see Sunday visitors walk into
+her house.
+
+But Mary Grey, prayer-book ostentatiously in hand, took her aside, out
+of the hearing of Craven Kyte, and explained:
+
+"I and my brother walked in from the country to attend church this
+morning. We have a carriage and might have ridden, only we do not think
+it is right to make the horses work on Sunday, do you?"
+
+"No, miss, I candidly don't; and that's a fact," replied the good
+creature.
+
+"Mrs.," amended Mary Grey, with a smile.
+
+"'Mrs.' of course! I beg your pardon, ma'am! But you looked so young,
+and I may say childish, and I didn't notice the widow's cap before,"
+apologized the hostess.
+
+"Well, as we had no friends in the town--no one with whom we could stop
+to dinner--I and my brother set out to walk home again. He is an
+invalid, and is quite exhausted with fasting and fatigue. So perhaps,
+under the circumstances, you would not mind letting us have a parlor to
+rest in and a little dinner."
+
+"Of course not, ma'am; for under such circumstances it is clearly my
+duty to entertain you," answered the good soul, who, under no possible
+circumstances, would have been false to her ideas of right.
+
+"You are very kind. I thank you very much," said Mary Grey, sweetly.
+
+"Here is a room at your and your brother's disposal, ma'am. No one will
+intrude upon you here," said the hostess, opening a door that led into a
+neat back parlor, whose windows overlooked the garden and orchard
+attached to the house.
+
+"Come," said Mary Grey, beckoning to her companion.
+
+"Dear me! I never saw a brother and sister look so much alike as you two
+do," remarked the hostess, admiringly, as she showed them into the back
+parlor.
+
+She left them, promising to send in a nice dinner.
+
+"And coffee with it, if you please," added Mary Grey, as the landlady
+went out.
+
+"Yes, certainly, ma'am, if you wish it," she answered, as she
+disappeared.
+
+Mary Grey went to the back window and looked out upon the pleasant
+garden, verdant and blooming with shrubs, rose-bushes and flowers.
+
+Craven Kyte joined her.
+
+"Did you hear that old lady call us brother and sister?" inquired the
+young man.
+
+"Yes," answered Mary Grey, with her false smile. "But I did not think it
+necessary to set her right."
+
+"And she said we looked so much alike," smiled Craven.
+
+"We both have dark hair and dark eyes. And we are both rather thin in
+flesh. That is the beginning and the ending of the likeness. And her
+imagination did the rest," explained Mary Grey.
+
+They were interrupted by a pretty mulatto girl, who came in to lay the
+cloth for dinner.
+
+And this girl continued to flit in and out of the room, bringing the
+various articles of the service, until, on one of her temporary
+absences, Craven Kyte exclaimed:
+
+"I would rather have sat and fasted with you under that pretty porch of
+the old road-side empty house than sit at a feast here, with that girl
+always running in and out to interrupt us."
+
+"Never mind, dear. As soon as we get something to eat we will go," said
+Mary Grey, with her sweet, false smile.
+
+In a reasonable time a dainty little dinner was placed upon the table,
+consisting of broiled chickens, green corn, asparagus and mashed
+potatoes, with fragrant coffee for a beverage and peaches and cream for
+dessert.
+
+When they had partaken of this, and had rested a while, Craven Kyte went
+out and paid the bill. And Mary Grey again drew the landlady aside, out
+of hearing of her companion, and said:
+
+"We are so much rested and refreshed by your admirable hospitality that
+my brother and myself think we shall walk back to town and attend
+afternoon service."
+
+The good hostess smiled approval, but expressed a hope that they would
+not overdo themselves.
+
+Mary Grey smiled and took leave, and walked off with her captive.
+
+They went on until they came in front of the vacant house with the
+vine-clad porch.
+
+"Come, won't you rest here a little while?" inquired Craven Kyte, laying
+his hands upon the latch of the gate.
+
+"Yes, for a little while only," said Mary Grey, consulting her watch.
+"It is now half-past three o'clock, and service commences at half-past
+four. And I _must_ be at church in time for the commencement of the
+service. You will go to church with me, of course," she added.
+
+"Of course!" answered Craven Kyte, emphatically.
+
+"I am sorry that I can not ask you to sit with me; but the fact is I
+have only one seat that I can call my own in a crowded pew belonging to
+the Blairs. But you can walk with me to church, and join me again after
+the service," exclaimed Mary Grey.
+
+"I should so much like to sit by your side!" said poor Craven, with a
+disappointed look.
+
+"Don't you see, my dear, it is quite impossible? The service, however,
+is short, and I will join you immediately after it."
+
+And as they talked they went in and sat down on the porch.
+
+"This is a pretty little old-fashioned cottage. Don't you think so?"
+inquired the beauty, as they looked around them.
+
+"Very pretty," agreed her victim, who would equally have agreed to
+anything she might have proposed.
+
+"Look what a fine luxuriant garden it has behind it, all growing wild
+with neglect."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And the orchard back of that. See the trees bending under their loads
+of ripening apples or peaches."
+
+"Yes. It's a wonder the boys don't go in and steal them."
+
+"No boy would enter there for love or money."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because this is the house in which Barnes killed his wife and child, in
+a fit of insane jealousy; and the place has the terrible reputation of
+being haunted."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Yes; it is said that the ghost of a weeping woman, carrying a weeping
+child in her arms, is seen to wander through garden and orchard at all
+hours of the night, or to come in and look over the beds of the sleepers
+in the house, if any are found courageous enough to sleep there."
+
+"Oh! And that is the reason, I suppose, that the house remains
+untenanted?" said Craven Kyte.
+
+"Yes, that is the reason why the house, pleasant and attractive as it
+looks, remains untenanted; and why the garden and orchard, with their
+wealth of flowers and fruit, remain untouched by trespassers," said Mrs.
+Grey.
+
+"It is a pity such a pretty place should be so abandoned," mused the
+young man.
+
+"It is. But, you see, family after family took it and tried to live in
+it in vain. No family could stay longer than a week. It has now been
+untenanted for more than a year. I have heard that the owner offers to
+rent it for the paltry sum of fifty dollars a year."
+
+"For this delightful house!"
+
+"For this haunted house, you mean!" said Mrs. Grey.
+
+"Oh, nonsense! I beg your forgiveness, my dearest, I did not mean that
+for you, but for the gabies that believe in ghosts!" said Craven Kyte.
+
+"Then you do not believe in ghosts?"
+
+"I!"
+
+"Well, I thought you did not. In fact, I knew you did not. Now I want
+you to do something to please me," said the siren, laying her soft hand
+upon his shoulder.
+
+"Anything in this world, you know, I will do to please you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+WHAT SHE WANTED HIM TO DO.
+
+
+"Well, I want you to rent this house."
+
+Craven Kyte started with surprise and looked at the speaker.
+
+She went on, however, regardless of his astonishment.
+
+"And I want you to purchase furniture enough to fit up one room for
+yourself; and I want you to do that the first thing to-morrow. And I
+want you to lodge here alone, while you remain in Richmond."
+
+He still stared at her in amazement, but with no sign of a wish to
+disobey her strange commands.
+
+She went on with her instructions.
+
+"You can walk into the city, and take your meals at any restaurant you
+please; but you must lodge here alone while you stay in the city."
+
+"I will do so," he answered, earnestly, as he recovered the use of his
+tongue--"I will do anything you tell me. I am entirely under your
+orders."
+
+"You are the best fellow in the whole world, and I love the very ground
+you walk on!" exclaimed the traitress, warmly.
+
+He grasped her hand convulsively and pressed it to his lips, and then
+waited her further directions.
+
+"To reward you I will come out here every morning and spend the whole
+day with you."
+
+"Oh, that will be heavenly! I should be willing to live in a cave on
+such delightful conditions!"
+
+"But mind, my dearest one, you must not come to see me at my
+boarding-house, or try to meet me, or to speak to me, after to-day,
+anywhere where I am known," added Mrs. Grey, gravely.
+
+"Oh, that seems very hard!" sighed the victim, with a look of grief,
+almost of suspicion.
+
+"Why should it seem hard, when I tell you that I will come out here
+every morning to spend the whole day with you?" inquired Mrs. Grey.
+
+"But why, then, can I not go home with you and spend the whole evening
+in your company at your boarding-house?" pleaded the poor fellow.
+
+"Because we should have no comfort at all in a whole parlor full of
+company, as there is at the Misses Cranes' every evening. And because we
+should be talked about in that gossiping boarding-house circle. And,
+finally, because I should much rather stay with you alone here in this
+house, where there is no one to criticise us, as late every evening as I
+possibly can, and let you walk home with me and leave me at the door at
+bed-time. Now don't you think mine the better plan?"
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed, if you really will spend the evenings with me also!"
+
+"Why, certainly I will! And now let us walk on to church. And mind, you
+must leave me at the church door and find a seat for yourself, while I
+go to mine. After church I will come out here with you again and sit
+with you all the evening. I have no doubt the good woman at the rustic
+inn down the road will give us tea, as she gave us dinner," said the
+beauty, as she arose and slipped her hand within her companion's arm.
+
+They left the house together and walked on to the church.
+
+And the programme for the afternoon and evening was carried on according
+to the beautiful schemer's arrangement.
+
+After the services were concluded they walked out to the suburban inn,
+where the simple-minded hostess willingly agreed to furnish tea for such
+a pious church-going brother and sister.
+
+And when they had had this tea, Mary Grey, to beguile the landlady, took
+her willing captive for a walk further out toward the country; and then
+returning by a roundabout route, came to the vacant road-side cottage,
+where, as the September evening was very warm, they sat under the
+vine-clad porch until ten o'clock.
+
+Then they walked back to the town together.
+
+Craven Kyte took Mary Grey to the gate of her boarding-house, where, as
+the place was silent and deserted, they paused for a few last words.
+
+"Mind, the first thing you do to-morrow morning will be to go and find
+the owner of the haunted house and rent it from him," said the widow.
+
+"Yes," answered her white slave.
+
+"And the next thing you do will be to go and buy the furniture necessary
+to fit up one room for yourself, and have it taken out there and
+arranged."
+
+"Yes," he answered again, very submissively.
+
+"That will take you nearly all day, I think."
+
+"I will hurry through the business as fast as I can, so that I may see
+you the sooner. When can I see you to-morrow?" he pleaded.
+
+"At seven o'clock to-morrow evening wait for me at the haunted house. I
+will come and stay with you there until eleven."
+
+"Oh, that is so long to wait! May I not see you sooner?"
+
+"Impossible! I have a sacred duty to do to-morrow that will engage me
+all day. But you too will be busy. And we can look forward all day to
+our meeting in the evening. And after to-morrow we can meet every
+morning and spend the whole day together," said the traitress, sweetly.
+
+"I suppose I must be content!" sighed the victim.
+
+"Now good-night, dear. And good-bye until to-morrow night," murmured the
+siren, as she gave her lover a Judas kiss and dismissed him.
+
+Mary Grey hurried into the drawing-room, where the Misses Crane were
+still sitting up.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Grey, we feared that something had happened to you," said
+the elder Miss Crane.
+
+"Oh, no! I went to see one of my Sunday-school pupils, whom I missed
+from my class, and whom, upon inquiry, I found to be ill at home. I have
+spent the whole day with the sick child, except the hours spent at
+church. And I must go to see her again to-morrow morning," said the
+widow, with a patient smile.
+
+"How good you are!" murmured Miss Crane.
+
+Mary Grey shook her head deprecatingly, bowed good-night to the slim
+sisters and went upstairs to her own room.
+
+Early the next morning Mary Grey, telling her hostesses that she was
+then going to sit with the sick child, left the old manor-house and
+walked rapidly to the railway station and took a ticket for Forestville,
+a village about twenty miles from the city, on the Richmond and Wendover
+Railroad.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+A HAPPY LOVER.
+
+    The lover is a king; the ground
+      He treads on is not ours;
+    His soul by other laws is bound,
+      Sustained by other powers.
+    Liver of a diviner life,
+      He turns a vacant gaze
+    Toward the theater of strife,
+      Where we consume our days.
+                   --R. M. MILNES.
+
+
+On that Monday morning Alden Lytton left Blue Cliff Hall with his heart
+full of joy and thankfulness.
+
+He was the accepted lover of Emma Cavendish. And he was so somewhat to
+his own amazement, for he had not intended to propose to her so soon.
+
+She was a very wealthy heiress, and he was a poor young lawyer, just
+about to begin the battle of life.
+
+They were both still very young and could afford to wait a few years.
+And, ardently as he loved her, he wished to see his way clearly to fame
+and fortune by his profession before presuming to ask the beautiful
+heiress to share his life.
+
+But the impulse of an ardent passion may, in some unguarded hour,
+overturn the firmest resolution of wisdom.
+
+This was so in the case of Alden Lytton.
+
+Up to Saturday, the last day but one of his stay at Blue Cliff Hall, the
+lovers were not engaged.
+
+Rumor, in proclaiming their engagement, had been, as she often is,
+beforehand with the facts.
+
+But on that Saturday evening, after tea, Alden Lytton found himself
+walking with Emma Cavendish up and down the long front piazza.
+
+It was a lovely summer night. There was no moon, but the innumerable
+stars were shining with intense brilliancy from the clear blue-black
+night sky; the earth sent up an aroma from countless fragrant flowers
+and spicy shrubs; the dew lay fresh upon all; and the chirp of myriads
+of little insects of the night almost rivaled the songs of birds during
+the day. And so the night was filled with the sparkling light of stars,
+the fresh coolness of dew, the rich perfume of vegetation and the low
+music of insect life.
+
+The near mountains, like walls of Eden, shut in the beautiful scene.
+
+Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish sauntered slowly up and down the long
+piazza feeling the divine influence of the hour and scene, without
+thinking much about either.
+
+Indeed, they thought only of each other.
+
+They were conscious that this was to be their last walk together for
+many months, perhaps for years.
+
+Something to this effect Alden murmured.
+
+He received no reply, but he felt a tear drop upon his hand.
+
+Then he lost his self-control. The strong love swelling in his soul
+burst forth into utterance, and with impassioned tones and eloquent,
+though broken words, he told her of his most presuming and almost
+hopeless love.
+
+And then he waited, trembling, for the rejection and rebuke that his
+modesty made him more than half expect.
+
+But no such rebuff came from Emma Cavendish.
+
+She paused in her walk, raised her beautiful eyes to his face and placed
+both her hands in his.
+
+And in this manner she silently accepted him.
+
+How fervently he thanked and blessed her!
+
+Emma Cavendish had always been a dutiful daughter to the doting old lady
+in the "throne room;" so that night, before she slept, she went in and
+told her grandmother of her engagement to Alden Lytton.
+
+Now, by all the rules of wrong, Madam Cavendish should have resolutely
+set her face against the betrothal of her wealthy granddaughter to a
+young lawyer with no fortune of his own and with his way yet to make in
+the world.
+
+And if the old lady had been somewhat younger she would probably have
+done this very thing.
+
+But as it was, she was "old and childish;" which means that she was more
+heavenly-minded and nearer heaven than she ever had been since the days
+of her own infancy and innocence.
+
+So, instead of fixing a pair of terrible spectacled eyes upon the young
+girl and reading her a severe lecture upon "the eternal fitness of
+things," as illustrated in wealth mating with wealth and rank with rank,
+she looked lovingly upon her granddaughter, held out her venerable hand,
+and drew her up to her bosom, kissed her tenderly, and said:
+
+"Heaven bless you, my own darling! This has come rather suddenly upon
+me; but since, in the course of nature, you must some time marry, I do
+not know a young gentleman in this world to whom I would as soon see you
+married as to Mr. Alden Lytton. But, my child, I do not think you ought
+to be married very soon," she added.
+
+"No, dear grandma, I know that," said Emma, kneeling down by her side
+and tenderly caressing and kissing her withered hands. "No, dear
+grandma, I will never leave you--never for any one--not even for him!"
+
+"My darling child, you mistake my meaning. It is not for the selfish
+purpose of keeping you here near me that I advise you to defer your
+marriage for a time. It is because I think it is decorous that some
+months should elapse between the betrothal of a young pair and their
+wedding. Though, of course, there are some cases in which a short
+engagement and a speedy marriage become expedient or even necessary. As,
+for instance, my child, if I felt myself near death now I should
+certainly wish to hasten your marriage, rather than leave you
+unprotected in this world."
+
+Emma Cavendish could only kiss her grandmother's hands and thank her
+through falling tears.
+
+"And now; my child, I must go to sleep. I always want to go to sleep
+after anything exciting has happened to me. Good-night, and may Heaven
+bless you, my love!" said the old lady, affectionately, as she dismissed
+her granddaughter.
+
+While Emma Cavendish was talking with her grandmother, Alden Lytton went
+into the parlor, where he found his sister alone, sitting by one of the
+windows, gazing thoughtfully out upon the beautiful night.
+
+He drew a chair to her side, seated himself and, with his arm around her
+waist, told her of his new-born happiness.
+
+She congratulated him fervently and earnestly; and then, returning
+confidence for confidence, told him of her engagement to the young
+minister of Wendover.
+
+For rumor, in Mr. Lyle's and Miss Lytton's case also, had anticipated
+the facts, and had reported their betrothal all over the country long
+before it was announced to their nearest friends.
+
+Alden Lytton, with all his approving heart, wished his sister joy in her
+prospective union with the worthy young clergyman.
+
+And then the two, talking together over their future, decided that they
+must write at once to their Uncle John Lytton and inform him of their
+engagements.
+
+Alden undertook to write a letter on the part of both his sister and
+himself that night.
+
+And, on further discussion, it was decided that at the close of her
+visit to Blue Cliff Hall, Laura should go to Lytton Lodge to make a
+visit to her relatives there.
+
+The entrance of Emma Cavendish put an end to the discussion, and was the
+occasion of new congratulations.
+
+The next morning Madam Cavendish sent for Alden Lytton and Emma
+Cavendish to come up to her room together.
+
+And she then and there read them a grave and affectionate little lecture
+upon the duties and responsibilities of an engaged couple, gave them her
+blessing and dismissed them to go to church.
+
+That Sunday morning every one at Blue Cliffs knew of the betrothal of
+Mr. Lytton to the young mistress of the Hall.
+
+And on Monday morning all the county knew it just as well as they had
+known it a month before it happened.
+
+And every one said over once more what they had already said so
+often--that it was a great pity the daughter of the late Governor
+Cavendish should be allowed to throw herself and her wealth away upon a
+penniless young fortune-hunter like Alden Lytton, and all for the want
+of a proper guardian at hand to restrain her. Old Madam Cavendish, they
+said, was no better than none at all. And really the Orphans' Court
+ought to interfere, etc.
+
+But the very bitterest of the malcontents were parents with marriageable
+sons of their own, any one of which might one day have aspired to the
+hand of the heiress.
+
+Little cared the happy lovers what their neighbors might think about
+their betrothal.
+
+They parted that morning, not with tears, but with bright smiles and
+promises of frequent correspondence.
+
+Alden Lytton stopped in Wendover to take leave of his friend, Mr. Lyle,
+and to announce the betrothal of Miss Cavendish and himself.
+
+And then, scarcely waiting to receive the congratulations of the
+minister, he hurried off to catch his train for Richmond.
+
+An hour after this Mr. Lyle had an interview with Victor Hartman, and
+delighted that poor fellow's soul with the announcement of the
+betrothal.
+
+And on the same day Mr. Lyle, commissioned by Victor Hartman, went to
+Blue Cliff Hall and requested an interview with Madam Cavendish.
+
+The old lady, thinking this was the usual pastoral call from the
+minister, sent word for him to come up to her room.
+
+And there she received him alone, and after the usual greetings opened
+the conversation herself by informing him of the betrothal of her
+granddaughter to Mr. Alden Lytton.
+
+"It was upon that very subject that I came to see you, madam, on the
+part of the young gentleman's guardian," replied the minister, and then
+and there announced the fact that Mr. Alden Lytton's "guardian" would be
+prepared to pay down to his ward one hundred thousand dollars on the day
+of his marriage with Miss Cavendish.
+
+"Emma has money enough," said the old lady; "but that indeed is very
+liberal. I never could understand about that secret guardian, friend,
+patron, or whatever you might call him, of the young Lyttons," she
+added, as if she would have liked some information on the subject.
+
+"No, madam, and I am sorry that I am not yet at liberty to tell you more
+about him. This, however, I may say, that he is able and willing to keep
+his word."
+
+And so that interview ended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+ON TO MEET HIS FATE.
+
+
+Meanwhile, Alden Lytton sped on toward the city. He traveled by the
+express train, which stopped at but few stations.
+
+About two o'clock in the afternoon the train made its longest pause, at
+a little station about midway between Wendover and Richmond, where it
+stopped twenty minutes for dinner.
+
+Many of the passengers left the train to stretch their cramped limbs or
+to satisfy their hunger.
+
+Alden Lytton got out and went into the waiting-room, when the first form
+his eye fell upon was that of Mary Grey.
+
+She looked pale, weary and harassed, as she sat alone on one of the
+benches, with a small carpet-bag at her feet.
+
+Now Alden Lytton's heart was so full of happiness that it expanded with
+affection for the whole human race, and even warmed with sympathy for
+this erring woman, who had once possessed and forfeited his faithful
+boyish love.
+
+And now, in his compassion, he went to her and, smiling very kindly, he
+said:
+
+"Why, Mrs. Grey! I am so surprised to see you here, and alone too!" he
+added.
+
+"When, since I left Blue Cliff Hall, have you ever seen me when I have
+not been alone?" she inquired, with a sad smile.
+
+"True," he answered, gently. "Even in a church, or a crowded parlor, you
+have still been ever alone. But why should this be so, while you have so
+many faithful friends? Miss Cavendish I know is--"
+
+She put up her hand to stop him. She turned paler than before, and
+trembled as with a chill. For she had loved this man _only_, of all that
+she had fascinated and fooled; she had loved him _utterly_; and even
+now, when she bitterly hated him, she could not bear to hear her rival's
+name from his lips.
+
+"'The heart knoweth its own bitterness,'" she murmured, in faltering
+tones. "Let us talk of something else. I came down here to bring some
+funds that I had collected from charitable friends for a poor family who
+were burned out near this village. And now I am going back by this
+train. Pray pardon my nervousness! But the crowd and bustle and
+excitement of a railway station always does make me very nervous."
+
+"You need refreshment. Come to the table with me and have something.
+There is yet plenty of time," he said, kindly, offering her his arm.
+
+He felt so safe and happy in his wisely placed affection and firmly
+based engagement to Emma Cavendish that he could afford to be very kind
+to this poor woman, although she had once possessed--and by her conduct
+forever forfeited--his honest youthful love.
+
+He gave her his arm and led her away to the dining-room, where a crowd
+was collected at the refreshment table.
+
+There was a whisper between two attendants as they passed by.
+
+"Hush! That is the young fellow she has been waiting here to meet. It is
+a runaway marriage, bless you!"
+
+This whisper reached the ears of Alden Lytton and Mary Grey.
+
+Alden Lytton paid no attention to it, thinking that it referred to some
+"levanting" youth and girl who had chosen this station for their
+escapade.
+
+But Mary Grey smiled grimly to herself as she heard it.
+
+They had barely time to get a cup of coffee each before the warning
+shriek of the steam engine called the passengers to take their places.
+
+Alden Lytton drew his companion's arm within his own, led her into the
+ladies' car, put her into a comfortable seat, and took his place beside
+her.
+
+Purposely suggested by Mary Grey's own calculated actions while waiting
+at the station, a whisper had got around among the attendants that the
+lovely young lady in black had come down to meet her lover and elope
+with him; and from the attendants it had reached the ears of some of the
+passengers.
+
+And now, as Alden Lytton placed himself innocently enough on the seat
+beside Mary Grey, the eyes of several of their fellow-travelers turned
+with curiosity toward them.
+
+Certainly the demeanor of both rather favored the idea of their being a
+pair of engaged lovers.
+
+Alden Lytton, with his beaming and happy face, and his careful
+attentions to his companion, wore the look of a successful suitor and
+prospective bridegroom. Mary Grey, with her pale, pretty face and
+nervous manner, had as much the appearance of a runaway girl, trembling
+and frightened at what she was daring.
+
+Meanwhile the train whirled onward, bearing many passengers to happy
+homes or on pleasant visits; but carrying one among them on to crime and
+another to disaster.
+
+As they drew near the end of the journey the crowd in the ladies' car
+was thinned out by the leaving of passengers at the smaller stations,
+until at length Alden Lytton and Mary Grey were left nearly alone and
+quite out of hearing of any fellow-traveler.
+
+Then Alden said to her:
+
+"I hope you have some plan of occupation and happiness for your future
+life."
+
+"Yes," murmured Mary Grey, "I have some little prospect. I have the
+offer of a very good position in a first-class ladies' college near
+Philadelphia."
+
+"I hope it will suit you."
+
+"I do not know. I have promised to go on and see the institution and
+talk with the principal before concluding the engagement."
+
+"That would be safest, of course," said Alden.
+
+"And I should have gone on a day or two since, but the journey, with its
+changes from steamer to car and car to steamer, is really quite a
+serious one for me to take alone, especially as I always get frightened
+and lose my presence of mind in the terrible uproar of a steamboat
+landing or a railway station."
+
+"Then you should never undertake such a journey alone," said Alden,
+compassionately.
+
+"No, I know it. But yet I shall have to do so, unless I can hear of
+some party of friends going on in a few days whom I could join," sighed
+Mary Grey.
+
+"I am not 'a party of friends,'" smiled Alden; "but I am _one_ friend
+who will be pleased to escort you on that journey, as I am myself going
+to Philadelphia in a few days."
+
+"_You!_" exclaimed Mary Grey, in well-affected astonishment.
+
+"Yes, madam," replied Alden, with a bow.
+
+"I did not know you ever went North at all," she added, lifting her
+eyebrows.
+
+"I never yet have been north of Baltimore, strange to say," smiled Alden
+Lytton; "but I am going in a few days to Philadelphia to purchase a law
+library, and should be happy to escort you to your place of
+destination."
+
+"You are very kind to me, and I am very grateful to you. I accept your
+offer, and will try to give you as little trouble on the journey as
+possible."
+
+"Oh, do not speak of trouble! There will be none, I assure you," said
+Alden, pleasantly.
+
+"You are very good to say so, at all events."
+
+"What day would it suit you to go on?" inquired Alden.
+
+"Any day this week--whenever it will be convenient to you. I am the
+obliged party and should consider your convenience."
+
+"Not by any means! Any day this week would suit me equally. So I beg
+that you will please yourself alone."
+
+"No."
+
+"Let me be frank with you then and prove how little it really would
+matter to me whether we go to-morrow or any day thereafter. I have to
+select and fit up a law office, and I have to select and purchase a law
+library; and I do not care in the least which I do first," said Alden,
+with earnest politeness.
+
+"Then, if it really is a matter of indifference to you, I think we will
+go to Philadelphia on Wednesday morning."
+
+"Very well. I will make my arrangements accordingly. This is Monday
+night. We have one intervening day. Where shall I call for you on
+Wednesday morning?"
+
+"You need not call. I will meet you on the Washington boat."
+
+"Just as you please. I will be there."
+
+The engine shrieked its terrific warning, slackened its speed, and ran
+slowly into the station.
+
+"I will call a carriage for you," said Alden Lytton.
+
+And he left his companion in the waiting-room while he went out and
+selected a good carriage for her use.
+
+Then he came back, took up her traveling-bag, drew her arm in his own,
+and led her out to it.
+
+"Where shall I tell the coachman to take you?" he inquired, when he had
+placed her comfortably in her seat.
+
+"To the Misses Cranes', Old Manor, near the Government House," she
+answered.
+
+Alden Lytton bowed and closed the door, gave the order to the coachman,
+and then walked off to his own old quarters at the Henrico House.
+
+The carriage started, but had not gone more than a quarter of a mile
+when Mrs. Grey stopped it.
+
+The coachman got off his box and came to the window to know her will.
+
+"Turn into the old paper-mill road. I wish to call on a sick friend
+there before going home. Go on. I will keep a lookout and stop you when
+we get near the house."
+
+The coachman touched his hat, remounted, and turned his horses' heads to
+the required direction.
+
+Mary Grey sat close on the left-hand side of the cushion, and drew the
+curtain away, so that she could look through the window and watch their
+course.
+
+The night was clear, starlit and breezy after the hot September day.
+
+It was still early, and the sidewalks were enlivened by young people
+sauntering in front of their own houses to enjoy the refreshing evening
+air, while the porches and door-steps were occupied by the elders taking
+their ease in their own way.
+
+But in the next mile the scene began to change, and instead of the
+populous street, with its long rows of houses and the cheerful
+sidewalks, there was a lonely road with detached dwellings and
+occasional groups of people. In the second mile the scene changed again,
+and there was an old turnpike, with here and there a solitary road-side
+dwelling, with perhaps a man leaning over the front gate smoking his
+pipe, or a pair of lovers billing and cooing under the starlit sky.
+
+Mary Grey kept a bright lookout for the "haunted house," and presently
+she recognized it, and saw a light shining through the little front
+window under the vine-covered porch.
+
+"He is there, poor wretch, sure enough, waiting for me. I feel a little
+sorry for him, because he loves me so devotedly. But heigho! If I do not
+spare myself, shall I spare him? No!" said Mary Grey to herself, as she
+ordered the coachman to draw up.
+
+He stopped and jumped off his box, and came and opened the carriage
+door. But it was the door on the other side of the carriage, opposite
+the middle of the road, and not opposite the house, where she wanted to
+get out.
+
+"Open the other door," she said.
+
+But the negro's teeth were chattering and the whites of his eyes
+rolling, in fearful contrast with the darkness of his skin.
+
+"Open the other door and let me out. I want to go into that house,"
+repeated Mrs. Grey, a little impatiently.
+
+"Dat dere house? Oh, laws-a-messy! Bress my soul, missy, you don't want
+to go in dat house! Dat's de haunted house! And oh, law, dere's de
+corpse lights a-burnin' in dere now!" gasped the negro, shudderingly,
+pointing to the dimly-lighted windows under the porch.
+
+"You blockhead, those are the tapers in my friend's sickroom! Open the
+other door, I tell you!" said Mrs. Grey, angrily.
+
+"'Deed--'deed--'deed, missy, you must scuse ole nigger like me! I
+dussint do it, missy! I dussint go on t'other side ob de carriage nex'
+to de ghoses at no price!" said the negro, with chattering teeth.
+
+Mary Grey turned and tried to open the other door for herself, but found
+it impossible, and then turned again and said:
+
+"Well, stand out of my way then, you idiot, and let me out of _this_
+door!"
+
+The negro gave way, and she got out of the carriage into the middle of
+the dusty road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+THE SACRIFICE.
+
+
+At the same moment some one came softly through the cottage gate and
+looked up and down the road, as if watching for some one else.
+
+As Mary Grey came round the carriage to the front of the house, she
+recognized in the watcher Craven Kyte, who at the same instant perceived
+her.
+
+"Wait here for me," she said to the frightened coachman, as she walked
+rapidly toward the man who was hurrying to meet her.
+
+"My darling! I have been waiting for you so long!" he said, seizing her
+hand.
+
+"Hush! The coachman might hear you," she whispered. "Let me come in."
+
+He drew her arm within his own and led her into the cottage, and into a
+cool, well-lighted and tastefully-furnished parlor.
+
+Poor fellow, he had not only put in a few necessary articles of
+furniture for his own sleeping-room, but he had fitted up a pretty
+parlor for her reception, and provided a dainty feast for her
+entertainment.
+
+To do this in time, he had worked like a mill-horse all day long, and he
+had spent all his available funds, and even pawned his watch and his
+little vanities of jewelry to raise more purchase-money.
+
+And now he felt rewarded when he saw her look of surprise, which he
+mistook for a look of pleasure.
+
+There was an Indian matting of bright light colors on the floor, white
+lace curtains lined with rose-colored cambric at the windows, and a sofa
+and easy-chairs covered with rose-colored French chintz. There were a
+few marble-top stands, and tables covered with white crochet-work over
+rose-colored linings. There were vases of fragrant flowers on the
+mantle-shelf, and on the window-sills and stands, and every available
+place.
+
+In the center of the room stood a small table, covered with fine white
+damask, decorated with a Sevres china set for two, and loaded with a
+variety of choice delicacies--delicious cakes, jellies, fruits,
+preserves and lemonade.
+
+"This is a surprise," said Mary Grey, sinking into one of the tempting
+easy-chairs.
+
+"Oh, I am glad you like it as it is! But oh, indeed, I wish everything
+here was more worthy of you! If it were in my power I would receive and
+entertain you like a queen."
+
+"You are so good--so thoughtful! And nothing in the world could be
+pleasanter than this cool, pretty parlor," said Mary Grey, trying to
+rouse herself from the abstraction into which she had fallen after her
+first look of surprise at the decorated room; for, truth to tell, her
+mind was occupied with graver thoughts than appertained to house or
+furniture, flowers or fruits.
+
+"And this has been ready for you, my queen, ever since sunset. And here
+I have sat and waited for you, running out every five minutes to see if
+you were coming," he said, half reproachfully.
+
+"Well, I am here at last, you impatient boy! I could not come before. I
+was sitting with a sick friend and could not leave her until she went to
+sleep," smiled the siren.
+
+"I shall end in being very wickedly jealous of your sick friends, and
+your poor friends, and your lame friends, and all the other forlornities
+that take you away from me, and keep you away from me so much," he
+sighed.
+
+"Ah, but when we are married I shall give up this sort of life! For I
+know that 'charity begins at home;' and though it ought not always to
+stay there, yet should it stay there the principal part of its time,"
+smiled the witch.
+
+"Ah, I am so glad to hear you say so, dearest dear! You _will_ stay at
+home for me most of your time then?"
+
+"It will be my delight to do so!"
+
+He caught her hand and kissed it ardently, and drew her slightly toward
+him, looking at her longingly, as if pleading for a closer kiss.
+
+But she smiled and shook her head, saying, archly:
+
+"Remember--remember, if I come here to see you, you must treat me with
+some respectful reserve, or I will never come again."
+
+"I will do exactly as you wish. I am your slave, and can do no otherwise
+than as you bid me," he said, with a sigh.
+
+"That is a good, dear boy!" she answered, patting his cheeks; and then
+adding, archly, "A few days, you know, and 'the tables will be turned.'
+It will then be _you_ who will have the right to command, and some one
+else who must obey."
+
+As the Circe murmured these words, his color went and came, and when she
+ceased he panted out his answer:
+
+"Oh, the thought of ever having you for my own is--too much rapture to
+be credited! But, Mary, my queen Mary, then and ever I shall be your
+slave as now!"
+
+"Well, we'll see," she murmured, smiling and caressing him. "But now I
+am tired and hungry, and you are forgetting the duties of a host."
+
+"I am forgetting everything in looking at your beautiful face. But now,
+will you let me take off your bonnet and shawl here, or will you go into
+the next room and do it for yourself, I remaining here until you come
+back?"
+
+"I will go into the next room, if you please," said Mary Grey.
+
+And he arose and opened the back door of the cottage parlor and held it
+open for her.
+
+She passed through into a prettily-furnished and well-lighted little
+bed-room, whose back windows opened upon the fragrant flower-garden.
+
+Here she found everything prepared for her comfort, as if it had been
+done by the hands of a woman. She took off her bonnet and shawl,
+brushed her clothes, bathed her face and hands, smoothed her raven
+ringlets, took a fresh cambric handkerchief from her pocket and
+saturated it with Cologne from the toilet-table, and then passed out
+again into the parlor.
+
+Her devoted slave was waiting for her there. And on the table, in
+addition to the other comforts, there was a little silver pot of rich
+aromatic coffee.
+
+"Why, have you a cook?" inquired Mrs. Grey, in some disturbance.
+
+"No, darling; I made that coffee myself. Sit down now and try it,"
+smiled the poor fellow.
+
+"You are a jewel!" she said, as all her disturbance disappeared, and she
+sat down to the table.
+
+He waited on her with affectionate solicitude, helping her to coffee and
+cream, to chicken salad and pickled oysters; changing her plate and
+pressing her to try the jellies and the cakes, or the fruit and ices,
+until she had feasted like a princess.
+
+He, in the meantime, ate but little, seeming to feed upon the sight of
+her enjoyment. At length she pushed her plate and cup away and declared
+she could touch nothing more.
+
+Then he arose as if to clear the service; but she stopped him, saying:
+
+"Leave it just as it is and come and sit with me on the porch outside.
+The night is beautiful, and I want to sit there and talk with you. I
+have something to propose."
+
+And she ran into the back room for her bonnet and shawl.
+
+He got up and gave her his arm and took her out upon the porch.
+
+And they sat down together on the bench, under thickly overhanging
+vine-leaves.
+
+"Craven," she murmured, with her head upon his shoulder, "do you really
+love me as much as you profess to do?"
+
+"Do I really love you?" he repeated, with impassioned earnestness. "Oh,
+how shall I prove to you how much? Protestations are but words. Show me
+how I can prove to you how much I love you! Put me to the test! Try
+me--_try me!_"
+
+She hesitated and sighed--perhaps in pity and remorse for this poor boy,
+who loved her so devotedly, and whom she was about to require to pay
+down his honor and his life as the price of her hand.
+
+"Oh, tell me how I can show you the height and depth and breadth--no; I
+should rather say the immeasurability of my infinite love!" he pleaded,
+prayerfully.
+
+Again she sighed and trembled--yes, trembled at the contemplation of the
+wickedness she was about to perpetrate; but she did not draw back from
+it. She slid her arm around his neck and kissed him softly, and then
+said:
+
+"Listen to me, Craven, my dearest. This is Monday night, you know."
+
+"Yes," he said, attentively.
+
+"On Wednesday morning I am to start for Philadelphia."
+
+"Oh!" he exclaimed, uneasily.
+
+"Hush! Wait until you hear me out. You must meet me in Philadelphia on
+Friday morning. And we will be married on Friday noon."
+
+He was struck speechless, breathless, for a few moments with the excess
+of his delight.
+
+Then he panted forth the words:
+
+"Oh, bless you! Bless you, my queen, my angel! I bless you for this
+great joy!"
+
+"You must be calm, my dear, and hear me out. You must be punctual, and
+meet me on Friday morning at ten o'clock, at _this_ address," she
+continued, handing him a slip of paper with the address in question
+written upon it. "There; now put it into your pocket-book and keep it
+safe."
+
+"I will--I will, my queen! But why may I not go with you?"
+
+"For reasons that I will explain soon. Till I do, you must trust me."
+
+"I trust you utterly."
+
+"Then please leave here for Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, so as to
+precede me by twelve hours. And on Friday morning, by ten o'clock, be at
+the place I have designated, and wait until I join you."
+
+"And we will be married the same day?"
+
+"We will be married at noon on the same day. Now do you understand?"
+
+"My mind is in a delirium of joy, but I understand."
+
+"Now, dearest, you must take me out to the carriage," she said, rising
+and drawing her shawl around her.
+
+He gave her his arm and led her out to the carriage, which the
+frightened negro coachman had driven quite to the opposite side of the
+road from the terrible haunted house.
+
+"Now go on to the Misses Cranes'," she said, after she had taken leave
+of her victim and settled herself in her seat.
+
+It was nearly twelve o'clock when she entered her boarding-house; but
+she told her waiting landladies that she had spent the day and half the
+night with the sick child, and they were satisfied.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+A FATAL JOURNEY.
+
+    Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge,
+    Accursed and in a cursed hour, she hies.
+                                          --MILTON.
+
+
+On that Wednesday morning the fine steamer "Pocahontas" lay at her wharf
+receiving freight and passengers for Washington and Alexandria.
+
+Her decks were crowded with men, women and children, all either going on
+the voyage or "seeing off" departing friends and acquaintances.
+
+Among the passengers on the forward deck stood a slight, elegant,
+graceful woman, clothed in widow's weeds and deeply veiled.
+
+This was, of course, Mary Grey, bound upon her baleful errand.
+
+She had spent the intervening Tuesday with her infatuated instrument,
+Craven Kyte. But when he pleaded to attend her to the boat and see her
+off she forbid his doing so on pain of an eternal separation from her.
+
+But she renewed their agreement that he should precede her by twelve
+hours, and meet her at a designated place in Philadelphia on Friday
+morning.
+
+And she stayed with him until quite late in the evening, and finally
+left him comforted with the hope of a speedy meeting and a certain
+marriage.
+
+For the edification of her landladies, the precise Misses Crane, she
+trumped up a story that at once explained the necessity of her sudden
+journey North, and, as usual, redounded to her own credit.
+
+She had received a telegram, she said, from a friend who had just lost
+her father, and who was in great affliction. And she must go on
+immediately to comfort that bereaved soul.
+
+The Misses Crane, as usual, thought she was an angel in woman's form,
+and bade her heaven speed on her benevolent errand.
+
+And now she stood upon the deck of the "Pocahontas," waiting for that
+traveling companion whom she had fatally beguiled to be her escort.
+
+The boat was getting up her steam, and yet he had not made his
+appearance.
+
+What if he should not come, after all?
+
+Just as she asked this question it was answered by his rapid approach.
+
+He came up, traveling-bag in hand, happy, smiling, radiant.
+
+"Mrs. Grey, I have been looking for you all over the boat. I feared that
+I had missed you," he said, gayly, holding out his hand.
+
+"I have been waiting for you here," she answered, with a smile.
+
+"I am glad to find you at last. But will you not come into the cabin?
+The deck is not a pleasant place while the boat is at the wharf," he
+said, as he offered her his arm.
+
+She thanked him with a smile, took his arm and let him lead her into the
+saloon.
+
+It was at that moment empty of other visitors. And those two were
+_tête-à-tête_.
+
+He gave her a pleasant seat, placed himself beside her, and then and
+there he told her of his betrothal to Emma Cavendish.
+
+Of course she already knew all about it. But he was not aware of her
+knowledge. And his motive in announcing the intelligence to her was
+evident even to Mary Grey's vanity-blinded mind. It was to set their own
+relations at once upon a true basis, and prevent all misunderstanding
+and all false hopes growing out of their long-lost love.
+
+Although she had known all this so well before he spoke of it, yet it
+required all her powers of self-control and duplicity to listen quietly
+while he spoke of her rival and to affect a sympathy with his happiness.
+
+Yet she did this so well that he was thoroughly deceived.
+
+"It was all a foolish mistake our fancying we loved each other so much,
+was it not, Alden, dear?" she inquired, with an arch smile.
+
+"I think so," he answered, quite frankly.
+
+"I am glad to hear you admit that, for now we can understand each other
+and be good friends, and nothing more," she added, sweetly.
+
+"Yes, good friends always, Mary," he agreed.
+
+He was so happy in his blessed love for Emma Cavendish that he felt
+kindly toward all the world, and especially toward this "friendless
+young widow," as he called her.
+
+"But you know, Alden, that it is quite common for young men of earnest
+souls like yours to take a liking to women older than themselves."
+
+"You are not older than myself, Mary."
+
+"Not in years, perhaps, but oh, ever so much in suffering, and in the
+bitter knowledge of the world it brings! And thus, for this reason, I
+was no proper wife for a happy young man like you. No young man should
+ever marry a widow, and no young girl should ever marry a widower. Our
+fancied love for each other was a mistake, dear Alden, and I am very
+glad it was discovered before it was rendered irremediable."
+
+"So am I," replied the young man, quite frankly. "But, dear Mary, I hope
+you will henceforth look upon me and my dearest Emma as your brother and
+sister, for we will be truly such in deed as well as in word to you," he
+added, with grave gentleness.
+
+"I know you will; I feel certain of that. And I thank you from my heart,
+while I rejoice in your happiness. Yours will be a good, wise and
+beautiful marriage with Emma, Alden," she murmured, with emotion.
+
+"Yes, I think so too. Thanks be to Heaven!" replied the young man,
+reverently bowing his head.
+
+The steamer was now pushing off from the wharf amid much pulling,
+hauling, hallooing and shouting.
+
+You couldn't "hear yourself think," even in the cabin, for a while.
+
+"We are off, I believe," said Mary Grey, at length, when the uproar had
+subsided and they were moving swiftly and smoothly along.
+
+"Yes. Will you come on deck? It is pleasanter there now," said Alden,
+rising and offering her his arm.
+
+She took it with a smile and let him lead her up on deck.
+
+And as they promenaded slowly up and down, enjoying the fine September
+morning and the beautiful river scenery, Mary Grey drew him on to speak
+of Emma Cavendish.
+
+Of course the young lover desired no better theme.
+
+And in this way, leading him to discourse of his love, listening to him
+with attention, pretending sympathy with his happiness, she effected
+several objects important to the success of her demoniac plot. She
+pleased him with himself and with her. She dispelled his suspicions, if
+any still lurked in his candid soul, and she kept him always near her,
+talking with her, and unconsciously attracting the attention of their
+fellow-voyagers, and leading them to believe that this handsome young
+man, speaking so earnestly in such low tones to his companion, and the
+lovely youthful widow, who was listening to him with such rapt
+attention, were a pair of happy and devoted lovers.
+
+Thus passed the forenoon.
+
+When the early steamboat dinner was ready he took her down to the table,
+sat beside her, and assiduously attended to her wants.
+
+After dinner, when she was disinclined to walk or to talk, he brought
+out some newspapers and magazines and sat down beside her on deck and
+they read together.
+
+At tea-time he took her down to the table again.
+
+And after tea, as the September night was cool on the water, they sat
+down at one of the cabin tables and played checkers together until it
+was time to retire.
+
+And thus all day long and all the evening through, in sight of all the
+people, Alden Lytton unconsciously conducted himself, as Mary Grey
+intended that he should, like her betrothed lover.
+
+In due time they reached Washington, and crossed the length of the city
+to take the train for Philadelphia, where they arrived late on Thursday
+night.
+
+"Have you any preference for one hotel over another?" inquired Alden, as
+they stood amid the horrible din of contesting hackmen, porters,
+'bus-drivers, _et cætera_.
+
+"None whatever," she answered.
+
+"Then we'll go to the Blank House, if you have no objection."
+
+"None. We will go there."
+
+"Here's your Blank House 'bus!" shouted a driver above all the other
+shouts.
+
+"Oh, don't let us get into that crowded cage! A carriage, please,"
+pleaded Mrs. Grey.
+
+And Alden Lytton, believing her fastidiousness and timidity to be real
+and not affected, and withal feeling bound to be guided by her wishes,
+called a carriage and put her into it.
+
+As they were rolling rapidly on their way to the Blank House, Mary Grey
+shivered and suddenly said:
+
+"Oh, please, when we get to that great rambling hotel do not let them
+put me away off in a room in a remote part of the house by myself or
+among total strangers. I always feel so frightened in a great hotel. And
+I am always sure to lose myself, or do something ridiculous, or get into
+trouble, whenever I attempt to find my way through the labyrinth of
+halls and passages between the bedrooms and parlors. Will you please
+take care of me?"
+
+"I will take the same care of you that I would take of my sister Laura.
+I will see that you have a room adjoining my own," answered Alden
+Lytton, unsuspiciously, and smiling indulgently at what he thought her
+childish cowardice.
+
+When their carriage reached the Blank House he took her up to the
+reception-room and left her there, while he went to the office and
+engaged apartments for himself and for her.
+
+And then he came for her, attended by the porter, who loaded himself
+with their traveling-bags, umbrellas, and so forth, and led the way up
+two pairs of stairs to a little suite of apartments, consisting of two
+small chambers, with a small parlor between them.
+
+They entered the parlor first, where communicating doors on the right
+and left led into opposite chambers.
+
+The porter put down the luggage, received his fee, and retired.
+
+"I hope you like these rooms, Mrs. Grey. The two chambers are exactly
+alike; but if you have a preference, please take it," said Alden,
+pleasantly.
+
+"It does not matter the least. I will go in here," answered Mary Grey,
+opening the right-hand door and disappearing through it, with her
+traveling-bag in her hand.
+
+She found every convenience for making a clean toilet there. And when
+she had refreshed herself with a wash and a change of dress, she
+re-entered the little parlor, where she found supper laid on the table
+and an attentive waiter at hand.
+
+"I ordered supper here, because I remembered your fastidiousness and
+thought you would prefer this to the public dining-room," explained
+Alden.
+
+"Thanks! Oh, I do like it ever so much better! I can not endure the
+public rooms," said Mary Grey, as she took the seat the obsequious
+waiter placed for her.
+
+"Anything more, if you please, sir?" inquired the man.
+
+"N-n-no," answered Alden, hesitatingly; for in fact, if he could have
+found a fair excuse, he would have preferred to have the waiter remain
+in attendance.
+
+The man bowed and left the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+THE SERPENT AT WORK.
+
+    One sole desire, one passion, now remains
+    To keep life's fever still within her veins.
+    For this alone she lives--like lightning's fire,
+    To speed one bolt of ruin--and expire.
+                                           --BYRON.
+
+
+Alden sat down at the table and began to carve a roasted chicken.
+
+While he was intent upon his task, Mary Grey drew from her watch-pocket
+a little folded paper. With her eyes upon him, to be sure that he was
+not observing her, she deftly poured a white powder from this paper into
+one of the coffee-cups, and then quickly returned the empty paper to her
+watch-pocket.
+
+Meanwhile he had taken off the liver-wing from the roasted chicken and
+placed it on a warm plate, which he passed to her.
+
+"Will you have a cup of coffee now, or afterward?" she inquired, as she
+took the offered plate.
+
+"Now, please. Coffee is the most refreshing of all beverages after a
+fatiguing journey," he added, as he received the cup from her hands.
+
+It was a very nice supper, yet neither of them seemed inclined to eat.
+
+Mary Grey trifled with her chicken-wing, tasted her milk-toast and
+sipped a little coffee. She looked pale, frightened and
+self-concentrated.
+
+Alden Lytton drank his coffee, remarking, with a smile, that it was
+very, very strong, in fact quite bitter in its strength.
+
+And when he had finished it he pushed the cup away, saying that it had
+quite satisfied him and deprived him of the inclination to take anything
+else.
+
+As he said this he looked at his companion, and noticed for the first
+time the ghastliness of her countenance.
+
+"Mrs. Grey, are you ill?" he inquired, in some alarm.
+
+"No; only fatigued from that railway journey. The train always shakes me
+into a jelly," she answered, shivering.
+
+"How very delicate you are, poor child! It is a great pity you should
+ever be called to bear any of the roughness of life. And when my dear
+Emma and I have a home together we must take care to shield you from all
+that," he said.
+
+And then he sank into a sudden silence, while she watched him closely.
+
+"Will _you_ not take anything?" she inquired.
+
+"No, thank you. That coffee was no doubt very fine; but it was a bitter
+draught, and it has taken away my appetite for anything else," he
+answered, with a smile and a half-suppressed yawn.
+
+"Are you not well?" she next inquired.
+
+"Oh, yes; quite well; never better in my life!" he answered, putting his
+hands on his lips to conceal an irrepressible yawn.
+
+"But you also seem very tired."
+
+"No, only deliciously sleepy, as if I would like to go to sleep and
+never wake up again," he said, with a laugh and a smothered gape.
+
+"Then do not stand on ceremony with an old friend like me. Bid me
+good-night and go at once," she said.
+
+"And you?" he inquired.
+
+"I am too tired to go to sleep yet. I shall sit in that rocking-chair
+and rock gently. That motion will soothe and rest me better than
+anything else, and after an hour I shall be able to go to bed and go to
+sleep."
+
+As Mary Grey spoke, Alden Lytton staggered to his feet and tottered
+toward her, held out his hand and faltered, drowsily:
+
+"I am forced to take your advice. I must retire at once or I shall not
+be able to reach my room. I never felt so over-powered by sleep in all
+my life before. Good-night, my dear Mrs. Grey. I hope that you will
+sleep as well as I am sure that I shall. Good-night."
+
+He pressed her hand, and then, groping like a blind man, he passed into
+his own room and shut the door behind him.
+
+Mary Grey gazed breathlessly at the closed door for a while, murmuring
+to herself:
+
+"I doubt if that fellow will be able to divest himself of his outer
+garments before he falls down headlong in a dead stupor. I have him in
+my power now--I have him in my power now! At last--at last! Oh, yes! Oh,
+yes, Miss Cavendish, you will marry him, will you not? And you, Stephen
+Lyle, how proud you will be to have his sister for your wife and himself
+for a brother-in-law! But I must cover up my tracks," she added,
+suddenly, as she went around to his vacated place at the table and took
+his empty cup and rinsed it out carefully several times, throwing the
+water into the empty grate, where it soon dried up. Then she poured some
+of the coffee-grounds from her own cup into the rinsed cup to conceal
+the rinsing. Finally she drew from her watch-pocket the little white
+paper from which she had poured the powder into the coffee-cup and she
+held it in the blaze of the gas-light until it was burned to ashes.
+
+Then she sat down in the rocking-chair and smiled as she rested.
+
+At intervals she bent her head toward the door leading into Alden
+Lytton's room and listened; but she heard no sound of life in there.
+
+She sat on in the rocker until the striking of a large clock somewhere
+in the neighborhood aroused her.
+
+It was twelve o'clock.
+
+Midnight!
+
+She arose and cautiously opened the door leading into Alden Lytton's
+room.
+
+She looked like a thief.
+
+The gas was turned down very low; but by its dim light she saw him
+sleeping a heavy, trance-like sleep.
+
+She went into the room and to the door leading into the passage and
+bolted it.
+
+Then she closed every window-shutter and drew down every window-shade
+and let down the heavy moreen curtains, making all dark.
+
+Then she returned to the parlor, closed the intervening door and threw
+herself into the rocking-chair and closed her eyes in the vain endeavor
+to rest and sleep.
+
+But sleep and rest were far from her that night.
+
+The clock struck one.
+
+All sounds even about that busy hotel gradually ceased. The house was
+still, awfully still, yet she could not sleep.
+
+The clock struck two.
+
+She started up with a shiver, exclaiming:
+
+"I can not sleep; but I can go to bed and lie there."
+
+And she went into her own room and went to bed, but not to rest.
+
+She heard the clock strike in succession every hour of the night, until
+it finally struck four.
+
+Then, when the people of the house were beginning to stir, she, overcome
+with fatigue and watching, at length fell asleep.
+
+As usual in such cases of long night watching and early morning sleep,
+she slept long into the forenoon. When she awoke and looked at her watch
+she found it was nine o'clock.
+
+She arose in haste and dressed herself.
+
+This was the morning in which she was to meet her unconscious
+confederate in crime, Craven Kyte.
+
+As soon as she was dressed she went into the parlor, where, it appeared,
+the waiter with his pass-key had already been before her, for the
+remains of the last night's supper had been carried away and the room
+had been restored to order.
+
+She then listened at Alden Lytton's door.
+
+All was dark as a vault and still as death there.
+
+She opened the door cautiously and went in.
+
+He was still sleeping a death-like sleep in the pitch-dark room. She
+went and looked to the door leading into the passage and found it still
+bolted.
+
+Then she came out of the room, locked the door between it and the
+parlor, and so isolated the sleeper from all the house.
+
+Lastly she put on her bonnet and shawl and walked out. She walked down
+the street for several blocks, and then hailed an empty cab that was
+passing and engaged it to take her to a certain picture-shop in a
+distant part of the city.
+
+It was at this shop that she had engaged to meet Craven Kyte that
+morning at ten o'clock.
+
+A half-hour's rapid drive brought her to the place.
+
+On arriving, she got out, paid and dismissed the cab, and entered the
+shop.
+
+It was not yet ten o'clock, nor had her intended tool and victim yet
+made his appearance.
+
+It was also too early for the usual customers of the establishment.
+
+But a polite clerk came forward and placed a catalogue and a small
+telescope in her hands, that she might the better examine the pictures.
+
+"Thank you. I would like to look at a city directory first, if you
+please," she said, as she put aside the catalogue and the telescope.
+
+The clerk handed her the required volume.
+
+She turned to the church directory, and looked down its columns until
+she found what she seemed to be in search of.
+
+And then she marked it with a pencil and closed the book.
+
+At that moment Craven Kyte entered the shop.
+
+On catching sight of her whom he loved and came to meet his face lighted
+up with joy and he hastened toward her.
+
+But she held up a warning finger to him, and in obedience to its signal
+he moderated his transports and came to her quietly.
+
+"This is no place to make demonstrations of that sort," she said.
+"Here, take your pencil and a bit of paper and copy off this address for
+me," she added, opening the directory and pointing to the name she had
+marked.
+
+"The Reverend Mr. Borden, number --, ---- street," said Craven Kyte,
+reading the address that he had copied.
+
+"That will do; now come along. We will go straight to that reverend
+gentleman's house," said Mary Grey.
+
+And they left the shop together.
+
+"Oh, Mary, my love--my love! How tantalizing it is to me to meet you
+here in public, where I may scarcely take your dear hand, when my heart
+is nearly breaking with its repressed feelings!" he whispered, in eager
+tones.
+
+"You impatient boy, you are worse than any spoiled child!" she said,
+archly.
+
+"Oh, Mary, my love, my lady, you will keep your promise? You will be
+mine to-day?" he pleaded.
+
+"I will be yours within two hours--upon one condition."
+
+"Name it--name it!" he eagerly exclaimed.
+
+"You must not marry me under your own name, but under that of Alden
+Lytton."
+
+When she had said this, she stole a glance at him to see how he took it,
+and she was somewhat abashed by the look of unutterable amazement on the
+honest face of the young man.
+
+"Come, what do you say to that?" she inquired.
+
+"My dear Mary, what an astounding proposition!" he exclaimed.
+
+"But you will agree to it?"
+
+He was silent.
+
+"You will agree to this, because you love me," she added.
+
+But he continued silent and very sad.
+
+"You will agree to do this for the sake of making me your wife?" she
+persisted.
+
+"My dearest Mary, it is impossible!" he answered, with a painful effort.
+
+"There! I knew it! Say no more! You professed great love for me once.
+You were willing to do, dare, or die for me, if necessary. You wished me
+to put you to the test, to _try_ you, as you called it; yet, the very
+first time I have tested your sincerity, you have failed me, as I
+foresaw that you would. Good-bye, Mr. Craven Kyte. We part here, and we
+part forever," said Mary Grey, with cold contempt, as she turned away
+from him.
+
+"No, no, no--for Heaven's sake, no!" cried the young man, piteously. "Do
+not leave me so suddenly. Give me time to think. Oh, I can not part
+with you! I must--must have you at any cost!" he muttered to himself.
+
+She stopped and contemplated him as with scornful pity.
+
+"Come--come into the square here and sit down. Let us talk this matter
+over. Pray do! Oh, I can not lose you so!" he pleaded, seizing her hand.
+
+"Well, I will go in and sit on one of those benches for a few moments,
+and give you the opportunity of recovering your place in my confidence,"
+she said, with a sort of contemptuous pity, as she turned and entered
+the square.
+
+He followed her immediately, and they sat down together.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+A WICKED WEDDING.
+
+                         Bid me to leap
+    From off the battlements of yonder tower
+    And I will do it.
+                              --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+"Now tell me what you wish me to do, and why you wish me to do it," said
+the lover, submissively.
+
+"I have already told you _what_ I wish you to do. _Why_ I wish you to do
+it must remain my secret for the present. You must trust me. Oh,
+Craven," she added, suddenly changing her tone to one of soft, sorrowful
+pleading, "why will you not trust me, when I am about to trust you with
+the happiness of my whole future life?"
+
+"I do trust you! I trust you, as I love you, without limit!" answered
+the poor fellow, almost weeping.
+
+"Ah, you _say_ you do, yet you refuse to do as I wish you," sorrowfully
+replied the siren.
+
+"I refuse no longer! I will do anything in the world you wish me to do
+with joy, if in that way I can have you for my own," he declared, with
+tearful emphasis.
+
+"I knew you would. You are a dear, good, true heart, and I love you more
+than life!" she said, giving his arm a squeeze. "Listen, now."
+
+He became suddenly all devoted attention, as she artfully unfolded to
+him just as much of her nefarious plan as was absolutely necessary to
+secure his co-operation in it. The whole of her scheme in all its
+diabolical wickedness she dared not expose to his honest soul.
+
+She told him now that she had set her mind on a harmless practical joke,
+to win a wager with Emma Cavendish.
+
+She said that he must so with her to see the Rev. Mr. Borden, rector of
+St. ---- Church, and ask him to perform the marriage ceremony between
+them, and that he must give his own name as Mr. Alden Lytton, attorney
+at law, Richmond, Virginia, and give her name as it was--Mrs. Mary Grey,
+of the same city. And that they must be married under those names.
+
+The young man stared until his black eyes looked big as old Booth's in
+the last scene of "Richard."
+
+"But why?" he inquired.
+
+"A practical joke, I tell you. Ah, how hard you are to manage! Why can
+you not trust me through a little mystery like this--a little practical
+joke like this?"
+
+"I _do_ trust you; but I am afraid that it might seem like a practical
+forgery to be married under another person's name," he replied.
+
+"Nonsense! Do you think that I could be such an idiot as to implicate
+you in any act that might be construed into forgery, practical or
+otherwise?" she inquired, with a light laugh.
+
+"Oh, no, certainly you are not the lady to do that!" he admitted.
+
+"Well, then, what next? You look as solemn as a judge or an owl!"
+
+"I am afraid, also, that if I should be married under any other name
+than my own our marriage itself might turn out to be nothing more than a
+practical joke instead of a legal union."
+
+"Mr. Kyte!" she suddenly exclaimed, with her eyes flashing fire. "You
+insult me! Am I the sort of woman that would compromise my good name in
+a marriage of doubtful legality?"
+
+"Oh, no; certainly you would not! Nor did I mean that. I earnestly beg
+your pardon!" said Craven, penitently.
+
+"You are a silly gander, and a dear, darling duck of a boy! And I love
+you! But you must understand that I know what I am about. And you must
+trust me--you must trust me; and, once for all, you must _trust_ me!"
+she said, archly, giving his arm another squeeze.
+
+"I do--I do! Come; shall we be going? I am on the rack till our wedding
+is over."
+
+"Yes; but we must take a cab. The distance is a long one."
+
+"There is a cab-stand a couple of blocks from here. I noticed it as I
+came along. We will take one there, if you please."
+
+She assented, and they walked on to the stand and engaged a cab.
+
+When they were seated in it Craven Kyte ordered the cabman to drive to
+the rectory of St. ---- Church.
+
+Half an hour's driving brought them to their destination.
+
+When the cab drew up to the door of the house, Craven was about to
+alight, when Mary Grey stopped him.
+
+"Wait," she said.
+
+And taking from her card-case a pencil and a blank card, she wrote upon
+it the name:
+
+"Mr. Alden Lytton."
+
+"Send that in," she said, handing the card to the bewildered young man.
+
+Craven Kyte took it, looked at it attentively, and then exclaimed:
+
+"Why, that is exactly like Mr. Lytton's own handwriting! If I had not
+seen you write it I should have taken it to be his autograph."
+
+"Should you? So much the better. But never mind that now. Go and do as I
+told you."
+
+He alighted immediately and went up to the door of the house. He rang
+the bell, and sent in the card by the servant who answered it.
+
+After the lapse of a few moments the servant came back with a very
+favorable message.
+
+Craven Kyte returned to the cab and whispered:
+
+"Mr. Borden is at home and will see us. Come."
+
+And he assisted her to alight.
+
+And they went into the rectory, and were shown by a servant into the
+study of the rector.
+
+Mary Grey courtesied to the gray-haired, dignified clergyman, who arose
+to receive her; but she kept her veil down as she took her seat in the
+chair he placed for her.
+
+Craven Kyte then drew the reverend gentleman aside and spoke to him in a
+low voice.
+
+Mr. Borden nodded and nodded as the speaker proceeded.
+
+When he had finished speaking, the rector inquired:
+
+"Both of legal age?"
+
+"Both of more than legal age, and both quite independent of others,"
+answered Craven Kyte.
+
+"I merely asked the question because in cases of this kind I prefer that
+the parties should be of legal age; though were they minors I should
+feel it to be my duty to marry them all the same, because, I think, when
+a youth and maiden run away with each other the best thing a Christian
+minister can do for them is to tie them together for life."
+
+"I am a bachelor of twenty-two years of age, and my chosen wife is a
+widow of twenty-one. We take this simple method of getting married for
+economy and convenience, and for no other reason; for there is no one in
+the world who has either the power or the will to prevent us," said
+Craven Kyte.
+
+"Very well, Mr. Lytton; I am ready to wait on you. I prefer, however, to
+solemnize marriage in the church, when possible. There must be witnesses
+also. And if you have none at hand the sexton and some members of his
+family can serve."
+
+Craven Kyte winced at the prospect of all these formalities.
+
+"I thought that in the Quaker City marriage was a matter of less form,"
+he said.
+
+"Yes, among the Quakers; but even they must have witnesses. If you and
+the lady will go into the church I will join you there in a few minutes.
+You will find the doors open and the sexton in the building, preparing
+for the usual Friday afternoon service," said the rector.
+
+And Craven Kyte again offered his arm to his companion and led her out
+of the rectory and into the church.
+
+It was evident from all signs that the interior had just been swept out.
+
+And an old man and a young woman, whom Craven Kyte and his companion
+rightly guessed to be the sexton and the sexton's daughter, were busily
+engaged in dusting the pews.
+
+Craven Kyte and Mary Grey sat down upon a front seat before the altar to
+wait until the rector should make his appearance.
+
+Mr. Borden did not keep them long in suspense. He soon entered, dressed
+in his surplice, and took his place within the chancel.
+
+The candidates for matrimony advanced and stood before him.
+
+He beckoned the sexton and the sexton's daughter to draw near and stand
+as witnesses.
+
+And they came up, dusting-brushes in hand, and stood staring while the
+ceremony was performed.
+
+After the preliminary exhortation and prayers the important questions
+were put:
+
+"Will you, Alden, take Mary to be your wedded wife, to live together
+after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony?" and so forth,
+and so forth, and so forth.
+
+To which Craven Kyte, turning pale at his own unwilling duplicity in
+answering to a false name, replied:
+
+"I will."
+
+"Will you, Mary, take Alden to be your wedded husband?" and so forth,
+and so forth.
+
+To which Mary Grey answered firmly:
+
+"I will."
+
+And the ring was placed upon her finger. And her marriage vows were
+solemnly repeated, the last prayer said, and the benediction pronounced.
+
+It was all over.
+
+"Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder."
+
+The newly-married pair were about to turn from the altar, when the
+rector said:
+
+"Come with me into the vestry for a moment."
+
+And they followed him into the vestry, attended by the two witnesses.
+
+The rector made an entry into a large book, and then called upon the
+bridegroom and the bride to sign their names.
+
+Again Craven Kyte turned pale as death as he registered the false name
+under which he had been married.
+
+But his companion wrote her name in firm and steady characters.
+
+Then the sexton and his daughter signed as witnesses.
+
+The rector filled out a blank form, which he also signed and caused to
+be signed by the two witnesses.
+
+This he put into an envelope and handed to the bride.
+
+Then he bowed to both, as a signal that all the forms had been complied
+with, and they were at liberty to depart.
+
+"What was that paper the minister gave you, my dearest love?" whispered
+Craven, as they left the church.
+
+"It was the certificate of marriage which the minister usually--and very
+properly--gives to the newly-married woman," answered the bride.
+
+"Oh, quite right, my angel!" replied the doomed bridegroom, as he
+tenderly put her into the cab and took his seat beside her.
+
+And then he clasped her to his honest heart in an ecstasy of love and
+went off into the most extravagant rhapsodies about his happiness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+AFTER THE WICKED WEDDING.
+
+    "And I no friends to back my cause withal,
+    But the plain devil and dissembling looks.
+    I have him, but I will not keep him long."
+
+
+"Did you tell the coachman where to drive?" inquired the bride, as the
+carriage rolled rapidly through one of the principal streets of the
+city.
+
+"Yes, dearest," answered the infatuated bridegroom. "I told him to drive
+to the Asterick, where I am stopping, and where I have had elegant rooms
+prepared for your reception. Do you think I could have forgotten
+anything in which your comfort was concerned?"
+
+"No, I am sure you could not; but--" She hesitated a moment, and then
+added: "I wanted to go somewhere else."
+
+"My love--my love, you shall go where you please. After we have got to
+our rooms at the Asterick, and refreshed and rested ourselves, we will
+consult about where to go and spend a pleasant fortnight together," he
+answered, affectionately.
+
+"Yes; but I don't want to go to the Asterick just yet."
+
+"Where then? I will go anywhere you wish."
+
+"You know I did not come to this city alone."
+
+"Didn't you, dear? I thought you did."
+
+"No; I came with a party of lady friends. And I left them all abruptly
+this morning to meet you, without telling them where I was going or when
+I should be back. I have now been gone two hours. They will be uneasy
+about me by this time. I must go back there and relieve their anxiety,
+and also get my traveling-bag."
+
+"Very well, my darling, we will drive there immediately."
+
+"No, no; _you_ must not go there! I have not told them anything about my
+intended marriage, so I don't want them to know anything about it, lest
+they should be offended. There is a reading-room at the corner of the
+street near the hotel. Stop there, and I will get out and walk to the
+house and take leave of my friends, and then return to the reading-room
+and join you. In the meantime you can send the carriage away, and while
+waiting for me you can amuse yourself looking over the books."
+
+"But I hate to lose you even for an hour."
+
+"Ah, be reasonable, and remember that it will be but for an hour or less
+time. And when we meet again it will be to part no more forever--or
+until death himself shall part us."
+
+"I must submit, I suppose," said Craven, with a sigh.
+
+"Submit? Oh, you crazy boy! You talk as if you were making some painful
+sacrifice!" she answered, with a light laugh.
+
+"It _is_ painful to let you leave me even for an hour."
+
+"Bah! You'll be glad to be rid of me some of these days."
+
+"Never!"
+
+"Bah, I say again! Come, here we are at the reading-room. Stop the
+carriage."
+
+He did so.
+
+"Let me out here and I will walk on," she said.
+
+"Had you not better let me get out here, and keep your own seat and
+drive on?" he inquired.
+
+"No. I don't want the carriage to take me to the hotel. The distance is
+short. I prefer walking. You had better dismiss it, and go into the
+reading-room and amuse yourself while waiting for me," she said.
+
+He acquiesced, and she got out and walked rapidly on toward the Blank
+House.
+
+With her thick veil let down, she slipped in through the ladies'
+entrance with some visitors that just happened to be going there.
+
+She hurried upstairs to her own rooms and unlocked the door of the
+private parlor.
+
+All within the place was just as she had left it two hours before.
+
+She opened the window-shutters to let in the daylight, and then she went
+and listened at the door communicating with Alden Lytton's room.
+
+At first all was still. But presently she heard a step about the room,
+and soon after other motions that proved the inmate to be busy at his
+toilet.
+
+"He is up and dressing himself. I have not returned one minute too
+soon," she said, as she seated herself in an easy-chair near the window.
+
+The next moment the door opened and Alden Lytton entered, smiling.
+
+"I do not know how to apologize for my stupid neglect. But I hope you
+will believe me when I assure you it was inadvertent. The truth is I
+overslept myself. I can't think what made me do it," he said, actually
+blushing like a boy at the thought of his involuntary sluggishness.
+
+"You were very much fatigued last night. I am very glad you had a
+refreshing sleep. I hope you feel the better for it," she answered, with
+her sweet smile.
+
+"Well, no; not much better. You know there is such a thing as taking too
+much sleep. I feel quite as if I had taken twice too much--dull and
+heavy, with a stupid headache. I never was inebriated in my life, but I
+should think a man that had been so, over night, would feel just as I do
+this morning."
+
+"Ah, I am sorry! But the fresh air will do you good, no doubt."
+
+"No doubt. And really it is not worth speaking of. I see you have your
+hat on. You have been taking a walk this fine morning, while I lay like
+a sluggard, sleeping myself into a headache?"
+
+"No, I have not been out. I put my hat on merely to be ready to start
+the moment we had breakfasted. For I must go and see the principal of
+the ladies' school this morning."
+
+"Why, I hope you have not waited breakfast for me all this time!"
+exclaimed Alden, in a tone of regret.
+
+"I have not waited very long. And if I must confess the fault, I have
+not been up very long myself."
+
+"Ah!" laughed Alden Lytton. "So somebody else overslept herself!"
+
+"Yes; ''tis true, 'tis pity, and pity 'tis 'tis true!'"
+
+"You must be hungry, however. I will ring and order breakfast directly."
+
+"No, please don't. It will take too much time. For once we will go down
+in the dining-room and get our breakfast."
+
+"As you please," said Alden Lytton, as he arose to attend her
+down-stairs.
+
+The guests had nearly all left the dining-room, so there were waiters
+enough at leisure to attend to these late arrivals; and it followed, of
+course, that they had not long to wait for their coffee and rolls.
+
+They did not tarry over their meal. Both were in a hurry.
+
+"I should have been at the law publisher's two hours ago," said Alden.
+
+"And I should have been at the ladies' school about the same time,"
+added Mary.
+
+"I shall never forgive myself for sleeping so ridiculously long and
+detaining you," said Alden.
+
+"Say no more about it. We shall only have to hurry over our breakfast to
+make up for lost time," answered the traitress.
+
+And they soon finished and arose from the table.
+
+"Will you be so good as to order a carriage for me while I run upstairs
+and get my traveling-bag?" she inquired.
+
+"Certainly," he answered, as he gave her his arm and led her to the foot
+of the grand staircase.
+
+And as she ran up, he turned and sent a hall porter for the carriage.
+
+And then he waited at the foot of the stairs for her return.
+
+The carriage was announced, and she reappeared about the same time.
+
+She carried in her hand a leather bag and a small silk umbrella, both of
+which she handed to a porter.
+
+"This looks like a departure," said Alden Lytton, as he gave her his arm
+to lead her to the carriage.
+
+"It may be a departure," she answered; "and I must take this, perhaps
+last, opportunity of thanking you for all your brotherly kindness to me.
+If I should not return by six o'clock this evening, please give up my
+room."
+
+"I will do so," said Alden Lytton. "And in that case I also shall give
+up my room, for I think I shall be able to get through with my business
+to-day. If you should be returning to Virginia I should be pleased to
+escort you back."
+
+"Thanks! But I rather think that I shall try the school. That will do. I
+am very comfortable. Thanks, very much!" she added, as she settled
+herself in the seat where he had placed her.
+
+"Where shall I tell the coachman to drive?" inquired Alden.
+
+"Tell him to call first at the reading-room at the corner of the next
+street. I wish to look at the directory there before going further."
+
+This order was given to the coachman, who immediately started his
+horses.
+
+In a very few minutes the carriage drew up before the reading-room door.
+
+Mary Grey--as I still prefer to call her--got out and ran into the room.
+
+Craven Kyte was there, trying to interest himself in a morning paper. As
+soon as he saw her he dropped the paper and started to meet her.
+
+"It seems to me you have been gone four hours instead of one," he said.
+
+"I have been gone just an hour and seven minutes, you very bad boy!" she
+answered, playfully. "Now, then, I am at your lordship's service."
+
+"Oh, my beloved, do not speak so to me, even in sport, for you are my
+queen and I am your subject! Shall we go now?"
+
+"Yes, I have a carriage at the door, with my little luggage in it."
+
+"Come then, love."
+
+They went out together and entered the carriage.
+
+"Drive to the Asterick Hotel," said Craven Kyte to the coachman.
+
+"And tell him to drive slowly, for I wish to talk to you as we go
+along," she whispered.
+
+"Drive slowly," said Mr. Kyte, giving her order.
+
+"Now, Craven, dear," she said, as they went along, "I wish you to
+understand that I don't want to stop at the Asterick longer than it will
+take you to pay your bill and pack your portmanteau."
+
+"Where do you want to go then, my darling? I am ready to go anywhere
+with you," he replied.
+
+"Then I have a fancy for spending a few days at Havre-de-Grace. It is a
+very pretty place. We can take the next train and get there in two or
+three hours."
+
+"Very well, my angel, I will make every effort to catch that train."
+
+"Now, then, tell the coachman to drive fast."
+
+Again Craven Kyte conveyed her orders to the man on the box, who touched
+up his horses.
+
+And they were whirled rapidly on toward the Asterick Hotel, where they
+soon arrived.
+
+"Hadn't I better tell the carriage to wait?" inquired Craven Kyte.
+
+"No; send it away. We can pick up another one in a moment," answered his
+companion.
+
+Craven Kyte paid and discharged the carriage, and they went into the
+house.
+
+He took his companion up into the private parlor he had engaged for her,
+and he pressed her to partake of some refreshments while he packed up
+his portmanteau and paid his bill.
+
+But she declined the refreshments and said she would wait, keeping
+herself closely veiled all the time.
+
+He hurried through his business as fast as he could, and soon rejoined
+her.
+
+He took her down to the cab he had engaged, and which was already packed
+with their luggage.
+
+A half-hour's rapid drive took them to the railway station, which they
+reached only in time to buy their tickets, check their baggage and take
+their seats before the train started.
+
+It was the express. And they were soon whirled through the country to
+the town where the bride chose to spend her honeymoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+HER CRIME.
+
+
+They took rooms in a pleasant hotel in the town, and after an early tea
+they strolled down to the water-side to look at the small shipping.
+
+It was a delicious evening in September. The sun had just set, and the
+whole expanse of water was aflame with the afterglow.
+
+A refreshing breeze had sprung up, and the river was alive with pleasure
+boats of every description, from the sail- to the row-boat.
+
+And there were more boats for hire, at the service of any who might wish
+to amuse themselves upon the water.
+
+"Take a boat. Craven, and let us go out for a row. The evening is so
+delightful, the sky and the water so beautiful," said the bride,
+coaxingly.
+
+"I would like to do so, my angel; but, to tell the truth, I am a very
+inexperienced oarsman, and I can not swim at all," answered the poor
+fellow, apologetically.
+
+"Are you afraid then, Craven?" she asked, with exasperating archness.
+
+"No, love, not for myself, but for you. If by my awkwardness any
+accident should happen to you I think I should run raving mad," he
+answered, earnestly.
+
+"Oh, well, never mind me! There is no cause for fear whatever, as far as
+I am concerned. I can row like a squaw and I can swim like a duck. And I
+think I could do so ever since I could walk. At least, I certainly do
+not remember the time when I could not swim," said the lady, laughingly.
+
+"What a wonder you are--in everything!" exclaimed the lover-bridegroom,
+in a rapture of admiration.
+
+"No wonder at all. I was brought up on the water-side, and was always a
+sort of amphibious little creature, as often in the water as out of it.
+Come, now, will you hire a boat to please me?"
+
+"Of course! I would do anything in the world to please you, my angel!"
+
+"Then engage that little pea-green boat. It is a nice one," she said,
+pointing to a frail skiff moored near them.
+
+"That, my dearest Mary? Why, that is a mere egg-shell! It could not live
+in rough water. And if this gentle breeze should rise into a wind--"
+
+"Are you afraid?" she inquired, with provoking sarcasm.
+
+"I say again not for myself, but for you."
+
+"And I say again that there can be no ground of fear for me. I say again
+I can row like a squaw and swim like a duck. There! Now will you get the
+boat I want?"
+
+"Yes, my darling, I will. And I will also take the precaution to hire
+the man in charge of it to help us row, in case of accidents."
+
+"No, no, no; I won't have the man! He would spoil all our pleasure. I
+want you and myself to go out alone together, and have no interloper
+with us."
+
+"But, my beloved--"
+
+"I don't believe you love me at all, when you want a great hulking
+boatman to be in the boat with us, watching us," said the bride, with
+pretty childish petulance.
+
+"Not love you? Oh, heaven of heavens! You _know_ how I love you--how I
+_adore_ you--how I _worship_ you!" he whispered, earnestly.
+
+"Will you get the boat I want before it grows too dark?"
+
+"Yes, yes, I will, my darling! I can refuse you nothing," said the
+infatuated bridegroom as he walked down to the water's edge and
+forthwith hired the one she had set her heart on.
+
+Then he came back to take her down to the boat.
+
+It was a mere shell, as he had said; and though the boatman declared
+that it could easily carry six if required, it did not look as if it
+would safely bear more than two or three passengers at most.
+
+They were soon floating out upon the water and down with the tide past
+the dingy colliers and the small trading vessels that were anchored
+there, and out among the coming and going sloops and schooners.
+
+"Let me row toward that beautiful wooded shore. It is so lovely over
+there!" said Mary Grey, coaxingly.
+
+"'Distance lends,' and so forth," smiled Craven Kyte, as he at once
+headed for the shore.
+
+But the outgoing tide had left a muddy beach there, and so they had to
+keep at a respectful distance from it.
+
+They rowed again to the middle of the river.
+
+The afterglow had faded away, but the blue-black starlit sky was
+brilliantly reflected in the dark water.
+
+When they had rowed an hour longer, back and forth from shore to shore,
+Craven Kyte drew in his oar and said:
+
+"It is growing late and very dark, love. Had we not better go in?"
+
+"No, no, no!" answered the bride, with prettily assumed authority.
+
+"But, dear love--"
+
+"The night is beautiful! I could stay out here until morning!"
+
+"But chills and fevers, these September nights, darling!"
+
+"Fiddle-de-dee! Are you afraid?"
+
+"Not for myself, love, but for you."
+
+"I never had a chill in my life! I am acclimated to these water-side
+places. If you are tired of rowing give me the oars."
+
+"Not for the world! What, fatigue your dear arms? I would sooner mine
+dropped from my shoulders with weariness!"
+
+And he took up both oars again and plied them actively, although his
+unaccustomed muscles were aching from the long-continued exercise.
+
+"Turn down the stream then and row with the tide. It will be so much
+lighter work than rowing back and forth across the river."
+
+"But it will take us so far from the town."
+
+"Never mind!"
+
+"And it will make it very difficult, when we turn back, to row against
+wind and tide."
+
+"Bah, we will not stay out long! We will only go around that point that
+I see before us. What a fascination there is in a turning point! We
+always want to see what is on the other side," said Mary Grey, lightly.
+
+Meantime, Craven Kyte had turned the boat and they were floating down
+stream very fast.
+
+They soon passed the point, and saw on the other side a flat, sandy
+shore, with the woods at a little distance.
+
+They were still off the point, when Mary Grey suddenly uttered an
+exclamation of dismay.
+
+"What is the matter?" hastily inquired Craven Kyte.
+
+"Oh, my hat! My hat has fallen off my head and is in the water! If you
+stoop over quick you can reach it before it floats quite away!" she
+said, eagerly.
+
+Craven Kyte immediately drew in his oars and secured them, and then bent
+over the side of the boat to reach the hat that was still floating
+within three feet of his hands. He bent very far out and endangered his
+balance.
+
+Mary Grey arose to her feet. Her eyes were glittering like phosphorus in
+the night, her face pallid in the starlight.
+
+He bent lower down and further out, trying to reach the hat, when
+suddenly she gave him a push and he fell into the river, and went down
+before he could utter the cry upon his lips.
+
+The force with which she had pushed her victim into the water had given
+the little boat an impetus that sent it flying down the stream, and
+rocking violently from side to side.
+
+It was as much as she could do to keep her place in it. Any other than
+an experienced boat-woman like herself must have been shaken out and
+drowned.
+
+She heard her victim's agonized scream for help as he rose the first
+time to the surface of the water.
+
+But she gave it no attention.
+
+For even if she had repented, and had wished to save him, she could not
+do so now.
+
+She could, with the greatest difficulty, keep her place in the rocking
+boat until the impetus that had started it was spent.
+
+Yet again that awful cry for help pierced the night sky as the drowning
+man arose the second time to the surface; but on this occasion the cry
+sounded farther off, and the boat, though it had ceased to rock, was
+flying rapidly down stream.
+
+She took hold of the rudder and tried to guide the flying little shell.
+
+Her situation, self-sought as it had been, was one of almost intolerable
+horror.
+
+The night sky was above her, the dark waters beneath her, and around
+her, at various distances, like little dim white specks, were to be seen
+the sails of the coming and going colliers, and other small trading
+craft.
+
+She steered down the stream with the tide, pausing now and then and
+listening. But she heard no more that agonized cry of the drowning man,
+though she knew it would ring in her spirit's ears forever.
+
+She steered down stream until she heard the sound of oars, and of merry
+laughter and cheerful talk, and then she dimly perceived the approach of
+a large pleasure boat crowded with gentlemen and ladies.
+
+Then she, knowing it was too late to save her victim, deceitfully raised
+a shrill scream, that attracted the attention of the people in the large
+boat, which was immediately rowed in the direction of the cry.
+
+Soon the two boats were side by side.
+
+"What is the matter?" inquired a man's voice from the larger boat.
+
+"Oh, for Heaven's sake, help! My companion has fallen overboard, and, I
+fear, is drowned!" cried Mary Grey, wringing her hands in well-simulated
+grief and terror.
+
+"Where? Where?" inquired a dozen eager, interested voices, all at once.
+
+"Just about here. Oh, look for him, listen for him! Do try to save him!"
+cried the hypocrite, seizing her own hair, as if she would have pulled
+it out by the roots, in her pretended anguish of mind.
+
+"Where did he fall? Did he not struggle?" inquired two or three voices,
+as the oarsmen rowed their boat around and around in a circle and peered
+over the surface of the water for some sign of the lost man.
+
+"Oh, he sank at once--he sank at once!" cried Mary Grey, beating her
+breast.
+
+"But he will come up again. They always do, unless they are seized with
+the cramp and it holds them. Keep a bright lookout there, boys, and if
+you see so much as a ripple in the water make for it at once! We may
+save the poor fellow yet!" said the voice of a man who seemed to be in
+authority.
+
+"How in the world did he happen to fall over, miss?" inquired another
+voice.
+
+"Oh, my miserable, unlucky hat blew off my head and fell into the water.
+I begged him not to mind it--told him I would tie a pocket-handkerchief
+over my head--but he wouldn't listen to me. Oh, he wouldn't listen me!
+And so, in stooping to recover my wretched hat, he bent over too far,
+lost his balance and fell into the water. And oh, he sank at once like
+lead! Oh, do try to find him! Oh, do try to save him! He might be
+resuscitated even now, if you could find him--might he not?" she cried,
+wringing her hands.
+
+"Oh, yes, ma'am!" answered a man, in his good-natured wish to soothe who
+he took to be a distracted woman.
+
+And they rowed around and around, peering into the water and listening
+for every sound.
+
+But there was no sign of the lost man.
+
+After they had sought for him about an hour the man who seemed to be the
+chief among them said:
+
+"I am afraid it is quite vain, ma'am. It is not a drowning, but a
+drowned man that we have been seeking for the last hour. Tell us where
+you wish to go, and we will take you home. To-morrow the body may be
+recovered."
+
+But Mary Grey, with a wild shriek, fell back in her boat and lay like
+one in a swoon.
+
+"We must take the lady into this boat of ours, and tow the little one
+after us," said the man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+AFTER THE DARK DEED.
+
+
+Mary Grey was lifted, in an apparently fainting condition, from her own
+little boat into the larger one beside it. She was laid down carefully
+and waited on tenderly by the sympathizing ladies in the larger boat.
+
+Meanwhile the little boat was tied to the stern of the larger one, to be
+towed up the river.
+
+"Where are we to take the poor unfortunate woman, I wonder?" said one of
+the ladies.
+
+"If she does not come to her senses in time to tell us where she lives
+you can bring her to my house," answered another lady.
+
+"Or to mine," said a third.
+
+"Or mine," added a fourth.
+
+"Or mine," "or mine," chimed in others.
+
+Everybody was emulous to succor this unhappy one.
+
+As they neared the city Mary Grey condescended to heave a deep sigh,
+shudder and open her eyes.
+
+Then a chorus of sympathizing voices saluted her. But she wept and
+moaned, and pretended to refuse to be comforted.
+
+It was some time before the persevering efforts of a gentleman succeeded
+in persuading her to understand and answer his question as to where she
+lived.
+
+"At the Star Hotel," she said, with a gasp and a sigh, as if her heart
+were broken.
+
+The boat landed; and the "poor lady," as she was compassionately called,
+was tenderly lifted out by the gentlemen and carefully supported between
+two of them while she was led to the hotel, followed by the ladies.
+
+The sad news of the young gentleman's fate was immediately communicated
+to the people at the hotel, and soon spread through the town.
+
+Ah, the drowning of a man at that point was not such an unusual event
+after all, and it made much less impression than it ought to have done.
+
+Some people said they felt sorry for the poor young woman so suddenly
+bereaved and left among strangers; and perhaps they really believed that
+they did so; but the next instant they thought of something else.
+
+But the ladies who had been present near the scene of the catastrophe,
+and had witnessed Mary Grey's well-acted terror, grief and despair,
+really did sympathize with her supposed sorrows to a very painful
+extent.
+
+After following her to the hotel, they went with her to her room, and
+helped to undress her and put her to bed.
+
+And two among them offered to remain and watch with her during the
+night.
+
+The sinful woman, already a prey to the horrors of remorse and
+superstition, dreading the darkness and solitude of the night, fearing
+almost to see the dripping specter of the drowned man standing over her
+bed, gratefully accepted their offer, and begged, at the same time, for
+morphia.
+
+Her kind attendants were afraid to administer a dangerous opiate without
+the advice of a physician; so they sent for one immediately, who, on his
+arrival and his examination of the terribly excited patient, gave her a
+dose that soon sent her to sleep.
+
+The two ladies took their places by her bed and watched her.
+
+She slept well through the night, and awoke quite calmly in the morning.
+The composing influence of the morphia had not yet left her.
+
+And with the returning daylight much of her remorse and all of her
+superstition vanished for the time being.
+
+She thanked the ladies who had watched her during the night, and, in
+reply to their inquiries, assured them that she felt better, but begged
+them to keep her room dark.
+
+They expressed their gratification to hear her say so. One of them
+bathed her face and hands and combed her hair, while the other one rang
+the bell, and ordered tea and toast to be brought to the room.
+
+And they tenderly pressed her to eat and drink, and they waited on her
+while she partook slightly of this light breakfast.
+
+Then they rang and sent the breakfast service away, and they put her
+room in order, and smoothed her pillows and the coverlet of her bed, and
+finally they kissed her and bade her good-morning for a while, promising
+to return again in the course of the afternoon, and begging that she
+would send for them, at the address they gave her, in case she should
+require their services sooner.
+
+When she was left alone, Mary Grey slipped out of bed, locked the door
+after the ladies, and then, having secured herself from intrusion, she
+opened her traveling-bag and took from it a small white envelope, from
+which she drew a neatly-folded white paper.
+
+This was the marriage certificate, setting forth that on the fifteenth
+day of September, eighteen hundred and ----, at the parish church of
+St. ----, in the city of Philadelphia, Alden Lytton, attorney at law, of
+the city of Richmond, and Mary Grey, widow, of the same city, were
+united in the holy bonds of matrimony by the Rev. Mr. Borden, rector of
+the church, in the presence of John Martin, sexton, and Sarah Martin,
+his daughter.
+
+The certificate was duly signed by the Rev. Mr. Borden and by John
+Martin and Sarah Martin.
+
+Mary Grey sat down with this document before her, read it over slowly,
+and laughed a demoniac laugh as she folded it up and put it carefully
+into its envelope and returned it to her traveling-bag, while she
+reviewed her plot and "summed up the evidence" she had accumulated
+against the peace and honor of Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish.
+
+"Yes, I will let him marry her," she said, "and then, in the midst of
+their fancied security and happiness, I will come down upon them like an
+avalanche of destruction. I will claim him for my own husband by a
+previous marriage. I have evidence enough to convict and ruin him.
+
+"First, I have all his impassioned letters, written to me from
+Charlottesville, while I was a guest at the Government House in
+Richmond.
+
+"Secondly, I have those perfectly manufactured letters addressed to me
+in a fac-simile of his handwriting, signed by his name and mailed from
+Wendover to me at Richmond.
+
+"Why, these alone would be sufficient to prove his perfidy even to Emma
+Cavendish's confiding heart! And they would be good for heavy damages in
+a breach of promise case.
+
+"But I do not want damages--I want revenge. I do not want to touch his
+pocket--I want to ruin his life. Yes--and hers! I want to dishonor,
+degrade and utterly ruin them both! And I have evidence enough to do
+this," she said, resuming her summing up, "for there is--
+
+"Thirdly, his meeting me at Forestville and his journey with me to
+Richmond.
+
+"Fourthly, his journey with me to Philadelphia.
+
+"Fifthly, the rector's certificate, setting forth the marriage of Alden
+Lytton and Mary Grey.
+
+"Sixthly, the testimony of the rector, who will swear that he performed
+the ceremony, and of the sexton and the sexton's daughter, who will
+swear that they witnessed the marriage of Alden Lytton and Mary Grey;
+and swear, furthermore--from his exact resemblance to Craven Kyte--to
+the identity of Alden Lytton as the bridegroom.
+
+"Alden Lytton can not disprove this by an alibi, for at the very time
+Craven Kyte personated him, and under his name and character married me,
+Alden Lytton, in a dead stupor, was locked up in his darkened chamber,
+and no one knew of his whereabouts but myself, who had the key of his
+room.
+
+"Nor can Craven Kyte 'ever rise to explain,' for death and the
+Susquehanna mud has stopped his mouth.
+
+"So this chain of evidence must be conclusive not only to the minds of
+the jury, who will send my gentleman to rusticate in a penitentiary for
+a term of years, but also to Miss Cavendish, who will find her proud
+escutcheon blotted a little, I think."
+
+While Mary Grey gloated over the horrors of her plotted vengeance, there
+came a rap at the door. She hastily put on a dressing-gown, softly
+unlocked the door, threw herself into an easy-chair, with her back to
+the window, and bade the rapper to come in.
+
+The door opened and the clerk of the house entered, bringing with him
+the house register, which he held open in his hand.
+
+"I beg your pardon for this unseasonable intrusion, madam," he said, as
+he laid the open book down on the table before her; "but being called
+upon to report this sad case of the drowning of a guest of this house, I
+find some difficulty in making out the name, for the poor young
+gentleman does not seem to have written very clearly. The name is
+registered C. or G. something or other. But whether it is Hyte or Flyte
+or Kyle or Hyle, none of us can make out."
+
+Mary Grey smiled within herself, as she secretly rejoiced at the
+opportunity of concealing the real name and identity of Craven Kyte with
+the drowned man.
+
+So she drew the book toward her and said, with an affectation of
+weariness and impatience, as she gazed upon poor Craven's illegible
+hieroglyphics:
+
+"Why, the name is quite plain! It is G. Hyle--H-y-l-e. Don't you see?"
+
+"Oh, yes, madam! I see now quite plainly. Excuse me: they ask for the
+full name. Would you please to tell me what the initial G stands for?"
+
+"Certainly. It stands for Gaston. His name was Gaston Hyle. He was a
+foreigner, as his name shows. There, there, pray do not talk to me any
+more! I can not bear it," said Mary Grey, affecting symptoms of
+hysterical grief.
+
+"I beg your pardon for having troubled you, madam, indeed! And I thank
+you for the information you have given me. Good-day, madam," said the
+clerk, bowing kindly and courteously as he withdrew.
+
+The next day the newspapers, under the head of casualties, published the
+following paragraph:
+
+    "On Friday evening last a young man, a foreigner, of
+    the name of Gaston Hyle, who had been stopping at the
+    Star Hotel, Havre-de-Grace, was accidentally drowned
+    while boating on the river. His body has not yet been
+    recovered."
+
+No, nor his body never was recovered.
+
+Mary Grey, for form's sake, remained a week at Havre-de-Grace, affecting
+great anxiety for the recovery of that body. But she shut herself up in
+her room, pretending the deepest grief, and upon this pretext refusing
+all sympathizing visits, even from the ladies who had shown her so much
+kindness on the night of the catastrophe, and from the clergy, who would
+have offered her religious consolation.
+
+The true reason of her seclusion was that she did not wish her features
+to become familiar to these people, lest at some future time they might
+possibly be inconveniently recognized.
+
+As yet no one had seen her face except by night or in her darkened room.
+And she did not intend that they should.
+
+Her supposed grievous bereavement was her all-sufficient excuse for her
+seclusion.
+
+At the end of the week Mary Grey paid her bill at the Star, and,
+closely-veiled, left the hotel and took the evening train for
+Washington, _en route_ for Richmond.
+
+In due time she reached the last-named city and took up her residence at
+her old quarters with the Misses Crane, there to wait patiently until
+the marriage of Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish should give her the
+opportunity of consummating their ruin and her own triumph. Meanwhile
+poor Craven Kyte's leave of absence having expired, he began to be
+missed and inquired for.
+
+But to all questions his partner answered that he did not know where he
+was or when he would be back, but thought he was all right.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+GREAT PROSPERITY.
+
+                       Fortune is merry,
+    And in this mood will give us anything.
+                               --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+Alden Lytton prospered wonderfully. Not once in a thousand instances can
+a young professional man get on as fast as he did.
+
+Usually the young lawyer or doctor has to wait long before work comes to
+him, and then to work long before money comes.
+
+It was not so with Alden Lytton.
+
+As soon as he opened his office business came in at the door.
+
+His first brief was a success.
+
+His second, and more difficult one, was a still greater victory.
+
+His third, and most important, was the greatest triumph of the three.
+
+And from this time the high road to fame and fortune was open to him.
+
+The astonishing rapidity of his rise was explained in various ways by
+different persons.
+
+Emma Cavendish, who loved and esteemed him, ascribed his great
+prosperity to his own splendid talents alone.
+
+Alden Lytton himself, full of filial respect, attributed it to the
+prestige of his late father's distinguished name.
+
+And the briefless young lawyers, his unsuccessful rivals at the bar,
+credited it to the "loud" advertisement afforded by his handsome office
+and the general appearance of wealth and prosperity that surrounded him.
+
+No doubt they were all right and--all wrong.
+
+Not one of these circumstances taken alone could have secured the young
+barrister's success. Neither his own talents nor his father's name, nor
+the costly appointments of his office, could have done it; yet each
+contributed something, and all together they combined to insure his
+rapid advancement in his profession.
+
+While Alden Lytton was thus gaining fame and fortune, Mary Grey was
+engaged in mystifying the minds and winning the sympathy and compassion
+of all her acquaintances.
+
+From the time of her return from Philadelphia she had exhibited a deep
+and incurable melancholy.
+
+Everybody pitied her deeply and wondered what could be the secret sorrow
+under which she was suffering.
+
+But when any friend more curious than the rest ventured to question her,
+she answered:
+
+"I have borne and am still bearing the deepest wrong that any woman can
+suffer and survive. But I must not speak of it now. My hands are bound
+and my tongue is tied. But the time _may_ come when a higher duty than
+that which restrains me now may force me to speak. Until then I must be
+mute."
+
+This was extremely tantalizing to all her friends; but it was all that
+could be got from her.
+
+Meanwhile her face faded into a deadlier pallor and her form wasted to a
+ghastlier thinness. And this was real, for she was demon-haunted--a
+victim of remorse, not a subject of repentance.
+
+The specter that she had feared to look upon on the fatal night of her
+crime--the pale, dripping form of her betrayed and murdered lover--was
+ever before her mind's eye.
+
+If she entered a solitary or a half-darkened room the phantasm lurked in
+the shadowy corners or met her face to face.
+
+It came to her bedside in the dead of night and laid its clammy wet hand
+upon her sleeping brow. And when she woke in wild affright it met her
+transfixed and horrified gaze.
+
+Her only relief was in opium. She would stupefy herself every night with
+opium, and wake every morning pale, haggard, dull and heavy.
+
+She must have sunk under her mental suffering and material malpractices
+but for the one purpose that had once carried her into crime and now
+kept her alive through the terror and remorse that were the natural
+consequences of that crime. She lived only for revenge--
+
+                  "Like lightning fire,
+    To speed one bolt of ruin and expire!"
+
+"I will live and keep sane until I degrade and destroy both Alden Lytton
+and Emma Cavendish, and then--I must die or go mad," she said to
+herself.
+
+Such was her inner life.
+
+Her outer life was very different from this.
+
+She was still, to all appearance, a zealous church woman, never missing
+a service either on Sundays or on week-days; never neglecting the
+sewing-circles, the missionary meetings, the Sunday-schools, or any
+other of the parish works or charities, and always contributing
+liberally to every benevolent enterprise from the munificent income paid
+her quarterly by Miss Cavendish.
+
+Since her return from Philadelphia she had not resumed her acquaintance
+with Alden Lytton.
+
+They did not attend the same church, and were not in the same circle. It
+was a very reserved "circle" in which Mary Grey "circulated;" while
+Alden Lytton sought the company of professional and scholarly men.
+
+Thus for months after their return to Richmond they did not meet.
+
+Alden Lytton in the meanwhile supposed her to be still in Philadelphia,
+filling a position as drawing-mistress in the ladies' college.
+
+It was early in the winter when they accidentally encountered each other
+on Main Street.
+
+On seeing her form approach, Alden Lytton stepped quickly to meet her,
+with an extended hand and a bright smile; but the next instant he
+started in sorrowful surprise, as his eyes fell on her pallid face, so
+changed since he had seen it last.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Grey, I am so glad to see you! I hope I see you well," he
+added, as he took her hand, but his looks belied his "hope."
+
+"I am not well, thank you," she answered plaintively, and her looks did
+not belie her words.
+
+"I am very sorry to hear it. How long have you been in the city?" he
+next inquired, holding her hand and looking at her with eyes full of
+pity.
+
+"I have been back some time," she answered, vaguely. "I was forced to
+leave my situation from failing health."
+
+"I did not know that you had returned or I should have called on you
+before this. But," he added, perceiving her physical weakness, "I am
+wrong to keep you standing here. I will turn about and walk with you
+while we talk. Which way are you going? Will you take my arm?"
+
+"Thanks, no, Mr. Lytton. I can not take your arm; and neither, if you
+will forgive me for saying it, can I receive a visit from you. The world
+is censorious, Alden Lytton. And in my lonely and unprotected position I
+dare not receive the visits of gentlemen," she answered, pensively.
+
+"That seems hard, but doubtless it is discreet. However, that will all
+be changed, I hope, in a little while. In a very few months, I trust,
+your home will be with my beloved wife and myself. I know it is Emma's
+desire that you should live with us," he said, still kindly holding her
+thin hand.
+
+"Is your wedding to come off so soon?" she inquired.
+
+"Yes, in a few weeks, and then we are to go to Europe for a short
+holiday, and afterward take a house in the city here," said Alden,
+smiling.
+
+"I wish you every joy in your wedded life. And now, Mr. Lytton, you must
+let me go," she said, wearily.
+
+"One moment. You do not write to Emma often, do you? I ask because only
+a week ago, in one of her letters to me, Miss Cavendish wrote that she
+had not heard from you for nearly three months, and requested me to find
+out your address, if possible. I wrote back in reply that I believed you
+to be at the Ladies' College, in Philadelphia," he said, still detaining
+her hand.
+
+"I am a bad correspondent. My hand is still lame. Just before I left
+here for Philadelphia I sent Miss Cavendish an acknowledgment of the
+last quarterly sum she sent me. I told her then that I was about to go
+to Philadelphia on particular business. I have not written to her
+since."
+
+"And that was nearly three months ago. That is just what the matter is.
+She wishes to find out your address, so as to know where to send the
+next quarterly instalment of your income, which will soon be due."
+
+"Tell her that I have returned to this city, and that my address is the
+same as that to which she last wrote."
+
+"I will; but do you write to her also. I know she is anxious to hear
+directly from you."
+
+"I will do so," she replied; "though I am the worst possible
+correspondent. Now good-day, Mr. Lytton."
+
+"If I may not call to see you, at least I hope that you will let me know
+if ever I can serve you in any manner," he said, gently, as he pressed
+the pale hand he had held so long and relinquished it.
+
+They parted then, and saw no more of each other for some days.
+
+Alden went on his office, full of pity for the failing woman, who, he
+said to himself, could not possibly have many months to live.
+
+But his feelings of painful compassion were soon forgotten in his
+happiness in finding a letter from Emma Cavendish lying with his
+business correspondence on his desk.
+
+There was really nothing more in it than appeared in just such letters
+that he received two or three times a week; only she told him that she
+had written to Mrs. Grey at the Ladies' College, Philadelphia, and had
+not received any answer to her letter.
+
+Before doing any other business, Alden Lytton took a half-quire of
+note-paper and dashed off an exuberant letter to his lady-love, in
+which, after repeating the oft-told story of her peerless loveliness and
+his deathless devotion, he came down to practical matters, and spoke of
+their mutual friend Mary Grey. He told Emma that Mrs. Grey was in the
+city again, where she had been for some weeks, although he had not been
+aware of the fact until he had met her that morning on Main Street while
+on the way to his office.
+
+He told her of "poor Mary Grey's" failing health and spirits and ghastly
+appearance, and suggested those circumstances as probable reasons why
+she had not written to her friends during the last three months.
+
+Then he went back to the old everlasting theme of his infinite, eternal
+love, etc., etc., etc., and closed with fervent prayers and blessings
+and joyful anticipations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+THE MASK THROWN OFF.
+
+
+As a consequence of this, two days afterward Mary Grey received a
+tender, affectionate, sympathetic letter from Emma Cavendish pressing
+her to come down to Blue Cliffs at once and let them love her and nurse
+her back to health and happiness. And this letter inclosed a check for
+double the amount of the usual quarterly stipend.
+
+Miss Cavendish, for some coy reason or other, did not allude to her
+approaching marriage. Perhaps she deferred the communication purposely,
+with the friendly hope that Mary Grey would visit her at Blue Cliffs,
+where she could make it to her in person.
+
+Mrs. Grey, who did not dare to let her true handwriting go to Blue
+Cliffs, lest it should be seen and recognized by Mrs. Fanning, and who
+could not disguise it safely either, without some fair excuse to Emma
+Cavendish for doing so, put on a tight glove, and took a hard stiff pen
+and wrote a short note, full of gratitude and affection for Emma and all
+the family, and of complaints about her wretched crippled finger, that
+made it so painful for her to write, and prevented her from doing so as
+often as she wished; and of her still more wretched health, that
+hindered her from accepting her dear friend's kind invitation.
+
+In reply to this letter, she got another, and a still kinder one, in
+which Miss Cavendish spoke of her own speedily approaching marriage, and
+pressed Mrs. Grey to come and be present on the occasion, adding:
+
+   "My dearest, you _must_ make an effort and come. Alden himself
+   will escort you on the journey, and take such good care of you
+   that you shall suffer no inconvenience from the journey. You must
+   come, for my happiness will not be complete without the presence
+   of my dear father's dearest friend--of her who was to have been
+   his bride."
+
+This loving and confiding letter was never answered or even acknowledged
+by Mrs. Grey. It was entirely ignored, its contents were never mentioned
+to any one, and itself was torn to fragments and burned to ashes.
+
+Two more letters of precisely the same character were written to her by
+Miss Cavendish; but they suffered the same fate at the hands of Mrs.
+Grey.
+
+She had a deep motive in ignoring and destroying those letters. She did
+not wish the world ever by any accident to find out that she had been
+informed of the approaching marriage of Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish
+before it had taken place, or in time to prevent it.
+
+Two weeks passed, and then she received a visit from Mr. Alden Lytton.
+
+She received him alone in the front drawing-room.
+
+He apologized for calling on her after she had forbidden him to do so,
+but said that he came on the part of Miss Cavendish to ask if she had
+received certain letters from Blue Cliff Hall, and to renew, in Emma's
+name, her pressing invitation to Mrs. Grey to come and be present at the
+approaching wedding.
+
+"Emma wishes me to take charge of you on the journey. And I assure you,
+if you will intrust yourself to me, I will take such tender care of you
+that you shall know neither fatigue nor inconvenience of any sort," he
+added, earnestly.
+
+"I can not go," she answered, coldly.
+
+"Ah, do, for your friend's sake, change your mind," pleaded Alden.
+
+"I can not," she answered.
+
+"But Emma will be so disappointed!"
+
+"I can not help it if she should be. I can not be present at the
+wedding," she repeated, faintly.
+
+"But why not? Why can you not go?" persisted Alden.
+
+"Man--man," she burst forth, suddenly, as her whole face changed
+fearfully, "how can you ask me such a question? Do you forget that _we_
+were to have been married once?--that _we_ loved each other once? But
+you threw me over. Now you invite me to your wedding with my rival! And
+you ask me why I can not go! Do you take me for a woman of wood or stone
+or iron? You will find me a woman of fire! I told you not to come
+here--to keep away from me! If you had had sense to perceive--if you had
+had even eyes in your head to see with, you would have obeyed me and
+avoided me! I told you not to come here. I tell you now to go away. I
+will not be present at your wedding. Make what explanation or excuse to
+Miss Cavendish you please. Tell her, if you like, that the heart you
+have given her was first offered to _me_--that the vows you have made to
+her were first breathed at _my_ feet! Tell her," she added, with keen
+contempt, "that you are but a poor, second-handed article, after all!
+Now go, I say! Why do you stand gazing upon me? Go, and never come near
+me, if you can help it, again! For I fancy that you will not feel very
+glad to see me when _next_ we meet!" she hissed, with a hidden meaning,
+between her clinched teeth.
+
+Alden Lytton was so unutterably amazed by this sudden outbreak that he
+had no power of replying by word or gesture. Without resenting her
+fierce accusation, or even noticing her covert threat, he stood staring
+at her for a moment in speechless amazement.
+
+"Are you going?" she fiercely demanded.
+
+"I am going," he said, recovering his self-possession. "I am going. But,
+Mrs. Grey, I am more surprised and grieved than I have words to express.
+I shall never, willingly, voluntarily approach you again. If, however,
+you should ever need a friend, do not hesitate to call on me as freely
+as you would upon a brother, and I shall serve you in any way in my
+power as willingly as if you were my own sister."
+
+"Ur-ur-ur-r-r!" she broke forth, in an inarticulate growl of disgust and
+abhorrence.
+
+"Good-bye!" he said, very gently, as he bowed and left the room.
+
+Nothing but sympathy and compassion for this "poor woman," as he called
+her, filled his heart.
+
+Her outbreak of hysterical passion had been a revelation to him; but it
+had shown him only half the truth. In its light he saw that she loved
+him still, but he did not see that she hated her rival. He saw that she
+was jealous, but did not see that she was revengeful.
+
+He reproached himself bitterly, bitterly, for ever having fallen under
+her spell, for ever having loved her, or sought to win her love, and for
+thus being the remote cause of her present sorrows.
+
+He had never confided to Emma Cavendish the story of his first foolish,
+boyish love, and sufferings and cure. For Mary Grey's sake he had kept
+that secret from his betrothed, from whom he had no other secret in the
+world.
+
+But now he felt that he must tell Emma the truth, gently and lovingly,
+lest Mary Grey should do it rudely and angrily.
+
+For Mary Grey's sake he had hitherto been silent. For his own and Emma
+Cavendish's sake he must now speak.
+
+He went straight to the telegraph office and dispatched a message to
+Miss Cavendish, saying that he should be down to Wendover by the next
+train to pay her a flying visit.
+
+Then he hurried to his office, put his papers in order, left some
+directions with his clerk, and hastened off to the railway station,
+where he caught the train just as it started, and jumped aboard the cars
+while they were in motion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+A SUDDEN WEDDING.
+
+
+It was midnight when the Richmond train reached Wendover, and Alden
+Lytton went to the Reindeer for the night.
+
+Early in the morning he arose and breakfasted, and ordered a horse to
+take him to Blue Cliff Hall.
+
+Just as he was getting into the saddle Jerome, the colored footman from
+the Hall, rode up holding two papers in his left hand, and staring at
+them with perplexity.
+
+"Halloo, Jerome, how do you do?" called out Mr. Lytton, cheerfully.
+
+The boy looked up, and his surprise and perplexity instantly mounted to
+consternation and amazement.
+
+"Well, dis yer's witchcraf', and nuffin else!" he exclaimed.
+
+"What is witchcraft, you goose?" laughed Alden.
+
+"Look yer, massa," said Jerome, riding up to his side and putting the
+two papers in his hand, "you jes look at dem dere!"
+
+Alden took the papers and looked as required.
+
+Both papers were telegrams. One was his own telegram to Emma Cavendish,
+saying:
+
+"I shall be down to see you by the next train."
+
+The other was a telegram from Emma Cavendish to himself, saying:
+
+"Come down at once."
+
+"Well, what of all this? Here is a message and its answer. What is there
+in this like witchcraft?"
+
+"Why, massa, 'cause de answer came afore de message went, and you
+yerself come quick as enny. Dere's de witchcraf'."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I knowed as de telegraf was fast, and likewise de steam cars, but I
+didn't know as dey was bof so fast as to answer a message afore it was
+axed, and fetch a gemman afore he was sent for. But here's de answer,
+and here's you."
+
+"This is all Hebrew to me."
+
+"Which it is likewise a conundrum to me," retorted Jerome.
+
+"Tell me what you have been doing, and perhaps I shall understand you,"
+laughed Alden Lytton.
+
+"Well, massa, this mornin' by daybreak Miss Emmer sent for me, and gave
+me this," he said, pointing to the young lady's telegram. "And, says
+she:
+
+"'Jerome, saddle the fastest horse in de stable and ride as fast as you
+can to Wendover and send this message off to Mr. Lytton. Lose no time,
+for we want him to come down here as soon as possible.'
+
+"Well, Massa Alden, I didn't lose no time, sar, nor likewise let de
+grass grow underneaf of my feet. I reckon I was in de saddle and off in
+about ten minutes. But fast as I was, bress you, sar, de telegraf was
+faster! When I got to de office and hand de message in to de gemman dere
+I says:
+
+"'Send it off quick, 'cause Miss Emmer wants Massa Alden to come down
+right away.'
+
+"'All right,' he says. 'De young gemman will be down by de next train.
+And here's yer answer to yer message.'
+
+"And sure nuff, Massa Alden, he hands me this yer," said Jerome,
+pointing to Alden's own telegram. "And here's you too! Now, what anybody
+think ob dat if it a'n't witchcraf'?"
+
+"It is a coincidence, my good fellow. I was coming down, and I
+telegraphed Miss Cavendish to that effect. When you brought her message
+to the office you received mine, which must have been delayed. It is a
+coincidence."
+
+"Well I s'pose a coimperence is a fine book-larnin' name for
+witchcraf'; but it's all the same thing after all," persisted Jerome.
+
+"I hope they are all well at Blue Cliffs," said Mr. Lytton, who felt
+some little uneasiness connected with Emma's telegram.
+
+"Yes, sar, dey's all purty well, 'cept 'tis de ole madam. She a'n't been
+that hearty as she ought to 'a' been."
+
+"I hope she is not seriously ill."
+
+"No, sar; dough I did leave a message long o' Doctor Willet to come out
+dere dis morning; but you know de ole madam do frequent send for de
+doctor."
+
+"Come, Jerome, we must get on to the Hall," said Mr. Lytton, as he rode
+out of the inn yard and turned into the road leading to Blue Cliffs,
+followed by the servant.
+
+Emma Cavendish, who was on the lookout for Jerome, was surprised and
+delighted to see her lover ride up first, attended by her messenger.
+
+"It's witchcraf', Miss Emmer!" exclaimed Jerome, as he got out of his
+saddle to take the young gentleman's horse.
+
+"It is a coincidence," laughed Alden, as he ran up the steps to greet
+his beloved.
+
+"Well, dat's de Latin for witchcraf', Miss Emmer; but it's all de same
+t'ing in English," persisted Jerome, as he led away the horses.
+
+"Jerome tells me that grandma is not well. I am sorry to hear it," said
+Alden, as he walked with Emma into the house.
+
+"Grandma is nearly ninety years old, and she can not ever be well in
+this world; but she will soon be very well indeed, for she is very near
+her eternal youth and health," said Emma, with tender, cheerful
+earnestness.
+
+Alden bowed in silence as they entered the drawing-room together.
+
+"Grandma told me to telegraph for you to come down at once, Alden. She
+thinks that she can not be here many days, and perhaps not many hours.
+And she wishes to see you at once. Will you go to her now, dear, or
+would you rather go to your room first?"
+
+"I will go to see madam first. I have but ridden from the Reindeer this
+morning, and so I am neither fatigued nor dusted. I telegraphed you
+yesterday that I was coming down to see you to-day, and my telegram
+should have reached you yesterday; but it seems to have been delayed. I
+left the city by the noon train and reached the village at midnight. So
+I happened to meet Jerome just after he had taken my delayed telegram
+from the agent, which he supposed to be a magical answer to your
+message."
+
+"The whole arrangements of telegraph wires, steam engines, gas-lights
+and lucifer matches are magical to him," said Emma, smiling. "And now
+stay here a moment, dear, and wait until I go and let grandma know that
+you have come," she added, as she went out of the room.
+
+Emma Cavendish found the old lady sitting up in her easy-chair by the
+sunny window, looking very white and fragile and serene.
+
+"Alden has come, grandma, dear. When Jerome went to send the telegram
+off for him he found Mr. Lytton in Wendover. Mr. Lytton had just arrived
+from Richmond and was about to start for Blue Cliffs. It was a
+coincidence," said Emma, sitting down by the old lady.
+
+"It was a providence, my dear child--a providence which has saved two
+days in time that is very short. And so he is here?" said the old lady,
+caressing the golden hair of the girl.
+
+"Yes, dear grandma, he is here and waiting to come to you the moment you
+are ready to receive him."
+
+"Tell him to come now. And do you come with him."
+
+Emma left the room, and soon returned with Alden Lytton.
+
+"Welcome, my son! Come here and embrace me," said the old lady, holding
+out her arms.
+
+Alden went and folded the faded form to his bosom and pressed a kiss
+upon the venerable brow, as the tears sprang to his eyes; for he saw
+that she was dying.
+
+"Alden, I am going home. I must go. I want to go. I have been here so
+long. I am very tired. I have had enough of this. I want to go home to
+my Father. I want to see my Savior face to face. I want to meet my
+husband and my children, who have been waiting for me so long on the
+other side. What are you crying for, Emma?"
+
+"Because I can not help it, grandma. I know I ought not to cry, when you
+will soon be so happy," sobbed the poor child.
+
+"And when I am going to make you and your worthy young lover so happy,
+my love. Come, wipe your eyes and smile! I shall soon be very happy, and
+I want to make you and Alden as happy as I can before I go. Now sit
+down, both of you, and listen to me."
+
+Alden and Emma sat down, one on each side of her.
+
+She was a little tired with the words she had already spoken, and she
+put a small vial of ammonia to her nose and smelled it before she went
+on.
+
+"Now," she said, as she put aside the vial and gave a hand to each of
+the young people, "I want you to attend to me and do exactly as I bid
+you."
+
+"We will indeed," answered Alden and Emma, in a breath.
+
+"I wish you would be married here in my presence tomorrow morning."
+
+Alden Lytton gave her hand a grateful squeeze.
+
+"You should be married to-day, if there were time to make the necessary
+arrangements."
+
+"Are there any really necessary arrangements that can not be made
+to-day?" Alden inquired, eagerly.
+
+"Yes, my son. A messenger must take a letter to Lytton Lodge to explain
+the circumstances, and to ask your sister Laura and your aunt and uncle
+Lytton to come immediately, to be present at your marriage with my
+granddaughter. If the messenger to Lytton Lodge should start at noon
+to-day, as he must, he will hardly reach the Lodge before night. Nor
+will your relatives be able to reach here before noon tomorrow. So you
+see the necessity of the short delay."
+
+"Yes, certainly," answered Alden.
+
+"Another messenger must take a similar letter to Beresford Manors, to
+summon my son and my youngest granddaughter, and your worthy guardian,
+Mr. Brent, who is on a long visit there. And it will also take about
+twenty-four hours to bring them here."
+
+"Yes, of course," admitted Alden.
+
+"I say nothing of the time it will take to get a license and to fetch
+Mr. Lyle, who must perform the ceremony, because that can be done in a
+few hours."
+
+"If it were possible, I would like to have Mary Grey summoned by
+telegraph to attend the wedding," said Emma.
+
+"Ah, yes, certainly she ought to be here; but there is scarcely a
+chance, the time is so short," said Mrs. Cavendish, as she again
+resorted to the vial of ammonia.
+
+"Mrs. Grey is in very bad health. She would not come," explained Alden.
+
+"Go, now, my dear children. I am very tired, and I must sleep a while,"
+sighed the old lady.
+
+And Emma and Alden kissed her and left the room.
+
+In the passage outside they met Mrs. Fanning, who seemed to be waiting
+for them.
+
+She cordially welcomed Mr. Lytton, of whose arrival she had heard from
+the servants. And then she inquired of Emma how Mrs. Cavendish was
+getting on.
+
+"She grows weaker in the body and stronger in the spirit with every
+successive hour, I think," replied Miss Cavendish.
+
+"Well, my dear, I only wished to ask you that, and to tell you that I
+have had lunch laid in the little breakfast room, if Mr. Lytton would
+like any," said Mrs. Fanning, who now took equal share in all Emma's
+housekeeping cares.
+
+But Alden, when appealed to, declined the lunch and hinted that they had
+better see to sending off the messengers to Beresford Manors and Lytton
+Lodge immediately.
+
+And that same noon the letters were dispatched.
+
+Alden Lytton had come down to Blue Cliffs for the purpose of confiding
+to Emma Cavendish the story of his first boyish passion for Mary Grey,
+and of the violent manner in which it was cured forever. But finding all
+the circumstances so opposite to what he expected to find them, he
+changed his purpose. He could not bring himself to add another item to
+the disturbing influences then surrounding Emma.
+
+That afternoon, also, Dr. Willet came to Blue Cliffs, and Emma had to
+accompany him to the bedside of her grandmother, and afterward to hold
+quite a long conversation with him in the library.
+
+A few minutes after the doctor left the house, Mr. Lyle, who had heard
+of the illness of Mrs. Cavendish, arrived to inquire after her
+condition.
+
+Emma had to receive the minister and accompany him to her grandmother's
+chamber, and to stay there and join in the prayers that were offered for
+the sick woman.
+
+Mr. Lyle remained with the family all the afternoon; and having received
+from Mr. Lytton a notice of the ceremony he was desired to perform the
+next day, he promised to be at Blue Cliff Hall again punctually at noon,
+and then took leave.
+
+Very early the next morning Alden Lytton mounted the swiftest horse in
+the Cavendish stables and rode to Wendover to procure his marriage
+license.
+
+He did not stay long in the village, you may be sure; but, leaving his
+horse to rest and drink at the Reindeer trough, he hurried to the
+town-hall and took out his license, returned to the inn, remounted his
+horse, and rode immediately back to Blue Cliff Hall.
+
+As he rode up the avenue toward the front of the house he saw that there
+had already been some arrival. A large lumbering old family carriage
+was being driven, empty, around toward the stables.
+
+Alden quickened his horse's pace and rode up to the door, dismounted,
+threw his reins to Peter, the young groom, who was waiting to take the
+horse, and then ran up the steps into the house.
+
+He almost immediately found himself in the arms of his sister Laura, who
+had run out to receive him.
+
+"Oh, Alden, my darling, I am so delighted! I wish you so much joy!" she
+exclaimed.
+
+"Only the occasion that has hastened my happiness is a sad one to
+others, Laura, my dear," answered the young man, gravely.
+
+"I don't think so at all. I have seen Mrs. Cavendish. I never saw a
+happier woman. She is so happy that she wishes to make everybody else as
+happy as she is herself," said Laura.
+
+As she spoke John Lytton came lumbering into the hall.
+
+"Alden, boy, how do? I never was so astonished in my life! But under the
+circumstances I hope that it is all right to hurry up things in this
+a-way. Your Aunt Kitty couldn't come; nyther could your grandmother nor
+the gals. Fact is, they hadn't the gownds to appear in. But they wish
+you joy; and so do I. For, though I do think you might a-looked higher,
+because the Lyttonses is a much older family than the Caverndishers,
+and, in fact, were lords of the manor when the Caverndishers were
+hewers--"
+
+"Uncle John," broke in Alden, with a laugh, "pray let that subject drop
+for the present! And follow Jerome, who is waiting to show you a room
+where you can brush your coat and smooth your hair, and--"
+
+"Make myself tidy for the wedding? All right, my boy! March on, Jerome!"
+said John Lytton, good-humoredly, as he followed his guide upstairs.
+
+As he disappeared another carriage rolled up to the front door, and Dr.
+Beresford Jones, Electra and Mr. Joseph Brent--Victor Hartman--alighted
+from it and entered the house.
+
+Alden and Laura Lytton stepped forward to receive them.
+
+Electra seized and kissed Laura in a hurry, while the gentlemen were
+shaking hands, and then she flew to Alden and congratulated him with
+much effusion.
+
+"Now, Laura, take me where I can change my dress quickly. I brought a
+white India muslin with me to wear, for I am to be bride-maid, of
+course! So are you, I suppose. But you haven't changed your dress yet.
+Where is Emma? What is she going to be married in?"
+
+"Be quiet, you little Bohemian!" said Laura, cutting short Electra's
+torrent of words. "Don't you feel that this is no ordinary wedding? The
+occasion, if not a sorrowful one, is at least very serious. Come, I will
+take you with me to my own room. We are to lodge together in the
+south-west room, as usual."
+
+"But are you to be a bride-maid?" persisted the "little Bohemian."
+
+"Yes; and to wear my white tarletan dress and white rose wreath,"
+answered Laura, as they went off together.
+
+"Where's Emma, and what's she doing? as I asked you some time ago."
+
+"She is in her chamber, dressing for the ceremony."
+
+"She hasn't got her wedding-dress made yet; that I know. What's she
+going to be married in?"
+
+"She will wear her white satin trained dress, with white lace overdress,
+which she had made for the last May ball, you remember."
+
+"Oh, yes! I didn't think of that."
+
+"And she will wear that rich, priceless cardinal point-lace veil that
+was her mother's. And she will wear her grandmother's rare oriental
+pearls. There, you little gipsy! Are you answered?"
+
+"Yes. And she will be magnificent and splendid, even if she is gotten up
+in a hurry," said Electra, as she followed her companion into their
+room.
+
+Alden Lytton, under the unusual circumstances attending the sudden
+wedding, and in the surprise of his own unexpected happiness, had not
+once thought of the necessity of making a proper toilet for the
+occasion. But when he heard the girls, who never, under any
+circumstances, forget such a matter, talking of their dress, he glanced
+down at his own suit, and then hurried off as fast as he could to his
+room to improve his appearance.
+
+While the younger members of the family party were at their toilets, Dr.
+Beresford Jones was in the "Throne Room," closeted with his mother.
+
+Madam Cavendish, weak as she was, had insisted upon being arrayed
+grandly, to do honor to the wedding of the only daughter of the house.
+
+She wore a rich crimson brocade dressing-gown, a costly camel's-hair
+shawl, and a fine point-lace cap. She now reclined very wearily in her
+easy-chair, and held in her hand the vial of ammonia, which she applied
+to her nose from time to time.
+
+After a little while she said to her son:
+
+"Go and inquire if they are nearly ready, Beresford. I fear--I fear my
+strength will scarcely hold out," she faltered, faintly.
+
+Dr. Jones opened the door to go upon this errand, and immediately
+perceived that it was unnecessary.
+
+John Lytton and Mr. Lyle were coming up the stairs, and the little
+bridal procession was forming in the hall below.
+
+Mr. Lyle came in and spoke to Dr. Jones.
+
+"With Mrs. Cavendish's permission, even now, at the last moment, we must
+make some slight changes in the programme," he said.
+
+"Well?" inquired Dr. Jones, pleasantly.
+
+"I was to have performed the ceremony and you were to have given the
+bride away?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, we must change that. Mr. Lytton has but one groomsman. I must act
+in that capacity also. You will please perform the ceremony, and Mr.
+John Lytton here will have the honor of giving the bride away."
+
+John Lytton bowed.
+
+"I am quite willing. I will speak to Mrs. Cavendish," said Dr. Jones,
+who went to his mother's chair and explained the situation to her.
+
+"Certainly; be it as you will," she said.
+
+Mr. Lyle then returned to the foot of the stairs and placed himself
+beside Laura Lytton, who was acting as first bride-maid.
+
+John Lytton and Dr. Jones remained in the room.
+
+The little bridal procession soon entered and ranged themselves in order
+before the minister.
+
+Emma, as Electra had said, looked beautiful as a woman and elegant as a
+bride. Her bride-maids also were very fair to see.
+
+The ceremony was commenced with great impressiveness.
+
+Old Mrs. Cavendish listened with the deepest attention, leaning back in
+her easy-chair and sniffing at her bottle of ammonia.
+
+John Lytton gave away the bride as if he were making a magnificent
+present at his own expense.
+
+Emma Cavendish not only wore her mother's bridal veil, but was married
+with her mother's wedding-ring.
+
+Dr. Beresford Jones pronounced the benediction.
+
+And Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish were made one in law, as they had
+long been in mind and heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+AFTER THE HOLY WEDDING.
+
+      The bride rose from her knee
+    And she kissed the lips of her mother dead
+      Or ever she kissed me.
+                             --E. B. BROWNING.
+
+
+The benediction was scarcely spoken before the fair bride left her
+bridegroom's side and moved softly and swiftly to the side of the
+easy-chair, where the form of her ancestress lay reclining.
+
+All eyes followed her strange action, as she knelt beside the chair and
+took the wasted hand of its occupant in her own. And some saw what Emma
+had been the first to discover--that the happy spirit of the aged lady
+was even then departing.
+
+She spoke no word more, but slowly raising her hand she laid it gently,
+as in silent blessing, on the bowed head of her young descendant, and
+so, with a radiant smile, passed away heavenward.
+
+"She's dropped asleep, my dear," said honest, stupid John Lytton,
+bending over to look at the closed eyes and peaceful face.
+
+"She has fainted. This has been too much for her," said Mrs. Fanning,
+catching up the vial of ammonia and coming with the intention of
+administering it.
+
+"She is neither sleeping nor swooning. She has risen," said Emma.
+
+And, calmly putting aside the useless drug, she arose and reverently
+pressed a kiss upon the lifeless lips.
+
+A moment of deep silence followed her words.
+
+Then Dr. Jones, the son, himself an aged man, drew near and tenderly
+took up the lifeless hand and looked into the motionless face, and with
+a profound sigh turned away.
+
+While this group was still gathered around the chair of death, the door
+was silently opened and the family physician entered the room and stood
+among them.
+
+"She is gone, Doctor Willet," said the son, turning to greet the
+new-comer.
+
+The physician nodded gravely to the sorrowing speaker, bowed to the
+assembled friends, and passed through them, as they made way for him to
+approach the body. He felt the wrist, where there was no pulse, looked
+into the eyes, where there was no light, and then, with a grave and
+silent nod, he confirmed the opinion of Dr. Jones.
+
+Electra, who had been incredulous all this time about the reality of the
+death, and was anxiously watching the face of the physician, now burst
+into violent weeping, and had to be led from the room by Joseph
+Brent--Victor Hartman.
+
+Emma stood, pale as marble, with her eyes cast down, her lips lightly
+pressed together, and her hands closely clasped.
+
+"Take your young bride away also, Mr. Lytton. She is exerting great
+self-command now; but she can not much longer control her feelings,"
+said Dr. Willet.
+
+"Come, love," whispered the bridegroom, as he passed his arm gently
+around the waist of the now weeping girl and drew her away from the
+scene of death.
+
+Mr. John Lytton followed them out, with the half-frightened air of a
+culprit stealing away from detection.
+
+There now remained in the room of death the aged son, Dr. Beresford
+Jones, the family physician, Dr. Willet, the minister of the parish, the
+Rev. Mr. Lyle, and the two ladies, Mrs. Fanning and Laura Lytton.
+
+"She passed away very gently, without the least suffering," said Mrs.
+Fanning.
+
+"I thought she would do so. Hers has been a really physiological death,
+of ripe and pure old age," answered the doctor.
+
+After a little more conversation the gentlemen withdrew, leaving the
+remains to the care of the two ladies, while they went to commence
+arrangements for the funeral.
+
+Four days after this the body of Mrs. Cavendish was laid in the family
+vault, beside those of her husband and her son, the late governor.
+
+The old lady had been long and widely known, and deeply and sincerely
+loved and honored, and her funeral was as largely attended as had been
+that of her son, some years before. After these solemn offices had all
+been performed the friends assembled to consult and make arrangements
+for the temporary disposition of the family left behind.
+
+It was settled that Mrs. Fanning should remain at Blue Cliff Hall, in
+charge of the establishment, with Laura Lytton as her guest and
+companion.
+
+Dr. Jones and Electra would, of course, return to Beresford Manors. They
+would be accompanied by Mr. Joseph Brent--Victor Hartman--who had grown
+to be a great favorite with the aged doctor, and in truth almost
+indispensable to his comfort and entertainment.
+
+Mr. Lyle went back to the duties of his ministry at Wendover.
+
+And finally, as there was now a vacation of the courts, and the young
+barrister was temporarily at liberty, Alden Lytton decided to take his
+young bride to Europe for their bridal tour.
+
+On their way to New York they stopped for a day in Richmond, because
+Emma wished to see her old "friend," Mrs. Grey, before leaving for
+Europe.
+
+Alden Lytton, though he felt persuaded in his own mind that Mrs. Grey
+would not receive them, yet promptly complied with his fair bride's
+wish.
+
+So, the morning after their arrival at the Henrico House, in Richmond,
+Alden took a carriage and they drove to the old Crane Manor House and
+inquired for Mrs. Grey.
+
+But, as Alden had foreseen, they received for an answer that Mrs. Grey
+was not at home.
+
+Upon further inquiry they were told that she had left the city on
+business and would not return for a week.
+
+And Alden Lytton rightly conjectured that she had gone away, and was
+staying away, for the one purpose of avoiding Emma and himself.
+
+So the young bride, with a sigh, reluctantly resigned all hope of seeing
+her unworthy "friend" before sailing for Europe.
+
+Early the next morning the newly-married pair took the steamboat for
+Washington, where in due time they safely arrived, and whence they took
+the train for the North.
+
+They reached New York on Thursday night, had one intervening day to see
+something of the city and to make some few last purchases for their
+voyage, and on Saturday at noon they embarked on the magnificent ocean
+steamship "Pekin," bound from New York to Southampton.
+
+We must leave them on board their ship, and return and look up Mary
+Grey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+MARY GREY'S MYSTERY.
+
+
+After Mrs. Grey's last interview with Alden Lytton, during which, partly
+because she lost her self-command and partly because she did not care
+longer to conceal her feelings, she had thrown off her mask, she sat
+down to review the situation.
+
+"Well, I have betrayed myself," she mused. "I have let him see how I
+really feel about this marriage engagement between him and Emma
+Cavendish. He knows now how I loved him; if he has eyes in his head he
+sees now how I hate him.
+
+"All right. I have now no further reason to deceive him. He has served
+my utmost purpose for his own and her own destruction. I no longer need
+his unconscious co-operation. I have his honor and his liberty, and her
+reputation and peace, in my power and at my mercy.
+
+"And I have done all this myself, without the voluntary help of any
+human being. I have used men as the mechanic uses tools, making them do
+his work, or as the potter uses clay, molding it to his purpose.
+
+"Let him marry Emma Cavendish. I can part them at any moment afterward
+and throw them into a felon's prison, and cast her down from her proud
+place into misery and degradation.
+
+"I _could_ stop their marriage now, or at the altar. But I will not do
+that; for to do that would be only to disappoint or grieve them. But my
+vengeance must strike a deeper blow. It must degrade and ruin them. I
+will wait until they have been married some time. Then, in the hour of
+their fancied security, I will come down upon them like an avalanche of
+destruction."
+
+In the feverish excitement of anticipating this fiendish consummation of
+her revenge she almost forgot her heinous crime, and ceased to be
+haunted by the hideous specter of her murdered lover.
+
+It was on the fifteenth of the month, when she happened to take up the
+morning paper.
+
+She turned first--as she always did--to the column containing notices of
+marriages and deaths.
+
+And her face grew wild and white as she read:
+
+    MARRIED.--On the morning of the 10th instant, at Blue
+    Cliff Hall, Virginia, the seat of the bride, by the
+    Rev. Dr. Beresford Jones, Mr. Alden Lytton, of
+    Richmond, to Miss Emma Angela, only daughter of the
+    late Charles Cavendish, Governor of Virginia.
+
+She read no further that day. There were other marriages following this;
+but she felt no curiosity now about them. And there was a formidable row
+of death notices, headed by the obituary of Mrs. Cavendish, but she did
+not even see it.
+
+The announcement of the marriage had taken her by surprise. She had not
+expected to see it for a month yet to come. And, as she did not observe
+the notice of Mrs. Cavendish's death, she could not understand why the
+marriage had been hastened by so many weeks.
+
+"So it is over," she said. "It is over, and it has been over for five
+days. They are in the midst of their happiness, enjoyed at the expense
+of my misery. Theirs is a fool's paradise from which I could eject them
+at any moment; but I will not--not just yet. The longer I suspend the
+blow the heavier it will fall at last. They will carry out their
+programme, I presume; so far, at least, as to go upon their bridal trip
+to Europe. I could stop them on the eve of their voyage; but I will not.
+I will let them go and return, and hold their wedding-reception, and
+then, in the midst of their joy and triumph, in the presence of their
+admiring friends--"
+
+She paused to gloat with demoniac enjoyment over the picture her wicked
+imagination had conjured up.
+
+--"Then I will turn all their joy to despair, all their triumph to
+humiliation, all their glory to shame! And I will do all this
+alone--alone, or use others only as my blind tools.
+
+"Of course they will take this city on their way to New York to embark
+for Europe. And they will call on me to show me their happiness, and
+take a keener relish of it from seeing the contrast of my misery. But
+they shall be disappointed in that, at least. I will not be dragged at
+the wheels of their triumphal car. I will not stay here to receive them.
+I will leave town, and stay out of it until I am sure that they have
+passed through and left it."
+
+She kept her word.
+
+She went down to Forestville, ostensibly to relieve a poor family
+suffering under an accumulation of afflictions, but really to be out of
+the way of the bridal pair, and to get up evidence in the case she
+intended to bring against the husband of Emma Cavendish.
+
+When she had been but a few days at Forestville she received a letter
+from Miss Romania Crane--who in her absence kept up a sentimental
+correspondence with her--informing her of the visit of Mr. and Mrs.
+Alden Lytton, the bride and bridegroom from Blue Cliffs, who stopped for
+a day in the city on their way to New York.
+
+Immediately on her receipt of this letter she returned to Richmond and
+to the house of the Misses Crane.
+
+And she very much surprised and shocked these ladies by assuming an air
+of grief and distraction as extreme in itself as it was unaccountable to
+them.
+
+They could not even imagine what was the matter with her. She refused to
+give any explanation of her apparent mental anguish, and she repelled
+all sympathy.
+
+The Misses Crane were afraid she was going to lose her reason.
+
+They went to see the minister and the minister's wife on the subject.
+They found only the lady at home. And to her they stated the mysterious
+case.
+
+"There is something very heavy on her mind, my dear. I am sure there is
+something awful on her mind."
+
+"There has been this long time, I think," said the minister's wife.
+
+"Yes, I know; but it is a thousand times worse now. My dear, she keeps
+her room nearly all day. She never comes to the table. If I send her
+meals up to her they come back almost untasted. And I assure you she
+does not sleep any better than she eats. Her room is over mine, and so I
+can hear her walking the floor half the night," said Miss Romania Crane.
+
+"What can be the cause of her distress?" inquired the rector's lady.
+
+"I don't know. I can't get her to tell me. She only says that 'her life
+is wrecked forever, and that she wishes only to be left to herself until
+death shall relieve her.' And all that sort of talk," said Miss Romania.
+
+"And have you no suspicion?"
+
+"None in the world that seems at all rational. The only one I have seems
+foolish."
+
+"But what is it?"
+
+"Well, I sometimes think--but indeed it is a silly thought--that her
+distress is in some way connected with the marriage of Mr. Lytton and
+Miss Cavendish, for I notice that every time the name of either of them
+is mentioned she grows so much worse that I and my sister have ceased
+ever to speak of them."
+
+"It can not be that she was ever in love with Mr. Lytton," suggested the
+minister's lady.
+
+"I should think not. I should think she was not that weak-minded sort of
+woman to give way to such sentiment, much less to be made so extremely
+wretched by it. For I do tell you, my dear, her state is simply that of
+the utmost mental wretchedness."
+
+"I will ask my husband to go to her. He is her pastor, and may be able
+to do her some good," said the minister's wife.
+
+"Do, my dear, and come to see her yourself," said Miss Romania, as she
+and her sister arose to take leave.
+
+Now you know all this distress was just "put on" by Mrs. Grey, to give
+coloring and plausibility to her future proceedings.
+
+To be sure she kept her room, but it was not to grieve in secret: it was
+to excite the compassion and wonder of her sympathizing friends, while
+she laid her plans, drank French cordials, and feasted privately on the
+delicacies of the season, which she would secretly bring in, or dozed on
+her sofa and dreamed of her coming sweet revenge.
+
+Certainly, instead of going to bed at a decent hour, she would walk the
+floor of her chamber half the night. But this was not done because she
+was suffering, or sleepless from grief, but for the purpose of keeping
+poor Miss Crane awake all night in the room below and making the poor
+lady believe that she, Mary Grey, was breaking her own heart in these
+vigils.
+
+And for her want of nightly rest Mary Grey compensated herself by dozing
+half the day on her sofa; and for her want of regular meals she made up
+by slipping out occasionally and feasting at some "ladies' restaurant."
+
+But her object was effected. She impressed everybody who came near her
+with the belief that she had suffered some awful wrong or bereavement of
+which she could not speak, but which threatened to unseat her reason or
+end her life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+MARY GREY'S STORY.
+
+
+At length her minister came to see her. He expressed the deepest
+sympathy with her sufferings, and implored her to relieve her
+overburdened heart by confiding in him or in his wife, from either or
+both of whom, he assured her, she should receive respectful compassion
+and substantial assistance, if the last was necessary.
+
+Then, pretending to yield to his better judgment, she consented to give
+him her confidence.
+
+And taking him up to her own sitting-room, where they could be safe from
+interruption, she bound him over to secrecy, and then, with many
+affected tears and moans, she told him the astounding story that she had
+long been privately married to Mr. Alden Lytton, who had deserted her
+within a few days after their wedding, and who had recently, as every
+one knew, united himself in matrimony with Miss Emma Cavendish, of Blue
+Cliffs, Virginia, and had gone with her on a wedding trip to Europe.
+
+While she told him this stupendous tale, the minister sat with open
+mouth and eyes, gazing on her with more of the air of an idiot than of a
+learned and accomplished gentleman.
+
+He was, in fact, utterly amazed and confounded by the story he had
+heard.
+
+That Alden Lytton, a young man of the highest social position, of
+unblemished reputation from his youth up, an accomplished scholar, a
+learned jurist, an eloquent barrister, and, more than all, a Christian
+gentleman, should have been guilty of the base treachery and the
+degrading crime here charged upon him was just simply incredible--no
+more nor less than incredible.
+
+Or that Mary Grey, the loveliest lady of his congregation, should be
+capable of a malicious fabrication was utterly impossible.
+
+There was then but one way out of the dilemma: Mary Grey was insane and
+suffering under a distressing hallucination that took this form.
+
+So said the look of consternation and pity that the minister fixed upon
+the speaker's face.
+
+"I see that you discredit my story, and doubt even my sanity. But here
+is something that you can neither doubt nor discredit," she said, as she
+drew from her pocket the marriage certificate and placed it in his
+hands.
+
+The minister opened and read it. And as he read this evidence of a
+"Christian gentleman's" base perfidy the look of consternation and
+amazement that had held possession of his countenance gave place to one
+of disgust and abhorrence.
+
+"Do you doubt _now_?" meaningly inquired Mary Grey.
+
+"Ah, no, I can not doubt now! I wish to Heaven I could! I would rather,
+my child, believe you to be under the influence of a distressing
+hallucination than know this man to be the consummate villain this
+certificate proves him to be. I can not doubt the certificate. I wish I
+could; but I know this Reverend Mr. Borden. On my holiday trips North I
+have sometimes stopped at his house and filled his pulpit. I am familiar
+with his handwriting. I can not doubt," groaned the minister.
+
+Mary Grey dropped her hands and pretended to sob aloud.
+
+"Do not weep so much, poor child! Deeply wronged as you have been by
+this ruthless sinner you have not been so awfully injured as has been
+this most unhappy young lady, Miss Cavendish, whom he has deceived to
+her destruction," said the minister.
+
+"And do you not suppose that I grieve for _her_ too?" sobbed Mary Grey.
+
+"Ah, yes, I am sure your tender, generous heart, wronged and broken as
+it is, has still the power left to grieve for her as well as for
+yourself."
+
+"But what is my duty? Ah, what is my duty in this supreme trial? I can
+not save my life or hers from utter wreck, but I can do my duty, and I
+will do it, if only it is pointed out to me. Oh, sir, point it out to
+me!" cried the hypocrite, clasping her hands with a look of sincerity
+that might have deceived a London detective.
+
+"My dear, can you possibly be in doubt as to what your duty is?"
+sorrowfully inquired the minister.
+
+"Oh, my mind is all confused by this terrible event! I can not judge
+rationally. Ought I to keep silence and go away to some remote place and
+live in obscurity, dead to the world, so as never even by chance to
+interfere with their happiness, or to bring trouble on Miss Cavendish? I
+think, perhaps, he expects even that much from my devotion to him. Or
+ought I not to make way with myself altogether, for her sake? Would not
+a courageous suicide be justifiable, and even meritorious, under such,
+trying circumstances?"
+
+"My child--my child, how wildly and sinfully you talk! Your brain is
+certainly touched by your troubles. You must not dream of doing any of
+the dreadful things you have mentioned. Your duty lies plainly before
+you. Will you have the courage to do it, if I point it out to you?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I will--I will! It is all that is left me to do."
+
+"Then your duty is to lodge information against that wretched man, so
+that he shall be arrested the moment he sets foot in the State."
+
+"Oh, heaven of heavens! And ruin Emma Cavendish!" exclaimed the
+traitress, in well-simulated horror.
+
+"And save Emma Cavendish from a life of involuntary degradation and
+misery. You must do this. To-morrow I will introduce you to a young
+lawyer of distinguished ability, who will give you legal advice even as
+I have given you religious counsel. And we will both confer together, so
+as to save you as much as possible from all painful share in the
+prosecution of this man."
+
+"It is _all_ painful; all agonizing! But I think you and I will not
+shrink from our duty. Oh, could you ever have believed, without such
+proof as I have given you, that Mr. Alden Lytton could ever have been
+guilty of this crime?"
+
+"Never! Never! And yet I know that men of exalted character have
+sometimes fallen very deeply into sin. Even David, 'the man after God's
+own heart,' took the wife of his devoted friend, and betrayed this
+faithful friend to a cruel death! Why should we wonder, then, at any
+man's fall? But, my child, I must ask you a question that I have been
+waiting to ask you all this time. Why did you not interfere to stop this
+felonious marriage before it took place? What timidity, what weakness,
+or what pride was it that restrained your hand from acting in time to
+prevent this fearful crime of Mr. Lytton, this awful wrong to Miss
+Cavendish, from being consummated?" gravely and sadly inquired the
+minister.
+
+"Oh, sir, how can you ask me such a question? Do you suppose that if I
+had had the remotest suspicion of what was going on I should not have
+interfered and prevented it at all hazards--yes, even at the sacrifice
+of my own life, if that had been necessary?"
+
+"You did not know of this beforehand then?"
+
+"Why, certainly not!"
+
+"Nor suspect it?"
+
+"Assuredly not! I had not the least knowledge nor the faintest suspicion
+that anything of the sort was contemplated by Mr. Lytton until after it
+was all over. The first I heard of it was from the Misses Crane, who
+wrote me at Forestville that Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton, the bride and
+bridegroom from Blue Cliffs, had called on me during my absence. The
+news, when it was confirmed, nearly killed me. But think of the insanity
+of their calling on me! But I know that was Emma's wish. And I feel sure
+that Mr. Lytton must have known of my absence from town or he never
+would have ventured to bring his deceived bride into my home."
+
+"No, indeed; probably not. Well, my poor child, I have shown you your
+painful duty. See that you do not falter in it," said the rector, as he
+rose to take leave.
+
+"I will not," answered Mary Grey.
+
+"I will call at ten o'clock to-morrow morning to take you to Mr.
+Desmond's office."
+
+"I will be ready."
+
+And the minister took his leave.
+
+Punctual to his appointment, the next morning at ten o'clock the rector
+called for Mary Grey and took her in his own carriage to the office of
+Philip Desmond, one of the most talented among the rising young
+barristers of Richmond.
+
+Mr. Desmond enjoyed a high reputation not only as a professional man but
+as a private gentleman.
+
+But he was the professional rival and the political opponent of Mr.
+Alden Lytton. They were always engaged on opposite sides of the same
+case; and on several important occasions Alden Lytton had gained a
+triumph over Philip Desmond.
+
+He was, therefore, more astonished than grieved when the rector, after
+introducing Mary Grey under the name of Mrs. Alden Lytton, proceeded to
+confide to him, under the seal of temporary secrecy, the stupendous
+story of Alden Lytton's double marriage.
+
+He expressed much amazement at the double treachery of the man, deep
+sympathy with the sorrows of the suffering and forsaken wife, and great
+indignation at the wrongs of the deceived and unhappy young lady.
+
+He readily promised to co-operate with the minister in having the
+culprit brought speedily to justice.
+
+"You, madam, of course, as his wife, can take no active part in the
+prosecution of this man. You can not even give testimony against him
+with your own voice. But you must appear in court, to be identified by
+the rector, the sexton and others who witnessed your marriage," said the
+lawyer, in taking leave of his visitors.
+
+The rector took Mrs. Grey back to her boarding-house, and while she was
+gone upstairs to lay off her bonnet and shawl he told the Misses Crane
+that their interesting boarder had confided her trouble to him; that she
+had suffered the deepest wrong that any woman could be doomed to bear;
+but he could not explain more then; they would know all about it in a
+short time, when the wrongdoer should be brought to justice.
+
+And having thus mystified the poor ladies, he further recommended Mary
+Grey to their tenderest sympathy and care.
+
+And so he went home, leaving them in a state of greater bewilderment
+than ever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+ABOUT BLUE CLIFFS.
+
+
+Before Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton had left Blue Cliff Hall they had made
+arrangements for the complete renovation of that old ancestral seat, to
+be carried on under the supervision of the Rev. Mr. Lyle.
+
+And they expressed their intention to purchase and send furniture from
+London and Paris to refit it.
+
+But the works were scarcely commenced when they had to be suspended for
+a few days.
+
+Another death had occurred in the family circle.
+
+Dr. Beresford Jones, after a very pleasant evening spent at Blue Cliff
+Hall in company with Mrs. Fanning, Laura Lytton, his granddaughter,
+Electra, and his great favorite, Mr. Joseph Brent, arose, saying:
+
+"I will now retire to bed, and I recommend you, Electra, my dear, to do
+the same, as we have to rise early to-morrow morning to set out on our
+return to Beresford Manors."
+
+And he kissed her good-night, bowed to the other members of the circle,
+took up his taper and retired.
+
+The next morning he went away indeed, but not to Beresford Manors.
+
+For when Electra went into his room, as was her custom, to kiss him
+good-morning before he should get up, she found nothing but his body,
+still warm, and with the face still wearing the happy smile with which
+his spirit had impressed it in taking his heavenward flight.
+
+Her screams desecrated the holy room of death and brought all the
+household to her presence.
+
+When they discovered the cause of the girl's wild grief, Mrs. Fanning
+and Laura Lytton together forced her from the room and took her to her
+own chamber, where they set themselves to soothe her.
+
+Joseph Brent, himself overcome with grief at the sudden loss of one who
+had proved himself so warm a friend, set out on horseback to Wendover to
+fetch the family physician and the minister.
+
+They were useless to the departed, of course, but they might be of some
+service to the bereaved ones left behind.
+
+So Mr. Lyle and Dr. Willet returned with Mr. Brent, and remained at Blue
+Cliff Hall until after all was over.
+
+And thus it happened that within one fortnight there were two funerals
+at Blue Cliffs.
+
+On the day after that upon which the remains of Beresford Jones were
+laid in the family vault his will was opened and read to his relatives.
+
+With the exception of a few legacies left to friends and servants he
+bequeathed the whole of his real estate and personal property
+exclusively and unconditionally to his beloved granddaughter, Electra
+Coroni.
+
+And he appointed his esteemed friends, Stephen Lyle and Joseph Brent,
+joint executors of the will, trustees of his estate, and guardians of
+his heiress.
+
+And to each of these executors he left a legacy of ten thousand dollars.
+
+Folded within the will was an informal letter addressed to his surviving
+friends, and requesting that no mourning should be worn for him, no
+wedding deferred, no innocent pleasure delayed on his account, for that
+death was only a higher step in life, and that which to him would be a
+great gain and glory must not seem to them a loss and gloom.
+
+Electra, with her gusty nature, wept vehemently during the reading of
+this will and letter.
+
+But there was one present who, though he betrayed no emotion, was much
+more deeply moved than any one present. This was Joseph Brent.
+
+In being appointed guardian, trustee and executor of the will, he had
+just received from Dr. Beresford Jones the greatest proof of esteem and
+confidence that any one man could receive from another. And when he
+thought of this in connection with his own woful past he felt deeply
+disturbed.
+
+After the reading of the will the assembled relatives dispersed from the
+room, leaving the two executors to converse together.
+
+When Joseph Brent found himself alone with his friend Stephen Lyle he
+gave way to his feelings and said:
+
+"My heart is full of compunction."
+
+"Why?" gravely inquired Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Because I should have confided in the dear old friend who put so much
+trust in me. I should have told him my whole miserable past history. And
+then, perhaps, he never would have given me so great a mark of his
+esteem. And Heaven knows I fully intended to tell him before asking him
+to accept me as a suitor of his granddaughter, even though it had cost
+me the loss of her who is dearer to me than life. But I put off the
+painful task, and now it is too late. And I feel as if I had obtained
+the honors he has conferred upon me by a fraud. No less!" said Joseph
+Brent, covering his face with his hands.
+
+"My brother, you are morbid on this subject. Certainly you intended to
+tell him before asking to marry his granddaughter. And most certainly it
+would have been right for you to do so, had he remained among us. But he
+is gone. And you are free from blame. If you must tell any one tell the
+girl you love, and who loves and trusts you, for it is now no one's
+business but hers and yours. Or, rather, because you would never do
+yourself justice, let me tell her how, once a poor, motherless boy, left
+to himself, lost his way in the world and strayed even to the very brink
+of perdition. And how nobly since that he has, by the grace of Heaven,
+redeemed and consecrated his life. And then see if she will not place
+her hand in yours for good and all."
+
+"You always comfort and strengthen me," said the young man, seizing and
+wringing the hand of his friend.
+
+And then they consulted about the will of the late Dr. Jones, and the
+arrangements to be made with his estates and the disposition to be made
+of his heiress.
+
+"We are her guardians," said Mr. Lyle; "but neither you nor I, being
+bachelors both, have a proper home to offer her. Nor will it be well for
+her to live at Beresford Manors, with no one but her colored servants.
+Mrs. Fanning has invited her to remain here for the present, and really
+this house seems to be the best place for her just now. But, after all,
+the decision must be left to herself, and she must choose her own home."
+
+Mr. Brent agreed perfectly with the views of Mr. Lyle.
+
+And later in the same afternoon they consulted the wishes of their young
+ward, who emphatically declared in favor of Blue Cliff Hall as her
+temporary home.
+
+The next morning Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent took leave of the ladies and
+returned to Wendover, where the Californian again became the inmate of
+the minister's home.
+
+But both gentlemen continued to be frequent visitors at Blue Cliff Hall.
+
+On the Monday following the funeral the work was recommenced on the old
+mansion and went rapidly on--the three ladies, Mrs. Fanning, Laura
+Lytton and Electra, moving from one part of the house to another as the
+improvements progressed.
+
+Six weeks after this they received the first cargo of new furniture for
+the drawing-rooms, which were ready for it.
+
+And as the work went on, from room to room, they received more furniture
+to fit them up.
+
+At the end of three months the work was completed within and without.
+
+And the fine old mansion, thoroughly remodeled and refurnished,
+presented as elegant and attractive an appearance as any modern palace
+in the whole country.
+
+And then, when all was ready for the returning bride and bridegroom,
+Mrs. Fanning received a letter from them informing her that on the
+Saturday following the date of that letter they were to embark on board
+the steamship "Amazon," bound from Liverpool to New York, and they
+expected to be at Blue Cliffs two weeks from the day of embarkation.
+
+Yes, the happy young pair were on their way home, unconscious of the
+horrible pitfall that had been dug to receive them!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+WEDDINGS AND WEDDING RECEPTIONS.
+
+    What do you think of marriage?
+    I take it as those who deny purgatory.
+    It locally contains or heaven or hell:
+    There is no third place in it.
+                                  --WEBSTER.
+
+
+It was a beautiful day near the last of May, and the scenery all around
+Blue Cliff Hall was glorious with sunshine, bloom and verdure.
+
+A happy party of friends was assembled at the Hall that day for a double
+purpose--to meet the returning bridegroom and bride, who were expected
+to arrive that evening, and to assist at their wedding reception, which
+was to be further graced by two new bridals the next morning; for it had
+been arranged by correspondence that Stephen Lyle and Laura Lytton and
+Joseph Brent and Electra Coroni should be married on that occasion.
+
+All was ready: the house newly-restored, decorated and furnished, the
+rooms aired and adorned with flowers, and the wedding-breakfast laid out
+in the long dining-room.
+
+The supper-table for the returning travelers was set in the small
+dining-room opening upon the garden of roses.
+
+Carriages had been sent from the Hall early that morning to meet the
+travelers, who were expected to reach Wendover by the noon train from
+Richmond and to come direct to the Hall, so as to arrive in time for an
+early tea.
+
+On the delightful porch in front of the house, that commanded a view of
+the carriage-drive and the forest road beyond, sat a pleasant group,
+enjoying the magnificent sunset of that mountain region, and watching
+the road or the first appearance of the carriage that was to bring home
+their beloved young friends.
+
+This happy group was composed of Mrs. Fanning, Laura Lytton, Electra
+Coroni, Stephen Lyle and Joseph Brent.
+
+"I hope they will arrive before the sun goes quite down. I should like
+them to come home in the sunshine," said Laura Lytton, looking anxiously
+at the glorious orb just then touching the horizon.
+
+No one answered. All were watching the setting sun and listening for the
+sound of the carriage-wheels until a few moments had passed, and then
+Electra said, with a sigh:
+
+"You will not get your wish then, for the sun is gone and they are not
+come."
+
+"They are coming now, however. I hear the sound of their
+carriage-wheels," said Joseph Brent.
+
+"Yes, indeed, for I see the carriage now," added Mr. Lyle, as the
+traveling-coach rolled rapidly in sight of the whole party and turned
+into the home drive.
+
+A few moments more and the carriage drew up before the house, and Alden
+Lytton alighted and handed out his wife.
+
+Another moment and Alden was in the arms of his sister and Emma on the
+bosom of Mrs. Fanning.
+
+Hearty greetings, warm embraces ensued, and then they held off to look
+at each other.
+
+Emma was more beautiful and Alden handsomer than ever.
+
+"What a happy coming home!" said Emma, gratefully. "And you are all so
+well! And you are all here except those who are in heaven. Stay! I think
+_they_ also are here to meet us, though we do not see them! Come, let
+us enter the house."
+
+"Let me show you to your rooms. No one shall be your 'groom of the
+chambers,' Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton, but myself," said Laura,
+playfully, as she led the way upstairs to the elegant apartments that
+had been prepared for the young master and mistress of the house.
+
+"Come too, Electra. I do not wish to lose sight of you so soon, my
+child," said Emma, kindly, as they went along. "Is everything arranged
+satisfactorily to yourselves, my dears, and are you both ready to be
+married at the same time to-morrow?" she inquired, addressing her two
+companions.
+
+"Why, of course!" smiled Laura.
+
+Very early the next morning the whole household was happily astir.
+
+The youthful family met at an early breakfast in the little dining-room,
+and then separated and went to their chambers to adorn themselves for
+the bridals.
+
+A little later in the morning carriages containing guests bidden to the
+wedding began to arrive. The guests were received first by accomplished
+ushers, who took them to handsome and convenient dressing-rooms, in
+which they could put the last perfecting touches on their toilets, after
+which they were ushered into the long drawing-room, where they were
+received by Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton.
+
+Emma was beautifully dressed for this occasion. She wore a rich white
+satin, with a point-lace overskirt, looped up with white roses sprinkled
+with small diamonds like dew. A wreath of the same flowers, bedewed in
+the same way, rested on her rich golden hair. A diamond necklace and
+bracelets adorned her bosom and arms. A delicate bouquet of white roses
+was held in her hand. Dainty gloves, and so forth, of course completed
+her toilet.
+
+The two brides were dressed exactly alike, in long-trained, rich white
+silk dresses, with illusion overdresses and illusion veils, white
+orange-blossom wreaths, pearl necklaces and bracelets, and dainty white
+kid gloves, and carried delicate white lace handkerchiefs and white
+bouquets.
+
+The bride-maids were all dressed in a uniform of white tarletan,
+trained, with overdresses of the same, rose-colored sashes and bows, and
+rose wreaths on their heads.
+
+The bridegrooms wore the regulation "invisible blue" swallow-tailed
+coats and pantaloons, white satin vests, patent leather boots and kids.
+The groomsmen were got up in precisely the same ridiculous--I mean
+fashionable--style.
+
+Now, reader, did you ever see a double marriage ceremony performed?
+
+If not, I will tell you how this was done.
+
+The first bride and groom were Mr. Lyle and Miss Lytton. They stood in
+the middle of the semicircle, immediately facing the bishop. The second
+bride and groom, Mr. Brent and Miss Coroni, stood on each side of them,
+Mr. Brent standing next to Mr. Lyle and Miss Coroni standing next to
+Miss Lytton. The six bride-maids, of course, completed the semicircle on
+the ladies' side and the six groomsmen on the gentlemen's.
+
+The opening exhortation was made and the opening prayers were offered
+for both pairs together.
+
+Then the momentous questions were put and answered, and the marriage
+vows were made, by each pair separately.
+
+Each bride was given away in turn by Alden Lytton. Finally the
+concluding prayer was offered and the benediction pronounced upon both.
+
+It was over.
+
+Congratulations, tears, smiles and kisses followed. A half an hour in
+pleasant chatter, in which every one talked and no one listened,
+followed, and then the doors of the dining-room were thrown open and the
+company was invited in to the breakfast.
+
+Three long tables stood parallel to each other, the whole length of the
+room, leaving only space to pass around them.
+
+Each table was decorated with the most fragrant and beautiful flowers,
+adorned with the most elegant plate, china and glass, and loaded with
+every delicacy appropriate to the occasion.
+
+But the middle table was distinguished by the "wedding-cake" _par
+excellence_--an elegant and beautiful piece of art, formed like a
+Grecian temple of Hymen, erected upon a rock, adorned with beautiful
+forms, birds, butterflies, flowers, and so forth.
+
+This middle table was also honored with the presence of the brides and
+bridegrooms, with their attendants and immediate friends, and with that
+of the officiating bishop.
+
+After the first course Mr. Lytton, who occupied a seat at the foot of
+this table, arose in his place and made the usual little speech, and
+proposed the health of both "happy pairs."
+
+This was drunk with enthusiasm.
+
+Then the health of the bride-maids was proposed and honored.
+
+Mr. Brent proposed their accomplished host and hostess. And this toast
+was honored with an enthusiasm equal to that which had attended that of
+the brides and bridegrooms.
+
+An hour, every moment of which was filled up with enjoyment, was spent
+at the table, and then the beautiful hostess, Mrs. Alden Lytton, gave
+the signal, and the ladies all arose and withdrew.
+
+The two brides, accompanied by Emma, went upstairs to their rooms to
+change their bridal dresses for traveling-suits, for the two carriages
+were already waiting at the gates to convey them to Wendover, whence
+they were to take the train for Richmond, _en route_ for the North.
+
+They were soon dressed in their pretty suits of soft, dove-colored silk,
+with hats and gloves of the same shade.
+
+They went down to the drawing-room, still accompanied by Emma.
+
+The gentlemen had just come in from the breakfast-table, and all the
+guests were assembled there to see the happy pairs off on their bridal
+tours.
+
+Emma had left the room for a few minutes to give some orders.
+
+Alden Lytton had just embraced his sister, and was holding the hand of
+his brother-in-law, wishing him all manner of happiness and prosperity,
+when the door opened and Jerome entered, saying:
+
+"There's a gemman out here wants to see Mr. Lytton most partic'lar."
+
+"Show him in," said Alden Lytton, smiling, and expecting to see some
+guest who had come too late for the wedding.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+A TERRIBLE SUMMONS.
+
+    You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting
+    With most admired disorder.
+                                          --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+The servant left the room, and presently returned and ushered in a tall,
+stout, gray-haired man, whom all present recognized as Mr. John Bowlen,
+the deputy sheriff of the county.
+
+The new-comer bowed to the assembled company and walked straight up to
+Alden Lytton, who advanced to meet him.
+
+"You are Mr. Alden Lytton, I presume?" said the deputy-sheriff.
+
+"Why, of course I am, Mr. Bowlen! You know that quite well, don't you?"
+smiled Alden.
+
+"I thought I did; but I wished to be quite sure in a case like this. You
+are my prisoner, Mr. Alden Lytton," said the deputy-sheriff, so calmly
+and distinctly that every one in the room both heard and understood the
+strange words.
+
+Yet no one uttered an exclamation of surprise. I think they were all too
+much stunned for that.
+
+Alden Lytton simply stared in silent amazement at the officer, while
+others, including the two bridegrooms, gathered around him.
+
+"What did you say just now? Perhaps I did not hear you aright," inquired
+Alden, elevating his eyebrows, for there was something that struck him
+as unreal, ludicrous and bordering upon the burlesque in the whole
+situation.
+
+"I said that you were my prisoner, Mr. Alden Lytton," answered the
+deputy-sheriff, gravely. "I repeat that you are my prisoner."
+
+"Prisoner!" echoed a score of voices, giving expression at length to
+their amazement.
+
+"Yes, ladies and gentlemen, he is my prisoner. I think I spoke plainly
+enough; and I hope I shall have no trouble in making the arrest,"
+answered the deputy-sheriff, who, if he were not behaving very rudely,
+was certainly not doing his duty very courteously.
+
+"Upon what charge, I pray you, am I to be arrested?" inquired Mr.
+Lytton, sarcastically, still inclined to treat the whole matter as a
+very bad practical joke.
+
+"You may read the warrant, sir," answered the officer, unfolding a
+document and placing it in the hands of Alden Lytton, who, with some
+anger and curiosity, but no anxiety, began to read it.
+
+"What is the matter? What does this person want here?" inquired Emma, in
+surprise, as she entered the room, came up to the group and saw the
+intruder.
+
+"He has some business with me, my love," answered her husband,
+controlling himself with a great effort, as he read the shameful charges
+embodied in the warrant commanding his arrest. Then, still speaking with
+forced calmness, he said to the deputy-sheriff:
+
+"I will go with you first into the library, Mr. Bowlen, where we can
+talk over this matter with my friends."
+
+And turning to the two bridegrooms he inquired:
+
+"Can you give me a few minutes with this officer in the library?"
+
+"Certainly," answered Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent, in one voice.
+
+"Ladies, you will excuse us for a few minutes?" inquired Mr. Lytton,
+smiling around upon the group.
+
+"Certainly," answered two or three ladies, speaking for the whole party.
+
+"Follow me, if you please, gentlemen," said Alden Lytton, as he led the
+way to the library.
+
+There the four men--Mr. Lytton, Mr. Lyle, Mr. Brent and the
+sheriff--stood around a small table, all with anxious and some with
+questioning looks.
+
+"Read that and tell me what you think of it," said Mr. Lytton, placing
+the warrant for his arrest in the hands of Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Think of it? I think it at once the falsest, basest and most absurd
+charge that ever was made against an honorable man!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle,
+in righteous indignation, as he threw the document on the table.
+
+"It is all a diabolical conspiracy!" added Joseph Brent, who had read
+the warrant over the shoulder of his friend.
+
+"It can not stand investigation for one moment," said Stephen Lyle.
+
+"And the wretches who got this up should be severely punished!"
+exclaimed Joseph Brent.
+
+"Most severely!" added Stephen Lyle.
+
+"But what show of foundation could they have had for such a charge? The
+warrant accuses you of having 'feloniously intermarried with one Emma
+Angela Cavendish in and during the lifetime of your lawful wife, Mary
+Lytton, now living in this State!' Now, who the very mischief is this
+Mary who claims to be Lytton? Oh, Alden, my son, what _have_ you been up
+to?" inquired Joseph Brent, half in mockery and half in real anxiety.
+
+"Whatever else I may have been 'up to,' I certainly never have been 'up
+to' marrying two wives at one time," answered Alden, in the same spirit
+of half banter, half protest.
+
+"But who is this Mary, self-styled Lytton?"
+
+"I know no more than the dead!"
+
+"But are you sure you never had a slight flirtation with, or a platonic
+affinity for, a Mary or anybody else?"
+
+"Never! Nor do I even know a single 'Mary' in this world, except--"
+
+"Oh, yes!--except whom--except whom?"
+
+"Mrs. Mary Grey," answered Alden, gravely, and with a certain new
+disturbance in his manner that had not been there before.
+
+Mr. Lyle brought his hand down upon the table with an emphatic thump.
+
+"That is the woman!" he said, with an air of entire conviction. "But
+surely you never fell under her baleful spell?"
+
+"Ah, who that ever knew her has not fallen under that baleful spell? But
+for the last two years I have been entirely disillusioned," answered
+Alden.
+
+"Come, gentlemen, I am sorry to hurry you; but really," said Sheriff
+Bowlen, taking out his watch, "it is now two o'clock, and we must get on
+to Wendover."
+
+"Very well," answered Alden Lytton, coldly. Then turning to Mr. Brent
+and Mr. Lyle he said: "And you, my friends, must be getting on, too, or
+you will lose your train. And then what will become of your bridal
+trips?"
+
+"I do not care what may become of _my_ bridal trip! I mean to see you
+safe through this abominable conspiracy--for a conspiracy it certainly
+is, whoever may be the conspirators!" said Joseph Brent, emphatically.
+
+"Pooh--pooh! Some very shallow piece of malice, or some very poor
+practical joke upon me or the magistrate! The wonder is, however, that
+any magistrate could be found to issue such a warrant as this," said
+Alden Lytton, making light of a matter which he thought the slightest
+investigation must soon set right.
+
+In the meantime Joseph Brent and Stephen Lyle spoke apart for a few
+minutes, and then came to Alden Lytton and said:
+
+"Look here; we are going with you to the magistrate's office. We are
+determined to see this matter through. It may be a trifle or it may
+not."
+
+"And how about the two pretty girls who are waiting, with their hats on,
+to be taken on their wedding tours?"
+
+"They can wait. A few hours, which must decide this, can make but little
+difference to them. Your lovely lady will give them house-room to-day,"
+said Mr. Lyle.
+
+As Alden Lytton was about to reply, urging his friends not to delay
+their journey on his account, he caught sight of Emma standing in the
+hall, just outside the library door.
+
+Her face was pale with anguish, and her hands were clasped tightly
+together, as she said:
+
+"Alden--Alden! Oh, Alden, come to me for one moment!"
+
+"Let me go and speak to my wife. I will not run away," said Mr. Lytton,
+sarcastically, to the deputy, who was close upon his heels.
+
+And he went up to Emma and said, cheerfully:
+
+"Do not be alarmed, love; there is nothing to fear."
+
+"Oh, Alden, dearest, _what is it_? They are talking about a warrant and
+an arrest in there. It is not true--oh, it can not be true!" said the
+young wife, a little incoherently.
+
+"There is some mistake, my love, which would be simply ludicrous if it
+were not so annoying. I must go to Wendover and set it all right,"
+replied Mr. Lytton, cheerfully.
+
+"Are you certain it is nothing more than a mistake?"
+
+"Nothing more than a mistake or a jest, dear love. But I must go to
+Wendover to set it right."
+
+"But what sort of a mistake is it? What is it all about?"
+
+"I will explain it all when I come back, my wife. I do not quite
+comprehend it yet."
+
+"How soon will you be back?"
+
+"As soon as ever this matter shall be explained--in time for tea, if
+possible. Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent are going with me. You will take care
+of the girls during the few hours' delay in their journey. There, love,
+return to your guests and let me go. This officer is growing impatient."
+
+While Alden Lytton was trying to soothe the anxiety of his wife, Mr.
+Brent and Mr. Lyle had crossed to the drawing-room to explain to their
+brides that an unexpected event had occurred which would delay their
+journey for a few hours, during which they would remain as the guests of
+Mrs. Alden Lytton.
+
+And before the young ladies could make a comment the deputy-sheriff,
+with Alden Lytton in custody, passed out.
+
+Then Stephen Lyle and Joseph Brent hurried out and entered the same
+carriage occupied by Alden Lytton and the sheriff.
+
+During the drive to Wendover the three gentlemen tried to learn from the
+sheriff more particulars concerning the charges made against Mr. Alden
+Lytton.
+
+But the sheriff knew little or nothing concerning those charges beyond
+what was embodied in the warrant that authorized the arrest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+THE INVESTIGATION.
+
+    One is my true and honorable wife,
+    As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
+    That visit my sad heart.
+                          --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+In due time they reached the village and were driven at once to the
+office of the magistrate, Squire Estep, of Spring Hill Manor.
+
+No rumor of the arrest had got abroad, and no crowd was collected about
+the office doors.
+
+The sheriff alighted first, and was followed out by the accused and his
+two friends.
+
+They entered the office, where just then no one was present except the
+magistrate, one clerk and two constables.
+
+The three gentlemen bowed as they entered, and the venerable magistrate
+arose and acknowledged their presence by a nod and sat down again.
+
+The sheriff laid the warrant on the table before the magistrate and,
+pointing to Mr. Alden Lytton, said:
+
+"That is the prisoner, your worship."
+
+One of the constables placed chairs, and the gentlemen seated themselves
+and waited.
+
+"White," said Mr. Estep, addressing one of the constables, "go to the
+Reindeer and serve this upon the gentleman to whom it is directed, and
+whom you will find there."
+
+The constable took the slip of paper from the speaker's hand, bowed and
+went out.
+
+And the three gentlemen waited with what patience they might command,
+while the magistrate drummed upon the table with his fingers.
+
+Presently the constable returned, ushering in two persons, in one of
+whom Alden Lytton recognized his great rival at the bar, Philip Desmond.
+The other, an elderly gentleman in a clergyman's dress, was a total
+stranger to him.
+
+Both these gentlemen bowed to the magistrate and to the accused and his
+friends, and one of them--the clerical stranger--came up to Alden and,
+to his great amazement, said:
+
+"I am very sorry, Mr. Lytton, in meeting you a second time, to see you
+here in this position; sorrier still that I am here to bear testimony
+against you."
+
+While he was saying this the magistrate, who was engaged in searching
+among some documents, drew forth from them a paper which seemed to be a
+memorandum, which he from time to time consulted, as he addressed the
+accused and said:
+
+"You are Mr. Alden Lytton, attorney at law, of the Richmond bar, I
+believe?"
+
+"I am," answered Alden Lytton.
+
+"Attend, if you please, to the reading of this," said the magistrate, as
+he commenced and read out aloud the warrant upon which the accused had
+been brought before him.
+
+At the conclusion of the reading Alden Lytton bowed gravely and waited.
+
+"Mr. Alden Lytton, you have heard that you are charged with having, on
+the fifteenth of February of this present year, feloniously intermarried
+with Emma Angela Cavendish, in and during the lifetime of your lawful
+wife, Mary Lytton, now living in this State. Such marriage, under such
+circumstances, being a felony, punishable with imprisonment and hard
+labor in the State Penitentiary for a term not less than ---- or more
+than ---- years. What have you to say to this charge?" inquired the
+magistrate.
+
+Alden Lytton with some difficulty controlled his indignation as he
+answered:
+
+"It is perfectly true that in last February I married Miss Cavendish, of
+Blue Cliffs. But it is a false and malicious slander that I ever at any
+time married any one else. It is only amazing to me, Mr. Magistrate,
+that you should have issued a warrant charging me with so base a crime.
+You could not possibly have had any grounds to justify such a
+proceeding."
+
+"We shall see," answered, the magistrate. "You admit that you married
+Miss Cavendish on the fifteenth of last February?"
+
+"Certainly I do."
+
+"Then nothing remains but to prove or to disprove the statement that at
+the time of your marriage with Miss Cavendish, at Blue Cliffs, you had a
+lawful wife then living in the city of Richmond."
+
+Alden Lytton flushed to the temples at hearing his true wife's pure and
+noble name brought into this dishonoring examination. He spoke sternly
+as he inquired:
+
+"Upon what grounds do you make this charge? Where are your witnesses?"
+
+"The Reverend Mr. Borden will please step forward," said the magistrate.
+
+The strange clergyman came up to the table and stood there.
+
+The magistrate administered the oath to this witness.
+
+At the same moment Mr. Philip Desmond took his place at the table to
+conduct the examination.
+
+"Your name is Adam Borden?"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the clerical witness.
+
+"You are the rector of Saint Blank's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You know the accused?"
+
+"Yes, sir. He is Mr. Alden Lytton," replied the rector, bowing gravely
+to the prisoner.
+
+Alden acknowledged the courtesy by a nod, and then waited with more
+amazement and curiosity than anxiety to hear what sort of a case they
+would make out against him with the aid of this man, whom he never saw
+before, and yet who claimed to know him well.
+
+"State, if you please, Mr. Borden, what you know of Mr. Lytton in regard
+to this case."
+
+"In the month of September of last year Mr. Lytton came to my house in
+company with a lady to whom he wished to be married immediately. I
+conducted the pair into the church and married them there, in the
+presence of my sexton and his daughter. I registered the marriage in the
+church books and gave a certificate, signed by myself and the witnesses
+to the marriage. They then left the church together. I had never seen
+them before, and I have never seen them since until to-day, when I see
+and recognize Mr. Lytton, just as I should recognize his bride if I
+should see her."
+
+"Where is she?" inquired the magistrate.
+
+"Your worship, the lady can be produced at once, to be identified by the
+witness," said Philip Desmond.
+
+And he wrote on a slip of paper and handed it to a constable, who
+silently left the room.
+
+Meanwhile Alden Lytton waited with constantly increasing curiosity to
+find out to whom he had been unconsciously married in the month of
+September, and in the city of Philadelphia. It flashed upon him suddenly
+that he had been in Philadelphia about the middle of the last September,
+and in company with Mary Grey. But he felt certain that he had never
+gone out with her while there; and he waited with intensely curious
+interest to hear how they could possibly make out a case against him.
+
+Presently the door opened and the constable returned, bringing with him
+a gracefully-moving woman, dressed in black and deeply veiled.
+
+"Your worship, this is the true wife of the accused, produced here to be
+identified by the witness," said Mr. Desmond, taking the hand of the
+lady and leading her to the table.
+
+"Will you be so good as to raise your veil, ma'am?" requested the
+magistrate.
+
+The lady lifted the black veil and threw it behind her head, revealing
+the beautiful face of Mary Grey.
+
+Alden Lytton had half expected to see her, yet he could not forbear the
+exclamation:
+
+"Mrs. Grey!"
+
+"Mrs. Lytton, if you please, sir! You have taken from me your love and
+your protection, but you can not take from me your name! That is still
+mine. You have taken from me my peace of heart, but you shall not take
+from me my name! When you address me again call me Mrs. Lytton, for that
+is my legal name!"
+
+"It is false--infamously false!" began Alden Lytton, crimsoning with
+indignation.
+
+But the magistrate stopped him, saying:
+
+"Mr. Lytton, this is very unseemly. If this lady claims a relation to
+you that she can not prove she will do so at her own proper peril. Let
+us continue the examination and conduct it with decent order."
+
+Alden Lytton bowed to the magistrate and said, with what calmness he
+could command:
+
+"This woman--no, this libel upon womanhood, who is brought here to be
+identified as my wife, might have rather been summoned to bear testimony
+against me in any false charge she and her co-conspirators might have
+chosen to set up, since she is not, and never has been, my wife. Her
+presence here can not establish one single point in this infamous
+accusation. Yet I am anxious to know how she and her confederate--as I
+am forced to regard this witness--will attempt to do so. Let the
+examination proceed."
+
+"Mr. Borden, will you look upon this lady?" respectfully demanded Mr.
+Desmond.
+
+The reverend gentleman put on his spectacles and scrutinized the face of
+Mary Grey, who met his gaze, and then lowered her eyes.
+
+"Can you identify her as the lady whom you united in marriage with Mr.
+Alden Lytton?" inquired Mr. Desmond.
+
+"Yes, assuredly I can. She is the lady, then called Mary Grey, whom I
+united in marriage with that gentleman, then called Alden Lytton, and to
+whom I gave the marriage certificate, signed by myself and two
+witnesses. Those witnesses can be produced when wanted," answered the
+Rev. Mr. Borden, with much assurance.
+
+"These witnesses are not needed just now. But I wish you to examine this
+certificate, Mr. Borden," said Mr. Desmond, putting a folded paper in
+the hands of the minister.
+
+The reverend gentleman adjusted his spectacles and scrutinized it.
+
+"Is that the certificate of marriage that you gave Mrs. Mary Lytton, the
+wife of Mr. Alden Lytton, on the day that you united them?" inquired Mr.
+Desmond.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is," answered the minister.
+
+"Are you quite sure?"
+
+"Quite sure, sir. Why, I know the paper and the printed form, as well as
+my own autograph and the signatures of the two witnesses," declared the
+minister.
+
+"That will do. You may sit down, sir," said Mr. Desmond.
+
+"I beg your pardon. I would like to ask that witness a few questions
+before he retires," said Mr. Lytton.
+
+"Of course that is your right, sir," said the magistrate.
+
+Alden Lytton arose and confronted the witness, looking him full in the
+face.
+
+"You are a minister of the gospel, I believe, Mr. Borden?" he inquired.
+
+"Yes, sir. I am rector of Saint Blank's Episcopal Church in
+Philadelphia, as you yourself know very well, having there received my
+ministry on the day that you then declared to be 'the happiest of your
+life,'" replied the minister.
+
+"As Heaven is my witness, I never saw your face before I met you in this
+office! Now then, reverend sir, please to look me in the eyes while you
+answer my next questions. Being upon your oath, you declare that on a
+certain day, in the month of last September, in your parish church, in
+the city of Philadelphia, you performed the marriage ceremony between
+Alden Lytton and Mary Grey?"
+
+"I do most solemnly declare, upon my sacred oath, that I did so,"
+answered Mr. Borden, meeting the searching gaze of the questioner
+without flinching.
+
+"This is the most astounding effrontery! But attend further, sir, if
+you please. Being on your oath, you declare that I am the man and that
+female is the woman whom you joined in marriage, under the names of
+Alden Lytton and Mary Grey?"
+
+"On my sacred oath I most solemnly declare that you are the man and she
+is the woman I then and there united together," unflinchingly replied
+the minister.
+
+For a moment Alden Lytton was mute with amazement; and then he said:
+
+"Let me look at that paper that is said to be a certificate of this
+marriage."
+
+Mr. Desmond handed over the document.
+
+Alden Lytton read it, and then recommenced his cross-examination of the
+minister.
+
+"And this is the certificate you gave the pretended bride?" he inquired.
+
+"That is the certificate I gave your wife, sir."
+
+"And you persist in declaring, under oath, that you solemnized a
+marriage between myself, Alden Lytton, and this woman, Mary Grey, here
+present?"
+
+"I do, most solemnly."
+
+"Then, sir," said Alden Lytton, flushing to his temples with fierce
+indignation, "all I have further to say is this--that you have basely
+perjured yourself to assist and support an infamous conspiracy!"
+
+"Sir--sir--Mr. Lytton!" said the magistrate, in trepidation. "This
+gentleman is a most highly respected preacher of the gospel, quite
+incapable of such a thing!"
+
+"I do not care whether he be priest, bishop, pope or apostle! He has
+basely perjured himself in support of an infamous conspiracy!"
+
+"Mr. Lytton--Mr. Lytton," said the magistrate, "if you have anything to
+bring forward to disprove this strange charge we shall be glad to hear
+it. But vituperation is not testimony."
+
+"I know it," said Alden Lytton, trying hard to control his raging
+passion. "I know it, and I beg pardon of the magistrate. But this is a
+foul conspiracy against my peace, honor and liberty--and oh, great
+Heaven, against the honor of my dear, noble young wife! But this vile
+conspiracy shall surely be exposed, and when it is, by all my hopes of
+heaven, no charity, no mercy, no consideration in the universe shall
+prevent me from prosecuting and pursuing these conspirators to
+punishment with the utmost rigor of the law!"
+
+"Mr. Lytton, have you anything to bring forward in disproof of the
+charges made against you?" inquired the magistrate.
+
+"No, sir; not now, nor here. I must have time to look this monstrous
+falsehood in the face and prepare for its total destruction."
+
+"Then, Mr. Lytton, I shall have to send your case to court for trial.
+Have you bail?"
+
+"Yes, sir," spoke up Joseph Brent, coming forward before Alden Lytton
+could speak, "he has bail. I will enter into bonds for my esteemed young
+friend, Alden Lytton, to any amount you may please to name."
+
+"The charge is one of the gravest; the position of the parties involved
+in it is high in the social scale; the evidence already elicited is of
+the most convincing and convicting character; every circumstance would
+seem to point to the expediency of evading the trial by flight, or any
+other means. In view of all the circumstances of the case I feel it my
+duty to demand a very heavy bail. I fix the bail, therefore, at the sum
+of twenty thousand dollars," said the magistrate.
+
+"It might be twenty times twenty thousand dollars, and I would enter it
+for him. A man of honor, like Mr. Lytton, falsely accused of a base
+crime, does not fly from trial. On the contrary he demands it for his
+own vindication," said Joseph Brent, earnestly.
+
+Alden Lytton turned and grasped his hand in silent acknowledgment of his
+noble friendship. Then, addressing the magistrate, he said:
+
+"I am ready to enter into a recognizance with my esteemed friend here
+for my appearance at court to answer this charge--this charge as
+ridiculous as it is monstrous."
+
+The magistrate nodded and directed his clerk to fill out the proper
+forms.
+
+When these were completed and signed the accused was discharged from
+custody.
+
+He bowed to the magistrate, and even to the others, and was about to
+leave the office, followed by Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent, when Mary Grey
+darted swiftly and silently to his side and hissed in his ear:
+
+"I swore that I would take you in the hour of your greatest triumph and
+strike you down to the dust in dishonor! I have done so! I will send you
+to the penitentiary yet--felon!"
+
+"I think that you will find yourself there, madam, before many months
+have passed over your head. There are severe laws against forgery,
+perjury and conspiracy," answered Alden Lytton.
+
+Outside of the office the three gentlemen consulted their watches. It
+was now six o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+Then they looked about them.
+
+They had come to Wendover in the deputy-sheriff's carriage. That had
+gone. And there was no conveyance waiting to take them to Blue Cliff
+Hall.
+
+"We must go to the old Reindeer and hire their hack," said Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Excuse me, Lyle; let us walk to your parsonage first. You must give me
+house-room there for a few weeks, for I do not wish to stop at the hotel
+to be stared at, and--I shall not return to Blue Cliffs, or enter the
+presence of my pure and noble young wife, until I shall be cleared from
+this foul charge," said Alden Lytton, firmly.
+
+"Not return to Blue Cliffs? Why, Lytton, you will break your wife's
+heart if you keep her from you in this your day of sorrow!" exclaimed
+Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Her heart is too heroic to be easily broken. And a little reflection
+will convince you that, under the peculiar circumstances of this
+accusation, it is expedient that I should absent myself from her and
+from her dwelling until I shall be cleared. Now if the charge against me
+were that of murder, or anything else but what it is, my wife might be
+by my side. But being what it is, you must see that I best consult her
+dignity and delicacy by abstaining from seeing her until after my
+acquittal. No, I shall neither see, speak, nor write to her while I
+suffer under this charge."
+
+"I see now that you are perfectly right," said Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Yes, that you are," added Mr. Brent, as the three walked out toward the
+minister's cottage.
+
+"I only wish you to install me, Lyle, by explaining to your good old
+housekeeper that I am to be an inmate of the parsonage during your
+absence, so that she may not take my presence as an unjustifiable
+intrusion," said Alden Lytton.
+
+"She would never do that in any case," answered Stephen Lyle.
+
+"And when you have installed me I wish you and Brent to return to Blue
+Cliffs and rejoin your brides at once. And you, Lyle, must break this
+matter to my dear Emma as delicately and tenderly as you can. She does
+not need to be told that I am entirely guiltless of the crime that is
+laid to my charge; for she knows that I am incapable of committing such
+an one. Nor does she require to be assured of my undying love and faith.
+She is assured of that. But tell her to be of good cheer, to bear this
+temporary separation patiently, and to wait hopefully our speedy
+meeting in happier days. Will you do this, my friend?"
+
+"Most faithfully," answered Mr. Lyle.
+
+"And then I wish you to start at once upon your wedding tours. They must
+not be further delayed on my account."
+
+"Look here, Lytton," said Stephen Lyle, earnestly. "I speak for myself
+and also for Brent, who feels just as I do. We start upon no bridal
+tours until you are out of this trouble. We could not leave you in your
+trouble. And our girls, I am sure, would not leave your wife in her
+sorrow. So that is all over. What I have to propose is this: That I
+bring our Laura home here to-morrow. And that we remain here to keep you
+company, while Victor--I mean Brent--and Electra stay for the present at
+Blue Cliffs as the guests of Mrs. Alden Lytton."
+
+"I hope you approve the plan. We talked it over and settled it all while
+we were in the magistrate's office attending the examination," added
+Joseph Brent.
+
+They had by this time reached the gates of the pretty cottage.
+
+Alden Lytton stopped, turned around and grasped a hand of each faithful
+friend. For a moment he could not speak for the strong emotion that
+choked him.
+
+"God bless you!" he said, at length, in a half suffocated voice. "God
+bless you both! I have surely found one 'precious jewel' in the head of
+this 'toad'--the priceless jewel of your friendship!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+HOW EMMA HEARD THE NEWS.
+
+               An angel guard--
+    Chariots of fire, horses of fire encamp,
+    To keep thee safe.
+                               --MRS. ELLET.
+
+
+It was eleven o'clock that night when the Rev. Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent
+reached Blue Cliffs on their return from Wendover.
+
+Of course all the guests of the bridal reception had long since gone
+away. The house was closed and all the windows were dark except those of
+the library, where the gentlemen found the two brides and their hostess
+sitting up and awaiting their return.
+
+"Where is Alden? Is he not with you?" anxiously inquired Emma, coming to
+meet them.
+
+"Our friend might certainly have come back with us if he had chosen to
+do so; but he deemed it better to remain at Wendover to-night, and we
+agreed with him. He is at my house," answered Mr. Lyle.
+
+"You have something painful to tell me. I beg you will tell it at once,"
+said Emma, turning very pale, but controlling herself perfectly and
+speaking with calmness.
+
+"Something ridiculous, if it were not so outrageous, I should say, dear
+Mrs. Lytton. Is there a light in the parlor?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then come with me there and I will tell you all about it," answered Mr.
+Lyle, speaking cheerfully, as he offered his arm to Emma.
+
+They left the room together and went to the parlor, where a lamp was
+burning low and shedding a dim light around.
+
+Mr. Lyle led his hostess to a sofa, where he sat down beside her.
+
+And then and there he told her the whole history of the charge that had
+been brought against her husband, as it came out upon the preliminary
+examination.
+
+Emma listened in unspeakable grief, horror, amazement and mortification.
+Yet with all these strong emotions struggling in her bosom, she
+controlled herself so far as to preserve her outward composure and
+answer with calmness.
+
+"And Mary Grey claims to be _his wife_? I should think the woman were
+raving mad, but for the plausible testimony she has managed to bring
+together. As it is, I am forced to look upon this in the same light that
+you do, as a base conspiracy, in which she has found some skillful
+confederates. Of course it must be only the embarrassment and
+mortification of a few days and then the whole plot must be exposed.
+Such a plot can not, certainly, bear a thorough investigation," she
+said.
+
+But though she spoke so confidently, and believed all that she said, yet
+her face continued deathly pale and her hands were clutched closely
+together on her lap.
+
+Then Mr. Lyle explained to her the delicate motives that governed her
+husband in deciding him to remain at the Wendover parsonage, and to
+absent himself entirely from Blue Cliffs and from her until this charge
+should be disproved.
+
+Emma flushed and paled again, and clutched her hands a little closer,
+but made no comment yet. She seemed to wait for Mr. Lyle to proceed.
+
+"He says, my child, and he speaks rightly, that if the accusation
+against him was of almost any other felony than what it is, you should
+be with him through all he might have to endure. But the accusation
+being what it is every consideration for your dignity and delicacy
+constrains him to absent himself from you until his fair fame shall be
+cleared. He therefore implores you, by me, not to attempt to see him, or
+even to write to him, but to let all your communications with him be
+verbal ones, sent through me. And I, on my part, my child, promise to
+fulfill my duties to you both faithfully and loyally," said Mr. Lyle.
+
+"I must comply," answered Emma, in a low, restrained voice, that would
+have faltered and broken had she not possessed and exercised such great
+power of self-control. "I must comply, although this is the very hardest
+requisition that my dear husband could make of me--to abandon him in
+this hour of his greatest need. I must comply, because I know that it is
+right. Our mutual honor demands this temporary separation--for of course
+it will be but temporary."
+
+"Very temporary, and lightened by frequent news of each other through
+me," replied Mr. Lyle.
+
+"But that woman, Mary Grey! The amazing wickedness of that woman!" said
+Emma, with a shudder, and almost under her breath.
+
+"My dear," said the minister, gravely, "you knew Mrs. Grey intimately
+for several years. Had you really confidence in her during all that
+time?"
+
+"N-no. I often doubted and suspected her. And I blamed myself for such
+doubts and suspicions, and compelled myself to think the best of her and
+do the best for her, for my father's sake--because he loved her. Oh, the
+astounding wickedness of that woman, as it has developed itself in this
+conspiracy against us! But she must have had confederates. The minister
+who professes to have married her to Mr. Lytton, and who gave her a
+marriage certificate to that effect, may he not have been a confederate
+of hers? May he not have taken a false oath--made a false statement and
+given a false certificate?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, no, my child--a thousand times no! The character of the
+Reverend Mr. Borden is far above any such suspicion," answered Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Then he must himself have been deceived. Some one must have personated
+Mr. Lytton at that ceremony--some one who has some resemblance to
+him--and utterly deceived the minister," said Emma. And she paused for a
+few moments, with her head upon her hand, as in hard, deep thought; and
+then a sudden flash of intelligence, like lightning, lit up her face,
+as she exclaimed: "I know who it was! I know all about it now! Oh, Mr.
+Lyle, I shall save my dear husband's honor from a breath of reproach,
+because I have found out all about it now!"
+
+"My dear child--" began the good minister, who thought that she looked a
+little wild.
+
+But Emma vehemently interrupted him.
+
+"It was Craven Kyte who personated Mr. Lytton at that marriage! Oh, I am
+sure it was! I am as sure of it as I am of being alive at this time! Oh,
+Mr. Lyle, don't you remember the wonderful personal resemblance between
+Craven Kyte and Mr. Lytton? They were counterparts of each other, except
+in one small particular. Craven Kyte had a black mole on his chin. And
+he was deeply in love with Mary Grey, and she could have done whatever
+she pleased with him. She could have persuaded him to personate Alden
+Lytton at that marriage ceremony; and I am sure that she has done so. I
+feel a positive conviction that he is the man."
+
+"The explanation of the mystery is a very plausible one indeed," gravely
+mused the minister, with his bearded chin in his hand.
+
+"It is the true and only one," said Emma, emphatically.
+
+"Where is the young man now? Has he been heard from yet?" inquired Mr.
+Lyle.
+
+"No; I believe not. He is still missing. He has been missing ever since
+last September, when he went away for a holiday. That is another link in
+the chain of circumstantial evidence against him, for it was in
+September that this marriage was performed."
+
+"This looks more and more likely," mused the minister.
+
+"Mr. Lyle, this is what must be done immediately: Advertisements must be
+inserted in all the principal newspapers in the principal cities of the
+United States and Canada, offering great inducements to Craven Kyte,
+late of Wendover, to return to his home, or to communicate with his
+friends."
+
+"Yes, that must be done immediately, even upon the bare chance of his
+being the man we want. But if he _be_ the man, there is little
+likelihood of his making his appearance, or even answering the
+advertisement. If he be the man he knows that he has committed a
+misdemeanor in personating Mr. Lytton under these circumstances. And he
+will not be likely to place himself within reach of justice."
+
+"Then we must also supplement these advertisements with others, offering
+large rewards for any information as to the present residence of the
+missing man. And this must be done at once."
+
+"Certainly, if it is done at all. The man must be found and produced in
+court, to be confronted with Mr. Borden beside Alden Lytton. My dear
+child, your woman's wit may have saved your husband."
+
+"Heaven grant it!" said Emma, fervently.
+
+Next Mr. Lyle informed her of the proposed arrangement by which the two
+newly-married pairs were to give up their bridal tour for the present,
+while two of them, himself and Laura, should go home to the Wendover
+parsonage to stay with Alden Lytton, and the other two, Joseph Brent and
+Electra, should remain at Blue Cliffs, in attendance upon Emma.
+
+"Emma is not a queen, that she should require ladies and gentlemen in
+waiting; but she will be very much comforted by the presence of her dear
+friends, Joseph and Electra," said the young wife, with a sad smile, as
+she arose to return to her guests.
+
+Later in the evening Laura and Electra were informed about the state of
+affairs.
+
+Their amazement was unmeasured and unutterable.
+
+But they at once set down the criminal conspiracy of Mary Grey against
+Mr. and Mrs. Lytton to its right motive--malignant hatred and revenge
+for scorned love.
+
+The two young brides most willingly gave up their tours and consented to
+stay at home with their friends during the time of the trial.
+
+The next morning, therefore, Mr. Lyle took his young wife and returned
+with her to the Wendover parsonage, where he comforted the soul of Alden
+Lytton by reporting to him all that had passed between himself and Emma.
+
+"She keeps up bravely, heroically. She is worthy to be a hero's wife!"
+said the minister, warmly.
+
+"She is--she is! She comes of a heroic race; therefore the deeper guilt
+of those who seek to bring dishonor upon her!" groaned Alden Lytton.
+
+Then Mr. Lyle said:
+
+"Her feminine intuition discovered what we men, with all our logic,
+would never have learned--that is to say, who it was that personated
+_you_ at that false marriage."
+
+"Indeed! Who was it?"
+
+"Craven Kyte," answered Mr. Lyle.
+
+And then he told Alden Lytton all that had been said between himself and
+Emma on that subject.
+
+"I feel sure that her suspicions are correct," he added.
+
+"I think it highly probable that they are. Now there are two or three
+things that must be done this morning. First, those advertisements for
+the missing man must be written out and distributed all over the
+country. Secondly, a messenger must be dispatched to Philadelphia to
+question the people at the Blank House as to whether any of them entered
+my room and saw me sleeping there during the hours of eleven a. m. and
+one p. m., on the fifteenth of September of last year, when I was said
+to have married that woman. And also to search the registers of that
+date of all the hotels in the city for the name of Craven Kyte."
+
+"To get up evidence for the defense?"
+
+"Certainly; to get up evidence for the defense."
+
+"Have you thought of employing counsel?"
+
+"Certainly. Berners and Denham are as good men as any I can find. I have
+sent a note to ask Berners to come here to see me to-day. While waiting
+for him you and I can write out those advertisements," said Alden
+Lytton.
+
+These plans were all promptly carried out.
+
+That same day an experienced detective was found and dispatched to
+Philadelphia to hunt up evidence for the defense.
+
+And that evening advertisements were sent by mail, to be scattered all
+over the country.
+
+But some days after this, Mary Grey, who was stopping at the Reindeer,
+saw one of these advertisements in a Richmond paper and smiled in
+triumph.
+
+"They have scented out a part of the truth," she said. "They have more
+sharpness than I gave them credit for possessing. They have scented out
+a part of the truth, but they can not follow the scent. Ha, ha, ha! They
+may advertise from now till doomsday, but they will never get a response
+from him! Let them rake the Susquehanna if they can! Perhaps, deep in
+its mud, they may find what the fishes have left of him!" she said, with
+a sneer.
+
+But even as she spoke these wicked words she shuddered with horror.
+
+Meanwhile, every day Mr. Lytton and his counsel, Messrs. Berners and
+Denham, consulted together concerning the proper line of defense to be
+taken by them.
+
+It is almost needless to say that Messrs. Berners and Denham felt
+perfectly sure of the absolute guiltlessness of their client, and quite
+sanguine in their expectations both of a full acquittal of the
+falsely-accused and of a thorough exposure and successful prosecution of
+the conspirators.
+
+But as time passed and no answer came to the advertisements for the
+missing man both counsel and client began to grow anxious.
+
+The detective who had been sent to Philadelphia to look up evidence for
+the defense returned to Wendover with such meager intelligence that the
+hopes of all concerned sank very low.
+
+So overwhelming was the evidence against the accused that to gain an
+acquittal it was absolutely necessary either to prove an alibi or to
+find the man who had personated Mr. Lytton at the marriage ceremony.
+
+But neither of these most important objects had been yet effected.
+
+No one had been found in Philadelphia, or elsewhere, who had set eyes on
+Mr. Alden Lytton between the hours of eleven and one on the fifteenth of
+the last September, at which time his marriage with Mary Grey was
+alleged to have taken place.
+
+And no one had answered the advertisements for Craven Kyte.
+
+And what complicated this part of the case still more was the
+circumstance that Mr. Bastiennello, the senior partner of the firm in
+which poor Craven Kyte was once the youngest "Co.," was absent in
+Europe, where he had been on a visit to his relations for the last two
+months, so that he could not be consulted as to the probable whereabouts
+of his former partner.
+
+Meanwhile Mr. Lyle and his young bride Laura did all that they possibly
+could to comfort and cheer their unfortunate brother and sister.
+
+One or the other of them went every day to Blue Cliffs to carry to Emma
+the encouraging news of Alden's continued good health and spirits, and
+to bring back to him the glad tidings of Emma's heroic patience and
+cheerfulness.
+
+And in this manner the tedious weeks passed slowly away and brought the
+day of the trial.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+THE TRIAL.
+
+
+It was a glorious morning in June. All nature seemed exulting in the
+young summer's splendor.
+
+And any stranger arriving at the town of Wendover that day would have
+supposed that the population of the whole surrounding country were
+taking advantage of the delightful weather to hold a gay festival there.
+
+The whole town was full of visitors, come to the great trial.
+
+Mr. Hezekiah Greenfield, of the Reindeer Hotel, was beside himself under
+the unusual press of business, and his waiters and hostlers were nearly
+crazy amid the confusion of arrivals and the conflicting claims made all
+at once upon their attention and services.
+
+The scene around the court-house was even more tumultuous.
+
+The court-house was a plain, oblong, two-story edifice, built of the red
+stone that abounded in the mountain quarries of that district. It stood
+in a large yard shaded with many trees and surrounded by a high stone
+wall.
+
+In the rear end of this yard stood the county prison.
+
+The court-yard was filled with curious people, who were pressing toward
+the doors of the court-house, trying to effect an entrance into the
+building, which was already crammed to suffocation.
+
+In the minister's cottage parlor, at the same early hour, were assembled
+the Rev. Mr. Lyle, honest John Lytton and his shock-headed son, Charley,
+Joseph Brent, Alden Lytton, and his counsel, Messrs. Berners and Denham.
+
+John Lytton had arrived only that morning. And on meeting his nephew had
+taken him by both hands, exclaiming:
+
+"You know, Aldy, my boy, as I told you before, I don't believe the first
+word of all this. 'Cause it's impossible, you know, for any man of our
+race to do anything unbecoming of a Lytton and a gentleman. And I think
+a man's family ought to stand by him in a case like this. So I not only
+came myself, but I fotch Charley, and if I had had another son I would
+a-fotched him too. I don't know but I'd a fotched your aunt Kitty and
+the girls, only, as I said to them, a trial of this sort a'n't no
+proper place for ladies. What do you think yourself?"
+
+"I quite agree with you, Uncle John. And I feel really very deeply
+touched by the proof of confidence and affection you give me in coming
+here yourself," said Alden, earnestly, pressing and shaking the honest
+hands that held his own.
+
+And at that moment Mr. Lyle placed in Mr. Alden Lytton's hands a little
+note from Emma, saying:
+
+"She gave it to me yesterday, with the request that I would hand it to
+you to-day."
+
+Alden unfolded and read it.
+
+It was only a brief note assuring him of her unwavering faith in Heaven
+and in himself, and her perfect confidence, notwithstanding the present
+dark aspect of affairs, in his speedy and honorable acquittal.
+
+He pressed this little note to his lips and placed it near his heart.
+
+And then Mr. Lyle told him that it wanted but a quarter to ten, the
+carriages were at the door, and it was time to start for the
+court-house.
+
+Mr. Lytton nodded assent, and they all went out.
+
+There were two carriages before the cottage gates.
+
+Into the first went the Rev. Mr. Lyle, Mr. Alden Lytton, and his
+counsel, Messrs. Berners and Denham.
+
+Into the second went Mr. John Lytton, his son Charley, and Mr. Joseph
+Brent.
+
+The court-house was situated at the opposite end of the town from the
+parsonage, and was about a mile distant. The gentlemen of this party
+might easily have walked the distance, but preferred to ride, in order
+to avoid the curious gaze of strangers who had flocked into the town.
+
+A rapid drive of twenty minutes' duration brought them to the
+court-house.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Lyle alighted first, and called a constable to clear the
+way for the party to pass into the court-room.
+
+The accused, Alden Lytton, was accommodated with a chair in front of the
+bench, and near him sat his relatives, John and Charles Lytton, his
+friends Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent, and his counsel, Messrs. Berners and
+Denham.
+
+Judge Burlington sat upon the bench to try the case.
+
+After the tedious preliminaries were over the accused was arraigned
+with the usual formula, and--not without some natural scorn and
+indignation, for he was still too youthful to have learned much
+self-control--answered:
+
+"Not guilty, of course!"
+
+As if he would have added, "You know that quite as well as I myself and
+everybody else does."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+A HOST OF WITNESSES.
+
+
+Mr. Martindale, State's Attorney, opened the case for the prosecution
+with a few brief but very severe remarks upon the baseness of the crime
+with which the prisoner stood charged, and then called his first
+witness--
+
+"The Reverend Adam Borden."
+
+Mr. Borden took the stand and testified to having performed the marriage
+ceremony between Alden Lytton and Mary Grey on the morning of the
+fifteenth of the preceding September, at his own parish church, in the
+city of Philadelphia.
+
+He was strictly cross-examined by Mr. Berners, but his testimony only
+came out the clearer from the ordeal.
+
+John Martin, sexton of the church, and Sarah Martin, his daughter, were
+successively examined, and testified to having witnessed the marriage
+ceremony between the parties in question.
+
+They also were cross-examined by Mr. Berners, without detriment to their
+testimony.
+
+"Mrs. Mary Lytton" was then called upon to come forward for
+identification.
+
+And Mary Grey, dressed in deep mourning and closely veiled, came up,
+leaning heavily on the arm of Mr. Philip Desmond, assistant counsel for
+the prosecution.
+
+At the request of counsel she drew aside her veil, revealing a face so
+ghastly pale that all who gazed upon it shuddered.
+
+Alden Lytton turned to look at her, in order to catch her eyes, but they
+were fixed upon the ground, and never once raised.
+
+Even he, so deeply injured by her diabolical arts, turned away from her
+with shuddering pity.
+
+"The woman is at once going mad and dying," he said to himself.
+
+Mary Grey was then fully identified by the three witnesses as the woman
+who was, at the time and place specified, married to Mr. Alden Lytton.
+
+But she had scarcely stood long enough to be sworn to, when her white
+face turned blue and she fell swooning into the arms of Philip Desmond.
+
+She was borne out into the sheriff's room, amid the sympathetic murmurs
+of the audience.
+
+Mr. Martindale then produced and read the marriage certificate, and
+recalled the Rev. Mr. Borden, who acknowledged it as his own document,
+presented to "Mrs. Mary Lytton" immediately after the marriage ceremony
+had been concluded.
+
+The State's Attorney next produced certain letters, purporting to have
+been written by Mr. Alden Lytton to Mrs. Mary Grey during the period of
+his courtship.
+
+These letters, he said, were important as corroborative evidence, and he
+begged leave to read them to the jury.
+
+He then commenced with the correspondence from the earliest date.
+
+And there in open court he read aloud, one after the other, all those
+fond, foolish, impassioned letters that the love-sick lad, Alden Lytton,
+had written to the artful woman who had beguiled him in the earliest
+days of their acquaintance, and before he had discovered her deep
+depravity.
+
+This was the severest ordeal Alden Lytton had to bear. For he knew he
+had written these foolish letters in his romantic boyhood, and in his
+manhood he felt heartily ashamed of them. Under _any_ circumstances he
+would have been heartily ashamed of them. His ears tingled and his face
+burned to hear them read aloud to judge, jury and gaping crowd.
+
+And then and there he registered a vow never, never, never to write
+another gushing love-letter so long as he should live in this world; no,
+not even to his own dear wife.
+
+When the last terrible letter was finished he felt as much relieved as
+if he had been unbound from the rack.
+
+But his relief was soon superseded by the utmost astonishment when Mr.
+Martindale took up another parcel, saying:
+
+"The letters that I have just read, your honor, and gentlemen of the
+jury, were, as you have heard, written from the University of
+Charlottesville some years ago. Those that I am about to read to you
+were written from Wendover last year, in the few weeks preceding the
+marriage of the prisoner with Mary Grey."
+
+And so saying, the State's Attorney proceeded to read, one after the
+other, all those forged letters which had been executed with inimitable
+skill by Mary Grey herself and mailed from Wendover by her unconscious
+confederate, Craven Kyte.
+
+These counterfeits were even fonder, more foolish and more impassioned
+than the real ones, and every letter pressed speedy marriage, until the
+last one, which actually arranged the mode and manner of proceeding.
+
+During the reading of the final letter Mr. Alden Lytton beckoned his
+counsel, who approached him.
+
+"I acknowledge the first batch of folly written from Charlottesville,
+when I was a boy of eighteen or nineteen," said Alden, between a laugh
+and a blush.
+
+"Every man has been a boy, and a fool, at least once in his life. I know
+I have; and I would much rather be hanged than have my letters read,"
+laughingly replied Mr. Berners.
+
+"But, by all my hopes of heaven, I never wrote one of those infernal
+letters of the last parcel!" added Mr. Lytton.
+
+"I never supposed you did. It will, no doubt, be possible to prove them
+to be forgeries. If we can do that the whole prosecution breaks down,"
+replied Mr. Berners.
+
+"They _are_ forgeries!" said Alden Lytton, indignantly.
+
+But that was more easily said than established.
+
+A score of witnesses, one after the other, were called, and swore to the
+hand writing of Mr. Alden Lytton in those letters.
+
+Other witnesses of less importance followed--waiters and chambermaids
+from the Blank House, Philadelphia, who swore to the fact that Mr.
+Lytton and Mrs. Grey had taken rooms together at that house on the
+fourteenth of September and had left it on the afternoon of the
+fifteenth.
+
+The prosecuting attorney said that he might call other witnesses who had
+seen the parties meet as by appointment at the railway station at
+Forestville and proceed thence to Richmond, and others again who had
+seen them together in the Richmond and Washington steamer; but he would
+forbear, for he felt convinced that the overwhelming amount of testimony
+already given was more than sufficient to establish the first marriage.
+The second and felonious marriage was a notorious fact; but for form's
+sake it must be proved before the jury.
+
+And then, to their extreme disgust, the Rev. Stephen Lyle, Joseph Brent
+and John Lytton were successively called to testify that they had all
+been present and witnessed the marriage of the accused, Alden Lytton and
+Emma Angela Cavendish, on the fifteenth of the last February, at Blue
+Cliff Hall, in this county and State.
+
+John Lytton, who was the last of the three put upon the stand, came very
+near being committed for contempt of court by saying:
+
+"Yes, he had witnessed his nephew's, Mr. Alden Lytton's marriage with
+Miss Cavendish, which he had a perfect right to marry her, never having
+been married before. None of the Lyttonses were capable of any such
+burglarious, bigamarious conduct as they accused his nephew of.
+Everybody knew the Lyttonses. The Lyttonses were none of your upstart
+judges"--this was aimed directly at the bench. "The Lyttonses was as old
+as the flood, for that matter!" and so forth, and so forth.
+
+The witness was not committed for this offense, but merely reminded that
+all this was very irrelevant to the matter in question, and ordered to
+sit down.
+
+He obeyed, growling at the indignities heaped upon the "Lyttonses" by
+"upstarts."
+
+State's Attorney Martindale then arose in his place and opened his
+argument for the prosecution in a very able review of the evidence that
+had been given by the witnesses examined and the documents presented.
+
+It was while he was still speaking that a little disturbance was heard
+at the lower end of the court-room.
+
+All who heard it looked around to see what the matter was.
+
+Presently a bailiff was seen pushing his way up through the crowd.
+
+He came up to the counsel for the accused and handed a card to Mr.
+Denham.
+
+That gentleman took it, looked at it, stared at it, changed color, and,
+without a word of explanation, abruptly rose and left his seat, and
+followed the note-bearer through the crowd and out of the court-room.
+
+Mr. Berners and Mr. Lytton looked after him in surprise and curiosity.
+
+State's Attorney Martindale, meanwhile, went on with his argument.
+
+After an absence of about fifteen minutes Mr. Denham returned and
+resumed his seat beside his senior colleague, Mr. Berners.
+
+He gave no explanation of his abrupt departure and absence, but sat
+there listening attentively to the speech of the prosecuting attorney
+and smiling to himself as in silent triumph.
+
+Neither his senior colleague, Mr. Berners, nor his client, Mr. Lytton,
+interrupted his reflections, considering that it fell to his duty to
+follow Mr. Martindale's speech with an opening address for the defense.
+
+At length Mr. Martindale brought his argument to a conclusion by a very
+brilliant peroration, and sat down, saying that there the prosecution
+would rest the case.
+
+Mr. Denham, giving his client a reassuring pressure of the hand, and
+wearing the same strange smile of secret mirth and triumph on his face,
+arose for the defense. He began by saying:
+
+"Your honor and gentlemen of the jury: The prosecution has favored us
+with some able speeches, and has produced a host of witnesses to prove
+the truth of a false and malicious charge brought against our client. We
+of the defense have no speech to make, and only one witness to call. Let
+Craven Kyte be put upon the stand and sworn."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+ONE SINGLE WITNESS.
+
+      This is all true as it is strange;
+    Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth
+    To the end of reckoning.
+                                    --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+Every one arose and looked around to catch sight of the expected
+witness.
+
+But no one was so much affected as the accused. He started to his feet
+on first hearing the name of Craven Kyte, and then dropped back into his
+chair, pale as marble.
+
+Evidently he had not expected to hear this man called.
+
+In the meantime a little bustle was heard in the bottom of the hall, as
+of some one pushing his way through the crowd.
+
+And presently Craven Kyte, pale, calm, handsome and well-dressed in
+clerical black, came forward and entered the witness-box.
+
+He bowed to the presiding judge and stood ready to give in his
+testimony.
+
+All eyes within range of them turned constantly from the witness on the
+stand to the prisoner at the bar.
+
+The two men were perfect duplicates of each other.
+
+The oath was administered to the witness.
+
+Mr. Berners conducted the examination.
+
+"Please to state your name and age, the place of your nativity, and all
+you know of the marriage performed at the Church of St. ----, in the
+city of Philadelphia, on the fifteenth day of September last, between
+the hours of twelve and one p. m.," said the counsel.
+
+"My name is Craven Kyte. I am a native of this town. I am twenty-three
+years of age. I know Mrs. Mary Grey, one of the parties to this
+marriage. I was engaged to be married to her. On the evening of the
+fourteenth of September I arrived in Philadelphia, having followed her
+there at her request. On the morning of the fifteenth I met her by
+appointment at the art gallery of Bertue Brothers. It was arranged that
+we should be married on that day. I took a cab and we entered it. At her
+suggestion I directed the driver to take us to the rectory of the
+Reverend Mr. Borden. As we drove along she proposed that I should marry
+her under the name of Alden Lytton."
+
+At these words of the witness there was an immense sensation in the
+court, breaking forth into murmurs of astonishment and indignation, so
+that the judge arose in his place and said that order must be observed
+or he should be obliged to command the clearing of the court-room.
+
+His words produced the proper effect, and the spectators became "as
+still as mice."
+
+The examination of the witness was resumed.
+
+"You say that Mrs. Mary Grey proposed that you should marry her in the
+name of Mr. Alden Lytton?"
+
+"Yes. I was very much astonished at the proposal, and expostulated with
+her about it; but she was in earnest, and at last she made it an
+absolute condition of my ever getting her at all that I should marry her
+under the name of Alden Lytton."
+
+"What reason did she give for this singular request?"
+
+"She said she only wanted to play a harmless practical joke upon Miss
+Cavendish, the betrothed of Mr. Lytton."
+
+"But her joke was so deep and earnest that she made it the only
+condition upon which she would marry you at all, you say?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And did you comply with that condition?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Sooner than lose her I complied with that wicked condition.
+It did not seem wicked to me then. It only seemed foolish and
+purposeless. And, besides, I firmly believe I was half crazy at that
+time."
+
+"Quite likely," said Mr. Berners, dryly. "What followed?"
+
+"Well, sir, and gentlemen, we drove to the rectory. She took a blank
+card out of her pocket and with a pencil wrote Mr. Alden Lytton's name
+on it, and told me to send that in to the rector as if it were my own.
+When I looked at the name on the card, I exclaimed how much it looked
+like Mr. Lytton's own handwriting; and she said so much the better."
+
+Again, at these words, a murmur of indignation ran through the
+court-room, which was, however, instantly suppressed, as every one
+wished to hear every word uttered by this witness.
+
+He continued:
+
+"I rang the bell at the rectory, and sent the card in by the servant who
+came to open the door. Presently I was invited into the rector's study.
+He addressed me as Mr. Lytton, and wanted to know how he could serve me.
+Then I told him what I had come for. And he consented to perform the
+marriage ceremony, but said that he must do it in the church, which was
+just next door to the rectory. I went back to the carriage for Mary--"
+
+"Meaning Mrs. Grey?"
+
+"Yes. But I called her 'Mary' then. I went back for her, and brought her
+into the church, where, under the name of Alden Lytton, I was married to
+Mary Grey by the Reverend Mr. Borden, in the presence of John Martin,
+sexton of the parish, and of Sarah Martin, his daughter. A marriage
+certificate, signed by the minister and witnesses, was then given to
+Mrs. Grey."
+
+"What happened next?"
+
+"At her request I drove her back to the Blank House, where she had been
+stopping. She got out at the corner of the street, however, and walked
+to the house, while I waited in a neighboring reading-room for her
+return. After an hour's absence she came back, and we drove to the
+Asterick, where I had engaged rooms for us both. But she declined
+staying in town any time, and expressed a wish to go to Havre-de-Grace.
+So we only stopped at the Asterick long enough to pay my bill and gather
+up my effects, and then we took the train for Havre-de-Grace, where we
+arrived the same afternoon."
+
+Here the witness suddenly became so much agitated that he could not go
+on for some moments.
+
+Mr. Denham brought him a glass of water.
+
+He drank and seemed somewhat revived.
+
+"Tell us what occurred at Havre-de-Grace."
+
+"We took rooms at the Star, had tea there, and after tea she proposed to
+take a walk down by the water-side, as the evening was so delightful.
+When we had walked a while she proposed that we should hire a boat and
+go rowing. I objected, being but an indifferent oarsman. But she
+insisted, declaring that she had been brought up on the water-side and
+could row like a squaw and swim like a fish. I was her slave, and I
+obeyed her. We hired the boat of her choice--a mere shell of a boat--"
+
+Here the judge, who had been growing a little impatient, inquired of the
+counsel for the defense:
+
+"Pray, Mr. Berners, what has all this about the boat to do with the case
+on trial?"
+
+"It has a great deal to do with it, your honor, as tending to prove that
+this woman had a deep design upon the peace and honor of the gentleman
+whom she claims as her husband, and that she did not hesitate at any
+crime to carry out that design to a successful issue," respectfully
+replied the counsel.
+
+"Let the witness proceed then," said the judge.
+
+"What happened next?" inquired Mr. Denham.
+
+"Murder happened next--at least, an attempt at murder. We got into the
+little shell of a boat, and I took the oars and rowed out into the river
+and down with the tide. We rowed about for more than two hours. It grew
+very dark and I then wished to come in; but she objected, and asked me
+to row around a certain point that I saw dimly down the river. I rowed
+to the point and around it, when suddenly she made an exclamation that
+her hat had fallen into the water, and she begged me to get it for her.
+It floated about three feet from the side of the boat. I drew in my oars
+and secured them, and then leaned over the side of the boat and reached
+out my hand to get the hat, which was floating further off. I had to
+lean so far over, and stretch my hand so far out, that it was as much as
+ever I could do to keep my balance. But just as I touched the hat she
+gave me a sudden and violent push from behind and sent me into the
+water."
+
+At this a murmur of horror and indignation passed through the
+court-room. And on this occasion no one attempted to enforce silence.
+
+But soon the deep interest of the audience in the story of the witness
+closed their lips and opened their ears again, and they became silent
+and attentive.
+
+"Do you mean to say that Mrs. Grey pushed you into the water purposely?"
+inquired Mr. Denham.
+
+"Yes, sir. She could not have done it accidentally. She waited until I
+had leaned so far over that the least jar might have made me lose my
+balance; and then suddenly, with all her strength, she pushed me, and I
+dropped into the water and sunk like so much lead. I could not swim at
+all. Twice, in my struggles for life, I rose to the surface and cried
+for help. Both times I saw her boat whirling round and round from the
+impetus given it by the violence with which she had pushed me over. The
+second time I sank I lost my senses. When I recovered them I found
+myself stretched out on the deck of a collier, with several people
+rubbing and rolling me. But I was weak in all my limbs and sorely
+confused in my head."
+
+"Witness, can you not shorten this?" inquired the judge.
+
+"Yes, your honor, I can shorten it, if they will permit me. The schooner
+that picked me up was the 'Sally Ann,' trading from Havre-de-Grace, and
+other coal depots, to Washington and Georgetown. They were outward bound
+then, and, as I could give no account of myself, being so nearly dead,
+they took me along with them. They carried me to Washington, where I lay
+ill in the free ward of the Samaritan Hospital, under the care of the
+good Sisters of Mercy, for two months. When I recovered sufficiently to
+know where I was I found out that I had been registered there under the
+name of Albert Little. I don't know how that happened, but I suppose
+somebody must have found in my pocket the card with Alden Lytton written
+upon it, and perhaps blotted with the river water, and had misread it
+Albert Little. But that is only a conjecture."
+
+"Confine yourself to facts, witness, and leave conjectures," said the
+judge.
+
+"Well, your honor, the fact then was that my name was registered Albert
+Little, however it came to be done. I did not care to set the good
+Sisters right about my name, and so I let the matter go. As soon as I
+was able to write, and before I was able to walk, I wrote to my senior
+partner, Mr. Bastiennello, a private and confidential letter, asking him
+to come and visit me at the hospital, and to inquire there for one
+Albert Little. Mr. Bastiennello, who had suffered great anxiety on the
+subject of my long protracted and unaccountable absence, came at once to
+see me. I told him of everything that had befallen me, especially as to
+Mary Grey's insisting on my marrying her under the name of Alden Lytton,
+and afterward attempting to get rid of me by murder. He was dreadfully
+shocked, of course, but in a subsequent conversation with me suggested
+that Mrs. Grey had some ultimate purpose in the perpetration of these
+crimes, and he advised me to lie perdue for a while until we should see
+what her purpose was and foil her in it. Some days afterward he proposed
+that I should take a commission from him to go and purchase goods for
+him in Europe. As soon as I was able to travel I left the country on
+this business. I was absent several months, and only arrived in my
+native country five days ago. On the day after my landing at New York,
+in looking over some files of newspapers, I read the advertisements for
+me. I guessed at once that I was wanted for business connected with the
+secret of my own life, and so I packed up and took the first train to
+Washington, and the next boat to Richmond, and the train to Wendover,
+without stopping an hour on my journey. I reached this place at noon
+to-day; found the town full of people, as if a fair or a festival was
+going on; asked what was the matter, and was told about this trial. Of
+course then I had the key to Mary Grey's mysterious crime, and I knew
+where I was wanted. I came at once to the court, wrote my name on a card
+and sent it in to Mr. Lytton's junior counsel, who came out to meet me
+and brought me here."
+
+"That will do, Mr. Kyte. Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the
+testimony of our witness, the only and all-sufficient witness for the
+defense; but we will recall one who appeared here as the most important
+witness for the prosecution. The Reverend Mr. Borden will please to take
+the stand once more," said Mr. Berners.
+
+The rector of St. ---- came forward and took his place in the witness
+box.
+
+"Mr. Borden, will you be so good as to look at these two gentlemen and
+tell me, upon your oath, which of them you married to Mrs. Mary Grey?"
+politely requested Mr. Berners.
+
+The rector looked from Alden Lytton to Craven Kyte, and from Craven Kyte
+back to Alden Lytton. And his face paled and flushed as he exclaimed:
+
+"May the Lord of heaven forgive me, for I have made an awful mistake! It
+was _that_ gentleman whom I married to Mrs. Grey;" and he pointed
+straight to Craven Kyte.
+
+A murmur of great excitement passed through the court-room.
+
+"A while ago you swore it was the other man," said Mr. Desmond, with an
+ugly sneer.
+
+"So I did! May Heaven forgive me for the awful, though unconscious
+perjury; for so I thought, with all my judgment, until I saw this last
+man! And certainly they are perfect duplicates of each other. Any one,
+under the same circumstances, might have made the same mistake," meekly
+replied the minister.
+
+And certainly every one who saw and compared the two men agreed with the
+last speaker.
+
+"Will you be so good, reverend sir, as to explain by what test you now
+know these perfect duplicates, the one from the other, and are enabled
+to identify the particular one whom you married to Mrs. Grey on the
+fifteenth of the last September?"
+
+"Certainly, sir. I can distinguish them by a certain indefinable
+difference which I can perceive while I see them together, but which I
+might fail to perceive if they were apart from each other. Also I can
+identify this last man, who calls himself Craven Kyte, by that small
+mark or scar that he bears on his temple near the corner of his left
+eye. I noticed it at the time I performed the marriage ceremony, but I
+thought it was a fresh scar. And I never remembered it at all when
+called upon to identify Mr. Alden Lytton, or indeed until I saw it again
+upon Mr. Craven Kyte."
+
+"That will do," said Mr. Desmond; and the minister was allowed to
+retire.
+
+John and Sarah Martin were recalled in succession, and each, when
+confronted with the two men, recanted from their late testimony, and
+swore pointedly to the person of Craven Kyte as the man whom they saw
+married to Mary Grey.
+
+At this point the foreman of the jury arose in his place and asked
+permission of the bench to render their verdict at once, as they had all
+quite made up their minds upon the case.
+
+After a few moments' consultation, the requested permission was given,
+and the jury, without leaving their seats, rendered their verdict of--
+
+"Not guilty!"
+
+The accused was formally discharged from custody. And then the judge did
+an almost unprecedented thing. He adjourned the court, came down from
+the bench and warmly shook hands with Mr. Lytton, congratulating him
+upon his complete vindication.
+
+And friends crowded around him, rejoicing with him in hearty sympathy.
+
+Among them came Craven Kyte, saying, as soon as he got a chance to
+speak:
+
+"Mr. Lytton, I have come to implore your pardon for the great wrong I
+unconsciously did you. Heaven knows I never meant it!"
+
+"I do not believe that you ever did," said Alden Lytton, kindly, taking
+his hand.
+
+"I was mad and blind. She told me it was only to be a practical joke,
+and made it the only condition of our marriage, and I complied because I
+was her slave," continued Craven Kyte, not very clearly.
+
+"Say no more about it. Forget it all as fast as you can. I shall,"
+answered Alden, gently pressing and relinquishing the hand that he had
+held.
+
+"Your carriage waits, my dear Lytton. And I am sure you are anxious to
+get back to Blue Cliffs and be the first to convey this good news to
+your wife," said Mr. Lyle, with a view to help Alden to get rid of his
+well-meaning but troublesome friends, who, in the earnestness of their
+sympathy with his triumph, forgot they were keeping him from her whom
+his soul most longed to meet.
+
+Friends took the gentle hint, shook hands with him and released him.
+
+And very soon Alden Lytton, with Mr. Lyle and Laura, were on their way
+to Blue Cliffs.
+
+As the carriage rolled into the yard, Emma ran down the steps, her face
+radiant with joy, to meet the beloved husband from whom she had been
+separated for so many weeks under such trying circumstances, and whose
+face she had been the first to see through the glass windows of the
+carriage.
+
+A moment more and they were locked in each other's arms, fervently
+thanking Heaven for their happy reunion.
+
+Later that evening the six friends were all assembled together in the
+drawing-room.
+
+John Lytton and Charley, who were the guests of the house for the night,
+had just bid them good-night and retired to their room.
+
+And then and there two little confessions were made.
+
+Alden Lytton related the whole history of his foolish boyish love for
+the fascinating and unprincipled widow who had so nearly effected his
+destruction.
+
+Emma listened in full sympathy, with his hand clasped in hers; and no
+retrospective jealousy disturbed the serenity of her loving and trusting
+spirit.
+
+And at the close of the story she silently raised his hand and pressed
+it to her heart. That was her only comment. And the subject was never
+afterward mentioned between the two.
+
+Then it was that Joseph Brent made his identity known to Alden Lytton,
+Emma and Laura, as it had long been known to Mr. Lyle, his friend, and
+to Electra, his wife. And Emma and Laura wept anew over the long past
+sorrows of poor Victor Hartman.
+
+Alden grasped his hand in earnest gratitude and friendship.
+
+"And it is to _you_," he said, "that my sister and myself owe all our
+present happiness. You thought for us, planned for us, toiled for us,
+made us even as your own children, simply because you were falsely
+accused of having made us fatherless!" he said, as the generous tears
+filled his eyes.
+
+"I did all this because, but for the mercy of Heaven, a mad blow of
+mine _might_ have made you fatherless, as it nearly did," answered
+Victor Hartman.
+
+"Do you know who really struck the fatal blow and why it was struck?"
+
+"No; I know neither one nor the other."
+
+"Then you shall learn, for now is the time to speak," said Alden Lytton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+WHO KILLED HENRY LYTTON--FATE OF MARY GREY.
+
+
+In pursuance of his promise to tell who killed his father, Alden Lytton
+said:
+
+"One hardly knows how to begin so painful a story. But here it is. You
+may have heard of a wild, handsome ne'er-do-weel who kept the White
+Perch Point hotel and married a relative of the Cavendish family?"
+
+"Oh, yes, of course! He was the husband of this widow lady who lives
+here."
+
+"The same. They had one child, a daughter, said to have been as
+beautiful as the mother, and as wild and reckless as the father. Out of
+pure deviltry, as it would seem, this girl ran away from her
+boarding-school in company with an unprincipled young play-actor, who
+afterward abandoned her. Soon after this my dear father, who had known
+her parents and herself, too, met and recognized her under the most
+painful circumstances. He was deeply shocked, and almost with a father's
+authority he insisted on taking her home to his own house and sending
+for her friends. She was but a child. She knew, also, that, being a
+minor, she was liable to be taken in custody, upon complaint made, and
+forcibly restored to her family. But she was full of duplicity. She
+affected to consent to return to her parents, and allowed my father to
+bring her back as far as his own house, whence he wrote a letter to her
+father telling him of the whereabouts of his daughter, and asking him to
+come and receive her at his hands. But the very day upon which this
+letter was mailed two events occurred to frustrate the good intentions
+of the writer. Ivy Fanning ran away from Fairview, my father's villa.
+And Mr. Fanning, having heard from the principal of the school from
+which his daughter had eloped, came furiously to town in search of the
+fugitive. Most unfortunately, he ascertained beyond a doubt that his
+daughter was living at Fairview, whither she had been taken by the
+master of the house, Mr. Henry Lytton. Mistaking altogether the
+situation, believing my dear father to have been the first abductor of
+the girl, he waylaid him and struck that fatal blow which caused his
+death, and which had so nearly cost you, also, your life.
+
+"After committing this dreadful deed, the guilty man fled to his own
+home, where he found awaiting him the letter from Mr. Lytton explaining
+everything.
+
+"After this his remorse knew no bounds. But ah, he was a coward! He
+dared not meet the penalty of his crime. He saw another man condemned to
+die for his offense, yet he dared not confess and save the guiltless. He
+tried indirect ways. He wrote anonymous letters to the governor. And
+when at last he found that these had no effect, and the day of execution
+drew very near, he came by night to this house, and in a private
+interview with Governor Cavendish, after binding him to a temporary
+secrecy, he confessed himself the murderer of Henry Lytton and
+related all the circumstances that led to the tragedy.
+
+"This confession, made as it was under the seal of temporary secrecy,
+placed the late Governor Cavendish in a false position.
+
+"He could not permit an innocent man to be executed for the crime of a
+guilty one. Nor could he, being bound to secrecy, expose the guilty. He
+was, therefore, compelled to pardon the supposed murderer, without
+giving any explanation to outraged public sentiment for the strangeness
+of his action. Such was the explanation made to me by the late Governor
+Cavendish, with the stipulation that I should keep the secret during the
+natural life of Frederick Fanning--which he felt sure could not be of
+long duration--and also that afterward I should reveal it to you, if
+ever I should happen to meet you. That is all, my dear friend and
+benefactor. And some day, when the poor old lady upstairs shall have
+passed away to her heavenly home, this story, which is your vindication,
+shall be published to the world. And the name of Victor Hartman, which
+you have renounced and declared to be dead and buried, shall be rescued
+from unmerited reproach and crowned with merited honor."
+
+While yet they spoke together, there was heard a loud knocking at the
+hall door. And the next moment Jerome, the hall footman, who had
+immediately opened the door, entered the drawing-room, saying that there
+was a messenger from the Reindeer with a note for Mrs. Fanning on a
+matter of life and death.
+
+Mr. Lytton immediately went out to see the messenger, who proved to be
+no other than Mithridates, or Taters, once the slave of Frederick
+Fanning, some time the hired servant of John Lytton, and now the hostler
+at the Reindeer.
+
+"Well, Taters, what is it? Mrs. Fanning has gone to bed, and we don't
+like to disturb her at this hour of the night," said Mr. Lytton.
+
+"Oh, marster, you'll have to 'sturb her nebbertheless and
+notwivstandin'," said the weeping boy, "because my young missis, which
+wasn't a ghost after all, but was a libbin' 'oman when I see her here,
+is a-dyin' now, at the Reindeer, and wants to see her mudder."
+
+"What on earth are you talking about, boy?" inquired the bewildered man.
+
+"Miss Iby Fannin', sir! My young mist'ess as used to was! She be a-dyin'
+at de Reindeer and wants to see her mudder, Missis Fannin', my ole
+missis, wot libs here," explained the boy, bursting into fresh sobs and
+tears.
+
+"Ivy Fanning, the long missing girl, supposed to be dead--dying now at
+the Reindeer?"
+
+"Yes, sir--yes, sir! And if you don't make haste and tell my ole missis
+she'll be dead before her mudder can get to her," sobbed the faithful
+boy.
+
+"Sit down here and wait," said Mr. Lytton, who now understood the
+emergency.
+
+And, leaving the boy seated in the hall, he went into the drawing-room
+and told Emma the surprising news that Ivy Fanning, the long-lost,
+erring daughter of Frederick and Katharine Fanning, and the unworthy
+cousin of Emma Cavendish--Ivy Fanning, whose faults had caused so much
+misery to all connected with her--Ivy Fanning, supposed to be dead long
+ago, was now lying at the point of death at the Reindeer Hotel, and
+begging to see her poor, wronged mother!
+
+"What a terrible thing to tell Aunt Katharine, when we rouse her up at
+the dead of night!" exclaimed Emma, with a shudder.
+
+"And yet, my dear one, it is your duty to do that very terrible thing.
+Go bravely and do it, my love, while I go and order the most comfortable
+carriage in the stable to convey the poor lady to Wendover," said Alden
+Lytton, encouragingly.
+
+Emma went to Mrs. Fanning's room and waked her up, telling her at first,
+very gently, that she was wanted.
+
+The poor woman, jumping to the conclusion that some one of the household
+servants was ill and in need of her ministrations, got up at once and
+inquired who it was.
+
+"It is a friend of yours who is ill at the Reindeer Hotel at Wendover,
+and desires to see you," said Emma, beginning gently to break to the
+poor mother the news that it was her dying daughter who had sent for
+her.
+
+"Friend? I am sure I have no friend who is near enough to send for me,
+at dead of night, to come sixteen miles to see him, or her, as the case
+may be," said the widow, looking very much perplexed, as she hastened to
+put on her clothes.
+
+"I should have said a relative--a very near relative--a long-lost--"
+began Emma, but her voice broke down in sobs.
+
+"It is Ivy!" exclaimed Mrs. Fanning, as a swift intuition revealed to
+her the truth.
+
+"Yes, it is Ivy," wept Emma, throwing her arms around the afflicted
+woman. "And oh, is it not better so--better at once to know her fate,
+even to know her safe in the peace of death, than to go on enduring this
+dreadful uncertainty about her?"
+
+"Oh, my child, my child! Oh, my child, my child!" wept the poor mother,
+scarcely able, through sobs and tears, and failings of heart and frame,
+to complete her simple toilet.
+
+Emma, with great sympathy and tenderness, assisted her to dress, pinned
+the shawl around her shoulders, tied the bonnet strings under her chin,
+and brought her her gloves and pocket-handkerchief.
+
+"I will now run and get my hat and sack, Aunt Katharine. I will go with
+you to Wendover," she said.
+
+"You go with me? My dear child, you have been so long parted from your
+husband, and only received him back to-night, and leave him to go with
+me? No, no! I can not permit you to do so, Emma," said the weeping lady.
+
+"But you need me, Aunt Katharine, and I should be utterly unworthy of my
+dear Alden's love if I could fail you in your time of trouble. Besides,
+I think Alden, also, will go back with you to Wendover."
+
+"Heaven bless you both! You are the solace of my sad old age," said the
+widow, earnestly.
+
+Emma ran out, and soon returned prepared for her sudden night ride.
+
+Then she took her poor aunt's arm within her own and supported her as
+they walked down-stairs together.
+
+In the hall below they met Alden Lytton, also prepared for the journey.
+
+He did not seem at all surprised to see Emma in her hat and _paletot_.
+He understood her too well for that. He merely inquired if the ladies
+were both quite ready. And being answered in the affirmative, he took
+them out and put them into the carriage, that was immediately started at
+a rate that astonished the usually steady-going horses.
+
+The journey was made almost in silence. Mrs. Fanning wept quietly behind
+her pocket-handkerchief, and Alden and Emma sat with their hands clasped
+in each other's in mute sympathy.
+
+It was some time after midnight when the carriage entered Wendover and
+drew up before the old Reindeer Hotel.
+
+Lights about the house at that hour showed that something very unusual
+was transpiring within.
+
+Hezekiah Greenfield himself came out to meet the party from Blue Cliffs.
+
+With much gravity he greeted them, and to Mrs. Fanning's agonized
+inquiries about her daughter, he answered:
+
+"I can't well tell you how she is, ma'am. But I will call Sukey, and she
+will take you to her."
+
+He then conducted them into the parlor and went out in search of his
+wife.
+
+Very soon good Mrs. Greenfield came waddling in.
+
+Mrs. Fanning arose and hurried to meet her, eagerly inquiring:
+
+"How is my child? How is she now? Does she still live?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, she is alive, and when she sent for you she was still in
+her right senses; but now she is wandering, poor girl, and imagines
+herself still to be living at Peerch P'int," answered the weeping woman,
+as she took the poor mother's hand to lead her to her daughter.
+
+She led her to a spacious upper chamber, dimly lighted by a single
+taper, where on a white bed lay extended the form of the dying girl.
+
+"Ivy, my darling! My darling Ivy, do you know me?" tenderly whispered
+the poor mother, taking her erring daughter's wasted hand and gazing
+into the fading face, nothing but love and sorrow and forgiveness in her
+heart.
+
+"Is that you, mamma? Is it near morning? I'm so glad!" said the dying
+girl, panting as she spoke. "Oh, I've had such a dreadful dream,
+mamma--such a long, dreadful dream! I dreamed of doing such horrible and
+wicked things--that I never could have done in my waking hours. I have
+lived long years in last night's dreadful dream. I am glad it is
+morning. Kiss me, mamma."
+
+These were her last words, panted forth with her last breath. The
+mother's kiss fell upon "unanswering clay."
+
+Katharine Fanning was borne in a fainting condition from the death-bed
+of her daughter and conveyed to another chamber, where she received the
+most sympathetic and affectionate ministrations from Emma and Alden
+Lytton.
+
+But it was not until Alden and Emma saw the face of that sinful child of
+passion in her coffin that they knew Ivy Fanning and Mary Grey to be one
+and the same person.
+
+Her remains were laid in the family vault at Blue Cliffs, where, before
+many weeks had passed, the body of her brokenhearted mother was laid
+beside them.
+
+Craven Kyte was never clearly certain whether he was himself a widower
+or a bachelor. But in either character he was free. And the first use he
+made of his freedom was to go to White Perch Point and propose to the
+brave little maiden of the light-house, who was his last love, as she
+had been his first.
+
+And soon he made her his wife, and brought her and her aged relative
+away from their bleak home and dangerous duties and settled them in a
+pretty rural cottage within easy walking distance of his own thriving
+place of business--the fashionable bazaar of "Bastiennello & Kyte."
+
+The two young brides, Laura and Electra, were taken to Europe by their
+husbands, and reached Paris in time to be present at the great World's
+Fair. And before they returned Victor Hartman's story was published to
+the world, and his fame was fully vindicated.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
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+
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+  Cruel as the Grave.
+  Curse of Clifton, The.
+  Deserted Wife.
+  Discarded Daughter.
+  Hidden Hand.
+  India.
+  Ishmael; or, In the Depths.
+  Lost Heiress, The.
+  Lost Heir of Linlithgow.
+  Miriam the Avenger.
+  Missing Bride, The.
+  Mother-in-Law, The.
+  Mystery of a Dark Hollow.
+  Noble Lord.
+  Retribution.
+  Self-Raised; or, From the Depths.
+  Three Beauties, The.
+  Tried for Her Life.
+  Victor's Triumph.
+  Vivia.
+  Widow's Son.
+
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+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
+
+Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
+possible, including obsolete and variant spellings. Obvious
+typographical errors in punctuation (misplaced quotes and the like) have
+been fixed. Corrections [in brackets] in the text are noted below:
+
+throughout:
+
+    Katherine/Katharine Fanning spelled with an "e" at the beginning
+    of the novel and with an "a" at the end; it is the same person.
+
+page 8: typo corrected
+
+    "Oh, the same sin of helplessnss[helplessness] and cowardice;
+    the same fear of discovery and exposure; the same horror of
+
+page 13: added missing "
+
+    too. For see how easily she falls into error. She ought to marry
+    some good, wise, elderly man, who could be her guide,
+    philosopher and friend as well as husband.["]
+
+page 22: typo corrected
+
+    in hand, stood with Emma Cavendish in the hall waiting for Mrs.
+    Gray[Grey], to whom they had sent a message inviting her to come
+    down and see the traveler off.
+
+page 41: added missing "
+
+    "Yes; but, my dear, she must have this change now,
+    immediately.["]
+
+page 45: added missing "
+
+    ["]I would restore to her all that she has lost, if I could. I
+    would give her back husband, daughter, home and competence,"
+    said Emma.
+
+page 54: added missing "
+
+    Jerome, if that's his name, very gravely, with a silent bow, put
+    up the steps and closed the door and mounted his box and drove
+    off.["]
+
+page 72: typo corrected
+
+    She proposed this plan to her hostess, who at first opposed the
+    self-sacrifice, as she called it. But finally, being
+    pursuaded[persuaded] by Mary Grey, she yielded the point, and
+
+page 76: added missing "
+
+    "Yes, it is from your unknown guardian.["]
+
+page 104: corrected punctuation typo
+
+    The pastor expressed himself highly gratified, and added.[:]
+
+page 109: corrected and added missing punctuation
+
+    "MARIA WHEATFIELD,[."]
+
+page 111: corrected quote
+
+    "Yours truly, M. GREY.'["]
+
+page 115: added missing "
+
+    "Hush--hush!" she murmured. ["]Be quiet! There are people in the
+    next room. They may hear you. And I am sure they should do so
+    they would take you for a lunatic."
+
+page 118: added missing punctuation
+
+    "Yes; but don't cry out so loud--that's a dear! I repeat, there
+    are people in the next room[.] But you have not yet answered my
+    question."
+
+page 126: suggested possible missing word
+
+    "I am tired of walking. And here is a vacant house placarded 'To
+    Let,' with a nice long porch in front. Come, let [us] go in and
+    sit down on one of the benches and rest."
+
+page 140: added missing "
+
+    as I always get frightened and lose my presence of mind in the
+    terrible uproar of a steamboat landing or a railway station.["]
+
+page 146: typo corrected
+
+    Her devoted slave was waiting for here[her] there. And on the
+    table, in addition to the other comforts, there was a little
+
+page break between 150-151: added missing end of word
+
+    his companion, and the lovely youthful widow, who was lis-
+
+    [Page 163 in TIA copy of a different publisher/edition
+    (www.archive.org/details/victorstriumphse00soutrich) shows only
+    "-ening" is missing here.]
+
+    to him with such rapt attention, were a pair of happy and
+    devoted lovers.
+
+page 188: added missing "
+
+    telegram from the agent, which he supposed to be a magical
+    answer to your message.["]
+
+page 213: added missing "
+
+    "I said that you were my prisoner, Mr. Alden Lytton," answered
+    the deputy-sheriff, gravely. "I repeat that you are my
+    prisoner.["]
+
+page 222: typos corrected
+
+    "Gn[On] my sacred oath I most solemnly declare that you are the
+    man and she is the woman I then and there united together,"
+
+    with fierce indignation, "all I have further to say is
+    this--that you have basely purjured[perjured] yourself to assist
+    and support an infamous conspiracy!"
+
+page 238: added missing punctuation
+
+    Church of St. ----, in the city of Philadelphia, on the
+    fifteenth day of September last, between the hours of twelve
+    and one p. m[.]," said the counsel.
+
+page 246: duplicate word removed
+
+    her father telling him of the whereabouts of his daughter, and
+    asking him to come and receive her at [at] his hands. But the
+    very day upon which this letter was mailed two events occurred
+
+page 247: typo corrected
+
+    a coward! He dared not meet the penalty of his crime. He saw
+    another man condemed[condemned] to die for his offense, yet he
+    dared not confess and save the guiltless. He tried indirect
+
+page 247: duplicate word removed
+
+   secrecy, he confessed himself the murderer of [of] Henry Lytton
+   and related all the circumstances that led to the tragedy.
+
+page 250: typo corrected
+
+    inquired if the ladies were both quite ready. And being answered
+    in the affimative[affirmative], he took them out and put them
+    into the carriage, that was immediately started at a rate that
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Victor's Triumph, by Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
+
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+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Victor's Triumph, by Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
+
+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: Victor's Triumph
+       Sequel to A Beautiful Fiend
+
+Author: Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
+
+Release Date: August 19, 2009 [EBook #29729]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VICTOR'S TRIUMPH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="trans_note"><a name="top" id="top"></a>
+<p class="center"><big>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:</big></p>
+<p class="center">
+Every effort has been made to replicate this text as
+faithfully as possible; please see <a href="#TN">list of printing issues</a> at the end.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 319px; margin-bottom: 2em">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="319" height="500" alt="Cover, Victor's Triumph" title="Cover--Victor's Triumph" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px; margin-bottom: 2em"><div class="bbox">
+<img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="318" height="500" alt="Frontispiece" title="Frontispiece" />
+</div></div>
+
+
+<h1>VICTOR'S TRIUMPH</h1>
+<h4>SEQUEL TO</h4>
+<h3>A BEAUTIFUL FIEND</h3>
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+<h2><span class="smcap">Mrs.</span> E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH</h2>
+
+<p class="center">AUTHOR OF "TRIED FOR HER LIFE," "THE LOST HEIRESS,"<br />
+"ALLWORTH ABBEY," ETC., ETC.</p>
+
+<h4>NEW YORK<br />
+HURST &amp; COMPANY<br />
+PUBLISHERS</h4>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 291px;">
+<img src="images/ad1.jpg" width="291" height="436" alt="" title="Mrs Southworth Series" />
+</div>
+
+<!-- ad text, Southworth Series
+
+MRS. SOUTHWORTH<br />
+SERIES<br />
+<br />
+UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME<br />
+<br />
+By MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH<br />
+<br />
+Allworth Abbey.<br />
+<br />
+Beautiful Fiend, A.<br />
+<br />
+Bride's Fate, The.<br />
+<br />
+Capitola, the Madcap.<br />
+<br />
+Changed Brides.<br />
+<br />
+Cruel as the Grave.<br />
+<br />
+Curse of Clifton, The.<br />
+<br />
+Deserted Wife.<br />
+<br />
+Discarded Daughter.<br />
+<br />
+Hidden Hand.<br />
+<br />
+India.<br />
+<br />
+Ishmael; or, In the Depths.<br />
+<br />
+Lost Heiress, The.<br />
+<br />
+Miriam, the Avenger.<br />
+<br />
+Missing Bride, The.<br />
+<br />
+Mother-in-Law, The.<br />
+<br />
+Mystery of a Dark Hollow.<br />
+<br />
+Retribution.<br />
+<br />
+Self-Raised; or, From the Depths.<br />
+<br />
+Three Beauties, The.<br />
+<br />
+Tried for Her Life.<br />
+<br />
+Victor's Triumph.<br />
+<br />
+Vivia.<br />
+<br />
+<i>Price, postpaid, 50c. each, or any three<br />
+books for $1.25</i><br />
+<br />
+HURST &amp; COMPANY<br />
+PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK<br /></p>
+-->
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="VICTORS_TRIUMPH" id="VICTORS_TRIUMPH"></a>VICTOR'S TRIUMPH.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_I" id="Chapter_I"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter I.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>SAMSON AND DELILAH.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i7">Thus he grew<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tolerant of what he half disdained. And she,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Perceiving that she was but half disdained,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Began to break her arts with graver fits&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Turn red or pale, and often, when they met,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sigh deeply, or, all-silent, gaze upon him<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With such a fixed devotion, that the old man,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Though doubtful, felt the flattery, and at times<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Would flatter his own wish, in age, for love,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And half believe her true.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Tennyson.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>As soon as the subtle siren was left alone in the drawing-room
+with the aged clergyman she began weaving her
+spells around him as successfully as did the beautiful enchantress
+Vivien around the sage Merlin.</p>
+
+<p>Throwing her bewildering dark eyes up to his face she
+murmured in hurried tones:</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>will</i> not betray me to this family? Oh, consider! I
+am so young and so helpless!"</p>
+
+<p>"And so beautiful," added the old man under his breath,
+as he gazed with involuntary admiration upon her fair, false
+face. Then, aloud, he said: "I have already told you, wretched
+child, that I would forbear to expose you so long as you
+should conduct yourself with strict propriety here; but no
+longer."</p>
+
+<p>"You do not trust me. Ah, you do not see that one false
+step with its terrible consequences has been such an awful and
+enduring lesson to me that I could not make another! I am
+safer now from the possibility of error than is the most innocent
+and carefully guarded child. Oh, can you not understand
+this?" she asked, pathetically.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And her argument was a very specious and plausible one,
+and it made an impression.</p>
+
+<p>"I can well believe that the fearful retribution that followed
+so fast upon your 'false step,' as you choose to call it, has been
+and will be an awful warning to you. But some warnings
+come too late. What <i>can</i> be your long future life?" he sadly
+inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, what?" she echoed, with a profound sigh. "Even
+under the most propitious circumstances&mdash;<i>what?</i> If I am
+permitted to stay here I shall be buried alive in this country
+house, without hope of resurrection. Perhaps fifty years I
+may have to live here. The old lady will die. Emma will
+marry. Her children will grow up and marry. And in all
+the changes of future years I shall vegetate here without
+change, and without hope except in the better world. And
+yet, dreary as the prospect is, it is the best that I can expect,
+the best that I can even desire, and much better than I
+deserve," she added, with a humility that touched the old
+man's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel sorry for you, child; very, very sorry for your
+blighted young life. Poor child, you can never be happy
+again; but listen&mdash;<i>you can be good!</i>" he said, very gently.</p>
+
+<p>And then he suddenly remembered what her bewildering
+charms had made him for a moment forget&mdash;that was, that
+this unworthy girl had been actually on the point of marriage
+with an honorable man when Death stepped in and put an end
+to a foolish engagement.</p>
+
+<p>So, after a painful pause, he said, slowly:</p>
+
+<p>"My child, I have heard that you were about to be married
+to Charles Cavendish, when his sudden death arrested the
+nuptials. Is that true?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," she answered, in a tone of humility and
+sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>"But how could you venture to dream of marrying him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, me; I knew I was unworthy of him! But he fell in
+love with me. I could not help that. Now, could I? <i>Now,
+could I?</i>" she repeated, earnestly and pathetically, looking at
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"N-n-no. Perhaps you could not," he admitted.</p>
+
+<p>"And oh, he courted me so hard!&mdash;so hard! And I could
+not prevent him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Could you not have avoided him? Could you not have
+left the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, no; I had no place to go to! I had lost my situation
+in the school."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Still you should never have engaged yourself to marry
+Charles Cavendish, for you must have been aware that if he
+had known your true story he would never have thought of
+taking you as his wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know it! And I knew it then. And I was unhappy
+enough about it. But oh, what could I do? I could not prevent
+his loving me, do what I would. I could not go away
+from the house, because I had no place on earth to go to.
+And least of all would I go to him and tell him the terrible
+story of my life. I would rather have died than have told
+that! I should have died of humiliation in the telling&mdash;I
+couldn't tell him! Now could I? <i>Could I?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you had not the courage to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed I had not! Yet very often I told him, in a
+general way, that I was most unworthy of him. But he never
+would believe that."</p>
+
+<p>"No; I suppose he believed you to be everything that is
+pure, good and heavenly. What a terrible reproach his exalted
+opinion of you must have been!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it was&mdash;it was!" she answered, hypocritically. "It
+was such a severe reproach that, having in a moment of weakness
+yielded to his earnest prayer and consented to become his
+wife, I soon cast about for some excuse for breaking the engagement;
+for I felt if it were a great wrong to make such an
+engagement it would be a still greater wrong to keep it.
+Don't you agree with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, most certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, while I was seeking some excuse to break off the
+marriage Death stepped in and put an end to it. Perhaps
+then I ought to have left the house, but&mdash;I had no money to
+go with and, as I said before, no place to go to. And besides
+Emma Cavendish was overwhelmed with grief and could not
+bear to be left alone; and she begged me to come down here
+with her. So, driven by my own necessities and drawn by
+hers, I came down. Do you blame me? <i>Do</i> you blame me?"
+she coaxed, pathetically.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I do not blame you for that. But," said the old
+man, gravely and sadly, shaking his head, "why, when you
+got here, did you turn eavesdropper and spy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, me!&mdash;oh, dear me!" sobbed the siren. "It was the
+sin of helplessness and cowardice. I dreaded discovery so
+much! Every circumstance alarmed me. Your arrival and
+your long mysterious conversation with madam alarmed me.
+I thought exposure imminent. I feared to lose this home,
+which, lonely, dreary, hopeless as it is to me, is yet the only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+refuge I have left on earth. I am penniless and helpless; and
+but for this kind family I should be homeless and friendless.
+Think if I had been cast out upon the world what must have
+been my fate!"</p>
+
+<p>"What, indeed!" echoed the old man.</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore, I dreaded to be cast out. I dreaded discovery.
+Your visit filled me with uneasiness, that, as the day wore
+away, reached intense anxiety, and finally arose to insupportable
+anguish and suspense. Then I went to listen at the door,
+only to hear whether your conversation concerned me&mdash;whether
+I was still to be left in peace or to be cast out upon the
+bitter cold world. Ah, do not blame me too much! Just
+think how I suffered!" she said, pathetically, clasping her
+hands.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Oh, what a tangled web we weave<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When first we practice to deceive!'"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>murmured the old man to himself. Then, aloud, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Poor girl, you were snared in the web of your own contriving!
+Yet still, when I caught you in that net, why did
+you deny your identity and try to make me believe that you
+were somebody else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the same sin of <a name="Page_8t" id="Page_8t"></a><a href="#Page_8tn">helplessness</a> and cowardice; the same
+fear of discovery and exposure; the same horror of being cast
+forth from this pure, safe, peaceful home into the bitter, cold,
+foul, perilous world outside! I feared, if you found out who
+I was, you would expose me, and I should be cast adrift.
+And then it all came so suddenly I had no time for reflection.
+The instinct of self-preservation made me deny my identity
+before I considered what a falsehood I uttered. Ah, have you
+no pity for me, in considering the straits to which I was reduced?"
+she pleaded, clasping her hands before him and raising
+her eyes to his face.</p>
+
+<p>"'The way of the transgressor is hard,'" murmured the
+minister to himself. Then he answered her:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do pity you very much. I pity you for your sins
+and sufferings. But more than all I pity you for the moral
+and spiritual blindness of which you do not even seem to be
+suspicious, far less conscious."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not understand you," murmured Mary Grey, in a
+low, frightened tone.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you do not understand me. Well, I will try to explain.
+You have pleaded your youth as an excuse for your
+first 'false step,' as you call it. But I tell you that a girl
+who is old enough to sin is old enough to know better than to
+sin. And if you were not morally and spiritually blind you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+would see this. Secondly, you have pleaded your necessities&mdash;that
+is, your interests&mdash;as a just cause and excuse for your
+matrimonial engagement with Governor Cavendish, and for
+your eavesdropping in this house, and also for your false statements
+to me. But I tell you if you had been as truly penitent
+as you professed to be you would have felt no necessity so
+pressing as the necessity for true repentance, forgiveness and
+amendment. And if you had not been morally and spiritually
+blind you would have seen this also. I sometimes think that
+it may be my duty to discover you to this family. Yet I will
+be candid with you. I fear that if you should be turned adrift
+here you might, and probably would, fall into deeper sin.
+Therefore I will not expose you&mdash;for the present, and upon
+conditions. You are safe from me so long as you remain true,
+honest and faithful to this household. But upon the slightest
+indication of any sort of duplicity or double dealing I shall
+unmask you to Madam Cavendish. And now you had better
+retire. Good-night."</p>
+
+<p>And with these words the old man walked to a side-table,
+took a bed-room candle in his hand and gave it to the widow.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey snatched and kissed his hand, courtesied and
+withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>When she got to her own room she threw herself into a
+chair and laughed softly, murmuring:</p>
+
+<p>"The old Pharisee! He is more than half in love with me
+now. I know it, and I feel it. Yet, to save his own credit
+with himself, he pretends to lecture me and tries to persuade
+himself that he means it. But he is half in love with me.
+Before I have done with him he shall be wholly in love with
+me. And won't it be fun to have his gray head at my feet,
+proposing marriage to me! And that is what I mean to bring
+him to before a month is over his venerable skeleton!"</p>
+
+<p>And, with this characteristic resolution, Mary Grey went to
+bed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_II" id="Chapter_II"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter II.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>LAURA LYTTON'S MYSTERIOUS BENEFACTOR.</h3>
+
+
+<p>There never was a closer friendship between two girls
+than that which bound Laura Lytton and Emma Cavendish
+together.</p>
+
+<p>On the night of Laura's arrival, after they had retired from
+the drawing-room, and Electra had gone to bed and gone to
+sleep, Laura and Emma sat up together in Emma's room and
+talked until nearly daylight&mdash;talked of everything in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+heavens above, the earth below, and the waters under the
+earth. And then, when at length they parted, Laura asked:</p>
+
+<p>"May I come in here with you to dress to-morrow? And
+then we can finish our talk."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, love! Use my room just like your own," answered
+Emma, with a kiss.</p>
+
+<p>And they separated for a few hours.</p>
+
+<p>But early in the morning, as soon as Emma was out of bed,
+she heard a tap at her chamber door, and she opened it to see
+Laura standing there in her white merino dressing-gown, with
+her dark hair hanging down and a pile of clothing over her
+arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in, dear," said Emma, greeting her with a kiss.</p>
+
+<p>And Laura entered and laid her pile of clothing on a chair,
+discovering in her hand a rich casket, which she set upon the
+dressing-table, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Emma, dear, I have something very curious to
+show you. You have heard me speak of some unknown
+friend who is paying the cost of my brother's and my own
+education?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Haven't you found out yet who he is?" inquired
+Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"No; and I do not even know whether our benefactor is a
+he or a she. But anyhow he has sent me this," said Laura,
+unlocking the casket and lifting the lid.</p>
+
+<p>"A set of diamonds and opals fit for a princess!" exclaimed
+Emma, in admiration, as she gazed upon the deep blue satin
+tray, on which was arranged a brooch, a pair of ear-rings, a
+bracelet and a necklace of the most beautiful opals set in
+diamonds.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they are lovely! They must have come from Paris.
+They are highly artistic," answered Laura. "But look at
+these others, will you? These are barbaric," she added, lifting
+the upper tray from the casket and taking from the recess
+beneath the heaviest cable gold chain, a heavier finger ring,
+and a pair of bracelets. "Just take these in your double
+hands and 'heft' them, as the children say," she concluded,
+as she put the weight of gold in Emma's open palms, which
+sank at first under the burden.</p>
+
+<p>"There; what do you think of that?" inquired Laura.</p>
+
+<p>"I think they are barbaric, as you said. Well intended, no
+doubt, but utterly barbaric. Why, this gold chain might
+fasten up the strongest bull-dog and these bracelets serve as
+fetters for the most desperate felon! Where on earth were they
+manufactured?" inquired Miss Cavendish.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"In some rude country where there was more gold than
+good taste, evidently. However, Emma, dear, there is something
+very touching, very pathetic, to my mind, in these anonymous
+offerings. Of course they are almost useless to me.
+I could never wear the chain or the bracelets. They are far
+too clumsy for any one but an Indian chief; and I can never
+wear those lovely opals unless by some miracle I grow rich
+enough to have everything in harmony with them. And yet,
+Emma, the kindness and&mdash;what shall I say?&mdash;the humility of
+this anonymous giver so deeply touches my heart that I would
+not part with even a link of this useless chain to buy myself
+bread if I were starving," murmured Laura, with the tears
+filling her eyes, as she replaced the jewels in their casket.</p>
+
+<p>"And you have no suspicion who the donor is?"</p>
+
+<p>"None whatever. These came to me through Mr. Lyle,
+the agent who receives and pays the money for our education."</p>
+
+<p>"What does your brother say to all this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it makes him very uneasy at times. He shrinks from
+receiving this anonymous assistance. It is all Mr. Lyle can
+do now, by assuring him that in the end he will find it all
+right, to induce him to continue to receive it. And, at all
+events, he declares that after he graduates he will not take
+another dollar of this anonymous fund&mdash;conscience money or
+not&mdash;but that he will begin to pay back in bank, with interest
+and compound interest, the debt that he is now incurring."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that resolution is highly to his honor," said Emma
+Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"And he will keep it. I know Alden," answered Laura.</p>
+
+<p>And then the two girls hastened to dress themselves for
+breakfast. And very well they both looked as they left their
+room.</p>
+
+<p>Laura wore her crimson merino morning-dress, with white
+linen cuffs and collar, a costume that well became her olive
+complexion and dark hair and eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Emma wore a black cashmere trimmed with lusterless
+black silk, and folded book-muslin cuffs and collar. And in
+this dark dress her radiant blonde beauty shone like a fair
+star.</p>
+
+<p>They rapped at Electra's door to bring her out.</p>
+
+<p>She made her appearance looking quite dazzling. Electra
+had a gay taste in dress. She loved bright colors and many
+of them. She wore a purple dressing-gown with a brilliant
+shawl border&mdash;a dress for a portly old lady rather than for a
+slim young girl.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They went down together to the breakfast-room, where
+they found the languishing widow and the old clergyman
+<i>tête-à-tête</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Grey greeted them with a sweet smile and honeyed
+words, and Dr. Jones with a kindly good-morning and handshake.</p>
+
+<p>And they sat down to breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>This Easter Sunday had dawned clearly and beautifully.
+The family of Blue Cliffs were all going to attend divine service
+at Wendover.</p>
+
+<p>So, as soon as breakfast was over, the carriage was ordered,
+and the young ladies went upstairs to dress for church.</p>
+
+<p>At nine o'clock the whole party set out. Emma Cavendish,
+Laura Lytton and Electra Coroni went in the old family
+coach, carefully driven by Jerome. Mrs. Grey went in a
+buggy driven by the Rev. Dr. Jones.</p>
+
+<p>Who arranged this last drive, this <i>tête-à-tête</i>, no one knew
+except the artful coquette and her venerable victim.</p>
+
+<p>They all reached the church in good time.</p>
+
+<p>The rector, the Rev. Dr. Goodwin, read the morning service,
+and the Rev. Dr. Jones preached the sermon.</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of the services, when the congregation
+were leaving, Mr. Craven Kyte came up to pay his respects
+to the ladies from Blue Cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cavendish introduced him to Dr. Jones, explaining
+that he had been a ward of her father, and was once an inmate
+of Blue Cliff Hall.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones received the young man with courtesy, and in his
+turn introduced him to Miss Coroni.</p>
+
+<p>Then Emma Cavendish invited him to go home with them
+to dinner, kindly reminding him of the old custom of spending
+his holidays in his guardian's house.</p>
+
+<p>With a smile and a bow, and with a warm expression of
+thanks, the young man accepted the offered hospitality.</p>
+
+<p>And when the party entered their carriages to return to
+Blue Cliffs, Craven Kyte, mounted on a fine horse, attended
+them.</p>
+
+<p>But, mind, he did not ride beside the carriage that contained
+the three young ladies, but beside the gig occupied by
+Mary Grey and Dr. Jones.</p>
+
+<p>And the very first inquiry he made of Emma, on reaching
+the house, was:</p>
+
+<p>"Is the Reverend Doctor Jones a married man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what a question!" exclaimed Emma, laughing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+"No, he is not a married man; he is a widower. Why do
+you ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. But I thought he was a widower. He
+seems very much taken with Mrs. Grey," sighed the young
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, is that it?" laughed Emma, as she ran away to take
+off her bonnet and mantle.</p>
+
+<p>And that Easter Sunday Mary Grey found herself again in
+a dilemma between her two proposed victims&mdash;the gray-haired
+clergyman and the raven-locked youth.</p>
+
+<p>But she managed them both with so much adroitness that
+at the close of the day, when Craven Kyte was riding slowly
+back to Wendover, he was saying to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"She is fond of me, after all; the beauty, the darling, the
+angel! Oh, that such a perfect creature should be fond of
+me! I am at this moment the very happiest man on earth!"</p>
+
+<p>And later the same night, when the Rev. Dr. Jones laid his
+woolen night-capped head upon his pillow, instead of going to
+sleep as the old gentleman should have done, he lay awake
+and communed with himself as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Poor child&mdash;poor child! A mere baby. And she <i>is</i> penitent;
+sincerely penitent. Oh, I can see that! And to think
+that she is not nearly so much in fault as we believed her to
+be! She tells me that she really was married to that man&mdash;married
+when she was a child only fourteen years of age.
+So her gravest error was in running away to be married!
+And that was the fault of the man who stole her, rather than
+of herself. And she is as repentant for that fault as if it were
+some great crime. And oh, how she has suffered! What she
+has gone through for one so young! And she has such a tender,
+affectionate, clinging nature! Ah, what will become of
+her, poor child&mdash;poor child! She ought to have some one to
+take care of her. She ought indeed to be married, for no one
+but a tender husband could take care of such a pretty, delicate,
+helpless creature. She ought to marry some one much
+older than herself. Not a green, beardless boy like that
+young puppy&mdash;Heaven forgive me!&mdash;I mean that young man
+Kyte. He couldn't appreciate her, couldn't be a guide or a
+guard to her. And she really needs guiding and guarding
+too. For see how easily she falls into error. She ought to
+marry some good, wise, elderly man, who could be her guide,
+philosopher and friend as well as husband<a name="Page_13t" id="Page_13t"></a><a href="#Page_13tn">."</a></p>
+
+<p>And so murmuring to himself he fell asleep to dream that
+he himself was the model guide, philosopher and friend required
+by the young widow.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_III" id="Chapter_III"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter III.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A GROWL FROM UNCLE JACKY.</h3>
+
+<p>The next day, Easter Monday, brought a messenger from
+Lytton Lodge; a messenger who was no other than Mithridates,
+commonly called "Taters," once a servant of Frederick
+Fanning, the landlord of White Perch Point, but now a
+hired hand of John Lytton's.</p>
+
+<p>Mithridates, or Taters, rode an infirm-looking old draft
+horse, with a dilapidated saddle and bridle, and wore a hat
+and coat exceedingly shabby for a gentleman's servant.</p>
+
+<p>He also led a second horse, furnished with a side-saddle.</p>
+
+<p>He dismounted at the carriage-steps, tied the horses to a
+tree, and boldly went to the front door and knocked.</p>
+
+<p>Jerome opened it, and administered a sharp rebuke to the
+messenger for presuming to knock at the visitors' door instead
+of at the servants'.</p>
+
+<p>"If I'd a come to the servants' I'd rapped at the servants'
+door; but as I have comed to the white folks' I rap at dere
+door. Here; I've fotch a letter from Marse Jacky Lytton to
+his niece, Miss Lorrer," said Taters, pompously.</p>
+
+<p>"Give it to me then, and I'll take it in to her," said Jerome.</p>
+
+<p>"Set you up with it! I must 'liver of this here letter with
+my own hands inter her own hands," said Taters, stoutly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, come along, for a fool! You're a purty looking
+objick to denounce into the parlor, a'n't you now?" said Jerome,
+leading the way.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, unseen by Jerome, but distinctly seen by
+Taters, a face appeared at the head of the stairs for an instant,
+but meeting the eye of Taters turned white as death and vanished.</p>
+
+<p>Taters uttered a terrible cry and sank, ashen pale and quaking
+with horror, at the foot of the steps.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what in the name of the old boy is the matter with
+you, man? Have you trod on a nail or piece of glass, or anything
+that has gone through your foot, or what is it?" demanded
+Jerome, in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no, no! it's worse'n that&mdash;it's worse'n that! It's
+no end worse'n that! Oh, Lor'! oh, Lor'! oh, Lor'!" cried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+Taters, holding his knees and sawing backward and forward
+in an agony of horror.</p>
+
+<p>"Ef you don't stop that howlin' and tell me what's the
+matter of you I'm blessed ef I don't get a bucket of ice water
+and heave it all over you to fetch you to your senses!" exclaimed
+the exasperated Jerome.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Lor', don't! Oh, please don't! I shill die quick
+enough now without that!" cried Taters, writhing horribly.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, you born iddiwut?" roared Jerome,
+in a fury.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I've seen a sperrit&mdash;I've seen a sperrit! I've seen the
+sperrit of my young mistress! And it's a token of my death!"
+wailed the negro boy in agony.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that you say&mdash;a sperrit? A sperrit in this yer
+'spectable, 'sponsible house? Lookee here, nigger: mind what
+you say now, or it'll be the wus for you! A sperrit in this
+yer ginteel family as never had a crime or a ghost inter it!
+The Cavendishers nebber 'mits no crimes when der living, nor
+likewise don't walk about ondecent after der dead. And der
+a'n't no sperrits here," said Jerome, with ire.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I wish it wasn't&mdash;I wish it wasn't! But it was a
+sperrit! And it's a token of my death&mdash;it's a token of my
+death!" howled Taters.</p>
+
+<p>And now at last the noise brought the three young ladies
+out of the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter here, Jerome?" inquired Mrs. Cavendish.
+"Has any one got hurt? Who is that man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ef you please, Miss Emma, no one a'n't got hurt, though
+you might a thought, from the squalling, that there was a
+dozen pigs a killin'. And that man, miss, is a born iddiwut,
+so he is&mdash;begging your pardon, miss!&mdash;and says he's seed a
+sperrit in this yer harristocraterick house, where there never
+was a sperrit yet," explained Jerome, with a grieved and indignant
+look.</p>
+
+<p>"But who is the man? What is he doing here? And what
+does he want?" inquired the young lady.</p>
+
+<p>"The man is a born iddiwut, Miss Emma, as I telled you
+before; that's who the man he is! And he's a making of a
+'fernal fool of hisself; that's what he's doing here! And he
+deserves a good hiding; and that's what he wants!" said Jerome,
+irately.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cavendish passed by the privileged old family servant,
+and went up to the man himself and inquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, boy? What brings you here? And what
+ails you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, miss! I'm Taters, I am. And I come to fetch a
+letter from Marse Jacky Lytton to Miss Lorrer. And I seen
+a sperrit at the top o'them stair steps. And that's what's the
+matter of me," cried the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"A spirit! Jerome, do you think he's been drinking?" inquired
+the young lady in a low, frightened voice.</p>
+
+<p>For an answer Jerome, without the least hesitation, seized
+Taters by the head, pulled open his jaws, and stuck his own
+nose into the cavity and took an audible snuff. Then, releasing
+the head, he answered:</p>
+
+<p>"No, miss, he a'n't been drinking nuffin. His breff's as
+sweet as a milch cow's. I reckon he must be subjick to epperliptic
+fits, miss, by the way he fell down here all of a suddint,
+crying out as he'd seen a sperrit."</p>
+
+<p>"You said you had a letter, boy. Where is it?" inquired
+Emma.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, miss! Here it is! I'll give it to you, though I
+wouldn't give it to him there!" answered Taters, with a contemptuous
+glance toward Jerome.</p>
+
+<p>Emma took the letter, which was inclosed in a wonderfully
+dingy yellow envelope, and she read the superscription, and
+then called to Laura, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Come here, my dear. Here is a letter from Lytton Lodge
+for you."</p>
+
+<p>Laura Lytton, who, with Electra, had been standing just
+within the drawing-room door, near enough to observe the
+group, but not to hear the whole of their conversation, now
+came when she was called and received her letter.</p>
+
+<p>"It is from dear Uncle Jacky," she said, with an affectionate
+smile, as she recognized the handwriting.</p>
+
+<p>And then she asked the messenger a multitude of questions,
+which he was too much agitated to answer coherently, until
+at length Miss Cavendish said:</p>
+
+<p>"Jerome, take the poor fellow into the kitchen and give
+him something to eat and drink. There is nothing like beef
+and beer to exorcise evil spirits. And when he is rested and
+refreshed we will see him again."</p>
+
+<p>And Jerome took Taters rather roughly by the shoulder
+and pulled him upon his feet and carried him along the hall
+through the back door toward the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you excuse me now, dear Emma, while I read my
+uncle's letter?" inquired Laura, as she retreated to the
+drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," smiled Miss Cavendish, following her guests.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Laura went into the recess of a bay-window and opened the
+dingy yellow envelope and read as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p class="aurightbl">
+"<span class="smcap">Lytton Lodge</span>, April&nbsp;&mdash;, 18&mdash;.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Niece</span>:&mdash;I think my nephew, Alden, has a
+more correcter ideer of what is jue to kin and kith than what
+you have shown.</p>
+
+<p>"Alden is spending his Easter holidays along of me and his
+relations.</p>
+
+<p>"But you haven't been nigh the house since you left it to
+go to school. You do seem to be so wrapped up in the Cavendishers
+as not to think anything of your own folks.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I can tell you what it is. The Lyttonses are a great
+deal older and better family than all the Cavendishers that
+ever lived. I don't care if they was governors of the state.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard my grandfather, who was a scholar, say that
+the Lyttonses was landed gentry in the old country long before
+the Cavendishers followed of their lord and marster William
+the Conkerer across the channil. And so I don't approve
+of your sliting of the Lyttonses for them there Cavendishers.
+Spesherly as you're a Lytton yourself. And if we don't respect
+ourselves and each other no one a'n't a going to respect
+us.</p>
+
+<p>"And talking of that, what do you think Hezekiah Greenfield,
+the landlord of the Reindeer, went and done to me last
+week?</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he came over and asked me could I supply his tavern
+with fruits and vegetables during the summer season at
+the market price, saying&mdash;quite as if he was a making of me
+a kind proposal instead of offering of me a black insult&mdash;that
+he'd rather deal with me, and I should have his money, than
+any one else, if so be I was willing to do business.</p>
+
+<p>"Now what do you think I answered him?</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I set the bull-dog on him! I did that! And it was
+good for him as he scrambled up on his horse and made off
+double-quick, or he'd been torn to pieces before you could say
+Jack Robinson.</p>
+
+<p>"That'll learn the tavern-keeper to insult a gentleman
+next time by offering to buy his garden stuff!</p>
+
+<p>"But what I'm writing to you for, my dear, now, is this.
+I think you ought to come to see us, anyhow. You must
+come, if it's only for two or three days, to see your old grandmother,
+and all your relations, and to meet Alden, who is
+here, as I said. I have sent Taters on horseback with a led
+horse and a side-saddle for you. Come back along of him to-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>morrow
+morning. And give my honorable compliments to
+the old madam and Miss Cavendish. Because, mind you, I'm
+not a saying as the Cavendishers a'n't a good, respectabil family;
+only I do say as they are not so good as the Lyttonses, and
+they never was and never will be; and they know it themselves,
+too. Well, your dear grandma, and your dear aunties
+and cousins, all sends their love to you, with many good
+wishes. So no more at present from your affeckshunit uncle,</p>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 6em">
+"<span class="smcap">John Lytton</span>."
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_IV" id="Chapter_IV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter IV.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE GHOST SEEN BY "TATERS."</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">He shuddered, as no doubt the bravest cowers,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When he can't tell what 'tis that doth appall.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How odd a single hobgoblin's nonentity<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Should cause more fear than a whole host's identity.</span>
+</div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Byron.</span>
+</div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>"Emma, dear, I have a letter from Uncle John Lytton,"
+said Laura, gravely, going to the side of her friend.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope they are all well at Lytton Lodge," responded
+Emma.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, thank you, they are all quite well; but," added
+Laura, with a sigh, "Uncle John has written to me to come
+at once and pay them a visit. And to leave me no excuse, he
+has sent his servant Mithridates on horseback, with another
+led horse and side-saddle, to take me to Lytton Lodge."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear! But you need not go, I hope?" said Emma,
+looking up, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"I must go," answered Laura, with another sigh. "And
+really I ought to be glad to go to see such kind friends as all
+my relatives there have been to me. But, you see, Emma, I
+don't like to leave you for a single day even before I have to
+return to school."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why do you go at all? Why can you not send an
+excuse?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Emma, would <i>you</i> refuse to go if you were in my
+place?" inquired Laura.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish could not reply.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you would not," added Laura, "because it would not
+be right to refuse."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear, to perform so long a journey on horseback!
+It must be over twenty miles. Let me see&mdash;it is about nine
+miles from here to Wendover, and it must be ten or eleven
+from Wendover to Lytton Lodge," said Emma.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No; only about eight or nine. The whole distance is not
+more than seventeen or eighteen miles by the roundabout
+route. And if I could go as the crow flies it is not more than
+six miles. Why, you know the eastern extremity of your land
+touches the western extremity of uncle's."</p>
+
+<p>"So it does. And if, as you say, you could go as the crow
+flies&mdash;that is, straight over mountains and rivers&mdash;you could
+get there in two hours. As it is, it will take you five or six
+hours, and that is too long for a girl to be in the saddle, especially
+a city-bred girl, unaccustomed to such exercise."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I can stand it," smiled Laura.</p>
+
+<p>"But you shall not try. If you will go you must take the
+little carriage. When do you propose to start?"</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we will send the redoubtable Mithridates back with
+his steeds, and send you on your journey in the little carriage,
+under the guardianship of old Jerome, with orders to remain
+with you during your visit; but to bring you back again, at
+farthest, on the third day," said Emma, peremptorily.</p>
+
+<p>Laura thanked her friend, but protested against any trouble
+being taken on her account.</p>
+
+<p>But Miss Cavendish was firm, and the arrangement was
+made according to her plan.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Mithridates, eating beef and bread and
+drinking home-made sweet cider in the kitchen, recovered
+some of his composure; though still, with his mouth full of
+meat and his eyes starting from his head, he persisted that he
+had seen the spirit of his young mistress. And it was a token
+of his death.</p>
+
+<p>"G'long way from her', boy! Ef I didn't know as you
+<i>wasn't</i> I should think as you <i>was</i> intoxified! There never
+was no sperrit never seen into this house," said Aunt Molly,
+indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care! I did see her sperrit! So there now," persisted
+Taters, bolting a chunk of bread and choking with it
+for a moment. "And&mdash;and it's a token of my death."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the reason you're a trying to kill yourself now,
+you iddiwut?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but I seen her sperrit!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe one word of it. You're a making of it all
+up out'n your own stoopid head! There, now, ef you're done
+eatin' you'd better go 'long and put up your hosses," said
+Aunt Moll, seeing her guest pause in his gastronomic efforts.</p>
+
+<p>But Taters hadn't done eating, and did't get done until all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+the dishes on the kitchen table were cleared and the jug of
+cider emptied.</p>
+
+<p>Then, indeed, he gave over and went to look after his
+"beasts."</p>
+
+<p>At the same hour Mary Grey, locked fast in her room, suffered
+agonies of terror and anxiety. She, too, had seen a
+"ghost"&mdash;a ghost of her past life&mdash;a ghost that might have
+come to summon her from her present luxurious home!</p>
+
+<p>On her way down-stairs to the drawing-room she had been
+arrested on the head of the middle landing by the sight of a
+once familiar face and form.</p>
+
+<p>She met the distended eyes of this apparition, and saw at
+once that he had recognized her as surely as she had recognized
+him.</p>
+
+<p>And in an instant she vanished.</p>
+
+<p>She darted into her own room and locked the door and sank
+breathless into the nearest chair.</p>
+
+<p>And there she sat now, with beating heart and burning
+head, waiting for what should come next.</p>
+
+<p>A rap at the door was the next thing that came.</p>
+
+<p>It frightened her, of course&mdash;everything frightened her now.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is that?" she nervously inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Only me, ma'am. The ladies are waiting luncheon for
+you. Miss Emma sends her compliments and says will you
+come down?" spoke the voice of Sarah, the lady's maid.</p>
+
+<p>"Love to Miss Cavendish, and ask her to excuse me. I do
+not want any luncheon," answered Mary Grey, without opening
+the door.</p>
+
+<p>Then she sank back in her chair with throbbing pulses,
+waiting for the issue of this crisis. She was really ill with intense
+anxiety and dread. She grew so weak at last that she
+lay down upon her sofa.</p>
+
+<p>Then came another rap at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is that?" she asked again, faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"It is I, dear," answered the voice of Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Grey arose trembling and opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>"I was afraid that you were not well. I came up to see,"
+said Emma, kindly, as she entered the room.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;no, I am not quite well," faltered Mary Grey, as she
+retreated to the sofa and sat down, with her back purposely
+to the light and her face in the shadow.</p>
+
+<p>"You really look pale and ill. What is the matter, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;think I have taken cold. But by keeping to my room
+for a few days I hope to be better. A cold always affects the
+action of my heart and makes me very nervous," said Mary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+Grey, in explanation of the tremors for which she could not
+otherwise account.</p>
+
+<p>Then Emma expressed sympathy and sorrow, and begged
+the pretended invalid to have some tea and cream-toast, or
+some wine-whey or chicken-broth.</p>
+
+<p>But Mary Grey declined all these offers, declaring that a
+cold always took her appetite away.</p>
+
+<p>And again Emma expressed regret.</p>
+
+<p>And, as Miss Cavendish talked, Mary Grey grew more composed.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident, she thought, that Emma as yet knew nothing
+of that strange rencounter on the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, Miss Cavendish said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to tell you that we shall lose Laura Lytton for
+a few days. Her uncle, Mr. Lytton of Lytton Lodge, has
+sent a messenger for her. She goes to visit her relations there
+to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed&mdash;a messenger?" exclaimed Mary Grey, pricking
+up her ears.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; a queer genius, who signalized his entrance into the
+house by a scene," added Emma, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! Why, you might have heard the commotion in
+the front hall! Did you hear nothing of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear; I have remained shut up in my room ever since
+breakfast&mdash;have not stirred from it," answered Mary Grey,
+lying without the least hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>"That accounts for your knowing nothing about it. But
+the absurd fellow raised quite a confusion by suddenly falling
+down in the front hall in a spasm of terror, declaring that he
+had seen the spirit of his young mistress on the middle landing
+of the front stairs."</p>
+
+<p>"An optical illusion," answered Mary Grey, in a low, tremulous
+tone and with her face carefully kept in the shadow.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course! And it appears that he was once a servant of
+that reckless and unlucky Frederick Fanning of White Perch
+Point, who married my mother's sister. And consequently
+his young mistress must have been that unfortunate cousin of
+mine," said Emma, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Does any one know what ever became of that wretched
+girl?" inquired Mrs. Grey, in a very low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"No; but I gather from the wild talk of the boy that she
+is supposed to be dead. It was her spirit that he thinks he
+saw."</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever became of her father and mother?" questioned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+Mary Grey in the same low tone and still keeping her face in
+the deep shadow.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know. I heard that they went to California. I
+have not heard anything of them since. But, my dear, you
+are talking beyond your strength. Your voice is quite faint&mdash;scarcely
+audible indeed. Now I advise you to lie down and
+be quiet," said Miss Cavendish, with some solicitude.</p>
+
+<p>And then she kissed Mary Grey, begged her to ring for anything
+she might require, and then she left the room.</p>
+
+<p>And Mary Grey heard no more of the ghost. That cloud
+passed harmlessly over her head.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_V" id="Chapter_V"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter V.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A VISIT TO LYTTON LODGE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Early the next morning Miss Cavendish's snug little
+pony-carriage, with a pretty pair of grays, stood before
+the front door waiting for Laura Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>Old Jerome sat on the front seat to drive.</p>
+
+<p>Taters, with his own horse and the now useless led horse,
+was in attendance.</p>
+
+<p>Laura Lytton, dressed for her journey and with traveling-bag
+in hand, stood with Emma Cavendish in the hall waiting
+for Mrs. <a name="Page_22t" id="Page_22t"></a><a href="#Page_22tn">Gray</a>, to whom they had sent a message inviting her
+to come down and see the traveler off.</p>
+
+<p>But presently the messenger returned with Miss Grey's love
+and good wishes, and requested that they would excuse her
+from coming down, as her cold was so severe that she did not
+dare to leave her room.</p>
+
+<p>"I must go up and bid her good-bye then," said Laura, as
+she dropped her traveling-bag and ran upstairs.</p>
+
+<p>She found Mary Grey in a fine white merino dressing-gown
+playing the interesting invalid.</p>
+
+<p>She hastily kissed her, expressed a hope that she might find
+her better on returning to Blue Cliffs, and then ran out of the
+room and down-stairs as fast as she could go.</p>
+
+<p>She had already taken leave of every member of the family
+except Emma Cavendish, who went out with her to the carriage,
+saw her comfortably seated in it, and kissed her good-bye.</p>
+
+<p>The little cavalcade then set forward.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely spring morning. The woods and fields were
+clothed with the freshest green; the mountain tops beamed in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+the most beautiful opal tints, and the blue sky was without a
+cloud.</p>
+
+<p>Laura enjoyed her drive very much.</p>
+
+<p>At Wendover they stopped to rest and water the horses, and
+then they resumed their journey and went on to Lytton Lodge,
+where they arrived just about noon.</p>
+
+<p>John Lytton was evidently on the lookout for his niece, for
+as the pony-carriage drove up, amid the barking of all the
+dogs and the shouting of all the little negroes, he rushed out
+of the house, throwing up his arms; and he caught Laura and
+lifted her bodily from her seat, roaring his welcome.</p>
+
+<p>And Laura, as she returned his honest, hearty greeting, felt
+a twinge of self-reproach in remembering with what reluctance
+she had come.</p>
+
+<p>Uncle John took her into the house and set her down in the
+hall in the midst of all her relations, who had crowded there
+to welcome here.</p>
+
+<p>"Lor-lor-lor', John! How dare you ma-ma-make so free as
+that with Laura, and she a young 'oman?" exclaimed old Mrs.
+Lytton, as, in her well-known faded calico gown and long-eared
+muslin cap, she came up and kissed her granddaughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, because she <i>is</i> a young 'oman, of course, and not
+an old man!" said John, saucily.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, how much you have improved, child!" said Miss
+Molly Moss, smiling blandly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a'n't she though, neither?" exclaimed Octy and Ulky
+in a breath, as they seized her hands, the one clinging to her
+right and the other to her left.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, now, I think you had better let Laura go upstairs
+and take off her bonnet and things. Dinner's all ready to go
+on the table. And I reckon her appetite is ready also. And,
+Jacky, you had better go out and tell John Brooks to put up
+and feed them horses," said practical Aunt Kitty, as she took
+and faced Laura about toward the spare bed-room that was on
+the first floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle wrote me that my brother was here. But I don't
+see him," said Laura as she laid off her bonnet.</p>
+
+<p>"No; he and Charley went to Perch Point fishing yesterday,
+intending to stay all night and come back this morning.
+I reckon they'll soon be here," said Aunt Kitty.</p>
+
+<p>Laura washed her face and hands and brushed her hair, put
+on clean collar and cuffs, and declared herself ready to join
+the family.</p>
+
+<p>Even as she spoke there was the hilarious bustle of an arrival
+in the hall outside.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And as Laura emerged from the room she was caught in
+the arms of her brother Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"My darling sister, I am so delighted to see you!" said the
+young man, kissing her joyously.</p>
+
+<p>"So am I to see you, Alden, dear. But why didn't you
+accept Mrs. Cavendish's invitation to come and join our Easter
+party at Blue Cliffs?" inquired Laura.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, because I thought my duty called me here,"
+gravely replied Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"But for a day or two you might have joined us," persisted
+Laura.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Alden. Then turning toward his red-headed
+fishing comrade he said: "Here's Cousin Charley waiting to
+welcome you, Laura."</p>
+
+<p>And Charley Lytton, blushing and stammering, held out
+his hand and said:</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do? I am very glad to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"And now come to dinner," said Aunt Kitty, opening the
+dining-room door.</p>
+
+<p>They all went in and sat down to as fine a dinner as was
+ever served in Blue Cliff Hall, or even at the Government
+House, although this was laid on a rough pine table, covered
+with a coarse, though clean linen table-cloth, and in a room
+where the walls were whitewashed and the floors were bare.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," said Uncle Jacky, as soon as he had served
+the turtle soup around to everybody, "I want you to tell me
+why you couldn't ride the gray mare, and why you came in a
+pony-carriage with a slap-up pair of bloods?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you know, I am a good-for-nothing city-bred girl,
+Uncle John, and Miss Cavendish knew it and doubted my
+ability to ride eighteen or twenty miles on horseback, and so
+insisted on my having the pony-carriage," explained Laura,
+soothingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm glad it was no worse. I was thinking may be
+as you despised the old family mare," said John, somewhat
+mollified.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, uncle! Quite the contrary. I did not feel equal
+to her," laughed Laura.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when must we send that fine equipage back&mdash;to-night
+or tomorrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Neither, Uncle John. It is not wanted at Blue Cliffs just
+at present. They have the barouche, the brougham and the
+gig. They can easily spare the pony-chaise. And Emma
+insisted on my keeping it here until I should be ready to return.
+And I promised her that I would do it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now I don't like that. That is a patternizing of us a
+great deal too much. We've got a carriage of our own, I
+reckon," said John, sitting back in his chair and lifting his
+red head pompously.</p>
+
+<p>"Now-now-now, John Lytton, don't you be a foo-foo-fool!
+Carriage! Why, our carriage is all to pieces! A'n't been fit
+to use for this six months! And sin-sin-since the Caverndishers
+have been so obleeging as to lend the loan of the pony-shay
+to Laura, I say let her keep it till she goes back. And while
+it's a staying here idle I can use it to go and see some of my
+neighbors," said old Mrs. Lytton, in that peremptory way of
+hers that did not brook contradiction from any one&mdash;even
+from the master of the house.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_VI" id="Chapter_VI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter VI.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A FLIGHT FROM BLUE CLIFFS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Laura Lytton staid two days with her relatives at
+Lytton Lodge, and was just turning over in her mind
+the difficult subject of breaking the news of her immediate
+departure to Uncle Jacky, whom she felt sure would bitterly
+oppose it, when, on the evening of the second day, she received
+a surprise in the form of a call from Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>The visitor was shown into the big parlor, where all the
+family, except Alden and Charley, were assembled, and engaged
+in cheerful conversation around the evening lamp.</p>
+
+<p>He came in bowing, shook hands with everybody, and then
+took the seat that was offered him and drew a letter from his
+pocket, saying, humorously:</p>
+
+<p>"In these latter days, when every one has a mission, it
+seems to me that my mission is to fetch and carry letters. I
+happened to call at Blue Cliffs this morning and to mention
+while there that I was going to White Perch Point and should
+take Lytton Lodge in my way, and would carry any message
+that was desired to Miss Laura Lytton, who I understood was
+on a visit there. And then Miss Cavendish requested me to
+take a letter to you, which she sat down and wrote right off
+at once. And here it is, miss," he concluded, placing the letter
+in Laura's hands.</p>
+
+<p>Laura asked leave of her company, and then opened the
+envelope and read as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p class="aurightbl">
+"<span class="smcap">Blue Cliffs</span>, Thursday afternoon.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My Dearest Laura</span>:&mdash;The opportune arrival of Mr.
+Craven Kyte, on his way to White Perch Point and Lytton<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+Lodge, furnishes me with the means of communicating with
+you sooner than I could manage to do by mail.</p>
+
+<p>"You will be very much surprised at what I am about to
+tell you.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Mary Grey has left Blue Cliffs.</i></p>
+
+<p>"She left so suddenly that I scarcely yet can realize that
+she has gone.</p>
+
+<p>"My grandmother and myself opposed her departure most
+earnestly. We used every means in the world but absolute
+force to keep her here.</p>
+
+<p>"But she would go. She said her health and spirits
+required the change. You know she was ailing when you
+left here.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, she has gone to Charlottesville, where she says she
+has some lady friend who keeps a boarding-house for the students
+of the University. So if your brother returns to the
+University he may have an opportunity of renewing his very
+pleasant acquaintance with her. I do not know when, if ever,
+she will return.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course this is her home whenever she pleases to come
+back. But I strongly suspect the pretty little widow has
+grown tired of our country house.</p>
+
+<p>"You know she has really no resources within herself for
+enjoyment. She cares nothing for the beautiful scenery surrounding
+our home, nor for gardening, nor reading, nor visiting
+and instructing the poor negroes; nor, in short, for anything
+that makes a remote country place enjoyable. And so
+she has left us&mdash;'It may be for years, and it may be for ever,'
+as the song says.</p>
+
+<p>"But, my darling, don't <i>you</i> desert me just at this time.
+Come back, according to your promise. I am wearying for
+you. Tell that excessively affectionate and hospitable Uncle
+John that I need you so much more than he does. Or show
+him this letter. All the Lyttons are gallant and chivalrous
+gentlemen. He is no exception, and he will not oppose my
+wish, I feel sure. I shall expect you at Blue Cliffs to-morrow
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>"My grandmother has just directed me to repeat her invitation
+to Mr. Alden Lytton, and to ask him to accompany you
+back to Blue Cliffs and make us a visit. I hope he will do so.
+Mind, I shall expect you both to-morrow evening. Pray present
+my respects to Mr. and Mrs. Lytton and all their kind
+family. And believe me, dearest Laura,</p>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 4em">
+"Ever your own</p>
+<p style="text-indent: 6em">"<span class="smcap">Emma</span>.
+</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"<i>Postscript.</i>&mdash;I have some strange news to tell you which
+I can not trust upon paper. I also expect a new inmate in
+the family. I will explain when you come.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;E."</p></div>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 1.5em">Laura folded her letter and put it into her pocket for the
+present.</p>
+
+<p>"They want you to come back, I suppose," said Uncle
+John, testily.</p>
+
+<p>"I will show you the letter presently, uncle, so you can
+read and judge for yourself," said Laura, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, all I say is this: if they want you to come back
+want will be their master. For they can't have you; so there
+now! I don't mean to let you leave us until you are obliged
+to go back to school. I don't <i>that</i>!" said John, nodding his
+big red head.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know Mrs. Grey had left Blue Cliffs?" sorrowfully
+inquired Mr. Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Emma has written to me about her departure.
+When did she go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Early this morning. When I got to the house I was very
+much disappointed at not seeing her, and beyond measure astonished
+to hear that she had started that very morning to
+Wendover, to catch the first train to the city, <i>en route</i> for
+Charlottesville. She will be a great loss to the domestic circle
+at Blue Cliffs, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"And who the mischief is Mrs. Grey?" inquired the sorely
+puzzled Uncle John.</p>
+
+<p>"She was one of the assistant teachers&mdash;the drawing-mistress,
+in fact&mdash;at Mount Ascension. But she lost her situation
+there. And she became the guest of Emma Cavendish.
+Afterward she was engaged to Mr. Cavendish. But his death
+prevented the marriage," Laura explained.</p>
+
+<p>And at this point of the conversation "Mandy" made her
+appearance at the door and said that supper was on the table.</p>
+
+<p>And old Mrs. Lytton arose and invited the company to follow
+her to the dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>After supper, as it was a clear, mild, star-lit evening, Mr.
+Craven Kyte remounted his horse and resumed his journey to
+White Perch Point.</p>
+
+<p>After his departure, when the family were once more assembled
+in the big parlor, Laura took her letter out and put it in
+the hands of John Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>Uncle Jacky read it through, and then quoted a part of it
+to the family circle.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tell that affectionate and hospitable Uncle John that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+need you so much more than he does. Or show him this letter.
+All the Lyttons are gallant and chivalrous gentlemen.'
+That's so!" put in Uncle Jacky, nodding his red head.
+"'He is no exception. And he will not oppose my wish, I
+feel sure.' Now that is what I call taking a fellow at a disadvantage!"
+growled John, holding the letter before his eyes
+and staring at it. "Well, I suppose I must let you go, Laura,
+seeing she makes such a point of it. But they want Alden,
+too. And Alden they can't have! Where is the fellow, anyhow?
+And why wasn't he at supper?"</p>
+
+<p>"He and Charley are down at Uncle Bob's house, getting
+bait for another fishing match to-morrow. I told Mandy to
+keep the supper hot for them," answered Aunt Kitty.</p>
+
+<p>And soon after this the little family, who kept very early
+hours, separated to go to rest.</p>
+
+<p>Laura and her two cousins were the first to leave the room.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Kitty and Miss Molly followed.</p>
+
+<p>When they were gone old Mrs. Lytton turned upon her son
+and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Jacky, I ho-ho-hope you a'n't a goin' to be sich a contrairy
+fool as to stand into the light of your own flesh and
+blood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what the mischief do you mean, mother? I a'n't a
+standing into nobody's light, much less my own flesh and
+blood's!" exclaimed John, raising his red head.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes-yes-yes, you are too! You're a standing into your
+own dear nephew's, Alden Lytton's, light, in opposing of his
+going to Blue Cliffs along of his sister to-morrow," complained
+the old lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Riddle-me-riddle-me-ree! I know no more of what you're
+talking than the fish of Zuyder Zee!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why-why-why then this is what I'm a talking about.
+Can-can-can't you see that Emma Cavendish is perfectly wrapped
+up in Laura Lytton? She's as fon-fon-fond of her as ever
+she can be. And Emma Cavendish is the most beau-beau-beautiful
+girl and the richest heiress in the whole state. And
+Alden Lytton is one of the han-han-handsomest young men I
+ever saw. And if he goes with his sister to Blue Cliffs&mdash;<i>don't
+you see?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't," said honest, obtuse John.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, the gal that is so fond of the sis-sis-sister
+might grow to be equally fond of the handsome bro-bro-brother.
+<i>Now do you see?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see!" exclaimed John, with a look of profound enlightenment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And I hope you won't go and stand into the light of your
+own dear nephew by raising up of any objections to his going
+along of his sister to Blue Cliffs," added the old lady.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> stand in the light of my own poor, dear, dead brother's
+son! 'Tain't likely!" exclaimed Uncle Jacky, with an injured
+air.</p>
+
+<p>"No, John, I don't think it is. And so, I hope, instead of
+oppo-po-po-opposing on him, you'll encourage him to go along
+of his sister to Blue Cliffs to-morrow," said the old lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, I shall do what is right," answered John.</p>
+
+<p>"And lookee here, Jacky! Don't you let on to Alden that
+any on us have such a thought as him going there to court the
+heiress, for ef you do, he's so high and mighty he'd see us all
+furder fust before he'd budge a step to go to Blue Cliffs, sister
+or no sister. So mind what I tell you, John."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, I will do all that is right," repeated John, with
+pompous dignity.</p>
+
+<p>"I only hope as you will. And so good-night, my son,"
+said the old woman, as she lighted her bed-room taper and
+left the room.</p>
+
+<p>Laura came down-stairs early the next morning, and found
+her brother alone in the big parlor.</p>
+
+<p>And then she showed him Emma Cavendish's letter.</p>
+
+<p>And when he had read it through, she said, quite piteously:</p>
+
+<p>"Alden, I do want to go back and spend the rest of the
+Easter holidays at Blue Cliffs, for I love Emma Cavendish
+better than anybody else in the whole world except yourself.
+And I hate to disappoint her. But I equally hate to leave
+you, Alden. So I do wish you would make up your mind to
+accept Mrs. Cavendish's invitation and accompany me to Blue
+Cliffs."</p>
+
+<p>"Why-why-why of course he will go, Laura! Do you 'spect
+your own dear brother is a going to let you go off alone, by
+your own self, of a journey, when he's invi-vi-vited to go along
+of you?" exclaimed old Mrs. Lytton, who entered at that moment,
+and spoke up before Alden Lytton could either accept
+or refuse.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly he will. Why, nephew's a gentleman, I reckon,
+and he wouldn't refuse to escort his own dear sister, when he
+is requested to do so," added Uncle John, as he strode into
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton smiled and bowed.</p>
+
+<p>In truth, now that the secret obstacle to his visit to Blue
+Cliffs was removed by the departure of Mrs. Grey for an in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>definitely
+long absence, he felt no objection at all to accompanying
+his sister thither. So, still smiling, he answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you all seem to think that I shall make some difficulty
+about complying with my sister's wishes. But I shall
+do nothing of the sort. On the contrary, I shall attend my
+sister with great pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"That's you!" exclaimed old Mrs. Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"Bully boy!" heartily cried Uncle Jacky.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you, Alden," said Laura, quietly, giving him her
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's all very well; but&mdash;" began Charley, who had
+joined the circle.</p>
+
+<p>"But what? What's the matter with you?" demanded his
+father.</p>
+
+<p>Charley, seeing all eyes turned upon him, and most especially
+Laura's, blushed crimson and remained silent.</p>
+
+<p>"I had arranged to go with Charley this morning to fish
+for trout in the Mad River," laughingly explained Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, it can't be helped! You feel disappointed, of
+course, my boy; but everything must give way to the will of
+the ladies, Charley. 'All the Lyttons are gallant and chivalrous
+gentlemen,'" said Uncle Jacky, proudly, quoting the
+words of Emma's letter. "And we are no exception to the
+rule. Miss Cavendish is anxious for the society of Laura.
+Laura wishes the escort of her brother, who has also been invited
+to Blue Cliffs. We must not oppose the will of the
+ladies," concluded John, bowing to his niece with pompous
+deference.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Charley blushed purpler than ever, and holding down
+his red head&mdash;like his father's&mdash;he mumbled something about
+"not wishing to oppose no ladies whatsoever."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, then, what time are you expected at Blue Cliffs?"
+inquired Uncle Jacky, turning to Laura.</p>
+
+<p>"This evening, uncle. Don't you remember? You read
+the letter."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! Well, then, you needn't leave till after dinner,
+Kitty," he called to his wife, "order dinner for twelve o'clock
+noon, sharp! I want Alden and Laura, if they <i>must</i> leave, to
+go with full stomachs: do you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why of course, Jacky! Don't we always have dinner at
+twelve o'clock?" laughingly inquired Aunt Kitty.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, mind that to-day a'n't an exception to the
+rule. Now where's that boy Taters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Here I am, Marse John," said Mithridates, making his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+appearance with an armful of wood, which he threw upon the
+fire; for the April morning was chilly.</p>
+
+<p>"Taters," said Uncle John, "you see to having the pony-chaise
+at the door at half-past twelve precisely to take Mr.
+Alden and Miss Laura to Blue Cliffs."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Marse John."</p>
+
+<p>"And, Taters, you saddle Brown Bill to ride and wait on
+them. You hear?"</p>
+
+<p>Taters turned dark-gray and staggered to a chair and sat
+down.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what's the matter with the fool now?" demanded
+Uncle John.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Marse John, don't send me to Blue Cliffs no more,
+sir&mdash;please don't!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;why shouldn't I send you there, you idiot?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Marse John, I done see the sperrit of my young
+mist'ess there; and if I see it ag'in I shall die&mdash;'deed I shall,
+sir!" exclaimed the shuddering boy.</p>
+
+<p>"What the mischief does he mean, Laura? You look as if
+you understood him," inquired John Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>Laura laughingly told the story of the supposed spirit, adding
+that it must have been a pure hallucination on the part of
+the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, anyhow, I'll not send him with you if he's takin' to
+makin' a fool of himself. It wouldn't do, you know," said
+John.</p>
+
+<p>"And really, uncle, we need no one at all as an outrider,"
+said Laura.</p>
+
+<p>After an early and substantial dinner, Alden and Laura took
+leave of their kind relatives and entered the pony-carriage,
+whose dashing little grays, driven by old Jerome, were to take
+them to Blue Cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>But we must precede them thither, to find out what it was
+that had driven Mary Grey from the house in such very great
+haste.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_VII" id="Chapter_VII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter VII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A STARTLING EVENT.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockw">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">What see you in these papers, that you lose<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So much of your complexion? Look you how you change!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Your cheeks are paper!&mdash;why, what hear you there<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That hath so cowarded and chased your blood<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Out of appearance?</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>It was on the evening of the very same day that saw the
+departure of Laura Lytton for Lytton Lodge that Peter,
+the post-office messenger of Blue Cliffs, returned from Wendover,
+bringing with him a well-filled mail-bag.</p>
+
+<p>He took it into the drawing-room, where Miss Cavendish
+and her guests, the Rev. Dr. Jones, Miss Electra, and Mrs.
+Grey, were gathered around the center-table, under the light
+of the chandelier.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish unlocked the mail-bag and turned its contents
+out upon the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Newspapers and magazines only, I believe. No letters.
+Help yourselves, friends. There are paper-knives on the pen-tray.
+And in the absence of letters, there is a real pleasure
+in unfolding a fresh newspaper and cutting the leaves of a new
+magazine," said the young lady, as she returned the empty
+bag to the messenger.</p>
+
+<p>But her companions tumbled over the mail still in the vain
+hope of finding letters.</p>
+
+<p>"None for me; yet I did hope to get one from my new
+manager at Beresford Manors," muttered Dr. Jones, in a tone
+of disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>"And none for me either, though I do think the girls at
+Mount Ascension might write to me," pouted Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"And of course there are none for me! There never are!
+No one ever writes to me. The poor have no correspondents.
+I did not expect a letter, and I am not disappointed," murmured
+Mary Grey, with that charming expression, between a
+smile and a sigh, that she had always found so effective.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there is no letter for any one, it seems, so none of
+us have cause to feel slighted by fortune more than others,"
+added Emma Cavendish, cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>But Peter, the post-office boy, looked from one to the other,
+with his black eyes growing bigger and bigger, as he felt with
+his hand in the empty mail-bag and exclaimed:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I'clar's to de law der was a letter for some uns. Miss Emmer,
+'cause I see de pos'marser put it in de bag wid his own
+hands, which it were a letter wid a black edge all 'round de
+outside of it, and a dob o' black tar, or somethink, onto the
+middle o' the back of it."</p>
+
+<p>As the boy spoke, the Rev. Dr. Jones began again to turn
+over the magazines and newspapers until he found the letter,
+which had slipped between the covers of the <i>Edinboro'
+Review</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"It is for you, my dear," he said, as he passed the missive
+across the table to Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder from whom it comes? The handwriting is quite
+unfamiliar to me. And the postmark is New York, where I
+have no correspondents whatever," said Emma, in surprise,
+as she broke the black seal.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, maybe it's a circular from some merchant who has
+heard of the great Alleghany heiress," suggested Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"You will permit me?" said Emma, glancing at her companions
+as she unfolded her letter.</p>
+
+<p>And then, as one and another nodded and smiled and returned
+to their magazines and papers. Emma Cavendish
+glanced at the signature of her strange letter, started with
+surprise, gazed at it a second time more attentively, and then
+turned hurriedly and began to read it.</p>
+
+<p>And as she read her face paled and flushed, and she glanced
+from time to time at the faces of her companions; but they
+were all engaged with pamphlets and papers, except Mrs.
+Grey, whom Emma perceived to be furtively watching her.</p>
+
+<p>The strange letter was written in rather a wild and rambling
+style of composition, as if the writer were a little brain
+sick. It ran as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p class="aurightbl">
+"<span class="smcap">Blank Hotel</span>, New York City, April 27th, 18&mdash;.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Miss Cavendish</span>:&mdash;Our near blood relationship
+might warrant me in addressing you as my dear Emma.
+But I refrain, because you would not understand the familiarity
+any more than you recognize this handwriting, which
+must seem as strange to you as my face would seem if I were
+to present myself bodily before you; for you have never set
+eyes upon me, and perhaps have never even heard my name
+mentioned or my existence alluded to.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet I am one of your family, near of kindred to yourself;
+in fact, your own dear mother's only sister.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'We were two daughter's of one race,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>She</i> was the fairer in the face.'<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>Yes, she was literally so. Your mother was a beautiful
+blonde, as I have been told that you, her only child, also are.
+I am&mdash;or, rather, I <i>was</i> before my hair turned white with sorrow&mdash;a
+very dark brunette.</p>
+
+<p>"If you have ever heard of me at all, which I doubt&mdash;for I
+know that at home my once loved and cherished name</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Was banished from each lip and ear,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like words of wickedness or fear'&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>but if you ever heard of me at all you must have heard of
+that willful love marriage which separated me from all my
+family.</p>
+
+<p>"Since that ill-omened marriage an unbroken succession of
+misfortunes have attended my husband and myself until they
+culminated in the most crushing calamity of our lives&mdash;the
+loss of our dear and only daughter in a manner worse than
+death.</p>
+
+<p>"Soon after that awful bereavement our creditors foreclosed
+the mortgage on our estate at White Perch Point, and
+sold the place over our heads.</p>
+
+<p>"And my poor husband and myself went out to California,
+childless and almost penniless, to begin life anew.</p>
+
+<p>"We began in a very humble way indeed. As he was
+familiar with hotel business he got a place as bar-tender in a
+San Francisco hotel; and soon afterward I got a place in the
+same house, to look after and keep in repair the bed and table
+linen. And we lodged in the hotel, in a small attic chamber,
+and took our meals in the pantry.</p>
+
+<p>"But we were both utterly broken down in mind and body,
+as well as in estate.</p>
+
+<p>"He soon sank into a consumption and had to give up his
+place. I hired a room in a small house and took him to it.
+I still retained my place at the hotel, because my salary there
+was the only support we had. But I lived there no longer. I
+used to go in the morning, make the daily inspection of the
+linen, and bring home what needed mending; and working all
+the afternoon and half the night at my husband's bedside.</p>
+
+<p>"But rent and food and fuel, physic and physicians' fees
+were very costly in San Francisco. And with all my work I
+fell deeper and deeper into debt.</p>
+
+<p>"At length my poor husband died. And it took the proceeds
+of the sale of all our little personal effects to pay for the
+humblest sort of funeral.</p>
+
+<p>"And I was left entirely destitute. Then my courage gave
+way. I wept myself so blind that I could no longer mend the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+linen at the hotel, or even see whether it wanted mending.
+Then I fell sick with sorrow and had to be taken to the hospital.</p>
+
+<p>"At the end of three months I was dismissed. But where
+could I go? What could I do, broken in health and nearly
+blind as I was?</p>
+
+<p>"I must have perished then and there but for the timely
+assistance of a young gold-digger who happened to hear about
+me when he came up to the city from his distant mining-camp.</p>
+
+<p>"He was a very queer young man, whom his few friends
+called crazy on account of his lonely and ascetic manner of
+life, and his lavish liberality.</p>
+
+<p>"He sought me out to relieve my wants. And upon my
+telling him that all I wanted was to go home to die, he bought
+me a whole state-room to myself in the first cabin of the
+'Golden City,' bound from San Francisco to New York. And
+then he bought me an outfit in clothing, good enough for a
+duke's widow. And he gave me a sum of money besides, and
+started me fairly and comfortably on my voyage.</p>
+
+<p>"I reached New York three days ago. But my strength
+continues to fail and my funds to waste. I have no power to
+work, even if I could procure anything to do. And I have
+not money enough to support me a month longer.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not like to go into an alms-house. Yet what am I
+to do?</p>
+
+<p>"But why do I write to you? you may naturally inquire.</p>
+
+<p>"Why? Because, although a perfect stranger, you are,
+after all, my niece, my only sister's only child, my own only
+blood relation. And 'blood is thicker than water.'</p>
+
+<p>"'I can not work; to beg I am ashamed.'</p>
+
+<p>"I do not, therefore, beg, even of you. I do not so much
+as make any suggestion to you. I tell you the facts of the
+case, and I leave you to act upon them, or to ignore them entirely,
+at your pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not even know whether I may venture to sign myself
+your aunt,</p>
+<p style="text-indent: 6em"><span class="smcap">Katherine Fanning</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 1.5em">Emma Cavendish read this letter through to the end; then
+she glanced at her companions, who were still all absorbed in
+the perusal of their journals.</p>
+
+<p>Even Mrs. Grey was now lost in a magazine; but it was
+<i>Les Modes de Paris</i>, and contained plates and descriptions of
+all the new spring fashions.</p>
+
+<p>So Miss Cavendish, seeing her friends all agreeably occu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>pied
+and amused, returned to her singular letter and recommenced
+and read it carefully through to the end once more.</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of the second reading she looked up and
+spoke to the Rev. Dr. Jones, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you reading anything very interesting in that <i>Quarterly
+Review</i>, my dear uncle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes, my child&mdash;an article entitled 'Have Animals
+Reason?'"</p>
+
+<p>"Reason for <i>what</i>?" naïvely inquired Mary Grey, looking
+up from her magazine of fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Every one smiled except Dr. Jones, who condescended to
+explain that the subject under discussion was whether animals
+were gifted with reasoning faculties.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Mrs. Grey, and returned to her <i>Modes</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't read any more on that subject, grandpa; I
+can answer that question for you, or any other inquirer. All
+intelligent animals, whether they go upon two feet or four, or
+upon wings or fins, have reason just in proportion to their intelligence.
+And all idiotic animals, whether they go upon
+two feet or four, or wings or fins, lack reason just in proportion
+to their idiocy. Lor'! why I have seen human creatures
+at the Idiot Asylum with less intellect than cats. And I have
+seen some horses with more intelligence than some legislators.
+You can't generalize on these subjects, grandpa," said Miss
+Electra, with an air of conviction.</p>
+
+<p>The Rev. Dr. Jones stared, much as a hen might stare to
+see her own ducklings take to the water. And then he turned
+to Emma Cavendish and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Whether animals have reason or not, my dear, <i>you</i> had
+some reason for interrupting me. Now what was it?"</p>
+
+<p>"To ask you to read this, sir," said Miss Cavendish, putting
+her letter in the hands of her uncle.</p>
+
+<p>He took it and read it slowly through, muttering from time
+to time:</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear, how distressing! Bless my soul alive! Well,
+well, well!"</p>
+
+<p>And he glanced uneasily at Mary Grey, who fidgeted and
+flushed under his observation.</p>
+
+<p>At length he finished and folded the letter and returned it
+to Miss Cavendish, with the inquiry:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, what are you going to do in the premises?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall write immediately and ask my aunt to come here
+and make this her home," answered Emma, promptly.</p>
+
+<p>At these words Mary Grey started, caught her breath with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+a gasp, and quickly whirled her chair around so as to bring
+her back to the light and throw her face in deep shadow.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with you?" inquired Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"The light makes my eyes ache; that is all. You know I
+have not quite got rid of my cold yet," answered the widow in
+a low, faltering tone that might have attracted the attention
+of Miss Cavendish had not that young lady's thoughts been
+engaged with the subject of her letter.</p>
+
+<p>"You will consult your grandmother before making this
+important addition to the household, I presume?" inquired
+the old gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course; but I am certain beforehand of my dear
+grandma's consent and co-operation in such an evident Christian
+duty," answered Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>And then she turned to her young friends, to whom she
+thought some explanation was due, and she added:</p>
+
+<p>"I have news in this letter that has much surprised and
+pained me. It is from my aunt, Mrs. Fanning. She has lost
+her husband, and has suffered very severe reverses of fortune.
+She is at this time alone in New York City, and in failing
+health. I shall write for her to come and live with us. And
+not to leave her a day in suspense, I shall telegraph from
+Wendover to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad she's coming. The more the merrier," said
+Electra, gayly.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Grey said nothing. She arose as if to leave the room,
+tottered forward and fell to the floor in a dead swoon.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_VIII" id="Chapter_VIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter VIII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE SIREN AND THE SAGE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>All started to their feet and rushed to the prostrate woman's
+assistance.</p>
+
+<p>She was but a slight creature, and Dr. Jones lifted her easily
+and laid her on one of the sofas.</p>
+
+<p>Electra flew upstairs to bring down a bottle of Florida
+water.</p>
+
+<p>Emma patted and rubbed her hands.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones bathed her brow with cold water, sighing and
+muttering to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"Poor girl! Poor unfortunate girl!"</p>
+
+<p>"I take blame to myself," said Emma. "She is evidently
+much iller than I thought. I ought not to have persuaded
+her to leave her room so soon after her cold. It is my fault."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At that instant Electra ran in with the Florida water and
+dashed a liberal portion of it over the head and face of the
+fainting woman.</p>
+
+<p>The shock and the penetrating odor combined to rouse her
+from insensibility; and with a few gasps she recovered her
+consciousness; though her face, after one sudden flush, settled
+into a deadly paleness.</p>
+
+<p>"My poor dear, how are you?" inquired Emma Cavendish,
+kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"Dying, I think; dying, I hope! Let some one help me
+to my room," she murmured.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones at once lifted her in his arms and bore her upstairs,
+preceded by Electra, who flew on before to show the
+way to Mary Grey's room, and followed by Emma Cavendish,
+who still blamed herself for the invalid's supposed relapse.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones laid her on her bed, and was about to leave her
+to the care of Emma and Electra, when she seized his hand
+and drew him down to her face and said:</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to speak to you for a moment <i>now</i>. Send Miss
+Cavendish and Miss Coroni out of the room for a little while."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear children, go away for a moment. Mrs. Grey
+wishes to speak to me alone," said Dr. Jones.</p>
+
+<p>And Emma and Electra softly retired, with the belief that
+Mary Grey only wished to consult the minister on religious
+subjects.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the door was closed behind them Mary Grey
+seized the old man's hand and, fixing her great black eyes
+fiercely upon him, demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Do they suspect?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"No; certainly not."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you drop no word during my swoon that might have
+led them to suspect?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not one syllable."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you then!" she exclaimed, with a long sigh of
+relief.</p>
+
+<p>"But, my child, was that all you wished to talk to me
+about?"</p>
+
+<p>"That was all, except this: to beg you still to be silent as
+the grave in regard to my identity."</p>
+
+<p>"My child, your words disappoint and grieve me. I did
+hope that you asked this private interview with the design to
+consult me about the propriety of making yourself known."</p>
+
+<p>"Making myself known!" she exclaimed, with a half-suppressed
+shriek, as she started up upon her elbow and stared
+at the speaker. "Making myself known!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The opportunity, my dear child, is such an excellent one.
+And, of course, you know that if Mrs. Fanning comes here&mdash;as
+she must; for there is no other refuge open to her&mdash;if she
+comes and finds you here, discovery is inevitable."</p>
+
+<p>"But she will not find me here! She shall not! I could
+not look her in the face. Sooner than do that, I will hurl
+myself from the turnpike bridge into the Mad River!" she
+fiercely exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"My child, do not talk so wickedly. It is frightful to hear
+such things!" cried the old man, shuddering.</p>
+
+<p>"You will <i>see</i> such things, if you do not mind. I am quite
+capable of doing what I said, for I am tired and sick of this
+life of constant dependence, mortification and terror&mdash;an insupportable
+life!" she wildly exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Because, my poor girl, it is a life of concealment, in constant
+dread of discovery and the humiliation attending discovery.
+Change all that and your life will be happier. Trust
+in those who are nearest to you, and make yourself, your name,
+your errors, and your sufferings and repentance fully known.
+Emma Cavendish is the ruling power in this house, and she is
+a pure, noble, magnanimous spirit. She would protect you,"
+pleaded the old man, taking her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, she is all that! Do you think that makes it any
+easier for me to shock her with the story of my own folly,
+weakness and cowardice? Oh, no, no! I could not bear the
+look of her clear, truthful blue eyes! And I would not!
+There; it is useless to talk to me, Doctor Jones! There are
+some things that I can not do. I can not stay here!"</p>
+
+<p>"My poor, poor child, whither will you go? Stay! Now I
+think of it, I can send you to my house at Beresford Manors.
+That shall be your home, if you will accept it. But what excuse
+can you make for leaving this place so abruptly?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind, Doctor Jones. You are very kind.
+But a moment's reflection will teach you that I could not accept
+your hospitality. You have no lady, I believe, at Beresford
+Manors? No one there except the colored servants?
+Therefore, you see, it would not be proper for me to go there,"
+said Mary Grey, affecting a prudery that she did not feel, and
+objecting to the place only because she did not choose to bury
+herself in a house more lonely, dreary and deserted, if possible,
+than Blue Cliff Hall itself.</p>
+
+<p>"Then where can you go, my poor girl?" compassionately
+questioned the old minister.</p>
+
+<p>"I have thought of that. Sudden as this emergency is, I
+am not quite unprepared for it. This crisis that I feared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+<i>might</i> come <i>has</i> come, that is all. Only it has come in a far
+different manner from what I feared. But the result must be
+the same. I must leave the house immediately. And you
+must help to smooth my way toward leaving it."</p>
+
+<p>"But whither will you go, poor shorn lamb?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have planned out all that, in view of this very contingency.
+I will go to Charlottesville, where I have a lady friend
+who keeps a boarding-house for the University students. I
+can stay with her, and make myself useful in return for board
+and lodging, until I get something to do for a living. That
+is all settled. I asked you for this interview only to satisfy
+myself that no hint of my identity had been dropped, and no
+suspicion of it excited, during my swoon; and, further, to beg
+you to keep my miserable secret hereafter, as you have hitherto."</p>
+
+<p>"I have satisfied you, I hope, upon all those subjects."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and I thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"But still I can not abandon the hope that you will yet
+heed good counsel and make yourself known to your best
+friends," pleaded the old man.</p>
+
+<p>But Mary Grey shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones coaxed, argued, lectured, all in vain.</p>
+
+<p>At length, worn out by his importunities, Mary Grey, to
+gain her own ends, artfully replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, dear, good, wise friend, if ever I <i>do</i> gain courage to
+make myself known to my family, I must do it from some
+little distance, and by letter, so as to give them time to get
+over the shock of the revelation, before I could dare to face
+them. Think of it yourself. How could we bear to look
+each other in the eyes while telling and hearing such a story?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you are right <i>so</i> far. Yes, in <i>that</i> view of the
+case it is, perhaps, better that you should go away and then
+write," admitted Dr. Jones.</p>
+
+<p>"And you will aid me in my efforts to get away at once and
+without opposition? Tell them that it is better for my health
+and spirits that I should go away for a while, and go immediately&mdash;as
+it really is, you know. Will you do this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I will do it, in the hope that your nervous system
+may be strengthened, and you may find courage to do the
+duty that lies before you," said the doctor, as he pressed her
+hand and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones went down-stairs to the drawing-room, where the
+young ladies waited in anxious suspense.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish arose and looked at him in silent questioning.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There is no cause for alarm, my dear Emma. Your
+friend will do very well. No, you need not go up to her room.
+She requires absolutely nothing but to be left to repose. You
+can look in on her, if you like, just before you go to bed.
+That will be time enough," explained Dr. Jones, as he took
+his seat at the table and took up his <i>Review</i> again as if nothing
+had happened to interrupt his reading.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish breathed a sigh of relief and resumed her
+seat. She and Electra read or conversed in a low voice over
+their magazines until the hour of retiring.</p>
+
+<p>Electra was the first to close her pamphlet, as with an undisguised
+yawn, for which her school-mistress would have rebuked
+her, she declared that she could not keep her eyes open
+a minute longer, much less read a line, and that she was going
+to bed.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones, with as much courtesy as if he had not been her
+grandfather, arose and lighted her bedroom candle and put it
+in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>And she kissed him a drowsy good-night and went upstairs.</p>
+
+<p>Emma was about to follow, when the doctor motioned her
+to resume her seat.</p>
+
+<p>She did so, and waited.</p>
+
+<p>"I want a word with you about Mrs. Grey, my dear Emma.
+She is very much out of health."</p>
+
+<p>"I feared so," replied Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"Or, to speak with more literal truth, I should say that
+her nervous system is very much disordered."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"She is full of sick fancies. She wishes to go away for a
+while to get a change of scene."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go with her to any watering-place she desires to
+visit, in the season," said Emma Cavendish, readily.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but, my dear, she must have this change now, <a name="Page_41t" id="Page_41t"></a><a href="#Page_41tn">immediately."</a></p>
+
+<p>"I would go with her now if I could leave my guests. You
+know I have Electra here, and Laura will return in two days
+perhaps, with her brother also."</p>
+
+<p>"My good child, she does not ask or need any attendance.
+She wants to go away by herself for a while. She wants to go
+to an old lady friend in Charlottesville."</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard her lately speak of such a friend, and of her
+intention, some day, to visit her."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, she wishes to go now, immediately, but is afraid to
+mention her desire lest it should meet with opposition, which
+she has no nerve to contest."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Dear uncle, how strange that she should feel this way!
+Why, she is not a prisoner here! And if she wishes to leave
+us for a short or a long time she can do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Of coarse she can, my dear; but she is full of sick fancies.
+And my advice to you is that you let her go at once. To-morrow
+morning, if she wishes."</p>
+
+<p>"Why certainly, Uncle Beresford! I have neither the
+power nor the will to prevent her."</p>
+
+<p>"So let it be then, my dear. And now good-night," said
+the doctor, taking his candle to leave the room.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the matter was settled.</p>
+
+<p>But the next day old Mrs. Cavendish, Electra, and, in fact,
+the whole house, were thrown into a state of consternation at
+the announcement of Mrs. Grey's immediate departure.</p>
+
+<p>When or how she had managed to get her personal effects
+together, whether she had kept them packed up for the emergency,
+or whether she had sat up all night to pack them, I do
+not know; but it is certain that by seven o'clock that morning
+she had three enormous Saratoga trunks packed, strapped
+and locked ready for the wagon that she asked for to take
+them to the railway station.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until her luggage was in the wagon, and the
+carriage was waiting for her at the door, and she herself in
+her traveling-suit and hat, that she went to bid the old lady
+good-bye.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Cavendish had been informed by Emma of the intended
+abrupt departure of Mary Grey, and she had begun to
+oppose it with all her might.</p>
+
+<p>But Emma endeavored to convince her that the change was
+vitally necessary to Mary Grey's health and strength.</p>
+
+<p>So now when the traveler entered the old lady's room the
+latter feebly arose to her feet, holding on to the arm of her
+chair, while she faltered:</p>
+
+<p>"Mary&mdash;Mary, this is so sudden, so shocking, so sorrowful,
+that I almost think it will make me ill! Why must you
+go, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sweet mother&mdash;may I call you so?&mdash;sweet mother, I will
+tell <i>you</i> what I did not like to tell dear Emma, for fear it
+might distress her; she is so sensitive, you know!" murmured
+the siren, sitting down and tenderly caressing the old lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me then, my love, tell me anything you like," said
+Mrs. Cavendish, weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you know that dear old lady friend in Charlottesville,
+of whom I spoke to you a week or so ago?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes! The bishop's widow, who is reduced to keeping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+a student's boarding-house to help support her fifteen children,"
+sighed the ancient dame.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and my dear dead mother's dearest friend. Well, I
+have heard that she is in a dying condition and desires above
+all things to see me before she departs. That's what shocked
+me so severely as to make me quite ill. But I never should
+forgive myself if by any delay of mine she really should depart
+without having her last wish gratified. Do you blame me for
+hurrying away?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no, my child&mdash;my own lovely child! I do not
+wonder my poor Charley worshiped you, you are so very good!
+Go, Mary, my darling! But hurry back as soon as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sweet mother, I will. And now, not a word to Emma,
+or to any one else who might tell her of these distressing
+circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; certainly not! How thoughtful you are, for one
+so young, my good child! Bend down and take my blessing."</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey bowed her head.</p>
+
+<p>The venerable lady placed her withered hands upon the
+bent head, raised her eyes to heaven, and solemnly invoked a
+blessing on the traitress.</p>
+
+<p>And then Mary Grey arose, kissed her in silence, and left
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>And thus they parted.</p>
+
+<p>In the hall below she had to part with Emma and Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"We hope you will return to us very soon, dear Mrs. Grey,"
+said Emma Cavendish, as she kissed her good-bye.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so too, my dear," answered the widow.</p>
+
+<p>"But you will scarcely get back before I return to school,
+so ours must be a very long good-bye," said Electra, as she
+also kissed the "parting guest."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis true, 'tis pity," said Mrs. Grey, between a smile and
+a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones then handed her into the carriage, and followed
+and took a seat by her side, for he was to attend her to the
+station and see her off on her journey.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_IX" id="Chapter_IX"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter IX.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>EMMA'S VICTORY.</h3>
+
+<p>When Emma Cavendish turned back into the house she
+went up into the old lady's room with the intention of
+breaking to her the news of Katherine Fanning's widowhood
+and destitution, and of her own desire to invite her to come
+and live at Blue Cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>She found Mrs. Cavendish just finishing her nice breakfast
+with Aunt Moll in attendance upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, take away the service now," said the old lady, putting
+down her empty coffee-cup. "And now, Emma, I am
+very glad you have come. I feel quite low about parting with
+Mary. What an angel she is!"</p>
+
+<p>"Cheer up, grandma! We shall have another addition to
+our family circle soon," said Emma, pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is coming, my dear?" inquired Mrs. Cavendish, with
+all the curiosity of a recluse.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, another lady!" slowly answered Miss Cavendish, to
+give Aunt Moll time to get out of the room with her breakfast
+tray.</p>
+
+<p>And when the old woman had shut the door behind her,
+Emma said:</p>
+
+<p>"Dear grandma, you will be very much surprised to hear
+who it is that is coming."</p>
+
+<p>And when Mrs. Cavendish looked up surprised indeed, as
+well as somewhat alarmed, Emma began and told her of the
+letter she had received from Mrs. Fanning; of her widowhood
+and destitution, and of her recent arrival in New York.</p>
+
+<p>"All this is very distressing, my dear Emma, but you see
+in it only the natural consequences of a low marriage," said
+the old aristocrat.</p>
+
+<p>"But the marriage is broken by death, dear grandma, and
+the error is atoned for by much suffering," said Emma, gently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, what does the poor woman want us to
+do?" inquired Mrs. Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"She asks nothing, grandma. She simply writes to me,
+her sister's child&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Her <i>half</i>-sister's child!" haughtily interrupted the old
+lady.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is the same thing, grandma. Her half-sister's child,
+and her only living relative&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Her only living relative?" again interrupted the old lady.
+"Where is her own misguided daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Supposed to be dead, dear grandma. Certainly dead to
+her," said Emma, sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go on, child; go on."</p>
+
+<p>"She writes to me, I say, and tells me of her situation&mdash;widowed,
+childless, homeless and utterly destitute in a strange
+city; but she asks nothing&mdash;suggests nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, and what would you do&mdash;you, her only living relative?"
+inquired the ancient dame in a tone approaching sarcasm.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_45t" id="Page_45t"></a><a href="#Page_45tn">"I</a> would restore to her all that she has lost, if I could. I
+would give her back husband, daughter, home and competence,"
+said Emma.</p>
+
+<p>"But you can't do it any more than you can give her back
+her lost caste," interrupted the old lady.</p>
+
+<p>Emma felt discouraged but did not yield her point.</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear grandma," she answered, sorrowfully, "I can
+not give her back her husband, her child, or her wealth; but
+I can give my mother's suffering sister a home and a friend."</p>
+
+<p>Madam Cavendish lowered her gold-rimmed spectacles from
+her cap frills to her eyes, placed her lace-mittened hands
+on the arms of her chair and looked straight and steadily into
+the face of her granddaughter.</p>
+
+<p>It was extremely disheartening, and Emma dropped her
+eyes before that severe gaze and bowed her head meekly.</p>
+
+<p>But Emma, though she was the young girl, was in the
+right; and Madam Cavendish, though she was an ancient
+and venerable dame, was in the wrong.</p>
+
+<p>Emma knew this quite well, and in the argument that ensued
+she lovingly, respectfully, yet unflinchingly, maintained
+her point.</p>
+
+<p>At length Madam Cavendish yielded, saying, scornfully:
+"Well, my dear, it is more your affair than mine. Invite
+her here if you will. I wash my hands of it. Only don't ask
+me to be intimate with the inn-keeper's widow; for I won't.
+And that's all about it."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear grandma, you shall never see or hear of her, if
+you do not like to do so. You seldom leave your two rooms.
+And she shall never enter either unless you send for her," answered
+Emma.</p>
+
+<p>"So be it then, my dear. And now let me go to sleep. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+always want to go to sleep after an argument," said Madam
+Cavendish, closing her eyes and sinking back in her arm-chair.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish stooped and kissed her, and then left the
+room.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5em">In fifteen minutes after she had written and dispatched to
+the office at Wendover a telegram to this effect:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+"<span class="smcap">Blue Cliffs</span>, April 29th, 18&mdash;<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Aunt</span>:&mdash;Come home to me here as soon as possible.
+I will write to-day.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Emma Cavendish</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 1.5em">And in the course of that day she did write a kind and
+comforting letter to the bereaved and suffering woman, expressing
+much sympathy with her in her affliction, inviting
+her to come and live at Blue Cliffs for the rest of her life, and
+promising all that an affectionate niece could do to make her
+life easy and pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cavendish had but just finished this letter, when Mr.
+Craven Kyte was announced.</p>
+
+<p>Emma, who was always kind to the ward of her late father,
+at once received him and sent for Electra to help to entertain
+him.</p>
+
+<p>But notwithstanding the presence of two beautiful girls, one
+the fairest blonde, the other the brightest brunette, and both
+kind and affable in their manners to him, the young man was
+restless and anxious, until at length, with fierce blushes and
+faltering tones, he expressed a hope that Mrs. Grey was well,
+and made an inquiry if she were in.</p>
+
+<p>Electra laughed.</p>
+
+<p>Emma told him that Mrs. Grey had gone for change of air
+to Charlottesville, and would be absent for some time. She
+also added&mdash;although the young man had not once thought
+of inquiring for Miss Lytton&mdash;that Laura had likewise gone
+to visit her uncle's family at Lytton Lodge.</p>
+
+<p>The foolish young victim of the widow's false wiles looked
+very much disappointed and depressed, yet had sense enough
+left him to remember to say that, as he himself was on the
+road to Perch Point and should take Lytton Lodge on his
+way, he would be happy to convey any letter or message from
+the ladies of Blue Cliffs to Miss Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>Emma thanked him and availed herself of his offer by sending
+a letter, as we have seen.</p>
+
+<p>And then she went about the house, attended by old Moll,
+selecting and arranging rooms for her new-expected guests.</p>
+
+<p>The next afternoon she was quite surprised by another call<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+from Craven Kyte. He was shown into the parlor, where she
+sat at work with Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"You have come back quickly; but we are glad to see
+you," she said, as she arose to shake hands with him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss," he answered, after bowing to her and to
+Electra; "yes, miss, I reached Perch Point last night, and I
+left it early this morning. In going I called at Lytton Lodge
+and delivered your letter, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"The family at the lodge are well, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>"All well, miss. And as I passed by the gate this morning
+the man Taters, who was at work on the lawn, told me
+that Mr. Alden and Miss Laura Lytton would leave for this
+place at noon."</p>
+
+<p>"Then they will be here to-night," said Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you stay and spend the afternoon and evening with
+us, Mr. Kyte? Shall I ring and have your horse put up?"
+inquired Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you, miss. I must get back to Wendover to-night.
+Fact is, I'm on the wing again," said the young man,
+stammering and blushing. "Business of importance calls me
+to&mdash;to Charlottesville, miss. So if you should have a letter
+or a message to send to&mdash;to Mrs. Grey I should be happy to
+take it."</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish and Electra Coroni looked at each other
+in comic surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you must be an amateur postman, Mr. Kyte! To
+fetch and carry letters seems to be your mission on earth,"
+laughed Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"So it has often been said of me, miss. And if you or
+Miss Cavendish have any to send, I should be happy to take
+them," answered the young man, quite seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"I have none," said Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I, thank you," added Emma; "but you may, if you
+please, give my love to Mrs. Grey, and tell her we shall feel
+anxious until we hear of her safe arrival and improved health."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do so with much pleasure," said Mr. Kyte, rising
+to take leave.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the visitor had left them the two young ladies
+exchanged glances of droll amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"As sure as you live, Emma, the business of importance
+that takes him to Charlottesville is Mrs. Mary Grey! He's
+taken in and done for, poor wretch! I shouldn't wonder a
+bit if he sold out his share in the fancy dry-goods store at
+Wendover and invested all his capital in college fees and en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>tered
+himself as a student at the University, for the sake of
+being near his enchantress," said Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor boy!" sighed Emma, with genuine pity.</p>
+
+<p>And before they could exchange another word, the sound
+of carriage-wheels at the gate announced the arrival of Alden
+and Laura Lytton.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_X" id="Chapter_X"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter X.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE FALSE AND THE TRUE LOVE.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Did woman's charms thy youth beguile,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And did the fair one faithless prove?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Hath she betrayed thee with a smile<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">And sold thy love?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Live! 'Twas a false, bewildering fire:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Too often love's insidious dart<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thrills the fond soul with wild desire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">But kills the heart.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A nobler love shall warm thy breast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A brighter maiden faithful prove,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And thy ripe manhood shall be blest<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">In woman's love.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Montgomery.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish, with her cheeks blooming and eyes
+beaming with pleasure, ran out to meet her friends.</p>
+
+<p>Alden and Laura Lytton, just admitted by the footman,
+stood within the hall.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cavendish welcomed Laura with a kiss and Alden with
+a cordial grasp of the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so delighted to see you, dear Laura; and you also,
+Mr. Lytton," she said, leading the way into the parlor.</p>
+
+<p>"Well as I like my kind relatives at Lytton Lodge, I am
+very glad to get back to you, Emma, dear, and that is the
+truth," answered Laura, as she sank into an arm-chair and
+began to draw off her gloves.</p>
+
+<p>Alden said nothing. He had bowed deeply in response to
+Miss Cavendish's words of welcome, and now he was thinking
+what a bright and beautiful creature she was, how full of
+healthful, joyous life she seemed, and wondering that he had
+never noticed all this before.</p>
+
+<p>But he had noticed it before. When he first saw Emma
+Cavendish in her father's house in the city he had thought
+her the most heavenly vision of loveliness that had ever beamed
+upon mortal eyes; and he would have continued to think
+so had not the baleful beauty of Mary Grey glided before him
+and beguiled his sight and his soul.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But Mary Grey was gone with all her magic arts, and the
+very atmosphere seemed clearer and brighter for her absence.</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as you have rested a little come up to your room,
+Laura, and lay on your wraps. Tea will be ready by the
+time we come down again. And, Mrs. Lytton, your old attendant,
+Jerome, will show you to your apartment," said the
+young hostess, as she arose, with a smile, to conduct her
+guest.</p>
+
+<p>They left the drawing-room together.</p>
+
+<p>And while Laura Lytton was arranging her toilet in the
+chamber above stairs, Emma Cavendish told her the particulars
+of Mary Grey's departure, and also of the letter she had
+received from her long-estranged relative, Mrs. Fanning.</p>
+
+<p>They went down to tea, where they were joined by Electra
+and the Rev. Dr. Jones.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cavendish presented Mr. Lytton to Dr. Jones. And
+then they sat down to the table.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton's eyes and thoughts were naturally enough
+occupied and interested in Emma Cavendish. He had not
+exactly fallen in love with her, but he was certainly filled with
+admiration for the loveliest girl he had ever seen. And he
+could but draw involuntary comparisons between the fair,
+frank, bright maiden and the beautiful, alluring widow.</p>
+
+<p>Both were brilliant, but with this difference: the one with
+the pure life-giving light of Heaven, and the other with the
+fatal fire of Tartarus.</p>
+
+<p>After tea they went into the drawing-room, where they spent
+a long evening talking over old times&mdash;<i>their</i> "old times" being
+something less than one year of age.</p>
+
+<p>And every hour confirmed Alden Lytton's admiration of
+Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>The next day Alden Lytton was invited upstairs to the old
+lady's room and presented to Madam Cavendish, who received
+him with much cordiality, telling him that his grandfather
+had been a lifelong personal friend of hers, and that she had
+known his father from his infancy up to the time that he had
+left the neighborhood to practice law in the city.</p>
+
+<p>And after a short interview the ancient gentlewoman and
+the young law student parted mutually well pleased with each
+other.</p>
+
+<p>"A fine young man&mdash;a very fine young man indeed; but
+more like his grandfather, as I remember him in his youth,
+than like his father, whom I could not always well approve,"
+said the old lady to her confidential attendant, Aunt Moll, who
+had closed the chamber door after the departing visitor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Dunno nuffin 'tall 'bout dat, ole mist'ess, but he monsus
+hansume, dough&mdash;umph-um; a'n't he dough? And a'n't he
+got eyes&mdash;umph-um!"</p>
+
+<p>Alden went down-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"The most interesting old lady I have ever seen in my life,
+with the balsamic aroma of history and antiquity about her
+and all her surroundings," he said, as he joined the young
+ladies in the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"Balsamic aroma of <i>what</i>?" inquired Electra, who had no
+taste for poetry and no reverence for antiquity. "Young
+man, it was the dried 'yarbs' she keeps in her closet that you
+smelled. Besides, antiquity has no other odor than that of
+mold and must."</p>
+
+<p>Alden blushed, laughed and looked at Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not mind my cousin Electra, Mr. Lytton. She
+is a privileged person among us. By the way, Laura has told
+you, I presume, of our relationship," said Emma, pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes!" returned young Lytton, with a smile and a bow.
+"And I am happy to have this opportunity of congratulating
+you both."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks," said Miss Cavendish, with a vivid blush.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe there was some talk about a picnic party to the
+top of Porcupine Mountain, was there not?" inquired Electra,
+to cut short all sentiment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my dear, and the horses are ordered for eleven
+o'clock. It is half-past ten now, and we will go and put on
+our hats and habits," replied Miss Cavendish, playfully rising
+and breaking up the conference.</p>
+
+<p>The party of young friends remained one week longer at
+Blue Cliffs, every day deepening and confirming the admiration
+and respect with which the beauty and the excellence of
+Emma Cavendish inspired Alden Lytton. But yet he was not
+in love with her.</p>
+
+<p>Every morning was spent by the young people in riding or
+driving about through the sublime and beautiful mountain
+and valley scenery of the neighborhood.</p>
+
+<p>And every evening was passed in fancy work, music, reading
+or conversation in the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>And so the pleasant days of the Easter holidays passed
+away, and the time for study and for work commenced.</p>
+
+<p>Laura and Electra went away from Blue Cliffs on the same
+day&mdash;Laura escorted by her brother Alden, and Electra by
+her grandfather, the Rev. Dr. Jones.</p>
+
+<p>As the party were assembled in the front hall to take leave
+of their fair young hostess before entering the large traveling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+carriage that was to take them to the Wendover railway station,
+Emma Cavendish went up to Alden Lytton and placed
+a letter in his hand, saying, with a frank smile:</p>
+
+<p>"As you are going direct to Charlottesville, Mr. Lytton, I
+will trouble you to take charge of this letter to our mutual
+friend, Mrs. Grey, who, you know, is now staying in that town.
+Will you do so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly&mdash;with great pleasure," stammered Alden in extreme
+confusion, which he could scarcely conceal, and without
+the slightest consciousness that he was telling an enormous
+falsehood, but with full assurance that he should like to
+oblige Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope it will not inconvenience you to deliver this in person,
+Mr. Lytton," added Emma.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not, Miss Cavendish," replied Alden, telling
+unconscious fib the second.</p>
+
+<p>"For, you see, I am rather anxious about our friend. She
+left in ill health. She is almost a stranger in Charlottesville.
+And&mdash;this is the point&mdash;I have not heard from her, by letter
+or otherwise, since she left us; so I fear she may be too ill to
+write, and may have no friend near to write for her. This is
+why I tax your kindness to deliver the letter in person and
+find out how she is; and&mdash;write and let us know. I am asking
+a great deal of you, Mr. Lytton," added Emma, with a
+deprecating smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all. It is a very small service that you require.
+And I hope you know that I should be exceedingly happy to
+have the opportunity of doing any very great service for you,
+Miss Cavendish," replied Alden, truthfully and earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>For in itself it was a very small service that Miss Cavendish
+had required of him, and he would have liked and even
+preferred another and a greater, and, in fact, a different
+service.</p>
+
+<p>"Many thanks," said Miss Cavendish, with a frank smile,
+as she left the letter in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>Then the adieus were all said, and promises of frequent correspondence
+and future visits exchanged among the young
+ladies. And the travelers departed, and the young hostess
+re-entered her lonely home and resumed her usual routine of
+domestic duties.</p>
+
+<p>She was anxious upon more than one account.</p>
+
+<p>More than a week had passed since the departure of Mary
+Grey, and yet, as she had told Alden Lytton, she had never
+heard even of her safe arrival at Charlottesville, and she fear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>ed
+that her <i>protégée</i> might be suffering from nervous illness
+among strangers.</p>
+
+<p>More than a week had also passed since she had telegraphed
+and written to her Aunt Fanning in New York. But no answer
+had yet come from that unhappy woman. And she
+feared that the poor relative whom she wished to succor might
+have met with some new misfortune.</p>
+
+<p>However, Emma had hoped, from day to day, that each
+morning's mail might bring her good news from Charlottesville
+or New York, or both.</p>
+
+<p>And even to-day she waited with impatience for the return
+of Jerome, who had driven the traveling-carriage containing
+the departing visitors to Wendover, and who might find letters
+for Blue Cliffs waiting at the post-office.</p>
+
+<p>Emma could not be at rest all that day, partly because she
+missed her young companions, whose society had made the
+lonely house so cheerful, and partly because she half expected
+news with the return of Jerome.</p>
+
+<p>She wandered up and down the deserted drawing-room, and
+then went upstairs to the chambers just vacated by her young
+friends, where she found Sarah, the chamber-maid, engaged
+in dismantling beds and dressing-tables preparatory to shutting
+up the "spare rooms" for the rest of the season.</p>
+
+<p>All this was very dreary and dispiriting.</p>
+
+<p>She left these apartments and would have gone into the old
+lady's room, only that she knew her grandmother was at this
+hour taking the first of her two daily naps.</p>
+
+<p>As she turned to go down-stairs she glanced through the
+front hall window and caught a glimpse of the traveling-carriage,
+with Jerome perched upon the box, slowly winding its
+way around the circular avenue that led to the house.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XI" id="Chapter_XI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XI.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A SURPRISE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>She ran down-stairs briskly enough now, and ran out of
+the front door.</p>
+
+<p>"Any letters to-day, Jerome?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"No, miss," answered Jerome, shaking his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear, how depressing!" sighed Emma, as she turned
+to go into the house.</p>
+
+<p>But a sound arrested her steps&mdash;the opening of the carriage-door.
+She turned and saw Jerome standing before it and in
+the act of helping some one to alight from the carriage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Another moment and a tall, thin, dark-eyed woman, with
+very white hair, and clad in the deepest widow's weeds, stood
+before Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>By instinct Emma recognized her aunt. And she felt very
+much relieved, and very much rejoiced to see her, even while
+wondering that she should have come unannounced either by
+letter or telegram.</p>
+
+<p>As for Jerome, he stood wickedly enjoying his young lady's
+astonishment, and looking as if he himself had performed a
+very meritorious action.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Emma Cavendish, I presume?" said the stranger, a
+little hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madam. And you are my Aunt Fanning, I am sure.
+And I am very glad to see you," answered Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>And she put her arms around the stranger's neck and
+kissed her.</p>
+
+<p>"Dat's better'n letters, a'n't it, Miss Emmer?" inquired
+Jerome, grinning from ear to ear, and showing a double row
+of the strongest and whitest ivories, as he proceeded to take
+from the carriage various packages, boxes and traveling-bags
+and so forth.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, better than letters, Jerome. Follow us into the
+house with that luggage. Come, dear aunt, let us go in.
+Lean on my arm. Don't be afraid to lean heavily. I am very
+strong," said Emma; and drawing the poor lady's emaciated
+hand through her own arm she led her into the house.</p>
+
+<p>She took her first into the family sitting-room, where there
+was a cheerful fire burning, which the chilly mountain air, in
+this spring weather, made very acceptable.</p>
+
+<p>She placed her in a comfortable cushioned rocking-chair
+and proceeded to take off the traveling-bonnet and shawl
+with her own hands, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"You must get well rested and refreshed here before you
+go up to your room. You look very tired."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very weak, my dear," answered the lady, in a faint
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I see that you are. I am very sorry to see you so feeble;
+but we will make you stronger here in our exhilarating
+mountain air. If I had known that you would come by this
+train I should have gone to the railway station in person to
+meet you," said Emma, kindly.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Fanning turned her great black eyes upon the young
+lady and stared at her in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, did you not get my letter?" she inquired.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No," said Emma. "I anxiously expected to hear from
+you from day to day, but heard nothing either by letter or
+telegram."</p>
+
+<p>"That is strange! I wrote to you three days ago that I
+should be at Wendover this morning, and so, when I found
+your carriage there, I thought that you had sent for me."</p>
+
+<p>"It was very fortunate that the carriage was there, and I
+am very glad of it; but it was not in fact sent to meet you,
+for, not having received your letter, I did not know that you
+would arrive to-day. The carriage was sent to take some
+visitors who had been staying with us, and were going away,
+to the railway station. It is a wonder Jerome had not explained
+this to you. He is so talkative," said Emma, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"I never talk to strange servants," gravely replied the lady.
+"But I will tell you how it happened. I really arrived by the
+earliest train, that got in at Wendover at five o'clock in the
+morning. There was no carriage from Blue Cliffs waiting for
+me at the railway station, and, in fact, no carriage from any
+place, except the hack from the Reindeer Hotel. So I got
+into that, and, having previously left word with the station-master
+to send the Blue Cliffs carriage after me to the Reindeer
+when it should come, I went on to the hotel to get breakfast
+and to lie down and rest. But when half the forenoon
+had passed away without any arrival for me, I began to grow
+anxious, fearing that some mistake had been made."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry you had to suffer this annoyance, immediately
+upon your arrival here too," said Emma, regretfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it did not last long! About noon the landlord,
+Greenfield, rapped at my door and told me that the Blue Cliffs
+carriage had come, and that the ostler was watering the horses
+while the coachman was taking a glass of beer at the bar."</p>
+
+<p>"Jerome had doubtless taken our visitors to the station,
+and called at the Reindeer to refresh himself and his horses."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose so. Almost at the same moment that the
+landlord came to my door to announce the carriage, I heard
+some one else, under my window, saying to the coachman that
+there was a lady here waiting to be taken to Blue Cliffs; and
+I went down and got into the carriage with bag and baggage.
+Jerome, if that's his name, very gravely, with a silent bow,
+put up the steps and closed the door and mounted his box and
+drove <a name="Page_54t" id="Page_54t"></a><a href="#Page_54tn">off."</a></p>
+
+<p>"But you must have left some baggage behind."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, three trunks; one very large. Mr. Greenfield, of
+the Reindeer, promised to send them right after me in his
+wagon."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>While they had been speaking, Emma Cavendish had
+touched the bell and given a whispered order to the servant
+who answered it.</p>
+
+<p>So now the second footman, Peter, appeared with a waiter
+in his hands, on which was served tea, toast, a broiled squab
+and glass of currant jelly.</p>
+
+<p>This was set upon a stand beside Mrs. Fanning's easy-chair.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that you had better take something before you go
+upstairs," said the young hostess, kindly, as she poured out a
+cup of tea.</p>
+
+<p>Consumptives are almost always hungry and thirsty, as if
+nature purposely created an unusual appetite for nourishment
+in order to supply the excessive waste of tissue caused by the
+malady.</p>
+
+<p>And so Mrs. Fanning really enjoyed the delicate luncheon
+set before her so much that she finished the squab, the jelly,
+the toast and the tea.</p>
+
+<p>When she had been offered and had refused a second supply,
+Emma proposed that she should go up to her room, and
+she took her at once to the beautiful corner chamber, with its
+southern and eastern aspect, that had been fitted up for her.</p>
+
+<p>Here she found that her traveling-trunks, which had already
+arrived from Wendover, were placed.</p>
+
+<p>And here, when she had changed her traveling-dress for a
+loose wrapper, she laid down on a lounge to rest, while Emma
+darkened the room and left her to repose.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cavendish went straight to the old lady's apartment.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Cavendish was sitting in her great easy-chair by the
+fire, with her gold-rimmed spectacles on her nose and her
+Bible lying open on her lap.</p>
+
+<p>As Emma entered the room the old lady closed the book
+and looked up with a welcoming smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come to tell you, my dear grandma, that Aunt
+Fanning has arrived," said Emma, drawing a chair and seating
+herself by the old lady's side.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my dear child; but I'll trouble you not to call her
+Aunt Fanning," said Madam Cavendish, haughtily.</p>
+
+<p>"But she <i>is</i> my aunt, dear grandma," returned Emma,
+with a deprecating smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Then call her Aunt Katherine. I detest the name of that
+tavern-keeper whom she married."</p>
+
+<p>"Grandma&mdash;grandma, the man has gone where at least
+there can be no distinctions of mere family rank," said Emma.</p>
+
+<p>"That's got nothing to do with it. We are <i>here</i> now.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+Well, and when did Katherine arrive, and where have you
+put her? Tell me all about it."</p>
+
+<p>Emma told her all about it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the old lady, "as she is here, though sorely
+against my approbation&mdash;still, as she is here we must give her
+a becoming welcome, I suppose. You may bring her to my
+room to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, grandma, dear; that is just what I would
+like to do," replied the young lady.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, the next morning Mrs. Fanning was conducted
+by Emma to the "Throne Room," as Electra had saucily
+designated the old lady's apartment.</p>
+
+<p>Madam Cavendish was dressed with great care, in a fine
+black cashmere wrapper, lined and trimmed with black silk,
+and a fine white lace cap, trimmed with white piping.</p>
+
+<p>And old Moll, also in her best clothes, stood behind her
+mistress's chair.</p>
+
+<p>The old lady meant to impress "the tavern-keeper's
+widow" with a due sense of reverence.</p>
+
+<p>But the gentlewoman's heart was a great deal better than
+her head. And so, when she saw the girl whom she had once
+known a brilliant, rich-complexioned brunette, with raven
+hair and sparkling eyes and queenly form changed into a
+woman, old before her time, pale, thin, gray and sorrow-stricken,
+her heart melted with pity, and she held out her
+hand, saying, kindly:</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do, Katie, my dear? I am very sorry to see
+you looking in such ill-health. You have changed very much
+from the child I knew you, twenty-five years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Fanning, as she took and pressed the
+venerable hand that was held out to her. "I have changed.
+But there is only one more change that awaits me&mdash;the last
+great one."</p>
+
+<p>"Moll, wheel forward that other easy-chair. Sit down at
+once, my poor Katie. You look ready to drop from weakness.
+Emma, my child, pour out a glass of that old port
+wine and bring it to your aunt. You will find it in that little
+cabinet," said Madam Cavendish, speaking to one and another
+in her hurry to be hospitable and to atone for the hard
+thoughts she had cherished and expressed toward this poor
+suffering and desolate woman.</p>
+
+<p>And Mrs. Fanning was soon seated in the deep, soft "sleepy
+hollow," and sipping with comfort the rich old port wine.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Katie," said the old lady, resuming the thread of
+the conversation, "that last great change awaits us all&mdash;a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+glorious change, Katie, that I for one look forward to with
+satisfaction and desire <i>always</i>&mdash;with rapture and longing
+<i>sometimes</i>. What will the next life be like, I wonder? We
+don't know. 'Eye hath not seen&mdash;ear heard,'" mused the
+old lady.</p>
+
+<p>The interview was not a long one. Soon Emma Cavendish
+took her aunt from the room.</p>
+
+<p>"You must come in and see me every day, Katie, my dear,"
+said the old lady, as the two visitors left.</p>
+
+<p>And from that time the desolate widow, the homeless wanderer,
+found loving and tender friends, and a comfortable and
+quiet home.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XII" id="Chapter_XII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>ALDEN AND HIS EVIL GENIUS MEET AGAIN.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Meanwhile the visitors that had left Blue Cliffs that
+morning traveled together until they reached Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>The train got in at ten o'clock that night.</p>
+
+<p>There was no steamboat to Mount Ascension Island until
+the next day.</p>
+
+<p>So the party for that bourne were compelled to spend the
+night at Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>Alden, although he might have gone on to Charlottesville
+that night, determined to remain with his friends.</p>
+
+<p>The whole party went to the Henrico House, where they
+were accommodated with adjoining rooms.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning they resumed their journey, separating
+to go their several ways. Alden saw the two young ladies
+safely on the steamboat that was to take them to Mount Ascension,
+and then bade them good-bye, leaving them in charge
+of the Rev. Dr. Jones, who was to escort them to the end of
+their journey.</p>
+
+<p>He had barely time to secure his seat for Charlottesville,
+where he arrived on the afternoon of the same day.</p>
+
+<p>The letter he had to deliver to Mary Grey "burned in his
+pocket." He could not have done otherwise than promise to
+deliver it in person, when fair Emma Cavendish had requested
+him to do so. And now, of course, he must keep his word
+and go and carry the letter to her, although he would rather
+have walked into a fire than into that false siren's presence.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that his love for her was dead and gone. But it
+had died such a cruel and violent death that the very memory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+of it was full of pain and horror, and to meet her would be
+like meeting the specter of his murdered love. Nevertheless
+he must not shrink from his duty; he must go and do it.</p>
+
+<p>Before reporting at his college, he went to a hotel and
+changed his clothes, and then started out to find Mary Grey's
+residence. That was not so easily done. She had omitted to
+leave her address with her friends at Blue Cliffs, and Emma's
+letter was simply directed to Mrs. Mary Grey, Charlottesville.</p>
+
+<p>True, Charlottesville was not a very large place; but looking
+for a lady there was something like looking for the fabulous
+needle in the haystack.</p>
+
+<p>Still, he had formed a plan of action to find her. He knew
+that she pretended to great piety; that she was a member of
+the Protestant Episcopal Church, and that wherever she might
+happen to sojourn she would be sure to join the church and
+make friends with the clergy of her own denomination.</p>
+
+<p>So Alden bent his steps to the house of the Episcopal minister
+at Charlottesville.</p>
+
+<p>He found the reverend gentleman at home, and received
+from him, as he had expected to do, the address of Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"A most excellent young woman, sir&mdash;an earnest Christian.
+She lost not a day in presenting her church letter and uniting
+herself with the church. She has been here but ten days, and
+already she has taken a class in the Sunday-school. A most
+meritorious young woman, sir," said the worthy minister, as
+he handed the card with Mrs. Grey's new address written
+upon it.</p>
+
+<p>To Alden, who knew the false-hearted beauty so well, all
+this was surprising.</p>
+
+<p>But he made no comment. He simply took the card,
+bowed his thanks, and left the house to go and seek the home
+of Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>Among many falsehoods, the woman had told one truth
+when she had informed Emma Cavendish that she had a lady
+friend at Charlottesville who kept a students' boarding-house.
+She had met this lady just previous to engaging as drawing-mistress
+at Mount Ascension. And by her alluring arts she
+had won her sympathy and confidence. She was staying with
+this friend at the time that Alden sought her out.</p>
+
+<p>He now easily found the house.</p>
+
+<p>And when he inquired of the negro boy who answered the
+bell whether Mrs. Grey was at home, he was answered in the
+affirmative and invited to enter the house.</p>
+
+<p>The boy opened a door on the right hand of the narrow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+entrance passage, and Alden passed into the parlor and found
+himself, unannounced, in the presence of his false love.</p>
+
+<p>There was no one with her, and she was sitting at a table,
+with drawing materials before her, apparently engaged in
+copying a picture.</p>
+
+<p>Hearing the door open and shut, she lifted her head and
+looked up.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing Alden Lytton standing before her, she dropped the
+pencil from her fingers, turned deathly pale and stared at him
+in silence.</p>
+
+<p>Alden, if the truth must be told, was scarcely less agitated;
+but he soon recovered his self-command.</p>
+
+<p>"I should apologize," he said, "for coming in unannounced;
+but I did not know that you were here. I was
+shown into this room by the waiter, supposing that I was to
+remain here until he took my card to you."</p>
+
+<p>She neither moved nor spoke, but sat and stared at him.</p>
+
+<p>"I have only come as the bearer of a letter to you from
+Miss Cavendish&mdash;a letter that I promised to deliver in person.
+Here it is," he said, laying the little packet on the table before
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Still she made no answer to his words, nor any acknowledgment
+of his service. She did not even take up Emma's letter.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, having done my errand, I will bid you good-afternoon,
+Mrs. Grey," he said, bowing and turning to leave
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>That broke the panic-stricken spell that held her still.</p>
+
+<p>She started up and clasped her hands suddenly together,
+exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no; for pity's sake don't go yet! Now that you
+are here, for Heaven's sake stay a moment and listen to me!"</p>
+
+<p>"What can you possibly have to say to me, Mrs. Grey?"
+coolly inquired the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sit down&mdash;sit down one little moment and hear me!
+I have not got the plague, that you should hasten from me
+so," she pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>It was in Alden's thoughts to say that moral plagues were
+even more dangerous and fatal than material ones; but the
+woman before him looked so really distressed that he forbore.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that you have ceased to love me," she went on in
+a broken voice. "I know, of course, that you have ceased to
+love me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am thoroughly cured of that egregious boyish
+folly," assented Alden, grimly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I know it, and I would not seek to recover your lost, lost
+love; but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Her voice, that had been faltering, now quite broke down,
+and she burst into tears and sobbed as if her heart was breaking.</p>
+
+<p>And her grief was as real as it was violent; for she had
+loved the handsome young law student, and she mourned the
+loss of his love.</p>
+
+<p>Alden sat apparently unmoved, but in truth he was beginning
+to feel very sorry for this woman, but it was with the
+sorrow we feel for a suffering criminal, and totally distinct
+from sympathy or affection.</p>
+
+<p>Presently her gust of tears and sobs exhausted itself, and
+she sighed and dried her eyes and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know that all love is quite over between us."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite over," assented Alden, emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>"And it is not to renew that subject that I asked you to
+stay and listen to me."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Alden, gently, "I presume not."</p>
+
+<p>"But, though all thoughts of love are forever over between
+us, yet I can not bear that we should live at enmity. As for
+me, I am not your enemy, Alden Lytton."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor am I yours, Mrs. Grey. You and I can live as
+strangers without being enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"Live as strangers! Oh, but that is just what would break
+my heart utterly! Why should we live as strangers? If all
+love is over between us, and if we are still not enemies, if we
+have forgiven each other, why should we two live as strangers
+in this little town? Why may we not meet at least as the
+common friends of every day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because the memory of the past would preclude the possibility
+of our meeting pleasantly or profitably."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Alden, you are very hard! You have not forgiven
+me!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have utterly forgiven you."</p>
+
+<p>"But you cherish hard thoughts of me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Grey, I must regard your actions&mdash;the actions that
+separated us&mdash;as they really are," answered Alden, sadly and
+firmly, as he arose and took his hat to leave the room.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no; <i>don't</i> go yet! You <i>must</i> hear me&mdash;you <i>shall</i>
+hear me! Even a convicted murderer is allowed to speak for
+himself!" she exclaimed, with passionate tears.</p>
+
+<p>Alden sighed and sat down.</p>
+
+<p>"You must regard my actions as they really are, you say.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+Ah, but the extenuating circumstances, the temptations, the
+motives&mdash;aye, the motives!&mdash;have you ever thought of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can see no motive that could justify your acts," said
+Alden, coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not justify&mdash;I do not justify them even to myself&mdash;not
+justify, but <i>palliate</i> them, Alden&mdash;palliate them at least
+in your eyes, if in no others."</p>
+
+<p>"And why in my eyes, Mrs. Grey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Alden, all was planned for your sake!"</p>
+
+<p>"For <i>my</i> sake? I pray you do not say that!"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, then, and consider all the circumstances. I loved
+you and promised to be your wife at that far distant day when
+you should come into a living law practice. But I was homeless,
+penniless and helpless. I had lost my situation in the
+school, and I had no prospect of getting another. The term
+of my visit to Emma Cavendish had nearly expired and I had
+nowhere to go. Governor Cavendish loved me with the idolatrous
+love of an old man for a young woman, and besought
+me to be his wife with such insane earnestness that I thought
+my refusal would certainly be his death, especially as it was
+well known that he was liable to apoplexy and that any excitement
+might bring on a fatal attack. Under all these circumstances
+I think I must have lost my senses; for I reasoned
+with myself&mdash;most falsely and fatally reasoned with myself
+thus: Why should not I, who am about to be cast out homeless
+and penniless upon the wide world&mdash;why should not I secure
+myself a home and save this old man's life for a few
+years longer by accepting his love and becoming his wife? It
+is true that I do not love him, but I honor him very much.
+And I would be the comfort of his declining years. He could
+not live long, and when he should come to die I should inherit
+the widow's third of all his vast estates. And then, after a
+year of mourning should be over, I could marry my true love,
+and bring him a fortune too. There, Alden, the reasoning
+was all false, wicked and fatal. I know that now. But oh,
+Alden, it was not so much for myself as for others that I
+planned thus! I thought to have blessed and comforted the
+old man's declining years, and after his death to have brought
+a fortune to you. These were my motives. They do not justify,
+but at least they palliate my conduct."</p>
+
+<p>She ceased.</p>
+
+<p>Alden did not reply, but stood up again with his hat in his
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, Alden, though we may never be lovers again,
+may we not meet sometimes as friends? I am so lonely here!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+I am, indeed, all alone in the world. We may meet sometimes
+as friends, Alden?" she asked, pathetically.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mrs. Grey. But yet, if ever I can serve you in any
+way I will do so most willingly. Good-afternoon," said the
+young man.</p>
+
+<p>And he bowed and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>As he disappeared her beautiful face darkened with a baleful
+cloud. "No fury like a woman scorned," wrote one who
+seemed to know. Her face darkened like a thunder-storm,
+and from its cloud her eyes shot forked lightning. She set
+her teeth, and clinched her little fist and shook it after him,
+hissing:</p>
+
+<p>"He scorns me&mdash;he scorns me! Ah, he may scorn my love!
+Let him beware of my hate! He will not meet me as a friend,
+but he will serve me willingly! Very well; he shall be often
+called upon to serve me, if only to bring him under my power!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XIII" id="Chapter_XIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XIII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>MARY GREY'S MANEUVER.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockw">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">She'd tried this world in all its changes,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">States and conditions; had been loved and happy.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Scorned and wretched, and passed through all its stages;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And now, believe me, she who knew it best,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thought it not worth the bustle that it cost.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Madden.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Mary Grey now set systematically to work. Partly
+from love or its base counterfeit, partly from hate, but
+mostly from vanity, she determined to devote every faculty of
+mind and body to one set object&mdash;to win Alden Lytton's love
+back again and to subjugate him to her will.</p>
+
+<p>To all outward seeming she led a most blameless and beneficent
+life.</p>
+
+<p>She lived with the bishop's widow, and made herself very
+useful and agreeable to the staid lady, who refused to take
+any money for her board.</p>
+
+<p>And although the house was full of students, who boarded
+and lodged and spent their evenings there, with the most wonderful
+self-government she forebore "to make eyes" at any of
+them.</p>
+
+<p>She now no longer said in so many words that "her heart
+was buried in the grave," and so forth; but she quietly acted
+as if it was.</p>
+
+<p>She put away all her mourning finery&mdash;her black tulles and
+silks and bugles and jet jewelry&mdash;and she took to wearing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+plainest black alpacas and the plainest white muslin caps.
+She looked more like a Protestant nun than a "sparkling"
+young widow. But she looked prettier and more interesting
+than ever, and she knew it.</p>
+
+<p>She was a regular attendant at her church, going twice on
+Sunday and twice during the week.</p>
+
+<p>On Sunday mornings she was always sure of finding Alden
+Lytton in his seat, which was in full sight of her own. But
+she never looked toward him. She was content to feel that
+he often looked at her, and that he could not look at her and
+remain quite indifferent to her.</p>
+
+<p>She was also an active member of all the parish benevolent
+societies, a zealous teacher in the Sunday-school, an industrious
+seamstress in the sewing-circle, and a regular visitor of
+the poor and sick.</p>
+
+<p>Her life seemed devoted to good works, apparently from
+the love of the Lord and the love of her neighbor.</p>
+
+<p>She won golden opinions from all sorts of men, and women
+too. Only there was one significant circumstance about her
+popularity&mdash;<i>she could not win the love of children</i>. No, not
+with all her beauty and grace of person, and sweetness and
+softness of tone and manner, she could not win the children.
+Their sensitive spirits shrank from the evil within her which
+the duller souls of adults could not even perceive. And many
+an innocent child was sent in disgrace from the parlor because
+it either would not kiss "sweet Mrs. Grey" at all, or would
+kiss her with the air of taking a dose of physic.</p>
+
+<p>But all the people in Charlottesville praised the piety and,
+above all, the prudence of Mrs. Grey&mdash;"Such a young and
+beautiful woman to be so entirely weaned from worldliness
+and self-love and so absorbed in worship and good works!"</p>
+
+<p>All this certainly produced an effect upon Alden Lytton,
+who, of course, heard her praises on all sides, who saw her
+every Sunday at church, and who met her occasionally at the
+demure little tea-parties to which both might happen to be
+invited.</p>
+
+<p>When they met thus by chance in private houses he would
+bow and say, quietly:</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening, madam;" a salutation which she would return
+by a grave:</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening, sir."</p>
+
+<p>And not another word would pass between them during the
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>But all the young man observed in her at such times was a
+certain discreet reserve, which he could but approve.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She seems to be much changed. She seems to be truly
+grieved for the past. Perhaps I have judged her too harshly.
+And yet what a base part that was she proposed to play!
+may be that she herself did not know how base it was. Such
+ignorance would prove an appalling moral blindness. But
+then, again, should she be held responsible for her moral
+blindness? It sometimes requires suffering to teach the nature
+of sin. A child does not know that fire is dangerous until
+it burns itself. <i>Her</i> suffering must have opened her eyes
+to the 'exceeding sinfulness of sin.' For her own sake I hope
+it is so. As for myself, it does not matter. I have ceased to
+regard her with any other feeling than pity and charity. And
+although she would become a saint I could never love her
+again," he said to himself one night, after passing an evening
+with her at one of the professor's houses.</p>
+
+<p>And his thoughts reverted to that lovely maiden whose
+golden hair formed an appropriate halo around her white
+brow, and whose pure soul looked frankly forth from her clear
+blue eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He was not in love with Miss Cavendish, he said to himself,
+but he could not help feeling the difference between radiant
+frankness and dark deceit.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, about this time, they met at a strawberry festival,
+held in the lecture-room of the church, for the benefit
+of the Sunday-school.</p>
+
+<p>While the festival was at its height a thunder-storm came
+up, with a heavy shower of rain. But the company at the
+festival cared little about that. They were housed, and enjoyed
+themselves with light music, fruits, flowers and friends.
+And before the hour of separation the storm would probably
+be over, and carriages, or at least water-proof cloaks, overshoes
+and umbrella's, would be in attendance upon every one.</p>
+
+<p>So they made merry until eleven o'clock, when the storm
+was passing away with a steady light rain.</p>
+
+<p>Every lady who had a carriage in waiting offered to give
+Mrs. Grey a seat and to set her down at her own door.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey thanked each in succession and declined the kind
+offer, adding that she expected some one to come for her.</p>
+
+<p>At last nearly everybody had left the room but the treasurer
+of the festival, who was counting the receipts, and the
+sexton, who was covering the tables, preparatory to closing
+for the night.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton had lingered to make a quiet donation to the
+charity, and he was passing out, when, he saw Mary Grey
+standing shivering near the door.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As he came up to her she stepped out into the darkness and
+the rain.</p>
+
+<p>He hastened after her, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Grey! I beg your pardon! Are you alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Mr. Lytton," she answered, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"And you have no umbrella!" he said, quickly, as he hoisted
+his own and stepped to her side. "Permit me to see you
+safe to your door. Take my arm. It is very dark and the
+walking is dangerous. The sidewalks are turned to brooks by
+this storm," he added, as he held his umbrella carefully over
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you very much, Mr. Lytton; but indeed I do not
+wish to give you so much trouble. I can go home quite well
+enough alone. I have often to do it," she answered, shrinking
+away from him.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not safe for you to do so, especially on such a night
+as this. Will you take my arm?" he said; and, without waiting
+for her answer, he took her hand and drew it through his
+arm and walked on with her in silence, wondering at and
+blaming the heartlessness of the ladies of her circle who had
+carriages in attendance, and had, as he supposed, every one of
+them, gone off without offering this poor lonely creature a
+seat, leaving her to get home through the night and storm as
+she could.</p>
+
+<p>As they walked on he felt Mary Grey's arm trembling upon
+his own, and involuntarily he drew it closer, and, in so doing,
+he perceived the tremor and jar of her fast-beating heart, and
+he pitied her with a deep, tender, manly pity.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid you feel chilled in this rain," he said, by way
+of saying something kind.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she answered, softly, and said no more.</p>
+
+<p>They got to the door of her dwelling, and he rang the bell
+and waited there with her until some one should come.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very much indebted to you, Mr. Lytton," she said,
+softly and coolly; "but I am also very sorry to have given
+you so much trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"I assure you it was no trouble; and I beg that you will
+not again attempt to go alone at night through the streets of
+Charlottesville," he answered, sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"But why?" she asked. "What harm or danger can there
+be in my doing so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ladies never go out alone at night here. Many of the
+wild students are on the streets at night and are not always
+in their senses."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see! Well, I will try to take care of myself. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+hear the page coming to open the door. Good-night, Mr.
+Lytton. You have been very kind. I thank you very much,"
+said Mrs. Grey, coldly.</p>
+
+<p>He touched his hat and turned away just as the door was
+opened.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton went back to the college with somewhat
+kinder thoughts of Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>And Mrs. Grey went into the house and into the back parlor,
+where the bishop's widow was waiting up for her.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, my dear, your shoes are wet through and your
+skirts are draggled up to your knees! Is it possible you walked
+home through the rain?" inquired the lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madam; but it will not hurt me."</p>
+
+<p>"But how came you to walk home when Mrs. Doctor Sage
+promised faithfully to bring you home in her carriage?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear friend, the storm came up, and so many
+people were afraid of wetting their feet that I gave up my seat
+to another lady," answered Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"Always the same self-sacrificing spirit! Well, my dear, I
+hope your reward will come in the next world, if not in this.
+Now go upstairs and take off your wet clothes and get right
+to bed. I will send you up a glass of hot spiced wine, which
+will prevent you from taking cold," said the hospitable old
+lady.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey kissed her hostess, said good-night, and ran away
+upstairs to her own cozy room, where, although it was May
+time, a bright little wood fire was burning in the fire-place to
+correct the dampness of the air.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, with her silent laugh, as she began to
+take off her sodden shoes, "it was worth the wetting to walk
+home with Alden Lytton, and to make one step of progress
+toward my object."</p>
+
+<p>And the thought comforted her more than did the silver
+mug of hot spiced wine that the little page presently brought
+her.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after this she met Alden Lytton again, by accident,
+at the house of a mutual friend. Alden came up to
+her and, after the usual greeting, said:</p>
+
+<p>"I have received a short note from Miss Cavendish inquiring
+of me whether I had delivered her letter to you, and saying
+that she had received no answer from you, and indeed no
+news of you since your departure from Blue Cliffs. Now if I
+had not supposed that you would have answered Miss Emma's
+letter immediately I should certainly have written myself to
+relieve her anxiety on your account."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed I beg her pardon and yours! But I have
+sprained the fore-finger of my right hand and can not write at
+all. Otherwise I am quite well. Pray write and explain this
+to Emma, with my love, and my promise to write to her as
+soon as my finger gets well," said Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>And then she arose to take leave of her hostess, and, with
+a distant bow to Alden Lytton, she left the house.</p>
+
+<p>Two days after this she received a very kind letter from
+Miss Cavendish expressing much regret to hear of her disabled
+hand, and affectionately inquiring of her when she should return
+to Blue Cliffs, adding that Mrs. Fanning had arrived,
+and was then domiciled at the house; and, though a widow
+and an invalid, she was a very agreeable companion.</p>
+
+<p>This letter also inclosed a check for the amount of the quarterly
+allowance Emma Cavendish wasted upon Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"For whether you abandon us or not, dear Mrs. Grey, or
+wherever you may be, so long as I can reach you I will send
+you this quarterly sum, which I consider yours of right," she
+wrote. And with more expressions of kindness and affection
+the letter closed.</p>
+
+<p>This letter was a great relief to Mary Grey's anxiety; for
+now that this worshiper of mammon was sure of her income
+she had no fears for the future.</p>
+
+<p>But she dared not herself answer the letter. While Mrs.
+Fanning should remain at Blue Cliffs, Mary Grey must not
+let her handwriting go there, lest it should be seen and recognized
+by Frederick Fanning's widow.</p>
+
+<p>But the next day was Sunday, and Mrs. Grey went to
+church, taking Emma's letter in her pocket.</p>
+
+<p>Usually she avoided Alden Lytton on these occasions, refraining
+even from looking toward him during the church
+service or afterward, for she did not wish him to suppose that
+she <i>sought</i> his notice.</p>
+
+<p>But now she had a fair and good excuse for speaking to
+him; so when the service was over and the congregation was
+leaving the church she waited at the door of her pew until
+Alden passed by, when she said, very meekly and coolly:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lytton, may I speak with you a moment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, madam," said Alden, stopping at once.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a letter from dearest Emma, but I can not answer
+it. Ah, my poor crippled finger! Would you be so very
+kind as to write and tell my darling that I have received it
+and how much I thank her? And here; perhaps, as you are
+to acknowledge the letter for me, you had better read it.
+There is really nothing in it that a mutual friend may not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+see," she said, drawing the letter from her pocket and putting
+it into his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, madam, if you wish me to do so; certainly,
+with much pleasure," answered Alden Lytton, with more
+warmth than he had intended; because, in truth, he was beginning
+to feel delight in every subject that concerned Emma
+Cavendish, and he was now especially pleased with having the
+privilege of reading her letter and the duty of acknowledging
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Many thanks! You are very kind! Good-morning," said
+Mary Grey, with discreet coolness, as she passed on before him
+to leave the church.</p>
+
+<p>"Step number two! I shall soon have him in my power
+again!" chuckled the coquette, as she walked down the street
+toward her dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>For Mary Grey had utterly misinterpreted the warmth of
+Alden Lytton's manner in acceding to her request. It never
+entered her mind to think that this warmth had anything to
+do with the idea of Emma Cavendish. She was much too
+vain to be jealous.</p>
+
+<p>She did not really think that there was a man in the world
+who could withstand her charms, or a woman in the world
+who could become her rival.</p>
+
+<p>And certainly her personal experience went far to confirm
+her in that vain theory. Therefore she did not fear Emma
+Cavendish as a rival.</p>
+
+<p>And while she did not dare to write to Blue Cliffs, she did
+not hesitate to make Alden Lytton the medium of communication
+with Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>Her other lover, the counterpart of Alden Lytton, had not
+appeared since he had called on her on his first visit to Charlottesville.</p>
+
+<p>But he wrote to her six times a week, and she knew what he
+was doing&mdash;he was trying hard to settle up his business at
+Wendover, with the distant hope of removing to Charlottesville
+and opening a store there.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XIV" id="Chapter_XIV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XIV.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>IN THE TOILS.</h3>
+
+<p>Affairs went on in this way for one year longer. Emma
+Cavendish continued to write regularly to Mrs. Grey,
+telling her all the little household and neighborhood news.
+Among the rest, she told her how Mrs. Fanning, by her gentleness
+and patience, was winning the affections of all her
+household, and especially of Madam Cavendish, who had been
+most of all prejudiced against her; and how much the invalid's
+health was improving.</p>
+
+<p>"She will never be perfectly well again; but I think, with
+proper care, and under Divine Providence, we may succeed in
+preserving her life for many years longer."</p>
+
+<p>Now, as Mary Grey could not venture to return to Blue
+Cliffs, or even to write a letter to that place with her own
+hand, so long as Mrs. Fanning should live in the house, the
+prospect of her doing either grew more and more remote.</p>
+
+<p>She could not plead her sprained finger forever as an excuse
+for not writing; so one day she put on a very tight glove and
+buttoned it over her wrist, and then took a harder steel pen
+than she had ever used before, and she sat down and wrote a
+few lines by way of experiment. It was perfectly successful.
+Between the tight-fitting glove and the hard steel pen her
+handwriting was so disguised that she herself would never
+have known it, nor could any expert ever have detected it.
+So there was no possible danger of any one at Blue Cliffs
+recognizing it as hers.</p>
+
+<p>Then, with this tightly-gloved hand and this hard steel pen,
+she sat down and wrote a letter to Emma Cavendish, saying
+that she could no longer deny herself the pleasure of writing
+to her darling, though her finger was still so stiff that she
+wrote with great difficulty, as might be seen in the cramped
+and awkward letters, "all looking as if they had epileptic
+fits," she jestingly added.</p>
+
+<p>When Miss Cavendish replied to this letter she said that indeed
+Mrs. Grey's hand must have been very severely sprained,
+and that she herself would never have known the writing.</p>
+
+<p>After this all Mrs. Grey's letters to Miss Cavendish were
+written by a hand buttoned up in a tight glove, and with a
+hard steel pen, and continued to be stiff and unrecognizable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And in all Emma's answers there was surprise and regret
+expressed for the long-continued lameness of Mary Grey's right
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>One day Emma communicated a piece of neighborhood gossip
+that quite startled Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"You will be sorry to hear," she wrote, "that our excellent
+pastor, Dr. Goodwin, has had a paralytic stroke that disables
+him from preaching. The Rev. Mr. Lyle, formerly of
+Richmond, is filling the pulpit."</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey was very much interested in this piece of news,
+that her own old admirer should be even temporarily located
+so near Blue Cliffs, with the possibility of his being permanently
+settled there.</p>
+
+<p>She had not heard from this devoted clerical lover once since
+she had left Mount Ascension. She did not understand his
+sudden withdrawal, and she had often, with much mental disquietude,
+associated his unexpected estrangement with her
+own unceremonious dismissal from her situation as drawing-mistress
+at that academy.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that when they corresponded, in answer to his ardent
+love-letters, she would write only such kind and friendly
+notes that could never have compromised her in any way, even
+if they should have been read in open court or published in a
+Sunday newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>And he had sometimes complained of the formal friendliness
+of these letters from one for whom he had truly professed
+the most devoted love, and who had also promised to be his
+wife&mdash;if ever she was anybody's.</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Grey had artfully soothed his wounded affection
+without departing from her prudential system of writing only
+such letters as she would not fear to have fall in the hands of
+any living creature, until suddenly he ceased to write at all.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of this defection she had been too much taken
+up with her purpose of winning the affection of the wealthy
+and distinguished statesman, Governor Cavendish, to pay
+much attention to the fact of the Rev. Mr. Lyle's falling
+away.</p>
+
+<p>But in these later and calmer days at Blue Cliffs and at
+Charlottesville she had pondered much on the circumstance
+in connection with her simultaneous dismissal from her situation
+at Mount Ascension; and she thought all but too likely
+that Mr. Lyle had, like Mrs. St. John, learned something of
+her past life so much to her disadvantage as to induce him to
+abandon her.</p>
+
+<p>And now to have him so near Blue Cliffs as Wendover par<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>ish
+church seemed dangerous to Mary Grey's interests with
+the Cavendish family.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the unhappy woman seemed to think that the
+net of Fate was drawing around her. Mrs. Fanning was at
+Blue Cliffs. Mr. Lyle was at Wendover. What next?</p>
+
+<p>Why, next she got a letter from Emma Cavendish that
+struck all the color from her cheeks and all the courage from
+her soul.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cavendish, after telling the domestic and social news
+of the week, and adding that the Rev. Mr. Lyle was now settled
+permanently at Wendover, as the assistant of the Rev.
+Dr. Goodwin, whose health continued to be infirm, wrote:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"And now, dearest Mrs. Grey, I have reserved the best news
+for the last.</p>
+
+<p>"Laura Lytton and Electra have left school 'for good.'
+They will arrive here this evening on a visit of some months.</p>
+
+<p>"Next week we are all going to Charlottesville, to be present
+at the Commencement of the Law College, when Mr.
+Alden Lytton expects to take his degree.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Fanning, whose health is much improved, will accompany
+us as our chaperon, and the Rev. Mr. Lyle will escort
+us.</p>
+
+<p>"So you see, my dear Mrs. Grey, though you will not come
+to us, we will go to you.</p>
+
+<p>"But we will form quite a large party. And I know that
+Charlottesville will receive an inundation of visitors for the
+Commencement, and that there will be a pressure upon all
+the hotels and boarding-houses. Therefore I will ask you to
+be so good as to seek out and engage apartments for us.
+There will be four ladies and one gentleman to be accommodated;
+we shall want at least three rooms&mdash;one for Mr. Lyle,
+one for Aunt Fanning and myself, and one for Laura and
+Electra. We want our rooms all in the same house, if possible;
+if not, then Mr. Lyle can be accommodated apart from
+the set; but we women must remain together.</p>
+
+<p>"Please see to it at once, and write and let me know.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way: after Mr. Lytton takes his degree he will
+make us a short visit at Blue Cliffs, after which he will go to
+Richmond to commence the practice of law, where <i>he</i> thinks
+the prestige of his father's name, and <i>I</i> think his own talents,
+will speedily advance him to fame and fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"But what am I telling you? That of which you probably
+know much more than I do; for of course Mr. Lytton must
+have informed you of his plans.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We confidently hope to persuade you to accompany us
+when we go back to Blue Cliffs. Our summer party will be
+such a very pleasant one: there will be Laura, Electra, Mrs.
+Grey and Aunt Fanning among the ladies, and Mr. Lyle, Mr.
+Lytton and Dr. Jones among the gentlemen. I shall have
+your rooms made ready for you."</p></div>
+
+<p>There was much more of kind and affectionate planning
+for the summer's work and pleasure. But Mary Grey read
+no further. Dropping the letter upon her lap, she clasped
+her hands and raised her pale face toward heaven, murmuring:</p>
+
+<p>"She is coming here. I dare not meet her. I must go
+away again. I am hunted to death&mdash;I am hunted to death!
+I was hunted from Blue Cliffs, and now I am hunted from
+Charlottesville! Where shall I go next? To Richmond?
+Yes, of course, to Richmond! And there I will stay. For
+there is room to hide myself from any one whom I do not wish
+to see. And in a few weeks <i>he</i> will go to Richmond to settle
+there permanently. But I will go some few weeks in advance
+of him, so that he will never be able to say that I followed
+him there!"</p>
+
+<p>Having formed this resolution, Mary Grey then set about,
+immediately to engage lodgings for the Blue Cliffs party.</p>
+
+<p>She knew that her hostess, the bishop's widow, had one vacant
+room: that would accommodate two of the ladies, and
+therefore she resolved to make a virtue of her own necessities
+and give up her own room for the accommodation of the other
+two.</p>
+
+<p>She proposed this plan to her hostess, who at first opposed
+the self-sacrifice, as she called it. But finally, being <a name="Page_72t" id="Page_72t"></a><a href="#Page_72tn">persuaded</a>
+by Mary Grey, she yielded the point, and fervently
+praised the beautiful, unselfish spirit of her young guest, who
+was ever so ready to sacrifice her own comfort for the convenience
+of others.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey then wrote to Miss Cavendish, telling her of the
+arrangement, and then explaining:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"You must know, my dear girl, that my health is not improved.
+For the last twelve months it has been growing
+steadily worse. My nervous system is shattered. I can not
+bear noise or tumult or excitement. I dread even to meet
+strangers. Therefore I think I shall go away and stay during
+this carnival of a Commencement. I hope that you and Laura
+will occupy my vacant chamber. The chamber adjoining<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+is already vacant, and I have engaged it for Mrs. Fanning and
+Electra. I know I have paired your party off differently from
+<i>your</i> pairing; but then I like the thought of having you and
+Laura in my deserted chamber. I think I shall go to some
+very quiet village far from the bustle of company. Forgive
+me for not remaining to meet you, and set me down as very,
+<i>very</i> nervous; or, if that will not excuse me in your eyes, set
+me down as <i>crazy</i>; but never, <i>never</i> as ungrateful or unloving.</p>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 6em">
+<span class="smcap">Mary.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"P.S.&mdash;Mr. Lyle must find accommodations at the hotel."</p></div>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 1.5em">Having finished, sealed and dispatched this letter, Mary
+Grey went to work and packed her three great trunks for her
+journey. That kept her busy all the remainder of the day.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning she dressed herself and went to call upon
+her friends and bid them good-bye. They were very much
+surprised at the suddenness of her departure; but she explained
+to one and all that she rather wished to avoid the crowd,
+bustle and confusion of Commencement week, and had therefore
+determined to leave town for a few days, and that her
+rooms with the bishop's widow would be occupied in the meantime
+by her friend Miss Cavendish, of Blue Cliffs, and her
+party.</p>
+
+<p>This made an impression upon all minds that "sweet Mrs.
+Grey," with her spirit of self-sacrifice, had left town at this
+most interesting period for no other reason than to give up
+her quarters to her friends.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, Mary Grey went to her pastor and obtained from
+him a letter to the pastor of St. John's Church in Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>Furnished with this, she would obtain entrance into the
+most respectable society in the city, if she desired to do so.</p>
+
+<p>On the third day from this, Mrs. Grey left Charlottesville
+for Richmond.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XV" id="Chapter_XV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XV.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>AN OLD FACE REAPPEARS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>What the Carnival is to Rome, and the Derby is to London,
+the Commencement week of its great University
+is to the little country town of Charlottesville.</p>
+
+<p>It is looked forward to for weeks and months. A few days
+previous to Commencement week the little town begins to fill.
+The hotels and boarding-houses are crowded with the relatives
+and friends of the students and professors, and even with
+numbers of the country gentry, who though they may have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+no relative at the University yet take an interest in the proceedings
+of Commencement week.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish and her friends were therefore peculiarly
+fortunate in having had comfortable apartments pre-engaged
+for them.</p>
+
+<p>It was late on the evening of the Monday beginning the
+important week that they arrived at Charlottesville, and proceeded
+at once to the house of the bishop's widow.</p>
+
+<p>They found the house hospitably lighted up, and open.</p>
+
+<p>Their hostess, a dignified gentlewoman, received them with
+great cordiality, and rather as guests than as lodgers.</p>
+
+<p>She showed the ladies to the two communicating rooms on
+the first floor that they were to occupy&mdash;large, airy, pleasant
+rooms, with a fresh breeze blowing from front to back. Each
+room had two neat white-draped single beds in it.</p>
+
+<p>"If you please, Mrs. Wheatfield, which of these was Mrs.
+Grey's apartment?" inquired Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"This back room overlooking the flower-garden. But as
+the front room was unoccupied she had the use of that also,
+whenever she wished it," answered the bishop's widow.</p>
+
+<p>"I was very sorry to hear from her by letter that she would
+not be able to remain here to receive us," said Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my dear, I was just as sorry to have her go away!
+A sweet woman she is, Miss Cavendish," answered Mrs. Wheatfield.</p>
+
+<p>"Why did she go? Is her health so very bad, Mrs. Wheatfield?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, I think that her malady is more of the mind
+than of the body. But I believe that she went away only to
+give up these rooms to you and your friends, because there
+were no other suitable rooms to be obtained for you in Charlottesville."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry to hear that; for indeed I and my companions
+would rather have given up our journey than have
+turned Mary Grey out of her rooms. It was really too great
+a sacrifice on her part," said Emma Cavendish, regretfully.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, that angel is always making sacrifices, for that
+matter. But I do think that <i>this</i> sacrifice did not cost her
+much. Love made it light. I feel sure she was delighted to
+be able to give up her quarters to friends who could not in
+any other way have been accommodated in the town," said the
+bishop's widow, politely.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry, however, not to have met her," murmured
+Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, ladies, here are the apartments. Arrange as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+their occupancy and distribution among yourselves as you
+please," said the hostess, as she nodded pleasantly and left the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>The ladies had brought but little luggage for their week's
+visit, and it had already arrived and was placed in their
+rooms.</p>
+
+<p>They washed, dressed their hair, changed their traveling-suits
+for evening-dresses and went down into the parlor,
+where they found Alden Lytton&mdash;who had walked over from
+the University to meet his sister&mdash;in conversation with Mr.
+Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>There was quite a joyous greeting. But Alden had to be
+introduced to Mrs. Fanning, who had changed so much in the
+years that had passed since their last meeting that the young
+man would never have known her again.</p>
+
+<p>But every one remarked that when the lady and the student
+were introduced to each other their mutual agitation
+could not be concealed. And every one marveled about its
+cause.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton found fair Emma Cavendish more beautiful
+than ever, and he now no longer tried to deny to himself the
+truth that his heart was devoted to her in the purest, highest,
+noblest love that ever inspired man.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Mr. Lytton, where Mrs. Grey has gone?
+She did not tell me in her letter where she intended to go; I
+believe she had not then quite made up her mind as to her
+destination," said Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"I was not even aware of her departure until I learned it
+from Mrs. Wheatfield this evening," answered Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"Then no one knows. But I suppose we shall learn when
+we hear from her," said Emma, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>Then Alden produced cards for the Commencement, with
+tickets inclosed for reserved seats in the best part of the hall,
+which he had been careful to secure for his party. These he
+gave into the charge of Mr. Lyle, who was to attend the ladies
+to the University.</p>
+
+<p>And then, as it was growing late, the two gentlemen arose
+and took leave.</p>
+
+<p>They left the house together and walked down the street as
+far as the corner, where Alden Lytton paused and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Our ways separate here, I am sorry to say. I have to
+walk a mile out to the University. Your hotel is about twenty
+paces up the next street, on your right. You will be sure to
+find it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And Alden lifted his hat and was about to stride rapidly
+away when Mr. Lyle laid his hand on his arm and said:</p>
+
+<p>"One moment. I did not know our paths parted so soon
+or I might have spoken as we left the house. The fact is, I
+have a very large sum of money&mdash;ten thousand dollars&mdash;sent
+me to be paid to you as soon as you shall have taken your
+degree. It is to be employed in the purchase of a law library
+and in the renting and furnishing of a law office in the best
+obtainable location. I wish to turn this money over to you as
+soon as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"It is from my unknown guardian, I presume," said Alden,
+gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is from your unknown <a name="Page_76t" id="Page_76t"></a><a href="#Page_76tn">guardian."</a></p>
+
+<p>"Then we will talk of this after the Commencement. I
+hardly know, Mr. Lyle, whether I ought to accept anything
+more from this lavish benefactor of ours. I may never be
+able to repay what we already owe him."</p>
+
+<p>"You need have no hesitation in accepting assistance from
+this man, as I have often assured you. But, as you say, we
+will talk of this some other time, when we have more leisure.
+Good-night!"</p>
+
+<p>And the gentlemen separated: Alden Lytton striding westward
+toward the University, and Mr. Lyle walking thoughtfully
+toward his hotel.</p>
+
+<p>His room had been secured and his key was in his pocket,
+so that he possessed quite an enviable advantage over the
+crowd of improvident travelers who thronged the office clamoring
+for quarters, and not half of whom could by any possibility
+be accommodated.</p>
+
+<p>As it was long after the minister's usual hour for retiring,
+he walked through the crowded office into the hall and up the
+stairs to his room&mdash;a very small chamber, with one window
+and a single bed, both window and bed neatly draped with
+white.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle sat down in a chair by the one little table, on
+which stood a bright brass candlestick with a lighted spermaceti
+candle, and took from his pocket a small Bible, which he
+opened with the intention of reading his customary chapter
+before going to bed, when a rap at his door surprised him.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in," he said, supposing that only a country waiter
+had come with towels or water, or some other convenience.</p>
+
+<p>The door opened and a waiter indeed made his appearance.
+But he only said:</p>
+
+<p>"A gemman for to see yer, sah!" and ushered in a stranger
+and closed the door behind him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle, much astonished, stared at the visitor, whom he
+thought he had never seen before.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger was a tall, finely-formed, dark-complexioned
+and very handsome man, notwithstanding that his raven hair
+was streaked with silver, his brow lined with thought, and his
+fine black eyes rather hollow. A full black beard nearly
+covered the lower part of his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lyle," said the visitor, holding out his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my name, sir; but you have the advantage of
+me," said the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not know me?" inquired the stranger in sad surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"I am Victor Hartman!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XVI" id="Chapter_XVI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XVI.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE RETURNED EXILE.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Danger, long travel, want, or woe,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Soon change the form that best we know;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For deadly fear can time outgo,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And blanch at once the hair;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Hard time can roughen form and face,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And grief can quench the eyes' bright grace;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor does old age a wrinkle trace<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">More deeply than despair.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Scott.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>"Victor Hartman!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, in a tone
+of astonishment and joy, as he sprang from his chair
+and grasped both the hands of the traveler and shook them
+heartily&mdash;"Victor Hartman! My dear friend, I am so delighted&mdash;and
+so surprised&mdash;to see you! Sit down&mdash;sit down!"
+he continued, dragging forward a chair and forcing his visitor
+into it. "But I never should have known you again," he
+concluded, gazing intently upon the bronzed, gray, tall, broad-shouldered
+man before him.</p>
+
+<p>"I am much changed," answered the stranger, in a deep,
+mellifluous voice, that reminded the hearer of sweet, solemn
+church music.</p>
+
+<p>"Changed! Why, you left us a mere stripling! You return
+to us a mature man. To all appearance, you might be
+the father of the boy who went away," said the minister, still
+gazing upon the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet the time has not been long; though indeed I have
+lived much in that period," said the traveler, in the same rich,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+deep tone, and with a smile that rendered his worn face bright
+and handsome for the moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am delighted to see you. But how is it that I
+have this joyful surprise?" inquired the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"What brings me here, you would ask; and why did I not
+write and tell you that I was coming?" said Hartman, with an
+odd smile. "Well, I will explain. When I got your letter
+acknowledging the receipt of the last remittance I sent to you
+for my children, I learned for the first time by that same letter
+that my boy would graduate at this Commencement, and
+hoped to take the highest honors of his college. Well, a
+steamer was to sail at noon that very day. I thought I would
+like to be present at the Commencement and see my boy take
+his degree. I packed my trunk in an hour, embarked in the
+'Porte d'Or' in another hour, and here I am."</p>
+
+<p>"That was prompt. When did you arrive?"</p>
+
+<p>"Our steamer reached New York on Thursday noon. I
+took the night train for Washington, where I arrived at five
+on Friday morning. I took the morning boat for Aquia
+Creek, and the train for Richmond and Charlottesville. I
+got here about noon."</p>
+
+<p>"And you have not seen your <i>protéges</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have seen my boy pass the hotel twice to-day. I
+knew him by his likeness to his unfortunate father. But I
+did not make myself known to him. I do not intend to do
+so&mdash;at least not at present."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" echoed Hartman, sorrowfully. "Ah, would
+he not shrink from me in disgust and abhorrence?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; not if he were told the awful injustice that has been
+done you."</p>
+
+<p>"But if he were told, would he believe it? We have no
+proof that any injustice has been done me, except those anonymous
+letters and the word of that strange horseman who
+waylaid me on my tramp and thrust a bag of gold in my
+hands, with the words, 'You never intended to kill Henry
+Lytton, and you never killed him. Some one else intended
+to kill him, and some one else killed him.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Have you ever heard anything more of that mysterious
+horseman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not one word."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you no suspicion of his identity?"</p>
+
+<p>"None, beyond the strong conviction that I feel that he
+himself was the homicide and the writer of the anonymous
+letters."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can not tell you why, but I always felt persuaded
+of your innocence, even before the coming of those anonymous
+letters, and even while <i>you</i> were bitterly accusing yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"You knew it from intuition&mdash;inward teaching."</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask you, Hartman, <i>why</i> after you discovered that
+you had nothing to do with the death of Henry Lytton, you
+still determined to burden yourself with the support and education
+of his children&mdash;a duty that was first assumed by you
+as an atonement for an irreparable injury you supposed you
+had done them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why I still resolved to care for them after I learned that
+I had nothing to do with their great loss? Indeed I can not
+tell you. Perhaps&mdash;partly because I sympathized with them
+in a sorrow that was common to us all, in so far as we all
+suffered from the same cause; partly, I also think, because it
+was pleasant to have <i>some one</i> to live for and work for; partly
+because I was so grateful to find myself free from blood guiltiness
+that I wished to educate those children as a thank-offering
+to Heaven! It was also very pleasant to me to think of
+this boy at college and this girl at school, and to hope that
+some day they might come to look upon me with affection instead
+of with horror. And then I took so much pride in talking
+to my brother miners about my son at the University and
+my daughter at the Academy! And then, again, your letters&mdash;every
+one of them telling of the progress my children made
+and the credit they were doing me. I tell you, sir, all this
+was a great comfort to me, and made me feel at home in this
+strange, lonesome world," said the exile, warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Hartman, you have a noble soul! You must have made
+a very great pecuniary sacrifice for the sake of these young
+people," said the minister, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; no sacrifice at all. That was the strangest part
+of it; for it seemed to me the more I gave the more I had."</p>
+
+<p>"How was that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how it was, sir; but such was the fact. But
+I will tell you what I do know."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, tell me, Hartman."</p>
+
+<p>"You may remember, Mr. Lyle, that when I told you I
+was going back to California I explained to you that I knew
+a place where I felt sure money was to be made."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir, the place was a gully at the foot of a certain
+spur of the mountains, called the Red Cleft. Now, at that
+time I knew very little of geology. I know more now. Also,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+I had had but little experience in mining; and, moreover,
+whenever I mentioned Red Ridge I was simply laughed at by
+my mates. I was laughed out of giving the place a fair trial.
+But even after I left the Gold State the idea of the treasure
+hidden in the gully at the foot of Red Ridge haunted me day
+and night, something always prompting me to go back there
+and dig. Sir, it was intuition&mdash;inward teaching. When I
+went back to California I made for Red Ridge. Sir, when I
+first went to Red Ridge I dug there eight weeks without finding
+gold. That was the time my mates laughed at me. When
+I next went back&mdash;the time I now speak of&mdash;I worked four
+hours and then struck&mdash;struck one of the best paying mines
+in the Gold State. It is worked by a company now, but I
+have half of all the shares."</p>
+
+<p>"You have been wonderfully blessed and prospered, Hartman."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the traveler, reverently bowing his head; "for
+their sakes, I have."</p>
+
+<p>"And for your own, I trust, Hartman."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lyle&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Hartman."</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask you a favor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly you may."</p>
+
+<p>"You addressed all your letters to me under the name of
+Joseph Brent."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly&mdash;at your request."</p>
+
+<p>"Continue, then, to call me Joseph Brent. That name is
+mine by act of legislature."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I have a still better claim. It was the name of
+my grandfather&mdash;my mother's father. It was also the name
+of his eldest son, my uncle, who died recently a bachelor, in
+the State of Missouri, and left me his farm there, on condition
+that I should take his name. I was more anxious to have his
+name than his estate. So I applied to the legislature, and the
+name that I had borrowed so long became my own of right."</p>
+
+<p>"So I am to introduce you to my young friends as Mr. Joseph
+Brent?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if you please. Let the name of poor Victor Hartman
+sink quietly into the grave. And do not let them know
+that I was Victor Hartman, or that Joseph Brent was ever
+their benefactor," said the exile, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"I will keep your counsel so long as you require me to do
+so, hoping that the time may speedily come when all shall be
+made as clear to these young people as it is to me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now when will you introduce me to my children?"</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow, after the ceremonies are concluded. But, my
+friend, it is a little strange to hear you call these grown-up
+young people your children, when you yourself can be but
+little older than the young man."</p>
+
+<p>"In years, yes. But in long experience, suffering, thought,
+how much older I am than he is! You yourself said that, to
+all outward appearance, I might be the father of the boy who
+went away two years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, for you are very much changed&mdash;not only in your
+person, but in dress and address."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean that I speak a little more correctly than I used
+to do? Well, sir, in these two years all the time that was not
+spent in work was spent in study. Or, rather, as study was to
+me the hardest sort of work, it would be most accurate to say
+all the time not spent by me in manual was spent in mental
+labor. I had had a good public-school education in my boyhood.
+I wished to recover all I had lost, and to add to it.
+You see, Mr. Lyle, I did not want my boy and girl to be
+ashamed of me when, if ever, we should meet as friends," said
+Hartman, with his old smile.</p>
+
+<p>"That they could never be. Any other than grateful and
+affectionate they could never be to you&mdash;if I know them."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that too. I believe my children will love me
+when they understand all."</p>
+
+<p>"Be sure they will. But, Hartman&mdash;by the way, I like the
+name of Hartman, and I hope you will let me use it when we
+are alone, on condition that I promise never to use it when we
+are in company."</p>
+
+<p>"As you please, Mr. Lyle."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Hartman, I was about to say that when I hear you
+speak of Henry Lytton's son and daughter as your boy and
+girl, the wonder comes over me as to whether you never think
+of marriage&mdash;of a wife and children of your own."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lyle, since my mother went away to heaven I have
+never felt any interest in any woman on earth. I have been
+interested in some girls, but they happened to be children:
+and I could count them with the fingers of one hand and have
+a finger or two left over. Let me see," said Hartman, with
+his odd smile. "First there was Sal's Kid."</p>
+
+<p>"Sal's Kid?" echoed the minister, who had never heard
+the name before, but thought it a very eccentric one.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Sal's Kid&mdash;a wild-eyed, elf-locked, olive-skinned
+little imp, nameless, but nicknamed Sal's Kid, who lived in
+a gutter called Rat Alley, down by the water-side in New<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+York. I used to be fond of the child when I was cook's galley-boy,
+and our ship was in port there. I haven't seen her
+for ten years, yet I've never forgotten her. And I would give
+a great deal to know whatever became of Sal's Kid. Probably
+she has gone the way of the rest. They were all beggars,
+thieves, or worse," added Hartman, with a deep sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"And the next?" inquired the minister, with a wish to recall
+his visitor from sorrowful thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"The next girl that interested me," continued Hartman,
+looking up with a bright smile, as at the recollection of some
+celestial vision, "was as different from this one as the purest
+diamond from a lump of charcoal. She was a radiant blonde,
+with golden hair and sapphire eyes and a blooming complexion.
+In the darkest hour of my life she appeared to me a
+heavenly messenger! They were leading me from the Court
+House to the jail, after my sentence. I was passing amid the
+hooting crowd, bowed down with despair, when this fair vision
+beamed upon me and dispersed the furies. She looked at
+me with heavenly pity in her eyes. She spoke to me and told
+me to pray, and said that she too would pray for me. At her
+look and voice the jeering crowd fell back in silence. I
+thought of that picture of Doré's where the celestial visitant
+dispersed the fiends. I have never, never seen her since."</p>
+
+<p>"And you do not know who she was?"</p>
+
+<p>"Her companions called her 'Emma.' That is all I
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"The third girl in whom you became interested?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is my child Laura Lytton, whom I have never seen.
+During the weeks I was in Mr. Lytton's law office I never
+once beheld his son or daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Then personally you are a stranger to both?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, personally I am a stranger to both. But to-morrow
+I hope to know them, although I can not be perfectly made
+known to them. Remember, Mr. Lyle, I do not wish them
+to know that I was ever Victor Hartman, or that Joseph
+Brent was ever their benefactor."</p>
+
+<p>"I will remember your caution. But I will hope, as I said
+before, for the time when they shall know and esteem you as
+I know and esteem you."</p>
+
+<p>"Your confidence in me has been, and is, one of my greatest
+earthly supports," said Hartman, earnestly, as he arose to
+bid his friend good-night.</p>
+
+<p>Long after his visitor had left him, Mr. Lyle sat at his
+window in an attitude of deep thought.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The unexpected meeting with Victor Hartman had deprived
+him of all power or wish to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>He sat at the window watching the crowd that thronged the
+village streets with his outward eyes, but reviewing all the
+past with his inner vision. It was long after midnight before
+he retired.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XVII" id="Chapter_XVII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XVII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>VICTOR MEETS "HIS CHILDREN."</h3>
+
+<p>The next morning revealed the full measure of the crowd
+that filled the little country town to overflowing. And
+the road leading from the village westward to the University
+was crowded with foot-passengers, horsemen and carriages of
+every description.</p>
+
+<p>Those who had no reserved seats set out early, to secure the
+most eligible of the unreserved places.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremonies were to commence at twelve noon.</p>
+
+<p>Our party, consisting of Emma Cavendish, Laura Lytton,
+Electra Coroni, Mrs. Fanning, Mrs. Wheatfield and Dr. Jones
+occupied the whole of the third form from the front.</p>
+
+<p>They were in their places just a few moments before the
+overture was played.</p>
+
+<p>The hall was crowded to overflowing. Not only was every
+form filled, but chairs had to be set in the space between the
+audience and the orchestra, and also in the middle and side
+aisles, to accommodate ladies who could not otherwise be
+seated; while every foot of standing room was occupied by
+gentlemen.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle had given up his seat next to Laura Lytton in
+favor of a lady, and had explained to his party that he had a
+friend from San Francisco who was present and with whom he
+could stand up.</p>
+
+<p>And he went away and took up his position in a corner below
+the platform, beside Victor Hartman, but entirely out of
+the range of his party's vision.</p>
+
+<p>I will not weary my readers with any detailed account of
+this Commencement, which resembled all other college commencements
+in being most interesting to those most concerned.</p>
+
+<p>There was an overture from a new opera.</p>
+
+<p>Then there was an opening oration by one of the learned
+professors of the University, which was voted by the savants
+to be a masterpiece of erudition and eloquence, but which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+young people present found intolerably dull and stupid. And
+when the great man sat down a storm of applause followed
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Then ensued the usual alternation of opera music and orations.</p>
+
+<p>And the young people listened to the opera music, and
+yawned behind their fans over the orations.</p>
+
+<p>And the savants gave heed to the orations, and closed their
+senses, if not their ears, to the music.</p>
+
+<p>At length the time for the distribution of the diplomas arrived,
+and the names of the successful graduates were called
+out, and each in turn went up to receive his diploma and
+make the customary deep bow, first to the faculty and then
+to the audience.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed the offertory of beautiful bouquets and baskets
+of flowers from friends to the graduates. But the most
+beautiful offering there was a basket of delicate silver wire
+filled with fragrant pure white lilies sent by Emma Cavendish
+to Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>Laura Lytton, in a patriotic mood, sent a bouquet composed
+of red, white and blue flowers only.</p>
+
+<p>The other ladies of the party sent baskets of geraniums.</p>
+
+<p>The valedictory address was delivered by Alden Lytton,
+who had, besides, taken the highest honors of the college.</p>
+
+<p>His address was pronounced to be a great success. And his
+retiring bow was followed by thunders of applause from the
+audience.</p>
+
+<p>There were several proud and happy fathers there that day;
+but perhaps the proudest and the happiest man present was
+Victor Hartman.</p>
+
+<p>With tearful eyes and tremulous tones he said, as he grasped
+Mr. Lyle's arm:</p>
+
+<p>"My boy pays me for all&mdash;my boy pays me for all! He is
+a grand fellow!"</p>
+
+<p>The people were all going out then.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Mr. Lyle, himself moved by the generous
+emotion of Victor. "Come, let me introduce you to your
+boy."</p>
+
+<p>"No, not now. Let me go away by myself for a little
+while. I will see you an hour later at the hotel," said Hartman,
+as he wrung his friend's hand and turned away.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle joined his party, with whom he found the most
+honored graduate of the day, who was holding his silver basket
+of lilies in his hand and warmly thanking the fair donor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle shook hands with Alden and heartily congratulated
+him on his collegiate honors, adding:</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see you on the Bench yet, Mr. Lytton."</p>
+
+<p>Alden bowed and laughingly replied that he should feel it
+to be his sacred duty to get there, if he could, in order to justify
+his friend's good opinion.</p>
+
+<p>"But what have you done with your Californian, Mr.
+Lyle?" inquired Laura Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"Sent him back to his hotel. By the way, ladies, he is a
+stranger here. Will you permit me to bring him to see you
+this evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Mr. Lyle," promptly replied Emma Cavendish,
+speaking for all.</p>
+
+<p>But then she gave a questioning glance toward her aunt,
+the chaperon of the party.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," said Mrs. Fanning, in answer to that glance.
+"Of course the Reverend Mr. Lyle's introduction is a sufficient
+passport for any gentleman to any lady's acquaintance."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle bowed and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will bring him at eight o'clock this evening."</p>
+
+<p>And, with another bow, he also left the party and hurried
+off to the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>That evening, at eight o'clock, the three young ladies were
+seated alone together in the front drawing-room of their
+boarding-house. Their elderly friends were not present.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones was dining at the college with Alden Lytton and
+his fellow-graduates.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Fanning, fatigued with the day's excitement, had retired
+to a dressing-gown and sofa in her own room.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Wheatfield was in consultation with her book concerning
+the next day's bill of fare.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the three beauties were left together, and very beautiful
+they looked.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish, the "radiant blonde, with the golden
+hair and sapphire eyes and blooming complexion," was dressed
+in fine pure white tulle, with light-blue ribbons.</p>
+
+<p>Electra, the wild-eyed, black-haired, damask-cheeked brunette,
+was dressed in a maize-colored silk, with black lace
+trimmings.</p>
+
+<p>Laura Lytton, the stout, wholesome, brown-haired and
+brown-eyed lassie, wore a blue <i>barége</i> trimmed, like Electra's
+dress, with black lace.</p>
+
+<p>The room was brilliant with gas-light, and they were waiting
+for their friends and visitors.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones had promised to return, and bring Alden with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+him, by eight o'clock at latest. And Mr. Lyle had promised
+to come and bring "the Californian."</p>
+
+<p>The clock struck eight and with dramatic punctuality the
+bell rang.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment the little page of the establishment opened
+the drawing-room door and announced:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lyle and a gemman."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XVIII" id="Chapter_XVIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XVIII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>AN INTRODUCTION.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The three young ladies looked up, to see Mr. Lyle enter
+the room, accompanied by a tall, finely-formed, dark-complexioned
+man, with deep dark eyes, and black hair and
+full black beard, both lightly streaked with silver, which, together
+with a slight stoop, gave him the appearance of being
+much older than he really was.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle bowed to the young ladies, and then, taking his
+companion up to Emma Cavendish, he said, with old-fashioned
+formality:</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Cavendish, permit me to present to you my friend
+Mr. Brent, of San Francisco."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to see you, Mr. Brent," said the young lady,
+with a graceful bend of her fair head.</p>
+
+<p>But in an instant the Californian seemed to have lost his
+self-possession.</p>
+
+<p>He stared for a moment almost rudely at the young lady:
+he turned red and pale, drew a long breath; then, with an
+effort, recovered himself and bowed deeply.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cavendish was surprised; but she was too polite and
+self-possessed to let her surprise appear. She mentally ascribed
+the disturbance of her visitor to some passing cause.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle, who had not noticed his companion's agitation,
+now presented him to Laura Lytton and to Electra Coroni.</p>
+
+<p>To Laura he bowed gravely and calmly.</p>
+
+<p>But when he met the wild eyes of Electra he started violently
+and exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Sal's&mdash;" then stopped abruptly, bowed and took the chair
+that his friend placed for him.</p>
+
+<p>He sat in perfect silence, while Emma Cavendish, pitying,
+without understanding, his awkwardness, tried to make conversation
+by introducing the subject of California and the
+gold mines.</p>
+
+<p>But Victor Hartman replied with an effort, and frequently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+and furtively looked at Emma, and looked at Electra, and
+then put his hand to his head in a perplexed manner.</p>
+
+<p>At length his embarrassment became obvious even to unobservant
+Mr. Lyle, who longed for an opportunity of asking
+him what the matter was.</p>
+
+<p>But before that opportunity came there was another ring
+at the street door-bell, followed by the entrance of Dr. Jones
+and Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>The last-comers greeted the young ladies and Mr. Lyle,
+and acknowledged the presence of the stranger with a distant
+bow.</p>
+
+<p>But then Mr. Lyle arose and asked permission to introduce
+his friend Mr. Brent, of California.</p>
+
+<p>And Dr. Jones and Mr. Lytton shook hands with the Californian
+and welcomed him to Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>Then Alden Lytton, who had some dim dreams of going to
+California to commence life, with the idea of one day becoming
+Chief Justice of the State, began to draw the stranger out
+on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>Victor Hartman, the unknown and unsuspected benefactor,
+delighted to make the acquaintance of "his boy," and, to learn
+all his half-formed wishes and purposes, talked freely and
+enthusiastically of the Gold State and its resources and prospects.</p>
+
+<p>"If all that I have heard about the condition of society out
+there be true, however, it must be a much better place for
+farmers and mechanics, tradesmen and laborers, than for professional
+men."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you heard, then, of the condition of society
+out there?" inquired Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I have heard that the climate is so healthy that the
+well who go there never get sick, and the sick who go there
+get well without the doctor's help. And, furthermore, that
+all disputes are settled by the fists, the bowie-knife, or the revolver,
+without the help of lawyer, judge or jury! So, you
+see, if all that is told of it is true, it is a bad place for lawyers
+and doctors."</p>
+
+<p>"'If all that is told of it is true?' There is not a word of
+it true! It is all an unpardonable fabrication," said Victor
+Hartman, so indignantly and solemnly that Alden burst out
+laughing as he answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, of course I know it is an exaggeration! I did think
+of trying my fortune in the Gold State; but upon reflection I
+have decided to devote my poor talents to my mother state,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+Virginia. And not until she practically disowns me will I
+desert her."</p>
+
+<p>"Well said, my dear bo&mdash;I mean Mr. Lytton!" assented
+the Californian.</p>
+
+<p>He had begun heartily, but ended by correcting himself
+with some embarrassment.</p>
+
+<p>Alden looked up for an instant, a little surprised by his
+disturbance; but ascribed it to the awkwardness of a man
+long debarred from ladies' society, as this miner seemed to
+have been.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually Victor Hartman recovered his composure and
+talked intelligently and fluently upon the subject of gold mining,
+Chinese emigration, and so forth.</p>
+
+<p>Only when he would chance to meet the full gaze of Electra's
+"wild eyes," or catch the tones of Emma's mellifluous
+voice, then, indeed, he would show signs of disturbance. He
+would look or listen, and put his hand to his forehead with
+an expression of painful perplexity.</p>
+
+<p>At ten o'clock the gentlemen arose to bid the young ladies
+good-night.</p>
+
+<p>It was then arranged that the whole party should visit the
+University the next day and go through all the buildings on a
+tour of inspection.</p>
+
+<p>When the visitors had gone, Electra suddenly inquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what do you think of the Californian?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think him very handsome," said Laura, "but decidedly
+the most awkward man I ever saw in all the days of my life.
+Except in the matter of his awkwardness he seems to be a
+gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is nothing! One of the most distinguished men
+I ever met in my father's house&mdash;a gentleman by birth, education
+and position, a statesman of world-wide renown&mdash;was
+unquestionably the most awkward human being I ever saw in
+my life. He knew very well how to manage men and nations,
+but he never knew what to do with his feet and hands: he
+kept shuffling them about in the most nervous and distracting
+manner," said Emma Cavendish, in behalf of the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"Somehow or other that man's face haunts me like a
+ghost," mused Electra, dreamily.</p>
+
+<p>"So it does me," quickly spoke Emma. "I feel sure that
+I have met those sad, wistful dark eyes <i>somewhere</i> before."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you both what. Whether you have ever met him
+before or not, he <i>thinks</i> he has seen you. He seemed to me
+to be trying to recollect <i>where</i> all the evening," said Laura
+Lytton, with her air of positiveness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then that might account for his awkwardness and embarrassment,"
+added Emma.</p>
+
+<p>"But he is certainly very handsome," concluded Electra,
+as she took her candle to retire.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the four gentlemen walked down the street together
+to a corner, where they bade each other good-night and
+separated&mdash;Dr. Jones and Alden Lytton to walk out to the
+University, and Mr. Lyle and Victor Hartman to go to their
+hotel.</p>
+
+<p>"What on earth was the matter with you, Victor?" inquired
+Mr. Lyle, as they walked on together.</p>
+
+<p>"What?" exclaimed Hartman, under his breath, and stopping
+short in the street.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, what! I never saw a man so upset without an adequate
+cause in all my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't let us go into the house yet," said Victor; for they
+were now before the door of the hotel. "It is only ten
+o'clock, and a fine night. Take a turn with me down some
+quiet street, and I will tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Willingly," agreed Mr. Lyle; and they walked past the
+hotel and out toward the suburbs of the little town.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lyle, I have seen them both!" exclaimed Victor, when
+they were out of hearing of every one else.</p>
+
+<p>"Both? Whom have you seen, Hartman?" inquired the
+minister a little uneasily, as if he feared his companion was
+not quite sane.</p>
+
+<p>"First, I have seen again the heavenly vision that appeared
+and dispersed the furies from around me on that dark day
+when I passed, a condemned criminal, from the Court House
+to the jail," replied Victor Hartman, with emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Hartman, my poor fellow, are you mad?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but it was enough to make me so. To meet one of
+them, whom I never expected to see again in this world, would
+have been enough to upset me for a while; but to meet both,
+and to meet them together, who were so widely apart in place
+and in rank, I tell you it was bewildering! I felt as if I was
+under the influence of opium and in a delightful dream from
+which I should soon awake. I did not quite believe it all to
+be real. I do not quite believe it to be so yet. Have I seen
+that celestial visitant again?" he inquired, putting his hand
+to his head in the same confused manner.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, which one of these young ladies do you take to
+have been your 'celestial visitant,' as you most absurdly call
+her?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the fair, golden-haired, azure-eyed angel, robed so
+appropriately in pure white!"</p>
+
+<p>"That was Miss Emma Cavendish," said Mr. Lyle, very
+uneasily; "and you talk of her like a lover, Hartman&mdash;and
+like a very mad lover too! But oh, I earnestly implore you,
+do not become so very mad, so frenzied as to let yourself love
+Emma Cavendish! By birth, education and fortune she is
+one of the first young ladies in the country, and a bride for a
+prince. Do not, I conjure you, think of loving her yourself!"</p>
+
+<p>Victor Hartman laughed a little light laugh, that seemed
+to do him good, as he answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be afraid. I worship her too much to think of
+loving her in the way you mean. And, besides, if I am not
+greatly mistaken, <i>my boy</i> has been before me."</p>
+
+<p>"Alden Lytton?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. I saw it all. I was too much interested not to
+see it. My boy and my angel like one another. Heaven
+bless them both! They are worthy of each other. They will
+make a fine pair. He so handsome; she so beautiful! He so
+talented; she so lovely! His family is quite as good as hers.
+And as for a fortune, his shall equal hers!" said Victor,
+warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you give away all your wealth to make your 'boy'
+happy?" inquired Mr. Lyle, with some emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"No! The Red Cleft mine is not so easily exhausted.
+Besides, in any case, I should save something for my girl
+She must have a marriage portion too!"</p>
+
+<p>"You really ought to have a guardian appointed by the
+court to take care of you and your money, Victor. You will
+give it all away. And, seriously, it grieves me to see you so
+inclined to rob yourself so heavily to enrich others, even such
+as these excellent young people," said Mr. Lyle, with feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"Be easy! When I have enriched them both I shall still
+have an unexhausted gold mine! By the way, parson&mdash;parson!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Hartman?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw something else beside the love between my angel
+and my boy. I saw&mdash;saw a certain liking between my girl
+and my friend."</p>
+
+<p>If the bright starlight had been bright enough Victor Hartman
+might have seen the vivid blush that mantled all over
+the ingenuous face of Stephen Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly admire Miss Lytton very much. She is a genuine
+girl," said Mr. Lyle, as composedly as if his face was not
+crimson.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And I see she certainly admires you very much. She evidently
+thinks you are a genuine man. So, my dear friend,
+go in and win. And my girl shall not miss her marriage portion,"
+said Hartman, cordially.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle was beginning to feel a little embarrassed at the
+turn the conversation had taken, so he hastened to change it
+by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"You told me that you had met them <i>both</i> whom you
+never had expected to see again in this world. One was Miss
+Cavendish, your 'heavenly vision;' who was the other?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can you be at a loss to know? There were but three
+young ladies present. My own girl, whom I went to see and
+did expect to meet; Miss Cavendish, whom you have just
+identified as one of the two alluded to, and the brilliant little
+creature whom you introduced by a heathenish sort of name
+which I have forgotten."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Electra?"</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, that was the name; but however you call her, I
+knew her in Rat Alley as Sal's Kid."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, stopping short and trying
+to gaze through the darkness into the face of his companion;
+for Mr. Lyle had never happened to hear of the strange vicissitudes
+of Electra's childhood.</p>
+
+<p>"She is Sal's Kid, I do assure you. Her face is too unique
+ever to be mistaken. I could never forget or fail to recognize
+those flashing eyes and gleaming teeth. And, I tell you, I
+would rather have found her again as I found her to-night
+than have discovered another gold mine as rich as that of
+Red Cleft."</p>
+
+<p>"Hartman, you were never more deceived in your life.
+That young lady, Electra Coroni, is the granddaughter of Dr.
+Beresford Jones, and is the sole heiress of Beresford Manors.
+She was educated at the Mount Ascension Academy for
+Young Ladies in this State, from which she has just graduated."</p>
+
+<p>"Whoever she is, or whatever she is, or wherever she lives
+now, when I knew her she was Sal's Kid, and lived in Rat
+Alley, New York. And she knew me as Galley Vick, the
+ship cook's boy."</p>
+
+<p>"Hartman, you have certainly 'got a bee in your bonnet!'"</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see. She almost recognized me to-night. She
+will quite know me soon," answered Victor, as they turned
+their steps toward their hotel.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XIX" id="Chapter_XIX"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XIX.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>VICTOR AND ELECTRA.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockw">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Heaven has to all allotted, soon or late,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Some lucky revolution of their fate;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whose motions, if we watch and guide with skill&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For human good depends on human will&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Our fortune rolls as from a smooth descent,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And from a first impression takes its bent;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But if unseized, she glides away like wind,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And leaves repenting folly far behind,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Now, now she meets you with a glorious prize,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And spreads her locks before her as she flies.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Dryden.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>The next morning at the appointed hour the Rev. Mr.
+Lyle and Victor Hartman left their hotel together and
+went to Mrs. Wheatfield's, to escort the ladies to the University,
+where Dr. Jones and Alden Lytton were to meet them
+and introduce them to the president. The two gentlemen
+found the young ladies already dressed and waiting.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cavendish explained that her aunt did not care about
+seeing more of the University than she had already seen, and
+preferred to remain in the house with the bishop's widow and
+rest that day.</p>
+
+<p>And so, under the circumstances, they&mdash;Miss Cavendish
+and her young friends&mdash;had decided not to have a carriage,
+but to take advantage of the fine morning and walk the short
+mile that lay between the village and its great seat of learning.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could have pleased their escorts better than this
+plan.</p>
+
+<p>And soon they&mdash;the party of five&mdash;set out upon the pleasant
+country road that led out to the University.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish and Laura Lytton led the way, and by
+Laura's side walked the Rev. Mr. Lyle. Electra dropped a
+little behind, and was attended by Victor Hartman.</p>
+
+<p>They talked of the fine morning and of the beautiful country,
+of the grand Commencement of the preceding day and of
+the University they were going to see; but they talked in an
+absent-minded manner, as if, indeed, they were both thinking
+of something else.</p>
+
+<p>This lasted until they were half-way to the place, when at
+length Electra turned suddenly upon Victor and said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Mr. Brent, that your face seems a very
+familiar one to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed!" said Victor, bending his head nearer to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed! Your face struck me as being familiar the
+first moment I saw you, and this impression has grown deeper
+every moment we have been walking together; and now I
+<i>know</i> of whom you remind me," answered Electra; and then
+she paused and looked at him.</p>
+
+<p>He made no remark.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not care to know who that was, it seems," she
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I do, I assure you, Miss Coroni, if you please to
+tell me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then you remind me of a poor lad whom I once knew
+and liked very much in New York, when I was as poor as
+himself," said Electra, meaningly.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very kind of you to remember the poor lad after so
+many years and so many changes," replied Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if that poor lad ever thinks of <i>me</i>, 'after so
+many years and so many changes?'" murmured Electra,
+musingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Tell me his name, and then perhaps I can
+answer your question. I have roamed around the world a
+good deal and seen a great many different sorts of people.
+Who knows but I may have met your poor lad? Let us have
+his name," said Victor, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>They were both, to use a household phrase, "beating about
+the bush."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he was too poor to own a name! But he was cook's
+boy on board a merchantman, and they called him 'Galley
+Vick.' I never knew him by any other name. Did you ever
+see him at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I've seen him! A good-for-nothing little vagabond
+he was! No, I don't suppose he ever dares to think
+about such a fine young lady as you are. But he cherishes
+the memory of a poor little girl he once knew in Rat Alley,
+New York. And only the day before yesterday, when I happened
+to be with him, he was saying how much he would give
+to know what had become of that poor little girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was very nice of him to remember her," said Electra,
+musingly.</p>
+
+<p>"You say that you knew the poor lad in New York. Perhaps,
+as they were so much together, you may have known the
+poor little girl also?" said Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"I can not tell you unless you give me her name. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+were so many poor little girls in New York," answered Electra,
+shaking her head.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>She</i>, like the boy, was too poor then to own a name.
+They called her 'Sal's Kid.' I never knew her by any other
+name," answered Victor.</p>
+
+<p>And then their eyes met, and both laughed and impulsively
+put out their hands, which were then clasped together.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew you at the very first sight, Vick," said Electra,
+giving full way to her feelings of pleasure in meeting her old
+playmate again.</p>
+
+<p>"And so did I you. Heaven bless you, child! I am so
+happy and thankful to find you here, so healthy and prosperous.
+You were a sickly, poor little thing when I knew you,"
+said Victor, with much emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"I was a famished poor little thing, you mean, food has
+made all the difference, Victor," laughed Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Joseph Brent, my dear," said Hartman, who
+almost trembled to hear the old name spoken.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but Sal's Kid knew you only as Galley Vick. I
+thought Vick was the short for Victor. But it seems you
+really had a name all the time as well as I had, though neither
+of us suspected we possessed such an appendage."</p>
+
+<p>Hartman bowed in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"And now I suppose you would like to know how it happens
+that you find poor little ragged, famished, sickly Sal's
+Kid, who used to live in Rat Alley among thieves and tramps,
+here&mdash;well lodged, well dressed and in good company?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I really would."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it was 'all along of' a grandfather."</p>
+
+<p>"A grandfather!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a grandfather. I really had a grandfather! And I
+have him still. And you have seen him, and his name is Dr.
+Beresford Jones. And, moreover, I had a great-grandfather
+back of <i>him</i>; and also forefathers behind <i>them</i>, and ancestors
+extending away back to antiquity. In fact, I think they ran
+away back to Adam!"</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say they did," answered Victor, with a smile;
+"but tell me about that grandfather."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you must know that he was wealthy. He owned
+Beresford Manors. He had one child, 'sole daughter of the
+house.' She married a poor young Italian music-master
+against her father's will. Her father cast her off. Her husband
+took her to New York, where they fell by degrees into
+the deepest destitution. They both died of cholera, leaving
+me to the care of the miserable beings who were their fellow-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>lodgers
+in the old tenement house. I believe I was passed
+from the hands of one beggar to those of another, until my
+identity was lost and my real name forgotten. But I do not
+clearly remember any of my owners except Sal. And I was
+called 'Sal's Kid.'"</p>
+
+<p>"It was then I knew you," said Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"So it was. Well, you know all about that period. It
+was soon after you went to sea that Sal's husband, being mad
+with drink and jealousy, struck his wife a fatal blow and
+killed her."</p>
+
+<p>"Horrible!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, horrible! I have heard since that the man died of
+<i>mania-à-potu</i> in the Tombs, before his trial came on."</p>
+
+<p>"And you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was taken by the Commissioners of Charity and put into
+the Orphan Asylum at Randall's Island."</p>
+
+<p>"And how did your grandfather ever find you there, where
+your very name was lost?"</p>
+
+<p>"You may well ask that. My name was lost. I suppose,
+hearing me called Sal's Kid, they mistook that for Sal Kidd.
+Any way they registered my name on the books of the Island
+as Sarah Kidd."</p>
+
+<p>Victor laughed at this piece of ingenuity on the part of the
+authorities, and again expressed wonder as to how her grandfather
+ever found her.</p>
+
+<p>"If I were a heathen, I should say he found me by chance.
+It looked like it. You see, he had met with misfortunes.
+His wife&mdash;my grandmother&mdash;died. And he was growing old,
+and his home was lonely and his life was dreary. And so he
+relented toward his poor daughter, and even toward her husband."</p>
+
+<p>"But too late!" put in Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; too late. He relented too late," sighed Electra.
+"He went to New York, where they had been living when he
+had last heard of them, and after making the most diligent
+inquiries he only learned that they had been dead several
+years, and had left an orphan girl in great destitution. Well,
+he advertised for the child, offering large rewards for her discovery."</p>
+
+<p>"But in vain, I suppose?" said Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes, in vain, for I was at Randall's Island, registered
+under another name."</p>
+
+<p>"The case seemed hopeless," said Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"Entirely hopeless. And then, partly from his disappointment
+and partly from seeing so much of suffering among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+children, he became a sort of city missionary. It was in his
+character of missionary that he went one day to an examination
+of the pupils of the girls' school on Randall's Island.
+There he saw me, and recognized me by my striking likeness
+to my mother. Indeed he has since told me that I am a
+counterpart of what my mother was at my age."</p>
+
+<p>"And your face is such a very peculiar and, I may say,
+unique face, that the likeness could not have been accidental,
+I suppose," observed Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what he thought. Well, without saying a word
+to me then of his recognition, he commenced with the slight
+clew that he had in his hands and pursued investigations that
+in a few days proved me to be the child of Sebastian and Electra
+Coroni. Then he came to the Island and took me away,
+and put me to school at Mount Ascension. There I made the
+acquaintance of the young lady friend that I am now staying
+with. Miss Cavendish is my cousin. Last month I graduated
+from Mount Ascension. And on the first of next month I am
+going to Beresford Manors, to commence my new life there as
+my grandfather's housekeeper. And, Victor&mdash;I beg your pardon!&mdash;Mr.
+Brent, I hope that you will come and visit us
+there," concluded Electra, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"But how would your grandfather, Dr. Beresford Jones of
+Beresford Manors, take a visit from a poor adventurer like
+me?" inquired Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"He will take it very kindly; for he also will ask you to
+come," said Electra.</p>
+
+<p>Victor bowed and walked on in silence.</p>
+
+<p>Electra spoke again:</p>
+
+<p>"I have told you without reserve how it was that I was so
+suddenly raised from extreme poverty to wealth, and now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She paused and looked at her companion.</p>
+
+<p>"And now you want to know how I came by my fortune?"
+smilingly inquired Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course I do," answered Electra.</p>
+
+<p>"The explanation is short and simple enough. I became
+suddenly rich, as some few other poor vagabonds have, by a
+fortunate stroke of the pick&mdash;by a California gold mine,"
+quietly answered Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Electra.</p>
+
+<p>And she stopped and put him away from her a step, and
+stood and stared at him.</p>
+
+<p>Victor laughed. And then they went on, for their companions
+were at the gates of the University, waiting for them
+to come along.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They entered the beautiful grounds occupied by the extensive
+buildings of the University, and where several of the professors,
+as well as a few of the students who had not yet left
+for the vacation, were taking their morning walks.</p>
+
+<p>The visitors were soon met by Dr. Jones and Alden Lytton,
+who came up together to welcome them.</p>
+
+<p>After the usual greetings, Alden introduced his party to
+several of the professors, who received them with great courtesy,
+and attended them through the various buildings, pointing
+out to them the most notable objects of interest, and entertaining
+them with the history, statistics and anecdotes of
+the institution.</p>
+
+<p>They were taken into the various libraries, where they saw
+collected vast numbers of the most valuable books, among
+which were a few very unique black letter and illuminated
+volumes of great antiquity.</p>
+
+<p>They were then led into the several halls, where were collected
+costly astronomical and chemical apparatus.</p>
+
+<p>And finally they visited the museum, filled with cabinets of
+minerals, shells, woods, fossils, and so forth.</p>
+
+<p>And after an interesting but very fatiguing tour of inspection,
+that occupied four hours, they were invited to rest in the
+house of one of the professors, where they were refreshed with
+a dainty lunch, after which they returned to the village.</p>
+
+<p>And the evening was spent socially in Mrs. Wheatfield's
+drawing-room.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XX" id="Chapter_XX"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XX.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A SURPRISE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the course of that evening they were surprised by a visit.
+It was from Mr. Craven Kyte, who came to call on Miss
+Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>He was invited into the drawing-room and introduced to
+the whole party.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Kyte was in the deepest state of despondency.</p>
+
+<p>He told Miss Emma that a few days previous he had received
+a letter from Mrs. Grey, saying that she was about to
+leave Charlottesville for a little while, in order to give up her
+rooms to Miss Cavendish and her party, and that she did not
+know exactly where she should go, but that she would write
+and tell him as soon as she should get settled.</p>
+
+<p>"And since that, Miss Emma, I have not heard one word
+from her, nor do I know where she is, or how she is, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+how to find out," concluded Mr. Kyte, in the most dejected
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"How long has it been, Mr. Kyte?" inquired Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"Five days," answered the young man, as solemnly as if he
+had said five years.</p>
+
+<p>"That is but a short time. I do not think you have cause
+to be anxious yet awhile," said Emma, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"But you haven't heard from her yourself even, have you,
+Miss Emma?" he anxiously inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not, else I should have told you at once," replied
+Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"For mercy's sake, you never came all the way from Wendover
+to Charlottesville to ask that question, did you, Mr.
+Kyte?" inquired irrepressible Electra, elevating her eye-brows.</p>
+
+<p>The lover, who had so unconsciously betrayed himself,
+blushed violently and stammered forth:</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;not entirely. The fact is, for more than a year past
+I have been watching and waiting for an opportunity to
+change my business from Wendover to Charlottesville. And
+I came up partly about that also. But as a&mdash;a friend of Mrs.
+Grey, I do feel anxious about her mysterious absence and
+silence."</p>
+
+<p>"I assure you, Mr. Kyte, that Mrs. Grey is quite capable
+of taking excellent care of herself," added plain-spoken Laura
+Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Mr. Kyte, cheer up! We are going on a pilgrimage
+to Monticello to-morrow and you must join our party,"
+said Miss Cavendish, kindly.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Kyte excused himself, saying that he could not
+leave his business long, and must start for Wendover the next
+morning.</p>
+
+<p>And soon after this he took leave.</p>
+
+<p>The next day was devoted by our party to a pious pilgrimage
+to the shrine of classic Monticello, once the seat, now the
+monument of Thomas Jefferson.</p>
+
+<p>The whole party, young and old, gentlemen and ladies,
+went.</p>
+
+<p>The bishop's widow forgot her housekeeping cares and took
+a holiday for that day.</p>
+
+<p>And even Mrs. Fanning, who did not care to see the great
+University, could not miss the opportunity of a pilgrimage to
+that mecca.</p>
+
+<p>The party was a large one, consisting of five ladies and four
+gentlemen.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And so it required two capacious carriages and two saddle
+horses to convey them.</p>
+
+<p>They formed quite a little procession in leaving the village.</p>
+
+<p>In the first carriage rode Mrs. Fanning, Emma Cavendish,
+Electra and Dr. Jones.</p>
+
+<p>In the second carriage rode Mrs. Wheatfield, Laura Lytton
+and Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton and Victor Hartman rode on horseback, and
+brought up the rear.</p>
+
+<p>Their way lay through the most sublime and beautiful
+mountain and valley scenery.</p>
+
+<p>Monticello is built upon a mountain, some three miles south
+of the village.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps there is no private dwelling in the whole country
+occupying a more elevated site, or commanding a more magnificent
+panorama of landscape, than Monticello.</p>
+
+<p>It is a fine country house of great architectural beauty and
+strength, built upon a lofty and slightly inclined plain, formed
+by grading the top of the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>It commands a stupendous prospect, bounded only by the
+spherical form of the earth. And standing there, with the
+earth beneath and the heavens all around, one fully realizes
+that we live upon a great planet rolling in its orbit through
+immense space.</p>
+
+<p>Our party spent a long summer's day up there in the sunshine,
+and then, after eating the luncheon they had brought
+with them, they set out on their return to the village, where
+they arrived in time for one of Mrs. Wheatfield's delicious
+early teas.</p>
+
+<p>The remaining days of the week were passed in walking,
+riding or driving to the most interesting points of the neighborhood.</p>
+
+<p>On Saturday morning they took leave of the bishop's widow
+and set out for Richmond, <i>en route</i> for Wendover and Blue
+Cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>They reached the city late on the same night, and took up
+their old quarters at the Henrico House.</p>
+
+<p>They staid over the Sabbath, and went to hear Mr. Lyle
+preach, morning and evening, to his old congregation.</p>
+
+<p>On Monday morning the whole party resumed their journey,
+and arrived at Wendover early in the afternoon of the
+same day.</p>
+
+<p>There the party were destined to divide.</p>
+
+<p>There were carriages from Blue Cliffs waiting by appointment
+at the railway station to meet Miss Cavendish and her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+friends; and there was the hack from the Reindeer Hotel for
+the accommodation of any other travelers who might require
+it.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Fanning, Emma Cavendish, Laura Lytton and Electra,
+attended by Dr. Jones and Alden Lytton, entered their
+carriages to go to Blue Cliff Hall.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle and Victor Hartman took leave of them at their
+carriage doors, saw the horses start, and then set out to walk
+together to the bachelor home of Mr. Lyle, where Hartman
+was to be a guest.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXI" id="Chapter_XXI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXI.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>AT THE PARSONAGE.</h3>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle lived in a pretty white cottage, covered nearly
+to the roof with fragrant creeping vines, and standing
+in the midst of a beautiful flower-garden.</p>
+
+<p>Here he lived his bachelor life quite alone but for the occasional
+sight of the old negro couple that were waiting on him&mdash;Aunt
+Nancy, who did all his housework, and Uncle Ned,
+who worked in the garden.</p>
+
+<p>He found the faithful old couple prepared to receive him
+and his guest.</p>
+
+<p>A tempting repast, combining the attractions of dinner and
+tea, was ready to be placed upon the table just as soon as the
+gentlemen should have made their toilets after their long
+journey.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle led his guest into a fresh, pretty room, with white
+muslin curtains at the vine-clad windows and a white dimity
+spread on the bed, and white flower enameled cottage furniture
+completing the appointments.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a room for a pretty girl rather than for a grim
+miner," said Victor Hartman, looking admiringly around the
+little apartment.</p>
+
+<p>"I call it the 'Chamber of Peace,' and that is why I put
+you in it," said Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>After they had washed and dressed they went down together
+to the cozy little dining-room, where they did such justice to
+the tea-dinner as made Aunt Nancy's heart crow for joy.</p>
+
+<p>And when that was over they went into the snug little parlor
+and sat down to talk over their plans.</p>
+
+<p>It was then that Mr. Lyle informed Victor Hartman that
+he was doing all the work of the parish during Dr. Goodwin's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+hopeless indisposition, and that he had been doing it for the
+last twelve months.</p>
+
+<p>"You will succeed him here as rector, I presume?" said
+Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"I presume so; but I do not like to speak of that," gravely
+replied Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"No, of course you do not. And I really beg your pardon.
+I should not have spoken myself, only in my girl's interests.
+You see, I felt a little curious and anxious to know where her
+future life would be likely to be passed, and I thought it
+would be a much happier life if passed here, near her dear
+friend Miss Cavendish, that's all," explained Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to consider that quite a settled matter," replied
+Mr. Lyle, a little incoherently, and blushing like a maiden.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course I consider it all quite settled! You, in
+your earnestness, can not conceal your liking for my girl, and
+she, in her innocent frankness, does not even try to conceal
+hers from you. And I heartily approve the match and am
+ready to dower the bride," said Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"But I have not ventured to speak to her yet," stammered
+Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you may do so just as soon as you please," answered
+Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"And now about Alden," said Mr. Lyle, by way of changing
+the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, now about Alden. He does not suspect that I am
+his banker, I hope?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed! I paid him over the munificent sum you
+intrusted to me for him. He feels&mdash;well, I may say painfully
+grateful, and is confident that he must some time repay you,
+with interest and compound interest."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my boy will certainly repay me, but not in the way
+he thinks," observed Victor, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"After a week's visiting with his sister at Blue Cliffs, he
+will go up to Richmond and select a site for his office and
+purchase his law library, though I think he will have to go to
+Philadelphia to do that."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose he will," admitted Hartman.</p>
+
+<p>"What are your own plans about yourself, Victor, if I may
+be allowed to ask?" inquired the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I haven't any. I came on here to see my boy and
+girl, and settle them in life as well as I can. I shall stay till
+I do that anyway. After that I don't know what I shall do.
+I do not care about going back to California. My business
+there is in the hands of a capable and trustworthy agent.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+And somehow I like the old mother State; and now that you
+lead me to think about it, perhaps I shall spend the rest of
+my life here; but, as I said before, I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, dear Victor, you spoke to me with much
+simple frankness of my most private personal affairs. May I
+take the same liberty with you?" inquired Mr. Lyle, very seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course you may, if you call it a liberty, which I
+don't, you know!" answered Victor, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, my dear Hartman, how about Miss Electra? I
+was not so absorbed in my own interests as not to have an eye
+to yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Miss Electra! Well, parson, she <i>was</i> my little old
+acquaintance of Rat Alley, when I flourished in that fragrant
+neighborhood as Galley Vick."</p>
+
+<p>"No!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, opening his eyes wide with astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," quietly answered Victor Hartman. "And it is a
+wonder that you, who know the family so well, do not know
+this episode in its history."</p>
+
+<p>"How was I to know, my friend, when no one ever told
+me? I suppose that few or none but the family know anything
+about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you are right," said Victor. "Well, you see,
+she recognized me, as surely as I did her, at first sight. We
+had an explanation as we walked out to the University that
+day."</p>
+
+<p>"But how came the granddaughter of Dr. Beresford Jones
+ever to have had such a miserable childhood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, there was a disobedient daughter, a runaway
+marriage, a profligate husband, and the consequences&mdash;poverty,
+destitution, early death, and an orphan child left
+among beggars and thieves! Her grandfather found her at
+last and took her under his guardianship. That is the whole
+story in brief."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, well!" mused Mr. Lyle, with his head on his
+breast; then, raising it, he went back to the previous question:
+"But what about Miss Electra?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have just told you about her," replied Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I know! You have told me something about
+her, but you haven't told me all. Take me into your confidence,
+Victor."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" inquired Hartman, in some embarrassment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, that you and your little old acquaintance seem to
+be very fond of each other."</p>
+
+<p>Victor laughed in an embarrassed manner, and then said:
+"Do you know that when we were in Rat Alley, and she
+was a tiny child and I was a lad, there was a promise of marriage
+between us?"</p>
+
+<p>"That was funny too! Well, what about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing. Only, if I dared, I would, some day, remind
+her of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Do, Victor! Believe me, she will not affect to have forgotten
+it," said Mr. Lyle, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but when I think of all I have passed through I
+dare not ask a beautiful and happy girl to unite her bright
+life with my blackened one! I dare not," said Hartman, very
+sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, Victor! You are morbid on that subject.
+Yours is a nobly redeemed life," said Mr. Lyle, solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;my past!" sighed Victor.</p>
+
+<p>"She had a dark past too poor child! But no more of
+that. In both your cases</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Let the dead past bury its dead!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Live&mdash;live in the living present,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Heart within and God o'erhead!'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And now it is time to retire, dear Victor. We keep early
+hours here," said Mr. Lyle, as he reached down the Bible
+from its shelf, preparatory to commencing evening service.</p>
+
+<p>Then they read the Word together, and offered up their
+prayers and thanksgivings together, and retired, strengthened.</p>
+
+<p>This week, to which Alden Lytton's holiday visit to Blue
+Cliffs was limited, was passed by the young people in a succession
+of innocent entertainments.</p>
+
+<p>First there was a garden-party and dance at Blue Cliff Hall,
+at which all the young friends and acquaintances of Miss Cavendish
+assisted, which the Rev. Dr. Jones and the Rev. Mr.
+Lyle endorsed by their presence, and in which even Victor
+Hartman forgot, for the time being, his own dark antecedents.</p>
+
+<p>Next Mr. Lyle himself opened his bachelor heart and bachelor
+home to the young folks by giving them a tea-party,
+which delighted the hearts of Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ned,
+who both declared that this looked something <i>like</i> life.</p>
+
+<p>But the third and greatest event of the week took place on
+Friday evening, when Dr. Beresford Jones gave a great house-warming
+party, on the occasion of his carrying home his
+granddaughter and sole heiress, Electra Coroni.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Not only all our own young friends, including the reverend
+clergy and the California miner, but all the neighborhood and
+all the county were there.</p>
+
+<p>And they kept up the festivities all day and well into the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish and Laura Lytton remained with Electra
+for a few days only, for Alden Lytton was to leave the neighborhood
+for Richmond on the Monday morning following
+the party at Beresford Manors.</p>
+
+<p>And during all this time no word was heard of Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>That baleful woman had heard all that had passed at Charlottesville
+and at Wendover, and her vain and jealous spirit
+was filled with such mortification and rage that she was now
+hiding herself and deeply plotting the ruin of those who had
+been her best friends and benefactors.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXII" id="Chapter_XXII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>MORE MANEUVERS OF MRS. GREY.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">She, under fair pretense of saintly ends,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And well-placed words of sweetest courtesy<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Baited with reason, not unplausible,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Glides into the easy hearts of men,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And draws them into snares.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Milton's</span> <i>Comus</i>.</div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>When Mary Grey reached Richmond she went first to a
+quiet family hotel, where she engaged a room for a few
+days.</p>
+
+<p>Then she took a carriage and drove to the rectory of old
+St. John's Church and presented her letter to the rector.</p>
+
+<p>The reverend gentleman received her very kindly and cordially,
+and glanced over her letter, saying, as he returned it
+to her:</p>
+
+<p>"But this was not at all necessary, my dear madam. I remember
+you perfectly, as a regular attendant and communicant
+of this church, while you were on a visit to the family of
+the late lamented Governor of this State."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; but then I was only a visitor at the church, just
+as I was a guest at the Government House. Now I wish to
+be a member of the church, as I intend to become a permanent
+resident of the city," Mary Grey explained, with her
+charming smile.</p>
+
+<p>The pastor expressed himself highly gratified, and <a name="Page_104t" id="Page_104t"></a><a href="#Page_104tn">added:</a></p>
+
+<p>"Your large circle of friends, that you won during your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+long visit here two or three years ago, will be delighted to hear
+of this."</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey bowed gracefully and said:</p>
+
+<p>"The pleasure, she believed, would, like the advantage, be
+mostly on her own side."</p>
+
+<p>Then she inquired of the rector&mdash;with an apology for troubling
+him with her own humble affairs&mdash;whether he could
+recommend her to any private boarding-house among the
+members of his own church, where the family were really
+earnest Christians.</p>
+
+<p>The rector could not think of any suitable place just then,
+but he begged to have the pleasure of introducing Mrs. Grey
+to his wife, who, he said, would most likely be able to advise
+her.</p>
+
+<p>And he rang the bell and sent a message to Mrs.&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;, who
+presently entered the study.</p>
+
+<p>The introduction took place, and the rector's wife received
+the visitor as cordially as the rector had.</p>
+
+<p>She knew of no boarding-house of the description required
+by Mrs. Grey, but she promised to inquire among her friends
+and let that lady know the result.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this Mrs. Grey took leave.</p>
+
+<p>Many of her former friends were, at this season of the year,
+out of town, as she felt sure; but some among them would
+probably be at home.</p>
+
+<p>So, before she returned to her hotel, she made a round of
+calls, and left her cards at about a dozen different houses.</p>
+
+<p>She then went back to her room at the hotel and spent the
+remainder of the day in unpacking and reviewing her elegant
+wardrobe.</p>
+
+<p>There was no sort of necessity for doing this, especially as
+she intended to remain but a few days at the house; and the
+operation would only give her the trouble of repacking again
+to move.</p>
+
+<p>But Mary Grey never read or wrote or sewed or embroidered
+if she could avoid it, and had nothing on earth else to occupy
+or amuse her; so her passion for dress had to be gratified
+with the sight of jewels, shawls and mantles, laces, silks
+and satins, even though she durst not wear them.</p>
+
+<p>Next day the rector's wife called on her and recommended
+a very superior boarding-house to her consideration.</p>
+
+<p>It was a private boarding-house, in a fashionable part of
+the town, kept by two maiden ladies of the most aristocratic
+family connections and of the highest church principles.</p>
+
+<p>This was exactly the home for Mrs. Grey.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And the rector's wife kindly offered to take her, then and
+there, in the rectory carriage, to visit "the Misses Crane," the
+maiden ladies in question.</p>
+
+<p>"The Misses Crane," as they were called, dwelt in a handsomely-furnished,
+old-fashioned double house, standing in its
+own grounds, not very far from the Government House.</p>
+
+<p>The Misses Crane were two very tall, very thin and very fair
+ladies, with pale blue eyes and long, yellow, corkscrew curls
+each side of their wasted cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>They were dressed very finely in light checked summer
+silks, and flowing sleeves and surplice waists, with chemisettes
+and undersleeves of linen cambric and thread lace.</p>
+
+<p>They were very poor for ladies of their birth. They had
+nothing in the world but their handsome house, furniture and
+wardrobe.</p>
+
+<p>They depended entirely upon their boarders for their bread;
+yet their manners were a mixture of loftiness and condescension
+that had the effect of making their guests believe that
+they&mdash;the guests&mdash;were highly honored in being permitted to
+board at the Misses Cranes'.</p>
+
+<p>But if not highly honored they were certainly much favored,
+for the Misses Crane kept neat and even elegant rooms,
+dainty beds and an excellent table.</p>
+
+<p>Presented by the rector's lady, Mrs. Grey was received by
+the Misses Crane with a lofty politeness which overawed even
+her false pretensions.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the rector's lady, leaving Mrs. Grey to be entertained
+by Miss Romania Crane, took the elder Miss Crane
+aside and explained to her the nature of their business call.</p>
+
+<p>"I think she is just the kind of boarder that will suit you,
+as your house is just the kind of home needed by her," added
+the lady.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Crane bowed stiffly and in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"She is, like yourself, of an old aristocratic family, and of
+very high-church principles; and she has, besides, an ample
+income, much of which she spends for benevolent purposes,"
+continued Mrs.&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Crane bowed and smiled a ghastly smile, revealing her
+full set of false teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"She is, I should tell you, also entitled to all our sympathy.
+She has suffered a great disappointment in her affections.
+She was engaged to be married to the late lamented
+Governor of the State, when, as you know, he was suddenly
+struck down with apoplexy, and died a few days before the
+day appointed for the wedding."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed!" breathed Miss Crane, in a low, eager voice,
+losing all her stiffness and turning to glance at the interesting
+widowed bride elect.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And you will find her a most interesting young
+person&mdash;devoted to good works, one of the excellent of the
+earth. When she was here, two or three years ago&mdash;in the
+same season that she was engaged to our honored and lamented
+Governor&mdash;she was quite famous for her charities."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed!" again aspirated Miss Crane, glancing at
+Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure that you will be mutually pleased with each
+other, and, as she has declared her intention to make Richmond
+her permanent residence, I should not wonder if she
+also should make your pleasant house her permanent home,"
+added the lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Much honored, I'm sure," said Miss Crane, with a mixture
+of hauteur and complacency that was as perplexing as it
+was amusing.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, if you please, we will rejoin your sister and
+Mrs. Grey," said the rector's lady, rising and leading the way
+to the front windows, near which the other two ladies were
+sitting.</p>
+
+<p>The end of all this was that the Misses Crane engaged to
+take Mrs. Grey as a permanent boarder, only asking a few
+days to prepare the first floor front for her occupation.</p>
+
+<p>No arrangement could have pleased Mary Grey better than
+this, for she wished to remain at the hotel a few days longer
+to receive the calls of her old friends, who would naturally
+expect to find her there, as she had given that address on the
+cards that she had left for them.</p>
+
+<p>So it was finally arranged that Mrs. Grey should remove
+from the hotel to the Misses Cranes' on the Monday of the next
+week.</p>
+
+<p>Then the two took leave, and the rector's lady drove the
+widow back to her hotel and left her there.</p>
+
+<p>The next day Mrs. Grey had the gratification of hearing
+from the cards she had left at the different houses of her old
+acquaintances. Several ladies called on her and welcomed
+her to the city with much warmth.</p>
+
+<p>And on the Saturday of that week she had a surprise.</p>
+
+<p>The Rector of St. John's paid her a morning visit, bringing
+a letter with the Charlottesville postmark.</p>
+
+<p>"It came this morning, my dear madam. It was inclosed
+in a letter to me from Mrs. Wheatfield, the esteemed widow of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+my late lamented friend, Bishop Wheatfield," said the rector,
+as he placed the letter in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>She thanked the reverend gentleman, and held the letter
+unopened, wondering how Mrs. Wheatfield could have found
+out that she was in Richmond.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5em">When the rector had taken his leave, she opened her letter
+and read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p class="aurightbl">
+"<span class="smcap">Charlottesville</span>, July 15, 18&mdash;.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My dearest Mary</span>:&mdash;We have not heard a word from
+you since you left us.</p>
+
+<p>"All your friends here suffer the deepest anxiety on your
+account, fearing that you may be ill among strangers.</p>
+
+<p>"Only on Sunday last, when I happened to speak to our
+minister, after the morning service, I got a slight clew to you;
+for he told me that you had asked him for a church letter to
+the Rector of St. John's Parish in Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>"That information gives me the opportunity of writing to
+you, with some prospect of having my letter reach you, for I
+can inclose it to the Rector of St. John's, who will probably
+by this time know your address.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, having explained how it is that I am enabled
+to write to you, I must tell you the news.</p>
+
+<p>"The great nuisance of the Commencement is abated. It
+is all over; the students, the visitors and the vagrants have
+nearly all gone, and the town is empty and&mdash;peaceful.</p>
+
+<p>"One set of visitors I lamented to lose. They went on
+Saturday.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean, of course, your friends from Blue Cliffs. They
+were all charming.</p>
+
+<p>"I was very much interested in Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, my dear child, although I am no gossip and no
+meddler, as you are well aware, I really must tell you what I
+would not tell to any other living being, and which I tell you
+only because I know you to be perfectly discreet, and also
+deeply interested in the parties of whom I shall take the liberty
+of writing.</p>
+
+<p>"There are three marriages in prospect, my dear. I see it
+quite plainly. Our young people are the frankest and most
+innocent of human beings. They have no disguises.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are to be married? you ask me.</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you who, I <i>think</i>, will be married.</p>
+
+<p>"First, Mr. Alden Lytton and Miss Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a prudent marriage for her, because she is a minor,
+with an immense fortune. And he is a young lawyer, with
+not a dollar of his own and his way yet to make in the world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But what can we do about it?</p>
+
+<p>"With one guardian in her dotage and the other at the
+antipodes Miss Cavendish is practically, if not legally, her
+own mistress.</p>
+
+<p>"The only comfort is that the young man in question is
+rich in <i>everything else</i>, if not in money.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the second prospective marriage pleases me better.
+The Rev. Mr. Lyle, a worthy young clergyman, is devoted to
+Miss Laura Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"The third approaching nuptials interest me least of all,
+in any manner. A dark, brigandish-looking Californian, of
+almost fabulous wealth, who is the friend and guest of Mr.
+Lyle, has evidently fallen in love at first sight with pretty little
+sparkling Electra Coroni.</p>
+
+<p>"They have all gone down to Wendover together, and the
+Lyttons are to make a long visit at Blue Cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>"I must not forget to tell you that worthy young man, Mr.
+Kyte, has been here inquiring after you with much anxiety.
+He went back to Wendover a day or two before our young
+people left.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my dearest Mary, let me hear that you are well, and
+believe me ever your devoted friend,</p>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 6em">
+"<span class="smcap">Maria Wheatfield<a name="Page_109t" id="Page_109t"></a><a href="#Page_109tn">."</a></span>
+</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXIII" id="Chapter_XXIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXIII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A DIABOLICAL PLOT.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Between the acting of a dreadful thing<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the first motion, all the interim is<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The genius and the mortal instruments<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Are then in council; and the state of man,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like to a little kingdom, suffers then<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The nature of an insurrection.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Shakespeare's</span> <i>Julius Cæsar</i>.</div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>No language can adequately describe the mortification and
+rage that filled the bosom of Mary Grey as she read the
+foregoing letter.</p>
+
+<p>Two of her once ardent worshipers&mdash;handsome Alden Lytton
+and eloquent Stephen Lyle&mdash;had forsaken her shrine and
+were offering up their devotion to other divinities.</p>
+
+<p>They had wounded her vanity to the very quick.</p>
+
+<p>And to wound Mary Grey's vanity was to incur Mary Grey's
+deadly hatred.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She was always a very dangerous woman, and under such
+an exasperation she could become a very desperate enemy.</p>
+
+<p>She had felt so sure that no woman, however young and
+lovely, could ever become her rival, or even her successor, in
+any man's affections. So sure, also, that no man, however
+wise and strong, could ever resist her fascinations or escape
+from her thraldom.</p>
+
+<p>And now that charming illusion was rudely dispelled! She
+saw herself even contemptuously abandoned by her subjects,
+who transferred their allegiance to a couple of "bread-and-butter
+school-girls," as she sneeringly designated Emma Cavendish
+and Laura Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>She was consumed with jealousy&mdash;not the jealousy born of
+love, which is like the thorn of the rose, a defence of the rose&mdash;but
+the jealousy born of self-love, which is like the thorn of
+the thorn-apple, a deadly poison.</p>
+
+<p>She sat on one of her trunks, with her elbows on her knees
+and her clutched fists supporting her chin. Her lips were
+drawn back from her clinched teeth and her black eyes
+gleamed like fire from the deathly whiteness of her face.</p>
+
+<p>And so she sat and brooded and brooded over her mortification,
+and studied and studied how she might pull down
+ruin upon the heads of those hated young people who were
+loving each other and enjoying life at the cost of her humiliation.</p>
+
+<p>And of course the foul fiend very soon entered into her
+counsels and assisted her.</p>
+
+<p>"I have one devoted slave&mdash;one willing instrument left
+yet," she muttered to herself: "he would pay any price&mdash;yes,
+the price of his soul&mdash;for my love! He shall pay <i>my</i> price
+down! He shall be the means of drawing destruction upon
+all their heads! Yes, Miss Cavendish, marry Alden Lytton,
+if you <i>will</i>, and afterward look honest men and women in the
+face if you <i>can</i>! Yes, Stephen Lyle, become the husband of
+Laura Lytton, and then hold up your head in the pulpit&mdash;if
+you dare! Ah, if my plot succeed! Ah, if my plot succeed,
+how terribly will I be avenged! And it <i>shall</i> succeed!" she
+hissed through her grinding teeth, with a grim hatred distorting
+her white features and transforming her beautiful face for
+an instant into demoniac hideousness.</p>
+
+<p>She started up and commenced traversing the floor, as a
+furious tigress her den.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5em">When she had raged herself into something like composure
+she opened her writing-case and wrote the following letter:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="aurightbl">
+"<span class="smcap">Richmond, Va.</span>, Aug.&nbsp;&mdash;, 18&mdash;.</p>
+<p>
+"<span class="smcap">To Craven Kyte, Esq.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Dear Friend</i>:&mdash;My wanderings have come to a temporary
+end here in this city, where I expect to remain for some weeks,
+even if I do not conclude to make it my permanent residence.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I trouble you to do me a favor? Some time ago I
+left in the hands of the jeweler at Wendover a little pearl
+brooch, which I forgot to call for when I left, and have neglected
+to send for ever since.</p>
+
+<p>"The brooch in itself is of small intrinsic value; but as it
+is an old family relic I should like to recover it. Will you,
+therefore, please go to the jeweler's and get it and send it to
+me in a registered letter by mail? and I shall be very much
+indebted to you. And if you should happen to come to this
+city during my stay here I hope you will call to see me; for I
+should be very glad to see any old friend from Wendover.</p>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 4em">
+"Yours truly,</p>
+<p style="text-indent: 6em"><span class="smcap">M. Grey</span><a name="Page_111t" id="Page_111t"></a><a href="#Page_111tn">."</a></p></div>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 1.5em">She immediately sealed this letter, rang for a waiter, and
+dispatched it to the post-office.</p>
+
+<p>This letter had been written for but one purpose&mdash;to bring
+Craven Kyte immediately to Richmond, without seeming especially
+to invite him to come.</p>
+
+<p>She always wrote her letters with an eye to the remote
+contingency of their being produced in court or read in
+public.</p>
+
+<p>This letter to Craven Kyte was a sample of her non-committal
+style&mdash;it compromised no one.</p>
+
+<p>When she had sent it off she began to pack up her effects,
+in preparation for their removal, on Monday morning, to the
+Misses Cranes'.</p>
+
+<p>Even after that work was done she could not be still. Like
+an uneasy beast of prey, she must needs move to and fro.</p>
+
+<p>So she put on her bonnet, called a carriage and drove out
+to the rectory to spend the evening.</p>
+
+<p>But though she was received in the most friendly manner
+she could not enjoy the visit. She was absent and distracted
+during the whole evening.</p>
+
+<p>She returned late to a restless bed. And then she got up
+and took laudanum to put her to sleep. And this was not
+the first time she had had to resort to the same dangerous
+narcotic.</p>
+
+<p>No more rest for Mary Grey!</p>
+
+<p>Remorse sometimes begins <i>before</i> the commission of a con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>templated
+and determined crime; repentance never. That is
+one difference between the two.</p>
+
+<p>On Sunday morning, to keep herself actively employed, as
+well as to win "golden opinions," Mrs. Grey dressed herself
+plainly, but very becomingly, and went early to the Sunday-school
+at old St. John's, to offer herself as a teacher.</p>
+
+<p>She was soon appointed to the temporary charge of a class
+of little girls, whose regular teacher was then absent on a
+summer tour of the watering places.</p>
+
+<p>Afterward she attended both morning and afternoon services,
+and went to a missionary meeting in the evening.</p>
+
+<p>Still, after all the fatigues of the day, she was unable to
+sleep at night, and again she had recourse to the deadly drug.</p>
+
+<p>On Monday morning she paid her week's bill at the hotel
+and removed to the Misses Cranes'.</p>
+
+<p>She was received with lofty politeness by the two maiden
+ladies; and she was put in immediate possession of her apartment&mdash;a
+spacious chamber, with a balcony overhanging the
+front flower-garden.</p>
+
+<p>She had scarcely finished unpacking her effects and transferring
+them from her trunks to the bureaus and wardrobes
+of the chamber, before a card was brought to her by the neat
+parlor-maid of the establishment.</p>
+
+<p>The card bore the name of Mr. Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the gentleman?" inquired Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"In the drawing-room, madam," answered the maid.</p>
+
+<p>"Ask him to be so kind as to wait. I will be down directly,"
+said Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>The girl left the room to take her message, and Mrs. Grey
+began to change her dress, smiling strangely to herself as she
+did so.</p>
+
+<p>She gave a last finishing touch to the curls of her glossy
+black hair, and a last lingering look at the mirror, and then
+she went down-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>There, alone in the drawing-room, stood the one devoted
+lover and slave that she had left in the whole world.</p>
+
+<p>He came down the room to meet her.</p>
+
+<p>"You here! Oh, I'm so delighted to see you!" she said, in
+a low tone, full of feeling, as she went toward him, holding
+out both her hands.</p>
+
+<p>He trembled from head to foot and turned pale and red by
+turns as he took them.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so happy&mdash;You are so good to say so! I was almost
+afraid&mdash;I thought you might consider it a liberty&mdash;my
+coming," faltered the poor fellow, in sore confusion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A liberty? How could you possibly imagine I would consider
+your coming here a liberty on your part? Why, dearest
+friend, I consider it a favor from you, a pleasure for me!
+Why should you think otherwise?" inquired Mary Grey, with
+her most alluring smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thanks&mdash;thanks! But it was your letter!"</p>
+
+<p>"My letter? Sit down, Craven, dear, and compose yourself.
+Here, sit here," she said, seating herself on the sofa
+and signing for him to take the place by her side.</p>
+
+<p>He dropped, trembling, flushing and paling, into the indicated
+seat.</p>
+
+<p>"Now tell me what there was in my harmless letter to disturb
+you," she murmured, passing her soft fingers over his
+forehead and running them through the dark curls of his hair.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing that was <i>meant</i> to disturb me, I know. It was
+all kindness. You could not write to me, or to any one, otherwise
+than kindly," faltered the lover.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then?" inquired Mary Grey, in a pretty, reproachful
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>"But I felt it was cold&mdash;cold!" sighed the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you dearest of dears, one must be discreet in writing
+letters! Suppose my letter had expressed all my feelings
+toward you, and then had fallen into the hands of any one
+else? Such mistakes are made in the mails sometimes. How
+would you have liked it?" she inquired, patting his cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"I should have been wild. But it would only have been at
+the loss of your letter. As for me, Heaven knows, I should
+not mind if all the world knew how much I adore you. On
+the contrary, I should glory in it," added the lover.</p>
+
+<p>"But a lady feels differently. She only lets her <i>lover</i> know
+how well she loves him; and not always does she even let him
+know," softly murmured the beautiful temptress, as she
+lightly caressed his raven curls. "And now tell me the news,
+dear Craven. How are all our friends at Blue Cliffs?" she
+archly inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"I only want to tell you how much I adore you," whispered
+the lover, who was beginning to recover his composure.</p>
+
+<p>"That would be a vain repetition, darling, especially as I
+know it all quite well," murmured Mary Grey, with a smile,
+and still passing her hand with mesmeric gentleness over his
+hair.</p>
+
+<p>"Aye; but when will you make me completely happy?"
+sighed the poor fellow.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew!" smiled Mary Grey, with a little bird-like whistle.
+"How fast we are getting on, to be sure! Why, a few min<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>utes
+ago we were afraid that we were taking a liberty in coming
+here to call on our lady-love at all! And now we are
+pressing her to name the day! See here, you impatient boy,
+answer me this: When did I ever promise to 'make you happy'
+<i>at all</i>?" she inquired, in a bantering tone.</p>
+
+<p>"But you gave me hopes&mdash;oh, do not say that you never
+gave me hopes!" he pleaded, turning red and pale and trembling
+from head to foot as before.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't say it; for I know I promised if ever I
+should marry living man I should marry you. I repeat that
+promise now, dear Craven," she added, gravely and tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Heaven bless you for those blessed words! But when&mdash;<i>when</i>
+will you make me happy? Oh, if I possess your love,
+when&mdash;<i>when</i> shall I possess your hand?" he pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>And then, as if suddenly ashamed of his own vehemence,
+he stopped in confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"You have won my love, you petulant boy!" she answered,
+archly. Then, dropping her voice to its tenderest music, she
+murmured: "What would you do to win my hand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Anything&mdash;anything under the sun!" he answered, wildly,
+and forgetting all his embarrassment. "Whatever man has
+done to win woman would I do to win you&mdash;more than ever
+man did to win woman would I do to win you! I would renounce
+my friends, betray my country, abjure my faith, <i>lose
+my soul</i> for you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Words, words, words! You talk recklessly! You know
+you would not do the least one of these dreadful deeds for
+me," answered Mary Grey, laying her hand on his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Try me!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXIV" id="Chapter_XXIV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXIV.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE PRICE OF A SOUL.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockw">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I love you, love you; for your love would lose<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">State, station, heaven, mankind's, my own esteem.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Byron.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>He spoke these two words with such a desperate look, in
+such a desperate tone, that Mary Grey was half frightened;
+for she saw that he was in that fatal mood in which
+men have been driven to crime or death for the love of
+woman.</p>
+
+<p>This was the mood to which she wished to bring him, and
+in which she wished to keep him until he should have done
+his work; and yet it half frightened her now.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Hush&mdash;hush!" she murmured. <a name="Page_115t" id="Page_115t"></a><a href="#Page_115tn">"Be</a> quiet! There are people
+in the next room. They may hear you. And I am sure
+they should do so they would take you for a lunatic."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;do you believe me? Do you believe that I would
+defy the universe in your service? Do you believe me? If
+not, try me!" he aspirated, vehemently.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>do</i> believe you. And some day I <i>will</i> try you. You
+have won my love; but he who wins my hand must first prove
+his love for me in a way that will leave no doubt upon the
+fact."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I am safe, for I am sure to prove it," he said, with
+a sigh of intense relief.</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him again, and knew that he spoke as he felt.
+Yes, for her sake he would "march to death as to a festival."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, then, will you be good and quiet and tell me news
+of my old neighbors at Wendover and Blue Cliffs?" she archly
+inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think I can. I wish to sit here and look at you
+and think only of you. It would be a painful wrench to tear
+away my thoughts from you and employ them upon anything
+else. Let me sit here in my heaven!" he pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, love; but remember I am very anxious to know
+something about my dear friends, whom I have not heard
+from for a month. Can not you gratify me?" coaxed Mary
+Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"I can not fix my mind upon them long enough to remember
+anything. You absorb it all," he answered, dreamily gazing
+upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"But if I ask you questions surely you can answer them,"
+said Mary Grey, who, though very anxious for information
+later than that afforded by Mrs. Wheatfield's letter, was not
+ill-pleased at the devotion which baffled her curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I will answer any question you ask. That will not
+be so much of a wrench," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Then how is my dear friend, Emma Cavendish?" inquired
+the traitress.</p>
+
+<p>"Well and happy, at Blue Cliffs," answered the lover.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it true, as I hear, that she is to marry&mdash;" Mary Grey
+hesitated for a moment before her choking voice could pronounce
+his name&mdash;"Mr. Alden Lytton?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I believe so. Everybody says so."</p>
+
+<p>"When?"</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as he gets established in his profession, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, he is coming here on the first of the month to find
+an office and fit it up. And then he is going on to Philadelphia
+to select books for a law library."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, he is coming here and he is going on to Philadelphia.
+Yes, yes, yes, yes! That will do," murmured Mary Grey, to
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you say?" inquired Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"I said that it was a good plan; but it will take money,"
+answered Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that it will. And he has got it. That mysterious
+guardian of his has sent him ten thousand dollars to begin
+with."</p>
+
+<p>"A round sum! When did you say he was coming here?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the first of next month; or, perhaps, before the end
+of this month."</p>
+
+<p>"Good! Very good!"</p>
+
+<p>"Good for what?" innocently inquired Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"Good for his professional prospects, of course! The sooner
+he begins the better, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; certainly!"</p>
+
+<p>"And when does he go to Philadelphia?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just as soon as he has selected his law office and set painters
+and glaziers and paper-hangers and upholsterers and such
+to fit it up. For no expense is to be spared, and the young
+lawyer is to set up in style. For such is the wish of his guardian."</p>
+
+<p>"You know this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know it. One knows everything that anybody else
+knows in a small village like Wendover."</p>
+
+<p>"You do not know when Mr. Lytton and Miss Cavendish
+are to be married?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, because I do not think they know themselves. But
+the people say it will be as soon as the young gentleman gets
+settled in his practice."</p>
+
+<p>"Good again! The delay is favorable," muttered Mary
+Grey to herself.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you say?" again inquired the ingenuous young
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"I say the delay is wise, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; certainly!" assented Mr. Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"And now tell me about the others," said Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>But her lover took her hand and gazed into her face, murmuring:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my love, my life, let me sit here and hold your thrill<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>ing
+little hand and gaze into your beautiful eyes, and think
+only of you for a moment!"</p>
+
+<p>She put her hand around his head and drew it toward her
+and pressed a kiss upon his forehead, and then said:</p>
+
+<p>"There! Now you will go on for me, will you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would die for you!" he earnestly exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather you would live for me, you mad boy!" she
+answered, smiling archly.</p>
+
+<p>"I will do anything for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Then answer my questions. Is it also true that Mr. Lyle
+and Miss Lytton are to be married?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! That is certain. Their engagement is announced.
+There is no secret about that."</p>
+
+<p>"When are they to be married?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there is a slight obstacle to their immediate union."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"An old school-girl compact between Miss Cavendish and
+Miss Lytton, in which they promised each other that they
+would both be married on the same day or never at all."</p>
+
+<p>"A very silly, girlish compact."</p>
+
+<p>"Very."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do they not break it by mutual consent?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because mutual consent can not be had. Miss Cavendish
+indeed offers to release Miss Lytton from her promise; but
+Miss Lytton refuses to be released. And although her clerical
+lover presses her to name an earlier day, she will name no
+other than the day upon which Miss Cavendish also weds, be
+that day sooner or later."</p>
+
+<p>"So it is settled that they will be married upon the same
+day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite settled."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Everything is known in a little country town like Wendover,
+as I said before."</p>
+
+<p>"They will be married the same day. Better and better.
+If I had arranged it all myself it could not be better for my
+plans," muttered Mary Grey to herself.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you say?" inquired Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"I say I think, upon the whole, the arrangement is a good
+one."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; certainly!" admitted the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you stopping, Craven?" softly inquired Mrs.
+Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, at the same hotel from which you dated your letter!
+I thought you were there, and so I went directly there from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+the cars. When I inquired for you&mdash;I hope you will pardon
+my indiscretion in inquiring for you," he said, breaking off
+from his discourse.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I will pardon it! But it was a very great indiscretion,
+you thoughtless boy, for a handsome youth like you
+to be inquiring for a young widow like me at a public hotel.
+Now go on with what you were talking about."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when I inquired for you they told me you had left
+this very morning, and they gave me your present address."</p>
+
+<p>"That was the way in which you found me?"</p>
+
+<p>"That was the way I found you. But, before starting to
+come here, I engaged my room at that hotel; for, after it had
+been blessed by your dear presence, it had quite a home-like
+feeling to me," said the lover, fervently.</p>
+
+<p>"How long do you stay in the city, Craven, dear?" sweetly
+inquired the siren.</p>
+
+<p>His face clouded over.</p>
+
+<p>"I must return to-morrow," he said. "It was the only
+condition upon which our principal would consent to my leaving
+yesterday. He is going North to purchase his fall and
+winter goods, you see, and wants me to be there."</p>
+
+<p>"How long will he be absent?"</p>
+
+<p>"He says only four days, at the longest."</p>
+
+<p>"And when does he go?"</p>
+
+<p>"By the next train following my return."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he will be back again at his post by Saturday
+evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; in fact, he intends to be back by the end of the
+week, and that is the very reason why he is so anxious to get
+away to-morrow night."</p>
+
+<p>"Craven, dear, when your senior partner gets back do you
+think you will be able to return here for a few days?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really wish me to come back so soon?" exclaimed
+the lover, his face flushing all over with pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but don't cry out so loud&mdash;that's a dear! I repeat,
+there are people in the next <a name="Page_118t" id="Page_118t"></a><a href="#Page_118tn">room.</a> But you have not yet answered
+my question."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I can return here as soon as my partner gets
+back! He promised that I should take a week's holiday then.
+So, if he gets back on Saturday evening, expect to see me
+here on Sunday morning, in time to wait on you to church."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop; not so fast, my dear! You can take your week's
+holiday at any time, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"At any time this month or next."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Very well. Now, dear boy, I want you to promise me
+two or three things."</p>
+
+<p>"I will promise you anything in the world you wish."</p>
+
+<p>"Then listen. Every time I write to you I will inclose
+within my letter another letter, sealed and directed to me,
+which you must stamp and post at the Wendover post-office.
+Will you do that for me?"</p>
+
+<p>While she spoke the young man gazed at her in unqualified
+amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you do that for me?" she repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"I solemnly promise to do that for you, although I am all
+in the dark as to what you would be at," earnestly answered
+Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you, dearest dear," cooed the siren, caressing him
+tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"I would do anything in the world for you," he answered
+fervently. "I would die for you or live for you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, secondly, I want you, when you go back, to keep
+an eye on Mr. Alden Lytton. Find out, if possible, the day
+that he comes to this city. And precede him here yourself by
+one train. Or, if that is not possible, if you can not find out
+beforehand the day that he is to come, at least you can certainly
+know when he actually does start, for every passenger
+from Wendover is noticed. And then follow him by the next
+train, and come directly from the depot to me, before going
+to a hotel or showing yourself at any other place. Will you
+do that for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I promise, on my sacred word and honor, that I will, although
+I have not the slightest idea why you wish me to do
+this," said Craven.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a true knight, worthy of any lady's love! Well,
+thirdly, and lastly, as the preachers say, I wish you to promise
+me never to divulge to a human being anything that has
+been said between us during this interview."</p>
+
+<p>"I not only promise, but I solemnly vow, in the sight of
+Heaven and all the holy angels, sacredly to observe the silence
+you require of me, although I feel more and more deeply mystified
+by all this."</p>
+
+<p>"You must trust in me, my dear, blindly trust in me for
+the present, and in time you shall know why I require these
+things of you," she said, very sweetly.</p>
+
+<p>"I trust in you blindly, utterly, eternally!" answered the
+lover.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, do you know what your reward shall be?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Your smile of approval will be my all-sufficient reward!"
+exclaimed the young man, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but you shall hear! When you have done these little
+favors for me, and <i>one more</i>, which I will tell you about when
+you come back from Wendover, then&mdash;" she said, pausing and
+looking at him with a bewildering smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Then? Yes! Then?" eagerly aspirated the young man,
+gazing at her in rapt admiration and expectancy.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will give you my hand in marriage. I solemnly
+promise it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you angel&mdash;you angel! You have made me so happy!"
+fervently breathed the infatuated lover, as he drew her,
+unresisting, and pressed her to his heart.</p>
+
+<p>At this point there was heard the sound of light footsteps
+approaching.</p>
+
+<p>And the moment after, several of the lady boarders opened
+the door and entered the room.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte, always shy of strangers, arose to take leave.</p>
+
+<p>As he did so, he seemed suddenly to recollect something.</p>
+
+<p>He put his hand in his breast-pocket and drew forth a little
+box, which he handed to Mrs. Grey, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"It is your brooch that you requested me to get from the
+jeweler."</p>
+
+<p>And then, with a bow, he left her.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey went back to her room.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall succeed in ruining them all now!" she said, her
+dark eyes on fire with anticipated triumph.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXV" id="Chapter_XXV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXV.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A VERY DESPERATE GAME.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I have set my life upon a cast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I will stand the hazard of the die.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Craven Kyte, the infatuated and doomed instrument
+and victim of a cruel and remorseless woman, returned
+to Wendover and resumed his place in Bastiennello's establishment,
+where he culpably neglected his business, and lived
+only on the thought of receiving her daily letters and of soon
+returning to Richmond to be blessed by her promised hand in
+marriage.</p>
+
+<p>Every morning he was the first man at the post-office, waiting
+eagerly, impatiently, for the arrival and opening of the
+mail.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And he was never disappointed of receiving her letter, and&mdash;never
+satisfied with its contents.</p>
+
+<p>Every letter was in itself something of a mortification to
+him, containing no expression of confidence or affection, no
+word by which any one might suspect that the correspondent
+was writing to one she loved and trusted, much less to her
+betrothed husband.</p>
+
+<p>Every letter began and ended in the most polite and formal
+manner; never alluded to the matrimonial intentions between
+the correspondents, but treated only of church services, Sunday-schools,
+sewing circles and missionary matters, until the
+young man, famishing for a word of affection, with pardonable
+selfishness, sighed forth:</p>
+
+<p>"She is a saint; but oh, I wish she was a little less devoted
+to the heathen, and all that, and a little more affectionate to
+me!"</p>
+
+<p>But the instant afterward he blamed himself for egotism,
+and consoled himself by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"She always told me that, however much she loved, she
+would never write love-letters, as they might possibly fall into
+the hands of irreverent and scoffing people who would make
+a mockery of the writer. It is a far-fetched idea; but still it
+is <i>her</i> idea and I must submit. It will be all right when I go
+to Richmond and claim her darling hand."</p>
+
+<p>And the thought of this would fill him with such ecstasy
+that he would long to tell some one, his partner especially,
+that he was the happiest man on earth, for he was to be married
+in a week to the loveliest woman in the world. But he
+was bound by his promise to keep his engagement, as well as
+all other of his relations with the beautiful widow, a profound
+secret. And though the poor fellow <i>was</i> a fool, he was an
+<i>honorable</i> fool, and held his pledged word sacred.</p>
+
+<p>Every letter that came to him also contained another letter,
+to which it never referred by written word. This inclosed letter
+was sealed in an envelope bearing the initial "L" embossed
+upon its flap. And it was directed to "Mrs. Mary
+Grey, Old Crane Manor House, Richmond."</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte would gaze at this mysterious letter in the utmost
+confusion and obscurity of mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, why in the world does she write a letter and direct
+it to <i>herself</i> and send it to me to post privately, by night, at
+the Wendover post-office? And why did she give me only
+verbal instructions about it? And why does she avoid even
+alluding to it in her letter to me? Why is the envelope
+stamped with the letter L? And why, oh, why does the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+handwriting so closely resemble that of Mr. Lytton?" he inquired
+of himself, as his eyes devoured the superscription of
+the letter. "I can not tell," he sighed. "It is too deep for
+my fathoming. I give it up. I must blindly do her bidding,
+trusting to her implicitly, as I do, and as I will."</p>
+
+<p>Then, following her verbal instructions, given him in Richmond,
+in regard to these mysterious letters, he put it away
+until dark, and then stole out and dropped it secretly into the
+night-box at the post-office.</p>
+
+<p>Five days passed, in which he received and re-mailed three
+of these inexplicable documents.</p>
+
+<p>Then, on Saturday morning, Bastiennello, the head of his
+firm, returned to Wendover and resumed the control of his
+business.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of the same day a van arrived from Blue
+Cliff Hall, bringing the heavy baggage of Mr. Alden Lytton,
+to be deposited at the railway station and left until Monday
+morning, when the owner intended to start for Richmond by
+the earliest train.</p>
+
+<p>When Craven Kyte heard this he went straight to his principal
+and claimed his promised leave of absence.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Kyte, you are in a tremendous hurry! Here I have
+not been back twelve hours and you want to be off," said Bastiennello,
+with a shrug of his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a case of necessity, sir, believe me," pleaded Craven
+Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"And this is Saturday night, the busiest time in the whole
+week," complained Bastiennello.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir, you will not keep open after twelve, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not after eleven."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor will you need my services after that hour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that will enable me to serve here as usual until the
+hour of closing, and then give me time to catch the midnight
+train to Richmond."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, if you can do that it will be all right, and I can
+have no objection to your going to-night," said Bastiennello.</p>
+
+<p>And so the affair was concluded.</p>
+
+<p>The great village bazaar closed at eleven that night.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he had put up the last shutter, Craven Kyte
+rushed off to his humble lodgings, stuffed a carpet-bag full of
+needed clothing and hurried to the railway station to catch
+the train.</p>
+
+<p>It came thundering along in due time, and caught up the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+waiting victim and whirled him along on his road to ruin, as
+far as Richmond, where it dropped him.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly eleven o'clock in the morning, and all the
+church bells were ringing, when the train ran in to the station.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte, carpet-bag in hand, rushed for the gentlemen's
+dressing-room nearest the station, hastily washed his
+face, combed his hair, brushed his clothes, put on a clean collar
+and bosom-piece, and fresh gloves, and hurried off to old
+St. John's Church, which he thought the most likely place on
+that Sunday forenoon to meet Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>The service was more than half over when he reached the
+church, but he slipped in and seated himself quietly on one
+of the back seats near the door and looked all over the heads
+of the seated congregation to see if he could discover his beloved
+in the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, there she was, in a front pew of the middle aisle, immediately
+under the pulpit.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure he could only see the back of her head and
+shoulders, but he felt that he could not be mistaken.</p>
+
+<p>And from that moment he paid but little attention to the
+service.</p>
+
+<p>Do not mistake the poor soul. He was not impious. He
+had been religiously brought up in the family of the late Governor
+Cavendish. He was accustomed to be devout during
+divine worship. And on this occasion he wrestled with Satan&mdash;that
+is, with himself&mdash;and tried to fix his mind in succession
+on anthems, psalms, collects and sermon. All to little
+purpose. His mind went with his eyes toward Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>And even when he closed those offending orbs he still found
+her image in his mind.</p>
+
+<p>At length the sermon was finished and the benediction pronounced.</p>
+
+<p>The congregation began to move out.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte went out among the first, and placed himself
+just outside the gate to wait until his adored should pass by.</p>
+
+<p>In a continued stream the congregation poured forth out of
+the church until nearly all had passed out, but still he did not
+see Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>In truth, that popularity-seeking beauty was lingering to
+bestow her sweet smile and honeyed words upon "all and sundry"
+who would give her the opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>At length, among the very last to issue from the church,
+was Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>She came out chatting demurely with a group of her
+friends.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte made a single step toward her, with the intention
+of speaking; but seeing that she did not notice him, and
+feeling abashed by the presence of strangers about her, he
+withdrew again and contented himself with following at a
+short distance until he saw her separate herself from the group
+and turn down a by-street.</p>
+
+<p>Then he quickened his footsteps, turned down the same
+street and joined her.</p>
+
+<p>At the same instant she looked back upon him with a smile,
+saying:</p>
+
+<p>"You clever boy, how good and wise of you to refrain from
+speaking to me before so many strangers! Now what is the
+news?"</p>
+
+<p>"The news is&mdash;Oh, my dear, dearest, dearest Mary! I
+am so delighted to meet you!" he exclaimed, breaking suddenly
+off from his intended communications.</p>
+
+<p>"So am I to see you, darling. But that is no news. Come,
+this is a quiet street, and leads out of the city. Let us walk
+on, and as we walk you can tell me all the news," she said,
+smilingly, resting her delicate hand on his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell you nothing&mdash;nothing yet, but that I love you&mdash;I
+love you!" he fervently breathed, as he drew her arm
+within his own and pressed her hand to his bosom.</p>
+
+<p>"And I love you," she murmured, in the lowest, sweetest
+music. And then, after a moment's pause, she added, gayly:
+"And now tell me what has brought you here so suddenly."</p>
+
+<p>"Did I not promise you that I would be in Richmond this
+Sunday morning, in time to attend you to church?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you did, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I could not get in so early as I intended, because I
+came on by the train that leaves Wendover at midnight. So I
+did not reach the city until nearly noon to-day. However, if
+I was not in time to attend you <i>to</i> church, I was in time to
+attend you <i>from</i> church. So I kept my promise tolerably
+well."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but, my dear friend, I particularly requested that
+you would wait at Wendover and watch certain events, and
+not come to Richmond until something had happened or was
+about to happen."</p>
+
+<p>"Well then?"</p>
+
+<p>"You gave me your word that you would do as I directed
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly I did."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, seeing you here, I am to presume that all the conditions
+of your engagement have been fulfilled."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they have, dear lady mine."</p>
+
+<p>"First, then, as you were not to come here until Mr. Alden
+Lytton was about to start or had started for this place, why,
+I am to presume, by seeing you here, that Mr. Lytton is either
+present in the city or on his way here."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lytton will leave Wendover for Richmond by the earliest
+train to-morrow. He will be here to-morrow evening,"
+said Craven Kyte, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"You are absolutely sure of this?" inquired Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"As sure of it as any one can be of any future event. His
+heavy baggage came over from Blue Cliff Hall yesterday evening,
+and was left at the station to be ready for transportation
+on Monday morning, when Mr. Lytton intended to take the
+earliest train for this city."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there can be no mistake," said Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"None whatever, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"You say you have fulfilled all the conditions of our engagement?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dearest, I have indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"How about those letters I inclosed to you to be re-mailed?"</p>
+
+<p>"I received them all, and re-mailed them all. Did you
+get them? You never acknowledged the receipt of one of
+them, however," said Craven Kyte, thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I got them all safe. There was no use in acknowledging
+them by letter, as I expected to see you so soon, and could
+acknowledge them so much better by word of mouth. But
+that is not exactly what I meant by my question, darling.
+Of course I knew without being told that you had re-mailed
+all those letters, as I had received them all."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what was it you wished me to tell you, dearest
+Mary? Ask me plainly. I will tell you anything in the world
+that I know."</p>
+
+<p>"Only this: Did you post those letters with great secrecy,
+taking extreme care that no one saw you do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dearest, I took such care that I waited until the dead
+of night, when no one was abroad in the village, and I stole
+forth then, and, all unseen, dropped the letters into the night
+box."</p>
+
+<p>"You darling! How good you are! What shall I ever do
+to repay you?" exclaimed the traitress, with well-acted enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>"Only love me&mdash;only love me! That will richly repay me
+for all. Ah, only love me! Only love me truly and I will
+die for you if necessary!" fervently breathed the poor doomed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+young man, fondly gazing upon her, who, to gain her own
+diabolical end, was almost putting his neck into a halter.</p>
+
+<p>"You foolish darling! Why, you would break my heart
+by dying! You can only make me happy by living for me,"
+she said, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I would live for you, die for you, suffer for you, sin for
+you&mdash;do anything for you, bear anything for you, be anything
+for you!" he burst forth, in a fervor of devotion.</p>
+
+<p>"There, there, dearest, I know you would! I know it all!
+But now tell me: Have you kept our engagement a profound
+secret from every human being, as I requested you to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, a profound secret from every human being, on
+my sacred word and honor! Although it was hard to do that.
+For, as I walked up and down the streets of Wendover, feeling
+so happy&mdash;so happy that I am sure I must have looked
+perfectly wild, as the people stared at me so suspiciously&mdash;I
+could scarcely help embracing all my friends and saying to
+them, 'Congratulate me, for I am engaged to the loveliest
+woman in the world, and I am the happiest man on earth!'
+But I kept the secret."</p>
+
+<p>"You mad boy! You love too fast to love long, I doubt!
+After a month or two of married life you will grow tired of
+me, I fear," said Mary Grey, with mock gravity.</p>
+
+<p>"Tired of you! Tired of heaven! Oh, no, no, no!" he
+burst forth, ardently.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXVI" id="Chapter_XXVI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXVI.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE HAUNTED COTTAGE.</h3>
+
+<p>She suddenly brought him down to the earth with a homely
+remark.</p>
+
+<p>"I am tired of walking. And here is a vacant house placarded
+'To Let,' with a nice long porch in front. Come, let
+<a name="Page_126t" id="Page_126t"></a><a href="#Page_126tn">[us]</a> go in and sit down on one of the benches and rest."</p>
+
+<p>And she drew him toward the little gate that led into the
+yard in front of the house.</p>
+
+<p>It was a rustic two-story frame cottage, with a long porch
+in front, all overgrown with honeysuckles, clematis, woodbine
+and wild roses.</p>
+
+<p>They went in together and sat down on the porch, under
+the shadow of the blooming and fragrant vines.</p>
+
+<p>Then she turned and looked at him attentively for the first
+time since they met at the church.</p>
+
+<p>"You look tired," she said, with alluring tenderness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+"You look more exhausted than I feel. And that is saying
+a great deal, for I am quite out of breath."</p>
+
+<p>"I am grieved that you feel so, dearest! It was selfish and
+thoughtless in me to keep you walking so long," said Craven,
+compunctiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it is nothing! But about yourself. You really look
+quite prostrated."</p>
+
+<p>"Do I, dearest? I am not conscious of fatigue. Though
+indeed I should never be conscious of that by your dear side."</p>
+
+<p>"Now tell the truth," she said, again bringing him down
+from his flights. "Have you had your breakfast this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Breakfast? I&mdash;don't remember," he said, with a perplexed
+air.</p>
+
+<p>"Come to your senses and answer me directly. What have
+you taken this morning?" she demanded, with a pretty air of
+authority.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;Let me see. I believe I bought a package of lemon-drops
+from a boy that was selling them in the cars. I&mdash;I believe
+I have got some of them left yet," he said, hesitating,
+and drawing from his pocket one of those little white packets
+of candy so commonly sold on the train.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey burst into a peal of soft, silvery laughter as she
+took them, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"An ounce of lemon-drops and nothing else for breakfast!
+Oh, Cupid, God of Love, and Hebe, Goddess of Health, look
+here, and settle it between you!"</p>
+
+<p>"But I do not feel hungry. It is food enough for me to
+sit here and feast upon the sight of your face, your beautiful
+face!"</p>
+
+<p>"You frenzied boy! I see that I must take care of you.
+Come, now that we have recovered our breath, we will go on
+a little further to a nice, quiet, suburban inn, kept by an old
+maid. I have never been there myself, but I have seen it in
+driving by with the rector's family. It is such a nice place
+that the school children go there to have picnic parties in the
+grounds. We will go and engage a parlor, and have a quiet
+little breakfast or dinner, whichever you may please, for it
+shall combine the luxuries of both. Now will you go?" said
+Mary Grey, rising from her shady seat.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, if you wish me to do so; but indeed I do not
+need anything."</p>
+
+<p>"But I do; for I breakfasted at seven o'clock this morning,
+before going to the Sunday-school. It is now one o'clock. I
+have been fasting six hours, and as I intend to spend the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+of the day with you, I shall miss our luncheon at home; for,
+you see, we are deadly fashionable at the Misses Cranes'. We
+lunch at two and dine at six. So come along."</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte arose and gave her his arm, and they walked
+on together until they reached the little cottage, half farmhouse,
+half hotel, that was so well-kept by the nice old maiden
+hostess.</p>
+
+<p>The good woman looked rather surprised to see Sunday visitors
+walk into her house.</p>
+
+<p>But Mary Grey, prayer-book ostentatiously in hand, took
+her aside, out of the hearing of Craven Kyte, and explained:</p>
+
+<p>"I and my brother walked in from the country to attend
+church this morning. We have a carriage and might have
+ridden, only we do not think it is right to make the horses
+work on Sunday, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, miss, I candidly don't; and that's a fact," replied the
+good creature.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs.," amended Mary Grey, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"'Mrs.' of course! I beg your pardon, ma'am! But you
+looked so young, and I may say childish, and I didn't notice
+the widow's cap before," apologized the hostess.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, as we had no friends in the town&mdash;no one with
+whom we could stop to dinner&mdash;I and my brother set out to
+walk home again. He is an invalid, and is quite exhausted
+with fasting and fatigue. So perhaps, under the circumstances,
+you would not mind letting us have a parlor to rest
+in and a little dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not, ma'am; for under such circumstances it is
+clearly my duty to entertain you," answered the good soul,
+who, under no possible circumstances, would have been false
+to her ideas of right.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind. I thank you very much," said Mary
+Grey, sweetly.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is a room at your and your brother's disposal,
+ma'am. No one will intrude upon you here," said the hostess,
+opening a door that led into a neat back parlor, whose
+windows overlooked the garden and orchard attached to the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Mary Grey, beckoning to her companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me! I never saw a brother and sister look so much
+alike as you two do," remarked the hostess, admiringly, as
+she showed them into the back parlor.</p>
+
+<p>She left them, promising to send in a nice dinner.</p>
+
+<p>"And coffee with it, if you please," added Mary Grey, as
+the landlady went out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly, ma'am, if you wish it," she answered, as
+she disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey went to the back window and looked out upon
+the pleasant garden, verdant and blooming with shrubs, rose-bushes
+and flowers.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte joined her.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear that old lady call us brother and sister?"
+inquired the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Mary Grey, with her false smile. "But
+I did not think it necessary to set her right."</p>
+
+<p>"And she said we looked so much alike," smiled Craven.</p>
+
+<p>"We both have dark hair and dark eyes. And we are both
+rather thin in flesh. That is the beginning and the ending of
+the likeness. And her imagination did the rest," explained
+Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>They were interrupted by a pretty mulatto girl, who came
+in to lay the cloth for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>And this girl continued to flit in and out of the room,
+bringing the various articles of the service, until, on one of
+her temporary absences, Craven Kyte exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather have sat and fasted with you under that
+pretty porch of the old road-side empty house than sit at a
+feast here, with that girl always running in and out to interrupt
+us."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, dear. As soon as we get something to eat
+we will go," said Mary Grey, with her sweet, false smile.</p>
+
+<p>In a reasonable time a dainty little dinner was placed upon
+the table, consisting of broiled chickens, green corn, asparagus
+and mashed potatoes, with fragrant coffee for a beverage
+and peaches and cream for dessert.</p>
+
+<p>When they had partaken of this, and had rested a while,
+Craven Kyte went out and paid the bill. And Mary Grey
+again drew the landlady aside, out of hearing of her companion,
+and said:</p>
+
+<p>"We are so much rested and refreshed by your admirable
+hospitality that my brother and myself think we shall walk
+back to town and attend afternoon service."</p>
+
+<p>The good hostess smiled approval, but expressed a hope
+that they would not overdo themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey smiled and took leave, and walked off with her
+captive.</p>
+
+<p>They went on until they came in front of the vacant house
+with the vine-clad porch.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, won't you rest here a little while?" inquired Craven
+Kyte, laying his hands upon the latch of the gate.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, for a little while only," said Mary Grey, consulting
+her watch. "It is now half-past three o'clock, and service
+commences at half-past four. And I <i>must</i> be at church in
+time for the commencement of the service. You will go to
+church with me, of course," she added.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course!" answered Craven Kyte, emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry that I can not ask you to sit with me; but the
+fact is I have only one seat that I can call my own in a crowded
+pew belonging to the Blairs. But you can walk with me
+to church, and join me again after the service," exclaimed
+Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"I should so much like to sit by your side!" said poor
+Craven, with a disappointed look.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you see, my dear, it is quite impossible? The
+service, however, is short, and I will join you immediately
+after it."</p>
+
+<p>And as they talked they went in and sat down on the
+porch.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a pretty little old-fashioned cottage. Don't you
+think so?" inquired the beauty, as they looked around them.</p>
+
+<p>"Very pretty," agreed her victim, who would equally have
+agreed to anything she might have proposed.</p>
+
+<p>"Look what a fine luxuriant garden it has behind it, all
+growing wild with neglect."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And the orchard back of that. See the trees bending
+under their loads of ripening apples or peaches."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It's a wonder the boys don't go in and steal them."</p>
+
+<p>"No boy would enter there for love or money."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because this is the house in which Barnes killed his wife
+and child, in a fit of insane jealousy; and the place has the
+terrible reputation of being haunted."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it is said that the ghost of a weeping woman, carrying
+a weeping child in her arms, is seen to wander through
+garden and orchard at all hours of the night, or to come in
+and look over the beds of the sleepers in the house, if any are
+found courageous enough to sleep there."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! And that is the reason, I suppose, that the house
+remains untenanted?" said Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is the reason why the house, pleasant and attractive
+as it looks, remains untenanted; and why the garden
+and orchard, with their wealth of flowers and fruit, remain
+untouched by trespassers," said Mrs. Grey.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is a pity such a pretty place should be so abandoned,"
+mused the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"It is. But, you see, family after family took it and tried
+to live in it in vain. No family could stay longer than a week.
+It has now been untenanted for more than a year. I have
+heard that the owner offers to rent it for the paltry sum of
+fifty dollars a year."</p>
+
+<p>"For this delightful house!"</p>
+
+<p>"For this haunted house, you mean!" said Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nonsense! I beg your forgiveness, my dearest, I did
+not mean that for you, but for the gabies that believe in
+ghosts!" said Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you do not believe in ghosts?"</p>
+
+<p>"I!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I thought you did not. In fact, I knew you did
+not. Now I want you to do something to please me," said
+the siren, laying her soft hand upon his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Anything in this world, you know, I will do to please
+you."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXVII" id="Chapter_XXVII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXVII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>WHAT SHE WANTED HIM TO DO.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Well, I want you to rent this house."</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte started with surprise and looked at
+the speaker.</p>
+
+<p>She went on, however, regardless of his astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"And I want you to purchase furniture enough to fit up
+one room for yourself; and I want you to do that the first
+thing to-morrow. And I want you to lodge here alone, while
+you remain in Richmond."</p>
+
+<p>He still stared at her in amazement, but with no sign of a
+wish to disobey her strange commands.</p>
+
+<p>She went on with her instructions.</p>
+
+<p>"You can walk into the city, and take your meals at any
+restaurant you please; but you must lodge here alone while
+you stay in the city."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do so," he answered, earnestly, as he recovered the
+use of his tongue&mdash;"I will do anything you tell me. I am
+entirely under your orders."</p>
+
+<p>"You are the best fellow in the whole world, and I love the
+very ground you walk on!" exclaimed the traitress, warmly.</p>
+
+<p>He grasped her hand convulsively and pressed it to his lips,
+and then waited her further directions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"To reward you I will come out here every morning and
+spend the whole day with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that will be heavenly! I should be willing to live in
+a cave on such delightful conditions!"</p>
+
+<p>"But mind, my dearest one, you must not come to see me
+at my boarding-house, or try to meet me, or to speak to me,
+after to-day, anywhere where I am known," added Mrs. Grey,
+gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that seems very hard!" sighed the victim, with a look
+of grief, almost of suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should it seem hard, when I tell you that I will come
+out here every morning to spend the whole day with you?"
+inquired Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"But why, then, can I not go home with you and spend
+the whole evening in your company at your boarding-house?"
+pleaded the poor fellow.</p>
+
+<p>"Because we should have no comfort at all in a whole parlor
+full of company, as there is at the Misses Cranes' every evening.
+And because we should be talked about in that gossiping
+boarding-house circle. And, finally, because I should
+much rather stay with you alone here in this house, where
+there is no one to criticise us, as late every evening as I possibly
+can, and let you walk home with me and leave me at the
+door at bed-time. Now don't you think mine the better
+plan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, indeed, if you really will spend the evenings
+with me also!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, certainly I will! And now let us walk on to church.
+And mind, you must leave me at the church door and find a
+seat for yourself, while I go to mine. After church I will
+come out here with you again and sit with you all the evening.
+I have no doubt the good woman at the rustic inn down the
+road will give us tea, as she gave us dinner," said the beauty,
+as she arose and slipped her hand within her companion's
+arm.</p>
+
+<p>They left the house together and walked on to the church.</p>
+
+<p>And the programme for the afternoon and evening was carried
+on according to the beautiful schemer's arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>After the services were concluded they walked out to the
+suburban inn, where the simple-minded hostess willingly
+agreed to furnish tea for such a pious church-going brother
+and sister.</p>
+
+<p>And when they had had this tea, Mary Grey, to beguile the
+landlady, took her willing captive for a walk further out toward
+the country; and then returning by a roundabout route,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+came to the vacant road-side cottage, where, as the September
+evening was very warm, they sat under the vine-clad porch
+until ten o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>Then they walked back to the town together.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte took Mary Grey to the gate of her boarding-house,
+where, as the place was silent and deserted, they
+paused for a few last words.</p>
+
+<p>"Mind, the first thing you do to-morrow morning will be
+to go and find the owner of the haunted house and rent it
+from him," said the widow.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered her white slave.</p>
+
+<p>"And the next thing you do will be to go and buy the furniture
+necessary to fit up one room for yourself, and have it
+taken out there and arranged."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he answered again, very submissively.</p>
+
+<p>"That will take you nearly all day, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"I will hurry through the business as fast as I can, so that
+I may see you the sooner. When can I see you to-morrow?"
+he pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>"At seven o'clock to-morrow evening wait for me at the
+haunted house. I will come and stay with you there until
+eleven."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is so long to wait! May I not see you sooner?"</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible! I have a sacred duty to do to-morrow that
+will engage me all day. But you too will be busy. And we
+can look forward all day to our meeting in the evening. And
+after to-morrow we can meet every morning and spend the
+whole day together," said the traitress, sweetly.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I must be content!" sighed the victim.</p>
+
+<p>"Now good-night, dear. And good-bye until to-morrow
+night," murmured the siren, as she gave her lover a Judas
+kiss and dismissed him.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey hurried into the drawing-room, where the Misses
+Crane were still sitting up.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Mrs. Grey, we feared that something had happened
+to you," said the elder Miss Crane.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no! I went to see one of my Sunday-school pupils,
+whom I missed from my class, and whom, upon inquiry, I
+found to be ill at home. I have spent the whole day with the
+sick child, except the hours spent at church. And I must go
+to see her again to-morrow morning," said the widow, with a
+patient smile.</p>
+
+<p>"How good you are!" murmured Miss Crane.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey shook her head deprecatingly, bowed good-night
+to the slim sisters and went upstairs to her own room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Early the next morning Mary Grey, telling her hostesses
+that she was then going to sit with the sick child, left the old
+manor-house and walked rapidly to the railway station and
+took a ticket for Forestville, a village about twenty miles from
+the city, on the Richmond and Wendover Railroad.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXVIII" id="Chapter_XXVIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXVIII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A HAPPY LOVER.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The lover is a king; the ground<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He treads on is not ours;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His soul by other laws is bound,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sustained by other powers.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Liver of a diviner life,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He turns a vacant gaze<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Toward the theater of strife,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where we consume our days.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">R. M. Milnes.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>On that Monday morning Alden Lytton left Blue Cliff Hall
+with his heart full of joy and thankfulness.</p>
+
+<p>He was the accepted lover of Emma Cavendish. And he
+was so somewhat to his own amazement, for he had not intended
+to propose to her so soon.</p>
+
+<p>She was a very wealthy heiress, and he was a poor young
+lawyer, just about to begin the battle of life.</p>
+
+<p>They were both still very young and could afford to wait a
+few years. And, ardently as he loved her, he wished to see
+his way clearly to fame and fortune by his profession before
+presuming to ask the beautiful heiress to share his life.</p>
+
+<p>But the impulse of an ardent passion may, in some unguarded
+hour, overturn the firmest resolution of wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>This was so in the case of Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>Up to Saturday, the last day but one of his stay at Blue
+Cliff Hall, the lovers were not engaged.</p>
+
+<p>Rumor, in proclaiming their engagement, had been, as she
+often is, beforehand with the facts.</p>
+
+<p>But on that Saturday evening, after tea, Alden Lytton
+found himself walking with Emma Cavendish up and down
+the long front piazza.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely summer night. There was no moon, but
+the innumerable stars were shining with intense brilliancy
+from the clear blue-black night sky; the earth sent up an
+aroma from countless fragrant flowers and spicy shrubs; the
+dew lay fresh upon all; and the chirp of myriads of little insects
+of the night almost rivaled the songs of birds during the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+day. And so the night was filled with the sparkling light of
+stars, the fresh coolness of dew, the rich perfume of vegetation
+and the low music of insect life.</p>
+
+<p>The near mountains, like walls of Eden, shut in the beautiful
+scene.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish sauntered slowly up
+and down the long piazza feeling the divine influence of the
+hour and scene, without thinking much about either.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, they thought only of each other.</p>
+
+<p>They were conscious that this was to be their last walk together
+for many months, perhaps for years.</p>
+
+<p>Something to this effect Alden murmured.</p>
+
+<p>He received no reply, but he felt a tear drop upon his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Then he lost his self-control. The strong love swelling in
+his soul burst forth into utterance, and with impassioned tones
+and eloquent, though broken words, he told her of his most
+presuming and almost hopeless love.</p>
+
+<p>And then he waited, trembling, for the rejection and rebuke
+that his modesty made him more than half expect.</p>
+
+<p>But no such rebuff came from Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>She paused in her walk, raised her beautiful eyes to his face
+and placed both her hands in his.</p>
+
+<p>And in this manner she silently accepted him.</p>
+
+<p>How fervently he thanked and blessed her!</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish had always been a dutiful daughter to the
+doting old lady in the "throne room;" so that night, before
+she slept, she went in and told her grandmother of her engagement
+to Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>Now, by all the rules of wrong, Madam Cavendish should
+have resolutely set her face against the betrothal of her
+wealthy granddaughter to a young lawyer with no fortune of
+his own and with his way yet to make in the world.</p>
+
+<p>And if the old lady had been somewhat younger she would
+probably have done this very thing.</p>
+
+<p>But as it was, she was "old and childish;" which means
+that she was more heavenly-minded and nearer heaven than
+she ever had been since the days of her own infancy and innocence.</p>
+
+<p>So, instead of fixing a pair of terrible spectacled eyes upon
+the young girl and reading her a severe lecture upon "the
+eternal fitness of things," as illustrated in wealth mating with
+wealth and rank with rank, she looked lovingly upon her
+granddaughter, held out her venerable hand, and drew her up
+to her bosom, kissed her tenderly, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven bless you, my own darling! This has come rather<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+suddenly upon me; but since, in the course of nature, you
+must some time marry, I do not know a young gentleman in
+this world to whom I would as soon see you married as to Mr.
+Alden Lytton. But, my child, I do not think you ought to
+be married very soon," she added.</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear grandma, I know that," said Emma, kneeling
+down by her side and tenderly caressing and kissing her withered
+hands. "No, dear grandma, I will never leave you&mdash;never
+for any one&mdash;not even for him!"</p>
+
+<p>"My darling child, you mistake my meaning. It is not for
+the selfish purpose of keeping you here near me that I advise
+you to defer your marriage for a time. It is because I think
+it is decorous that some months should elapse between the betrothal
+of a young pair and their wedding. Though, of
+course, there are some cases in which a short engagement and
+a speedy marriage become expedient or even necessary. As,
+for instance, my child, if I felt myself near death now I
+should certainly wish to hasten your marriage, rather than
+leave you unprotected in this world."</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish could only kiss her grandmother's hands
+and thank her through falling tears.</p>
+
+<p>"And now; my child, I must go to sleep. I always want
+to go to sleep after anything exciting has happened to me.
+Good-night, and may Heaven bless you, my love!" said the
+old lady, affectionately, as she dismissed her granddaughter.</p>
+
+<p>While Emma Cavendish was talking with her grandmother,
+Alden Lytton went into the parlor, where he found his sister
+alone, sitting by one of the windows, gazing thoughtfully out
+upon the beautiful night.</p>
+
+<p>He drew a chair to her side, seated himself and, with his
+arm around her waist, told her of his new-born happiness.</p>
+
+<p>She congratulated him fervently and earnestly; and then,
+returning confidence for confidence, told him of her engagement
+to the young minister of Wendover.</p>
+
+<p>For rumor, in Mr. Lyle's and Miss Lytton's case also, had
+anticipated the facts, and had reported their betrothal all over
+the country long before it was announced to their nearest
+friends.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton, with all his approving heart, wished his sister
+joy in her prospective union with the worthy young clergyman.</p>
+
+<p>And then the two, talking together over their future, decided
+that they must write at once to their Uncle John Lytton
+and inform him of their engagements.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Alden undertook to write a letter on the part of both his
+sister and himself that night.</p>
+
+<p>And, on further discussion, it was decided that at the close
+of her visit to Blue Cliff Hall, Laura should go to Lytton
+Lodge to make a visit to her relatives there.</p>
+
+<p>The entrance of Emma Cavendish put an end to the discussion,
+and was the occasion of new congratulations.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Madam Cavendish sent for Alden Lytton
+and Emma Cavendish to come up to her room together.</p>
+
+<p>And she then and there read them a grave and affectionate
+little lecture upon the duties and responsibilities of an engaged
+couple, gave them her blessing and dismissed them to go to
+church.</p>
+
+<p>That Sunday morning every one at Blue Cliffs knew of the
+betrothal of Mr. Lytton to the young mistress of the Hall.</p>
+
+<p>And on Monday morning all the county knew it just as well
+as they had known it a month before it happened.</p>
+
+<p>And every one said over once more what they had already
+said so often&mdash;that it was a great pity the daughter of the late
+Governor Cavendish should be allowed to throw herself and
+her wealth away upon a penniless young fortune-hunter like
+Alden Lytton, and all for the want of a proper guardian at
+hand to restrain her. Old Madam Cavendish, they said, was
+no better than none at all. And really the Orphans' Court
+ought to interfere, etc.</p>
+
+<p>But the very bitterest of the malcontents were parents with
+marriageable sons of their own, any one of which might one
+day have aspired to the hand of the heiress.</p>
+
+<p>Little cared the happy lovers what their neighbors might
+think about their betrothal.</p>
+
+<p>They parted that morning, not with tears, but with bright
+smiles and promises of frequent correspondence.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton stopped in Wendover to take leave of his
+friend, Mr. Lyle, and to announce the betrothal of Miss Cavendish
+and himself.</p>
+
+<p>And then, scarcely waiting to receive the congratulations of
+the minister, he hurried off to catch his train for Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>An hour after this Mr. Lyle had an interview with Victor
+Hartman, and delighted that poor fellow's soul with the announcement
+of the betrothal.</p>
+
+<p>And on the same day Mr. Lyle, commissioned by Victor
+Hartman, went to Blue Cliff Hall and requested an interview
+with Madam Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>The old lady, thinking this was the usual pastoral call from
+the minister, sent word for him to come up to her room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And there she received him alone, and after the usual greetings
+opened the conversation herself by informing him of the
+betrothal of her granddaughter to Mr. Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"It was upon that very subject that I came to see you,
+madam, on the part of the young gentleman's guardian," replied
+the minister, and then and there announced the fact that
+Mr. Alden Lytton's "guardian" would be prepared to pay
+down to his ward one hundred thousand dollars on the day of
+his marriage with Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"Emma has money enough," said the old lady; "but that
+indeed is very liberal. I never could understand about that
+secret guardian, friend, patron, or whatever you might call
+him, of the young Lyttons," she added, as if she would have
+liked some information on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"No, madam, and I am sorry that I am not yet at liberty
+to tell you more about him. This, however, I may say, that
+he is able and willing to keep his word."</p>
+
+<p>And so that interview ended.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXIX" id="Chapter_XXIX"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXIX.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>ON TO MEET HIS FATE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Alden Lytton sped on toward the city.
+He traveled by the express train, which stopped at but
+few stations.</p>
+
+<p>About two o'clock in the afternoon the train made its longest
+pause, at a little station about midway between Wendover
+and Richmond, where it stopped twenty minutes for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the passengers left the train to stretch their
+cramped limbs or to satisfy their hunger.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton got out and went into the waiting-room,
+when the first form his eye fell upon was that of Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>She looked pale, weary and harassed, as she sat alone on one
+of the benches, with a small carpet-bag at her feet.</p>
+
+<p>Now Alden Lytton's heart was so full of happiness that it
+expanded with affection for the whole human race, and even
+warmed with sympathy for this erring woman, who had once
+possessed and forfeited his faithful boyish love.</p>
+
+<p>And now, in his compassion, he went to her and, smiling
+very kindly, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Mrs. Grey! I am so surprised to see you here, and
+alone too!" he added.</p>
+
+<p>"When, since I left Blue Cliff Hall, have you ever seen me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+when I have not been alone?" she inquired, with a sad
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"True," he answered, gently. "Even in a church, or a
+crowded parlor, you have still been ever alone. But why
+should this be so, while you have so many faithful friends?
+Miss Cavendish I know is&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She put up her hand to stop him. She turned paler than
+before, and trembled as with a chill. For she had loved this
+man <i>only</i>, of all that she had fascinated and fooled; she had
+loved him <i>utterly</i>; and even now, when she bitterly hated
+him, she could not bear to hear her rival's name from his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"'The heart knoweth its own bitterness,'" she murmured,
+in faltering tones. "Let us talk of something else. I came
+down here to bring some funds that I had collected from
+charitable friends for a poor family who were burned out near
+this village. And now I am going back by this train. Pray
+pardon my nervousness! But the crowd and bustle and excitement
+of a railway station always does make me very nervous."</p>
+
+<p>"You need refreshment. Come to the table with me and
+have something. There is yet plenty of time," he said, kindly,
+offering her his arm.</p>
+
+<p>He felt so safe and happy in his wisely placed affection and
+firmly based engagement to Emma Cavendish that he could
+afford to be very kind to this poor woman, although she had
+once possessed&mdash;and by her conduct forever forfeited&mdash;his
+honest youthful love.</p>
+
+<p>He gave her his arm and led her away to the dining-room,
+where a crowd was collected at the refreshment table.</p>
+
+<p>There was a whisper between two attendants as they passed
+by.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! That is the young fellow she has been waiting
+here to meet. It is a runaway marriage, bless you!"</p>
+
+<p>This whisper reached the ears of Alden Lytton and Mary
+Grey.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton paid no attention to it, thinking that it referred
+to some "levanting" youth and girl who had chosen
+this station for their escapade.</p>
+
+<p>But Mary Grey smiled grimly to herself as she heard it.</p>
+
+<p>They had barely time to get a cup of coffee each before the
+warning shriek of the steam engine called the passengers to
+take their places.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton drew his companion's arm within his own, led
+her into the ladies' car, put her into a comfortable seat, and
+took his place beside her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Purposely suggested by Mary Grey's own calculated actions
+while waiting at the station, a whisper had got around among
+the attendants that the lovely young lady in black had come
+down to meet her lover and elope with him; and from the attendants
+it had reached the ears of some of the passengers.</p>
+
+<p>And now, as Alden Lytton placed himself innocently enough
+on the seat beside Mary Grey, the eyes of several of their fellow-travelers
+turned with curiosity toward them.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly the demeanor of both rather favored the idea of
+their being a pair of engaged lovers.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton, with his beaming and happy face, and his
+careful attentions to his companion, wore the look of a successful
+suitor and prospective bridegroom. Mary Grey, with
+her pale, pretty face and nervous manner, had as much the
+appearance of a runaway girl, trembling and frightened at
+what she was daring.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the train whirled onward, bearing many passengers
+to happy homes or on pleasant visits; but carrying one
+among them on to crime and another to disaster.</p>
+
+<p>As they drew near the end of the journey the crowd in the
+ladies' car was thinned out by the leaving of passengers at the
+smaller stations, until at length Alden Lytton and Mary Grey
+were left nearly alone and quite out of hearing of any fellow-traveler.</p>
+
+<p>Then Alden said to her:</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you have some plan of occupation and happiness
+for your future life."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," murmured Mary Grey, "I have some little prospect.
+I have the offer of a very good position in a first-class
+ladies' college near Philadelphia."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope it will suit you."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know. I have promised to go on and see the
+institution and talk with the principal before concluding the
+engagement."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be safest, of course," said Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"And I should have gone on a day or two since, but the
+journey, with its changes from steamer to car and car to
+steamer, is really quite a serious one for me to take alone, especially
+as I always get frightened and lose my presence of
+mind in the terrible uproar of a steamboat landing or a railway
+station<a name="Page_140t" id="Page_140t"></a><a href="#Page_140tn">."</a></p>
+
+<p>"Then you should never undertake such a journey alone,"
+said Alden, compassionately.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I know it. But yet I shall have to do so, unless I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+can hear of some party of friends going on in a few days
+whom I could join," sighed Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not 'a party of friends,'" smiled Alden; "but I am
+<i>one</i> friend who will be pleased to escort you on that journey,
+as I am myself going to Philadelphia in a few days."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You!</i>" exclaimed Mary Grey, in well-affected astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madam," replied Alden, with a bow.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know you ever went North at all," she added,
+lifting her eyebrows.</p>
+
+<p>"I never yet have been north of Baltimore, strange to say,"
+smiled Alden Lytton; "but I am going in a few days to Philadelphia
+to purchase a law library, and should be happy to
+escort you to your place of destination."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind to me, and I am very grateful to you.
+I accept your offer, and will try to give you as little trouble
+on the journey as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do not speak of trouble! There will be none, I assure
+you," said Alden, pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good to say so, at all events."</p>
+
+<p>"What day would it suit you to go on?" inquired Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"Any day this week&mdash;whenever it will be convenient to
+you. I am the obliged party and should consider your convenience."</p>
+
+<p>"Not by any means! Any day this week would suit me
+equally. So I beg that you will please yourself alone."</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me be frank with you then and prove how little it
+really would matter to me whether we go to-morrow or any
+day thereafter. I have to select and fit up a law office, and I
+have to select and purchase a law library; and I do not care
+in the least which I do first," said Alden, with earnest politeness.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, if it really is a matter of indifference to you, I
+think we will go to Philadelphia on Wednesday morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. I will make my arrangements accordingly.
+This is Monday night. We have one intervening day. Where
+shall I call for you on Wednesday morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"You need not call. I will meet you on the Washington
+boat."</p>
+
+<p>"Just as you please. I will be there."</p>
+
+<p>The engine shrieked its terrific warning, slackened its speed,
+and ran slowly into the station.</p>
+
+<p>"I will call a carriage for you," said Alden Lytton.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And he left his companion in the waiting-room while he
+went out and selected a good carriage for her use.</p>
+
+<p>Then he came back, took up her traveling-bag, drew her
+arm in his own, and led her out to it.</p>
+
+<p>"Where shall I tell the coachman to take you?" he inquired,
+when he had placed her comfortably in her seat.</p>
+
+<p>"To the Misses Cranes', Old Manor, near the Government
+House," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton bowed and closed the door, gave the order to
+the coachman, and then walked off to his own old quarters at
+the Henrico House.</p>
+
+<p>The carriage started, but had not gone more than a quarter
+of a mile when Mrs. Grey stopped it.</p>
+
+<p>The coachman got off his box and came to the window to
+know her will.</p>
+
+<p>"Turn into the old paper-mill road. I wish to call on a
+sick friend there before going home. Go on. I will keep a
+lookout and stop you when we get near the house."</p>
+
+<p>The coachman touched his hat, remounted, and turned his
+horses' heads to the required direction.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey sat close on the left-hand side of the cushion, and
+drew the curtain away, so that she could look through the
+window and watch their course.</p>
+
+<p>The night was clear, starlit and breezy after the hot September
+day.</p>
+
+<p>It was still early, and the sidewalks were enlivened by young
+people sauntering in front of their own houses to enjoy the
+refreshing evening air, while the porches and door-steps were
+occupied by the elders taking their ease in their own way.</p>
+
+<p>But in the next mile the scene began to change, and instead
+of the populous street, with its long rows of houses and the
+cheerful sidewalks, there was a lonely road with detached
+dwellings and occasional groups of people. In the second
+mile the scene changed again, and there was an old turnpike,
+with here and there a solitary road-side dwelling, with perhaps
+a man leaning over the front gate smoking his pipe, or a pair
+of lovers billing and cooing under the starlit sky.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey kept a bright lookout for the "haunted house,"
+and presently she recognized it, and saw a light shining
+through the little front window under the vine-covered porch.</p>
+
+<p>"He is there, poor wretch, sure enough, waiting for me. I
+feel a little sorry for him, because he loves me so devotedly.
+But heigho! If I do not spare myself, shall I spare him?
+No!" said Mary Grey to herself, as she ordered the coachman
+to draw up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He stopped and jumped off his box, and came and opened
+the carriage door. But it was the door on the other side of
+the carriage, opposite the middle of the road, and not opposite
+the house, where she wanted to get out.</p>
+
+<p>"Open the other door," she said.</p>
+
+<p>But the negro's teeth were chattering and the whites of his
+eyes rolling, in fearful contrast with the darkness of his skin.</p>
+
+<p>"Open the other door and let me out. I want to go into
+that house," repeated Mrs. Grey, a little impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Dat dere house? Oh, laws-a-messy! Bress my soul,
+missy, you don't want to go in dat house! Dat's de haunted
+house! And oh, law, dere's de corpse lights a-burnin' in dere
+now!" gasped the negro, shudderingly, pointing to the dimly-lighted
+windows under the porch.</p>
+
+<p>"You blockhead, those are the tapers in my friend's sickroom!
+Open the other door, I tell you!" said Mrs. Grey,
+angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"'Deed&mdash;'deed&mdash;'deed, missy, you must scuse ole nigger
+like me! I dussint do it, missy! I dussint go on t'other side
+ob de carriage nex' to de ghoses at no price!" said the negro,
+with chattering teeth.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey turned and tried to open the other door for herself,
+but found it impossible, and then turned again and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, stand out of my way then, you idiot, and let me
+out of <i>this</i> door!"</p>
+
+<p>The negro gave way, and she got out of the carriage into
+the middle of the dusty road.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXX" id="Chapter_XXX"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXX.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE SACRIFICE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At the same moment some one came softly through the
+cottage gate and looked up and down the road, as if
+watching for some one else.</p>
+
+<p>As Mary Grey came round the carriage to the front of the
+house, she recognized in the watcher Craven Kyte, who at the
+same instant perceived her.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait here for me," she said to the frightened coachman,
+as she walked rapidly toward the man who was hurrying to
+meet her.</p>
+
+<p>"My darling! I have been waiting for you so long!" he
+said, seizing her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! The coachman might hear you," she whispered.
+"Let me come in."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He drew her arm within his own and led her into the cottage,
+and into a cool, well-lighted and tastefully-furnished
+parlor.</p>
+
+<p>Poor fellow, he had not only put in a few necessary articles
+of furniture for his own sleeping-room, but he had fitted up a
+pretty parlor for her reception, and provided a dainty feast
+for her entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>To do this in time, he had worked like a mill-horse all day
+long, and he had spent all his available funds, and even
+pawned his watch and his little vanities of jewelry to raise
+more purchase-money.</p>
+
+<p>And now he felt rewarded when he saw her look of surprise,
+which he mistook for a look of pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>There was an Indian matting of bright light colors on the
+floor, white lace curtains lined with rose-colored cambric at
+the windows, and a sofa and easy-chairs covered with rose-colored
+French chintz. There were a few marble-top stands,
+and tables covered with white crochet-work over rose-colored
+linings. There were vases of fragrant flowers on the mantle-shelf,
+and on the window-sills and stands, and every available
+place.</p>
+
+<p>In the center of the room stood a small table, covered with
+fine white damask, decorated with a Sevres china set for two,
+and loaded with a variety of choice delicacies&mdash;delicious cakes,
+jellies, fruits, preserves and lemonade.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a surprise," said Mary Grey, sinking into one of
+the tempting easy-chairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am glad you like it as it is! But oh, indeed, I wish
+everything here was more worthy of you! If it were in my
+power I would receive and entertain you like a queen."</p>
+
+<p>"You are so good&mdash;so thoughtful! And nothing in the
+world could be pleasanter than this cool, pretty parlor," said
+Mary Grey, trying to rouse herself from the abstraction into
+which she had fallen after her first look of surprise at the decorated
+room; for, truth to tell, her mind was occupied with
+graver thoughts than appertained to house or furniture, flowers
+or fruits.</p>
+
+<p>"And this has been ready for you, my queen, ever since
+sunset. And here I have sat and waited for you, running out
+every five minutes to see if you were coming," he said, half
+reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am here at last, you impatient boy! I could not
+come before. I was sitting with a sick friend and could not
+leave her until she went to sleep," smiled the siren.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall end in being very wickedly jealous of your sick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
+friends, and your poor friends, and your lame friends, and all
+the other forlornities that take you away from me, and keep
+you away from me so much," he sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but when we are married I shall give up this sort of
+life! For I know that 'charity begins at home;' and though
+it ought not always to stay there, yet should it stay there the
+principal part of its time," smiled the witch.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I am so glad to hear you say so, dearest dear! You
+<i>will</i> stay at home for me most of your time then?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will be my delight to do so!"</p>
+
+<p>He caught her hand and kissed it ardently, and drew her
+slightly toward him, looking at her longingly, as if pleading
+for a closer kiss.</p>
+
+<p>But she smiled and shook her head, saying, archly:</p>
+
+<p>"Remember&mdash;remember, if I come here to see you, you
+must treat me with some respectful reserve, or I will never
+come again."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do exactly as you wish. I am your slave, and can
+do no otherwise than as you bid me," he said, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"That is a good, dear boy!" she answered, patting his
+cheeks; and then adding, archly, "A few days, you know,
+and 'the tables will be turned.' It will then be <i>you</i> who will
+have the right to command, and some one else who must
+obey."</p>
+
+<p>As the Circe murmured these words, his color went and
+came, and when she ceased he panted out his answer:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the thought of ever having you for my own is&mdash;too
+much rapture to be credited! But, Mary, my queen Mary,
+then and ever I shall be your slave as now!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we'll see," she murmured, smiling and caressing
+him. "But now I am tired and hungry, and you are forgetting
+the duties of a host."</p>
+
+<p>"I am forgetting everything in looking at your beautiful
+face. But now, will you let me take off your bonnet and
+shawl here, or will you go into the next room and do it for
+yourself, I remaining here until you come back?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will go into the next room, if you please," said Mary
+Grey.</p>
+
+<p>And he arose and opened the back door of the cottage parlor
+and held it open for her.</p>
+
+<p>She passed through into a prettily-furnished and well-lighted
+little bed-room, whose back windows opened upon the
+fragrant flower-garden.</p>
+
+<p>Here she found everything prepared for her comfort, as if
+it had been done by the hands of a woman. She took off her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+bonnet and shawl, brushed her clothes, bathed her face and
+hands, smoothed her raven ringlets, took a fresh cambric
+handkerchief from her pocket and saturated it with Cologne
+from the toilet-table, and then passed out again into the
+parlor.</p>
+
+<p>Her devoted slave was waiting for <a name="Page_146t" id="Page_146t"></a><a href="#Page_146tn">her</a> there. And on the
+table, in addition to the other comforts, there was a little silver
+pot of rich aromatic coffee.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, have you a cook?" inquired Mrs. Grey, in some disturbance.</p>
+
+<p>"No, darling; I made that coffee myself. Sit down now
+and try it," smiled the poor fellow.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a jewel!" she said, as all her disturbance disappeared,
+and she sat down to the table.</p>
+
+<p>He waited on her with affectionate solicitude, helping her
+to coffee and cream, to chicken salad and pickled oysters;
+changing her plate and pressing her to try the jellies and the
+cakes, or the fruit and ices, until she had feasted like a
+princess.</p>
+
+<p>He, in the meantime, ate but little, seeming to feed upon
+the sight of her enjoyment. At length she pushed her plate
+and cup away and declared she could touch nothing more.</p>
+
+<p>Then he arose as if to clear the service; but she stopped
+him, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Leave it just as it is and come and sit with me on the
+porch outside. The night is beautiful, and I want to sit there
+and talk with you. I have something to propose."</p>
+
+<p>And she ran into the back room for her bonnet and shawl.</p>
+
+<p>He got up and gave her his arm and took her out upon the
+porch.</p>
+
+<p>And they sat down together on the bench, under thickly
+overhanging vine-leaves.</p>
+
+<p>"Craven," she murmured, with her head upon his shoulder,
+"do you really love me as much as you profess to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do I really love you?" he repeated, with impassioned
+earnestness. "Oh, how shall I prove to you how much?
+Protestations are but words. Show me how I can prove to
+you how much I love you! Put me to the test! Try me&mdash;<i>try
+me!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated and sighed&mdash;perhaps in pity and remorse for
+this poor boy, who loved her so devotedly, and whom she was
+about to require to pay down his honor and his life as the
+price of her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, tell me how I can show you the height and depth and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+breadth&mdash;no; I should rather say the immeasurability of my
+infinite love!" he pleaded, prayerfully.</p>
+
+<p>Again she sighed and trembled&mdash;yes, trembled at the contemplation
+of the wickedness she was about to perpetrate; but
+she did not draw back from it. She slid her arm around his
+neck and kissed him softly, and then said:</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to me, Craven, my dearest. This is Monday
+night, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, attentively.</p>
+
+<p>"On Wednesday morning I am to start for Philadelphia."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" he exclaimed, uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! Wait until you hear me out. You must meet
+me in Philadelphia on Friday morning. And we will be married
+on Friday noon."</p>
+
+<p>He was struck speechless, breathless, for a few moments
+with the excess of his delight.</p>
+
+<p>Then he panted forth the words:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, bless you! Bless you, my queen, my angel! I bless
+you for this great joy!"</p>
+
+<p>"You must be calm, my dear, and hear me out. You
+must be punctual, and meet me on Friday morning at ten
+o'clock, at <i>this</i> address," she continued, handing him a slip
+of paper with the address in question written upon it.
+"There; now put it into your pocket-book and keep it safe."</p>
+
+<p>"I will&mdash;I will, my queen! But why may I not go with
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"For reasons that I will explain soon. Till I do, you must
+trust me."</p>
+
+<p>"I trust you utterly."</p>
+
+<p>"Then please leave here for Philadelphia on Tuesday evening,
+so as to precede me by twelve hours. And on Friday
+morning, by ten o'clock, be at the place I have designated,
+and wait until I join you."</p>
+
+<p>"And we will be married the same day?"</p>
+
+<p>"We will be married at noon on the same day. Now do
+you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"My mind is in a delirium of joy, but I understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, dearest, you must take me out to the carriage," she
+said, rising and drawing her shawl around her.</p>
+
+<p>He gave her his arm and led her out to the carriage, which
+the frightened negro coachman had driven quite to the opposite
+side of the road from the terrible haunted house.</p>
+
+<p>"Now go on to the Misses Cranes'," she said, after she had
+taken leave of her victim and settled herself in her seat.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly twelve o'clock when she entered her boarding-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>house;
+but she told her waiting landladies that she had spent
+the day and half the night with the sick child, and they were
+satisfied.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXI" id="Chapter_XXXI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXXI.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A FATAL JOURNEY.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Accursed and in a cursed hour, she hies.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Milton.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>On that Wednesday morning the fine steamer "Pocahontas"
+lay at her wharf receiving freight and passengers
+for Washington and Alexandria.</p>
+
+<p>Her decks were crowded with men, women and children, all
+either going on the voyage or "seeing off" departing friends
+and acquaintances.</p>
+
+<p>Among the passengers on the forward deck stood a slight,
+elegant, graceful woman, clothed in widow's weeds and deeply
+veiled.</p>
+
+<p>This was, of course, Mary Grey, bound upon her baleful
+errand.</p>
+
+<p>She had spent the intervening Tuesday with her infatuated
+instrument, Craven Kyte. But when he pleaded to attend
+her to the boat and see her off she forbid his doing so on pain
+of an eternal separation from her.</p>
+
+<p>But she renewed their agreement that he should precede
+her by twelve hours, and meet her at a designated place in
+Philadelphia on Friday morning.</p>
+
+<p>And she stayed with him until quite late in the evening,
+and finally left him comforted with the hope of a speedy meeting
+and a certain marriage.</p>
+
+<p>For the edification of her landladies, the precise Misses
+Crane, she trumped up a story that at once explained the necessity
+of her sudden journey North, and, as usual, redounded
+to her own credit.</p>
+
+<p>She had received a telegram, she said, from a friend who
+had just lost her father, and who was in great affliction.
+And she must go on immediately to comfort that bereaved
+soul.</p>
+
+<p>The Misses Crane, as usual, thought she was an angel in
+woman's form, and bade her heaven speed on her benevolent
+errand.</p>
+
+<p>And now she stood upon the deck of the "Pocahontas,"
+waiting for that traveling companion whom she had fatally
+beguiled to be her escort.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The boat was getting up her steam, and yet he had not
+made his appearance.</p>
+
+<p>What if he should not come, after all?</p>
+
+<p>Just as she asked this question it was answered by his rapid
+approach.</p>
+
+<p>He came up, traveling-bag in hand, happy, smiling, radiant.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Grey, I have been looking for you all over the boat.
+I feared that I had missed you," he said, gayly, holding out
+his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been waiting for you here," she answered, with a
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to find you at last. But will you not come
+into the cabin? The deck is not a pleasant place while the
+boat is at the wharf," he said, as he offered her his arm.</p>
+
+<p>She thanked him with a smile, took his arm and let him
+lead her into the saloon.</p>
+
+<p>It was at that moment empty of other visitors. And those
+two were <i>tête-à-tête</i>.</p>
+
+<p>He gave her a pleasant seat, placed himself beside her, and
+then and there he told her of his betrothal to Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>Of course she already knew all about it. But he was not
+aware of her knowledge. And his motive in announcing the
+intelligence to her was evident even to Mary Grey's vanity-blinded
+mind. It was to set their own relations at once upon
+a true basis, and prevent all misunderstanding and all false
+hopes growing out of their long-lost love.</p>
+
+<p>Although she had known all this so well before he spoke of
+it, yet it required all her powers of self-control and duplicity
+to listen quietly while he spoke of her rival and to affect a
+sympathy with his happiness.</p>
+
+<p>Yet she did this so well that he was thoroughly deceived.</p>
+
+<p>"It was all a foolish mistake our fancying we loved each
+other so much, was it not, Alden, dear?" she inquired, with
+an arch smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I think so," he answered, quite frankly.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to hear you admit that, for now we can understand
+each other and be good friends, and nothing more," she
+added, sweetly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, good friends always, Mary," he agreed.</p>
+
+<p>He was so happy in his blessed love for Emma Cavendish
+that he felt kindly toward all the world, and especially toward
+this "friendless young widow," as he called her.</p>
+
+<p>"But you know, Alden, that it is quite common for young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
+men of earnest souls like yours to take a liking to women
+older than themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not older than myself, Mary."</p>
+
+<p>"Not in years, perhaps, but oh, ever so much in suffering,
+and in the bitter knowledge of the world it brings! And thus,
+for this reason, I was no proper wife for a happy young man
+like you. No young man should ever marry a widow, and no
+young girl should ever marry a widower. Our fancied love
+for each other was a mistake, dear Alden, and I am very glad
+it was discovered before it was rendered irremediable."</p>
+
+<p>"So am I," replied the young man, quite frankly. "But,
+dear Mary, I hope you will henceforth look upon me and my
+dearest Emma as your brother and sister, for we will be truly
+such in deed as well as in word to you," he added, with grave
+gentleness.</p>
+
+<p>"I know you will; I feel certain of that. And I thank you
+from my heart, while I rejoice in your happiness. Yours will
+be a good, wise and beautiful marriage with Emma, Alden,"
+she murmured, with emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think so too. Thanks be to Heaven!" replied the
+young man, reverently bowing his head.</p>
+
+<p>The steamer was now pushing off from the wharf amid
+much pulling, hauling, hallooing and shouting.</p>
+
+<p>You couldn't "hear yourself think," even in the cabin, for
+a while.</p>
+
+<p>"We are off, I believe," said Mary Grey, at length, when
+the uproar had subsided and they were moving swiftly and
+smoothly along.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Will you come on deck? It is pleasanter there
+now," said Alden, rising and offering her his arm.</p>
+
+<p>She took it with a smile and let him lead her up on deck.</p>
+
+<p>And as they promenaded slowly up and down, enjoying the
+fine September morning and the beautiful river scenery, Mary
+Grey drew him on to speak of Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>Of course the young lover desired no better theme.</p>
+
+<p>And in this way, leading him to discourse of his love, listening
+to him with attention, pretending sympathy with his
+happiness, she effected several objects important to the success
+of her demoniac plot. She pleased him with himself and
+with her. She dispelled his suspicions, if any still lurked in
+his candid soul, and she kept him always near her, talking
+with her, and unconsciously attracting the attention of their
+fellow-voyagers, and leading them to believe that this handsome
+young man, speaking so earnestly in such low tones to
+his companion, and the lovely youthful widow, who was <a name="Page_150t" id="Page_150t"></a><a href="#Page_150tn">listening</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+to him with such rapt attention, were a pair of happy and devoted
+lovers.</p>
+
+<p>Thus passed the forenoon.</p>
+
+<p>When the early steamboat dinner was ready he took her
+down to the table, sat beside her, and assiduously attended to
+her wants.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner, when she was disinclined to walk or to talk,
+he brought out some newspapers and magazines and sat down
+beside her on deck and they read together.</p>
+
+<p>At tea-time he took her down to the table again.</p>
+
+<p>And after tea, as the September night was cool on the water,
+they sat down at one of the cabin tables and played checkers
+together until it was time to retire.</p>
+
+<p>And thus all day long and all the evening through, in sight
+of all the people, Alden Lytton unconsciously conducted himself,
+as Mary Grey intended that he should, like her betrothed
+lover.</p>
+
+<p>In due time they reached Washington, and crossed the
+length of the city to take the train for Philadelphia, where
+they arrived late on Thursday night.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any preference for one hotel over another?" inquired
+Alden, as they stood amid the horrible din of contesting
+hackmen, porters, 'bus-drivers, <i>et cætera</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"None whatever," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we'll go to the Blank House, if you have no objection."</p>
+
+<p>"None. We will go there."</p>
+
+<p>"Here's your Blank House 'bus!" shouted a driver above
+all the other shouts.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't let us get into that crowded cage! A carriage,
+please," pleaded Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>And Alden Lytton, believing her fastidiousness and timidity
+to be real and not affected, and withal feeling bound to be
+guided by her wishes, called a carriage and put her into it.</p>
+
+<p>As they were rolling rapidly on their way to the Blank
+House, Mary Grey shivered and suddenly said:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please, when we get to that great rambling hotel do
+not let them put me away off in a room in a remote part of
+the house by myself or among total strangers. I always feel
+so frightened in a great hotel. And I am always sure to lose
+myself, or do something ridiculous, or get into trouble, whenever
+I attempt to find my way through the labyrinth of halls
+and passages between the bedrooms and parlors. Will you
+please take care of me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will take the same care of you that I would take of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+sister Laura. I will see that you have a room adjoining my
+own," answered Alden Lytton, unsuspiciously, and smiling
+indulgently at what he thought her childish cowardice.</p>
+
+<p>When their carriage reached the Blank House he took her
+up to the reception-room and left her there, while he went to
+the office and engaged apartments for himself and for her.</p>
+
+<p>And then he came for her, attended by the porter, who
+loaded himself with their traveling-bags, umbrellas, and so
+forth, and led the way up two pairs of stairs to a little suite
+of apartments, consisting of two small chambers, with a small
+parlor between them.</p>
+
+<p>They entered the parlor first, where communicating doors
+on the right and left led into opposite chambers.</p>
+
+<p>The porter put down the luggage, received his fee, and
+retired.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you like these rooms, Mrs. Grey. The two chambers
+are exactly alike; but if you have a preference, please
+take it," said Alden, pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"It does not matter the least. I will go in here," answered
+Mary Grey, opening the right-hand door and disappearing
+through it, with her traveling-bag in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>She found every convenience for making a clean toilet there.
+And when she had refreshed herself with a wash and a change
+of dress, she re-entered the little parlor, where she found supper
+laid on the table and an attentive waiter at hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I ordered supper here, because I remembered your fastidiousness
+and thought you would prefer this to the public
+dining-room," explained Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks! Oh, I do like it ever so much better! I can
+not endure the public rooms," said Mary Grey, as she took
+the seat the obsequious waiter placed for her.</p>
+
+<p>"Anything more, if you please, sir?" inquired the man.</p>
+
+<p>"N-n-no," answered Alden, hesitatingly; for in fact, if he
+could have found a fair excuse, he would have preferred to
+have the waiter remain in attendance.</p>
+
+<p>The man bowed and left the room.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXII" id="Chapter_XXXII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXXII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE SERPENT AT WORK.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">One sole desire, one passion, now remains<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To keep life's fever still within her veins.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For this alone she lives&mdash;like lightning's fire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To speed one bolt of ruin&mdash;and expire.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Byron.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Alden sat down at the table and began to carve a roasted
+chicken.</p>
+
+<p>While he was intent upon his task, Mary Grey drew from
+her watch-pocket a little folded paper. With her eyes upon
+him, to be sure that he was not observing her, she deftly
+poured a white powder from this paper into one of the coffee-cups,
+and then quickly returned the empty paper to her
+watch-pocket.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile he had taken off the liver-wing from the roasted
+chicken and placed it on a warm plate, which he passed to
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you have a cup of coffee now, or afterward?" she
+inquired, as she took the offered plate.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, please. Coffee is the most refreshing of all beverages
+after a fatiguing journey," he added, as he received the
+cup from her hands.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very nice supper, yet neither of them seemed inclined
+to eat.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey trifled with her chicken-wing, tasted her milk-toast
+and sipped a little coffee. She looked pale, frightened
+and self-concentrated.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton drank his coffee, remarking, with a smile,
+that it was very, very strong, in fact quite bitter in its
+strength.</p>
+
+<p>And when he had finished it he pushed the cup away, saying
+that it had quite satisfied him and deprived him of the
+inclination to take anything else.</p>
+
+<p>As he said this he looked at his companion, and noticed for
+the first time the ghastliness of her countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Grey, are you ill?" he inquired, in some alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"No; only fatigued from that railway journey. The train
+always shakes me into a jelly," she answered, shivering.</p>
+
+<p>"How very delicate you are, poor child! It is a great pity
+you should ever be called to bear any of the roughness of life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+And when my dear Emma and I have a home together we
+must take care to shield you from all that," he said.</p>
+
+<p>And then he sank into a sudden silence, while she watched
+him closely.</p>
+
+<p>"Will <i>you</i> not take anything?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you. That coffee was no doubt very fine; but
+it was a bitter draught, and it has taken away my appetite
+for anything else," he answered, with a smile and a half-suppressed
+yawn.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not well?" she next inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; quite well; never better in my life!" he answered,
+putting his hands on his lips to conceal an irrepressible
+yawn.</p>
+
+<p>"But you also seem very tired."</p>
+
+<p>"No, only deliciously sleepy, as if I would like to go to
+sleep and never wake up again," he said, with a laugh and a
+smothered gape.</p>
+
+<p>"Then do not stand on ceremony with an old friend like
+me. Bid me good-night and go at once," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"And you?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"I am too tired to go to sleep yet. I shall sit in that
+rocking-chair and rock gently. That motion will soothe and
+rest me better than anything else, and after an hour I shall
+be able to go to bed and go to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>As Mary Grey spoke, Alden Lytton staggered to his feet
+and tottered toward her, held out his hand and faltered,
+drowsily:</p>
+
+<p>"I am forced to take your advice. I must retire at once
+or I shall not be able to reach my room. I never felt so over-powered
+by sleep in all my life before. Good-night, my dear
+Mrs. Grey. I hope that you will sleep as well as I am sure
+that I shall. Good-night."</p>
+
+<p>He pressed her hand, and then, groping like a blind man,
+he passed into his own room and shut the door behind him.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey gazed breathlessly at the closed door for a while,
+murmuring to herself:</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt if that fellow will be able to divest himself of his
+outer garments before he falls down headlong in a dead stupor.
+I have him in my power now&mdash;I have him in my power
+now! At last&mdash;at last! Oh, yes! Oh, yes, Miss Cavendish,
+you will marry him, will you not? And you, Stephen Lyle,
+how proud you will be to have his sister for your wife and
+himself for a brother-in-law! But I must cover up my
+tracks," she added, suddenly, as she went around to his vacated
+place at the table and took his empty cup and rinsed it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+out carefully several times, throwing the water into the empty
+grate, where it soon dried up. Then she poured some of
+the coffee-grounds from her own cup into the rinsed cup to
+conceal the rinsing. Finally she drew from her watch-pocket
+the little white paper from which she had poured the powder
+into the coffee-cup and she held it in the blaze of the gas-light
+until it was burned to ashes.</p>
+
+<p>Then she sat down in the rocking-chair and smiled as she
+rested.</p>
+
+<p>At intervals she bent her head toward the door leading into
+Alden Lytton's room and listened; but she heard no sound of
+life in there.</p>
+
+<p>She sat on in the rocker until the striking of a large clock
+somewhere in the neighborhood aroused her.</p>
+
+<p>It was twelve o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>Midnight!</p>
+
+<p>She arose and cautiously opened the door leading into Alden
+Lytton's room.</p>
+
+<p>She looked like a thief.</p>
+
+<p>The gas was turned down very low; but by its dim light
+she saw him sleeping a heavy, trance-like sleep.</p>
+
+<p>She went into the room and to the door leading into the
+passage and bolted it.</p>
+
+<p>Then she closed every window-shutter and drew down every
+window-shade and let down the heavy moreen curtains, making
+all dark.</p>
+
+<p>Then she returned to the parlor, closed the intervening
+door and threw herself into the rocking-chair and closed her
+eyes in the vain endeavor to rest and sleep.</p>
+
+<p>But sleep and rest were far from her that night.</p>
+
+<p>The clock struck one.</p>
+
+<p>All sounds even about that busy hotel gradually ceased.
+The house was still, awfully still, yet she could not sleep.</p>
+
+<p>The clock struck two.</p>
+
+<p>She started up with a shiver, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"I can not sleep; but I can go to bed and lie there."</p>
+
+<p>And she went into her own room and went to bed, but not
+to rest.</p>
+
+<p>She heard the clock strike in succession every hour of the
+night, until it finally struck four.</p>
+
+<p>Then, when the people of the house were beginning to stir,
+she, overcome with fatigue and watching, at length fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>As usual in such cases of long night watching and early
+morning sleep, she slept long into the forenoon. When she
+awoke and looked at her watch she found it was nine o'clock.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She arose in haste and dressed herself.</p>
+
+<p>This was the morning in which she was to meet her unconscious
+confederate in crime, Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as she was dressed she went into the parlor, where,
+it appeared, the waiter with his pass-key had already been before
+her, for the remains of the last night's supper had been
+carried away and the room had been restored to order.</p>
+
+<p>She then listened at Alden Lytton's door.</p>
+
+<p>All was dark as a vault and still as death there.</p>
+
+<p>She opened the door cautiously and went in.</p>
+
+<p>He was still sleeping a death-like sleep in the pitch-dark
+room. She went and looked to the door leading into the passage
+and found it still bolted.</p>
+
+<p>Then she came out of the room, locked the door between it
+and the parlor, and so isolated the sleeper from all the house.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly she put on her bonnet and shawl and walked out.
+She walked down the street for several blocks, and then hailed
+an empty cab that was passing and engaged it to take her to
+a certain picture-shop in a distant part of the city.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this shop that she had engaged to meet Craven
+Kyte that morning at ten o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>A half-hour's rapid drive brought her to the place.</p>
+
+<p>On arriving, she got out, paid and dismissed the cab, and
+entered the shop.</p>
+
+<p>It was not yet ten o'clock, nor had her intended tool and
+victim yet made his appearance.</p>
+
+<p>It was also too early for the usual customers of the establishment.</p>
+
+<p>But a polite clerk came forward and placed a catalogue and
+a small telescope in her hands, that she might the better examine
+the pictures.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. I would like to look at a city directory first,
+if you please," she said, as she put aside the catalogue and the
+telescope.</p>
+
+<p>The clerk handed her the required volume.</p>
+
+<p>She turned to the church directory, and looked down its
+columns until she found what she seemed to be in search of.</p>
+
+<p>And then she marked it with a pencil and closed the book.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment Craven Kyte entered the shop.</p>
+
+<p>On catching sight of her whom he loved and came to meet
+his face lighted up with joy and he hastened toward her.</p>
+
+<p>But she held up a warning finger to him, and in obedience
+to its signal he moderated his transports and came to her
+quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"This is no place to make demonstrations of that sort,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
+she said. "Here, take your pencil and a bit of paper and
+copy off this address for me," she added, opening the directory
+and pointing to the name she had marked.</p>
+
+<p>"The Reverend Mr. Borden, number&nbsp;&mdash;,&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;&nbsp;street," said
+Craven Kyte, reading the address that he had copied.</p>
+
+<p>"That will do; now come along. We will go straight to
+that reverend gentleman's house," said Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>And they left the shop together.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mary, my love&mdash;my love! How tantalizing it is to
+me to meet you here in public, where I may scarcely take
+your dear hand, when my heart is nearly breaking with its repressed
+feelings!" he whispered, in eager tones.</p>
+
+<p>"You impatient boy, you are worse than any spoiled
+child!" she said, archly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mary, my love, my lady, you will keep your promise?
+You will be mine to-day?" he pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>"I will be yours within two hours&mdash;upon one condition."</p>
+
+<p>"Name it&mdash;name it!" he eagerly exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not marry me under your own name, but under
+that of Alden Lytton."</p>
+
+<p>When she had said this, she stole a glance at him to see
+how he took it, and she was somewhat abashed by the look
+of unutterable amazement on the honest face of the young
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, what do you say to that?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Mary, what an astounding proposition!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"But you will agree to it?"</p>
+
+<p>He was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"You will agree to this, because you love me," she added.</p>
+
+<p>But he continued silent and very sad.</p>
+
+<p>"You will agree to do this for the sake of making me
+your wife?" she persisted.</p>
+
+<p>"My dearest Mary, it is impossible!" he answered, with a
+painful effort.</p>
+
+<p>"There! I knew it! Say no more! You professed great
+love for me once. You were willing to do, dare, or die for
+me, if necessary. You wished me to put you to the test, to
+<i>try</i> you, as you called it; yet, the very first time I have tested
+your sincerity, you have failed me, as I foresaw that you
+would. Good-bye, Mr. Craven Kyte. We part here, and we
+part forever," said Mary Grey, with cold contempt, as she
+turned away from him.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no&mdash;for Heaven's sake, no!" cried the young
+man, piteously. "Do not leave me so suddenly. Give me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
+time to think. Oh, I can not part with you! I must&mdash;must
+have you at any cost!" he muttered to himself.</p>
+
+<p>She stopped and contemplated him as with scornful pity.</p>
+
+<p>"Come&mdash;come into the square here and sit down. Let us
+talk this matter over. Pray do! Oh, I can not lose you so!"
+he pleaded, seizing her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will go in and sit on one of those benches for a
+few moments, and give you the opportunity of recovering
+your place in my confidence," she said, with a sort of contemptuous
+pity, as she turned and entered the square.</p>
+
+<p>He followed her immediately, and they sat down together.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXIII" id="Chapter_XXXIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXXIII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A WICKED WEDDING.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i10">Bid me to leap<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">From off the battlements of yonder tower<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I will do it.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>"Now tell me what you wish me to do, and why you wish
+me to do it," said the lover, submissively.</p>
+
+<p>"I have already told you <i>what</i> I wish you to do. <i>Why</i> I
+wish you to do it must remain my secret for the present. You
+must trust me. Oh, Craven," she added, suddenly changing
+her tone to one of soft, sorrowful pleading, "why will you not
+trust me, when I am about to trust you with the happiness of
+my whole future life?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do trust you! I trust you, as I love you, without limit!"
+answered the poor fellow, almost weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you <i>say</i> you do, yet you refuse to do as I wish you,"
+sorrowfully replied the siren.</p>
+
+<p>"I refuse no longer! I will do anything in the world you
+wish me to do with joy, if in that way I can have you for my
+own," he declared, with tearful emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew you would. You are a dear, good, true heart,
+and I love you more than life!" she said, giving his arm a
+squeeze. "Listen, now."</p>
+
+<p>He became suddenly all devoted attention, as she artfully
+unfolded to him just as much of her nefarious plan as was
+absolutely necessary to secure his co-operation in it. The
+whole of her scheme in all its diabolical wickedness she dared
+not expose to his honest soul.</p>
+
+<p>She told him now that she had set her mind on a harmless
+practical joke, to win a wager with Emma Cavendish.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She said that he must so with her to see the Rev. Mr. Borden,
+rector of St.&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;&nbsp;Church, and ask him to perform the
+marriage ceremony between them, and that he must give his
+own name as Mr. Alden Lytton, attorney at law, Richmond,
+Virginia, and give her name as it was&mdash;Mrs. Mary Grey, of
+the same city. And that they must be married under those
+names.</p>
+
+<p>The young man stared until his black eyes looked big as
+old Booth's in the last scene of "Richard."</p>
+
+<p>"But why?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"A practical joke, I tell you. Ah, how hard you are to
+manage! Why can you not trust me through a little mystery
+like this&mdash;a little practical joke like this?"</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>do</i> trust you; but I am afraid that it might seem like a
+practical forgery to be married under another person's name,"
+he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense! Do you think that I could be such an idiot as
+to implicate you in any act that might be construed into forgery,
+practical or otherwise?" she inquired, with a light laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, certainly you are not the lady to do that!" he admitted.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, what next? You look as solemn as a judge
+or an owl!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid, also, that if I should be married under any
+other name than my own our marriage itself might turn out
+to be nothing more than a practical joke instead of a legal
+union."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Kyte!" she suddenly exclaimed, with her eyes flashing
+fire. "You insult me! Am I the sort of woman that
+would compromise my good name in a marriage of doubtful
+legality?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no; certainly you would not! Nor did I mean that.
+I earnestly beg your pardon!" said Craven, penitently.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a silly gander, and a dear, darling duck of a boy!
+And I love you! But you must understand that I know what
+I am about. And you must trust me&mdash;you must trust me;
+and, once for all, you must <i>trust</i> me!" she said, archly, giving
+his arm another squeeze.</p>
+
+<p>"I do&mdash;I do! Come; shall we be going? I am on the rack
+till our wedding is over."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but we must take a cab. The distance is a long
+one."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a cab-stand a couple of blocks from here. I noticed
+it as I came along. We will take one there, if you
+please."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She assented, and they walked on to the stand and engaged
+a cab.</p>
+
+<p>When they were seated in it Craven Kyte ordered the cabman
+to drive to the rectory of St.&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;&nbsp;Church.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour's driving brought them to their destination.</p>
+
+<p>When the cab drew up to the door of the house, Craven was
+about to alight, when Mary Grey stopped him.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait," she said.</p>
+
+<p>And taking from her card-case a pencil and a blank card,
+she wrote upon it the name:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Alden Lytton."</p>
+
+<p>"Send that in," she said, handing the card to the bewildered
+young man.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte took it, looked at it attentively, and then exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that is exactly like Mr. Lytton's own handwriting!
+If I had not seen you write it I should have taken it to be his
+autograph."</p>
+
+<p>"Should you? So much the better. But never mind that
+now. Go and do as I told you."</p>
+
+<p>He alighted immediately and went up to the door of the
+house. He rang the bell, and sent in the card by the servant
+who answered it.</p>
+
+<p>After the lapse of a few moments the servant came back
+with a very favorable message.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte returned to the cab and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Borden is at home and will see us. Come."</p>
+
+<p>And he assisted her to alight.</p>
+
+<p>And they went into the rectory, and were shown by a servant
+into the study of the rector.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey courtesied to the gray-haired, dignified clergyman,
+who arose to receive her; but she kept her veil down as
+she took her seat in the chair he placed for her.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte then drew the reverend gentleman aside and
+spoke to him in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Borden nodded and nodded as the speaker proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>When he had finished speaking, the rector inquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Both of legal age?"</p>
+
+<p>"Both of more than legal age, and both quite independent
+of others," answered Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"I merely asked the question because in cases of this kind
+I prefer that the parties should be of legal age; though were
+they minors I should feel it to be my duty to marry them all
+the same, because, I think, when a youth and maiden run<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
+away with each other the best thing a Christian minister can
+do for them is to tie them together for life."</p>
+
+<p>"I am a bachelor of twenty-two years of age, and my chosen
+wife is a widow of twenty-one. We take this simple method
+of getting married for economy and convenience, and for no
+other reason; for there is no one in the world who has either
+the power or the will to prevent us," said Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Mr. Lytton; I am ready to wait on you. I
+prefer, however, to solemnize marriage in the church, when
+possible. There must be witnesses also. And if you have
+none at hand the sexton and some members of his family can
+serve."</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte winced at the prospect of all these formalities.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought that in the Quaker City marriage was a matter
+of less form," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, among the Quakers; but even they must have witnesses.
+If you and the lady will go into the church I will join
+you there in a few minutes. You will find the doors open
+and the sexton in the building, preparing for the usual Friday
+afternoon service," said the rector.</p>
+
+<p>And Craven Kyte again offered his arm to his companion
+and led her out of the rectory and into the church.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident from all signs that the interior had just been
+swept out.</p>
+
+<p>And an old man and a young woman, whom Craven Kyte
+and his companion rightly guessed to be the sexton and the
+sexton's daughter, were busily engaged in dusting the pews.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte and Mary Grey sat down upon a front seat before
+the altar to wait until the rector should make his appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Borden did not keep them long in suspense. He soon
+entered, dressed in his surplice, and took his place within the
+chancel.</p>
+
+<p>The candidates for matrimony advanced and stood before
+him.</p>
+
+<p>He beckoned the sexton and the sexton's daughter to draw
+near and stand as witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>And they came up, dusting-brushes in hand, and stood
+staring while the ceremony was performed.</p>
+
+<p>After the preliminary exhortation and prayers the important
+questions were put:</p>
+
+<p>"Will you, Alden, take Mary to be your wedded wife, to
+live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony?"
+and so forth, and so forth, and so forth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To which Craven Kyte, turning pale at his own unwilling
+duplicity in answering to a false name, replied:</p>
+
+<p>"I will."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you, Mary, take Alden to be your wedded husband?"
+and so forth, and so forth.</p>
+
+<p>To which Mary Grey answered firmly:</p>
+
+<p>"I will."</p>
+
+<p>And the ring was placed upon her finger. And her marriage
+vows were solemnly repeated, the last prayer said, and
+the benediction pronounced.</p>
+
+<p>It was all over.</p>
+
+<p>"Those whom God hath joined together let no man put
+asunder."</p>
+
+<p>The newly-married pair were about to turn from the altar,
+when the rector said:</p>
+
+<p>"Come with me into the vestry for a moment."</p>
+
+<p>And they followed him into the vestry, attended by the two
+witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>The rector made an entry into a large book, and then called
+upon the bridegroom and the bride to sign their names.</p>
+
+<p>Again Craven Kyte turned pale as death as he registered
+the false name under which he had been married.</p>
+
+<p>But his companion wrote her name in firm and steady characters.</p>
+
+<p>Then the sexton and his daughter signed as witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>The rector filled out a blank form, which he also signed
+and caused to be signed by the two witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>This he put into an envelope and handed to the bride.</p>
+
+<p>Then he bowed to both, as a signal that all the forms had
+been complied with, and they were at liberty to depart.</p>
+
+<p>"What was that paper the minister gave you, my dearest
+love?" whispered Craven, as they left the church.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the certificate of marriage which the minister
+usually&mdash;and very properly&mdash;gives to the newly-married woman,"
+answered the bride.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, quite right, my angel!" replied the doomed bridegroom,
+as he tenderly put her into the cab and took his seat
+beside her.</p>
+
+<p>And then he clasped her to his honest heart in an ecstasy
+of love and went off into the most extravagant rhapsodies
+about his happiness.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXIV" id="Chapter_XXXIV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXXIV.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>AFTER THE WICKED WEDDING.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">"And I no friends to back my cause withal,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But the plain devil and dissembling looks.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I have him, but I will not keep him long."</span>
+</div></div></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em">"Did you tell the coachman where to drive?" inquired the
+bride, as the carriage rolled rapidly through one of
+the principal streets of the city.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dearest," answered the infatuated bridegroom. "I
+told him to drive to the Asterick, where I am stopping, and
+where I have had elegant rooms prepared for your reception.
+Do you think I could have forgotten anything in which your
+comfort was concerned?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am sure you could not; but&mdash;" She hesitated a
+moment, and then added: "I wanted to go somewhere else."</p>
+
+<p>"My love&mdash;my love, you shall go where you please. After
+we have got to our rooms at the Asterick, and refreshed and
+rested ourselves, we will consult about where to go and spend
+a pleasant fortnight together," he answered, affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but I don't want to go to the Asterick just yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Where then? I will go anywhere you wish."</p>
+
+<p>"You know I did not come to this city alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you, dear? I thought you did."</p>
+
+<p>"No; I came with a party of lady friends. And I left
+them all abruptly this morning to meet you, without telling
+them where I was going or when I should be back. I have
+now been gone two hours. They will be uneasy about me by
+this time. I must go back there and relieve their anxiety,
+and also get my traveling-bag."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, my darling, we will drive there immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; <i>you</i> must not go there! I have not told them
+anything about my intended marriage, so I don't want them
+to know anything about it, lest they should be offended.
+There is a reading-room at the corner of the street near the
+hotel. Stop there, and I will get out and walk to the house
+and take leave of my friends, and then return to the reading-room
+and join you. In the meantime you can send the carriage
+away, and while waiting for me you can amuse yourself
+looking over the books."</p>
+
+<p>"But I hate to lose you even for an hour."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah, be reasonable, and remember that it will be but for
+an hour or less time. And when we meet again it will be to
+part no more forever&mdash;or until death himself shall part us."</p>
+
+<p>"I must submit, I suppose," said Craven, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Submit? Oh, you crazy boy! You talk as if you were
+making some painful sacrifice!" she answered, with a light
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>is</i> painful to let you leave me even for an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! You'll be glad to be rid of me some of these days."</p>
+
+<p>"Never!"</p>
+
+<p>"Bah, I say again! Come, here we are at the reading-room.
+Stop the carriage."</p>
+
+<p>He did so.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me out here and I will walk on," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Had you not better let me get out here, and keep your
+own seat and drive on?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"No. I don't want the carriage to take me to the hotel.
+The distance is short. I prefer walking. You had better
+dismiss it, and go into the reading-room and amuse yourself
+while waiting for me," she said.</p>
+
+<p>He acquiesced, and she got out and walked rapidly on toward
+the Blank House.</p>
+
+<p>With her thick veil let down, she slipped in through the
+ladies' entrance with some visitors that just happened to be
+going there.</p>
+
+<p>She hurried upstairs to her own rooms and unlocked the
+door of the private parlor.</p>
+
+<p>All within the place was just as she had left it two hours
+before.</p>
+
+<p>She opened the window-shutters to let in the daylight, and
+then she went and listened at the door communicating with
+Alden Lytton's room.</p>
+
+<p>At first all was still. But presently she heard a step about
+the room, and soon after other motions that proved the inmate
+to be busy at his toilet.</p>
+
+<p>"He is up and dressing himself. I have not returned one
+minute too soon," she said, as she seated herself in an easy-chair
+near the window.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment the door opened and Alden Lytton entered,
+smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know how to apologize for my stupid neglect.
+But I hope you will believe me when I assure you it was inadvertent.
+The truth is I overslept myself. I can't think what
+made me do it," he said, actually blushing like a boy at the
+thought of his involuntary sluggishness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You were very much fatigued last night. I am very glad
+you had a refreshing sleep. I hope you feel the better for it,"
+she answered, with her sweet smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no; not much better. You know there is such a
+thing as taking too much sleep. I feel quite as if I had taken
+twice too much&mdash;dull and heavy, with a stupid headache. I
+never was inebriated in my life, but I should think a man
+that had been so, over night, would feel just as I do this
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I am sorry! But the fresh air will do you good, no
+doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt. And really it is not worth speaking of. I
+see you have your hat on. You have been taking a walk this
+fine morning, while I lay like a sluggard, sleeping myself into
+a headache?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I have not been out. I put my hat on merely to be
+ready to start the moment we had breakfasted. For I must
+go and see the principal of the ladies' school this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I hope you have not waited breakfast for me all
+this time!" exclaimed Alden, in a tone of regret.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not waited very long. And if I must confess the
+fault, I have not been up very long myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" laughed Alden Lytton. "So somebody else overslept
+herself!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; ''tis true, 'tis pity, and pity 'tis 'tis true!'"</p>
+
+<p>"You must be hungry, however. I will ring and order
+breakfast directly."</p>
+
+<p>"No, please don't. It will take too much time. For once
+we will go down in the dining-room and get our breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"As you please," said Alden Lytton, as he arose to attend
+her down-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>The guests had nearly all left the dining-room, so there
+were waiters enough at leisure to attend to these late arrivals;
+and it followed, of course, that they had not long to wait for
+their coffee and rolls.</p>
+
+<p>They did not tarry over their meal. Both were in a hurry.</p>
+
+<p>"I should have been at the law publisher's two hours ago,"
+said Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"And I should have been at the ladies' school about the
+same time," added Mary.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never forgive myself for sleeping so ridiculously
+long and detaining you," said Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"Say no more about it. We shall only have to hurry over
+our breakfast to make up for lost time," answered the
+traitress.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And they soon finished and arose from the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you be so good as to order a carriage for me while I
+run upstairs and get my traveling-bag?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," he answered, as he gave her his arm and led
+her to the foot of the grand staircase.</p>
+
+<p>And as she ran up, he turned and sent a hall porter for the
+carriage.</p>
+
+<p>And then he waited at the foot of the stairs for her return.</p>
+
+<p>The carriage was announced, and she reappeared about the
+same time.</p>
+
+<p>She carried in her hand a leather bag and a small silk umbrella,
+both of which she handed to a porter.</p>
+
+<p>"This looks like a departure," said Alden Lytton, as he
+gave her his arm to lead her to the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"It may be a departure," she answered; "and I must take
+this, perhaps last, opportunity of thanking you for all your
+brotherly kindness to me. If I should not return by six
+o'clock this evening, please give up my room."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do so," said Alden Lytton. "And in that case I
+also shall give up my room, for I think I shall be able to get
+through with my business to-day. If you should be returning
+to Virginia I should be pleased to escort you back."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks! But I rather think that I shall try the school.
+That will do. I am very comfortable. Thanks, very much!"
+she added, as she settled herself in the seat where he had
+placed her.</p>
+
+<p>"Where shall I tell the coachman to drive?" inquired
+Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him to call first at the reading-room at the corner of
+the next street. I wish to look at the directory there before
+going further."</p>
+
+<p>This order was given to the coachman, who immediately
+started his horses.</p>
+
+<p>In a very few minutes the carriage drew up before the reading-room
+door.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey&mdash;as I still prefer to call her&mdash;got out and ran
+into the room.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte was there, trying to interest himself in a morning
+paper. As soon as he saw her he dropped the paper and
+started to meet her.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me you have been gone four hours instead of
+one," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been gone just an hour and seven minutes, you
+very bad boy!" she answered, playfully. "Now, then, I am
+at your lordship's service."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my beloved, do not speak so to me, even in sport, for
+you are my queen and I am your subject! Shall we go now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have a carriage at the door, with my little luggage
+in it."</p>
+
+<p>"Come then, love."</p>
+
+<p>They went out together and entered the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"Drive to the Asterick Hotel," said Craven Kyte to the
+coachman.</p>
+
+<p>"And tell him to drive slowly, for I wish to talk to you as
+we go along," she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"Drive slowly," said Mr. Kyte, giving her order.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Craven, dear," she said, as they went along, "I
+wish you to understand that I don't want to stop at the Asterick
+longer than it will take you to pay your bill and pack
+your portmanteau."</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you want to go then, my darling? I am ready
+to go anywhere with you," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I have a fancy for spending a few days at Havre-de-Grace.
+It is a very pretty place. We can take the next
+train and get there in two or three hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, my angel, I will make every effort to catch
+that train."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, then, tell the coachman to drive fast."</p>
+
+<p>Again Craven Kyte conveyed her orders to the man on the
+box, who touched up his horses.</p>
+
+<p>And they were whirled rapidly on toward the Asterick Hotel,
+where they soon arrived.</p>
+
+<p>"Hadn't I better tell the carriage to wait?" inquired
+Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"No; send it away. We can pick up another one in a moment,"
+answered his companion.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte paid and discharged the carriage, and they
+went into the house.</p>
+
+<p>He took his companion up into the private parlor he had
+engaged for her, and he pressed her to partake of some
+refreshments while he packed up his portmanteau and paid
+his bill.</p>
+
+<p>But she declined the refreshments and said she would wait,
+keeping herself closely veiled all the time.</p>
+
+<p>He hurried through his business as fast as he could, and
+soon rejoined her.</p>
+
+<p>He took her down to the cab he had engaged, and which
+was already packed with their luggage.</p>
+
+<p>A half-hour's rapid drive took them to the railway station,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+which they reached only in time to buy their tickets, check
+their baggage and take their seats before the train started.</p>
+
+<p>It was the express. And they were soon whirled through
+the country to the town where the bride chose to spend her
+honeymoon.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXV" id="Chapter_XXXV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXXV.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>HER CRIME.</h3>
+
+
+<p>They took rooms in a pleasant hotel in the town, and
+after an early tea they strolled down to the water-side to
+look at the small shipping.</p>
+
+<p>It was a delicious evening in September. The sun had just
+set, and the whole expanse of water was aflame with the afterglow.</p>
+
+<p>A refreshing breeze had sprung up, and the river was alive
+with pleasure boats of every description, from the sail- to the
+row-boat.</p>
+
+<p>And there were more boats for hire, at the service of any
+who might wish to amuse themselves upon the water.</p>
+
+<p>"Take a boat. Craven, and let us go out for a row. The
+evening is so delightful, the sky and the water so beautiful,"
+said the bride, coaxingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I would like to do so, my angel; but, to tell the truth, I
+am a very inexperienced oarsman, and I can not swim at all,"
+answered the poor fellow, apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you afraid then, Craven?" she asked, with exasperating
+archness.</p>
+
+<p>"No, love, not for myself, but for you. If by my awkwardness
+any accident should happen to you I think I should
+run raving mad," he answered, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, never mind me! There is no cause for fear
+whatever, as far as I am concerned. I can row like a squaw
+and I can swim like a duck. And I think I could do so ever
+since I could walk. At least, I certainly do not remember
+the time when I could not swim," said the lady, laughingly.</p>
+
+<p>"What a wonder you are&mdash;in everything!" exclaimed the
+lover-bridegroom, in a rapture of admiration.</p>
+
+<p>"No wonder at all. I was brought up on the water-side,
+and was always a sort of amphibious little creature, as often
+in the water as out of it. Come, now, will you hire a boat to
+please me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course! I would do anything in the world to please
+you, my angel!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then engage that little pea-green boat. It is a nice one,"
+she said, pointing to a frail skiff moored near them.</p>
+
+<p>"That, my dearest Mary? Why, that is a mere egg-shell!
+It could not live in rough water. And if this gentle breeze
+should rise into a wind&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Are you afraid?" she inquired, with provoking sarcasm.</p>
+
+<p>"I say again not for myself, but for you."</p>
+
+<p>"And I say again that there can be no ground of fear for
+me. I say again I can row like a squaw and swim like a duck.
+There! Now will you get the boat I want?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my darling, I will. And I will also take the precaution
+to hire the man in charge of it to help us row, in case of
+accidents."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no; I won't have the man! He would spoil all
+our pleasure. I want you and myself to go out alone together,
+and have no interloper with us."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my beloved&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe you love me at all, when you want a great
+hulking boatman to be in the boat with us, watching us," said
+the bride, with pretty childish petulance.</p>
+
+<p>"Not love you? Oh, heaven of heavens! You <i>know</i> how
+I love you&mdash;how I <i>adore</i> you&mdash;how I <i>worship</i> you!" he whispered,
+earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you get the boat I want before it grows too dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I will, my darling! I can refuse you nothing,"
+said the infatuated bridegroom as he walked down to the water's
+edge and forthwith hired the one she had set her heart on.</p>
+
+<p>Then he came back to take her down to the boat.</p>
+
+<p>It was a mere shell, as he had said; and though the boatman
+declared that it could easily carry six if required, it did
+not look as if it would safely bear more than two or three passengers
+at most.</p>
+
+<p>They were soon floating out upon the water and down with
+the tide past the dingy colliers and the small trading vessels
+that were anchored there, and out among the coming and going
+sloops and schooners.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me row toward that beautiful wooded shore. It is so
+lovely over there!" said Mary Grey, coaxingly.</p>
+
+<p>"'Distance lends,' and so forth," smiled Craven Kyte, as
+he at once headed for the shore.</p>
+
+<p>But the outgoing tide had left a muddy beach there, and so
+they had to keep at a respectful distance from it.</p>
+
+<p>They rowed again to the middle of the river.</p>
+
+<p>The afterglow had faded away, but the blue-black starlit
+sky was brilliantly reflected in the dark water.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When they had rowed an hour longer, back and forth from
+shore to shore, Craven Kyte drew in his oar and said:</p>
+
+<p>"It is growing late and very dark, love. Had we not better
+go in?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no!" answered the bride, with prettily assumed
+authority.</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear love&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The night is beautiful! I could stay out here until
+morning!"</p>
+
+<p>"But chills and fevers, these September nights, darling!"</p>
+
+<p>"Fiddle-de-dee! Are you afraid?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not for myself, love, but for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I never had a chill in my life! I am acclimated to these
+water-side places. If you are tired of rowing give me the
+oars."</p>
+
+<p>"Not for the world! What, fatigue your dear arms? I
+would sooner mine dropped from my shoulders with weariness!"</p>
+
+<p>And he took up both oars again and plied them actively,
+although his unaccustomed muscles were aching from the
+long-continued exercise.</p>
+
+<p>"Turn down the stream then and row with the tide. It
+will be so much lighter work than rowing back and forth
+across the river."</p>
+
+<p>"But it will take us so far from the town."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind!"</p>
+
+<p>"And it will make it very difficult, when we turn back, to
+row against wind and tide."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah, we will not stay out long! We will only go around
+that point that I see before us. What a fascination there is
+in a turning point! We always want to see what is on the
+other side," said Mary Grey, lightly.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, Craven Kyte had turned the boat and they were
+floating down stream very fast.</p>
+
+<p>They soon passed the point, and saw on the other side a flat,
+sandy shore, with the woods at a little distance.</p>
+
+<p>They were still off the point, when Mary Grey suddenly uttered
+an exclamation of dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" hastily inquired Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my hat! My hat has fallen off my head and is in the
+water! If you stoop over quick you can reach it before it
+floats quite away!" she said, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte immediately drew in his oars and secured
+them, and then bent over the side of the boat to reach the hat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
+that was still floating within three feet of his hands. He bent
+very far out and endangered his balance.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey arose to her feet. Her eyes were glittering like
+phosphorus in the night, her face pallid in the starlight.</p>
+
+<p>He bent lower down and further out, trying to reach the
+hat, when suddenly she gave him a push and he fell into the
+river, and went down before he could utter the cry upon his
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>The force with which she had pushed her victim into the
+water had given the little boat an impetus that sent it flying
+down the stream, and rocking violently from side to side.</p>
+
+<p>It was as much as she could do to keep her place in it. Any
+other than an experienced boat-woman like herself must have
+been shaken out and drowned.</p>
+
+<p>She heard her victim's agonized scream for help as he rose
+the first time to the surface of the water.</p>
+
+<p>But she gave it no attention.</p>
+
+<p>For even if she had repented, and had wished to save him,
+she could not do so now.</p>
+
+<p>She could, with the greatest difficulty, keep her place in the
+rocking boat until the impetus that had started it was spent.</p>
+
+<p>Yet again that awful cry for help pierced the night sky as
+the drowning man arose the second time to the surface; but
+on this occasion the cry sounded farther off, and the boat,
+though it had ceased to rock, was flying rapidly down stream.</p>
+
+<p>She took hold of the rudder and tried to guide the flying
+little shell.</p>
+
+<p>Her situation, self-sought as it had been, was one of almost
+intolerable horror.</p>
+
+<p>The night sky was above her, the dark waters beneath her,
+and around her, at various distances, like little dim white
+specks, were to be seen the sails of the coming and going colliers,
+and other small trading craft.</p>
+
+<p>She steered down the stream with the tide, pausing now and
+then and listening. But she heard no more that agonized cry
+of the drowning man, though she knew it would ring in her
+spirit's ears forever.</p>
+
+<p>She steered down stream until she heard the sound of oars,
+and of merry laughter and cheerful talk, and then she dimly
+perceived the approach of a large pleasure boat crowded with
+gentlemen and ladies.</p>
+
+<p>Then she, knowing it was too late to save her victim, deceitfully
+raised a shrill scream, that attracted the attention of
+the people in the large boat, which was immediately rowed in
+the direction of the cry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Soon the two boats were side by side.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" inquired a man's voice from the
+larger boat.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for Heaven's sake, help! My companion has fallen
+overboard, and, I fear, is drowned!" cried Mary Grey, wringing
+her hands in well-simulated grief and terror.</p>
+
+<p>"Where? Where?" inquired a dozen eager, interested
+voices, all at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Just about here. Oh, look for him, listen for him! Do
+try to save him!" cried the hypocrite, seizing her own hair, as
+if she would have pulled it out by the roots, in her pretended
+anguish of mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did he fall? Did he not struggle?" inquired two
+or three voices, as the oarsmen rowed their boat around and
+around in a circle and peered over the surface of the water
+for some sign of the lost man.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he sank at once&mdash;he sank at once!" cried Mary Grey,
+beating her breast.</p>
+
+<p>"But he will come up again. They always do, unless they
+are seized with the cramp and it holds them. Keep a bright
+lookout there, boys, and if you see so much as a ripple in the
+water make for it at once! We may save the poor fellow yet!"
+said the voice of a man who seemed to be in authority.</p>
+
+<p>"How in the world did he happen to fall over, miss?" inquired
+another voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my miserable, unlucky hat blew off my head and fell
+into the water. I begged him not to mind it&mdash;told him I
+would tie a pocket-handkerchief over my head&mdash;but he
+wouldn't listen to me. Oh, he wouldn't listen me! And so, in
+stooping to recover my wretched hat, he bent over too far,
+lost his balance and fell into the water. And oh, he sank at
+once like lead! Oh, do try to find him! Oh, do try to save
+him! He might be resuscitated even now, if you could find
+him&mdash;might he not?" she cried, wringing her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, ma'am!" answered a man, in his good-natured
+wish to soothe who he took to be a distracted woman.</p>
+
+<p>And they rowed around and around, peering into the water
+and listening for every sound.</p>
+
+<p>But there was no sign of the lost man.</p>
+
+<p>After they had sought for him about an hour the man who
+seemed to be the chief among them said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid it is quite vain, ma'am. It is not a drowning,
+but a drowned man that we have been seeking for the
+last hour. Tell us where you wish to go, and we will take
+you home. To-morrow the body may be recovered."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But Mary Grey, with a wild shriek, fell back in her boat
+and lay like one in a swoon.</p>
+
+<p>"We must take the lady into this boat of ours, and tow
+the little one after us," said the man.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXVI" id="Chapter_XXXVI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXXVI.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>AFTER THE DARK DEED.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mary Grey was lifted, in an apparently fainting condition,
+from her own little boat into the larger one beside
+it. She was laid down carefully and waited on tenderly
+by the sympathizing ladies in the larger boat.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the little boat was tied to the stern of the larger
+one, to be towed up the river.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we to take the poor unfortunate woman, I
+wonder?" said one of the ladies.</p>
+
+<p>"If she does not come to her senses in time to tell us where
+she lives you can bring her to my house," answered another
+lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Or to mine," said a third.</p>
+
+<p>"Or mine," added a fourth.</p>
+
+<p>"Or mine," "or mine," chimed in others.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody was emulous to succor this unhappy one.</p>
+
+<p>As they neared the city Mary Grey condescended to heave
+a deep sigh, shudder and open her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Then a chorus of sympathizing voices saluted her. But she
+wept and moaned, and pretended to refuse to be comforted.</p>
+
+<p>It was some time before the persevering efforts of a gentleman
+succeeded in persuading her to understand and answer
+his question as to where she lived.</p>
+
+<p>"At the Star Hotel," she said, with a gasp and a sigh, as
+if her heart were broken.</p>
+
+<p>The boat landed; and the "poor lady," as she was compassionately
+called, was tenderly lifted out by the gentlemen and
+carefully supported between two of them while she was led to
+the hotel, followed by the ladies.</p>
+
+<p>The sad news of the young gentleman's fate was immediately
+communicated to the people at the hotel, and soon
+spread through the town.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, the drowning of a man at that point was not such an
+unusual event after all, and it made much less impression
+than it ought to have done.</p>
+
+<p>Some people said they felt sorry for the poor young woman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
+so suddenly bereaved and left among strangers; and perhaps
+they really believed that they did so; but the next instant
+they thought of something else.</p>
+
+<p>But the ladies who had been present near the scene of the
+catastrophe, and had witnessed Mary Grey's well-acted terror,
+grief and despair, really did sympathize with her supposed
+sorrows to a very painful extent.</p>
+
+<p>After following her to the hotel, they went with her to her
+room, and helped to undress her and put her to bed.</p>
+
+<p>And two among them offered to remain and watch with
+her during the night.</p>
+
+<p>The sinful woman, already a prey to the horrors of remorse
+and superstition, dreading the darkness and solitude of the
+night, fearing almost to see the dripping specter of the
+drowned man standing over her bed, gratefully accepted their
+offer, and begged, at the same time, for morphia.</p>
+
+<p>Her kind attendants were afraid to administer a dangerous
+opiate without the advice of a physician; so they sent for one
+immediately, who, on his arrival and his examination of the
+terribly excited patient, gave her a dose that soon sent her to
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p>The two ladies took their places by her bed and watched
+her.</p>
+
+<p>She slept well through the night, and awoke quite calmly
+in the morning. The composing influence of the morphia
+had not yet left her.</p>
+
+<p>And with the returning daylight much of her remorse and
+all of her superstition vanished for the time being.</p>
+
+<p>She thanked the ladies who had watched her during the
+night, and, in reply to their inquiries, assured them that she
+felt better, but begged them to keep her room dark.</p>
+
+<p>They expressed their gratification to hear her say so. One
+of them bathed her face and hands and combed her hair,
+while the other one rang the bell, and ordered tea and toast
+to be brought to the room.</p>
+
+<p>And they tenderly pressed her to eat and drink, and they
+waited on her while she partook slightly of this light breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>Then they rang and sent the breakfast service away, and
+they put her room in order, and smoothed her pillows and the
+coverlet of her bed, and finally they kissed her and bade her
+good-morning for a while, promising to return again in the
+course of the afternoon, and begging that she would send for
+them, at the address they gave her, in case she should require
+their services sooner.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When she was left alone, Mary Grey slipped out of bed,
+locked the door after the ladies, and then, having secured herself
+from intrusion, she opened her traveling-bag and took
+from it a small white envelope, from which she drew a neatly-folded
+white paper.</p>
+
+<p>This was the marriage certificate, setting forth that on the
+fifteenth day of September, eighteen hundred and&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;, at the
+parish church of St.&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;, in the city of Philadelphia, Alden
+Lytton, attorney at law, of the city of Richmond, and Mary
+Grey, widow, of the same city, were united in the holy bonds
+of matrimony by the Rev. Mr. Borden, rector of the church,
+in the presence of John Martin, sexton, and Sarah Martin, his
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p>The certificate was duly signed by the Rev. Mr. Borden and
+by John Martin and Sarah Martin.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey sat down with this document before her, read it
+over slowly, and laughed a demoniac laugh as she folded it
+up and put it carefully into its envelope and returned it to
+her traveling-bag, while she reviewed her plot and "summed
+up the evidence" she had accumulated against the peace and
+honor of Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I will let him marry her," she said, "and then, in
+the midst of their fancied security and happiness, I will come
+down upon them like an avalanche of destruction. I will
+claim him for my own husband by a previous marriage. I
+have evidence enough to convict and ruin him.</p>
+
+<p>"First, I have all his impassioned letters, written to me
+from Charlottesville, while I was a guest at the Government
+House in Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>"Secondly, I have those perfectly manufactured letters addressed
+to me in a fac-simile of his handwriting, signed by his
+name and mailed from Wendover to me at Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, these alone would be sufficient to prove his perfidy
+even to Emma Cavendish's confiding heart! And they would
+be good for heavy damages in a breach of promise case.</p>
+
+<p>"But I do not want damages&mdash;I want revenge. I do not
+want to touch his pocket&mdash;I want to ruin his life. Yes&mdash;and
+hers! I want to dishonor, degrade and utterly ruin them
+both! And I have evidence enough to do this," she said, resuming
+her summing up, "for there is&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thirdly, his meeting me at Forestville and his journey
+with me to Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>"Fourthly, his journey with me to Philadelphia.</p>
+
+<p>"Fifthly, the rector's certificate, setting forth the marriage
+of Alden Lytton and Mary Grey.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sixthly, the testimony of the rector, who will swear that
+he performed the ceremony, and of the sexton and the sexton's
+daughter, who will swear that they witnessed the marriage
+of Alden Lytton and Mary Grey; and swear, furthermore&mdash;from
+his exact resemblance to Craven Kyte&mdash;to the
+identity of Alden Lytton as the bridegroom.</p>
+
+<p>"Alden Lytton can not disprove this by an alibi, for at the
+very time Craven Kyte personated him, and under his name
+and character married me, Alden Lytton, in a dead stupor,
+was locked up in his darkened chamber, and no one knew of
+his whereabouts but myself, who had the key of his room.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor can Craven Kyte 'ever rise to explain,' for death
+and the Susquehanna mud has stopped his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"So this chain of evidence must be conclusive not only to
+the minds of the jury, who will send my gentleman to rusticate
+in a penitentiary for a term of years, but also to Miss
+Cavendish, who will find her proud escutcheon blotted a little,
+I think."</p>
+
+<p>While Mary Grey gloated over the horrors of her plotted
+vengeance, there came a rap at the door. She hastily put on
+a dressing-gown, softly unlocked the door, threw herself into
+an easy-chair, with her back to the window, and bade the
+rapper to come in.</p>
+
+<p>The door opened and the clerk of the house entered, bringing
+with him the house register, which he held open in his
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon for this unseasonable intrusion, madam,"
+he said, as he laid the open book down on the table before
+her; "but being called upon to report this sad case of
+the drowning of a guest of this house, I find some difficulty in
+making out the name, for the poor young gentleman does not
+seem to have written very clearly. The name is registered C.
+or G. something or other. But whether it is Hyte or Flyte
+or Kyle or Hyle, none of us can make out."</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey smiled within herself, as she secretly rejoiced at
+the opportunity of concealing the real name and identity of
+Craven Kyte with the drowned man.</p>
+
+<p>So she drew the book toward her and said, with an affectation
+of weariness and impatience, as she gazed upon poor
+Craven's illegible hieroglyphics:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the name is quite plain! It is G. Hyle&mdash;H-y-l-e.
+Don't you see?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, madam! I see now quite plainly. Excuse me:
+they ask for the full name. Would you please to tell me
+what the initial G stands for?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. It stands for Gaston. His name was Gaston
+Hyle. He was a foreigner, as his name shows. There, there,
+pray do not talk to me any more! I can not bear it," said
+Mary Grey, affecting symptoms of hysterical grief.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon for having troubled you, madam, indeed!
+And I thank you for the information you have given
+me. Good-day, madam," said the clerk, bowing kindly and
+courteously as he withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the newspapers, under the head of casualties,
+published the following paragraph:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquotn"><p>"On Friday evening last a young man, a foreigner, of the
+name of Gaston Hyle, who had been stopping at the Star Hotel,
+Havre-de-Grace, was accidentally drowned while boating
+on the river. His body has not yet been recovered."</p></div>
+
+<p>No, nor his body never was recovered.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey, for form's sake, remained a week at Havre-de-Grace,
+affecting great anxiety for the recovery of that body.
+But she shut herself up in her room, pretending the deepest
+grief, and upon this pretext refusing all sympathizing visits,
+even from the ladies who had shown her so much kindness on
+the night of the catastrophe, and from the clergy, who would
+have offered her religious consolation.</p>
+
+<p>The true reason of her seclusion was that she did not wish
+her features to become familiar to these people, lest at some
+future time they might possibly be inconveniently recognized.</p>
+
+<p>As yet no one had seen her face except by night or in her
+darkened room. And she did not intend that they should.</p>
+
+<p>Her supposed grievous bereavement was her all-sufficient
+excuse for her seclusion.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the week Mary Grey paid her bill at the Star,
+and, closely-veiled, left the hotel and took the evening train
+for Washington, <i>en route</i> for Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>In due time she reached the last-named city and took up
+her residence at her old quarters with the Misses Crane, there
+to wait patiently until the marriage of Alden Lytton and
+Emma Cavendish should give her the opportunity of consummating
+their ruin and her own triumph. Meanwhile poor
+Craven Kyte's leave of absence having expired, he began to
+be missed and inquired for.</p>
+
+<p>But to all questions his partner answered that he did not
+know where he was or when he would be back, but thought
+he was all right.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXVII" id="Chapter_XXXVII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXXVII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>GREAT PROSPERITY.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i10">Fortune is merry,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And in this mood will give us anything.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Alden Lytton prospered wonderfully. Not once in a
+thousand instances can a young professional man get on
+as fast as he did.</p>
+
+<p>Usually the young lawyer or doctor has to wait long before
+work comes to him, and then to work long before money
+comes.</p>
+
+<p>It was not so with Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he opened his office business came in at the door.</p>
+
+<p>His first brief was a success.</p>
+
+<p>His second, and more difficult one, was a still greater
+victory.</p>
+
+<p>His third, and most important, was the greatest triumph of
+the three.</p>
+
+<p>And from this time the high road to fame and fortune was
+open to him.</p>
+
+<p>The astonishing rapidity of his rise was explained in various
+ways by different persons.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish, who loved and esteemed him, ascribed
+his great prosperity to his own splendid talents alone.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton himself, full of filial respect, attributed it to
+the prestige of his late father's distinguished name.</p>
+
+<p>And the briefless young lawyers, his unsuccessful rivals at
+the bar, credited it to the "loud" advertisement afforded by
+his handsome office and the general appearance of wealth and
+prosperity that surrounded him.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt they were all right and&mdash;all wrong.</p>
+
+<p>Not one of these circumstances taken alone could have
+secured the young barrister's success. Neither his own talents
+nor his father's name, nor the costly appointments of his
+office, could have done it; yet each contributed something,
+and all together they combined to insure his rapid advancement
+in his profession.</p>
+
+<p>While Alden Lytton was thus gaining fame and fortune,
+Mary Grey was engaged in mystifying the minds and winning
+the sympathy and compassion of all her acquaintances.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From the time of her return from Philadelphia she had exhibited
+a deep and incurable melancholy.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody pitied her deeply and wondered what could be
+the secret sorrow under which she was suffering.</p>
+
+<p>But when any friend more curious than the rest ventured
+to question her, she answered:</p>
+
+<p>"I have borne and am still bearing the deepest wrong that
+any woman can suffer and survive. But I must not speak of
+it now. My hands are bound and my tongue is tied. But
+the time <i>may</i> come when a higher duty than that which
+restrains me now may force me to speak. Until then I must
+be mute."</p>
+
+<p>This was extremely tantalizing to all her friends; but it
+was all that could be got from her.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile her face faded into a deadlier pallor and her
+form wasted to a ghastlier thinness. And this was real, for
+she was demon-haunted&mdash;a victim of remorse, not a subject
+of repentance.</p>
+
+<p>The specter that she had feared to look upon on the fatal
+night of her crime&mdash;the pale, dripping form of her betrayed
+and murdered lover&mdash;was ever before her mind's eye.</p>
+
+<p>If she entered a solitary or a half-darkened room the phantasm
+lurked in the shadowy corners or met her face to face.</p>
+
+<p>It came to her bedside in the dead of night and laid its
+clammy wet hand upon her sleeping brow. And when she
+woke in wild affright it met her transfixed and horrified gaze.</p>
+
+<p>Her only relief was in opium. She would stupefy herself
+every night with opium, and wake every morning pale, haggard,
+dull and heavy.</p>
+
+<p>She must have sunk under her mental suffering and material
+malpractices but for the one purpose that had once carried
+her into crime and now kept her alive through the terror and
+remorse that were the natural consequences of that crime.
+She lived only for revenge&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">"Like lightning fire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To speed one bolt of ruin and expire!"<br /></span>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>"I will live and keep sane until I degrade and destroy both
+Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish, and then&mdash;I must die or
+go mad," she said to herself.</p>
+
+<p>Such was her inner life.</p>
+
+<p>Her outer life was very different from this.</p>
+
+<p>She was still, to all appearance, a zealous church woman,
+never missing a service either on Sundays or on week-days;
+never neglecting the sewing-circles, the missionary meetings,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+the Sunday-schools, or any other of the parish works or charities,
+and always contributing liberally to every benevolent
+enterprise from the munificent income paid her quarterly by
+Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>Since her return from Philadelphia she had not resumed
+her acquaintance with Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>They did not attend the same church, and were not in the
+same circle. It was a very reserved "circle" in which Mary
+Grey "circulated;" while Alden Lytton sought the company
+of professional and scholarly men.</p>
+
+<p>Thus for months after their return to Richmond they did
+not meet.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton in the meanwhile supposed her to be still in
+Philadelphia, filling a position as drawing-mistress in the
+ladies' college.</p>
+
+<p>It was early in the winter when they accidentally encountered
+each other on Main Street.</p>
+
+<p>On seeing her form approach, Alden Lytton stepped quickly
+to meet her, with an extended hand and a bright smile;
+but the next instant he started in sorrowful surprise, as his
+eyes fell on her pallid face, so changed since he had seen
+it last.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Mrs. Grey, I am so glad to see you! I hope I
+see you well," he added, as he took her hand, but his looks
+belied his "hope."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not well, thank you," she answered plaintively, and
+her looks did not belie her words.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry to hear it. How long have you been in
+the city?" he next inquired, holding her hand and looking at
+her with eyes full of pity.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been back some time," she answered, vaguely. "I
+was forced to leave my situation from failing health."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know that you had returned or I should have
+called on you before this. But," he added, perceiving her
+physical weakness, "I am wrong to keep you standing here.
+I will turn about and walk with you while we talk. Which
+way are you going? Will you take my arm?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, no, Mr. Lytton. I can not take your arm; and
+neither, if you will forgive me for saying it, can I receive a
+visit from you. The world is censorious, Alden Lytton. And
+in my lonely and unprotected position I dare not receive the
+visits of gentlemen," she answered, pensively.</p>
+
+<p>"That seems hard, but doubtless it is discreet. However,
+that will all be changed, I hope, in a little while. In a very
+few months, I trust, your home will be with my beloved wife<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+and myself. I know it is Emma's desire that you should live
+with us," he said, still kindly holding her thin hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Is your wedding to come off so soon?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, in a few weeks, and then we are to go to Europe for
+a short holiday, and afterward take a house in the city here,"
+said Alden, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you every joy in your wedded life. And now, Mr.
+Lytton, you must let me go," she said, wearily.</p>
+
+<p>"One moment. You do not write to Emma often, do you?
+I ask because only a week ago, in one of her letters to me,
+Miss Cavendish wrote that she had not heard from you for
+nearly three months, and requested me to find out your address,
+if possible. I wrote back in reply that I believed you
+to be at the Ladies' College, in Philadelphia," he said, still
+detaining her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a bad correspondent. My hand is still lame. Just
+before I left here for Philadelphia I sent Miss Cavendish an
+acknowledgment of the last quarterly sum she sent me. I
+told her then that I was about to go to Philadelphia on particular
+business. I have not written to her since."</p>
+
+<p>"And that was nearly three months ago. That is just
+what the matter is. She wishes to find out your address, so
+as to know where to send the next quarterly instalment of
+your income, which will soon be due."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell her that I have returned to this city, and that my
+address is the same as that to which she last wrote."</p>
+
+<p>"I will; but do you write to her also. I know she is anxious
+to hear directly from you."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do so," she replied; "though I am the worst possible
+correspondent. Now good-day, Mr. Lytton."</p>
+
+<p>"If I may not call to see you, at least I hope that you will
+let me know if ever I can serve you in any manner," he said,
+gently, as he pressed the pale hand he had held so long and
+relinquished it.</p>
+
+<p>They parted then, and saw no more of each other for some
+days.</p>
+
+<p>Alden went on his office, full of pity for the failing woman,
+who, he said to himself, could not possibly have many months
+to live.</p>
+
+<p>But his feelings of painful compassion were soon forgotten
+in his happiness in finding a letter from Emma Cavendish
+lying with his business correspondence on his desk.</p>
+
+<p>There was really nothing more in it than appeared in just
+such letters that he received two or three times a week; only
+she told him that she had written to Mrs. Grey at the Ladies'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>
+College, Philadelphia, and had not received any answer to her
+letter.</p>
+
+<p>Before doing any other business, Alden Lytton took a half-quire
+of note-paper and dashed off an exuberant letter to his
+lady-love, in which, after repeating the oft-told story of her
+peerless loveliness and his deathless devotion, he came down
+to practical matters, and spoke of their mutual friend Mary
+Grey. He told Emma that Mrs. Grey was in the city again,
+where she had been for some weeks, although he had not been
+aware of the fact until he had met her that morning on Main
+Street while on the way to his office.</p>
+
+<p>He told her of "poor Mary Grey's" failing health and spirits
+and ghastly appearance, and suggested those circumstances
+as probable reasons why she had not written to her friends
+during the last three months.</p>
+
+<p>Then he went back to the old everlasting theme of his infinite,
+eternal love, etc., etc., etc., and closed with fervent
+prayers and blessings and joyful anticipations.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXVIII" id="Chapter_XXXVIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXXVIII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE MASK THROWN OFF.</h3>
+
+<p>As a consequence of this, two days afterward Mary Grey
+received a tender, affectionate, sympathetic letter from
+Emma Cavendish pressing her to come down to Blue Cliffs at
+once and let them love her and nurse her back to health and
+happiness. And this letter inclosed a check for double the
+amount of the usual quarterly stipend.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cavendish, for some coy reason or other, did not allude
+to her approaching marriage. Perhaps she deferred the
+communication purposely, with the friendly hope that Mary
+Grey would visit her at Blue Cliffs, where she could make it
+to her in person.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Grey, who did not dare to let her true handwriting go
+to Blue Cliffs, lest it should be seen and recognized by Mrs.
+Fanning, and who could not disguise it safely either, without
+some fair excuse to Emma Cavendish for doing so, put on a
+tight glove, and took a hard stiff pen and wrote a short note,
+full of gratitude and affection for Emma and all the family,
+and of complaints about her wretched crippled finger, that
+made it so painful for her to write, and prevented her from
+doing so as often as she wished; and of her still more wretch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>ed
+health, that hindered her from accepting her dear friend's
+kind invitation.</p>
+
+<p>In reply to this letter, she got another, and a still kinder
+one, in which Miss Cavendish spoke of her own speedily approaching
+marriage, and pressed Mrs. Grey to come and be
+present on the occasion, adding:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"My dearest, you <i>must</i> make an effort and come. Alden
+himself will escort you on the journey, and take such good
+care of you that you shall suffer no inconvenience from the
+journey. You must come, for my happiness will not be complete
+without the presence of my dear father's dearest friend&mdash;of
+her who was to have been his bride."</p></div>
+
+<p>This loving and confiding letter was never answered or even
+acknowledged by Mrs. Grey. It was entirely ignored, its contents
+were never mentioned to any one, and itself was torn to
+fragments and burned to ashes.</p>
+
+<p>Two more letters of precisely the same character were written
+to her by Miss Cavendish; but they suffered the same fate
+at the hands of Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>She had a deep motive in ignoring and destroying those letters.
+She did not wish the world ever by any accident to find
+out that she had been informed of the approaching marriage
+of Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish before it had taken
+place, or in time to prevent it.</p>
+
+<p>Two weeks passed, and then she received a visit from Mr.
+Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>She received him alone in the front drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>He apologized for calling on her after she had forbidden
+him to do so, but said that he came on the part of Miss Cavendish
+to ask if she had received certain letters from Blue
+Cliff Hall, and to renew, in Emma's name, her pressing invitation
+to Mrs. Grey to come and be present at the approaching
+wedding.</p>
+
+<p>"Emma wishes me to take charge of you on the journey.
+And I assure you, if you will intrust yourself to me, I will
+take such tender care of you that you shall know neither
+fatigue nor inconvenience of any sort," he added, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"I can not go," she answered, coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, do, for your friend's sake, change your mind,"
+pleaded Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"I can not," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>"But Emma will be so disappointed!"</p>
+
+<p>"I can not help it if she should be. I can not be present
+at the wedding," she repeated, faintly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But why not? Why can you not go?" persisted Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"Man&mdash;man," she burst forth, suddenly, as her whole face
+changed fearfully, "how can you ask me such a question?
+Do you forget that <i>we</i> were to have been married once?&mdash;that
+<i>we</i> loved each other once? But you threw me over. Now
+you invite me to your wedding with my rival! And you ask
+me why I can not go! Do you take me for a woman of wood
+or stone or iron? You will find me a woman of fire! I told
+you not to come here&mdash;to keep away from me! If you had
+had sense to perceive&mdash;if you had had even eyes in your head
+to see with, you would have obeyed me and avoided me! I
+told you not to come here. I tell you now to go away. I will
+not be present at your wedding. Make what explanation or
+excuse to Miss Cavendish you please. Tell her, if you like,
+that the heart you have given her was first offered to <i>me</i>&mdash;that
+the vows you have made to her were first breathed at <i>my</i> feet!
+Tell her," she added, with keen contempt, "that you are but
+a poor, second-handed article, after all! Now go, I say! Why
+do you stand gazing upon me? Go, and never come near me,
+if you can help it, again! For I fancy that you will not feel
+very glad to see me when <i>next</i> we meet!" she hissed, with a
+hidden meaning, between her clinched teeth.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton was so unutterably amazed by this sudden
+outbreak that he had no power of replying by word or gesture.
+Without resenting her fierce accusation, or even noticing her
+covert threat, he stood staring at her for a moment in speechless
+amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going?" she fiercely demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going," he said, recovering his self-possession. "I
+am going. But, Mrs. Grey, I am more surprised and grieved
+than I have words to express. I shall never, willingly, voluntarily
+approach you again. If, however, you should ever
+need a friend, do not hesitate to call on me as freely as you
+would upon a brother, and I shall serve you in any way in my
+power as willingly as if you were my own sister."</p>
+
+<p>"Ur-ur-ur-r-r!" she broke forth, in an inarticulate growl
+of disgust and abhorrence.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye!" he said, very gently, as he bowed and left the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing but sympathy and compassion for this "poor
+woman," as he called her, filled his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Her outbreak of hysterical passion had been a revelation to
+him; but it had shown him only half the truth. In its light
+he saw that she loved him still, but he did not see that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
+hated her rival. He saw that she was jealous, but did not see
+that she was revengeful.</p>
+
+<p>He reproached himself bitterly, bitterly, for ever having
+fallen under her spell, for ever having loved her, or sought to
+win her love, and for thus being the remote cause of her present
+sorrows.</p>
+
+<p>He had never confided to Emma Cavendish the story of his
+first foolish, boyish love, and sufferings and cure. For Mary
+Grey's sake he had kept that secret from his betrothed, from
+whom he had no other secret in the world.</p>
+
+<p>But now he felt that he must tell Emma the truth, gently
+and lovingly, lest Mary Grey should do it rudely and angrily.</p>
+
+<p>For Mary Grey's sake he had hitherto been silent. For his
+own and Emma Cavendish's sake he must now speak.</p>
+
+<p>He went straight to the telegraph office and dispatched a
+message to Miss Cavendish, saying that he should be down to
+Wendover by the next train to pay her a flying visit.</p>
+
+<p>Then he hurried to his office, put his papers in order, left
+some directions with his clerk, and hastened off to the railway
+station, where he caught the train just as it started, and
+jumped aboard the cars while they were in motion.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XXXIX" id="Chapter_XXXIX"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XXXIX.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A SUDDEN WEDDING.</h3>
+
+<p>It was midnight when the Richmond train reached Wendover,
+and Alden Lytton went to the Reindeer for the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning he arose and breakfasted, and ordered
+a horse to take him to Blue Cliff Hall.</p>
+
+<p>Just as he was getting into the saddle Jerome, the colored
+footman from the Hall, rode up holding two papers in his left
+hand, and staring at them with perplexity.</p>
+
+<p>"Halloo, Jerome, how do you do?" called out Mr. Lytton,
+cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>The boy looked up, and his surprise and perplexity instantly
+mounted to consternation and amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, dis yer's witchcraf', and nuffin else!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"What is witchcraft, you goose?" laughed Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"Look yer, massa," said Jerome, riding up to his side and
+putting the two papers in his hand, "you jes look at dem
+dere!"</p>
+
+<p>Alden took the papers and looked as required.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Both papers were telegrams. One was his own telegram to
+Emma Cavendish, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be down to see you by the next train."</p>
+
+<p>The other was a telegram from Emma Cavendish to himself,
+saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Come down at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what of all this? Here is a message and its answer.
+What is there in this like witchcraft?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, massa, 'cause de answer came afore de message
+went, and you yerself come quick as enny. Dere's de witchcraf'."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I knowed as de telegraf was fast, and likewise de steam
+cars, but I didn't know as dey was bof so fast as to answer a
+message afore it was axed, and fetch a gemman afore he was
+sent for. But here's de answer, and here's you."</p>
+
+<p>"This is all Hebrew to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Which it is likewise a conundrum to me," retorted Jerome.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me what you have been doing, and perhaps I shall
+understand you," laughed Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, massa, this mornin' by daybreak Miss Emmer sent
+for me, and gave me this," he said, pointing to the young
+lady's telegram. "And, says she:</p>
+
+<p>"'Jerome, saddle the fastest horse in de stable and ride as
+fast as you can to Wendover and send this message off to Mr.
+Lytton. Lose no time, for we want him to come down here
+as soon as possible.'</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Massa Alden, I didn't lose no time, sar, nor likewise
+let de grass grow underneaf of my feet. I reckon I was
+in de saddle and off in about ten minutes. But fast as I was,
+bress you, sar, de telegraf was faster! When I got to de
+office and hand de message in to de gemman dere I says:</p>
+
+<p>"'Send it off quick, 'cause Miss Emmer wants Massa Alden
+to come down right away.'</p>
+
+<p>"'All right,' he says. 'De young gemman will be down
+by de next train. And here's yer answer to yer message.'</p>
+
+<p>"And sure nuff, Massa Alden, he hands me this yer," said
+Jerome, pointing to Alden's own telegram. "And here's you
+too! Now, what anybody think ob dat if it a'n't witchcraf'?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a coincidence, my good fellow. I was coming down,
+and I telegraphed Miss Cavendish to that effect. When you
+brought her message to the office you received mine, which
+must have been delayed. It is a coincidence."</p>
+
+<p>"Well I s'pose a coimperence is a fine book-larnin' name<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+for witchcraf'; but it's all the same thing after all," persisted
+Jerome.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope they are all well at Blue Cliffs," said Mr. Lytton,
+who felt some little uneasiness connected with Emma's telegram.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sar, dey's all purty well, 'cept 'tis de ole madam.
+She a'n't been that hearty as she ought to 'a' been."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope she is not seriously ill."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sar; dough I did leave a message long o' Doctor Willet
+to come out dere dis morning; but you know de ole madam
+do frequent send for de doctor."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Jerome, we must get on to the Hall," said Mr.
+Lytton, as he rode out of the inn yard and turned into the
+road leading to Blue Cliffs, followed by the servant.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish, who was on the lookout for Jerome, was
+surprised and delighted to see her lover ride up first, attended
+by her messenger.</p>
+
+<p>"It's witchcraf', Miss Emmer!" exclaimed Jerome, as he
+got out of his saddle to take the young gentleman's horse.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a coincidence," laughed Alden, as he ran up the
+steps to greet his beloved.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, dat's de Latin for witchcraf', Miss Emmer; but it's
+all de same t'ing in English," persisted Jerome, as he led
+away the horses.</p>
+
+<p>"Jerome tells me that grandma is not well. I am sorry to
+hear it," said Alden, as he walked with Emma into the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Grandma is nearly ninety years old, and she can not ever
+be well in this world; but she will soon be very well indeed,
+for she is very near her eternal youth and health," said Emma,
+with tender, cheerful earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>Alden bowed in silence as they entered the drawing-room
+together.</p>
+
+<p>"Grandma told me to telegraph for you to come down at
+once, Alden. She thinks that she can not be here many days,
+and perhaps not many hours. And she wishes to see you at
+once. Will you go to her now, dear, or would you rather go
+to your room first?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will go to see madam first. I have but ridden from the
+Reindeer this morning, and so I am neither fatigued nor
+dusted. I telegraphed you yesterday that I was coming down
+to see you to-day, and my telegram should have reached you
+yesterday; but it seems to have been delayed. I left the city
+by the noon train and reached the village at midnight. So I
+happened to meet Jerome just after he had taken my delayed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
+telegram from the agent, which he supposed to be a magical
+answer to your message<a name="Page_188t" id="Page_188t"></a><a href="#Page_188tn">."</a></p>
+
+<p>"The whole arrangements of telegraph wires, steam engines,
+gas-lights and lucifer matches are magical to him,"
+said Emma, smiling. "And now stay here a moment, dear,
+and wait until I go and let grandma know that you have
+come," she added, as she went out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish found the old lady sitting up in her easy-chair
+by the sunny window, looking very white and fragile
+and serene.</p>
+
+<p>"Alden has come, grandma, dear. When Jerome went to
+send the telegram off for him he found Mr. Lytton in Wendover.
+Mr. Lytton had just arrived from Richmond and was
+about to start for Blue Cliffs. It was a coincidence," said
+Emma, sitting down by the old lady.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a providence, my dear child&mdash;a providence which
+has saved two days in time that is very short. And so he is
+here?" said the old lady, caressing the golden hair of the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear grandma, he is here and waiting to come to you
+the moment you are ready to receive him."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him to come now. And do you come with him."</p>
+
+<p>Emma left the room, and soon returned with Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome, my son! Come here and embrace me," said
+the old lady, holding out her arms.</p>
+
+<p>Alden went and folded the faded form to his bosom and
+pressed a kiss upon the venerable brow, as the tears sprang to
+his eyes; for he saw that she was dying.</p>
+
+<p>"Alden, I am going home. I must go. I want to go. I
+have been here so long. I am very tired. I have had enough
+of this. I want to go home to my Father. I want to see my
+Savior face to face. I want to meet my husband and my
+children, who have been waiting for me so long on the other
+side. What are you crying for, Emma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I can not help it, grandma. I know I ought not
+to cry, when you will soon be so happy," sobbed the poor
+child.</p>
+
+<p>"And when I am going to make you and your worthy
+young lover so happy, my love. Come, wipe your eyes and
+smile! I shall soon be very happy, and I want to make you
+and Alden as happy as I can before I go. Now sit down,
+both of you, and listen to me."</p>
+
+<p>Alden and Emma sat down, one on each side of her.</p>
+
+<p>She was a little tired with the words she had already spoken,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
+and she put a small vial of ammonia to her nose and smelled
+it before she went on.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," she said, as she put aside the vial and gave a hand
+to each of the young people, "I want you to attend to me
+and do exactly as I bid you."</p>
+
+<p>"We will indeed," answered Alden and Emma, in a breath.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would be married here in my presence tomorrow
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton gave her hand a grateful squeeze.</p>
+
+<p>"You should be married to-day, if there were time to make
+the necessary arrangements."</p>
+
+<p>"Are there any really necessary arrangements that can not
+be made to-day?" Alden inquired, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my son. A messenger must take a letter to Lytton
+Lodge to explain the circumstances, and to ask your sister
+Laura and your aunt and uncle Lytton to come immediately,
+to be present at your marriage with my granddaughter. If
+the messenger to Lytton Lodge should start at noon to-day,
+as he must, he will hardly reach the Lodge before night. Nor
+will your relatives be able to reach here before noon tomorrow.
+So you see the necessity of the short delay."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly," answered Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"Another messenger must take a similar letter to Beresford
+Manors, to summon my son and my youngest granddaughter,
+and your worthy guardian, Mr. Brent, who is on a
+long visit there. And it will also take about twenty-four
+hours to bring them here."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course," admitted Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"I say nothing of the time it will take to get a license and
+to fetch Mr. Lyle, who must perform the ceremony, because
+that can be done in a few hours."</p>
+
+<p>"If it were possible, I would like to have Mary Grey summoned
+by telegraph to attend the wedding," said Emma.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes, certainly she ought to be here; but there is
+scarcely a chance, the time is so short," said Mrs. Cavendish,
+as she again resorted to the vial of ammonia.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Grey is in very bad health. She would not come,"
+explained Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"Go, now, my dear children. I am very tired, and I must
+sleep a while," sighed the old lady.</p>
+
+<p>And Emma and Alden kissed her and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>In the passage outside they met Mrs. Fanning, who seemed
+to be waiting for them.</p>
+
+<p>She cordially welcomed Mr. Lytton, of whose arrival she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
+had heard from the servants. And then she inquired of Emma
+how Mrs. Cavendish was getting on.</p>
+
+<p>"She grows weaker in the body and stronger in the spirit
+with every successive hour, I think," replied Miss Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, I only wished to ask you that, and to tell
+you that I have had lunch laid in the little breakfast room, if
+Mr. Lytton would like any," said Mrs. Fanning, who now
+took equal share in all Emma's housekeeping cares.</p>
+
+<p>But Alden, when appealed to, declined the lunch and hinted
+that they had better see to sending off the messengers to
+Beresford Manors and Lytton Lodge immediately.</p>
+
+<p>And that same noon the letters were dispatched.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton had come down to Blue Cliffs for the purpose
+of confiding to Emma Cavendish the story of his first boyish
+passion for Mary Grey, and of the violent manner in which it
+was cured forever. But finding all the circumstances so opposite
+to what he expected to find them, he changed his purpose.
+He could not bring himself to add another item to the
+disturbing influences then surrounding Emma.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon, also, Dr. Willet came to Blue Cliffs, and
+Emma had to accompany him to the bedside of her grandmother,
+and afterward to hold quite a long conversation with
+him in the library.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes after the doctor left the house, Mr. Lyle,
+who had heard of the illness of Mrs. Cavendish, arrived to inquire
+after her condition.</p>
+
+<p>Emma had to receive the minister and accompany him to
+her grandmother's chamber, and to stay there and join in the
+prayers that were offered for the sick woman.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle remained with the family all the afternoon; and
+having received from Mr. Lytton a notice of the ceremony he
+was desired to perform the next day, he promised to be at
+Blue Cliff Hall again punctually at noon, and then took
+leave.</p>
+
+<p>Very early the next morning Alden Lytton mounted the
+swiftest horse in the Cavendish stables and rode to Wendover
+to procure his marriage license.</p>
+
+<p>He did not stay long in the village, you may be sure; but,
+leaving his horse to rest and drink at the Reindeer trough, he
+hurried to the town-hall and took out his license, returned to
+the inn, remounted his horse, and rode immediately back to
+Blue Cliff Hall.</p>
+
+<p>As he rode up the avenue toward the front of the house he
+saw that there had already been some arrival. A large lum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>bering
+old family carriage was being driven, empty, around
+toward the stables.</p>
+
+<p>Alden quickened his horse's pace and rode up to the door,
+dismounted, threw his reins to Peter, the young groom, who
+was waiting to take the horse, and then ran up the steps into
+the house.</p>
+
+<p>He almost immediately found himself in the arms of his
+sister Laura, who had run out to receive him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Alden, my darling, I am so delighted! I wish you
+so much joy!" she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Only the occasion that has hastened my happiness is a sad
+one to others, Laura, my dear," answered the young man,
+gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so at all. I have seen Mrs. Cavendish. I
+never saw a happier woman. She is so happy that she wishes
+to make everybody else as happy as she is herself," said
+Laura.</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke John Lytton came lumbering into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Alden, boy, how do? I never was so astonished in my
+life! But under the circumstances I hope that it is all right
+to hurry up things in this a-way. Your Aunt Kitty couldn't
+come; nyther could your grandmother nor the gals. Fact is,
+they hadn't the gownds to appear in. But they wish you joy;
+and so do I. For, though I do think you might a-looked
+higher, because the Lyttonses is a much older family than the
+Caverndishers, and, in fact, were lords of the manor when the
+Caverndishers were hewers&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle John," broke in Alden, with a laugh, "pray let
+that subject drop for the present! And follow Jerome, who
+is waiting to show you a room where you can brush your coat
+and smooth your hair, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Make myself tidy for the wedding? All right, my boy!
+March on, Jerome!" said John Lytton, good-humoredly, as
+he followed his guide upstairs.</p>
+
+<p>As he disappeared another carriage rolled up to the front
+door, and Dr. Beresford Jones, Electra and Mr. Joseph Brent&mdash;Victor
+Hartman&mdash;alighted from it and entered the house.</p>
+
+<p>Alden and Laura Lytton stepped forward to receive them.</p>
+
+<p>Electra seized and kissed Laura in a hurry, while the gentlemen
+were shaking hands, and then she flew to Alden and
+congratulated him with much effusion.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Laura, take me where I can change my dress
+quickly. I brought a white India muslin with me to wear,
+for I am to be bride-maid, of course! So are you, I suppose.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+But you haven't changed your dress yet. Where is Emma?
+What is she going to be married in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Be quiet, you little Bohemian!" said Laura, cutting short
+Electra's torrent of words. "Don't you feel that this is no
+ordinary wedding? The occasion, if not a sorrowful one, is
+at least very serious. Come, I will take you with me to my
+own room. We are to lodge together in the south-west room,
+as usual."</p>
+
+<p>"But are you to be a bride-maid?" persisted the "little
+Bohemian."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and to wear my white tarletan dress and white rose
+wreath," answered Laura, as they went off together.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's Emma, and what's she doing? as I asked you
+some time ago."</p>
+
+<p>"She is in her chamber, dressing for the ceremony."</p>
+
+<p>"She hasn't got her wedding-dress made yet; that I know.
+What's she going to be married in?"</p>
+
+<p>"She will wear her white satin trained dress, with white
+lace overdress, which she had made for the last May ball, you
+remember."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! I didn't think of that."</p>
+
+<p>"And she will wear that rich, priceless cardinal point-lace
+veil that was her mother's. And she will wear her grandmother's
+rare oriental pearls. There, you little gipsy! Are
+you answered?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And she will be magnificent and splendid, even if
+she is gotten up in a hurry," said Electra, as she followed her
+companion into their room.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton, under the unusual circumstances attending
+the sudden wedding, and in the surprise of his own unexpected
+happiness, had not once thought of the necessity of making
+a proper toilet for the occasion. But when he heard the
+girls, who never, under any circumstances, forget such a matter,
+talking of their dress, he glanced down at his own suit,
+and then hurried off as fast as he could to his room to improve
+his appearance.</p>
+
+<p>While the younger members of the family party were at
+their toilets, Dr. Beresford Jones was in the "Throne Room,"
+closeted with his mother.</p>
+
+<p>Madam Cavendish, weak as she was, had insisted upon being
+arrayed grandly, to do honor to the wedding of the only
+daughter of the house.</p>
+
+<p>She wore a rich crimson brocade dressing-gown, a costly
+camel's-hair shawl, and a fine point-lace cap. She now
+reclined very wearily in her easy-chair, and held in her hand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
+the vial of ammonia, which she applied to her nose from time
+to time.</p>
+
+<p>After a little while she said to her son:</p>
+
+<p>"Go and inquire if they are nearly ready, Beresford. I
+fear&mdash;I fear my strength will scarcely hold out," she faltered,
+faintly.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones opened the door to go upon this errand, and immediately
+perceived that it was unnecessary.</p>
+
+<p>John Lytton and Mr. Lyle were coming up the stairs, and
+the little bridal procession was forming in the hall below.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle came in and spoke to Dr. Jones.</p>
+
+<p>"With Mrs. Cavendish's permission, even now, at the last
+moment, we must make some slight changes in the programme,"
+he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" inquired Dr. Jones, pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I was to have performed the ceremony and you were to
+have given the bride away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we must change that. Mr. Lytton has but one
+groomsman. I must act in that capacity also. You will
+please perform the ceremony, and Mr. John Lytton here will
+have the honor of giving the bride away."</p>
+
+<p>John Lytton bowed.</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite willing. I will speak to Mrs. Cavendish,"
+said Dr. Jones, who went to his mother's chair and explained
+the situation to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly; be it as you will," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle then returned to the foot of the stairs and placed
+himself beside Laura Lytton, who was acting as first bride-maid.</p>
+
+<p>John Lytton and Dr. Jones remained in the room.</p>
+
+<p>The little bridal procession soon entered and ranged themselves
+in order before the minister.</p>
+
+<p>Emma, as Electra had said, looked beautiful as a woman
+and elegant as a bride. Her bride-maids also were very fair
+to see.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony was commenced with great impressiveness.</p>
+
+<p>Old Mrs. Cavendish listened with the deepest attention,
+leaning back in her easy-chair and sniffing at her bottle of
+ammonia.</p>
+
+<p>John Lytton gave away the bride as if he were making a
+magnificent present at his own expense.</p>
+
+<p>Emma Cavendish not only wore her mother's bridal veil,
+but was married with her mother's wedding-ring.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Beresford Jones pronounced the benediction.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish were made one in
+law, as they had long been in mind and heart.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XL" id="Chapter_XL"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XL.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>AFTER THE HOLY WEDDING.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The bride rose from her knee<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And she kissed the lips of her mother dead<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or ever she kissed me.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">E. B. Browning.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>The benediction was scarcely spoken before the fair bride
+left her bridegroom's side and moved softly and swiftly
+to the side of the easy-chair, where the form of her ancestress
+lay reclining.</p>
+
+<p>All eyes followed her strange action, as she knelt beside the
+chair and took the wasted hand of its occupant in her own.
+And some saw what Emma had been the first to discover&mdash;that
+the happy spirit of the aged lady was even then departing.</p>
+
+<p>She spoke no word more, but slowly raising her hand she
+laid it gently, as in silent blessing, on the bowed head of her
+young descendant, and so, with a radiant smile, passed away
+heavenward.</p>
+
+<p>"She's dropped asleep, my dear," said honest, stupid John
+Lytton, bending over to look at the closed eyes and peaceful
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"She has fainted. This has been too much for her," said
+Mrs. Fanning, catching up the vial of ammonia and coming
+with the intention of administering it.</p>
+
+<p>"She is neither sleeping nor swooning. She has risen,"
+said Emma.</p>
+
+<p>And, calmly putting aside the useless drug, she arose and
+reverently pressed a kiss upon the lifeless lips.</p>
+
+<p>A moment of deep silence followed her words.</p>
+
+<p>Then Dr. Jones, the son, himself an aged man, drew near
+and tenderly took up the lifeless hand and looked into the
+motionless face, and with a profound sigh turned away.</p>
+
+<p>While this group was still gathered around the chair of
+death, the door was silently opened and the family physician
+entered the room and stood among them.</p>
+
+<p>"She is gone, Doctor Willet," said the son, turning to greet
+the new-comer.</p>
+
+<p>The physician nodded gravely to the sorrowing speaker,
+bowed to the assembled friends, and passed through them, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
+they made way for him to approach the body. He felt the
+wrist, where there was no pulse, looked into the eyes, where
+there was no light, and then, with a grave and silent nod, he
+confirmed the opinion of Dr. Jones.</p>
+
+<p>Electra, who had been incredulous all this time about the
+reality of the death, and was anxiously watching the face of
+the physician, now burst into violent weeping, and had to be
+led from the room by Joseph Brent&mdash;Victor Hartman.</p>
+
+<p>Emma stood, pale as marble, with her eyes cast down, her
+lips lightly pressed together, and her hands closely clasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Take your young bride away also, Mr. Lytton. She is
+exerting great self-command now; but she can not much
+longer control her feelings," said Dr. Willet.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, love," whispered the bridegroom, as he passed his
+arm gently around the waist of the now weeping girl and drew
+her away from the scene of death.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. John Lytton followed them out, with the half-frightened
+air of a culprit stealing away from detection.</p>
+
+<p>There now remained in the room of death the aged son,
+Dr. Beresford Jones, the family physician, Dr. Willet, the
+minister of the parish, the Rev. Mr. Lyle, and the two ladies,
+Mrs. Fanning and Laura Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"She passed away very gently, without the least suffering,"
+said Mrs. Fanning.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought she would do so. Hers has been a really physiological
+death, of ripe and pure old age," answered the
+doctor.</p>
+
+<p>After a little more conversation the gentlemen withdrew,
+leaving the remains to the care of the two ladies, while they
+went to commence arrangements for the funeral.</p>
+
+<p>Four days after this the body of Mrs. Cavendish was laid in
+the family vault, beside those of her husband and her son, the
+late governor.</p>
+
+<p>The old lady had been long and widely known, and deeply
+and sincerely loved and honored, and her funeral was as largely
+attended as had been that of her son, some years before.
+After these solemn offices had all been performed the friends
+assembled to consult and make arrangements for the temporary
+disposition of the family left behind.</p>
+
+<p>It was settled that Mrs. Fanning should remain at Blue
+Cliff Hall, in charge of the establishment, with Laura Lytton
+as her guest and companion.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Jones and Electra would, of course, return to Beresford
+Manors. They would be accompanied by Mr. Joseph
+Brent&mdash;Victor Hartman&mdash;who had grown to be a great favor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>ite
+with the aged doctor, and in truth almost indispensable to
+his comfort and entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle went back to the duties of his ministry at Wendover.</p>
+
+<p>And finally, as there was now a vacation of the courts, and
+the young barrister was temporarily at liberty, Alden Lytton
+decided to take his young bride to Europe for their bridal
+tour.</p>
+
+<p>On their way to New York they stopped for a day in Richmond,
+because Emma wished to see her old "friend," Mrs.
+Grey, before leaving for Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton, though he felt persuaded in his own mind
+that Mrs. Grey would not receive them, yet promptly complied
+with his fair bride's wish.</p>
+
+<p>So, the morning after their arrival at the Henrico House, in
+Richmond, Alden took a carriage and they drove to the old
+Crane Manor House and inquired for Mrs. Grey.</p>
+
+<p>But, as Alden had foreseen, they received for an answer
+that Mrs. Grey was not at home.</p>
+
+<p>Upon further inquiry they were told that she had left the
+city on business and would not return for a week.</p>
+
+<p>And Alden Lytton rightly conjectured that she had gone
+away, and was staying away, for the one purpose of avoiding
+Emma and himself.</p>
+
+<p>So the young bride, with a sigh, reluctantly resigned all
+hope of seeing her unworthy "friend" before sailing for
+Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Early the next morning the newly-married pair took the
+steamboat for Washington, where in due time they safely arrived,
+and whence they took the train for the North.</p>
+
+<p>They reached New York on Thursday night, had one intervening
+day to see something of the city and to make some few
+last purchases for their voyage, and on Saturday at noon they
+embarked on the magnificent ocean steamship "Pekin,"
+bound from New York to Southampton.</p>
+
+<p>We must leave them on board their ship, and return and
+look up Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLI" id="Chapter_XLI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XLI.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>MARY GREY'S MYSTERY.</h3>
+
+<p>After Mrs. Grey's last interview with Alden Lytton, during
+which, partly because she lost her self-command and
+partly because she did not care longer to conceal her feelings,
+she had thrown off her mask, she sat down to review the situation.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I have betrayed myself," she mused. "I have let
+him see how I really feel about this marriage engagement
+between him and Emma Cavendish. He knows now how I
+loved him; if he has eyes in his head he sees now how I hate
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"All right. I have now no further reason to deceive him.
+He has served my utmost purpose for his own and her own
+destruction. I no longer need his unconscious co-operation.
+I have his honor and his liberty, and her reputation and
+peace, in my power and at my mercy.</p>
+
+<p>"And I have done all this myself, without the voluntary
+help of any human being. I have used men as the mechanic
+uses tools, making them do his work, or as the potter uses
+clay, molding it to his purpose.</p>
+
+<p>"Let him marry Emma Cavendish. I can part them at
+any moment afterward and throw them into a felon's prison,
+and cast her down from her proud place into misery and
+degradation.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>could</i> stop their marriage now, or at the altar. But I
+will not do that; for to do that would be only to disappoint
+or grieve them. But my vengeance must strike a deeper
+blow. It must degrade and ruin them. I will wait until
+they have been married some time. Then, in the hour of
+their fancied security, I will come down upon them like an
+avalanche of destruction."</p>
+
+<p>In the feverish excitement of anticipating this fiendish consummation
+of her revenge she almost forgot her heinous
+crime, and ceased to be haunted by the hideous specter of her
+murdered lover.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the fifteenth of the month, when she happened to
+take up the morning paper.</p>
+
+<p>She turned first&mdash;as she always did&mdash;to the column containing
+notices of marriages and deaths.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And her face grew wild and white as she read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquotn"><p><span class="smcap">Married.</span>&mdash;On the morning of the 10th instant, at Blue
+Cliff Hall, Virginia, the seat of the bride, by the Rev. Dr.
+Beresford Jones, Mr. Alden Lytton, of Richmond, to Miss
+Emma Angela, only daughter of the late Charles Cavendish,
+Governor of Virginia.</p></div>
+
+<p>She read no further that day. There were other marriages
+following this; but she felt no curiosity now about them.
+And there was a formidable row of death notices, headed by
+the obituary of Mrs. Cavendish, but she did not even see it.</p>
+
+<p>The announcement of the marriage had taken her by surprise.
+She had not expected to see it for a month yet to
+come. And, as she did not observe the notice of Mrs. Cavendish's
+death, she could not understand why the marriage had
+been hastened by so many weeks.</p>
+
+<p>"So it is over," she said. "It is over, and it has been
+over for five days. They are in the midst of their happiness,
+enjoyed at the expense of my misery. Theirs is a fool's paradise
+from which I could eject them at any moment; but I will
+not&mdash;not just yet. The longer I suspend the blow the heavier
+it will fall at last. They will carry out their programme, I
+presume; so far, at least, as to go upon their bridal trip to
+Europe. I could stop them on the eve of their voyage; but I
+will not. I will let them go and return, and hold their wedding-reception,
+and then, in the midst of their joy and triumph,
+in the presence of their admiring friends&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She paused to gloat with demoniac enjoyment over the
+picture her wicked imagination had conjured up.</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"Then I will turn all their joy to despair, all their triumph
+to humiliation, all their glory to shame! And I will
+do all this alone&mdash;alone, or use others only as my blind tools.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they will take this city on their way to New
+York to embark for Europe. And they will call on me to
+show me their happiness, and take a keener relish of it from
+seeing the contrast of my misery. But they shall be disappointed
+in that, at least. I will not be dragged at the wheels
+of their triumphal car. I will not stay here to receive them.
+I will leave town, and stay out of it until I am sure that they
+have passed through and left it."</p>
+
+<p>She kept her word.</p>
+
+<p>She went down to Forestville, ostensibly to relieve a poor
+family suffering under an accumulation of afflictions, but
+really to be out of the way of the bridal pair, and to get up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
+evidence in the case she intended to bring against the husband
+of Emma Cavendish.</p>
+
+<p>When she had been but a few days at Forestville she received
+a letter from Miss Romania Crane&mdash;who in her absence
+kept up a sentimental correspondence with her&mdash;informing
+her of the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton, the bride and
+bridegroom from Blue Cliffs, who stopped for a day in the
+city on their way to New York.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately on her receipt of this letter she returned to
+Richmond and to the house of the Misses Crane.</p>
+
+<p>And she very much surprised and shocked these ladies by
+assuming an air of grief and distraction as extreme in itself
+as it was unaccountable to them.</p>
+
+<p>They could not even imagine what was the matter with her.
+She refused to give any explanation of her apparent mental
+anguish, and she repelled all sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>The Misses Crane were afraid she was going to lose her
+reason.</p>
+
+<p>They went to see the minister and the minister's wife on the
+subject. They found only the lady at home. And to her
+they stated the mysterious case.</p>
+
+<p>"There is something very heavy on her mind, my dear. I
+am sure there is something awful on her mind."</p>
+
+<p>"There has been this long time, I think," said the minister's
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know; but it is a thousand times worse now. My
+dear, she keeps her room nearly all day. She never comes to
+the table. If I send her meals up to her they come back almost
+untasted. And I assure you she does not sleep any better
+than she eats. Her room is over mine, and so I can hear
+her walking the floor half the night," said Miss Romania
+Crane.</p>
+
+<p>"What can be the cause of her distress?" inquired the rector's
+lady.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. I can't get her to tell me. She only says
+that 'her life is wrecked forever, and that she wishes only to
+be left to herself until death shall relieve her.' And all that
+sort of talk," said Miss Romania.</p>
+
+<p>"And have you no suspicion?"</p>
+
+<p>"None in the world that seems at all rational. The only
+one I have seems foolish."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I sometimes think&mdash;but indeed it is a silly thought&mdash;that
+her distress is in some way connected with the marriage
+of Mr. Lytton and Miss Cavendish, for I notice that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
+every time the name of either of them is mentioned she grows
+so much worse that I and my sister have ceased ever to speak
+of them."</p>
+
+<p>"It can not be that she was ever in love with Mr. Lytton,"
+suggested the minister's lady.</p>
+
+<p>"I should think not. I should think she was not that
+weak-minded sort of woman to give way to such sentiment,
+much less to be made so extremely wretched by it. For I do
+tell you, my dear, her state is simply that of the utmost mental
+wretchedness."</p>
+
+<p>"I will ask my husband to go to her. He is her pastor,
+and may be able to do her some good," said the minister's
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>"Do, my dear, and come to see her yourself," said Miss
+Romania, as she and her sister arose to take leave.</p>
+
+<p>Now you know all this distress was just "put on" by Mrs.
+Grey, to give coloring and plausibility to her future proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure she kept her room, but it was not to grieve in
+secret: it was to excite the compassion and wonder of her sympathizing
+friends, while she laid her plans, drank French cordials,
+and feasted privately on the delicacies of the season,
+which she would secretly bring in, or dozed on her sofa and
+dreamed of her coming sweet revenge.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly, instead of going to bed at a decent hour, she
+would walk the floor of her chamber half the night. But this
+was not done because she was suffering, or sleepless from
+grief, but for the purpose of keeping poor Miss Crane awake
+all night in the room below and making the poor lady believe
+that she, Mary Grey, was breaking her own heart in
+these vigils.</p>
+
+<p>And for her want of nightly rest Mary Grey compensated
+herself by dozing half the day on her sofa; and for her want
+of regular meals she made up by slipping out occasionally and
+feasting at some "ladies' restaurant."</p>
+
+<p>But her object was effected. She impressed everybody who
+came near her with the belief that she had suffered some awful
+wrong or bereavement of which she could not speak, but
+which threatened to unseat her reason or end her life.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLII" id="Chapter_XLII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XLII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>MARY GREY'S STORY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At length her minister came to see her. He expressed the
+deepest sympathy with her sufferings, and implored her
+to relieve her overburdened heart by confiding in him or in
+his wife, from either or both of whom, he assured her, she
+should receive respectful compassion and substantial assistance,
+if the last was necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Then, pretending to yield to his better judgment, she consented
+to give him her confidence.</p>
+
+<p>And taking him up to her own sitting-room, where they
+could be safe from interruption, she bound him over to
+secrecy, and then, with many affected tears and moans, she
+told him the astounding story that she had long been privately
+married to Mr. Alden Lytton, who had deserted her within
+a few days after their wedding, and who had recently, as
+every one knew, united himself in matrimony with Miss Emma
+Cavendish, of Blue Cliffs, Virginia, and had gone with
+her on a wedding trip to Europe.</p>
+
+<p>While she told him this stupendous tale, the minister sat
+with open mouth and eyes, gazing on her with more of the air
+of an idiot than of a learned and accomplished gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>He was, in fact, utterly amazed and confounded by the
+story he had heard.</p>
+
+<p>That Alden Lytton, a young man of the highest social position,
+of unblemished reputation from his youth up, an
+accomplished scholar, a learned jurist, an eloquent barrister,
+and, more than all, a Christian gentleman, should have been
+guilty of the base treachery and the degrading crime here
+charged upon him was just simply incredible&mdash;no more nor
+less than incredible.</p>
+
+<p>Or that Mary Grey, the loveliest lady of his congregation,
+should be capable of a malicious fabrication was utterly impossible.</p>
+
+<p>There was then but one way out of the dilemma: Mary Grey
+was insane and suffering under a distressing hallucination that
+took this form.</p>
+
+<p>So said the look of consternation and pity that the minister
+fixed upon the speaker's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I see that you discredit my story, and doubt even my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>
+sanity. But here is something that you can neither doubt nor
+discredit," she said, as she drew from her pocket the marriage
+certificate and placed it in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>The minister opened and read it. And as he read this evidence
+of a "Christian gentleman's" base perfidy the look of
+consternation and amazement that had held possession of his
+countenance gave place to one of disgust and abhorrence.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you doubt <i>now</i>?" meaningly inquired Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, no, I can not doubt now! I wish to Heaven I could!
+I would rather, my child, believe you to be under the influence
+of a distressing hallucination than know this man to be
+the consummate villain this certificate proves him to be. I
+can not doubt the certificate. I wish I could; but I know
+this Reverend Mr. Borden. On my holiday trips North I
+have sometimes stopped at his house and filled his pulpit. I
+am familiar with his handwriting. I can not doubt," groaned
+the minister.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey dropped her hands and pretended to sob aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not weep so much, poor child! Deeply wronged as
+you have been by this ruthless sinner you have not been so
+awfully injured as has been this most unhappy young lady,
+Miss Cavendish, whom he has deceived to her destruction,"
+said the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"And do you not suppose that I grieve for <i>her</i> too?"
+sobbed Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes, I am sure your tender, generous heart, wronged
+and broken as it is, has still the power left to grieve for her
+as well as for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is my duty? Ah, what is my duty in this supreme
+trial? I can not save my life or hers from utter wreck,
+but I can do my duty, and I will do it, if only it is pointed
+out to me. Oh, sir, point it out to me!" cried the hypocrite,
+clasping her hands with a look of sincerity that might have
+deceived a London detective.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, can you possibly be in doubt as to what your
+duty is?" sorrowfully inquired the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my mind is all confused by this terrible event! I can
+not judge rationally. Ought I to keep silence and go away to
+some remote place and live in obscurity, dead to the world, so
+as never even by chance to interfere with their happiness, or
+to bring trouble on Miss Cavendish? I think, perhaps, he
+expects even that much from my devotion to him. Or ought
+I not to make way with myself altogether, for her sake?
+Would not a courageous suicide be justifiable, and even meritorious,
+under such, trying circumstances?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"My child&mdash;my child, how wildly and sinfully you talk!
+Your brain is certainly touched by your troubles. You must
+not dream of doing any of the dreadful things you have mentioned.
+Your duty lies plainly before you. Will you have
+the courage to do it, if I point it out to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I will&mdash;I will! It is all that is left me to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Then your duty is to lodge information against that
+wretched man, so that he shall be arrested the moment he
+sets foot in the State."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, heaven of heavens! And ruin Emma Cavendish!"
+exclaimed the traitress, in well-simulated horror.</p>
+
+<p>"And save Emma Cavendish from a life of involuntary
+degradation and misery. You must do this. To-morrow I
+will introduce you to a young lawyer of distinguished ability,
+who will give you legal advice even as I have given you religious
+counsel. And we will both confer together, so as to save
+you as much as possible from all painful share in the prosecution
+of this man."</p>
+
+<p>"It is <i>all</i> painful; all agonizing! But I think you and I
+will not shrink from our duty. Oh, could you ever have believed,
+without such proof as I have given you, that Mr.
+Alden Lytton could ever have been guilty of this crime?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never! Never! And yet I know that men of exalted
+character have sometimes fallen very deeply into sin. Even
+David, 'the man after God's own heart,' took the wife of his
+devoted friend, and betrayed this faithful friend to a cruel
+death! Why should we wonder, then, at any man's fall?
+But, my child, I must ask you a question that I have been
+waiting to ask you all this time. Why did you not interfere
+to stop this felonious marriage before it took place? What
+timidity, what weakness, or what pride was it that restrained
+your hand from acting in time to prevent this fearful crime
+of Mr. Lytton, this awful wrong to Miss Cavendish, from
+being consummated?" gravely and sadly inquired the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir, how can you ask me such a question? Do you
+suppose that if I had had the remotest suspicion of what was
+going on I should not have interfered and prevented it at all
+hazards&mdash;yes, even at the sacrifice of my own life, if that had
+been necessary?"</p>
+
+<p>"You did not know of this beforehand then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, certainly not!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nor suspect it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly not! I had not the least knowledge nor the
+faintest suspicion that anything of the sort was contemplated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
+by Mr. Lytton until after it was all over. The first I heard
+of it was from the Misses Crane, who wrote me at Forestville
+that Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton, the bride and bridegroom
+from Blue Cliffs, had called on me during my absence. The
+news, when it was confirmed, nearly killed me. But think of
+the insanity of their calling on me! But I know that was
+Emma's wish. And I feel sure that Mr. Lytton must have
+known of my absence from town or he never would have ventured
+to bring his deceived bride into my home."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed; probably not. Well, my poor child, I have
+shown you your painful duty. See that you do not falter in
+it," said the rector, as he rose to take leave.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not," answered Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>"I will call at ten o'clock to-morrow morning to take you
+to Mr. Desmond's office."</p>
+
+<p>"I will be ready."</p>
+
+<p>And the minister took his leave.</p>
+
+<p>Punctual to his appointment, the next morning at ten
+o'clock the rector called for Mary Grey and took her in his
+own carriage to the office of Philip Desmond, one of the most
+talented among the rising young barristers of Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Desmond enjoyed a high reputation not only as a professional
+man but as a private gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>But he was the professional rival and the political opponent
+of Mr. Alden Lytton. They were always engaged on
+opposite sides of the same case; and on several important occasions
+Alden Lytton had gained a triumph over Philip Desmond.</p>
+
+<p>He was, therefore, more astonished than grieved when the
+rector, after introducing Mary Grey under the name of Mrs.
+Alden Lytton, proceeded to confide to him, under the seal of
+temporary secrecy, the stupendous story of Alden Lytton's
+double marriage.</p>
+
+<p>He expressed much amazement at the double treachery of
+the man, deep sympathy with the sorrows of the suffering and
+forsaken wife, and great indignation at the wrongs of the deceived
+and unhappy young lady.</p>
+
+<p>He readily promised to co-operate with the minister in having
+the culprit brought speedily to justice.</p>
+
+<p>"You, madam, of course, as his wife, can take no active
+part in the prosecution of this man. You can not even give
+testimony against him with your own voice. But you must
+appear in court, to be identified by the rector, the sexton and
+others who witnessed your marriage," said the lawyer, in taking
+leave of his visitors.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The rector took Mrs. Grey back to her boarding-house,
+and while she was gone upstairs to lay off her bonnet and
+shawl he told the Misses Crane that their interesting boarder
+had confided her trouble to him; that she had suffered the
+deepest wrong that any woman could be doomed to bear; but
+he could not explain more then; they would know all about
+it in a short time, when the wrongdoer should be brought to
+justice.</p>
+
+<p>And having thus mystified the poor ladies, he further recommended
+Mary Grey to their tenderest sympathy and care.</p>
+
+<p>And so he went home, leaving them in a state of greater
+bewilderment than ever.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLIII" id="Chapter_XLIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XLIII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>ABOUT BLUE CLIFFS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Before Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton had left Blue Cliff
+Hall they had made arrangements for the complete renovation
+of that old ancestral seat, to be carried on under the
+supervision of the Rev. Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>And they expressed their intention to purchase and send
+furniture from London and Paris to refit it.</p>
+
+<p>But the works were scarcely commenced when they had to
+be suspended for a few days.</p>
+
+<p>Another death had occurred in the family circle.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Beresford Jones, after a very pleasant evening spent at
+Blue Cliff Hall in company with Mrs. Fanning, Laura Lytton,
+his granddaughter, Electra, and his great favorite, Mr.
+Joseph Brent, arose, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"I will now retire to bed, and I recommend you, Electra,
+my dear, to do the same, as we have to rise early to-morrow
+morning to set out on our return to Beresford Manors."</p>
+
+<p>And he kissed her good-night, bowed to the other members
+of the circle, took up his taper and retired.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning he went away indeed, but not to Beresford
+Manors.</p>
+
+<p>For when Electra went into his room, as was her custom,
+to kiss him good-morning before he should get up, she found
+nothing but his body, still warm, and with the face still wearing
+the happy smile with which his spirit had impressed it in
+taking his heavenward flight.</p>
+
+<p>Her screams desecrated the holy room of death and brought
+all the household to her presence.</p>
+
+<p>When they discovered the cause of the girl's wild grief,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+Mrs. Fanning and Laura Lytton together forced her from the
+room and took her to her own chamber, where they set themselves
+to soothe her.</p>
+
+<p>Joseph Brent, himself overcome with grief at the sudden
+loss of one who had proved himself so warm a friend, set out
+on horseback to Wendover to fetch the family physician and
+the minister.</p>
+
+<p>They were useless to the departed, of course, but they
+might be of some service to the bereaved ones left behind.</p>
+
+<p>So Mr. Lyle and Dr. Willet returned with Mr. Brent, and
+remained at Blue Cliff Hall until after all was over.</p>
+
+<p>And thus it happened that within one fortnight there were
+two funerals at Blue Cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>On the day after that upon which the remains of Beresford
+Jones were laid in the family vault his will was opened and
+read to his relatives.</p>
+
+<p>With the exception of a few legacies left to friends and
+servants he bequeathed the whole of his real estate and personal
+property exclusively and unconditionally to his beloved
+granddaughter, Electra Coroni.</p>
+
+<p>And he appointed his esteemed friends, Stephen Lyle and
+Joseph Brent, joint executors of the will, trustees of his
+estate, and guardians of his heiress.</p>
+
+<p>And to each of these executors he left a legacy of ten thousand
+dollars.</p>
+
+<p>Folded within the will was an informal letter addressed to
+his surviving friends, and requesting that no mourning should
+be worn for him, no wedding deferred, no innocent pleasure
+delayed on his account, for that death was only a higher step
+in life, and that which to him would be a great gain and
+glory must not seem to them a loss and gloom.</p>
+
+<p>Electra, with her gusty nature, wept vehemently during the
+reading of this will and letter.</p>
+
+<p>But there was one present who, though he betrayed no emotion,
+was much more deeply moved than any one present.
+This was Joseph Brent.</p>
+
+<p>In being appointed guardian, trustee and executor of the
+will, he had just received from Dr. Beresford Jones the
+greatest proof of esteem and confidence that any one man
+could receive from another. And when he thought of this
+in connection with his own woful past he felt deeply disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>After the reading of the will the assembled relatives dispersed
+from the room, leaving the two executors to converse
+together.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When Joseph Brent found himself alone with his friend
+Stephen Lyle he gave way to his feelings and said:</p>
+
+<p>"My heart is full of compunction."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" gravely inquired Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I should have confided in the dear old friend who
+put so much trust in me. I should have told him my whole
+miserable past history. And then, perhaps, he never would
+have given me so great a mark of his esteem. And Heaven
+knows I fully intended to tell him before asking him to accept
+me as a suitor of his granddaughter, even though it had
+cost me the loss of her who is dearer to me than life. But I
+put off the painful task, and now it is too late. And I feel
+as if I had obtained the honors he has conferred upon me by
+a fraud. No less!" said Joseph Brent, covering his face with
+his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"My brother, you are morbid on this subject. Certainly
+you intended to tell him before asking to marry his granddaughter.
+And most certainly it would have been right for
+you to do so, had he remained among us. But he is gone.
+And you are free from blame. If you must tell any one tell
+the girl you love, and who loves and trusts you, for it is now
+no one's business but hers and yours. Or, rather, because you
+would never do yourself justice, let me tell her how, once a
+poor, motherless boy, left to himself, lost his way in the world
+and strayed even to the very brink of perdition. And how
+nobly since that he has, by the grace of Heaven, redeemed and
+consecrated his life. And then see if she will not place her
+hand in yours for good and all."</p>
+
+<p>"You always comfort and strengthen me," said the young
+man, seizing and wringing the hand of his friend.</p>
+
+<p>And then they consulted about the will of the late Dr.
+Jones, and the arrangements to be made with his estates and
+the disposition to be made of his heiress.</p>
+
+<p>"We are her guardians," said Mr. Lyle; "but neither you
+nor I, being bachelors both, have a proper home to offer her.
+Nor will it be well for her to live at Beresford Manors, with
+no one but her colored servants. Mrs. Fanning has invited
+her to remain here for the present, and really this house
+seems to be the best place for her just now. But, after all,
+the decision must be left to herself, and she must choose her
+own home."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Brent agreed perfectly with the views of Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>And later in the same afternoon they consulted the wishes
+of their young ward, who emphatically declared in favor of
+Blue Cliff Hall as her temporary home.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The next morning Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent took leave of
+the ladies and returned to Wendover, where the Californian
+again became the inmate of the minister's home.</p>
+
+<p>But both gentlemen continued to be frequent visitors at
+Blue Cliff Hall.</p>
+
+<p>On the Monday following the funeral the work was recommenced
+on the old mansion and went rapidly on&mdash;the three
+ladies, Mrs. Fanning, Laura Lytton and Electra, moving
+from one part of the house to another as the improvements
+progressed.</p>
+
+<p>Six weeks after this they received the first cargo of new furniture
+for the drawing-rooms, which were ready for it.</p>
+
+<p>And as the work went on, from room to room, they received
+more furniture to fit them up.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of three months the work was completed within
+and without.</p>
+
+<p>And the fine old mansion, thoroughly remodeled and refurnished,
+presented as elegant and attractive an appearance as
+any modern palace in the whole country.</p>
+
+<p>And then, when all was ready for the returning bride and
+bridegroom, Mrs. Fanning received a letter from them informing
+her that on the Saturday following the date of that letter
+they were to embark on board the steamship "Amazon,"
+bound from Liverpool to New York, and they expected to be
+at Blue Cliffs two weeks from the day of embarkation.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, the happy young pair were on their way home, unconscious
+of the horrible pitfall that had been dug to receive
+them!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLIV" id="Chapter_XLIV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XLIV.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>WEDDINGS AND WEDDING RECEPTIONS.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">What do you think of marriage?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I take it as those who deny purgatory.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It locally contains or heaven or hell:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There is no third place in it.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Webster.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>It was a beautiful day near the last of May, and the scenery
+all around Blue Cliff Hall was glorious with sunshine,
+bloom and verdure.</p>
+
+<p>A happy party of friends was assembled at the Hall that
+day for a double purpose&mdash;to meet the returning bridegroom
+and bride, who were expected to arrive that evening, and to
+assist at their wedding reception, which was to be further
+graced by two new bridals the next morning; for it had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
+arranged by correspondence that Stephen Lyle and Laura
+Lytton and Joseph Brent and Electra Coroni should be married
+on that occasion.</p>
+
+<p>All was ready: the house newly-restored, decorated and furnished,
+the rooms aired and adorned with flowers, and the
+wedding-breakfast laid out in the long dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>The supper-table for the returning travelers was set in the
+small dining-room opening upon the garden of roses.</p>
+
+<p>Carriages had been sent from the Hall early that morning
+to meet the travelers, who were expected to reach Wendover
+by the noon train from Richmond and to come direct to the
+Hall, so as to arrive in time for an early tea.</p>
+
+<p>On the delightful porch in front of the house, that commanded
+a view of the carriage-drive and the forest road beyond,
+sat a pleasant group, enjoying the magnificent sunset
+of that mountain region, and watching the road or the first
+appearance of the carriage that was to bring home their beloved
+young friends.</p>
+
+<p>This happy group was composed of Mrs. Fanning, Laura
+Lytton, Electra Coroni, Stephen Lyle and Joseph Brent.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope they will arrive before the sun goes quite down. I
+should like them to come home in the sunshine," said Laura
+Lytton, looking anxiously at the glorious orb just then touching
+the horizon.</p>
+
+<p>No one answered. All were watching the setting sun and
+listening for the sound of the carriage-wheels until a few moments
+had passed, and then Electra said, with a sigh:</p>
+
+<p>"You will not get your wish then, for the sun is gone and
+they are not come."</p>
+
+<p>"They are coming now, however. I hear the sound of
+their carriage-wheels," said Joseph Brent.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, for I see the carriage now," added Mr. Lyle,
+as the traveling-coach rolled rapidly in sight of the whole
+party and turned into the home drive.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments more and the carriage drew up before the
+house, and Alden Lytton alighted and handed out his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Another moment and Alden was in the arms of his sister
+and Emma on the bosom of Mrs. Fanning.</p>
+
+<p>Hearty greetings, warm embraces ensued, and then they
+held off to look at each other.</p>
+
+<p>Emma was more beautiful and Alden handsomer than
+ever.</p>
+
+<p>"What a happy coming home!" said Emma, gratefully.
+"And you are all so well! And you are all here except those
+who are in heaven. Stay! I think <i>they</i> also are here to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>
+meet us, though we do not see them! Come, let us enter the
+house."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me show you to your rooms. No one shall be your
+'groom of the chambers,' Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton, but
+myself," said Laura, playfully, as she led the way upstairs to
+the elegant apartments that had been prepared for the young
+master and mistress of the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Come too, Electra. I do not wish to lose sight of you so
+soon, my child," said Emma, kindly, as they went along.
+"Is everything arranged satisfactorily to yourselves, my
+dears, and are you both ready to be married at the same time
+to-morrow?" she inquired, addressing her two companions.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course!" smiled Laura.</p>
+
+<p>Very early the next morning the whole household was happily
+astir.</p>
+
+<p>The youthful family met at an early breakfast in the little
+dining-room, and then separated and went to their chambers
+to adorn themselves for the bridals.</p>
+
+<p>A little later in the morning carriages containing guests
+bidden to the wedding began to arrive. The guests were received
+first by accomplished ushers, who took them to handsome
+and convenient dressing-rooms, in which they could put
+the last perfecting touches on their toilets, after which they
+were ushered into the long drawing-room, where they were
+received by Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>Emma was beautifully dressed for this occasion. She wore
+a rich white satin, with a point-lace overskirt, looped up with
+white roses sprinkled with small diamonds like dew. A wreath
+of the same flowers, bedewed in the same way, rested on her
+rich golden hair. A diamond necklace and bracelets adorned
+her bosom and arms. A delicate bouquet of white roses was
+held in her hand. Dainty gloves, and so forth, of course
+completed her toilet.</p>
+
+<p>The two brides were dressed exactly alike, in long-trained,
+rich white silk dresses, with illusion overdresses and illusion
+veils, white orange-blossom wreaths, pearl necklaces and
+bracelets, and dainty white kid gloves, and carried delicate
+white lace handkerchiefs and white bouquets.</p>
+
+<p>The bride-maids were all dressed in a uniform of white
+tarletan, trained, with overdresses of the same, rose-colored
+sashes and bows, and rose wreaths on their heads.</p>
+
+<p>The bridegrooms wore the regulation "invisible blue"
+swallow-tailed coats and pantaloons, white satin vests, patent
+leather boots and kids. The groomsmen were got up in precisely
+the same ridiculous&mdash;I mean fashionable&mdash;style.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Now, reader, did you ever see a double marriage ceremony
+performed?</p>
+
+<p>If not, I will tell you how this was done.</p>
+
+<p>The first bride and groom were Mr. Lyle and Miss Lytton.
+They stood in the middle of the semicircle, immediately
+facing the bishop. The second bride and groom, Mr. Brent
+and Miss Coroni, stood on each side of them, Mr. Brent
+standing next to Mr. Lyle and Miss Coroni standing next to
+Miss Lytton. The six bride-maids, of course, completed the
+semicircle on the ladies' side and the six groomsmen on the
+gentlemen's.</p>
+
+<p>The opening exhortation was made and the opening prayers
+were offered for both pairs together.</p>
+
+<p>Then the momentous questions were put and answered, and
+the marriage vows were made, by each pair separately.</p>
+
+<p>Each bride was given away in turn by Alden Lytton.
+Finally the concluding prayer was offered and the benediction
+pronounced upon both.</p>
+
+<p>It was over.</p>
+
+<p>Congratulations, tears, smiles and kisses followed. A half
+an hour in pleasant chatter, in which every one talked and no
+one listened, followed, and then the doors of the dining-room
+were thrown open and the company was invited in to the
+breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>Three long tables stood parallel to each other, the whole
+length of the room, leaving only space to pass around them.</p>
+
+<p>Each table was decorated with the most fragrant and beautiful
+flowers, adorned with the most elegant plate, china and
+glass, and loaded with every delicacy appropriate to the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>But the middle table was distinguished by the "wedding-cake"
+<i>par excellence</i>&mdash;an elegant and beautiful piece of art,
+formed like a Grecian temple of Hymen, erected upon a rock,
+adorned with beautiful forms, birds, butterflies, flowers, and
+so forth.</p>
+
+<p>This middle table was also honored with the presence of the
+brides and bridegrooms, with their attendants and immediate
+friends, and with that of the officiating bishop.</p>
+
+<p>After the first course Mr. Lytton, who occupied a seat at
+the foot of this table, arose in his place and made the usual
+little speech, and proposed the health of both "happy pairs."</p>
+
+<p>This was drunk with enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Then the health of the bride-maids was proposed and honored.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Brent proposed their accomplished host and hostess.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>
+And this toast was honored with an enthusiasm equal to that
+which had attended that of the brides and bridegrooms.</p>
+
+<p>An hour, every moment of which was filled up with enjoyment,
+was spent at the table, and then the beautiful hostess,
+Mrs. Alden Lytton, gave the signal, and the ladies all arose
+and withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>The two brides, accompanied by Emma, went upstairs to
+their rooms to change their bridal dresses for traveling-suits,
+for the two carriages were already waiting at the gates to convey
+them to Wendover, whence they were to take the train
+for Richmond, <i>en route</i> for the North.</p>
+
+<p>They were soon dressed in their pretty suits of soft, dove-colored
+silk, with hats and gloves of the same shade.</p>
+
+<p>They went down to the drawing-room, still accompanied by
+Emma.</p>
+
+<p>The gentlemen had just come in from the breakfast-table,
+and all the guests were assembled there to see the happy pairs
+off on their bridal tours.</p>
+
+<p>Emma had left the room for a few minutes to give some
+orders.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton had just embraced his sister, and was holding
+the hand of his brother-in-law, wishing him all manner of
+happiness and prosperity, when the door opened and Jerome
+entered, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"There's a gemman out here wants to see Mr. Lytton most
+partic'lar."</p>
+
+<p>"Show him in," said Alden Lytton, smiling, and expecting
+to see some guest who had come too late for the wedding.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLV" id="Chapter_XLV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XLV.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A TERRIBLE SUMMONS.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockw">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With most admired disorder.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>The servant left the room, and presently returned and
+ushered in a tall, stout, gray-haired man, whom all
+present recognized as Mr. John Bowlen, the deputy sheriff of
+the county.</p>
+
+<p>The new-comer bowed to the assembled company and walked
+straight up to Alden Lytton, who advanced to meet him.</p>
+
+<p>"You are Mr. Alden Lytton, I presume?" said the deputy-sheriff.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course I am, Mr. Bowlen! You know that quite
+well, don't you?" smiled Alden.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I thought I did; but I wished to be quite sure in a case
+like this. You are my prisoner, Mr. Alden Lytton," said the
+deputy-sheriff, so calmly and distinctly that every one in the
+room both heard and understood the strange words.</p>
+
+<p>Yet no one uttered an exclamation of surprise. I think
+they were all too much stunned for that.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton simply stared in silent amazement at the
+officer, while others, including the two bridegrooms, gathered
+around him.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you say just now? Perhaps I did not hear you
+aright," inquired Alden, elevating his eyebrows, for there was
+something that struck him as unreal, ludicrous and bordering
+upon the burlesque in the whole situation.</p>
+
+<p>"I said that you were my prisoner, Mr. Alden Lytton,"
+answered the deputy-sheriff, gravely. "I repeat that you are
+my prisoner<a name="Page_213t" id="Page_213t"></a><a href="#Page_213tn">."</a></p>
+
+<p>"Prisoner!" echoed a score of voices, giving expression at
+length to their amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ladies and gentlemen, he is my prisoner. I think I
+spoke plainly enough; and I hope I shall have no trouble in
+making the arrest," answered the deputy-sheriff, who, if he
+were not behaving very rudely, was certainly not doing his
+duty very courteously.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon what charge, I pray you, am I to be arrested?" inquired
+Mr. Lytton, sarcastically, still inclined to treat the
+whole matter as a very bad practical joke.</p>
+
+<p>"You may read the warrant, sir," answered the officer, unfolding
+a document and placing it in the hands of Alden Lytton,
+who, with some anger and curiosity, but no anxiety, began
+to read it.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter? What does this person want here?"
+inquired Emma, in surprise, as she entered the room, came
+up to the group and saw the intruder.</p>
+
+<p>"He has some business with me, my love," answered her
+husband, controlling himself with a great effort, as he read
+the shameful charges embodied in the warrant commanding
+his arrest. Then, still speaking with forced calmness, he said
+to the deputy-sheriff:</p>
+
+<p>"I will go with you first into the library, Mr. Bowlen, where
+we can talk over this matter with my friends."</p>
+
+<p>And turning to the two bridegrooms he inquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Can you give me a few minutes with this officer in the
+library?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," answered Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent, in one
+voice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ladies, you will excuse us for a few minutes?" inquired
+Mr. Lytton, smiling around upon the group.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," answered two or three ladies, speaking for the
+whole party.</p>
+
+<p>"Follow me, if you please, gentlemen," said Alden Lytton,
+as he led the way to the library.</p>
+
+<p>There the four men&mdash;Mr. Lytton, Mr. Lyle, Mr. Brent
+and the sheriff&mdash;stood around a small table, all with anxious
+and some with questioning looks.</p>
+
+<p>"Read that and tell me what you think of it," said Mr.
+Lytton, placing the warrant for his arrest in the hands of Mr.
+Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"Think of it? I think it at once the falsest, basest and
+most absurd charge that ever was made against an honorable
+man!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, in righteous indignation, as he
+threw the document on the table.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all a diabolical conspiracy!" added Joseph Brent,
+who had read the warrant over the shoulder of his friend.</p>
+
+<p>"It can not stand investigation for one moment," said Stephen
+Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"And the wretches who got this up should be severely punished!"
+exclaimed Joseph Brent.</p>
+
+<p>"Most severely!" added Stephen Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"But what show of foundation could they have had for
+such a charge? The warrant accuses you of having 'feloniously
+intermarried with one Emma Angela Cavendish in and
+during the lifetime of your lawful wife, Mary Lytton, now
+living in this State!' Now, who the very mischief is this Mary
+who claims to be Lytton? Oh, Alden, my son, what <i>have</i>
+you been up to?" inquired Joseph Brent, half in mockery and
+half in real anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever else I may have been 'up to,' I certainly never
+have been 'up to' marrying two wives at one time," answered
+Alden, in the same spirit of half banter, half protest.</p>
+
+<p>"But who is this Mary, self-styled Lytton?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know no more than the dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"But are you sure you never had a slight flirtation with, or
+a platonic affinity for, a Mary or anybody else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never! Nor do I even know a single 'Mary' in this
+world, except&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes!&mdash;except whom&mdash;except whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Mary Grey," answered Alden, gravely, and with a
+certain new disturbance in his manner that had not been there
+before.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle brought his hand down upon the table with an
+emphatic thump.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the woman!" he said, with an air of entire conviction.
+"But surely you never fell under her baleful spell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, who that ever knew her has not fallen under that
+baleful spell? But for the last two years I have been entirely
+disillusioned," answered Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, gentlemen, I am sorry to hurry you; but really,"
+said Sheriff Bowlen, taking out his watch, "it is now two
+o'clock, and we must get on to Wendover."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," answered Alden Lytton, coldly. Then turning
+to Mr. Brent and Mr. Lyle he said: "And you, my
+friends, must be getting on, too, or you will lose your train.
+And then what will become of your bridal trips?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not care what may become of <i>my</i> bridal trip! I
+mean to see you safe through this abominable conspiracy&mdash;for
+a conspiracy it certainly is, whoever may be the conspirators!"
+said Joseph Brent, emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh&mdash;pooh! Some very shallow piece of malice, or some
+very poor practical joke upon me or the magistrate! The
+wonder is, however, that any magistrate could be found to
+issue such a warrant as this," said Alden Lytton, making
+light of a matter which he thought the slightest investigation
+must soon set right.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Joseph Brent and Stephen Lyle spoke
+apart for a few minutes, and then came to Alden Lytton and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Look here; we are going with you to the magistrate's
+office. We are determined to see this matter through. It
+may be a trifle or it may not."</p>
+
+<p>"And how about the two pretty girls who are waiting, with
+their hats on, to be taken on their wedding tours?"</p>
+
+<p>"They can wait. A few hours, which must decide this,
+can make but little difference to them. Your lovely lady will
+give them house-room to-day," said Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>As Alden Lytton was about to reply, urging his friends not
+to delay their journey on his account, he caught sight of Emma
+standing in the hall, just outside the library door.</p>
+
+<p>Her face was pale with anguish, and her hands were clasped
+tightly together, as she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Alden&mdash;Alden! Oh, Alden, come to me for one moment!"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go and speak to my wife. I will not run away,"
+said Mr. Lytton, sarcastically, to the deputy, who was close
+upon his heels.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And he went up to Emma and said, cheerfully:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be alarmed, love; there is nothing to fear."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Alden, dearest, <i>what is it</i>? They are talking about
+a warrant and an arrest in there. It is not true&mdash;oh, it can
+not be true!" said the young wife, a little incoherently.</p>
+
+<p>"There is some mistake, my love, which would be simply
+ludicrous if it were not so annoying. I must go to Wendover
+and set it all right," replied Mr. Lytton, cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you certain it is nothing more than a mistake?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing more than a mistake or a jest, dear love. But I
+must go to Wendover to set it right."</p>
+
+<p>"But what sort of a mistake is it? What is it all about?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will explain it all when I come back, my wife. I do
+not quite comprehend it yet."</p>
+
+<p>"How soon will you be back?"</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as ever this matter shall be explained&mdash;in time
+for tea, if possible. Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent are going with
+me. You will take care of the girls during the few hours'
+delay in their journey. There, love, return to your guests
+and let me go. This officer is growing impatient."</p>
+
+<p>While Alden Lytton was trying to soothe the anxiety of his
+wife, Mr. Brent and Mr. Lyle had crossed to the drawing-room
+to explain to their brides that an unexpected event had
+occurred which would delay their journey for a few hours,
+during which they would remain as the guests of Mrs. Alden
+Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>And before the young ladies could make a comment the
+deputy-sheriff, with Alden Lytton in custody, passed out.</p>
+
+<p>Then Stephen Lyle and Joseph Brent hurried out and
+entered the same carriage occupied by Alden Lytton and the
+sheriff.</p>
+
+<p>During the drive to Wendover the three gentlemen tried to
+learn from the sheriff more particulars concerning the charges
+made against Mr. Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>But the sheriff knew little or nothing concerning those
+charges beyond what was embodied in the warrant that authorized
+the arrest.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLVI" id="Chapter_XLVI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XLVI.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE INVESTIGATION.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">One is my true and honorable wife,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As dear to me as are the ruddy drops<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That visit my sad heart.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>In due time they reached the village and were driven at once
+to the office of the magistrate, Squire Estep, of Spring
+Hill Manor.</p>
+
+<p>No rumor of the arrest had got abroad, and no crowd was
+collected about the office doors.</p>
+
+<p>The sheriff alighted first, and was followed out by the accused
+and his two friends.</p>
+
+<p>They entered the office, where just then no one was present
+except the magistrate, one clerk and two constables.</p>
+
+<p>The three gentlemen bowed as they entered, and the venerable
+magistrate arose and acknowledged their presence by a
+nod and sat down again.</p>
+
+<p>The sheriff laid the warrant on the table before the magistrate
+and, pointing to Mr. Alden Lytton, said:</p>
+
+<p>"That is the prisoner, your worship."</p>
+
+<p>One of the constables placed chairs, and the gentlemen seated
+themselves and waited.</p>
+
+<p>"White," said Mr. Estep, addressing one of the constables,
+"go to the Reindeer and serve this upon the gentleman to
+whom it is directed, and whom you will find there."</p>
+
+<p>The constable took the slip of paper from the speaker's
+hand, bowed and went out.</p>
+
+<p>And the three gentlemen waited with what patience they
+might command, while the magistrate drummed upon the
+table with his fingers.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the constable returned, ushering in two persons,
+in one of whom Alden Lytton recognized his great rival at the
+bar, Philip Desmond. The other, an elderly gentleman in a
+clergyman's dress, was a total stranger to him.</p>
+
+<p>Both these gentlemen bowed to the magistrate and to the
+accused and his friends, and one of them&mdash;the clerical
+stranger&mdash;came up to Alden and, to his great amazement,
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry, Mr. Lytton, in meeting you a second<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
+time, to see you here in this position; sorrier still that I am
+here to bear testimony against you."</p>
+
+<p>While he was saying this the magistrate, who was engaged
+in searching among some documents, drew forth from them a
+paper which seemed to be a memorandum, which he from
+time to time consulted, as he addressed the accused and said:</p>
+
+<p>"You are Mr. Alden Lytton, attorney at law, of the Richmond
+bar, I believe?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am," answered Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"Attend, if you please, to the reading of this," said the
+magistrate, as he commenced and read out aloud the warrant
+upon which the accused had been brought before him.</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of the reading Alden Lytton bowed
+gravely and waited.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Alden Lytton, you have heard that you are charged
+with having, on the fifteenth of February of this present year,
+feloniously intermarried with Emma Angela Cavendish, in
+and during the lifetime of your lawful wife, Mary Lytton,
+now living in this State. Such marriage, under such circumstances,
+being a felony, punishable with imprisonment and
+hard labor in the State Penitentiary for a term not less than&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;&nbsp;or
+more than&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;&nbsp;years. What have you to say to this
+charge?" inquired the magistrate.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton with some difficulty controlled his indignation
+as he answered:</p>
+
+<p>"It is perfectly true that in last February I married Miss
+Cavendish, of Blue Cliffs. But it is a false and malicious
+slander that I ever at any time married any one else. It is
+only amazing to me, Mr. Magistrate, that you should have
+issued a warrant charging me with so base a crime. You
+could not possibly have had any grounds to justify such a proceeding."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see," answered, the magistrate. "You admit
+that you married Miss Cavendish on the fifteenth of last February?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I do."</p>
+
+<p>"Then nothing remains but to prove or to disprove the
+statement that at the time of your marriage with Miss Cavendish,
+at Blue Cliffs, you had a lawful wife then living in the
+city of Richmond."</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton flushed to the temples at hearing his true
+wife's pure and noble name brought into this dishonoring examination.
+He spoke sternly as he inquired:</p>
+
+<p>"Upon what grounds do you make this charge? Where
+are your witnesses?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The Reverend Mr. Borden will please step forward," said
+the magistrate.</p>
+
+<p>The strange clergyman came up to the table and stood
+there.</p>
+
+<p>The magistrate administered the oath to this witness.</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment Mr. Philip Desmond took his place at
+the table to conduct the examination.</p>
+
+<p>"Your name is Adam Borden?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," answered the clerical witness.</p>
+
+<p>"You are the rector of Saint Blank's Episcopal Church,
+Philadelphia?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"You know the accused?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. He is Mr. Alden Lytton," replied the rector,
+bowing gravely to the prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>Alden acknowledged the courtesy by a nod, and then waited
+with more amazement and curiosity than anxiety to hear what
+sort of a case they would make out against him with the aid
+of this man, whom he never saw before, and yet who claimed
+to know him well.</p>
+
+<p>"State, if you please, Mr. Borden, what you know of Mr.
+Lytton in regard to this case."</p>
+
+<p>"In the month of September of last year Mr. Lytton came
+to my house in company with a lady to whom he wished to be
+married immediately. I conducted the pair into the church
+and married them there, in the presence of my sexton and his
+daughter. I registered the marriage in the church books and
+gave a certificate, signed by myself and the witnesses to the
+marriage. They then left the church together. I had never
+seen them before, and I have never seen them since until to-day,
+when I see and recognize Mr. Lytton, just as I should
+recognize his bride if I should see her."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is she?" inquired the magistrate.</p>
+
+<p>"Your worship, the lady can be produced at once, to be
+identified by the witness," said Philip Desmond.</p>
+
+<p>And he wrote on a slip of paper and handed it to a constable,
+who silently left the room.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Alden Lytton waited with constantly increasing
+curiosity to find out to whom he had been unconsciously married
+in the month of September, and in the city of Philadelphia.
+It flashed upon him suddenly that he had been in
+Philadelphia about the middle of the last September, and in
+company with Mary Grey. But he felt certain that he had
+never gone out with her while there; and he waited with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
+intensely curious interest to hear how they could possibly
+make out a case against him.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the door opened and the constable returned,
+bringing with him a gracefully-moving woman, dressed in
+black and deeply veiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Your worship, this is the true wife of the accused, produced
+here to be identified by the witness," said Mr. Desmond,
+taking the hand of the lady and leading her to the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you be so good as to raise your veil, ma'am?"
+requested the magistrate.</p>
+
+<p>The lady lifted the black veil and threw it behind her head,
+revealing the beautiful face of Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton had half expected to see her, yet he could not
+forbear the exclamation:</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Grey!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Lytton, if you please, sir! You have taken from
+me your love and your protection, but you can not take from
+me your name! That is still mine. You have taken from
+me my peace of heart, but you shall not take from me my
+name! When you address me again call me Mrs. Lytton, for
+that is my legal name!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is false&mdash;infamously false!" began Alden Lytton, crimsoning
+with indignation.</p>
+
+<p>But the magistrate stopped him, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lytton, this is very unseemly. If this lady claims a
+relation to you that she can not prove she will do so at her
+own proper peril. Let us continue the examination and conduct
+it with decent order."</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton bowed to the magistrate and said, with what
+calmness he could command:</p>
+
+<p>"This woman&mdash;no, this libel upon womanhood, who is
+brought here to be identified as my wife, might have rather
+been summoned to bear testimony against me in any false
+charge she and her co-conspirators might have chosen to set
+up, since she is not, and never has been, my wife. Her presence
+here can not establish one single point in this infamous
+accusation. Yet I am anxious to know how she and her confederate&mdash;as
+I am forced to regard this witness&mdash;will attempt
+to do so. Let the examination proceed."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Borden, will you look upon this lady?" respectfully
+demanded Mr. Desmond.</p>
+
+<p>The reverend gentleman put on his spectacles and scrutinized
+the face of Mary Grey, who met his gaze, and then lowered
+her eyes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Can you identify her as the lady whom you united in marriage
+with Mr. Alden Lytton?" inquired Mr. Desmond.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, assuredly I can. She is the lady, then called Mary
+Grey, whom I united in marriage with that gentleman, then
+called Alden Lytton, and to whom I gave the marriage certificate,
+signed by myself and two witnesses. Those witnesses
+can be produced when wanted," answered the Rev. Mr. Borden,
+with much assurance.</p>
+
+<p>"These witnesses are not needed just now. But I wish you
+to examine this certificate, Mr. Borden," said Mr. Desmond,
+putting a folded paper in the hands of the minister.</p>
+
+<p>The reverend gentleman adjusted his spectacles and scrutinized
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the certificate of marriage that you gave Mrs.
+Mary Lytton, the wife of Mr. Alden Lytton, on the day that
+you united them?" inquired Mr. Desmond.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, it is," answered the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you quite sure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite sure, sir. Why, I know the paper and the printed
+form, as well as my own autograph and the signatures of the
+two witnesses," declared the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"That will do. You may sit down, sir," said Mr. Desmond.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon. I would like to ask that witness a
+few questions before he retires," said Mr. Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course that is your right, sir," said the magistrate.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton arose and confronted the witness, looking him
+full in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a minister of the gospel, I believe, Mr. Borden?"
+he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. I am rector of Saint Blank's Episcopal Church
+in Philadelphia, as you yourself know very well, having there
+received my ministry on the day that you then declared to be
+'the happiest of your life,'" replied the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"As Heaven is my witness, I never saw your face before I
+met you in this office! Now then, reverend sir, please to look
+me in the eyes while you answer my next questions. Being
+upon your oath, you declare that on a certain day, in the
+month of last September, in your parish church, in the city of
+Philadelphia, you performed the marriage ceremony between
+Alden Lytton and Mary Grey?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do most solemnly declare, upon my sacred oath, that I
+did so," answered Mr. Borden, meeting the searching gaze of
+the questioner without flinching.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the most astounding effrontery! But attend fur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>ther,
+sir, if you please. Being on your oath, you declare that
+I am the man and that female is the woman whom you joined
+in marriage, under the names of Alden Lytton and Mary
+Grey?"</p>
+
+<p>"<a name="Page_222t" id="Page_222t"></a><a href="#Page_222tn">On</a> my sacred oath I most solemnly declare that you are
+the man and she is the woman I then and there united together,"
+unflinchingly replied the minister.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Alden Lytton was mute with amazement;
+and then he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Let me look at that paper that is said to be a certificate
+of this marriage."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Desmond handed over the document.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton read it, and then recommenced his cross-examination
+of the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"And this is the certificate you gave the pretended bride?"
+he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the certificate I gave your wife, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And you persist in declaring, under oath, that you solemnized
+a marriage between myself, Alden Lytton, and this
+woman, Mary Grey, here present?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, most solemnly."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, sir," said Alden Lytton, flushing to his temples
+with fierce indignation, "all I have further to say is this&mdash;that
+you have basely <a name="Page_222at" id="Page_222at"></a><a href="#Page_222tn">perjured</a> yourself to assist and support
+an infamous conspiracy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir&mdash;sir&mdash;Mr. Lytton!" said the magistrate, in trepidation.
+"This gentleman is a most highly respected preacher
+of the gospel, quite incapable of such a thing!"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not care whether he be priest, bishop, pope or apostle!
+He has basely perjured himself in support of an infamous
+conspiracy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lytton&mdash;Mr. Lytton," said the magistrate, "if you
+have anything to bring forward to disprove this strange charge
+we shall be glad to hear it. But vituperation is not testimony."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it," said Alden Lytton, trying hard to control his
+raging passion. "I know it, and I beg pardon of the magistrate.
+But this is a foul conspiracy against my peace, honor
+and liberty&mdash;and oh, great Heaven, against the honor of my
+dear, noble young wife! But this vile conspiracy shall surely
+be exposed, and when it is, by all my hopes of heaven, no
+charity, no mercy, no consideration in the universe shall prevent
+me from prosecuting and pursuing these conspirators to
+punishment with the utmost rigor of the law!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lytton, have you anything to bring forward in dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>proof
+of the charges made against you?" inquired the magistrate.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; not now, nor here. I must have time to look
+this monstrous falsehood in the face and prepare for its total
+destruction."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Mr. Lytton, I shall have to send your case to court
+for trial. Have you bail?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," spoke up Joseph Brent, coming forward before
+Alden Lytton could speak, "he has bail. I will enter into
+bonds for my esteemed young friend, Alden Lytton, to any
+amount you may please to name."</p>
+
+<p>"The charge is one of the gravest; the position of the parties
+involved in it is high in the social scale; the evidence already
+elicited is of the most convincing and convicting character;
+every circumstance would seem to point to the expediency
+of evading the trial by flight, or any other means. In
+view of all the circumstances of the case I feel it my duty to
+demand a very heavy bail. I fix the bail, therefore, at the
+sum of twenty thousand dollars," said the magistrate.</p>
+
+<p>"It might be twenty times twenty thousand dollars, and I
+would enter it for him. A man of honor, like Mr. Lytton,
+falsely accused of a base crime, does not fly from trial. On
+the contrary he demands it for his own vindication," said Joseph
+Brent, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton turned and grasped his hand in silent acknowledgment
+of his noble friendship. Then, addressing the
+magistrate, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready to enter into a recognizance with my esteemed
+friend here for my appearance at court to answer this charge&mdash;this
+charge as ridiculous as it is monstrous."</p>
+
+<p>The magistrate nodded and directed his clerk to fill out the
+proper forms.</p>
+
+<p>When these were completed and signed the accused was discharged
+from custody.</p>
+
+<p>He bowed to the magistrate, and even to the others, and
+was about to leave the office, followed by Mr. Lyle and Mr.
+Brent, when Mary Grey darted swiftly and silently to his side
+and hissed in his ear:</p>
+
+<p>"I swore that I would take you in the hour of your greatest
+triumph and strike you down to the dust in dishonor! I
+have done so! I will send you to the penitentiary yet&mdash;felon!"</p>
+
+<p>"I think that you will find yourself there, madam, before
+many months have passed over your head. There are severe
+laws against forgery, perjury and conspiracy," answered Alden
+Lytton.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Outside of the office the three gentlemen consulted their
+watches. It was now six o'clock in the afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>Then they looked about them.</p>
+
+<p>They had come to Wendover in the deputy-sheriff's carriage.
+That had gone. And there was no conveyance waiting
+to take them to Blue Cliff Hall.</p>
+
+<p>"We must go to the old Reindeer and hire their hack,"
+said Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, Lyle; let us walk to your parsonage first.
+You must give me house-room there for a few weeks, for I do
+not wish to stop at the hotel to be stared at, and&mdash;I shall not
+return to Blue Cliffs, or enter the presence of my pure and
+noble young wife, until I shall be cleared from this foul
+charge," said Alden Lytton, firmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not return to Blue Cliffs? Why, Lytton, you will break
+your wife's heart if you keep her from you in this your day of
+sorrow!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"Her heart is too heroic to be easily broken. And a little
+reflection will convince you that, under the peculiar circumstances
+of this accusation, it is expedient that I should absent
+myself from her and from her dwelling until I shall be
+cleared. Now if the charge against me were that of murder,
+or anything else but what it is, my wife might be by my side.
+But being what it is, you must see that I best consult her dignity
+and delicacy by abstaining from seeing her until after my
+acquittal. No, I shall neither see, speak, nor write to her
+while I suffer under this charge."</p>
+
+<p>"I see now that you are perfectly right," said Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that you are," added Mr. Brent, as the three walked
+out toward the minister's cottage.</p>
+
+<p>"I only wish you to install me, Lyle, by explaining to your
+good old housekeeper that I am to be an inmate of the parsonage
+during your absence, so that she may not take my
+presence as an unjustifiable intrusion," said Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"She would never do that in any case," answered Stephen
+Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"And when you have installed me I wish you and Brent to
+return to Blue Cliffs and rejoin your brides at once. And you,
+Lyle, must break this matter to my dear Emma as delicately
+and tenderly as you can. She does not need to be told that I
+am entirely guiltless of the crime that is laid to my charge;
+for she knows that I am incapable of committing such an one.
+Nor does she require to be assured of my undying love and
+faith. She is assured of that. But tell her to be of good
+cheer, to bear this temporary separation patiently, and to wait<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>
+hopefully our speedy meeting in happier days. Will you do
+this, my friend?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most faithfully," answered Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"And then I wish you to start at once upon your wedding
+tours. They must not be further delayed on my account."</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Lytton," said Stephen Lyle, earnestly. "I
+speak for myself and also for Brent, who feels just as I do.
+We start upon no bridal tours until you are out of this trouble.
+We could not leave you in your trouble. And our girls,
+I am sure, would not leave your wife in her sorrow. So that
+is all over. What I have to propose is this: That I bring our
+Laura home here to-morrow. And that we remain here to
+keep you company, while Victor&mdash;I mean Brent&mdash;and Electra
+stay for the present at Blue Cliffs as the guests of Mrs. Alden
+Lytton."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you approve the plan. We talked it over and settled
+it all while we were in the magistrate's office attending
+the examination," added Joseph Brent.</p>
+
+<p>They had by this time reached the gates of the pretty cottage.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton stopped, turned around and grasped a hand
+of each faithful friend. For a moment he could not speak
+for the strong emotion that choked him.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you!" he said, at length, in a half suffocated
+voice. "God bless you both! I have surely found one 'precious
+jewel' in the head of this 'toad'&mdash;the priceless jewel of
+your friendship!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLVII" id="Chapter_XLVII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XLVII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>HOW EMMA HEARD THE NEWS.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i7">An angel guard&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Chariots of fire, horses of fire encamp,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To keep thee safe.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Mrs. Ellet.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>It was eleven o'clock that night when the Rev. Mr. Lyle
+and Mr. Brent reached Blue Cliffs on their return from
+Wendover.</p>
+
+<p>Of course all the guests of the bridal reception had long
+since gone away. The house was closed and all the windows
+were dark except those of the library, where the gentlemen
+found the two brides and their hostess sitting up and awaiting
+their return.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Alden? Is he not with you?" anxiously inquired
+Emma, coming to meet them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Our friend might certainly have come back with us if he
+had chosen to do so; but he deemed it better to remain at
+Wendover to-night, and we agreed with him. He is at my
+house," answered Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"You have something painful to tell me. I beg you will
+tell it at once," said Emma, turning very pale, but controlling
+herself perfectly and speaking with calmness.</p>
+
+<p>"Something ridiculous, if it were not so outrageous, I
+should say, dear Mrs. Lytton. Is there a light in the parlor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then come with me there and I will tell you all about
+it," answered Mr. Lyle, speaking cheerfully, as he offered his
+arm to Emma.</p>
+
+<p>They left the room together and went to the parlor, where
+a lamp was burning low and shedding a dim light around.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lyle led his hostess to a sofa, where he sat down beside
+her.</p>
+
+<p>And then and there he told her the whole history of the
+charge that had been brought against her husband, as it came
+out upon the preliminary examination.</p>
+
+<p>Emma listened in unspeakable grief, horror, amazement
+and mortification. Yet with all these strong emotions struggling
+in her bosom, she controlled herself so far as to preserve
+her outward composure and answer with calmness.</p>
+
+<p>"And Mary Grey claims to be <i>his wife</i>? I should think
+the woman were raving mad, but for the plausible testimony
+she has managed to bring together. As it is, I am forced to
+look upon this in the same light that you do, as a base conspiracy,
+in which she has found some skillful confederates.
+Of course it must be only the embarrassment and mortification
+of a few days and then the whole plot must be exposed.
+Such a plot can not, certainly, bear a thorough investigation,"
+she said.</p>
+
+<p>But though she spoke so confidently, and believed all that
+she said, yet her face continued deathly pale and her hands
+were clutched closely together on her lap.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Lyle explained to her the delicate motives that
+governed her husband in deciding him to remain at the Wendover
+parsonage, and to absent himself entirely from Blue
+Cliffs and from her until this charge should be disproved.</p>
+
+<p>Emma flushed and paled again, and clutched her hands a
+little closer, but made no comment yet. She seemed to wait
+for Mr. Lyle to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>"He says, my child, and he speaks rightly, that if the accusation
+against him was of almost any other felony than what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>
+it is, you should be with him through all he might have to
+endure. But the accusation being what it is every consideration
+for your dignity and delicacy constrains him to absent
+himself from you until his fair fame shall be cleared. He
+therefore implores you, by me, not to attempt to see him, or
+even to write to him, but to let all your communications with
+him be verbal ones, sent through me. And I, on my part,
+my child, promise to fulfill my duties to you both faithfully
+and loyally," said Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"I must comply," answered Emma, in a low, restrained
+voice, that would have faltered and broken had she not possessed
+and exercised such great power of self-control. "I
+must comply, although this is the very hardest requisition
+that my dear husband could make of me&mdash;to abandon him in
+this hour of his greatest need. I must comply, because I
+know that it is right. Our mutual honor demands this temporary
+separation&mdash;for of course it will be but temporary."</p>
+
+<p>"Very temporary, and lightened by frequent news of each
+other through me," replied Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"But that woman, Mary Grey! The amazing wickedness
+of that woman!" said Emma, with a shudder, and almost under
+her breath.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," said the minister, gravely, "you knew Mrs.
+Grey intimately for several years. Had you really confidence
+in her during all that time?"</p>
+
+<p>"N-no. I often doubted and suspected her. And I blamed
+myself for such doubts and suspicions, and compelled myself
+to think the best of her and do the best for her, for my
+father's sake&mdash;because he loved her. Oh, the astounding
+wickedness of that woman, as it has developed itself in this
+conspiracy against us! But she must have had confederates.
+The minister who professes to have married her to Mr. Lytton,
+and who gave her a marriage certificate to that effect,
+may he not have been a confederate of hers? May he not
+have taken a false oath&mdash;made a false statement and given a
+false certificate?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no, no, my child&mdash;a thousand times no! The
+character of the Reverend Mr. Borden is far above any such
+suspicion," answered Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"Then he must himself have been deceived. Some one
+must have personated Mr. Lytton at that ceremony&mdash;some
+one who has some resemblance to him&mdash;and utterly deceived
+the minister," said Emma. And she paused for a few moments,
+with her head upon her hand, as in hard, deep
+thought; and then a sudden flash of intelligence, like light<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>ning,
+lit up her face, as she exclaimed: "I know who it was!
+I know all about it now! Oh, Mr. Lyle, I shall save my dear
+husband's honor from a breath of reproach, because I have
+found out all about it now!"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child&mdash;" began the good minister, who thought
+that she looked a little wild.</p>
+
+<p>But Emma vehemently interrupted him.</p>
+
+<p>"It was Craven Kyte who personated Mr. Lytton at that
+marriage! Oh, I am sure it was! I am as sure of it as I am
+of being alive at this time! Oh, Mr. Lyle, don't you remember
+the wonderful personal resemblance between Craven Kyte
+and Mr. Lytton? They were counterparts of each other, except
+in one small particular. Craven Kyte had a black mole
+on his chin. And he was deeply in love with Mary Grey, and
+she could have done whatever she pleased with him. She
+could have persuaded him to personate Alden Lytton at that
+marriage ceremony; and I am sure that she has done so. I
+feel a positive conviction that he is the man."</p>
+
+<p>"The explanation of the mystery is a very plausible one
+indeed," gravely mused the minister, with his bearded chin in
+his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the true and only one," said Emma, emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the young man now? Has he been heard from
+yet?" inquired Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I believe not. He is still missing. He has been
+missing ever since last September, when he went away for a
+holiday. That is another link in the chain of circumstantial
+evidence against him, for it was in September that this marriage
+was performed."</p>
+
+<p>"This looks more and more likely," mused the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lyle, this is what must be done immediately: Advertisements
+must be inserted in all the principal newspapers in
+the principal cities of the United States and Canada, offering
+great inducements to Craven Kyte, late of Wendover, to return
+to his home, or to communicate with his friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that must be done immediately, even upon the bare
+chance of his being the man we want. But if he <i>be</i> the man,
+there is little likelihood of his making his appearance, or even
+answering the advertisement. If he be the man he knows
+that he has committed a misdemeanor in personating Mr.
+Lytton under these circumstances. And he will not be likely
+to place himself within reach of justice."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we must also supplement these advertisements with
+others, offering large rewards for any information as to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>
+present residence of the missing man. And this must be done
+at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, if it is done at all. The man must be found
+and produced in court, to be confronted with Mr. Borden beside
+Alden Lytton. My dear child, your woman's wit may
+have saved your husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven grant it!" said Emma, fervently.</p>
+
+<p>Next Mr. Lyle informed her of the proposed arrangement
+by which the two newly-married pairs were to give up their
+bridal tour for the present, while two of them, himself and
+Laura, should go home to the Wendover parsonage to stay
+with Alden Lytton, and the other two, Joseph Brent and
+Electra, should remain at Blue Cliffs, in attendance upon
+Emma.</p>
+
+<p>"Emma is not a queen, that she should require ladies and
+gentlemen in waiting; but she will be very much comforted
+by the presence of her dear friends, Joseph and Electra," said
+the young wife, with a sad smile, as she arose to return to her
+guests.</p>
+
+<p>Later in the evening Laura and Electra were informed
+about the state of affairs.</p>
+
+<p>Their amazement was unmeasured and unutterable.</p>
+
+<p>But they at once set down the criminal conspiracy of Mary
+Grey against Mr. and Mrs. Lytton to its right motive&mdash;malignant
+hatred and revenge for scorned love.</p>
+
+<p>The two young brides most willingly gave up their tours
+and consented to stay at home with their friends during the
+time of the trial.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, therefore, Mr. Lyle took his young wife
+and returned with her to the Wendover parsonage, where he
+comforted the soul of Alden Lytton by reporting to him all
+that had passed between himself and Emma.</p>
+
+<p>"She keeps up bravely, heroically. She is worthy to be a
+hero's wife!" said the minister, warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"She is&mdash;she is! She comes of a heroic race; therefore the
+deeper guilt of those who seek to bring dishonor upon her!"
+groaned Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Lyle said:</p>
+
+<p>"Her feminine intuition discovered what we men, with all
+our logic, would never have learned&mdash;that is to say, who it
+was that personated <i>you</i> at that false marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! Who was it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Craven Kyte," answered Mr. Lyle.</p>
+
+<p>And then he told Alden Lytton all that had been said between
+himself and Emma on that subject.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I feel sure that her suspicions are correct," he added.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it highly probable that they are. Now there are
+two or three things that must be done this morning. First,
+those advertisements for the missing man must be written
+out and distributed all over the country. Secondly, a messenger
+must be dispatched to Philadelphia to question the
+people at the Blank House as to whether any of them entered
+my room and saw me sleeping there during the hours of eleven
+a.&nbsp;m. and one p.&nbsp;m., on the fifteenth of September of last
+year, when I was said to have married that woman. And also
+to search the registers of that date of all the hotels in the city
+for the name of Craven Kyte."</p>
+
+<p>"To get up evidence for the defense?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly; to get up evidence for the defense."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you thought of employing counsel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. Berners and Denham are as good men as any
+I can find. I have sent a note to ask Berners to come here to
+see me to-day. While waiting for him you and I can write
+out those advertisements," said Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>These plans were all promptly carried out.</p>
+
+<p>That same day an experienced detective was found and dispatched
+to Philadelphia to hunt up evidence for the defense.</p>
+
+<p>And that evening advertisements were sent by mail, to be
+scattered all over the country.</p>
+
+<p>But some days after this, Mary Grey, who was stopping at
+the Reindeer, saw one of these advertisements in a Richmond
+paper and smiled in triumph.</p>
+
+<p>"They have scented out a part of the truth," she said.
+"They have more sharpness than I gave them credit for possessing.
+They have scented out a part of the truth, but they
+can not follow the scent. Ha, ha, ha! They may advertise
+from now till doomsday, but they will never get a response
+from him! Let them rake the Susquehanna if they can!
+Perhaps, deep in its mud, they may find what the fishes have
+left of him!" she said, with a sneer.</p>
+
+<p>But even as she spoke these wicked words she shuddered
+with horror.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, every day Mr. Lytton and his counsel, Messrs.
+Berners and Denham, consulted together concerning the
+proper line of defense to be taken by them.</p>
+
+<p>It is almost needless to say that Messrs. Berners and Denham
+felt perfectly sure of the absolute guiltlessness of their
+client, and quite sanguine in their expectations both of a full
+acquittal of the falsely-accused and of a thorough exposure
+and successful prosecution of the conspirators.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But as time passed and no answer came to the advertisements
+for the missing man both counsel and client began to
+grow anxious.</p>
+
+<p>The detective who had been sent to Philadelphia to look up
+evidence for the defense returned to Wendover with such
+meager intelligence that the hopes of all concerned sank very
+low.</p>
+
+<p>So overwhelming was the evidence against the accused that
+to gain an acquittal it was absolutely necessary either to prove
+an alibi or to find the man who had personated Mr. Lytton at
+the marriage ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>But neither of these most important objects had been yet
+effected.</p>
+
+<p>No one had been found in Philadelphia, or elsewhere, who
+had set eyes on Mr. Alden Lytton between the hours of eleven
+and one on the fifteenth of the last September, at which time
+his marriage with Mary Grey was alleged to have taken place.</p>
+
+<p>And no one had answered the advertisements for Craven
+Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>And what complicated this part of the case still more was
+the circumstance that Mr. Bastiennello, the senior partner of
+the firm in which poor Craven Kyte was once the youngest
+"Co.," was absent in Europe, where he had been on a visit
+to his relations for the last two months, so that he could not
+be consulted as to the probable whereabouts of his former
+partner.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Mr. Lyle and his young bride Laura did all that
+they possibly could to comfort and cheer their unfortunate
+brother and sister.</p>
+
+<p>One or the other of them went every day to Blue Cliffs to
+carry to Emma the encouraging news of Alden's continued
+good health and spirits, and to bring back to him the glad
+tidings of Emma's heroic patience and cheerfulness.</p>
+
+<p>And in this manner the tedious weeks passed slowly away
+and brought the day of the trial.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLVIII" id="Chapter_XLVIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XLVIII.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>THE TRIAL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was a glorious morning in June. All nature seemed exulting
+in the young summer's splendor.</p>
+
+<p>And any stranger arriving at the town of Wendover that
+day would have supposed that the population of the whole
+surrounding country were taking advantage of the delightful
+weather to hold a gay festival there.</p>
+
+<p>The whole town was full of visitors, come to the great trial.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Hezekiah Greenfield, of the Reindeer Hotel, was beside
+himself under the unusual press of business, and his waiters
+and hostlers were nearly crazy amid the confusion of arrivals
+and the conflicting claims made all at once upon their attention
+and services.</p>
+
+<p>The scene around the court-house was even more tumultuous.</p>
+
+<p>The court-house was a plain, oblong, two-story edifice, built
+of the red stone that abounded in the mountain quarries of
+that district. It stood in a large yard shaded with many
+trees and surrounded by a high stone wall.</p>
+
+<p>In the rear end of this yard stood the county prison.</p>
+
+<p>The court-yard was filled with curious people, who were
+pressing toward the doors of the court-house, trying to effect
+an entrance into the building, which was already crammed to
+suffocation.</p>
+
+<p>In the minister's cottage parlor, at the same early hour,
+were assembled the Rev. Mr. Lyle, honest John Lytton and
+his shock-headed son, Charley, Joseph Brent, Alden Lytton,
+and his counsel, Messrs. Berners and Denham.</p>
+
+<p>John Lytton had arrived only that morning. And on meeting
+his nephew had taken him by both hands, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"You know, Aldy, my boy, as I told you before, I don't
+believe the first word of all this. 'Cause it's impossible, you
+know, for any man of our race to do anything unbecoming of
+a Lytton and a gentleman. And I think a man's family
+ought to stand by him in a case like this. So I not only came
+myself, but I fotch Charley, and if I had had another son I
+would a-fotched him too. I don't know but I'd a fotched your
+aunt Kitty and the girls, only, as I said to them, a trial of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>
+this sort a'n't no proper place for ladies. What do you think
+yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I quite agree with you, Uncle John. And I feel really
+very deeply touched by the proof of confidence and affection
+you give me in coming here yourself," said Alden, earnestly,
+pressing and shaking the honest hands that held his own.</p>
+
+<p>And at that moment Mr. Lyle placed in Mr. Alden Lytton's
+hands a little note from Emma, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"She gave it to me yesterday, with the request that I would
+hand it to you to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Alden unfolded and read it.</p>
+
+<p>It was only a brief note assuring him of her unwavering
+faith in Heaven and in himself, and her perfect confidence,
+notwithstanding the present dark aspect of affairs, in his
+speedy and honorable acquittal.</p>
+
+<p>He pressed this little note to his lips and placed it near his
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>And then Mr. Lyle told him that it wanted but a quarter
+to ten, the carriages were at the door, and it was time to start
+for the court-house.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lytton nodded assent, and they all went out.</p>
+
+<p>There were two carriages before the cottage gates.</p>
+
+<p>Into the first went the Rev. Mr. Lyle, Mr. Alden Lytton,
+and his counsel, Messrs. Berners and Denham.</p>
+
+<p>Into the second went Mr. John Lytton, his son Charley, and
+Mr. Joseph Brent.</p>
+
+<p>The court-house was situated at the opposite end of the
+town from the parsonage, and was about a mile distant. The
+gentlemen of this party might easily have walked the distance,
+but preferred to ride, in order to avoid the curious gaze of
+strangers who had flocked into the town.</p>
+
+<p>A rapid drive of twenty minutes' duration brought them to
+the court-house.</p>
+
+<p>The Rev. Mr. Lyle alighted first, and called a constable to
+clear the way for the party to pass into the court-room.</p>
+
+<p>The accused, Alden Lytton, was accommodated with a chair
+in front of the bench, and near him sat his relatives, John and
+Charles Lytton, his friends Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent, and his
+counsel, Messrs. Berners and Denham.</p>
+
+<p>Judge Burlington sat upon the bench to try the case.</p>
+
+<p>After the tedious preliminaries were over the accused was
+arraigned with the usual formula, and&mdash;not without some
+natural scorn and indignation, for he was still too youthful to
+have learned much self-control&mdash;answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Not guilty, of course!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As if he would have added, "You know that quite as well
+as I myself and everybody else does."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XLIX" id="Chapter_XLIX"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XLIX.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>A HOST OF WITNESSES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Martindale, State's Attorney, opened the case
+for the prosecution with a few brief but very severe remarks
+upon the baseness of the crime with which the prisoner
+stood charged, and then called his first witness&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The Reverend Adam Borden."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Borden took the stand and testified to having performed
+the marriage ceremony between Alden Lytton and
+Mary Grey on the morning of the fifteenth of the preceding
+September, at his own parish church, in the city of Philadelphia.</p>
+
+<p>He was strictly cross-examined by Mr. Berners, but his testimony
+only came out the clearer from the ordeal.</p>
+
+<p>John Martin, sexton of the church, and Sarah Martin, his
+daughter, were successively examined, and testified to having
+witnessed the marriage ceremony between the parties in question.</p>
+
+<p>They also were cross-examined by Mr. Berners, without
+detriment to their testimony.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Mary Lytton" was then called upon to come forward
+for identification.</p>
+
+<p>And Mary Grey, dressed in deep mourning and closely
+veiled, came up, leaning heavily on the arm of Mr. Philip
+Desmond, assistant counsel for the prosecution.</p>
+
+<p>At the request of counsel she drew aside her veil, revealing
+a face so ghastly pale that all who gazed upon it shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton turned to look at her, in order to catch her
+eyes, but they were fixed upon the ground, and never once
+raised.</p>
+
+<p>Even he, so deeply injured by her diabolical arts, turned
+away from her with shuddering pity.</p>
+
+<p>"The woman is at once going mad and dying," he said to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Grey was then fully identified by the three witnesses
+as the woman who was, at the time and place specified, married
+to Mr. Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>But she had scarcely stood long enough to be sworn to,
+when her white face turned blue and she fell swooning into
+the arms of Philip Desmond.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She was borne out into the sheriff's room, amid the sympathetic
+murmurs of the audience.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Martindale then produced and read the marriage certificate,
+and recalled the Rev. Mr. Borden, who acknowledged
+it as his own document, presented to "Mrs. Mary Lytton"
+immediately after the marriage ceremony had been concluded.</p>
+
+<p>The State's Attorney next produced certain letters, purporting
+to have been written by Mr. Alden Lytton to Mrs.
+Mary Grey during the period of his courtship.</p>
+
+<p>These letters, he said, were important as corroborative evidence,
+and he begged leave to read them to the jury.</p>
+
+<p>He then commenced with the correspondence from the earliest
+date.</p>
+
+<p>And there in open court he read aloud, one after the other,
+all those fond, foolish, impassioned letters that the love-sick
+lad, Alden Lytton, had written to the artful woman who had
+beguiled him in the earliest days of their acquaintance, and
+before he had discovered her deep depravity.</p>
+
+<p>This was the severest ordeal Alden Lytton had to bear.
+For he knew he had written these foolish letters in his romantic
+boyhood, and in his manhood he felt heartily ashamed of
+them. Under <i>any</i> circumstances he would have been heartily
+ashamed of them. His ears tingled and his face burned to
+hear them read aloud to judge, jury and gaping crowd.</p>
+
+<p>And then and there he registered a vow never, never, never
+to write another gushing love-letter so long as he should live
+in this world; no, not even to his own dear wife.</p>
+
+<p>When the last terrible letter was finished he felt as much
+relieved as if he had been unbound from the rack.</p>
+
+<p>But his relief was soon superseded by the utmost astonishment
+when Mr. Martindale took up another parcel, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"The letters that I have just read, your honor, and gentlemen
+of the jury, were, as you have heard, written from the
+University of Charlottesville some years ago. Those that I
+am about to read to you were written from Wendover last
+year, in the few weeks preceding the marriage of the prisoner
+with Mary Grey."</p>
+
+<p>And so saying, the State's Attorney proceeded to read, one
+after the other, all those forged letters which had been executed
+with inimitable skill by Mary Grey herself and mailed
+from Wendover by her unconscious confederate, Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>These counterfeits were even fonder, more foolish and more
+impassioned than the real ones, and every letter pressed speedy
+marriage, until the last one, which actually arranged the
+mode and manner of proceeding.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>During the reading of the final letter Mr. Alden Lytton
+beckoned his counsel, who approached him.</p>
+
+<p>"I acknowledge the first batch of folly written from Charlottesville,
+when I was a boy of eighteen or nineteen," said
+Alden, between a laugh and a blush.</p>
+
+<p>"Every man has been a boy, and a fool, at least once in
+his life. I know I have; and I would much rather be hanged
+than have my letters read," laughingly replied Mr. Berners.</p>
+
+<p>"But, by all my hopes of heaven, I never wrote one of
+those infernal letters of the last parcel!" added Mr. Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"I never supposed you did. It will, no doubt, be possible
+to prove them to be forgeries. If we can do that the whole
+prosecution breaks down," replied Mr. Berners.</p>
+
+<p>"They <i>are</i> forgeries!" said Alden Lytton, indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>But that was more easily said than established.</p>
+
+<p>A score of witnesses, one after the other, were called, and
+swore to the hand writing of Mr. Alden Lytton in those letters.</p>
+
+<p>Other witnesses of less importance followed&mdash;waiters and
+chambermaids from the Blank House, Philadelphia, who
+swore to the fact that Mr. Lytton and Mrs. Grey had taken
+rooms together at that house on the fourteenth of September
+and had left it on the afternoon of the fifteenth.</p>
+
+<p>The prosecuting attorney said that he might call other witnesses
+who had seen the parties meet as by appointment at the
+railway station at Forestville and proceed thence to Richmond,
+and others again who had seen them together in the Richmond
+and Washington steamer; but he would forbear, for he felt
+convinced that the overwhelming amount of testimony already
+given was more than sufficient to establish the first marriage.
+The second and felonious marriage was a notorious fact; but
+for form's sake it must be proved before the jury.</p>
+
+<p>And then, to their extreme disgust, the Rev. Stephen Lyle,
+Joseph Brent and John Lytton were successively called to testify
+that they had all been present and witnessed the marriage
+of the accused, Alden Lytton and Emma Angela Cavendish,
+on the fifteenth of the last February, at Blue Cliff Hall, in
+this county and State.</p>
+
+<p>John Lytton, who was the last of the three put upon the
+stand, came very near being committed for contempt of court
+by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he had witnessed his nephew's, Mr. Alden Lytton's
+marriage with Miss Cavendish, which he had a perfect right
+to marry her, never having been married before. None of
+the Lyttonses were capable of any such burglarious, bigamarious
+conduct as they accused his nephew of. Everybody<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
+knew the Lyttonses. The Lyttonses were none of your upstart
+judges"&mdash;this was aimed directly at the bench. "The
+Lyttonses was as old as the flood, for that matter!" and so
+forth, and so forth.</p>
+
+<p>The witness was not committed for this offense, but merely
+reminded that all this was very irrelevant to the matter in
+question, and ordered to sit down.</p>
+
+<p>He obeyed, growling at the indignities heaped upon the
+"Lyttonses" by "upstarts."</p>
+
+<p>State's Attorney Martindale then arose in his place and
+opened his argument for the prosecution in a very able review
+of the evidence that had been given by the witnesses examined
+and the documents presented.</p>
+
+<p>It was while he was still speaking that a little disturbance
+was heard at the lower end of the court-room.</p>
+
+<p>All who heard it looked around to see what the matter was.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a bailiff was seen pushing his way up through the
+crowd.</p>
+
+<p>He came up to the counsel for the accused and handed a
+card to Mr. Denham.</p>
+
+<p>That gentleman took it, looked at it, stared at it, changed
+color, and, without a word of explanation, abruptly rose and
+left his seat, and followed the note-bearer through the crowd
+and out of the court-room.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Berners and Mr. Lytton looked after him in surprise
+and curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>State's Attorney Martindale, meanwhile, went on with his
+argument.</p>
+
+<p>After an absence of about fifteen minutes Mr. Denham
+returned and resumed his seat beside his senior colleague, Mr.
+Berners.</p>
+
+<p>He gave no explanation of his abrupt departure and absence,
+but sat there listening attentively to the speech of the
+prosecuting attorney and smiling to himself as in silent triumph.</p>
+
+<p>Neither his senior colleague, Mr. Berners, nor his client,
+Mr. Lytton, interrupted his reflections, considering that it fell
+to his duty to follow Mr. Martindale's speech with an opening
+address for the defense.</p>
+
+<p>At length Mr. Martindale brought his argument to a conclusion
+by a very brilliant peroration, and sat down, saying
+that there the prosecution would rest the case.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Denham, giving his client a reassuring pressure of the
+hand, and wearing the same strange smile of secret mirth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>
+and triumph on his face, arose for the defense. He began by
+saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Your honor and gentlemen of the jury: The prosecution
+has favored us with some able speeches, and has produced a
+host of witnesses to prove the truth of a false and malicious
+charge brought against our client. We of the defense have
+no speech to make, and only one witness to call. Let Craven
+Kyte be put upon the stand and sworn."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_L" id="Chapter_L"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter L.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>ONE SINGLE WITNESS.</h3>
+
+<div class="block">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">This is all true as it is strange;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To the end of reckoning.</span></div>
+<div class="auright">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Every one arose and looked around to catch sight of the
+expected witness.</p>
+
+<p>But no one was so much affected as the accused. He started
+to his feet on first hearing the name of Craven Kyte, and
+then dropped back into his chair, pale as marble.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently he had not expected to hear this man called.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime a little bustle was heard in the bottom of
+the hall, as of some one pushing his way through the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>And presently Craven Kyte, pale, calm, handsome and
+well-dressed in clerical black, came forward and entered the
+witness-box.</p>
+
+<p>He bowed to the presiding judge and stood ready to give in
+his testimony.</p>
+
+<p>All eyes within range of them turned constantly from the
+witness on the stand to the prisoner at the bar.</p>
+
+<p>The two men were perfect duplicates of each other.</p>
+
+<p>The oath was administered to the witness.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Berners conducted the examination.</p>
+
+<p>"Please to state your name and age, the place of your nativity,
+and all you know of the marriage performed at the
+Church of St.&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;, in the city of Philadelphia, on the fifteenth
+day of September last, between the hours of twelve and
+one p.&nbsp;<a name="Page_238t" id="Page_238t"></a><a href="#Page_238tn">m.</a>," said the counsel.</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Craven Kyte. I am a native of this town.
+I am twenty-three years of age. I know Mrs. Mary Grey, one
+of the parties to this marriage. I was engaged to be married
+to her. On the evening of the fourteenth of September I
+arrived in Philadelphia, having followed her there at her
+request. On the morning of the fifteenth I met her by ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>pointment
+at the art gallery of Bertue Brothers. It was
+arranged that we should be married on that day. I took a
+cab and we entered it. At her suggestion I directed the driver
+to take us to the rectory of the Reverend Mr. Borden. As we
+drove along she proposed that I should marry her under the
+name of Alden Lytton."</p>
+
+<p>At these words of the witness there was an immense sensation
+in the court, breaking forth into murmurs of astonishment
+and indignation, so that the judge arose in his place
+and said that order must be observed or he should be obliged
+to command the clearing of the court-room.</p>
+
+<p>His words produced the proper effect, and the spectators
+became "as still as mice."</p>
+
+<p>The examination of the witness was resumed.</p>
+
+<p>"You say that Mrs. Mary Grey proposed that you should
+marry her in the name of Mr. Alden Lytton?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I was very much astonished at the proposal, and
+expostulated with her about it; but she was in earnest, and at
+last she made it an absolute condition of my ever getting her
+at all that I should marry her under the name of Alden Lytton."</p>
+
+<p>"What reason did she give for this singular request?"</p>
+
+<p>"She said she only wanted to play a harmless practical joke
+upon Miss Cavendish, the betrothed of Mr. Lytton."</p>
+
+<p>"But her joke was so deep and earnest that she made it the
+only condition upon which she would marry you at all, you
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And did you comply with that condition?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. Sooner than lose her I complied with that
+wicked condition. It did not seem wicked to me then. It
+only seemed foolish and purposeless. And, besides, I firmly
+believe I was half crazy at that time."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite likely," said Mr. Berners, dryly. "What followed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir, and gentlemen, we drove to the rectory. She
+took a blank card out of her pocket and with a pencil wrote
+Mr. Alden Lytton's name on it, and told me to send that in
+to the rector as if it were my own. When I looked at the
+name on the card, I exclaimed how much it looked like Mr.
+Lytton's own handwriting; and she said so much the better."</p>
+
+<p>Again, at these words, a murmur of indignation ran
+through the court-room, which was, however, instantly suppressed,
+as every one wished to hear every word uttered by this
+witness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He continued:</p>
+
+<p>"I rang the bell at the rectory, and sent the card in by the
+servant who came to open the door. Presently I was invited
+into the rector's study. He addressed me as Mr. Lytton, and
+wanted to know how he could serve me. Then I told him
+what I had come for. And he consented to perform the marriage
+ceremony, but said that he must do it in the church,
+which was just next door to the rectory. I went back to the
+carriage for Mary&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Meaning Mrs. Grey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. But I called her 'Mary' then. I went back for
+her, and brought her into the church, where, under the name
+of Alden Lytton, I was married to Mary Grey by the Reverend
+Mr. Borden, in the presence of John Martin, sexton of
+the parish, and of Sarah Martin, his daughter. A marriage
+certificate, signed by the minister and witnesses, was then
+given to Mrs. Grey."</p>
+
+<p>"What happened next?"</p>
+
+<p>"At her request I drove her back to the Blank House,
+where she had been stopping. She got out at the corner of
+the street, however, and walked to the house, while I waited
+in a neighboring reading-room for her return. After an
+hour's absence she came back, and we drove to the Asterick,
+where I had engaged rooms for us both. But she declined
+staying in town any time, and expressed a wish to go to Havre-de-Grace.
+So we only stopped at the Asterick long enough
+to pay my bill and gather up my effects, and then we took the
+train for Havre-de-Grace, where we arrived the same afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>Here the witness suddenly became so much agitated that he
+could not go on for some moments.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Denham brought him a glass of water.</p>
+
+<p>He drank and seemed somewhat revived.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell us what occurred at Havre-de-Grace."</p>
+
+<p>"We took rooms at the Star, had tea there, and after tea
+she proposed to take a walk down by the water-side, as the
+evening was so delightful. When we had walked a while she
+proposed that we should hire a boat and go rowing. I objected,
+being but an indifferent oarsman. But she insisted, declaring
+that she had been brought up on the water-side and
+could row like a squaw and swim like a fish. I was her slave,
+and I obeyed her. We hired the boat of her choice&mdash;a mere
+shell of a boat&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here the judge, who had been growing a little impatient,
+inquired of the counsel for the defense:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Pray, Mr. Berners, what has all this about the boat to do
+with the case on trial?"</p>
+
+<p>"It has a great deal to do with it, your honor, as tending
+to prove that this woman had a deep design upon the peace
+and honor of the gentleman whom she claims as her husband,
+and that she did not hesitate at any crime to carry out that
+design to a successful issue," respectfully replied the counsel.</p>
+
+<p>"Let the witness proceed then," said the judge.</p>
+
+<p>"What happened next?" inquired Mr. Denham.</p>
+
+<p>"Murder happened next&mdash;at least, an attempt at murder.
+We got into the little shell of a boat, and I took the oars and
+rowed out into the river and down with the tide. We rowed
+about for more than two hours. It grew very dark and I then
+wished to come in; but she objected, and asked me to row
+around a certain point that I saw dimly down the river. I
+rowed to the point and around it, when suddenly she made an
+exclamation that her hat had fallen into the water, and she
+begged me to get it for her. It floated about three feet from
+the side of the boat. I drew in my oars and secured them,
+and then leaned over the side of the boat and reached out my
+hand to get the hat, which was floating further off. I had to
+lean so far over, and stretch my hand so far out, that it was
+as much as ever I could do to keep my balance. But just as
+I touched the hat she gave me a sudden and violent push
+from behind and sent me into the water."</p>
+
+<p>At this a murmur of horror and indignation passed through
+the court-room. And on this occasion no one attempted to
+enforce silence.</p>
+
+<p>But soon the deep interest of the audience in the story of
+the witness closed their lips and opened their ears again, and
+they became silent and attentive.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say that Mrs. Grey pushed you into the
+water purposely?" inquired Mr. Denham.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. She could not have done it accidentally. She
+waited until I had leaned so far over that the least jar might
+have made me lose my balance; and then suddenly, with all
+her strength, she pushed me, and I dropped into the water
+and sunk like so much lead. I could not swim at all. Twice,
+in my struggles for life, I rose to the surface and cried for
+help. Both times I saw her boat whirling round and round
+from the impetus given it by the violence with which she had
+pushed me over. The second time I sank I lost my senses.
+When I recovered them I found myself stretched out on the
+deck of a collier, with several people rubbing and rolling me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
+But I was weak in all my limbs and sorely confused in my
+head."</p>
+
+<p>"Witness, can you not shorten this?" inquired the judge.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, your honor, I can shorten it, if they will permit me.
+The schooner that picked me up was the 'Sally Ann,' trading
+from Havre-de-Grace, and other coal depots, to Washington
+and Georgetown. They were outward bound then, and, as I
+could give no account of myself, being so nearly dead, they
+took me along with them. They carried me to Washington,
+where I lay ill in the free ward of the Samaritan Hospital,
+under the care of the good Sisters of Mercy, for two months.
+When I recovered sufficiently to know where I was I found
+out that I had been registered there under the name of Albert
+Little. I don't know how that happened, but I suppose
+somebody must have found in my pocket the card with Alden
+Lytton written upon it, and perhaps blotted with the river
+water, and had misread it Albert Little. But that is only a
+conjecture."</p>
+
+<p>"Confine yourself to facts, witness, and leave conjectures,"
+said the judge.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, your honor, the fact then was that my name was
+registered Albert Little, however it came to be done. I did
+not care to set the good Sisters right about my name, and so
+I let the matter go. As soon as I was able to write, and before
+I was able to walk, I wrote to my senior partner, Mr.
+Bastiennello, a private and confidential letter, asking him to
+come and visit me at the hospital, and to inquire there for
+one Albert Little. Mr. Bastiennello, who had suffered great
+anxiety on the subject of my long protracted and unaccountable
+absence, came at once to see me. I told him of everything
+that had befallen me, especially as to Mary Grey's
+insisting on my marrying her under the name of Alden Lytton,
+and afterward attempting to get rid of me by murder.
+He was dreadfully shocked, of course, but in a subsequent
+conversation with me suggested that Mrs. Grey had some ultimate
+purpose in the perpetration of these crimes, and he
+advised me to lie perdue for a while until we should see what
+her purpose was and foil her in it. Some days afterward he
+proposed that I should take a commission from him to go and
+purchase goods for him in Europe. As soon as I was able to
+travel I left the country on this business. I was absent several
+months, and only arrived in my native country five days
+ago. On the day after my landing at New York, in looking
+over some files of newspapers, I read the advertisements for
+me. I guessed at once that I was wanted for business con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>nected
+with the secret of my own life, and so I packed up and
+took the first train to Washington, and the next boat to Richmond,
+and the train to Wendover, without stopping an hour
+on my journey. I reached this place at noon to-day; found
+the town full of people, as if a fair or a festival was going on;
+asked what was the matter, and was told about this trial. Of
+course then I had the key to Mary Grey's mysterious crime,
+and I knew where I was wanted. I came at once to the court,
+wrote my name on a card and sent it in to Mr. Lytton's
+junior counsel, who came out to meet me and brought me
+here."</p>
+
+<p>"That will do, Mr. Kyte. Gentlemen of the jury, you
+have heard the testimony of our witness, the only and all-sufficient
+witness for the defense; but we will recall one who
+appeared here as the most important witness for the prosecution.
+The Reverend Mr. Borden will please to take the stand
+once more," said Mr. Berners.</p>
+
+<p>The rector of St.&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;&nbsp;came forward and took his place in
+the witness box.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Borden, will you be so good as to look at these two
+gentlemen and tell me, upon your oath, which of them you
+married to Mrs. Mary Grey?" politely requested Mr. Berners.</p>
+
+<p>The rector looked from Alden Lytton to Craven Kyte, and
+from Craven Kyte back to Alden Lytton. And his face paled
+and flushed as he exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"May the Lord of heaven forgive me, for I have made an
+awful mistake! It was <i>that</i> gentleman whom I married to
+Mrs. Grey;" and he pointed straight to Craven Kyte.</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of great excitement passed through the court-room.</p>
+
+<p>"A while ago you swore it was the other man," said Mr.
+Desmond, with an ugly sneer.</p>
+
+<p>"So I did! May Heaven forgive me for the awful, though
+unconscious perjury; for so I thought, with all my judgment,
+until I saw this last man! And certainly they are perfect duplicates
+of each other. Any one, under the same circumstances,
+might have made the same mistake," meekly replied
+the minister.</p>
+
+<p>And certainly every one who saw and compared the two
+men agreed with the last speaker.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you be so good, reverend sir, as to explain by what
+test you now know these perfect duplicates, the one from the
+other, and are enabled to identify the particular one whom
+you married to Mrs. Grey on the fifteenth of the last September?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, sir. I can distinguish them by a certain indefinable
+difference which I can perceive while I see them together,
+but which I might fail to perceive if they were apart
+from each other. Also I can identify this last man, who calls
+himself Craven Kyte, by that small mark or scar that he
+bears on his temple near the corner of his left eye. I noticed
+it at the time I performed the marriage ceremony, but I
+thought it was a fresh scar. And I never remembered it at
+all when called upon to identify Mr. Alden Lytton, or indeed
+until I saw it again upon Mr. Craven Kyte."</p>
+
+<p>"That will do," said Mr. Desmond; and the minister was
+allowed to retire.</p>
+
+<p>John and Sarah Martin were recalled in succession, and
+each, when confronted with the two men, recanted from their
+late testimony, and swore pointedly to the person of Craven
+Kyte as the man whom they saw married to Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p>At this point the foreman of the jury arose in his place and
+asked permission of the bench to render their verdict at once,
+as they had all quite made up their minds upon the case.</p>
+
+<p>After a few moments' consultation, the requested permission
+was given, and the jury, without leaving their seats, rendered
+their verdict of&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Not guilty!"</p>
+
+<p>The accused was formally discharged from custody. And
+then the judge did an almost unprecedented thing. He adjourned
+the court, came down from the bench and warmly
+shook hands with Mr. Lytton, congratulating him upon his
+complete vindication.</p>
+
+<p>And friends crowded around him, rejoicing with him in
+hearty sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>Among them came Craven Kyte, saying, as soon as he got
+a chance to speak:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lytton, I have come to implore your pardon for the
+great wrong I unconsciously did you. Heaven knows I never
+meant it!"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not believe that you ever did," said Alden Lytton,
+kindly, taking his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I was mad and blind. She told me it was only to be a
+practical joke, and made it the only condition of our marriage,
+and I complied because I was her slave," continued
+Craven Kyte, not very clearly.</p>
+
+<p>"Say no more about it. Forget it all as fast as you can.
+I shall," answered Alden, gently pressing and relinquishing
+the hand that he had held.</p>
+
+<p>"Your carriage waits, my dear Lytton. And I am sure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
+you are anxious to get back to Blue Cliffs and be the first to
+convey this good news to your wife," said Mr. Lyle, with a
+view to help Alden to get rid of his well-meaning but troublesome
+friends, who, in the earnestness of their sympathy with
+his triumph, forgot they were keeping him from her whom
+his soul most longed to meet.</p>
+
+<p>Friends took the gentle hint, shook hands with him and
+released him.</p>
+
+<p>And very soon Alden Lytton, with Mr. Lyle and Laura,
+were on their way to Blue Cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>As the carriage rolled into the yard, Emma ran down the
+steps, her face radiant with joy, to meet the beloved husband
+from whom she had been separated for so many weeks under
+such trying circumstances, and whose face she had been the
+first to see through the glass windows of the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>A moment more and they were locked in each other's arms,
+fervently thanking Heaven for their happy reunion.</p>
+
+<p>Later that evening the six friends were all assembled together
+in the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>John Lytton and Charley, who were the guests of the house
+for the night, had just bid them good-night and retired to
+their room.</p>
+
+<p>And then and there two little confessions were made.</p>
+
+<p>Alden Lytton related the whole history of his foolish boyish
+love for the fascinating and unprincipled widow who had so
+nearly effected his destruction.</p>
+
+<p>Emma listened in full sympathy, with his hand clasped in
+hers; and no retrospective jealousy disturbed the serenity of
+her loving and trusting spirit.</p>
+
+<p>And at the close of the story she silently raised his hand
+and pressed it to her heart. That was her only comment.
+And the subject was never afterward mentioned between the
+two.</p>
+
+<p>Then it was that Joseph Brent made his identity known to
+Alden Lytton, Emma and Laura, as it had long been known
+to Mr. Lyle, his friend, and to Electra, his wife. And Emma
+and Laura wept anew over the long past sorrows of poor Victor
+Hartman.</p>
+
+<p>Alden grasped his hand in earnest gratitude and friendship.</p>
+
+<p>"And it is to <i>you</i>," he said, "that my sister and myself
+owe all our present happiness. You thought for us, planned
+for us, toiled for us, made us even as your own children, simply
+because you were falsely accused of having made us fatherless!"
+he said, as the generous tears filled his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I did all this because, but for the mercy of Heaven, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>
+mad blow of mine <i>might</i> have made you fatherless, as it
+nearly did," answered Victor Hartman.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know who really struck the fatal blow and why it
+was struck?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I know neither one nor the other."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you shall learn, for now is the time to speak," said
+Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Chapter_LI" id="Chapter_LI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter LI.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>WHO KILLED HENRY LYTTON&mdash;FATE OF MARY GREY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In pursuance of his promise to tell who killed his father,
+Alden Lytton said:</p>
+
+<p>"One hardly knows how to begin so painful a story. But
+here it is. You may have heard of a wild, handsome ne'er-do-weel
+who kept the White Perch Point hotel and married a
+relative of the Cavendish family?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, of course! He was the husband of this widow
+lady who lives here."</p>
+
+<p>"The same. They had one child, a daughter, said to have
+been as beautiful as the mother, and as wild and reckless as
+the father. Out of pure deviltry, as it would seem, this girl
+ran away from her boarding-school in company with an unprincipled
+young play-actor, who afterward abandoned her.
+Soon after this my dear father, who had known her parents
+and herself, too, met and recognized her under the most painful
+circumstances. He was deeply shocked, and almost with
+a father's authority he insisted on taking her home to his own
+house and sending for her friends. She was but a child. She
+knew, also, that, being a minor, she was liable to be taken in
+custody, upon complaint made, and forcibly restored to her
+family. But she was full of duplicity. She affected to consent
+to return to her parents, and allowed my father to bring
+her back as far as his own house, whence he wrote a letter to
+her father telling him of the whereabouts of his daughter, and
+asking him to come and receive her <a name="Page_246t" id="Page_246t"></a><a href="#Page_246tn">at</a> his hands. But the
+very day upon which this letter was mailed two events occurred
+to frustrate the good intentions of the writer. Ivy
+Fanning ran away from Fairview, my father's villa. And Mr.
+Fanning, having heard from the principal of the school from
+which his daughter had eloped, came furiously to town in
+search of the fugitive. Most unfortunately, he ascertained
+beyond a doubt that his daughter was living at Fairview,
+whither she had been taken by the master of the house, Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>
+Henry Lytton. Mistaking altogether the situation, believing
+my dear father to have been the first abductor of the girl, he
+waylaid him and struck that fatal blow which caused his
+death, and which had so nearly cost you, also, your life.</p>
+
+<p>"After committing this dreadful deed, the guilty man fled
+to his own home, where he found awaiting him the letter from
+Mr. Lytton explaining everything.</p>
+
+<p>"After this his remorse knew no bounds. But ah, he was
+a coward! He dared not meet the penalty of his crime. He
+saw another man <a name="Page_247t" id="Page_247t"></a><a href="#Page_247tn">condemned</a> to die for his offense, yet he dared
+not confess and save the guiltless. He tried indirect ways.
+He wrote anonymous letters to the governor. And when at
+last he found that these had no effect, and the day of execution
+drew very near, he came by night to this house, and in a
+private interview with Governor Cavendish, after binding him
+to a temporary secrecy, he confessed himself the murderer <a name="Page_247at" id="Page_247at"></a><a href="#Page_247tn">of</a>
+Henry Lytton and related all the circumstances that led to
+the tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>"This confession, made as it was under the seal of temporary
+secrecy, placed the late Governor Cavendish in a false
+position.</p>
+
+<p>"He could not permit an innocent man to be executed for
+the crime of a guilty one. Nor could he, being bound to
+secrecy, expose the guilty. He was, therefore, compelled to
+pardon the supposed murderer, without giving any explanation
+to outraged public sentiment for the strangeness of his
+action. Such was the explanation made to me by the late
+Governor Cavendish, with the stipulation that I should keep
+the secret during the natural life of Frederick Fanning&mdash;which
+he felt sure could not be of long duration&mdash;and also
+that afterward I should reveal it to you, if ever I should happen
+to meet you. That is all, my dear friend and benefactor.
+And some day, when the poor old lady upstairs shall have
+passed away to her heavenly home, this story, which is your
+vindication, shall be published to the world. And the name
+of Victor Hartman, which you have renounced and declared
+to be dead and buried, shall be rescued from unmerited reproach
+and crowned with merited honor."</p>
+
+<p>While yet they spoke together, there was heard a loud
+knocking at the hall door. And the next moment Jerome,
+the hall footman, who had immediately opened the door, entered
+the drawing-room, saying that there was a messenger
+from the Reindeer with a note for Mrs. Fanning on a matter
+of life and death.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lytton immediately went out to see the messenger, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
+proved to be no other than Mithridates, or Taters, once the
+slave of Frederick Fanning, some time the hired servant of
+John Lytton, and now the hostler at the Reindeer.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Taters, what is it? Mrs. Fanning has gone to bed,
+and we don't like to disturb her at this hour of the night,"
+said Mr. Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, marster, you'll have to 'sturb her nebbertheless and
+notwivstandin'," said the weeping boy, "because my young
+missis, which wasn't a ghost after all, but was a libbin' 'oman
+when I see her here, is a-dyin' now, at the Reindeer, and wants
+to see her mudder."</p>
+
+<p>"What on earth are you talking about, boy?" inquired the
+bewildered man.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Iby Fannin', sir! My young mist'ess as used to was!
+She be a-dyin' at de Reindeer and wants to see her mudder,
+Missis Fannin', my ole missis, wot libs here," explained the
+boy, bursting into fresh sobs and tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Ivy Fanning, the long missing girl, supposed to be dead&mdash;dying
+now at the Reindeer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir&mdash;yes, sir! And if you don't make haste and tell
+my ole missis she'll be dead before her mudder can get to her,"
+sobbed the faithful boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down here and wait," said Mr. Lytton, who now understood
+the emergency.</p>
+
+<p>And, leaving the boy seated in the hall, he went into the
+drawing-room and told Emma the surprising news that Ivy
+Fanning, the long-lost, erring daughter of Frederick and
+Katharine Fanning, and the unworthy cousin of Emma Cavendish&mdash;Ivy
+Fanning, whose faults had caused so much misery
+to all connected with her&mdash;Ivy Fanning, supposed to be dead
+long ago, was now lying at the point of death at the Reindeer
+Hotel, and begging to see her poor, wronged mother!</p>
+
+<p>"What a terrible thing to tell Aunt Katharine, when we
+rouse her up at the dead of night!" exclaimed Emma, with a
+shudder.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, my dear one, it is your duty to do that very terrible
+thing. Go bravely and do it, my love, while I go and
+order the most comfortable carriage in the stable to convey
+the poor lady to Wendover," said Alden Lytton, encouragingly.</p>
+
+<p>Emma went to Mrs. Fanning's room and waked her up,
+telling her at first, very gently, that she was wanted.</p>
+
+<p>The poor woman, jumping to the conclusion that some one
+of the household servants was ill and in need of her ministrations,
+got up at once and inquired who it was.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is a friend of yours who is ill at the Reindeer Hotel at
+Wendover, and desires to see you," said Emma, beginning
+gently to break to the poor mother the news that it was her
+dying daughter who had sent for her.</p>
+
+<p>"Friend? I am sure I have no friend who is near enough
+to send for me, at dead of night, to come sixteen miles to see
+him, or her, as the case may be," said the widow, looking
+very much perplexed, as she hastened to put on her clothes.</p>
+
+<p>"I should have said a relative&mdash;a very near relative&mdash;a
+long-lost&mdash;" began Emma, but her voice broke down in sobs.</p>
+
+<p>"It is Ivy!" exclaimed Mrs. Fanning, as a swift intuition
+revealed to her the truth.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is Ivy," wept Emma, throwing her arms around
+the afflicted woman. "And oh, is it not better so&mdash;better at
+once to know her fate, even to know her safe in the peace of
+death, than to go on enduring this dreadful uncertainty about
+her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my child, my child! Oh, my child, my child!" wept
+the poor mother, scarcely able, through sobs and tears, and
+failings of heart and frame, to complete her simple toilet.</p>
+
+<p>Emma, with great sympathy and tenderness, assisted her to
+dress, pinned the shawl around her shoulders, tied the bonnet
+strings under her chin, and brought her her gloves and
+pocket-handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>"I will now run and get my hat and sack, Aunt Katharine.
+I will go with you to Wendover," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"You go with me? My dear child, you have been so long
+parted from your husband, and only received him back to-night,
+and leave him to go with me? No, no! I can not
+permit you to do so, Emma," said the weeping lady.</p>
+
+<p>"But you need me, Aunt Katharine, and I should be utterly
+unworthy of my dear Alden's love if I could fail you in
+your time of trouble. Besides, I think Alden, also, will go
+back with you to Wendover."</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven bless you both! You are the solace of my sad old
+age," said the widow, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>Emma ran out, and soon returned prepared for her sudden
+night ride.</p>
+
+<p>Then she took her poor aunt's arm within her own and supported
+her as they walked down-stairs together.</p>
+
+<p>In the hall below they met Alden Lytton, also prepared for
+the journey.</p>
+
+<p>He did not seem at all surprised to see Emma in her hat
+and <i>paletot</i>. He understood her too well for that. He merely
+inquired if the ladies were both quite ready. And being an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>swered
+in the <a name="Page_250t" id="Page_250t"></a><a href="#Page_250tn">affirmative</a>, he took them out and put them into
+the carriage, that was immediately started at a rate that astonished
+the usually steady-going horses.</p>
+
+<p>The journey was made almost in silence. Mrs. Fanning
+wept quietly behind her pocket-handkerchief, and Alden and
+Emma sat with their hands clasped in each other's in mute
+sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>It was some time after midnight when the carriage entered
+Wendover and drew up before the old Reindeer Hotel.</p>
+
+<p>Lights about the house at that hour showed that something
+very unusual was transpiring within.</p>
+
+<p>Hezekiah Greenfield himself came out to meet the party
+from Blue Cliffs.</p>
+
+<p>With much gravity he greeted them, and to Mrs. Fanning's
+agonized inquiries about her daughter, he answered:</p>
+
+<p>"I can't well tell you how she is, ma'am. But I will call
+Sukey, and she will take you to her."</p>
+
+<p>He then conducted them into the parlor and went out in
+search of his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Very soon good Mrs. Greenfield came waddling in.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Fanning arose and hurried to meet her, eagerly
+inquiring:</p>
+
+<p>"How is my child? How is she now? Does she still live?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, she is alive, and when she sent for you she
+was still in her right senses; but now she is wandering, poor
+girl, and imagines herself still to be living at Peerch P'int,"
+answered the weeping woman, as she took the poor mother's
+hand to lead her to her daughter.</p>
+
+<p>She led her to a spacious upper chamber, dimly lighted by
+a single taper, where on a white bed lay extended the form of
+the dying girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Ivy, my darling! My darling Ivy, do you know me?"
+tenderly whispered the poor mother, taking her erring daughter's
+wasted hand and gazing into the fading face, nothing
+but love and sorrow and forgiveness in her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that you, mamma? Is it near morning? I'm so glad!"
+said the dying girl, panting as she spoke. "Oh, I've had
+such a dreadful dream, mamma&mdash;such a long, dreadful dream!
+I dreamed of doing such horrible and wicked things&mdash;that I
+never could have done in my waking hours. I have lived long
+years in last night's dreadful dream. I am glad it is morning.
+Kiss me, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>These were her last words, panted forth with her last
+breath. The mother's kiss fell upon "unanswering clay."</p>
+
+<p>Katharine Fanning was borne in a fainting condition from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
+the death-bed of her daughter and conveyed to another chamber,
+where she received the most sympathetic and affectionate
+ministrations from Emma and Alden Lytton.</p>
+
+<p>But it was not until Alden and Emma saw the face of that
+sinful child of passion in her coffin that they knew Ivy Fanning
+and Mary Grey to be one and the same person.</p>
+
+<p>Her remains were laid in the family vault at Blue Cliffs,
+where, before many weeks had passed, the body of her brokenhearted
+mother was laid beside them.</p>
+
+<p>Craven Kyte was never clearly certain whether he was himself
+a widower or a bachelor. But in either character he was
+free. And the first use he made of his freedom was to go to
+White Perch Point and propose to the brave little maiden of
+the light-house, who was his last love, as she had been his
+first.</p>
+
+<p>And soon he made her his wife, and brought her and her
+aged relative away from their bleak home and dangerous duties
+and settled them in a pretty rural cottage within easy
+walking distance of his own thriving place of business&mdash;the
+fashionable bazaar of "Bastiennello &amp; Kyte."</p>
+
+<p>The two young brides, Laura and Electra, were taken to
+Europe by their husbands, and reached Paris in time to be
+present at the great World's Fair. And before they returned
+Victor Hartman's story was published to the world, and his
+fame was fully vindicated.</p>
+
+
+<h4>THE END.</h4>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
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+A Modern Cinderella.        Louisa May Alcott<br />
+Flower Fables.              Louisa May Alcott<br />
+Hospital Sketches.          Louisa May Alcott<br />
+Moods.                      Louisa May Alcott<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Books by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney,
+another famous authoress whom girls delight in:</p>
+
+<p>
+Faith Gartney's Girlhood.      Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney<br />
+Gayworthys.                    Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Any book sent postpaid, upon receipt of
+Fifty Cents.</p>
+
+<p>Our complete catalogue mailed anywhere.</p>
+
+<p>HURST &amp; CO., Publishers, NEW YORK</p>
+-->
+
+<div class="trans_note">
+<p class="center"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a><big>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:</big></p>
+
+<p>Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
+possible, including obsolete and variant spellings. Obvious
+typographical errors in punctuation (misplaced quotes and the like) have
+been fixed. Corrections [in brackets] in the text are noted below:</p>
+
+<p>throughout:<br />
+
+    Katherine/Katharine Fanning spelled with an "e" at the beginning of the novel and with an "a" at the end; it is the same person.<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_8tn" id="Page_8tn"></a>page 8: typo corrected<br />
+
+"Oh, the same sin of <a href="#Page_8t">helplessnss[helplessness]</a> and cowardice; the same
+fear of discovery and exposure; the same horror of being cast<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_13tn" id="Page_13tn"></a>page 13: added missing "<br />
+
+too. For see how easily she falls into error. She ought to
+marry some good, wise, elderly man, who could be her guide,
+philosopher and friend as well as husband.<a href="#Page_13t">["]</a><br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_22tn" id="Page_22tn"></a>page 22: typo corrected<br />
+
+in hand, stood with Emma Cavendish in the hall waiting
+for Mrs. <a href="#Page_22t">Gray[Grey]</a>, to whom they had sent a message inviting her
+to come down and see the traveler off.<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_41tn" id="Page_41tn"></a>page 41: added missing "<br />
+
+"Yes; but, my dear, she must have this change now, immediately.<a href="#Page_41t">["]</a><br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_45tn" id="Page_45tn"></a>page 45: added missing "<br />
+
+<a href="#Page_45t">["]</a>I would restore to her all that she has lost, if I could. I
+would give her back husband, daughter, home and competence,"
+said Emma.<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_54tn" id="Page_54tn"></a>page 54: added missing "<br />
+
+Jerome, if that's his name, very gravely, with a silent bow,
+put up the steps and closed the door and mounted his box and
+drove off.<a href="#Page_54t">["]</a><br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_72tn" id="Page_72tn"></a>page 72: typo corrected<br />
+
+She proposed this plan to her hostess, who at first opposed
+the self-sacrifice, as she called it. But finally, being <a href="#Page_72t">pursuaded[persuaded]</a>
+by Mary Grey, she yielded the point, and fervently<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_76tn" id="Page_76tn"></a>page 76: added missing "<br />
+
+"Yes, it is from your unknown guardian.<a href="#Page_76t">["]</a><br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_104tn" id="Page_104tn"></a>page 104: corrected punctuation typo<br />
+
+The pastor expressed himself highly gratified, and added<a href="#Page_104t">.[:]</a><br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_109tn" id="Page_109tn"></a>page 109: corrected and added missing punctuation<br />
+
+"<span class="smcap">Maria Wheatfield</span><a href="#Page_109t">,[."]</a><br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_111tn" id="Page_111tn"></a>page 111: corrected quote<br />
+
+<span class="smcap">M. Grey</span>.<a href="#Page_111t">'["]</a><br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_115tn" id="Page_115tn"></a>page 115: added missing "<br />
+
+"Hush&mdash;hush!" she murmured. <a href="#Page_115t">["]</a>Be quiet! There are people
+in the next room. They may hear you. And I am sure
+they should do so they would take you for a lunatic."<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_118tn" id="Page_118tn"></a>page 118: added missing punctuation<br />
+
+"Yes; but don't cry out so loud&mdash;that's a dear! I repeat,
+there are people in the next room<a href="#Page_118t">[.]</a> But you have not yet answered
+my question."<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_126tn" id="Page_126tn"></a>page 126: suggested possible missing word<br />
+
+"I am tired of walking. And here is a vacant house placarded
+'To Let,' with a nice long porch in front. Come, let
+<a href="#Page_126t">[us]</a> go in and sit down on one of the benches and rest."<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_140tn" id="Page_140tn"></a>page 140: added missing "<br />
+
+as I always get frightened and lose my presence of
+mind in the terrible uproar of a steamboat landing or a railway
+station.<a href="#Page_140t">["]</a><br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_146tn" id="Page_146tn"></a>page 146: typo corrected<br />
+
+Her devoted slave was waiting for <a href="#Page_146t">here[her]</a> there. And on the
+table, in addition to the other comforts, there was a little silver<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_150tn" id="Page_150tn"></a>page break between 150-151: added missing end of word<br />
+
+his companion, and the lovely youthful widow, who was <a href="#Page_150t">lis-[tening]</a> [Page 163 in TIA copy of a different publisher/edition (www.archive.org/details/victorstriumphse00soutrich) shows only "-ening" is missing here.]
+to him with such rapt attention, were a pair of happy and devoted
+lovers.<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_188tn" id="Page_188tn"></a>page 188: added missing "<br />
+
+telegram from the agent, which he supposed to be a magical
+answer to your message.<a href="#Page_188t">["]</a><br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_213tn" id="Page_213tn"></a>page 213: added missing "<br />
+
+"I said that you were my prisoner, Mr. Alden Lytton,"
+answered the deputy-sheriff, gravely. "I repeat that you are
+my prisoner.<a href="#Page_213t">["]</a><br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_222tn" id="Page_222tn"></a>page 222: typos corrected<br />
+
+"<a href="#Page_222t">Gn[On]</a> my sacred oath I most solemnly declare that you are
+the man and she is the woman I then and there united together,"
+unflinchingly replied the minister.<br /><br />
+
+with fierce indignation, "all I have further to say is this&mdash;that
+you have basely <a href="#Page_222at">purjured[perjured]</a> yourself to assist and support
+an infamous conspiracy!"<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_238tn" id="Page_238tn"></a>page 238: added missing punctuation<br />
+
+Church of St.&nbsp;&mdash;&mdash;, in the city of Philadelphia, on the fifteenth
+day of September last, between the hours of twelve and
+one p.&nbsp;m<a href="#Page_238t">[.]</a>," said the counsel.<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_246tn" id="Page_246tn"></a>page 246: duplicate word removed<br />
+
+her father telling him of the whereabouts of his daughter, and
+asking him to come and receive her <a href="#Page_246t">at [at]</a> his hands. But the
+very day upon which this letter was mailed two events occurred<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_247tn" id="Page_247tn"></a>page 247: typo corrected<br />
+
+a coward! He dared not meet the penalty of his crime. He
+saw another man <a href="#Page_247t">condemed[condemned]</a> to die for his offense, yet he dared
+not confess and save the guiltless. He tried indirect ways.<br /><br />
+
+page 247: duplicate word removed<br />
+
+secrecy, he confessed himself the murderer <a href="#Page_247at">of [of]</a> Henry Lytton and
+related all the circumstances that led to the tragedy.<br /><br />
+
+<a name="Page_250tn" id="Page_250tn"></a>page 250: typo corrected<br />
+
+inquired if the ladies were both quite ready. And being answered
+in the <a href="#Page_250t">affimative[affirmative]</a>, he took them out and put them into
+the carriage, that was immediately started at a rate that astonished</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Victor's Triumph, by Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Victor's Triumph, by Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
+
+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: Victor's Triumph
+       Sequel to A Beautiful Fiend
+
+Author: Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
+
+Release Date: August 19, 2009 [EBook #29729]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VICTOR'S TRIUMPH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as
+faithfully as possible; please see detailed list of printing issues at
+the end of the text.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+[Illustration: frontispiece portrait]
+
+
+
+
+VICTOR'S TRIUMPH
+
+SEQUEL TO
+
+A BEAUTIFUL FIEND
+
+BY MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH
+
+AUTHOR OF "TRIED FOR HER LIFE," "THE LOST HEIRESS,"
+"ALLWORTH ABBEY," ETC., ETC.
+
+
+  NEW YORK
+  HURST & COMPANY
+  PUBLISHERS
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+MRS. SOUTHWORTH SERIES
+
+UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME
+
+By MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH
+
+  Allworth Abbey.
+
+  Beautiful Fiend, A.
+
+  Bride's Fate, The.
+
+  Capitola, the Madcap.
+
+  Changed Brides.
+
+  Cruel as the Grave.
+
+  Curse of Clifton, The.
+
+  Deserted Wife.
+
+  Discarded Daughter.
+
+  Hidden Hand.
+
+  India.
+
+  Ishmael; or, In the Depths.
+
+  Lost Heiress, The.
+
+  Miriam, the Avenger.
+
+  Missing Bride, The.
+
+  Mother-in-Law, The.
+
+  Mystery of a Dark Hollow.
+
+  Retribution.
+
+  Self-Raised; or, From the Depths.
+
+  Three Beauties, The.
+
+  Tried for Her Life.
+
+  Victor's Triumph.
+
+  Vivia.
+
+_Price, postpaid, 50c. each, or any three books for $1.25_
+
+HURST & COMPANY
+PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+VICTOR'S TRIUMPH.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+SAMSON AND DELILAH.
+
+               Thus he grew
+    Tolerant of what he half disdained. And she,
+    Perceiving that she was but half disdained,
+    Began to break her arts with graver fits--
+    Turn red or pale, and often, when they met,
+    Sigh deeply, or, all-silent, gaze upon him
+    With such a fixed devotion, that the old man,
+    Though doubtful, felt the flattery, and at times
+    Would flatter his own wish, in age, for love,
+    And half believe her true.
+                                         --TENNYSON.
+
+
+As soon as the subtle siren was left alone in the drawing-room with the
+aged clergyman she began weaving her spells around him as successfully
+as did the beautiful enchantress Vivien around the sage Merlin.
+
+Throwing her bewildering dark eyes up to his face she murmured in
+hurried tones:
+
+"You _will_ not betray me to this family? Oh, consider! I am so young
+and so helpless!"
+
+"And so beautiful," added the old man under his breath, as he gazed with
+involuntary admiration upon her fair, false face. Then, aloud, he said:
+"I have already told you, wretched child, that I would forbear to expose
+you so long as you should conduct yourself with strict propriety here;
+but no longer."
+
+"You do not trust me. Ah, you do not see that one false step with its
+terrible consequences has been such an awful and enduring lesson to me
+that I could not make another! I am safer now from the possibility of
+error than is the most innocent and carefully guarded child. Oh, can you
+not understand this?" she asked, pathetically.
+
+And her argument was a very specious and plausible one, and it made an
+impression.
+
+"I can well believe that the fearful retribution that followed so fast
+upon your 'false step,' as you choose to call it, has been and will be
+an awful warning to you. But some warnings come too late. What _can_ be
+your long future life?" he sadly inquired.
+
+"Alas, what?" she echoed, with a profound sigh. "Even under the most
+propitious circumstances--_what?_ If I am permitted to stay here I shall
+be buried alive in this country house, without hope of resurrection.
+Perhaps fifty years I may have to live here. The old lady will die. Emma
+will marry. Her children will grow up and marry. And in all the changes
+of future years I shall vegetate here without change, and without hope
+except in the better world. And yet, dreary as the prospect is, it is
+the best that I can expect, the best that I can even desire, and much
+better than I deserve," she added, with a humility that touched the old
+man's heart.
+
+"I feel sorry for you, child; very, very sorry for your blighted young
+life. Poor child, you can never be happy again; but listen--_you can be
+good!_" he said, very gently.
+
+And then he suddenly remembered what her bewildering charms had made him
+for a moment forget--that was, that this unworthy girl had been actually
+on the point of marriage with an honorable man when Death stepped in and
+put an end to a foolish engagement.
+
+So, after a painful pause, he said, slowly:
+
+"My child, I have heard that you were about to be married to Charles
+Cavendish, when his sudden death arrested the nuptials. Is that true?"
+
+"It is true," she answered, in a tone of humility and sorrow.
+
+"But how could you venture to dream of marrying him?"
+
+"Ah, me; I knew I was unworthy of him! But he fell in love with me. I
+could not help that. Now, could I? _Now, could I?_" she repeated,
+earnestly and pathetically, looking at him.
+
+"N-n-no. Perhaps you could not," he admitted.
+
+"And oh, he courted me so hard!--so hard! And I could not prevent him!"
+
+"Could you not have avoided him? Could you not have left the house?"
+
+"Ah, no; I had no place to go to! I had lost my situation in the
+school."
+
+"Still you should never have engaged yourself to marry Charles
+Cavendish, for you must have been aware that if he had known your true
+story he would never have thought of taking you as his wife."
+
+"Oh, I know it! And I knew it then. And I was unhappy enough about it.
+But oh, what could I do? I could not prevent his loving me, do what I
+would. I could not go away from the house, because I had no place on
+earth to go to. And least of all would I go to him and tell him the
+terrible story of my life. I would rather have died than have told that!
+I should have died of humiliation in the telling--I couldn't tell him!
+Now could I? _Could I?_"
+
+"I suppose you had not the courage to do so."
+
+"No, indeed I had not! Yet very often I told him, in a general way, that
+I was most unworthy of him. But he never would believe that."
+
+"No; I suppose he believed you to be everything that is pure, good and
+heavenly. What a terrible reproach his exalted opinion of you must have
+been!"
+
+"Oh, it was--it was!" she answered, hypocritically. "It was such a
+severe reproach that, having in a moment of weakness yielded to his
+earnest prayer and consented to become his wife, I soon cast about for
+some excuse for breaking the engagement; for I felt if it were a great
+wrong to make such an engagement it would be a still greater wrong to
+keep it. Don't you agree with me?"
+
+"Yes, most certainly."
+
+"Well, while I was seeking some excuse to break off the marriage Death
+stepped in and put an end to it. Perhaps then I ought to have left the
+house, but--I had no money to go with and, as I said before, no place to
+go to. And besides Emma Cavendish was overwhelmed with grief and could
+not bear to be left alone; and she begged me to come down here with her.
+So, driven by my own necessities and drawn by hers, I came down. Do you
+blame me? _Do_ you blame me?" she coaxed, pathetically.
+
+"No, I do not blame you for that. But," said the old man, gravely and
+sadly, shaking his head, "why, when you got here, did you turn
+eavesdropper and spy?"
+
+"Oh, me!--oh, dear me!" sobbed the siren. "It was the sin of
+helplessness and cowardice. I dreaded discovery so much! Every
+circumstance alarmed me. Your arrival and your long mysterious
+conversation with madam alarmed me. I thought exposure imminent. I
+feared to lose this home, which, lonely, dreary, hopeless as it is to
+me, is yet the only refuge I have left on earth. I am penniless and
+helpless; and but for this kind family I should be homeless and
+friendless. Think if I had been cast out upon the world what must have
+been my fate!"
+
+"What, indeed!" echoed the old man.
+
+"Therefore, I dreaded to be cast out. I dreaded discovery. Your visit
+filled me with uneasiness, that, as the day wore away, reached intense
+anxiety, and finally arose to insupportable anguish and suspense. Then I
+went to listen at the door, only to hear whether your conversation
+concerned me--whether I was still to be left in peace or to be cast out
+upon the bitter cold world. Ah, do not blame me too much! Just think how
+I suffered!" she said, pathetically, clasping her hands.
+
+    "'Oh, what a tangled web we weave
+    When first we practice to deceive!'"
+
+murmured the old man to himself. Then, aloud, he said:
+
+"Poor girl, you were snared in the web of your own contriving! Yet
+still, when I caught you in that net, why did you deny your identity and
+try to make me believe that you were somebody else?"
+
+"Oh, the same sin of helplessness and cowardice; the same fear of
+discovery and exposure; the same horror of being cast forth from this
+pure, safe, peaceful home into the bitter, cold, foul, perilous world
+outside! I feared, if you found out who I was, you would expose me, and
+I should be cast adrift. And then it all came so suddenly I had no time
+for reflection. The instinct of self-preservation made me deny my
+identity before I considered what a falsehood I uttered. Ah, have you no
+pity for me, in considering the straits to which I was reduced?" she
+pleaded, clasping her hands before him and raising her eyes to his face.
+
+"'The way of the transgressor is hard,'" murmured the minister to
+himself. Then he answered her:
+
+"Yes, I do pity you very much. I pity you for your sins and sufferings.
+But more than all I pity you for the moral and spiritual blindness of
+which you do not even seem to be suspicious, far less conscious."
+
+"I do not understand you," murmured Mary Grey, in a low, frightened
+tone.
+
+"No, you do not understand me. Well, I will try to explain. You have
+pleaded your youth as an excuse for your first 'false step,' as you call
+it. But I tell you that a girl who is old enough to sin is old enough to
+know better than to sin. And if you were not morally and spiritually
+blind you would see this. Secondly, you have pleaded your
+necessities--that is, your interests--as a just cause and excuse for
+your matrimonial engagement with Governor Cavendish, and for your
+eavesdropping in this house, and also for your false statements to me.
+But I tell you if you had been as truly penitent as you professed to be
+you would have felt no necessity so pressing as the necessity for true
+repentance, forgiveness and amendment. And if you had not been morally
+and spiritually blind you would have seen this also. I sometimes think
+that it may be my duty to discover you to this family. Yet I will be
+candid with you. I fear that if you should be turned adrift here you
+might, and probably would, fall into deeper sin. Therefore I will not
+expose you--for the present, and upon conditions. You are safe from me
+so long as you remain true, honest and faithful to this household. But
+upon the slightest indication of any sort of duplicity or double dealing
+I shall unmask you to Madam Cavendish. And now you had better retire.
+Good-night."
+
+And with these words the old man walked to a side-table, took a bed-room
+candle in his hand and gave it to the widow.
+
+Mary Grey snatched and kissed his hand, courtesied and withdrew.
+
+When she got to her own room she threw herself into a chair and laughed
+softly, murmuring:
+
+"The old Pharisee! He is more than half in love with me now. I know it,
+and I feel it. Yet, to save his own credit with himself, he pretends to
+lecture me and tries to persuade himself that he means it. But he is
+half in love with me. Before I have done with him he shall be wholly in
+love with me. And won't it be fun to have his gray head at my feet,
+proposing marriage to me! And that is what I mean to bring him to before
+a month is over his venerable skeleton!"
+
+And, with this characteristic resolution, Mary Grey went to bed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+LAURA LYTTON'S MYSTERIOUS BENEFACTOR.
+
+
+There never was a closer friendship between two girls than that which
+bound Laura Lytton and Emma Cavendish together.
+
+On the night of Laura's arrival, after they had retired from the
+drawing-room, and Electra had gone to bed and gone to sleep, Laura and
+Emma sat up together in Emma's room and talked until nearly
+daylight--talked of everything in the heavens above, the earth below,
+and the waters under the earth. And then, when at length they parted,
+Laura asked:
+
+"May I come in here with you to dress to-morrow? And then we can finish
+our talk."
+
+"Surely, love! Use my room just like your own," answered Emma, with a
+kiss.
+
+And they separated for a few hours.
+
+But early in the morning, as soon as Emma was out of bed, she heard a
+tap at her chamber door, and she opened it to see Laura standing there
+in her white merino dressing-gown, with her dark hair hanging down and a
+pile of clothing over her arms.
+
+"Come in, dear," said Emma, greeting her with a kiss.
+
+And Laura entered and laid her pile of clothing on a chair, discovering
+in her hand a rich casket, which she set upon the dressing-table,
+saying:
+
+"Here, Emma, dear, I have something very curious to show you. You have
+heard me speak of some unknown friend who is paying the cost of my
+brother's and my own education?"
+
+"Yes. Haven't you found out yet who he is?" inquired Miss Cavendish.
+
+"No; and I do not even know whether our benefactor is a he or a she. But
+anyhow he has sent me this," said Laura, unlocking the casket and
+lifting the lid.
+
+"A set of diamonds and opals fit for a princess!" exclaimed Emma, in
+admiration, as she gazed upon the deep blue satin tray, on which was
+arranged a brooch, a pair of ear-rings, a bracelet and a necklace of the
+most beautiful opals set in diamonds.
+
+"Yes, they are lovely! They must have come from Paris. They are highly
+artistic," answered Laura. "But look at these others, will you? These
+are barbaric," she added, lifting the upper tray from the casket and
+taking from the recess beneath the heaviest cable gold chain, a heavier
+finger ring, and a pair of bracelets. "Just take these in your double
+hands and 'heft' them, as the children say," she concluded, as she put
+the weight of gold in Emma's open palms, which sank at first under the
+burden.
+
+"There; what do you think of that?" inquired Laura.
+
+"I think they are barbaric, as you said. Well intended, no doubt, but
+utterly barbaric. Why, this gold chain might fasten up the strongest
+bull-dog and these bracelets serve as fetters for the most desperate
+felon! Where on earth were they manufactured?" inquired Miss Cavendish.
+
+"In some rude country where there was more gold than good taste,
+evidently. However, Emma, dear, there is something very touching, very
+pathetic, to my mind, in these anonymous offerings. Of course they are
+almost useless to me. I could never wear the chain or the bracelets.
+They are far too clumsy for any one but an Indian chief; and I can never
+wear those lovely opals unless by some miracle I grow rich enough to
+have everything in harmony with them. And yet, Emma, the kindness
+and--what shall I say?--the humility of this anonymous giver so deeply
+touches my heart that I would not part with even a link of this useless
+chain to buy myself bread if I were starving," murmured Laura, with the
+tears filling her eyes, as she replaced the jewels in their casket.
+
+"And you have no suspicion who the donor is?"
+
+"None whatever. These came to me through Mr. Lyle, the agent who
+receives and pays the money for our education."
+
+"What does your brother say to all this?"
+
+"Oh, it makes him very uneasy at times. He shrinks from receiving this
+anonymous assistance. It is all Mr. Lyle can do now, by assuring him
+that in the end he will find it all right, to induce him to continue to
+receive it. And, at all events, he declares that after he graduates he
+will not take another dollar of this anonymous fund--conscience money or
+not--but that he will begin to pay back in bank, with interest and
+compound interest, the debt that he is now incurring."
+
+"I think that resolution is highly to his honor," said Emma Cavendish.
+
+"And he will keep it. I know Alden," answered Laura.
+
+And then the two girls hastened to dress themselves for breakfast. And
+very well they both looked as they left their room.
+
+Laura wore her crimson merino morning-dress, with white linen cuffs and
+collar, a costume that well became her olive complexion and dark hair
+and eyes.
+
+Emma wore a black cashmere trimmed with lusterless black silk, and
+folded book-muslin cuffs and collar. And in this dark dress her radiant
+blonde beauty shone like a fair star.
+
+They rapped at Electra's door to bring her out.
+
+She made her appearance looking quite dazzling. Electra had a gay taste
+in dress. She loved bright colors and many of them. She wore a purple
+dressing-gown with a brilliant shawl border--a dress for a portly old
+lady rather than for a slim young girl.
+
+They went down together to the breakfast-room, where they found the
+languishing widow and the old clergyman _tete-a-tete_.
+
+Mrs. Grey greeted them with a sweet smile and honeyed words, and Dr.
+Jones with a kindly good-morning and handshake.
+
+And they sat down to breakfast.
+
+This Easter Sunday had dawned clearly and beautifully. The family of
+Blue Cliffs were all going to attend divine service at Wendover.
+
+So, as soon as breakfast was over, the carriage was ordered, and the
+young ladies went upstairs to dress for church.
+
+At nine o'clock the whole party set out. Emma Cavendish, Laura Lytton
+and Electra Coroni went in the old family coach, carefully driven by
+Jerome. Mrs. Grey went in a buggy driven by the Rev. Dr. Jones.
+
+Who arranged this last drive, this _tete-a-tete_, no one knew except the
+artful coquette and her venerable victim.
+
+They all reached the church in good time.
+
+The rector, the Rev. Dr. Goodwin, read the morning service, and the Rev.
+Dr. Jones preached the sermon.
+
+At the conclusion of the services, when the congregation were leaving,
+Mr. Craven Kyte came up to pay his respects to the ladies from Blue
+Cliffs.
+
+Miss Cavendish introduced him to Dr. Jones, explaining that he had been
+a ward of her father, and was once an inmate of Blue Cliff Hall.
+
+Dr. Jones received the young man with courtesy, and in his turn
+introduced him to Miss Coroni.
+
+Then Emma Cavendish invited him to go home with them to dinner, kindly
+reminding him of the old custom of spending his holidays in his
+guardian's house.
+
+With a smile and a bow, and with a warm expression of thanks, the young
+man accepted the offered hospitality.
+
+And when the party entered their carriages to return to Blue Cliffs,
+Craven Kyte, mounted on a fine horse, attended them.
+
+But, mind, he did not ride beside the carriage that contained the three
+young ladies, but beside the gig occupied by Mary Grey and Dr. Jones.
+
+And the very first inquiry he made of Emma, on reaching the house, was:
+
+"Is the Reverend Doctor Jones a married man?"
+
+"Why, what a question!" exclaimed Emma, laughing. "No, he is not a
+married man; he is a widower. Why do you ask?"
+
+"I don't know. But I thought he was a widower. He seems very much taken
+with Mrs. Grey," sighed the young man.
+
+"Oh, is that it?" laughed Emma, as she ran away to take off her bonnet
+and mantle.
+
+And that Easter Sunday Mary Grey found herself again in a dilemma
+between her two proposed victims--the gray-haired clergyman and the
+raven-locked youth.
+
+But she managed them both with so much adroitness that at the close of
+the day, when Craven Kyte was riding slowly back to Wendover, he was
+saying to himself:
+
+"She is fond of me, after all; the beauty, the darling, the angel! Oh,
+that such a perfect creature should be fond of me! I am at this moment
+the very happiest man on earth!"
+
+And later the same night, when the Rev. Dr. Jones laid his woolen
+night-capped head upon his pillow, instead of going to sleep as the old
+gentleman should have done, he lay awake and communed with himself as
+follows:
+
+"Poor child--poor child! A mere baby. And she _is_ penitent; sincerely
+penitent. Oh, I can see that! And to think that she is not nearly so
+much in fault as we believed her to be! She tells me that she really was
+married to that man--married when she was a child only fourteen years of
+age. So her gravest error was in running away to be married! And that
+was the fault of the man who stole her, rather than of herself. And she
+is as repentant for that fault as if it were some great crime. And oh,
+how she has suffered! What she has gone through for one so young! And
+she has such a tender, affectionate, clinging nature! Ah, what will
+become of her, poor child--poor child! She ought to have some one to
+take care of her. She ought indeed to be married, for no one but a
+tender husband could take care of such a pretty, delicate, helpless
+creature. She ought to marry some one much older than herself. Not a
+green, beardless boy like that young puppy--Heaven forgive me!--I mean
+that young man Kyte. He couldn't appreciate her, couldn't be a guide or
+a guard to her. And she really needs guiding and guarding too. For see
+how easily she falls into error. She ought to marry some good, wise,
+elderly man, who could be her guide, philosopher and friend as well as
+husband."
+
+And so murmuring to himself he fell asleep to dream that he himself was
+the model guide, philosopher and friend required by the young widow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A GROWL FROM UNCLE JACKY.
+
+
+The next day, Easter Monday, brought a messenger from Lytton Lodge; a
+messenger who was no other than Mithridates, commonly called "Taters,"
+once a servant of Frederick Fanning, the landlord of White Perch Point,
+but now a hired hand of John Lytton's.
+
+Mithridates, or Taters, rode an infirm-looking old draft horse, with a
+dilapidated saddle and bridle, and wore a hat and coat exceedingly
+shabby for a gentleman's servant.
+
+He also led a second horse, furnished with a side-saddle.
+
+He dismounted at the carriage-steps, tied the horses to a tree, and
+boldly went to the front door and knocked.
+
+Jerome opened it, and administered a sharp rebuke to the messenger for
+presuming to knock at the visitors' door instead of at the servants'.
+
+"If I'd a come to the servants' I'd rapped at the servants' door; but as
+I have comed to the white folks' I rap at dere door. Here; I've fotch a
+letter from Marse Jacky Lytton to his niece, Miss Lorrer," said Taters,
+pompously.
+
+"Give it to me then, and I'll take it in to her," said Jerome.
+
+"Set you up with it! I must 'liver of this here letter with my own hands
+inter her own hands," said Taters, stoutly.
+
+"Well, come along, for a fool! You're a purty looking objick to denounce
+into the parlor, a'n't you now?" said Jerome, leading the way.
+
+At that moment, unseen by Jerome, but distinctly seen by Taters, a face
+appeared at the head of the stairs for an instant, but meeting the eye
+of Taters turned white as death and vanished.
+
+Taters uttered a terrible cry and sank, ashen pale and quaking with
+horror, at the foot of the steps.
+
+"Why, what in the name of the old boy is the matter with you, man? Have
+you trod on a nail or piece of glass, or anything that has gone through
+your foot, or what is it?" demanded Jerome, in astonishment.
+
+"Oh, no, no, no! it's worse'n that--it's worse'n that! It's no end
+worse'n that! Oh, Lor'! oh, Lor'! oh, Lor'!" cried Taters, holding his
+knees and sawing backward and forward in an agony of horror.
+
+"Ef you don't stop that howlin' and tell me what's the matter of you I'm
+blessed ef I don't get a bucket of ice water and heave it all over you
+to fetch you to your senses!" exclaimed the exasperated Jerome.
+
+"Oh, Lor', don't! Oh, please don't! I shill die quick enough now without
+that!" cried Taters, writhing horribly.
+
+"What's the matter, you born iddiwut?" roared Jerome, in a fury.
+
+"Oh, I've seen a sperrit--I've seen a sperrit! I've seen the sperrit of
+my young mistress! And it's a token of my death!" wailed the negro boy
+in agony.
+
+"What's that you say--a sperrit? A sperrit in this yer 'spectable,
+'sponsible house? Lookee here, nigger: mind what you say now, or it'll
+be the wus for you! A sperrit in this yer ginteel family as never had a
+crime or a ghost inter it! The Cavendishers nebber 'mits no crimes when
+der living, nor likewise don't walk about ondecent after der dead. And
+der a'n't no sperrits here," said Jerome, with ire.
+
+"Oh, I wish it wasn't--I wish it wasn't! But it was a sperrit! And it's
+a token of my death--it's a token of my death!" howled Taters.
+
+And now at last the noise brought the three young ladies out of the
+drawing-room.
+
+"What is the matter here, Jerome?" inquired Mrs. Cavendish. "Has any one
+got hurt? Who is that man?"
+
+"Ef you please, Miss Emma, no one a'n't got hurt, though you might a
+thought, from the squalling, that there was a dozen pigs a killin'. And
+that man, miss, is a born iddiwut, so he is--begging your pardon,
+miss!--and says he's seed a sperrit in this yer harristocraterick house,
+where there never was a sperrit yet," explained Jerome, with a grieved
+and indignant look.
+
+"But who is the man? What is he doing here? And what does he want?"
+inquired the young lady.
+
+"The man is a born iddiwut, Miss Emma, as I telled you before; that's
+who the man he is! And he's a making of a 'fernal fool of hisself;
+that's what he's doing here! And he deserves a good hiding; and that's
+what he wants!" said Jerome, irately.
+
+Miss Cavendish passed by the privileged old family servant, and went up
+to the man himself and inquired:
+
+"Who are you, boy? What brings you here? And what ails you?"
+
+"Oh, miss! I'm Taters, I am. And I come to fetch a letter from Marse
+Jacky Lytton to Miss Lorrer. And I seen a sperrit at the top o'them
+stair steps. And that's what's the matter of me," cried the boy.
+
+"A spirit! Jerome, do you think he's been drinking?" inquired the young
+lady in a low, frightened voice.
+
+For an answer Jerome, without the least hesitation, seized Taters by the
+head, pulled open his jaws, and stuck his own nose into the cavity and
+took an audible snuff. Then, releasing the head, he answered:
+
+"No, miss, he a'n't been drinking nuffin. His breff's as sweet as a
+milch cow's. I reckon he must be subjick to epperliptic fits, miss, by
+the way he fell down here all of a suddint, crying out as he'd seen a
+sperrit."
+
+"You said you had a letter, boy. Where is it?" inquired Emma.
+
+"Here, miss! Here it is! I'll give it to you, though I wouldn't give it
+to him there!" answered Taters, with a contemptuous glance toward
+Jerome.
+
+Emma took the letter, which was inclosed in a wonderfully dingy yellow
+envelope, and she read the superscription, and then called to Laura,
+saying:
+
+"Come here, my dear. Here is a letter from Lytton Lodge for you."
+
+Laura Lytton, who, with Electra, had been standing just within the
+drawing-room door, near enough to observe the group, but not to hear the
+whole of their conversation, now came when she was called and received
+her letter.
+
+"It is from dear Uncle Jacky," she said, with an affectionate smile, as
+she recognized the handwriting.
+
+And then she asked the messenger a multitude of questions, which he was
+too much agitated to answer coherently, until at length Miss Cavendish
+said:
+
+"Jerome, take the poor fellow into the kitchen and give him something to
+eat and drink. There is nothing like beef and beer to exorcise evil
+spirits. And when he is rested and refreshed we will see him again."
+
+And Jerome took Taters rather roughly by the shoulder and pulled him
+upon his feet and carried him along the hall through the back door
+toward the kitchen.
+
+"Will you excuse me now, dear Emma, while I read my uncle's letter?"
+inquired Laura, as she retreated to the drawing-room.
+
+"Certainly," smiled Miss Cavendish, following her guests.
+
+Laura went into the recess of a bay-window and opened the dingy yellow
+envelope and read as follows:
+
+
+                                  "LYTTON LODGE, April --, 18--.
+
+   "MY DEAR NIECE:--I think my nephew, Alden, has a more correcter
+   ideer of what is jue to kin and kith than what you have shown.
+
+   "Alden is spending his Easter holidays along of me and his
+   relations.
+
+   "But you haven't been nigh the house since you left it to go to
+   school. You do seem to be so wrapped up in the Cavendishers as
+   not to think anything of your own folks.
+
+   "Now I can tell you what it is. The Lyttonses are a great deal
+   older and better family than all the Cavendishers that ever
+   lived. I don't care if they was governors of the state.
+
+   "I have heard my grandfather, who was a scholar, say that the
+   Lyttonses was landed gentry in the old country long before the
+   Cavendishers followed of their lord and marster William the
+   Conkerer across the channil. And so I don't approve of your
+   sliting of the Lyttonses for them there Cavendishers. Spesherly
+   as you're a Lytton yourself. And if we don't respect ourselves
+   and each other no one a'n't a going to respect us.
+
+   "And talking of that, what do you think Hezekiah Greenfield, the
+   landlord of the Reindeer, went and done to me last week?
+
+   "Why, he came over and asked me could I supply his tavern with
+   fruits and vegetables during the summer season at the market
+   price, saying--quite as if he was a making of me a kind proposal
+   instead of offering of me a black insult--that he'd rather deal
+   with me, and I should have his money, than any one else, if so be
+   I was willing to do business.
+
+   "Now what do you think I answered him?
+
+   "Why, I set the bull-dog on him! I did that! And it was good for
+   him as he scrambled up on his horse and made off double-quick, or
+   he'd been torn to pieces before you could say Jack Robinson.
+
+   "That'll learn the tavern-keeper to insult a gentleman next time
+   by offering to buy his garden stuff!
+
+   "But what I'm writing to you for, my dear, now, is this. I think
+   you ought to come to see us, anyhow. You must come, if it's only
+   for two or three days, to see your old grandmother, and all your
+   relations, and to meet Alden, who is here, as I said. I have sent
+   Taters on horseback with a led horse and a side-saddle for you.
+   Come back along of him to-morrow morning. And give my honorable
+   compliments to the old madam and Miss Cavendish. Because, mind
+   you, I'm not a saying as the Cavendishers a'n't a good,
+   respectabil family; only I do say as they are not so good as the
+   Lyttonses, and they never was and never will be; and they know it
+   themselves, too. Well, your dear grandma, and your dear aunties
+   and cousins, all sends their love to you, with many good wishes.
+   So no more at present from your affeckshunit uncle,
+
+        "JOHN LYTTON."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE GHOST SEEN BY "TATERS."
+
+    He shuddered, as no doubt the bravest cowers,
+    When he can't tell what 'tis that doth appall.
+    How odd a single hobgoblin's nonentity
+    Should cause more fear than a whole host's identity.
+                                                  --BYRON.
+
+
+"Emma, dear, I have a letter from Uncle John Lytton," said Laura,
+gravely, going to the side of her friend.
+
+"I hope they are all well at Lytton Lodge," responded Emma.
+
+"Oh, yes, thank you, they are all quite well; but," added Laura, with a
+sigh, "Uncle John has written to me to come at once and pay them a
+visit. And to leave me no excuse, he has sent his servant Mithridates on
+horseback, with another led horse and side-saddle, to take me to Lytton
+Lodge."
+
+"Oh, dear! But you need not go, I hope?" said Emma, looking up, with a
+sigh.
+
+"I must go," answered Laura, with another sigh. "And really I ought to
+be glad to go to see such kind friends as all my relatives there have
+been to me. But, you see, Emma, I don't like to leave you for a single
+day even before I have to return to school."
+
+"Then why do you go at all? Why can you not send an excuse?"
+
+"Dear Emma, would _you_ refuse to go if you were in my place?" inquired
+Laura.
+
+Emma Cavendish could not reply.
+
+"No, you would not," added Laura, "because it would not be right to
+refuse."
+
+"But, my dear, to perform so long a journey on horseback! It must be
+over twenty miles. Let me see--it is about nine miles from here to
+Wendover, and it must be ten or eleven from Wendover to Lytton Lodge,"
+said Emma.
+
+"No; only about eight or nine. The whole distance is not more than
+seventeen or eighteen miles by the roundabout route. And if I could go
+as the crow flies it is not more than six miles. Why, you know the
+eastern extremity of your land touches the western extremity of
+uncle's."
+
+"So it does. And if, as you say, you could go as the crow flies--that
+is, straight over mountains and rivers--you could get there in two
+hours. As it is, it will take you five or six hours, and that is too
+long for a girl to be in the saddle, especially a city-bred girl,
+unaccustomed to such exercise."
+
+"I think I can stand it," smiled Laura.
+
+"But you shall not try. If you will go you must take the little
+carriage. When do you propose to start?"
+
+"To-morrow morning."
+
+"Well, we will send the redoubtable Mithridates back with his steeds,
+and send you on your journey in the little carriage, under the
+guardianship of old Jerome, with orders to remain with you during your
+visit; but to bring you back again, at farthest, on the third day," said
+Emma, peremptorily.
+
+Laura thanked her friend, but protested against any trouble being taken
+on her account.
+
+But Miss Cavendish was firm, and the arrangement was made according to
+her plan.
+
+In the meantime Mithridates, eating beef and bread and drinking
+home-made sweet cider in the kitchen, recovered some of his composure;
+though still, with his mouth full of meat and his eyes starting from his
+head, he persisted that he had seen the spirit of his young mistress.
+And it was a token of his death.
+
+"G'long way from her', boy! Ef I didn't know as you _wasn't_ I should
+think as you _was_ intoxified! There never was no sperrit never seen
+into this house," said Aunt Molly, indignantly.
+
+"I don't care! I did see her sperrit! So there now," persisted Taters,
+bolting a chunk of bread and choking with it for a moment. "And--and
+it's a token of my death."
+
+"Is that the reason you're a trying to kill yourself now, you iddiwut?"
+
+"No; but I seen her sperrit!"
+
+"I don't believe one word of it. You're a making of it all up out'n your
+own stoopid head! There, now, ef you're done eatin' you'd better go
+'long and put up your hosses," said Aunt Moll, seeing her guest pause in
+his gastronomic efforts.
+
+But Taters hadn't done eating, and did't get done until all the dishes
+on the kitchen table were cleared and the jug of cider emptied.
+
+Then, indeed, he gave over and went to look after his "beasts."
+
+At the same hour Mary Grey, locked fast in her room, suffered agonies of
+terror and anxiety. She, too, had seen a "ghost"--a ghost of her past
+life--a ghost that might have come to summon her from her present
+luxurious home!
+
+On her way down-stairs to the drawing-room she had been arrested on the
+head of the middle landing by the sight of a once familiar face and
+form.
+
+She met the distended eyes of this apparition, and saw at once that he
+had recognized her as surely as she had recognized him.
+
+And in an instant she vanished.
+
+She darted into her own room and locked the door and sank breathless
+into the nearest chair.
+
+And there she sat now, with beating heart and burning head, waiting for
+what should come next.
+
+A rap at the door was the next thing that came.
+
+It frightened her, of course--everything frightened her now.
+
+"Who is that?" she nervously inquired.
+
+"Only me, ma'am. The ladies are waiting luncheon for you. Miss Emma
+sends her compliments and says will you come down?" spoke the voice of
+Sarah, the lady's maid.
+
+"Love to Miss Cavendish, and ask her to excuse me. I do not want any
+luncheon," answered Mary Grey, without opening the door.
+
+Then she sank back in her chair with throbbing pulses, waiting for the
+issue of this crisis. She was really ill with intense anxiety and dread.
+She grew so weak at last that she lay down upon her sofa.
+
+Then came another rap at the door.
+
+"Who is that?" she asked again, faintly.
+
+"It is I, dear," answered the voice of Emma Cavendish.
+
+Mrs. Grey arose trembling and opened the door.
+
+"I was afraid that you were not well. I came up to see," said Emma,
+kindly, as she entered the room.
+
+"I--no, I am not quite well," faltered Mary Grey, as she retreated to
+the sofa and sat down, with her back purposely to the light and her face
+in the shadow.
+
+"You really look pale and ill. What is the matter, dear?"
+
+"I--think I have taken cold. But by keeping to my room for a few days I
+hope to be better. A cold always affects the action of my heart and
+makes me very nervous," said Mary Grey, in explanation of the tremors
+for which she could not otherwise account.
+
+Then Emma expressed sympathy and sorrow, and begged the pretended
+invalid to have some tea and cream-toast, or some wine-whey or
+chicken-broth.
+
+But Mary Grey declined all these offers, declaring that a cold always
+took her appetite away.
+
+And again Emma expressed regret.
+
+And, as Miss Cavendish talked, Mary Grey grew more composed.
+
+It was evident, she thought, that Emma as yet knew nothing of that
+strange rencounter on the stairs.
+
+Presently, Miss Cavendish said:
+
+"I am sorry to tell you that we shall lose Laura Lytton for a few days.
+Her uncle, Mr. Lytton of Lytton Lodge, has sent a messenger for her. She
+goes to visit her relations there to-morrow morning."
+
+"Indeed--a messenger?" exclaimed Mary Grey, pricking up her ears.
+
+"Yes; a queer genius, who signalized his entrance into the house by a
+scene," added Emma, smiling.
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Oh, yes! Why, you might have heard the commotion in the front hall! Did
+you hear nothing of it?"
+
+"No, dear; I have remained shut up in my room ever since breakfast--have
+not stirred from it," answered Mary Grey, lying without the least
+hesitation.
+
+"That accounts for your knowing nothing about it. But the absurd fellow
+raised quite a confusion by suddenly falling down in the front hall in a
+spasm of terror, declaring that he had seen the spirit of his young
+mistress on the middle landing of the front stairs."
+
+"An optical illusion," answered Mary Grey, in a low, tremulous tone and
+with her face carefully kept in the shadow.
+
+"Of course! And it appears that he was once a servant of that reckless
+and unlucky Frederick Fanning of White Perch Point, who married my
+mother's sister. And consequently his young mistress must have been that
+unfortunate cousin of mine," said Emma, with a sigh.
+
+"Does any one know what ever became of that wretched girl?" inquired
+Mrs. Grey, in a very low tone.
+
+"No; but I gather from the wild talk of the boy that she is supposed to
+be dead. It was her spirit that he thinks he saw."
+
+"Whatever became of her father and mother?" questioned Mary Grey in the
+same low tone and still keeping her face in the deep shadow.
+
+"I do not know. I heard that they went to California. I have not heard
+anything of them since. But, my dear, you are talking beyond your
+strength. Your voice is quite faint--scarcely audible indeed. Now I
+advise you to lie down and be quiet," said Miss Cavendish, with some
+solicitude.
+
+And then she kissed Mary Grey, begged her to ring for anything she might
+require, and then she left the room.
+
+And Mary Grey heard no more of the ghost. That cloud passed harmlessly
+over her head.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A VISIT TO LYTTON LODGE.
+
+
+Early the next morning Miss Cavendish's snug little pony-carriage, with
+a pretty pair of grays, stood before the front door waiting for Laura
+Lytton.
+
+Old Jerome sat on the front seat to drive.
+
+Taters, with his own horse and the now useless led horse, was in
+attendance.
+
+Laura Lytton, dressed for her journey and with traveling-bag in hand,
+stood with Emma Cavendish in the hall waiting for Mrs. Grey, to whom
+they had sent a message inviting her to come down and see the traveler
+off.
+
+But presently the messenger returned with Miss Grey's love and good
+wishes, and requested that they would excuse her from coming down, as
+her cold was so severe that she did not dare to leave her room.
+
+"I must go up and bid her good-bye then," said Laura, as she dropped her
+traveling-bag and ran upstairs.
+
+She found Mary Grey in a fine white merino dressing-gown playing the
+interesting invalid.
+
+She hastily kissed her, expressed a hope that she might find her better
+on returning to Blue Cliffs, and then ran out of the room and
+down-stairs as fast as she could go.
+
+She had already taken leave of every member of the family except Emma
+Cavendish, who went out with her to the carriage, saw her comfortably
+seated in it, and kissed her good-bye.
+
+The little cavalcade then set forward.
+
+It was a lovely spring morning. The woods and fields were clothed with
+the freshest green; the mountain tops beamed in the most beautiful opal
+tints, and the blue sky was without a cloud.
+
+Laura enjoyed her drive very much.
+
+At Wendover they stopped to rest and water the horses, and then they
+resumed their journey and went on to Lytton Lodge, where they arrived
+just about noon.
+
+John Lytton was evidently on the lookout for his niece, for as the
+pony-carriage drove up, amid the barking of all the dogs and the
+shouting of all the little negroes, he rushed out of the house, throwing
+up his arms; and he caught Laura and lifted her bodily from her seat,
+roaring his welcome.
+
+And Laura, as she returned his honest, hearty greeting, felt a twinge of
+self-reproach in remembering with what reluctance she had come.
+
+Uncle John took her into the house and set her down in the hall in the
+midst of all her relations, who had crowded there to welcome here.
+
+"Lor-lor-lor', John! How dare you ma-ma-make so free as that with Laura,
+and she a young 'oman?" exclaimed old Mrs. Lytton, as, in her well-known
+faded calico gown and long-eared muslin cap, she came up and kissed her
+granddaughter.
+
+"Why, because she _is_ a young 'oman, of course, and not an old man!"
+said John, saucily.
+
+"Why, how much you have improved, child!" said Miss Molly Moss, smiling
+blandly.
+
+"Oh, a'n't she though, neither?" exclaimed Octy and Ulky in a breath, as
+they seized her hands, the one clinging to her right and the other to
+her left.
+
+"Come, now, I think you had better let Laura go upstairs and take off
+her bonnet and things. Dinner's all ready to go on the table. And I
+reckon her appetite is ready also. And, Jacky, you had better go out and
+tell John Brooks to put up and feed them horses," said practical Aunt
+Kitty, as she took and faced Laura about toward the spare bed-room that
+was on the first floor.
+
+"Uncle wrote me that my brother was here. But I don't see him," said
+Laura as she laid off her bonnet.
+
+"No; he and Charley went to Perch Point fishing yesterday, intending to
+stay all night and come back this morning. I reckon they'll soon be
+here," said Aunt Kitty.
+
+Laura washed her face and hands and brushed her hair, put on clean
+collar and cuffs, and declared herself ready to join the family.
+
+Even as she spoke there was the hilarious bustle of an arrival in the
+hall outside.
+
+And as Laura emerged from the room she was caught in the arms of her
+brother Alden.
+
+"My darling sister, I am so delighted to see you!" said the young man,
+kissing her joyously.
+
+"So am I to see you, Alden, dear. But why didn't you accept Mrs.
+Cavendish's invitation to come and join our Easter party at Blue
+Cliffs?" inquired Laura.
+
+"My dear, because I thought my duty called me here," gravely replied
+Alden.
+
+"But for a day or two you might have joined us," persisted Laura.
+
+"No," said Alden. Then turning toward his red-headed fishing comrade he
+said: "Here's Cousin Charley waiting to welcome you, Laura."
+
+And Charley Lytton, blushing and stammering, held out his hand and said:
+
+"How do you do? I am very glad to see you."
+
+"And now come to dinner," said Aunt Kitty, opening the dining-room door.
+
+They all went in and sat down to as fine a dinner as was ever served in
+Blue Cliff Hall, or even at the Government House, although this was laid
+on a rough pine table, covered with a coarse, though clean linen
+table-cloth, and in a room where the walls were whitewashed and the
+floors were bare.
+
+"And now," said Uncle Jacky, as soon as he had served the turtle soup
+around to everybody, "I want you to tell me why you couldn't ride the
+gray mare, and why you came in a pony-carriage with a slap-up pair of
+bloods?"
+
+"Why, you know, I am a good-for-nothing city-bred girl, Uncle John, and
+Miss Cavendish knew it and doubted my ability to ride eighteen or twenty
+miles on horseback, and so insisted on my having the pony-carriage,"
+explained Laura, soothingly.
+
+"Well, I'm glad it was no worse. I was thinking may be as you despised
+the old family mare," said John, somewhat mollified.
+
+"Oh, no, uncle! Quite the contrary. I did not feel equal to her,"
+laughed Laura.
+
+"Well, when must we send that fine equipage back--to-night or tomorrow?"
+
+"Neither, Uncle John. It is not wanted at Blue Cliffs just at present.
+They have the barouche, the brougham and the gig. They can easily spare
+the pony-chaise. And Emma insisted on my keeping it here until I should
+be ready to return. And I promised her that I would do it."
+
+"Now I don't like that. That is a patternizing of us a great deal too
+much. We've got a carriage of our own, I reckon," said John, sitting
+back in his chair and lifting his red head pompously.
+
+"Now-now-now, John Lytton, don't you be a foo-foo-fool! Carriage! Why,
+our carriage is all to pieces! A'n't been fit to use for this six
+months! And sin-sin-since the Caverndishers have been so obleeging as to
+lend the loan of the pony-shay to Laura, I say let her keep it till she
+goes back. And while it's a staying here idle I can use it to go and see
+some of my neighbors," said old Mrs. Lytton, in that peremptory way of
+hers that did not brook contradiction from any one--even from the master
+of the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A FLIGHT FROM BLUE CLIFFS.
+
+
+Laura Lytton staid two days with her relatives at Lytton Lodge, and was
+just turning over in her mind the difficult subject of breaking the news
+of her immediate departure to Uncle Jacky, whom she felt sure would
+bitterly oppose it, when, on the evening of the second day, she received
+a surprise in the form of a call from Craven Kyte.
+
+The visitor was shown into the big parlor, where all the family, except
+Alden and Charley, were assembled, and engaged in cheerful conversation
+around the evening lamp.
+
+He came in bowing, shook hands with everybody, and then took the seat
+that was offered him and drew a letter from his pocket, saying,
+humorously:
+
+"In these latter days, when every one has a mission, it seems to me that
+my mission is to fetch and carry letters. I happened to call at Blue
+Cliffs this morning and to mention while there that I was going to White
+Perch Point and should take Lytton Lodge in my way, and would carry any
+message that was desired to Miss Laura Lytton, who I understood was on a
+visit there. And then Miss Cavendish requested me to take a letter to
+you, which she sat down and wrote right off at once. And here it is,
+miss," he concluded, placing the letter in Laura's hands.
+
+Laura asked leave of her company, and then opened the envelope and read
+as follows:
+
+
+                                  "BLUE CLIFFS, Thursday afternoon.
+
+   "MY DEAREST LAURA:--The opportune arrival of Mr. Craven Kyte, on
+   his way to White Perch Point and Lytton Lodge, furnishes me with
+   the means of communicating with you sooner than I could manage to
+   do by mail.
+
+   "You will be very much surprised at what I am about to tell you.
+
+   "_Mary Grey has left Blue Cliffs._
+
+   "She left so suddenly that I scarcely yet can realize that she
+   has gone.
+
+   "My grandmother and myself opposed her departure most earnestly.
+   We used every means in the world but absolute force to keep her
+   here.
+
+   "But she would go. She said her health and spirits required the
+   change. You know she was ailing when you left here.
+
+   "Well, she has gone to Charlottesville, where she says she has
+   some lady friend who keeps a boarding-house for the students of
+   the University. So if your brother returns to the University he
+   may have an opportunity of renewing his very pleasant
+   acquaintance with her. I do not know when, if ever, she will
+   return.
+
+   "Of course this is her home whenever she pleases to come back.
+   But I strongly suspect the pretty little widow has grown tired of
+   our country house.
+
+   "You know she has really no resources within herself for
+   enjoyment. She cares nothing for the beautiful scenery
+   surrounding our home, nor for gardening, nor reading, nor
+   visiting and instructing the poor negroes; nor, in short, for
+   anything that makes a remote country place enjoyable. And so she
+   has left us--'It may be for years, and it may be for ever,' as
+   the song says.
+
+   "But, my darling, don't _you_ desert me just at this time. Come
+   back, according to your promise. I am wearying for you. Tell that
+   excessively affectionate and hospitable Uncle John that I need
+   you so much more than he does. Or show him this letter. All the
+   Lyttons are gallant and chivalrous gentlemen. He is no exception,
+   and he will not oppose my wish, I feel sure. I shall expect you
+   at Blue Cliffs to-morrow evening.
+
+   "My grandmother has just directed me to repeat her invitation to
+   Mr. Alden Lytton, and to ask him to accompany you back to Blue
+   Cliffs and make us a visit. I hope he will do so. Mind, I shall
+   expect you both to-morrow evening. Pray present my respects to
+   Mr. and Mrs. Lytton and all their kind family. And believe me,
+   dearest Laura,
+
+      "Ever your own
+        "EMMA.
+
+   "_Postscript._--I have some strange news to tell you which I can
+   not trust upon paper. I also expect a new inmate in the family. I
+   will explain when you come.    E."
+
+
+Laura folded her letter and put it into her pocket for the present.
+
+"They want you to come back, I suppose," said Uncle John, testily.
+
+"I will show you the letter presently, uncle, so you can read and judge
+for yourself," said Laura, with a smile.
+
+"Well, all I say is this: if they want you to come back want will be
+their master. For they can't have you; so there now! I don't mean to let
+you leave us until you are obliged to go back to school. I don't
+_that_!" said John, nodding his big red head.
+
+"Did you know Mrs. Grey had left Blue Cliffs?" sorrowfully inquired Mr.
+Kyte.
+
+"Yes. Emma has written to me about her departure. When did she go?"
+
+"Early this morning. When I got to the house I was very much
+disappointed at not seeing her, and beyond measure astonished to hear
+that she had started that very morning to Wendover, to catch the first
+train to the city, _en route_ for Charlottesville. She will be a great
+loss to the domestic circle at Blue Cliffs, I think."
+
+"And who the mischief is Mrs. Grey?" inquired the sorely puzzled Uncle
+John.
+
+"She was one of the assistant teachers--the drawing-mistress, in
+fact--at Mount Ascension. But she lost her situation there. And she
+became the guest of Emma Cavendish. Afterward she was engaged to Mr.
+Cavendish. But his death prevented the marriage," Laura explained.
+
+And at this point of the conversation "Mandy" made her appearance at the
+door and said that supper was on the table.
+
+And old Mrs. Lytton arose and invited the company to follow her to the
+dining-room.
+
+After supper, as it was a clear, mild, star-lit evening, Mr. Craven Kyte
+remounted his horse and resumed his journey to White Perch Point.
+
+After his departure, when the family were once more assembled in the big
+parlor, Laura took her letter out and put it in the hands of John
+Lytton.
+
+Uncle Jacky read it through, and then quoted a part of it to the family
+circle.
+
+"'Tell that affectionate and hospitable Uncle John that I need you so
+much more than he does. Or show him this letter. All the Lyttons are
+gallant and chivalrous gentlemen.' That's so!" put in Uncle Jacky,
+nodding his red head. "'He is no exception. And he will not oppose my
+wish, I feel sure.' Now that is what I call taking a fellow at a
+disadvantage!" growled John, holding the letter before his eyes and
+staring at it. "Well, I suppose I must let you go, Laura, seeing she
+makes such a point of it. But they want Alden, too. And Alden they can't
+have! Where is the fellow, anyhow? And why wasn't he at supper?"
+
+"He and Charley are down at Uncle Bob's house, getting bait for another
+fishing match to-morrow. I told Mandy to keep the supper hot for them,"
+answered Aunt Kitty.
+
+And soon after this the little family, who kept very early hours,
+separated to go to rest.
+
+Laura and her two cousins were the first to leave the room.
+
+Aunt Kitty and Miss Molly followed.
+
+When they were gone old Mrs. Lytton turned upon her son and said:
+
+"Jacky, I ho-ho-hope you a'n't a goin' to be sich a contrairy fool as to
+stand into the light of your own flesh and blood?"
+
+"Why, what the mischief do you mean, mother? I a'n't a standing into
+nobody's light, much less my own flesh and blood's!" exclaimed John,
+raising his red head.
+
+"Yes-yes-yes, you are too! You're a standing into your own dear
+nephew's, Alden Lytton's, light, in opposing of his going to Blue Cliffs
+along of his sister to-morrow," complained the old lady.
+
+"Riddle-me-riddle-me-ree! I know no more of what you're talking than the
+fish of Zuyder Zee!"
+
+"Why-why-why then this is what I'm a talking about. Can-can-can't you
+see that Emma Cavendish is perfectly wrapped up in Laura Lytton? She's
+as fon-fon-fond of her as ever she can be. And Emma Cavendish is the
+most beau-beau-beautiful girl and the richest heiress in the whole
+state. And Alden Lytton is one of the han-han-handsomest young men I
+ever saw. And if he goes with his sister to Blue Cliffs--_don't you
+see?_"
+
+"No, I don't," said honest, obtuse John.
+
+"Well, then, the gal that is so fond of the sis-sis-sister might grow to
+be equally fond of the handsome bro-bro-brother. _Now do you see?_"
+
+"Oh, I see!" exclaimed John, with a look of profound enlightenment.
+
+"And I hope you won't go and stand into the light of your own dear
+nephew by raising up of any objections to his going along of his sister
+to Blue Cliffs," added the old lady.
+
+"_I_ stand in the light of my own poor, dear, dead brother's son!
+'Tain't likely!" exclaimed Uncle Jacky, with an injured air.
+
+"No, John, I don't think it is. And so, I hope, instead of
+oppo-po-po-opposing on him, you'll encourage him to go along of his
+sister to Blue Cliffs to-morrow," said the old lady.
+
+"Mother, I shall do what is right," answered John.
+
+"And lookee here, Jacky! Don't you let on to Alden that any on us have
+such a thought as him going there to court the heiress, for ef you do,
+he's so high and mighty he'd see us all furder fust before he'd budge a
+step to go to Blue Cliffs, sister or no sister. So mind what I tell you,
+John."
+
+"Mother, I will do all that is right," repeated John, with pompous
+dignity.
+
+"I only hope as you will. And so good-night, my son," said the old
+woman, as she lighted her bed-room taper and left the room.
+
+Laura came down-stairs early the next morning, and found her brother
+alone in the big parlor.
+
+And then she showed him Emma Cavendish's letter.
+
+And when he had read it through, she said, quite piteously:
+
+"Alden, I do want to go back and spend the rest of the Easter holidays
+at Blue Cliffs, for I love Emma Cavendish better than anybody else in
+the whole world except yourself. And I hate to disappoint her. But I
+equally hate to leave you, Alden. So I do wish you would make up your
+mind to accept Mrs. Cavendish's invitation and accompany me to Blue
+Cliffs."
+
+"Why-why-why of course he will go, Laura! Do you 'spect your own dear
+brother is a going to let you go off alone, by your own self, of a
+journey, when he's invi-vi-vited to go along of you?" exclaimed old Mrs.
+Lytton, who entered at that moment, and spoke up before Alden Lytton
+could either accept or refuse.
+
+"Certainly he will. Why, nephew's a gentleman, I reckon, and he wouldn't
+refuse to escort his own dear sister, when he is requested to do so,"
+added Uncle John, as he strode into the room.
+
+Alden Lytton smiled and bowed.
+
+In truth, now that the secret obstacle to his visit to Blue Cliffs was
+removed by the departure of Mrs. Grey for an indefinitely long absence,
+he felt no objection at all to accompanying his sister thither. So,
+still smiling, he answered:
+
+"Why, you all seem to think that I shall make some difficulty about
+complying with my sister's wishes. But I shall do nothing of the sort.
+On the contrary, I shall attend my sister with great pleasure."
+
+"That's you!" exclaimed old Mrs. Lytton.
+
+"Bully boy!" heartily cried Uncle Jacky.
+
+"I thank you, Alden," said Laura, quietly, giving him her hand.
+
+"Yes, that's all very well; but--" began Charley, who had joined the
+circle.
+
+"But what? What's the matter with you?" demanded his father.
+
+Charley, seeing all eyes turned upon him, and most especially Laura's,
+blushed crimson and remained silent.
+
+"I had arranged to go with Charley this morning to fish for trout in the
+Mad River," laughingly explained Alden.
+
+"Oh, well, it can't be helped! You feel disappointed, of course, my boy;
+but everything must give way to the will of the ladies, Charley. 'All
+the Lyttons are gallant and chivalrous gentlemen,'" said Uncle Jacky,
+proudly, quoting the words of Emma's letter. "And we are no exception to
+the rule. Miss Cavendish is anxious for the society of Laura. Laura
+wishes the escort of her brother, who has also been invited to Blue
+Cliffs. We must not oppose the will of the ladies," concluded John,
+bowing to his niece with pompous deference.
+
+Poor Charley blushed purpler than ever, and holding down his red
+head--like his father's--he mumbled something about "not wishing to
+oppose no ladies whatsoever."
+
+"Now, then, what time are you expected at Blue Cliffs?" inquired Uncle
+Jacky, turning to Laura.
+
+"This evening, uncle. Don't you remember? You read the letter."
+
+"Oh, yes! Well, then, you needn't leave till after dinner, Kitty," he
+called to his wife, "order dinner for twelve o'clock noon, sharp! I want
+Alden and Laura, if they _must_ leave, to go with full stomachs: do you
+hear?"
+
+"Why of course, Jacky! Don't we always have dinner at twelve o'clock?"
+laughingly inquired Aunt Kitty.
+
+"Well, then, mind that to-day a'n't an exception to the rule. Now
+where's that boy Taters?"
+
+"Here I am, Marse John," said Mithridates, making his appearance with
+an armful of wood, which he threw upon the fire; for the April morning
+was chilly.
+
+"Taters," said Uncle John, "you see to having the pony-chaise at the
+door at half-past twelve precisely to take Mr. Alden and Miss Laura to
+Blue Cliffs."
+
+"Yes, Marse John."
+
+"And, Taters, you saddle Brown Bill to ride and wait on them. You hear?"
+
+Taters turned dark-gray and staggered to a chair and sat down.
+
+"Why, what's the matter with the fool now?" demanded Uncle John.
+
+"Oh, Marse John, don't send me to Blue Cliffs no more, sir--please
+don't!"
+
+"Why--why shouldn't I send you there, you idiot?"
+
+"Oh, Marse John, I done see the sperrit of my young mist'ess there; and
+if I see it ag'in I shall die--'deed I shall, sir!" exclaimed the
+shuddering boy.
+
+"What the mischief does he mean, Laura? You look as if you understood
+him," inquired John Lytton.
+
+Laura laughingly told the story of the supposed spirit, adding that it
+must have been a pure hallucination on the part of the boy.
+
+"Well, anyhow, I'll not send him with you if he's takin' to makin' a
+fool of himself. It wouldn't do, you know," said John.
+
+"And really, uncle, we need no one at all as an outrider," said Laura.
+
+After an early and substantial dinner, Alden and Laura took leave of
+their kind relatives and entered the pony-carriage, whose dashing little
+grays, driven by old Jerome, were to take them to Blue Cliffs.
+
+But we must precede them thither, to find out what it was that had
+driven Mary Grey from the house in such very great haste.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A STARTLING EVENT.
+
+    What see you in these papers, that you lose
+    So much of your complexion? Look you how you change!
+    Your cheeks are paper!--why, what hear you there
+    That hath so cowarded and chased your blood
+    Out of appearance?                --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+It was on the evening of the very same day that saw the departure of
+Laura Lytton for Lytton Lodge that Peter, the post-office messenger of
+Blue Cliffs, returned from Wendover, bringing with him a well-filled
+mail-bag.
+
+He took it into the drawing-room, where Miss Cavendish and her guests,
+the Rev. Dr. Jones, Miss Electra, and Mrs. Grey, were gathered around
+the center-table, under the light of the chandelier.
+
+Emma Cavendish unlocked the mail-bag and turned its contents out upon
+the table.
+
+"Newspapers and magazines only, I believe. No letters. Help yourselves,
+friends. There are paper-knives on the pen-tray. And in the absence of
+letters, there is a real pleasure in unfolding a fresh newspaper and
+cutting the leaves of a new magazine," said the young lady, as she
+returned the empty bag to the messenger.
+
+But her companions tumbled over the mail still in the vain hope of
+finding letters.
+
+"None for me; yet I did hope to get one from my new manager at Beresford
+Manors," muttered Dr. Jones, in a tone of disappointment.
+
+"And none for me either, though I do think the girls at Mount Ascension
+might write to me," pouted Electra.
+
+"And of course there are none for me! There never are! No one ever
+writes to me. The poor have no correspondents. I did not expect a
+letter, and I am not disappointed," murmured Mary Grey, with that
+charming expression, between a smile and a sigh, that she had always
+found so effective.
+
+"Well, there is no letter for any one, it seems, so none of us have
+cause to feel slighted by fortune more than others," added Emma
+Cavendish, cheerfully.
+
+But Peter, the post-office boy, looked from one to the other, with his
+black eyes growing bigger and bigger, as he felt with his hand in the
+empty mail-bag and exclaimed:
+
+"I'clar's to de law der was a letter for some uns. Miss Emmer, 'cause I
+see de pos'marser put it in de bag wid his own hands, which it were a
+letter wid a black edge all 'round de outside of it, and a dob o' black
+tar, or somethink, onto the middle o' the back of it."
+
+As the boy spoke, the Rev. Dr. Jones began again to turn over the
+magazines and newspapers until he found the letter, which had slipped
+between the covers of the _Edinboro' Review_.
+
+"It is for you, my dear," he said, as he passed the missive across the
+table to Miss Cavendish.
+
+"I wonder from whom it comes? The handwriting is quite unfamiliar to me.
+And the postmark is New York, where I have no correspondents whatever,"
+said Emma, in surprise, as she broke the black seal.
+
+"Oh, maybe it's a circular from some merchant who has heard of the great
+Alleghany heiress," suggested Electra.
+
+"You will permit me?" said Emma, glancing at her companions as she
+unfolded her letter.
+
+And then, as one and another nodded and smiled and returned to their
+magazines and papers. Emma Cavendish glanced at the signature of her
+strange letter, started with surprise, gazed at it a second time more
+attentively, and then turned hurriedly and began to read it.
+
+And as she read her face paled and flushed, and she glanced from time to
+time at the faces of her companions; but they were all engaged with
+pamphlets and papers, except Mrs. Grey, whom Emma perceived to be
+furtively watching her.
+
+The strange letter was written in rather a wild and rambling style of
+composition, as if the writer were a little brain sick. It ran as
+follows:
+
+
+                    "BLANK HOTEL, New York City, April 27th, 18--.
+
+   "MY DEAR MISS CAVENDISH:--Our near blood relationship might
+   warrant me in addressing you as my dear Emma. But I refrain,
+   because you would not understand the familiarity any more than
+   you recognize this handwriting, which must seem as strange to you
+   as my face would seem if I were to present myself bodily before
+   you; for you have never set eyes upon me, and perhaps have never
+   even heard my name mentioned or my existence alluded to.
+
+   "And yet I am one of your family, near of kindred to yourself; in
+   fact, your own dear mother's only sister.
+
+      "'We were two daughter's of one race,
+      _She_ was the fairer in the face.'
+
+   Yes, she was literally so. Your mother was a beautiful blonde, as
+   I have been told that you, her only child, also are. I am--or,
+   rather, I _was_ before my hair turned white with sorrow--a very
+   dark brunette.
+
+   "If you have ever heard of me at all, which I doubt--for I know
+   that at home my once loved and cherished name
+
+      "'Was banished from each lip and ear,
+      Like words of wickedness or fear'--
+
+   but if you ever heard of me at all you must have heard of that
+   willful love marriage which separated me from all my family.
+
+   "Since that ill-omened marriage an unbroken succession of
+   misfortunes have attended my husband and myself until they
+   culminated in the most crushing calamity of our lives--the loss
+   of our dear and only daughter in a manner worse than death.
+
+   "Soon after that awful bereavement our creditors foreclosed the
+   mortgage on our estate at White Perch Point, and sold the place
+   over our heads.
+
+   "And my poor husband and myself went out to California, childless
+   and almost penniless, to begin life anew.
+
+   "We began in a very humble way indeed. As he was familiar with
+   hotel business he got a place as bar-tender in a San Francisco
+   hotel; and soon afterward I got a place in the same house, to
+   look after and keep in repair the bed and table linen. And we
+   lodged in the hotel, in a small attic chamber, and took our meals
+   in the pantry.
+
+   "But we were both utterly broken down in mind and body, as well
+   as in estate.
+
+   "He soon sank into a consumption and had to give up his place. I
+   hired a room in a small house and took him to it. I still
+   retained my place at the hotel, because my salary there was the
+   only support we had. But I lived there no longer. I used to go in
+   the morning, make the daily inspection of the linen, and bring
+   home what needed mending; and working all the afternoon and half
+   the night at my husband's bedside.
+
+   "But rent and food and fuel, physic and physicians' fees were
+   very costly in San Francisco. And with all my work I fell deeper
+   and deeper into debt.
+
+   "At length my poor husband died. And it took the proceeds of the
+   sale of all our little personal effects to pay for the humblest
+   sort of funeral.
+
+   "And I was left entirely destitute. Then my courage gave way. I
+   wept myself so blind that I could no longer mend the linen at
+   the hotel, or even see whether it wanted mending. Then I fell
+   sick with sorrow and had to be taken to the hospital.
+
+   "At the end of three months I was dismissed. But where could I
+   go? What could I do, broken in health and nearly blind as I was?
+
+   "I must have perished then and there but for the timely
+   assistance of a young gold-digger who happened to hear about me
+   when he came up to the city from his distant mining-camp.
+
+   "He was a very queer young man, whom his few friends called crazy
+   on account of his lonely and ascetic manner of life, and his
+   lavish liberality.
+
+   "He sought me out to relieve my wants. And upon my telling him
+   that all I wanted was to go home to die, he bought me a whole
+   state-room to myself in the first cabin of the 'Golden City,'
+   bound from San Francisco to New York. And then he bought me an
+   outfit in clothing, good enough for a duke's widow. And he gave
+   me a sum of money besides, and started me fairly and comfortably
+   on my voyage.
+
+   "I reached New York three days ago. But my strength continues to
+   fail and my funds to waste. I have no power to work, even if I
+   could procure anything to do. And I have not money enough to
+   support me a month longer.
+
+   "I do not like to go into an alms-house. Yet what am I to do?
+
+   "But why do I write to you? you may naturally inquire.
+
+   "Why? Because, although a perfect stranger, you are, after all,
+   my niece, my only sister's only child, my own only blood
+   relation. And 'blood is thicker than water.'
+
+   "'I can not work; to beg I am ashamed.'
+
+   "I do not, therefore, beg, even of you. I do not so much as make
+   any suggestion to you. I tell you the facts of the case, and I
+   leave you to act upon them, or to ignore them entirely, at your
+   pleasure.
+
+   "I do not even know whether I may venture to sign myself your
+   aunt,          KATHERINE FANNING."
+
+
+Emma Cavendish read this letter through to the end; then she glanced at
+her companions, who were still all absorbed in the perusal of their
+journals.
+
+Even Mrs. Grey was now lost in a magazine; but it was _Les Modes de
+Paris_, and contained plates and descriptions of all the new spring
+fashions.
+
+So Miss Cavendish, seeing her friends all agreeably occupied and
+amused, returned to her singular letter and recommenced and read it
+carefully through to the end once more.
+
+At the conclusion of the second reading she looked up and spoke to the
+Rev. Dr. Jones, saying:
+
+"Are you reading anything very interesting in that _Quarterly Review_,
+my dear uncle?"
+
+"Well, yes, my child--an article entitled 'Have Animals Reason?'"
+
+"Reason for _what_?" naively inquired Mary Grey, looking up from her
+magazine of fashion.
+
+Every one smiled except Dr. Jones, who condescended to explain that the
+subject under discussion was whether animals were gifted with reasoning
+faculties.
+
+"Oh!" said Mrs. Grey, and returned to her _Modes_.
+
+"You needn't read any more on that subject, grandpa; I can answer that
+question for you, or any other inquirer. All intelligent animals,
+whether they go upon two feet or four, or upon wings or fins, have
+reason just in proportion to their intelligence. And all idiotic
+animals, whether they go upon two feet or four, or wings or fins, lack
+reason just in proportion to their idiocy. Lor'! why I have seen human
+creatures at the Idiot Asylum with less intellect than cats. And I have
+seen some horses with more intelligence than some legislators. You can't
+generalize on these subjects, grandpa," said Miss Electra, with an air
+of conviction.
+
+The Rev. Dr. Jones stared, much as a hen might stare to see her own
+ducklings take to the water. And then he turned to Emma Cavendish and
+said:
+
+"Whether animals have reason or not, my dear, _you_ had some reason for
+interrupting me. Now what was it?"
+
+"To ask you to read this, sir," said Miss Cavendish, putting her letter
+in the hands of her uncle.
+
+He took it and read it slowly through, muttering from time to time:
+
+"Dear, dear, how distressing! Bless my soul alive! Well, well, well!"
+
+And he glanced uneasily at Mary Grey, who fidgeted and flushed under his
+observation.
+
+At length he finished and folded the letter and returned it to Miss
+Cavendish, with the inquiry:
+
+"Well, my dear, what are you going to do in the premises?"
+
+"I shall write immediately and ask my aunt to come here and make this
+her home," answered Emma, promptly.
+
+At these words Mary Grey started, caught her breath with a gasp, and
+quickly whirled her chair around so as to bring her back to the light
+and throw her face in deep shadow.
+
+"What's the matter with you?" inquired Electra.
+
+"The light makes my eyes ache; that is all. You know I have not quite
+got rid of my cold yet," answered the widow in a low, faltering tone
+that might have attracted the attention of Miss Cavendish had not that
+young lady's thoughts been engaged with the subject of her letter.
+
+"You will consult your grandmother before making this important addition
+to the household, I presume?" inquired the old gentleman.
+
+"Yes, of course; but I am certain beforehand of my dear grandma's
+consent and co-operation in such an evident Christian duty," answered
+Miss Cavendish.
+
+And then she turned to her young friends, to whom she thought some
+explanation was due, and she added:
+
+"I have news in this letter that has much surprised and pained me. It is
+from my aunt, Mrs. Fanning. She has lost her husband, and has suffered
+very severe reverses of fortune. She is at this time alone in New York
+City, and in failing health. I shall write for her to come and live with
+us. And not to leave her a day in suspense, I shall telegraph from
+Wendover to-morrow morning."
+
+"I'm glad she's coming. The more the merrier," said Electra, gayly.
+
+Mrs. Grey said nothing. She arose as if to leave the room, tottered
+forward and fell to the floor in a dead swoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE SIREN AND THE SAGE.
+
+
+All started to their feet and rushed to the prostrate woman's
+assistance.
+
+She was but a slight creature, and Dr. Jones lifted her easily and laid
+her on one of the sofas.
+
+Electra flew upstairs to bring down a bottle of Florida water.
+
+Emma patted and rubbed her hands.
+
+Dr. Jones bathed her brow with cold water, sighing and muttering to
+himself:
+
+"Poor girl! Poor unfortunate girl!"
+
+"I take blame to myself," said Emma. "She is evidently much iller than I
+thought. I ought not to have persuaded her to leave her room so soon
+after her cold. It is my fault."
+
+At that instant Electra ran in with the Florida water and dashed a
+liberal portion of it over the head and face of the fainting woman.
+
+The shock and the penetrating odor combined to rouse her from
+insensibility; and with a few gasps she recovered her consciousness;
+though her face, after one sudden flush, settled into a deadly paleness.
+
+"My poor dear, how are you?" inquired Emma Cavendish, kindly.
+
+"Dying, I think; dying, I hope! Let some one help me to my room," she
+murmured.
+
+Dr. Jones at once lifted her in his arms and bore her upstairs, preceded
+by Electra, who flew on before to show the way to Mary Grey's room, and
+followed by Emma Cavendish, who still blamed herself for the invalid's
+supposed relapse.
+
+Dr. Jones laid her on her bed, and was about to leave her to the care of
+Emma and Electra, when she seized his hand and drew him down to her face
+and said:
+
+"I wish to speak to you for a moment _now_. Send Miss Cavendish and Miss
+Coroni out of the room for a little while."
+
+"My dear children, go away for a moment. Mrs. Grey wishes to speak to me
+alone," said Dr. Jones.
+
+And Emma and Electra softly retired, with the belief that Mary Grey only
+wished to consult the minister on religious subjects.
+
+As soon as the door was closed behind them Mary Grey seized the old
+man's hand and, fixing her great black eyes fiercely upon him, demanded:
+
+"_Do they suspect?_"
+
+"No; certainly not."
+
+"Did you drop no word during my swoon that might have led them to
+suspect?"
+
+"Not one syllable."
+
+"I thank you then!" she exclaimed, with a long sigh of relief.
+
+"But, my child, was that all you wished to talk to me about?"
+
+"That was all, except this: to beg you still to be silent as the grave
+in regard to my identity."
+
+"My child, your words disappoint and grieve me. I did hope that you
+asked this private interview with the design to consult me about the
+propriety of making yourself known."
+
+"Making myself known!" she exclaimed, with a half-suppressed shriek, as
+she started up upon her elbow and stared at the speaker. "Making myself
+known!"
+
+"The opportunity, my dear child, is such an excellent one. And, of
+course, you know that if Mrs. Fanning comes here--as she must; for there
+is no other refuge open to her--if she comes and finds you here,
+discovery is inevitable."
+
+"But she will not find me here! She shall not! I could not look her in
+the face. Sooner than do that, I will hurl myself from the turnpike
+bridge into the Mad River!" she fiercely exclaimed.
+
+"My child, do not talk so wickedly. It is frightful to hear such
+things!" cried the old man, shuddering.
+
+"You will _see_ such things, if you do not mind. I am quite capable of
+doing what I said, for I am tired and sick of this life of constant
+dependence, mortification and terror--an insupportable life!" she wildly
+exclaimed.
+
+"Because, my poor girl, it is a life of concealment, in constant dread
+of discovery and the humiliation attending discovery. Change all that
+and your life will be happier. Trust in those who are nearest to you,
+and make yourself, your name, your errors, and your sufferings and
+repentance fully known. Emma Cavendish is the ruling power in this
+house, and she is a pure, noble, magnanimous spirit. She would protect
+you," pleaded the old man, taking her hand.
+
+"Oh, yes, she is all that! Do you think that makes it any easier for me
+to shock her with the story of my own folly, weakness and cowardice? Oh,
+no, no! I could not bear the look of her clear, truthful blue eyes! And
+I would not! There; it is useless to talk to me, Doctor Jones! There are
+some things that I can not do. I can not stay here!"
+
+"My poor, poor child, whither will you go? Stay! Now I think of it, I
+can send you to my house at Beresford Manors. That shall be your home,
+if you will accept it. But what excuse can you make for leaving this
+place so abruptly?"
+
+"You are very kind, Doctor Jones. You are very kind. But a moment's
+reflection will teach you that I could not accept your hospitality. You
+have no lady, I believe, at Beresford Manors? No one there except the
+colored servants? Therefore, you see, it would not be proper for me to
+go there," said Mary Grey, affecting a prudery that she did not feel,
+and objecting to the place only because she did not choose to bury
+herself in a house more lonely, dreary and deserted, if possible, than
+Blue Cliff Hall itself.
+
+"Then where can you go, my poor girl?" compassionately questioned the
+old minister.
+
+"I have thought of that. Sudden as this emergency is, I am not quite
+unprepared for it. This crisis that I feared _might_ come _has_ come,
+that is all. Only it has come in a far different manner from what I
+feared. But the result must be the same. I must leave the house
+immediately. And you must help to smooth my way toward leaving it."
+
+"But whither will you go, poor shorn lamb?"
+
+"I have planned out all that, in view of this very contingency. I will
+go to Charlottesville, where I have a lady friend who keeps a
+boarding-house for the University students. I can stay with her, and
+make myself useful in return for board and lodging, until I get
+something to do for a living. That is all settled. I asked you for this
+interview only to satisfy myself that no hint of my identity had been
+dropped, and no suspicion of it excited, during my swoon; and, further,
+to beg you to keep my miserable secret hereafter, as you have hitherto."
+
+"I have satisfied you, I hope, upon all those subjects."
+
+"Yes; and I thank you."
+
+"But still I can not abandon the hope that you will yet heed good
+counsel and make yourself known to your best friends," pleaded the old
+man.
+
+But Mary Grey shook her head.
+
+Dr. Jones coaxed, argued, lectured, all in vain.
+
+At length, worn out by his importunities, Mary Grey, to gain her own
+ends, artfully replied:
+
+"Well, dear, good, wise friend, if ever I _do_ gain courage to make
+myself known to my family, I must do it from some little distance, and
+by letter, so as to give them time to get over the shock of the
+revelation, before I could dare to face them. Think of it yourself. How
+could we bear to look each other in the eyes while telling and hearing
+such a story?"
+
+"I believe you are right _so_ far. Yes, in _that_ view of the case it
+is, perhaps, better that you should go away and then write," admitted
+Dr. Jones.
+
+"And you will aid me in my efforts to get away at once and without
+opposition? Tell them that it is better for my health and spirits that I
+should go away for a while, and go immediately--as it really is, you
+know. Will you do this?"
+
+"Yes, I will do it, in the hope that your nervous system may be
+strengthened, and you may find courage to do the duty that lies before
+you," said the doctor, as he pressed her hand and left the room.
+
+Dr. Jones went down-stairs to the drawing-room, where the young ladies
+waited in anxious suspense.
+
+Emma Cavendish arose and looked at him in silent questioning.
+
+"There is no cause for alarm, my dear Emma. Your friend will do very
+well. No, you need not go up to her room. She requires absolutely
+nothing but to be left to repose. You can look in on her, if you like,
+just before you go to bed. That will be time enough," explained Dr.
+Jones, as he took his seat at the table and took up his _Review_ again
+as if nothing had happened to interrupt his reading.
+
+Emma Cavendish breathed a sigh of relief and resumed her seat. She and
+Electra read or conversed in a low voice over their magazines until the
+hour of retiring.
+
+Electra was the first to close her pamphlet, as with an undisguised
+yawn, for which her school-mistress would have rebuked her, she declared
+that she could not keep her eyes open a minute longer, much less read a
+line, and that she was going to bed.
+
+Dr. Jones, with as much courtesy as if he had not been her grandfather,
+arose and lighted her bedroom candle and put it in her hand.
+
+And she kissed him a drowsy good-night and went upstairs.
+
+Emma was about to follow, when the doctor motioned her to resume her
+seat.
+
+She did so, and waited.
+
+"I want a word with you about Mrs. Grey, my dear Emma. She is very much
+out of health."
+
+"I feared so," replied Emma Cavendish.
+
+"Or, to speak with more literal truth, I should say that her nervous
+system is very much disordered."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"She is full of sick fancies. She wishes to go away for a while to get a
+change of scene."
+
+"I will go with her to any watering-place she desires to visit, in the
+season," said Emma Cavendish, readily.
+
+"Yes; but, my dear, she must have this change now, immediately."
+
+"I would go with her now if I could leave my guests. You know I have
+Electra here, and Laura will return in two days perhaps, with her
+brother also."
+
+"My good child, she does not ask or need any attendance. She wants to go
+away by herself for a while. She wants to go to an old lady friend in
+Charlottesville."
+
+"I have heard her lately speak of such a friend, and of her intention,
+some day, to visit her."
+
+"Well, she wishes to go now, immediately, but is afraid to mention her
+desire lest it should meet with opposition, which she has no nerve to
+contest."
+
+"Dear uncle, how strange that she should feel this way! Why, she is not
+a prisoner here! And if she wishes to leave us for a short or a long
+time she can do so."
+
+"Of coarse she can, my dear; but she is full of sick fancies. And my
+advice to you is that you let her go at once. To-morrow morning, if she
+wishes."
+
+"Why certainly, Uncle Beresford! I have neither the power nor the will
+to prevent her."
+
+"So let it be then, my dear. And now good-night," said the doctor,
+taking his candle to leave the room.
+
+Thus the matter was settled.
+
+But the next day old Mrs. Cavendish, Electra, and, in fact, the whole
+house, were thrown into a state of consternation at the announcement of
+Mrs. Grey's immediate departure.
+
+When or how she had managed to get her personal effects together,
+whether she had kept them packed up for the emergency, or whether she
+had sat up all night to pack them, I do not know; but it is certain that
+by seven o'clock that morning she had three enormous Saratoga trunks
+packed, strapped and locked ready for the wagon that she asked for to
+take them to the railway station.
+
+It was not until her luggage was in the wagon, and the carriage was
+waiting for her at the door, and she herself in her traveling-suit and
+hat, that she went to bid the old lady good-bye.
+
+Mrs. Cavendish had been informed by Emma of the intended abrupt
+departure of Mary Grey, and she had begun to oppose it with all her
+might.
+
+But Emma endeavored to convince her that the change was vitally
+necessary to Mary Grey's health and strength.
+
+So now when the traveler entered the old lady's room the latter feebly
+arose to her feet, holding on to the arm of her chair, while she
+faltered:
+
+"Mary--Mary, this is so sudden, so shocking, so sorrowful, that I almost
+think it will make me ill! Why must you go, my dear?"
+
+"Sweet mother--may I call you so?--sweet mother, I will tell _you_ what
+I did not like to tell dear Emma, for fear it might distress her; she is
+so sensitive, you know!" murmured the siren, sitting down and tenderly
+caressing the old lady.
+
+"Tell me then, my love, tell me anything you like," said Mrs. Cavendish,
+weeping.
+
+"Well, you know that dear old lady friend in Charlottesville, of whom I
+spoke to you a week or so ago?"
+
+"Ah, yes! The bishop's widow, who is reduced to keeping a student's
+boarding-house to help support her fifteen children," sighed the ancient
+dame.
+
+"Yes, and my dear dead mother's dearest friend. Well, I have heard that
+she is in a dying condition and desires above all things to see me
+before she departs. That's what shocked me so severely as to make me
+quite ill. But I never should forgive myself if by any delay of mine she
+really should depart without having her last wish gratified. Do you
+blame me for hurrying away?"
+
+"No, no, no, my child--my own lovely child! I do not wonder my poor
+Charley worshiped you, you are so very good! Go, Mary, my darling! But
+hurry back as soon as possible."
+
+"Yes, sweet mother, I will. And now, not a word to Emma, or to any one
+else who might tell her of these distressing circumstances."
+
+"No, no; certainly not! How thoughtful you are, for one so young, my
+good child! Bend down and take my blessing."
+
+Mary Grey bowed her head.
+
+The venerable lady placed her withered hands upon the bent head, raised
+her eyes to heaven, and solemnly invoked a blessing on the traitress.
+
+And then Mary Grey arose, kissed her in silence, and left the room.
+
+And thus they parted.
+
+In the hall below she had to part with Emma and Electra.
+
+"We hope you will return to us very soon, dear Mrs. Grey," said Emma
+Cavendish, as she kissed her good-bye.
+
+"I hope so too, my dear," answered the widow.
+
+"But you will scarcely get back before I return to school, so ours must
+be a very long good-bye," said Electra, as she also kissed the "parting
+guest."
+
+"'Tis true, 'tis pity," said Mrs. Grey, between a smile and a sigh.
+
+Dr. Jones then handed her into the carriage, and followed and took a
+seat by her side, for he was to attend her to the station and see her
+off on her journey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+EMMA'S VICTORY.
+
+
+When Emma Cavendish turned back into the house she went up into the old
+lady's room with the intention of breaking to her the news of Katherine
+Fanning's widowhood and destitution, and of her own desire to invite her
+to come and live at Blue Cliffs.
+
+She found Mrs. Cavendish just finishing her nice breakfast with Aunt
+Moll in attendance upon her.
+
+"Here, take away the service now," said the old lady, putting down her
+empty coffee-cup. "And now, Emma, I am very glad you have come. I feel
+quite low about parting with Mary. What an angel she is!"
+
+"Cheer up, grandma! We shall have another addition to our family circle
+soon," said Emma, pleasantly.
+
+"Who is coming, my dear?" inquired Mrs. Cavendish, with all the
+curiosity of a recluse.
+
+"Oh, another lady!" slowly answered Miss Cavendish, to give Aunt Moll
+time to get out of the room with her breakfast tray.
+
+And when the old woman had shut the door behind her, Emma said:
+
+"Dear grandma, you will be very much surprised to hear who it is that is
+coming."
+
+And when Mrs. Cavendish looked up surprised indeed, as well as somewhat
+alarmed, Emma began and told her of the letter she had received from
+Mrs. Fanning; of her widowhood and destitution, and of her recent
+arrival in New York.
+
+"All this is very distressing, my dear Emma, but you see in it only the
+natural consequences of a low marriage," said the old aristocrat.
+
+"But the marriage is broken by death, dear grandma, and the error is
+atoned for by much suffering," said Emma, gently.
+
+"Well, my dear, what does the poor woman want us to do?" inquired Mrs.
+Cavendish.
+
+"She asks nothing, grandma. She simply writes to me, her sister's
+child--"
+
+"Her _half_-sister's child!" haughtily interrupted the old lady.
+
+"It is the same thing, grandma. Her half-sister's child, and her only
+living relative--"
+
+"Her only living relative?" again interrupted the old lady. "Where is
+her own misguided daughter?"
+
+"Supposed to be dead, dear grandma. Certainly dead to her," said Emma,
+sadly.
+
+"Well, go on, child; go on."
+
+"She writes to me, I say, and tells me of her situation--widowed,
+childless, homeless and utterly destitute in a strange city; but she
+asks nothing--suggests nothing."
+
+"Well, and what would you do--you, her only living relative?" inquired
+the ancient dame in a tone approaching sarcasm.
+
+"I would restore to her all that she has lost, if I could. I would give
+her back husband, daughter, home and competence," said Emma.
+
+"But you can't do it any more than you can give her back her lost
+caste," interrupted the old lady.
+
+Emma felt discouraged but did not yield her point.
+
+"No, dear grandma," she answered, sorrowfully, "I can not give her back
+her husband, her child, or her wealth; but I can give my mother's
+suffering sister a home and a friend."
+
+Madam Cavendish lowered her gold-rimmed spectacles from her cap frills
+to her eyes, placed her lace-mittened hands on the arms of her chair and
+looked straight and steadily into the face of her granddaughter.
+
+It was extremely disheartening, and Emma dropped her eyes before that
+severe gaze and bowed her head meekly.
+
+But Emma, though she was the young girl, was in the right; and Madam
+Cavendish, though she was an ancient and venerable dame, was in the
+wrong.
+
+Emma knew this quite well, and in the argument that ensued she lovingly,
+respectfully, yet unflinchingly, maintained her point.
+
+At length Madam Cavendish yielded, saying, scornfully: "Well, my dear,
+it is more your affair than mine. Invite her here if you will. I wash my
+hands of it. Only don't ask me to be intimate with the inn-keeper's
+widow; for I won't. And that's all about it."
+
+"My dear grandma, you shall never see or hear of her, if you do not like
+to do so. You seldom leave your two rooms. And she shall never enter
+either unless you send for her," answered Emma.
+
+"So be it then, my dear. And now let me go to sleep. I always want to
+go to sleep after an argument," said Madam Cavendish, closing her eyes
+and sinking back in her arm-chair.
+
+Emma Cavendish stooped and kissed her, and then left the room.
+
+In fifteen minutes after she had written and dispatched to the office at
+Wendover a telegram to this effect:
+
+
+   "BLUE CLIFFS, April 29th, 18--
+
+   "DEAR AUNT:--Come home to me here as soon as possible. I will
+   write to-day. EMMA CAVENDISH."
+
+
+And in the course of that day she did write a kind and comforting letter
+to the bereaved and suffering woman, expressing much sympathy with her
+in her affliction, inviting her to come and live at Blue Cliffs for the
+rest of her life, and promising all that an affectionate niece could do
+to make her life easy and pleasant.
+
+Miss Cavendish had but just finished this letter, when Mr. Craven Kyte
+was announced.
+
+Emma, who was always kind to the ward of her late father, at once
+received him and sent for Electra to help to entertain him.
+
+But notwithstanding the presence of two beautiful girls, one the fairest
+blonde, the other the brightest brunette, and both kind and affable in
+their manners to him, the young man was restless and anxious, until at
+length, with fierce blushes and faltering tones, he expressed a hope
+that Mrs. Grey was well, and made an inquiry if she were in.
+
+Electra laughed.
+
+Emma told him that Mrs. Grey had gone for change of air to
+Charlottesville, and would be absent for some time. She also
+added--although the young man had not once thought of inquiring for Miss
+Lytton--that Laura had likewise gone to visit her uncle's family at
+Lytton Lodge.
+
+The foolish young victim of the widow's false wiles looked very much
+disappointed and depressed, yet had sense enough left him to remember to
+say that, as he himself was on the road to Perch Point and should take
+Lytton Lodge on his way, he would be happy to convey any letter or
+message from the ladies of Blue Cliffs to Miss Lytton.
+
+Emma thanked him and availed herself of his offer by sending a letter,
+as we have seen.
+
+And then she went about the house, attended by old Moll, selecting and
+arranging rooms for her new-expected guests.
+
+The next afternoon she was quite surprised by another call from Craven
+Kyte. He was shown into the parlor, where she sat at work with Electra.
+
+"You have come back quickly; but we are glad to see you," she said, as
+she arose to shake hands with him.
+
+"Yes, miss," he answered, after bowing to her and to Electra; "yes,
+miss, I reached Perch Point last night, and I left it early this
+morning. In going I called at Lytton Lodge and delivered your letter,
+miss."
+
+"The family at the lodge are well, I hope."
+
+"All well, miss. And as I passed by the gate this morning the man
+Taters, who was at work on the lawn, told me that Mr. Alden and Miss
+Laura Lytton would leave for this place at noon."
+
+"Then they will be here to-night," said Electra.
+
+"Yes, miss."
+
+"Will you stay and spend the afternoon and evening with us, Mr. Kyte?
+Shall I ring and have your horse put up?" inquired Miss Cavendish.
+
+"No, thank you, miss. I must get back to Wendover to-night. Fact is, I'm
+on the wing again," said the young man, stammering and blushing.
+"Business of importance calls me to--to Charlottesville, miss. So if you
+should have a letter or a message to send to--to Mrs. Grey I should be
+happy to take it."
+
+Emma Cavendish and Electra Coroni looked at each other in comic
+surprise.
+
+"Why, you must be an amateur postman, Mr. Kyte! To fetch and carry
+letters seems to be your mission on earth," laughed Electra.
+
+"So it has often been said of me, miss. And if you or Miss Cavendish
+have any to send, I should be happy to take them," answered the young
+man, quite seriously.
+
+"I have none," said Electra.
+
+"Nor I, thank you," added Emma; "but you may, if you please, give my
+love to Mrs. Grey, and tell her we shall feel anxious until we hear of
+her safe arrival and improved health."
+
+"I will do so with much pleasure," said Mr. Kyte, rising to take leave.
+
+As soon as the visitor had left them the two young ladies exchanged
+glances of droll amazement.
+
+"As sure as you live, Emma, the business of importance that takes him to
+Charlottesville is Mrs. Mary Grey! He's taken in and done for, poor
+wretch! I shouldn't wonder a bit if he sold out his share in the fancy
+dry-goods store at Wendover and invested all his capital in college fees
+and entered himself as a student at the University, for the sake of
+being near his enchantress," said Electra.
+
+"Poor boy!" sighed Emma, with genuine pity.
+
+And before they could exchange another word, the sound of
+carriage-wheels at the gate announced the arrival of Alden and Laura
+Lytton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FALSE AND THE TRUE LOVE.
+
+    Did woman's charms thy youth beguile,
+      And did the fair one faithless prove?
+    Hath she betrayed thee with a smile
+                And sold thy love?
+
+    Live! 'Twas a false, bewildering fire:
+      Too often love's insidious dart
+    Thrills the fond soul with wild desire,
+                But kills the heart.
+
+    A nobler love shall warm thy breast,
+      A brighter maiden faithful prove,
+    And thy ripe manhood shall be blest
+                In woman's love.
+                              --MONTGOMERY.
+
+
+Emma Cavendish, with her cheeks blooming and eyes beaming with pleasure,
+ran out to meet her friends.
+
+Alden and Laura Lytton, just admitted by the footman, stood within the
+hall.
+
+Miss Cavendish welcomed Laura with a kiss and Alden with a cordial grasp
+of the hand.
+
+"I am so delighted to see you, dear Laura; and you also, Mr. Lytton,"
+she said, leading the way into the parlor.
+
+"Well as I like my kind relatives at Lytton Lodge, I am very glad to get
+back to you, Emma, dear, and that is the truth," answered Laura, as she
+sank into an arm-chair and began to draw off her gloves.
+
+Alden said nothing. He had bowed deeply in response to Miss Cavendish's
+words of welcome, and now he was thinking what a bright and beautiful
+creature she was, how full of healthful, joyous life she seemed, and
+wondering that he had never noticed all this before.
+
+But he had noticed it before. When he first saw Emma Cavendish in her
+father's house in the city he had thought her the most heavenly vision
+of loveliness that had ever beamed upon mortal eyes; and he would have
+continued to think so had not the baleful beauty of Mary Grey glided
+before him and beguiled his sight and his soul.
+
+But Mary Grey was gone with all her magic arts, and the very atmosphere
+seemed clearer and brighter for her absence.
+
+"As soon as you have rested a little come up to your room, Laura, and
+lay on your wraps. Tea will be ready by the time we come down again.
+And, Mrs. Lytton, your old attendant, Jerome, will show you to your
+apartment," said the young hostess, as she arose, with a smile, to
+conduct her guest.
+
+They left the drawing-room together.
+
+And while Laura Lytton was arranging her toilet in the chamber above
+stairs, Emma Cavendish told her the particulars of Mary Grey's
+departure, and also of the letter she had received from her
+long-estranged relative, Mrs. Fanning.
+
+They went down to tea, where they were joined by Electra and the Rev.
+Dr. Jones.
+
+Miss Cavendish presented Mr. Lytton to Dr. Jones. And then they sat down
+to the table.
+
+Alden Lytton's eyes and thoughts were naturally enough occupied and
+interested in Emma Cavendish. He had not exactly fallen in love with
+her, but he was certainly filled with admiration for the loveliest girl
+he had ever seen. And he could but draw involuntary comparisons between
+the fair, frank, bright maiden and the beautiful, alluring widow.
+
+Both were brilliant, but with this difference: the one with the pure
+life-giving light of Heaven, and the other with the fatal fire of
+Tartarus.
+
+After tea they went into the drawing-room, where they spent a long
+evening talking over old times--_their_ "old times" being something less
+than one year of age.
+
+And every hour confirmed Alden Lytton's admiration of Emma Cavendish.
+
+The next day Alden Lytton was invited upstairs to the old lady's room
+and presented to Madam Cavendish, who received him with much cordiality,
+telling him that his grandfather had been a lifelong personal friend of
+hers, and that she had known his father from his infancy up to the time
+that he had left the neighborhood to practice law in the city.
+
+And after a short interview the ancient gentlewoman and the young law
+student parted mutually well pleased with each other.
+
+"A fine young man--a very fine young man indeed; but more like his
+grandfather, as I remember him in his youth, than like his father, whom
+I could not always well approve," said the old lady to her confidential
+attendant, Aunt Moll, who had closed the chamber door after the
+departing visitor.
+
+"Dunno nuffin 'tall 'bout dat, ole mist'ess, but he monsus hansume,
+dough--umph-um; a'n't he dough? And a'n't he got eyes--umph-um!"
+
+Alden went down-stairs.
+
+"The most interesting old lady I have ever seen in my life, with the
+balsamic aroma of history and antiquity about her and all her
+surroundings," he said, as he joined the young ladies in the
+drawing-room.
+
+"Balsamic aroma of _what_?" inquired Electra, who had no taste for
+poetry and no reverence for antiquity. "Young man, it was the dried
+'yarbs' she keeps in her closet that you smelled. Besides, antiquity has
+no other odor than that of mold and must."
+
+Alden blushed, laughed and looked at Emma Cavendish.
+
+"You must not mind my cousin Electra, Mr. Lytton. She is a privileged
+person among us. By the way, Laura has told you, I presume, of our
+relationship," said Emma, pleasantly.
+
+"Oh, yes!" returned young Lytton, with a smile and a bow. "And I am
+happy to have this opportunity of congratulating you both."
+
+"Thanks," said Miss Cavendish, with a vivid blush.
+
+"I believe there was some talk about a picnic party to the top of
+Porcupine Mountain, was there not?" inquired Electra, to cut short all
+sentiment.
+
+"Yes, my dear, and the horses are ordered for eleven o'clock. It is
+half-past ten now, and we will go and put on our hats and habits,"
+replied Miss Cavendish, playfully rising and breaking up the conference.
+
+The party of young friends remained one week longer at Blue Cliffs,
+every day deepening and confirming the admiration and respect with which
+the beauty and the excellence of Emma Cavendish inspired Alden Lytton.
+But yet he was not in love with her.
+
+Every morning was spent by the young people in riding or driving about
+through the sublime and beautiful mountain and valley scenery of the
+neighborhood.
+
+And every evening was passed in fancy work, music, reading or
+conversation in the drawing-room.
+
+And so the pleasant days of the Easter holidays passed away, and the
+time for study and for work commenced.
+
+Laura and Electra went away from Blue Cliffs on the same day--Laura
+escorted by her brother Alden, and Electra by her grandfather, the Rev.
+Dr. Jones.
+
+As the party were assembled in the front hall to take leave of their
+fair young hostess before entering the large traveling carriage that
+was to take them to the Wendover railway station, Emma Cavendish went up
+to Alden Lytton and placed a letter in his hand, saying, with a frank
+smile:
+
+"As you are going direct to Charlottesville, Mr. Lytton, I will trouble
+you to take charge of this letter to our mutual friend, Mrs. Grey, who,
+you know, is now staying in that town. Will you do so?"
+
+"Certainly--with great pleasure," stammered Alden in extreme confusion,
+which he could scarcely conceal, and without the slightest consciousness
+that he was telling an enormous falsehood, but with full assurance that
+he should like to oblige Miss Cavendish.
+
+"I hope it will not inconvenience you to deliver this in person, Mr.
+Lytton," added Emma.
+
+"Certainly not, Miss Cavendish," replied Alden, telling unconscious fib
+the second.
+
+"For, you see, I am rather anxious about our friend. She left in ill
+health. She is almost a stranger in Charlottesville. And--this is the
+point--I have not heard from her, by letter or otherwise, since she left
+us; so I fear she may be too ill to write, and may have no friend near
+to write for her. This is why I tax your kindness to deliver the letter
+in person and find out how she is; and--write and let us know. I am
+asking a great deal of you, Mr. Lytton," added Emma, with a deprecating
+smile.
+
+"Not at all. It is a very small service that you require. And I hope you
+know that I should be exceedingly happy to have the opportunity of doing
+any very great service for you, Miss Cavendish," replied Alden,
+truthfully and earnestly.
+
+For in itself it was a very small service that Miss Cavendish had
+required of him, and he would have liked and even preferred another and
+a greater, and, in fact, a different service.
+
+"Many thanks," said Miss Cavendish, with a frank smile, as she left the
+letter in his hands.
+
+Then the adieus were all said, and promises of frequent correspondence
+and future visits exchanged among the young ladies. And the travelers
+departed, and the young hostess re-entered her lonely home and resumed
+her usual routine of domestic duties.
+
+She was anxious upon more than one account.
+
+More than a week had passed since the departure of Mary Grey, and yet,
+as she had told Alden Lytton, she had never heard even of her safe
+arrival at Charlottesville, and she feared that her _protegee_ might be
+suffering from nervous illness among strangers.
+
+More than a week had also passed since she had telegraphed and written
+to her Aunt Fanning in New York. But no answer had yet come from that
+unhappy woman. And she feared that the poor relative whom she wished to
+succor might have met with some new misfortune.
+
+However, Emma had hoped, from day to day, that each morning's mail might
+bring her good news from Charlottesville or New York, or both.
+
+And even to-day she waited with impatience for the return of Jerome, who
+had driven the traveling-carriage containing the departing visitors to
+Wendover, and who might find letters for Blue Cliffs waiting at the
+post-office.
+
+Emma could not be at rest all that day, partly because she missed her
+young companions, whose society had made the lonely house so cheerful,
+and partly because she half expected news with the return of Jerome.
+
+She wandered up and down the deserted drawing-room, and then went
+upstairs to the chambers just vacated by her young friends, where she
+found Sarah, the chamber-maid, engaged in dismantling beds and
+dressing-tables preparatory to shutting up the "spare rooms" for the
+rest of the season.
+
+All this was very dreary and dispiriting.
+
+She left these apartments and would have gone into the old lady's room,
+only that she knew her grandmother was at this hour taking the first of
+her two daily naps.
+
+As she turned to go down-stairs she glanced through the front hall
+window and caught a glimpse of the traveling-carriage, with Jerome
+perched upon the box, slowly winding its way around the circular avenue
+that led to the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A SURPRISE.
+
+
+She ran down-stairs briskly enough now, and ran out of the front door.
+
+"Any letters to-day, Jerome?" she inquired.
+
+"No, miss," answered Jerome, shaking his head.
+
+"Oh, dear, how depressing!" sighed Emma, as she turned to go into the
+house.
+
+But a sound arrested her steps--the opening of the carriage-door. She
+turned and saw Jerome standing before it and in the act of helping some
+one to alight from the carriage.
+
+Another moment and a tall, thin, dark-eyed woman, with very white hair,
+and clad in the deepest widow's weeds, stood before Miss Cavendish.
+
+By instinct Emma recognized her aunt. And she felt very much relieved,
+and very much rejoiced to see her, even while wondering that she should
+have come unannounced either by letter or telegram.
+
+As for Jerome, he stood wickedly enjoying his young lady's astonishment,
+and looking as if he himself had performed a very meritorious action.
+
+"Miss Emma Cavendish, I presume?" said the stranger, a little
+hesitatingly.
+
+"Yes, madam. And you are my Aunt Fanning, I am sure. And I am very glad
+to see you," answered Emma Cavendish.
+
+And she put her arms around the stranger's neck and kissed her.
+
+"Dat's better'n letters, a'n't it, Miss Emmer?" inquired Jerome,
+grinning from ear to ear, and showing a double row of the strongest and
+whitest ivories, as he proceeded to take from the carriage various
+packages, boxes and traveling-bags and so forth.
+
+"Yes, better than letters, Jerome. Follow us into the house with that
+luggage. Come, dear aunt, let us go in. Lean on my arm. Don't be afraid
+to lean heavily. I am very strong," said Emma; and drawing the poor
+lady's emaciated hand through her own arm she led her into the house.
+
+She took her first into the family sitting-room, where there was a
+cheerful fire burning, which the chilly mountain air, in this spring
+weather, made very acceptable.
+
+She placed her in a comfortable cushioned rocking-chair and proceeded to
+take off the traveling-bonnet and shawl with her own hands, saying:
+
+"You must get well rested and refreshed here before you go up to your
+room. You look very tired."
+
+"I am very weak, my dear," answered the lady, in a faint voice.
+
+"I see that you are. I am very sorry to see you so feeble; but we will
+make you stronger here in our exhilarating mountain air. If I had known
+that you would come by this train I should have gone to the railway
+station in person to meet you," said Emma, kindly.
+
+Mrs. Fanning turned her great black eyes upon the young lady and stared
+at her in surprise.
+
+"Why, did you not get my letter?" she inquired.
+
+"No," said Emma. "I anxiously expected to hear from you from day to day,
+but heard nothing either by letter or telegram."
+
+"That is strange! I wrote to you three days ago that I should be at
+Wendover this morning, and so, when I found your carriage there, I
+thought that you had sent for me."
+
+"It was very fortunate that the carriage was there, and I am very glad
+of it; but it was not in fact sent to meet you, for, not having received
+your letter, I did not know that you would arrive to-day. The carriage
+was sent to take some visitors who had been staying with us, and were
+going away, to the railway station. It is a wonder Jerome had not
+explained this to you. He is so talkative," said Emma, smiling.
+
+"I never talk to strange servants," gravely replied the lady. "But I
+will tell you how it happened. I really arrived by the earliest train,
+that got in at Wendover at five o'clock in the morning. There was no
+carriage from Blue Cliffs waiting for me at the railway station, and, in
+fact, no carriage from any place, except the hack from the Reindeer
+Hotel. So I got into that, and, having previously left word with the
+station-master to send the Blue Cliffs carriage after me to the Reindeer
+when it should come, I went on to the hotel to get breakfast and to lie
+down and rest. But when half the forenoon had passed away without any
+arrival for me, I began to grow anxious, fearing that some mistake had
+been made."
+
+"I am very sorry you had to suffer this annoyance, immediately upon your
+arrival here too," said Emma, regretfully.
+
+"Oh, it did not last long! About noon the landlord, Greenfield, rapped
+at my door and told me that the Blue Cliffs carriage had come, and that
+the ostler was watering the horses while the coachman was taking a glass
+of beer at the bar."
+
+"Jerome had doubtless taken our visitors to the station, and called at
+the Reindeer to refresh himself and his horses."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so. Almost at the same moment that the landlord came to
+my door to announce the carriage, I heard some one else, under my
+window, saying to the coachman that there was a lady here waiting to be
+taken to Blue Cliffs; and I went down and got into the carriage with bag
+and baggage. Jerome, if that's his name, very gravely, with a silent
+bow, put up the steps and closed the door and mounted his box and drove
+off."
+
+"But you must have left some baggage behind."
+
+"Yes, three trunks; one very large. Mr. Greenfield, of the Reindeer,
+promised to send them right after me in his wagon."
+
+While they had been speaking, Emma Cavendish had touched the bell and
+given a whispered order to the servant who answered it.
+
+So now the second footman, Peter, appeared with a waiter in his hands,
+on which was served tea, toast, a broiled squab and glass of currant
+jelly.
+
+This was set upon a stand beside Mrs. Fanning's easy-chair.
+
+"I think that you had better take something before you go upstairs,"
+said the young hostess, kindly, as she poured out a cup of tea.
+
+Consumptives are almost always hungry and thirsty, as if nature
+purposely created an unusual appetite for nourishment in order to supply
+the excessive waste of tissue caused by the malady.
+
+And so Mrs. Fanning really enjoyed the delicate luncheon set before her
+so much that she finished the squab, the jelly, the toast and the tea.
+
+When she had been offered and had refused a second supply, Emma proposed
+that she should go up to her room, and she took her at once to the
+beautiful corner chamber, with its southern and eastern aspect, that had
+been fitted up for her.
+
+Here she found that her traveling-trunks, which had already arrived from
+Wendover, were placed.
+
+And here, when she had changed her traveling-dress for a loose wrapper,
+she laid down on a lounge to rest, while Emma darkened the room and left
+her to repose.
+
+Miss Cavendish went straight to the old lady's apartment.
+
+Mrs. Cavendish was sitting in her great easy-chair by the fire, with her
+gold-rimmed spectacles on her nose and her Bible lying open on her lap.
+
+As Emma entered the room the old lady closed the book and looked up with
+a welcoming smile.
+
+"I have come to tell you, my dear grandma, that Aunt Fanning has
+arrived," said Emma, drawing a chair and seating herself by the old
+lady's side.
+
+"Yes, my dear child; but I'll trouble you not to call her Aunt Fanning,"
+said Madam Cavendish, haughtily.
+
+"But she _is_ my aunt, dear grandma," returned Emma, with a deprecating
+smile.
+
+"Then call her Aunt Katherine. I detest the name of that tavern-keeper
+whom she married."
+
+"Grandma--grandma, the man has gone where at least there can be no
+distinctions of mere family rank," said Emma.
+
+"That's got nothing to do with it. We are _here_ now. Well, and when
+did Katherine arrive, and where have you put her? Tell me all about it."
+
+Emma told her all about it.
+
+"Well," said the old lady, "as she is here, though sorely against my
+approbation--still, as she is here we must give her a becoming welcome,
+I suppose. You may bring her to my room to-morrow morning."
+
+"Thank you, grandma, dear; that is just what I would like to do,"
+replied the young lady.
+
+Accordingly, the next morning Mrs. Fanning was conducted by Emma to the
+"Throne Room," as Electra had saucily designated the old lady's
+apartment.
+
+Madam Cavendish was dressed with great care, in a fine black cashmere
+wrapper, lined and trimmed with black silk, and a fine white lace cap,
+trimmed with white piping.
+
+And old Moll, also in her best clothes, stood behind her mistress's
+chair.
+
+The old lady meant to impress "the tavern-keeper's widow" with a due
+sense of reverence.
+
+But the gentlewoman's heart was a great deal better than her head. And
+so, when she saw the girl whom she had once known a brilliant,
+rich-complexioned brunette, with raven hair and sparkling eyes and
+queenly form changed into a woman, old before her time, pale, thin, gray
+and sorrow-stricken, her heart melted with pity, and she held out her
+hand, saying, kindly:
+
+"How do you do, Katie, my dear? I am very sorry to see you looking in
+such ill-health. You have changed very much from the child I knew you,
+twenty-five years ago."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Fanning, as she took and pressed the venerable hand
+that was held out to her. "I have changed. But there is only one more
+change that awaits me--the last great one."
+
+"Moll, wheel forward that other easy-chair. Sit down at once, my poor
+Katie. You look ready to drop from weakness. Emma, my child, pour out a
+glass of that old port wine and bring it to your aunt. You will find it
+in that little cabinet," said Madam Cavendish, speaking to one and
+another in her hurry to be hospitable and to atone for the hard thoughts
+she had cherished and expressed toward this poor suffering and desolate
+woman.
+
+And Mrs. Fanning was soon seated in the deep, soft "sleepy hollow," and
+sipping with comfort the rich old port wine.
+
+"Yes, Katie," said the old lady, resuming the thread of the
+conversation, "that last great change awaits us all--a glorious change,
+Katie, that I for one look forward to with satisfaction and desire
+_always_--with rapture and longing _sometimes_. What will the next life
+be like, I wonder? We don't know. 'Eye hath not seen--ear heard,'" mused
+the old lady.
+
+The interview was not a long one. Soon Emma Cavendish took her aunt from
+the room.
+
+"You must come in and see me every day, Katie, my dear," said the old
+lady, as the two visitors left.
+
+And from that time the desolate widow, the homeless wanderer, found
+loving and tender friends, and a comfortable and quiet home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ALDEN AND HIS EVIL GENIUS MEET AGAIN.
+
+
+Meanwhile the visitors that had left Blue Cliffs that morning traveled
+together until they reached Richmond.
+
+The train got in at ten o'clock that night.
+
+There was no steamboat to Mount Ascension Island until the next day.
+
+So the party for that bourne were compelled to spend the night at
+Richmond.
+
+Alden, although he might have gone on to Charlottesville that night,
+determined to remain with his friends.
+
+The whole party went to the Henrico House, where they were accommodated
+with adjoining rooms.
+
+The next morning they resumed their journey, separating to go their
+several ways. Alden saw the two young ladies safely on the steamboat
+that was to take them to Mount Ascension, and then bade them good-bye,
+leaving them in charge of the Rev. Dr. Jones, who was to escort them to
+the end of their journey.
+
+He had barely time to secure his seat for Charlottesville, where he
+arrived on the afternoon of the same day.
+
+The letter he had to deliver to Mary Grey "burned in his pocket." He
+could not have done otherwise than promise to deliver it in person, when
+fair Emma Cavendish had requested him to do so. And now, of course, he
+must keep his word and go and carry the letter to her, although he would
+rather have walked into a fire than into that false siren's presence.
+
+It is true that his love for her was dead and gone. But it had died such
+a cruel and violent death that the very memory of it was full of pain
+and horror, and to meet her would be like meeting the specter of his
+murdered love. Nevertheless he must not shrink from his duty; he must go
+and do it.
+
+Before reporting at his college, he went to a hotel and changed his
+clothes, and then started out to find Mary Grey's residence. That was
+not so easily done. She had omitted to leave her address with her
+friends at Blue Cliffs, and Emma's letter was simply directed to Mrs.
+Mary Grey, Charlottesville.
+
+True, Charlottesville was not a very large place; but looking for a lady
+there was something like looking for the fabulous needle in the
+haystack.
+
+Still, he had formed a plan of action to find her. He knew that she
+pretended to great piety; that she was a member of the Protestant
+Episcopal Church, and that wherever she might happen to sojourn she
+would be sure to join the church and make friends with the clergy of her
+own denomination.
+
+So Alden bent his steps to the house of the Episcopal minister at
+Charlottesville.
+
+He found the reverend gentleman at home, and received from him, as he
+had expected to do, the address of Mrs. Grey.
+
+"A most excellent young woman, sir--an earnest Christian. She lost not a
+day in presenting her church letter and uniting herself with the church.
+She has been here but ten days, and already she has taken a class in the
+Sunday-school. A most meritorious young woman, sir," said the worthy
+minister, as he handed the card with Mrs. Grey's new address written
+upon it.
+
+To Alden, who knew the false-hearted beauty so well, all this was
+surprising.
+
+But he made no comment. He simply took the card, bowed his thanks, and
+left the house to go and seek the home of Mrs. Grey.
+
+Among many falsehoods, the woman had told one truth when she had
+informed Emma Cavendish that she had a lady friend at Charlottesville
+who kept a students' boarding-house. She had met this lady just previous
+to engaging as drawing-mistress at Mount Ascension. And by her alluring
+arts she had won her sympathy and confidence. She was staying with this
+friend at the time that Alden sought her out.
+
+He now easily found the house.
+
+And when he inquired of the negro boy who answered the bell whether Mrs.
+Grey was at home, he was answered in the affirmative and invited to
+enter the house.
+
+The boy opened a door on the right hand of the narrow entrance passage,
+and Alden passed into the parlor and found himself, unannounced, in the
+presence of his false love.
+
+There was no one with her, and she was sitting at a table, with drawing
+materials before her, apparently engaged in copying a picture.
+
+Hearing the door open and shut, she lifted her head and looked up.
+
+Seeing Alden Lytton standing before her, she dropped the pencil from her
+fingers, turned deathly pale and stared at him in silence.
+
+Alden, if the truth must be told, was scarcely less agitated; but he
+soon recovered his self-command.
+
+"I should apologize," he said, "for coming in unannounced; but I did not
+know that you were here. I was shown into this room by the waiter,
+supposing that I was to remain here until he took my card to you."
+
+She neither moved nor spoke, but sat and stared at him.
+
+"I have only come as the bearer of a letter to you from Miss
+Cavendish--a letter that I promised to deliver in person. Here it is,"
+he said, laying the little packet on the table before her.
+
+Still she made no answer to his words, nor any acknowledgment of his
+service. She did not even take up Emma's letter.
+
+"And now, having done my errand, I will bid you good-afternoon, Mrs.
+Grey," he said, bowing and turning to leave the room.
+
+That broke the panic-stricken spell that held her still.
+
+She started up and clasped her hands suddenly together, exclaiming:
+
+"No, no, no; for pity's sake don't go yet! Now that you are here, for
+Heaven's sake stay a moment and listen to me!"
+
+"What can you possibly have to say to me, Mrs. Grey?" coolly inquired
+the young man.
+
+"Oh, sit down--sit down one little moment and hear me! I have not got
+the plague, that you should hasten from me so," she pleaded.
+
+It was in Alden's thoughts to say that moral plagues were even more
+dangerous and fatal than material ones; but the woman before him looked
+so really distressed that he forbore.
+
+"I know that you have ceased to love me," she went on in a broken voice.
+"I know, of course, that you have ceased to love me--"
+
+"Yes, I am thoroughly cured of that egregious boyish folly," assented
+Alden, grimly.
+
+"I know it, and I would not seek to recover your lost, lost love; but--"
+
+Her voice, that had been faltering, now quite broke down, and she burst
+into tears and sobbed as if her heart was breaking.
+
+And her grief was as real as it was violent; for she had loved the
+handsome young law student, and she mourned the loss of his love.
+
+Alden sat apparently unmoved, but in truth he was beginning to feel very
+sorry for this woman, but it was with the sorrow we feel for a suffering
+criminal, and totally distinct from sympathy or affection.
+
+Presently her gust of tears and sobs exhausted itself, and she sighed
+and dried her eyes and said:
+
+"Yes, I know that all love is quite over between us."
+
+"Quite over," assented Alden, emphatically.
+
+"And it is not to renew that subject that I asked you to stay and listen
+to me."
+
+"No," said Alden, gently, "I presume not."
+
+"But, though all thoughts of love are forever over between us, yet I can
+not bear that we should live at enmity. As for me, I am not your enemy,
+Alden Lytton."
+
+"Nor am I yours, Mrs. Grey. You and I can live as strangers without
+being enemies."
+
+"Live as strangers! Oh, but that is just what would break my heart
+utterly! Why should we live as strangers? If all love is over between
+us, and if we are still not enemies, if we have forgiven each other, why
+should we two live as strangers in this little town? Why may we not meet
+at least as the common friends of every day?"
+
+"Because the memory of the past would preclude the possibility of our
+meeting pleasantly or profitably."
+
+"Oh, Alden, you are very hard! You have not forgiven me!"
+
+"I have utterly forgiven you."
+
+"But you cherish hard thoughts of me?"
+
+"Mrs. Grey, I must regard your actions--the actions that separated
+us--as they really are," answered Alden, sadly and firmly, as he arose
+and took his hat to leave the room.
+
+"No, no, no; _don't_ go yet! You _must_ hear me--you _shall_ hear me!
+Even a convicted murderer is allowed to speak for himself!" she
+exclaimed, with passionate tears.
+
+Alden sighed and sat down.
+
+"You must regard my actions as they really are, you say. Ah, but the
+extenuating circumstances, the temptations, the motives--aye, the
+motives!--have you ever thought of them?"
+
+"I can see no motive that could justify your acts," said Alden, coldly.
+
+"No, not justify--I do not justify them even to myself--not justify, but
+_palliate_ them, Alden--palliate them at least in your eyes, if in no
+others."
+
+"And why in my eyes, Mrs. Grey?"
+
+"Oh, Alden, all was planned for your sake!"
+
+"For _my_ sake? I pray you do not say that!"
+
+"Listen, then, and consider all the circumstances. I loved you and
+promised to be your wife at that far distant day when you should come
+into a living law practice. But I was homeless, penniless and helpless.
+I had lost my situation in the school, and I had no prospect of getting
+another. The term of my visit to Emma Cavendish had nearly expired and I
+had nowhere to go. Governor Cavendish loved me with the idolatrous love
+of an old man for a young woman, and besought me to be his wife with
+such insane earnestness that I thought my refusal would certainly be his
+death, especially as it was well known that he was liable to apoplexy
+and that any excitement might bring on a fatal attack. Under all these
+circumstances I think I must have lost my senses; for I reasoned with
+myself--most falsely and fatally reasoned with myself thus: Why should
+not I, who am about to be cast out homeless and penniless upon the wide
+world--why should not I secure myself a home and save this old man's
+life for a few years longer by accepting his love and becoming his wife?
+It is true that I do not love him, but I honor him very much. And I
+would be the comfort of his declining years. He could not live long, and
+when he should come to die I should inherit the widow's third of all his
+vast estates. And then, after a year of mourning should be over, I could
+marry my true love, and bring him a fortune too. There, Alden, the
+reasoning was all false, wicked and fatal. I know that now. But oh,
+Alden, it was not so much for myself as for others that I planned thus!
+I thought to have blessed and comforted the old man's declining years,
+and after his death to have brought a fortune to you. These were my
+motives. They do not justify, but at least they palliate my conduct."
+
+She ceased.
+
+Alden did not reply, but stood up again with his hat in his hand.
+
+"And now, Alden, though we may never be lovers again, may we not meet
+sometimes as friends? I am so lonely here! I am, indeed, all alone in
+the world. We may meet sometimes as friends, Alden?" she asked,
+pathetically.
+
+"No, Mrs. Grey. But yet, if ever I can serve you in any way I will do so
+most willingly. Good-afternoon," said the young man.
+
+And he bowed and left the room.
+
+As he disappeared her beautiful face darkened with a baleful cloud. "No
+fury like a woman scorned," wrote one who seemed to know. Her face
+darkened like a thunder-storm, and from its cloud her eyes shot forked
+lightning. She set her teeth, and clinched her little fist and shook it
+after him, hissing:
+
+"He scorns me--he scorns me! Ah, he may scorn my love! Let him beware of
+my hate! He will not meet me as a friend, but he will serve me
+willingly! Very well; he shall be often called upon to serve me, if only
+to bring him under my power!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+MARY GREY'S MANEUVER.
+
+    She'd tried this world in all its changes,
+    States and conditions; had been loved and happy.
+    Scorned and wretched, and passed through all its stages;
+    And now, believe me, she who knew it best,
+    Thought it not worth the bustle that it cost.
+                                                   --MADDEN.
+
+
+Mary Grey now set systematically to work. Partly from love or its base
+counterfeit, partly from hate, but mostly from vanity, she determined to
+devote every faculty of mind and body to one set object--to win Alden
+Lytton's love back again and to subjugate him to her will.
+
+To all outward seeming she led a most blameless and beneficent life.
+
+She lived with the bishop's widow, and made herself very useful and
+agreeable to the staid lady, who refused to take any money for her
+board.
+
+And although the house was full of students, who boarded and lodged and
+spent their evenings there, with the most wonderful self-government she
+forebore "to make eyes" at any of them.
+
+She now no longer said in so many words that "her heart was buried in
+the grave," and so forth; but she quietly acted as if it was.
+
+She put away all her mourning finery--her black tulles and silks and
+bugles and jet jewelry--and she took to wearing the plainest black
+alpacas and the plainest white muslin caps. She looked more like a
+Protestant nun than a "sparkling" young widow. But she looked prettier
+and more interesting than ever, and she knew it.
+
+She was a regular attendant at her church, going twice on Sunday and
+twice during the week.
+
+On Sunday mornings she was always sure of finding Alden Lytton in his
+seat, which was in full sight of her own. But she never looked toward
+him. She was content to feel that he often looked at her, and that he
+could not look at her and remain quite indifferent to her.
+
+She was also an active member of all the parish benevolent societies, a
+zealous teacher in the Sunday-school, an industrious seamstress in the
+sewing-circle, and a regular visitor of the poor and sick.
+
+Her life seemed devoted to good works, apparently from the love of the
+Lord and the love of her neighbor.
+
+She won golden opinions from all sorts of men, and women too. Only there
+was one significant circumstance about her popularity--_she could not
+win the love of children_. No, not with all her beauty and grace of
+person, and sweetness and softness of tone and manner, she could not win
+the children. Their sensitive spirits shrank from the evil within her
+which the duller souls of adults could not even perceive. And many an
+innocent child was sent in disgrace from the parlor because it either
+would not kiss "sweet Mrs. Grey" at all, or would kiss her with the air
+of taking a dose of physic.
+
+But all the people in Charlottesville praised the piety and, above all,
+the prudence of Mrs. Grey--"Such a young and beautiful woman to be so
+entirely weaned from worldliness and self-love and so absorbed in
+worship and good works!"
+
+All this certainly produced an effect upon Alden Lytton, who, of course,
+heard her praises on all sides, who saw her every Sunday at church, and
+who met her occasionally at the demure little tea-parties to which both
+might happen to be invited.
+
+When they met thus by chance in private houses he would bow and say,
+quietly:
+
+"Good-evening, madam;" a salutation which she would return by a grave:
+
+"Good-evening, sir."
+
+And not another word would pass between them during the evening.
+
+But all the young man observed in her at such times was a certain
+discreet reserve, which he could but approve.
+
+"She seems to be much changed. She seems to be truly grieved for the
+past. Perhaps I have judged her too harshly. And yet what a base part
+that was she proposed to play! may be that she herself did not know how
+base it was. Such ignorance would prove an appalling moral blindness.
+But then, again, should she be held responsible for her moral blindness?
+It sometimes requires suffering to teach the nature of sin. A child does
+not know that fire is dangerous until it burns itself. _Her_ suffering
+must have opened her eyes to the 'exceeding sinfulness of sin.' For her
+own sake I hope it is so. As for myself, it does not matter. I have
+ceased to regard her with any other feeling than pity and charity. And
+although she would become a saint I could never love her again," he said
+to himself one night, after passing an evening with her at one of the
+professor's houses.
+
+And his thoughts reverted to that lovely maiden whose golden hair formed
+an appropriate halo around her white brow, and whose pure soul looked
+frankly forth from her clear blue eyes.
+
+He was not in love with Miss Cavendish, he said to himself, but he could
+not help feeling the difference between radiant frankness and dark
+deceit.
+
+One evening, about this time, they met at a strawberry festival, held in
+the lecture-room of the church, for the benefit of the Sunday-school.
+
+While the festival was at its height a thunder-storm came up, with a
+heavy shower of rain. But the company at the festival cared little about
+that. They were housed, and enjoyed themselves with light music, fruits,
+flowers and friends. And before the hour of separation the storm would
+probably be over, and carriages, or at least water-proof cloaks,
+overshoes and umbrella's, would be in attendance upon every one.
+
+So they made merry until eleven o'clock, when the storm was passing away
+with a steady light rain.
+
+Every lady who had a carriage in waiting offered to give Mrs. Grey a
+seat and to set her down at her own door.
+
+Mary Grey thanked each in succession and declined the kind offer, adding
+that she expected some one to come for her.
+
+At last nearly everybody had left the room but the treasurer of the
+festival, who was counting the receipts, and the sexton, who was
+covering the tables, preparatory to closing for the night.
+
+Alden Lytton had lingered to make a quiet donation to the charity, and
+he was passing out, when, he saw Mary Grey standing shivering near the
+door.
+
+As he came up to her she stepped out into the darkness and the rain.
+
+He hastened after her, exclaiming:
+
+"Mrs. Grey! I beg your pardon! Are you alone?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Lytton," she answered, quietly.
+
+"And you have no umbrella!" he said, quickly, as he hoisted his own and
+stepped to her side. "Permit me to see you safe to your door. Take my
+arm. It is very dark and the walking is dangerous. The sidewalks are
+turned to brooks by this storm," he added, as he held his umbrella
+carefully over her.
+
+"I thank you very much, Mr. Lytton; but indeed I do not wish to give you
+so much trouble. I can go home quite well enough alone. I have often to
+do it," she answered, shrinking away from him.
+
+"It is not safe for you to do so, especially on such a night as this.
+Will you take my arm?" he said; and, without waiting for her answer, he
+took her hand and drew it through his arm and walked on with her in
+silence, wondering at and blaming the heartlessness of the ladies of her
+circle who had carriages in attendance, and had, as he supposed, every
+one of them, gone off without offering this poor lonely creature a seat,
+leaving her to get home through the night and storm as she could.
+
+As they walked on he felt Mary Grey's arm trembling upon his own, and
+involuntarily he drew it closer, and, in so doing, he perceived the
+tremor and jar of her fast-beating heart, and he pitied her with a deep,
+tender, manly pity.
+
+"I am afraid you feel chilled in this rain," he said, by way of saying
+something kind.
+
+"No," she answered, softly, and said no more.
+
+They got to the door of her dwelling, and he rang the bell and waited
+there with her until some one should come.
+
+"I am very much indebted to you, Mr. Lytton," she said, softly and
+coolly; "but I am also very sorry to have given you so much trouble."
+
+"I assure you it was no trouble; and I beg that you will not again
+attempt to go alone at night through the streets of Charlottesville," he
+answered, sadly.
+
+"But why?" she asked. "What harm or danger can there be in my doing so?"
+
+"Ladies never go out alone at night here. Many of the wild students are
+on the streets at night and are not always in their senses."
+
+"Oh, I see! Well, I will try to take care of myself. I hear the page
+coming to open the door. Good-night, Mr. Lytton. You have been very
+kind. I thank you very much," said Mrs. Grey, coldly.
+
+He touched his hat and turned away just as the door was opened.
+
+Alden Lytton went back to the college with somewhat kinder thoughts of
+Mary Grey.
+
+And Mrs. Grey went into the house and into the back parlor, where the
+bishop's widow was waiting up for her.
+
+"Why, my dear, your shoes are wet through and your skirts are draggled
+up to your knees! Is it possible you walked home through the rain?"
+inquired the lady.
+
+"Yes, madam; but it will not hurt me."
+
+"But how came you to walk home when Mrs. Doctor Sage promised faithfully
+to bring you home in her carriage?"
+
+"Oh, my dear friend, the storm came up, and so many people were afraid
+of wetting their feet that I gave up my seat to another lady," answered
+Mary Grey.
+
+"Always the same self-sacrificing spirit! Well, my dear, I hope your
+reward will come in the next world, if not in this. Now go upstairs and
+take off your wet clothes and get right to bed. I will send you up a
+glass of hot spiced wine, which will prevent you from taking cold," said
+the hospitable old lady.
+
+Mary Grey kissed her hostess, said good-night, and ran away upstairs to
+her own cozy room, where, although it was May time, a bright little wood
+fire was burning in the fire-place to correct the dampness of the air.
+
+"Well," she said, with her silent laugh, as she began to take off her
+sodden shoes, "it was worth the wetting to walk home with Alden Lytton,
+and to make one step of progress toward my object."
+
+And the thought comforted her more than did the silver mug of hot spiced
+wine that the little page presently brought her.
+
+A few days after this she met Alden Lytton again, by accident, at the
+house of a mutual friend. Alden came up to her and, after the usual
+greeting, said:
+
+"I have received a short note from Miss Cavendish inquiring of me
+whether I had delivered her letter to you, and saying that she had
+received no answer from you, and indeed no news of you since your
+departure from Blue Cliffs. Now if I had not supposed that you would
+have answered Miss Emma's letter immediately I should certainly have
+written myself to relieve her anxiety on your account."
+
+"Oh, indeed I beg her pardon and yours! But I have sprained the
+fore-finger of my right hand and can not write at all. Otherwise I am
+quite well. Pray write and explain this to Emma, with my love, and my
+promise to write to her as soon as my finger gets well," said Mary Grey.
+
+And then she arose to take leave of her hostess, and, with a distant bow
+to Alden Lytton, she left the house.
+
+Two days after this she received a very kind letter from Miss Cavendish
+expressing much regret to hear of her disabled hand, and affectionately
+inquiring of her when she should return to Blue Cliffs, adding that Mrs.
+Fanning had arrived, and was then domiciled at the house; and, though a
+widow and an invalid, she was a very agreeable companion.
+
+This letter also inclosed a check for the amount of the quarterly
+allowance Emma Cavendish wasted upon Mary Grey.
+
+"For whether you abandon us or not, dear Mrs. Grey, or wherever you may
+be, so long as I can reach you I will send you this quarterly sum, which
+I consider yours of right," she wrote. And with more expressions of
+kindness and affection the letter closed.
+
+This letter was a great relief to Mary Grey's anxiety; for now that this
+worshiper of mammon was sure of her income she had no fears for the
+future.
+
+But she dared not herself answer the letter. While Mrs. Fanning should
+remain at Blue Cliffs, Mary Grey must not let her handwriting go there,
+lest it should be seen and recognized by Frederick Fanning's widow.
+
+But the next day was Sunday, and Mrs. Grey went to church, taking Emma's
+letter in her pocket.
+
+Usually she avoided Alden Lytton on these occasions, refraining even
+from looking toward him during the church service or afterward, for she
+did not wish him to suppose that she _sought_ his notice.
+
+But now she had a fair and good excuse for speaking to him; so when the
+service was over and the congregation was leaving the church she waited
+at the door of her pew until Alden passed by, when she said, very meekly
+and coolly:
+
+"Mr. Lytton, may I speak with you a moment?"
+
+"Certainly, madam," said Alden, stopping at once.
+
+"I have a letter from dearest Emma, but I can not answer it. Ah, my poor
+crippled finger! Would you be so very kind as to write and tell my
+darling that I have received it and how much I thank her? And here;
+perhaps, as you are to acknowledge the letter for me, you had better
+read it. There is really nothing in it that a mutual friend may not
+see," she said, drawing the letter from her pocket and putting it into
+his hand.
+
+"Certainly, madam, if you wish me to do so; certainly, with much
+pleasure," answered Alden Lytton, with more warmth than he had intended;
+because, in truth, he was beginning to feel delight in every subject
+that concerned Emma Cavendish, and he was now especially pleased with
+having the privilege of reading her letter and the duty of acknowledging
+it.
+
+"Many thanks! You are very kind! Good-morning," said Mary Grey, with
+discreet coolness, as she passed on before him to leave the church.
+
+"Step number two! I shall soon have him in my power again!" chuckled the
+coquette, as she walked down the street toward her dwelling.
+
+For Mary Grey had utterly misinterpreted the warmth of Alden Lytton's
+manner in acceding to her request. It never entered her mind to think
+that this warmth had anything to do with the idea of Emma Cavendish. She
+was much too vain to be jealous.
+
+She did not really think that there was a man in the world who could
+withstand her charms, or a woman in the world who could become her
+rival.
+
+And certainly her personal experience went far to confirm her in that
+vain theory. Therefore she did not fear Emma Cavendish as a rival.
+
+And while she did not dare to write to Blue Cliffs, she did not hesitate
+to make Alden Lytton the medium of communication with Emma Cavendish.
+
+Her other lover, the counterpart of Alden Lytton, had not appeared since
+he had called on her on his first visit to Charlottesville.
+
+But he wrote to her six times a week, and she knew what he was doing--he
+was trying hard to settle up his business at Wendover, with the distant
+hope of removing to Charlottesville and opening a store there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+IN THE TOILS.
+
+
+Affairs went on in this way for one year longer. Emma Cavendish
+continued to write regularly to Mrs. Grey, telling her all the little
+household and neighborhood news. Among the rest, she told her how Mrs.
+Fanning, by her gentleness and patience, was winning the affections of
+all her household, and especially of Madam Cavendish, who had been most
+of all prejudiced against her; and how much the invalid's health was
+improving.
+
+"She will never be perfectly well again; but I think, with proper care,
+and under Divine Providence, we may succeed in preserving her life for
+many years longer."
+
+Now, as Mary Grey could not venture to return to Blue Cliffs, or even to
+write a letter to that place with her own hand, so long as Mrs. Fanning
+should live in the house, the prospect of her doing either grew more and
+more remote.
+
+She could not plead her sprained finger forever as an excuse for not
+writing; so one day she put on a very tight glove and buttoned it over
+her wrist, and then took a harder steel pen than she had ever used
+before, and she sat down and wrote a few lines by way of experiment. It
+was perfectly successful. Between the tight-fitting glove and the hard
+steel pen her handwriting was so disguised that she herself would never
+have known it, nor could any expert ever have detected it. So there was
+no possible danger of any one at Blue Cliffs recognizing it as hers.
+
+Then, with this tightly-gloved hand and this hard steel pen, she sat
+down and wrote a letter to Emma Cavendish, saying that she could no
+longer deny herself the pleasure of writing to her darling, though her
+finger was still so stiff that she wrote with great difficulty, as might
+be seen in the cramped and awkward letters, "all looking as if they had
+epileptic fits," she jestingly added.
+
+When Miss Cavendish replied to this letter she said that indeed Mrs.
+Grey's hand must have been very severely sprained, and that she herself
+would never have known the writing.
+
+After this all Mrs. Grey's letters to Miss Cavendish were written by a
+hand buttoned up in a tight glove, and with a hard steel pen, and
+continued to be stiff and unrecognizable.
+
+And in all Emma's answers there was surprise and regret expressed for
+the long-continued lameness of Mary Grey's right hand.
+
+One day Emma communicated a piece of neighborhood gossip that quite
+startled Mary Grey.
+
+"You will be sorry to hear," she wrote, "that our excellent pastor, Dr.
+Goodwin, has had a paralytic stroke that disables him from preaching.
+The Rev. Mr. Lyle, formerly of Richmond, is filling the pulpit."
+
+Mary Grey was very much interested in this piece of news, that her own
+old admirer should be even temporarily located so near Blue Cliffs, with
+the possibility of his being permanently settled there.
+
+She had not heard from this devoted clerical lover once since she had
+left Mount Ascension. She did not understand his sudden withdrawal, and
+she had often, with much mental disquietude, associated his unexpected
+estrangement with her own unceremonious dismissal from her situation as
+drawing-mistress at that academy.
+
+It is true that when they corresponded, in answer to his ardent
+love-letters, she would write only such kind and friendly notes that
+could never have compromised her in any way, even if they should have
+been read in open court or published in a Sunday newspaper.
+
+And he had sometimes complained of the formal friendliness of these
+letters from one for whom he had truly professed the most devoted love,
+and who had also promised to be his wife--if ever she was anybody's.
+
+But Mrs. Grey had artfully soothed his wounded affection without
+departing from her prudential system of writing only such letters as she
+would not fear to have fall in the hands of any living creature, until
+suddenly he ceased to write at all.
+
+At the time of this defection she had been too much taken up with her
+purpose of winning the affection of the wealthy and distinguished
+statesman, Governor Cavendish, to pay much attention to the fact of the
+Rev. Mr. Lyle's falling away.
+
+But in these later and calmer days at Blue Cliffs and at Charlottesville
+she had pondered much on the circumstance in connection with her
+simultaneous dismissal from her situation at Mount Ascension; and she
+thought all but too likely that Mr. Lyle had, like Mrs. St. John,
+learned something of her past life so much to her disadvantage as to
+induce him to abandon her.
+
+And now to have him so near Blue Cliffs as Wendover parish church
+seemed dangerous to Mary Grey's interests with the Cavendish family.
+
+Sometimes the unhappy woman seemed to think that the net of Fate was
+drawing around her. Mrs. Fanning was at Blue Cliffs. Mr. Lyle was at
+Wendover. What next?
+
+Why, next she got a letter from Emma Cavendish that struck all the color
+from her cheeks and all the courage from her soul.
+
+Miss Cavendish, after telling the domestic and social news of the week,
+and adding that the Rev. Mr. Lyle was now settled permanently at
+Wendover, as the assistant of the Rev. Dr. Goodwin, whose health
+continued to be infirm, wrote:
+
+   "And now, dearest Mrs. Grey, I have reserved the best news for
+   the last.
+
+   "Laura Lytton and Electra have left school 'for good.' They will
+   arrive here this evening on a visit of some months.
+
+   "Next week we are all going to Charlottesville, to be present at
+   the Commencement of the Law College, when Mr. Alden Lytton
+   expects to take his degree.
+
+   "Aunt Fanning, whose health is much improved, will accompany us
+   as our chaperon, and the Rev. Mr. Lyle will escort us.
+
+   "So you see, my dear Mrs. Grey, though you will not come to us,
+   we will go to you.
+
+   "But we will form quite a large party. And I know that
+   Charlottesville will receive an inundation of visitors for the
+   Commencement, and that there will be a pressure upon all the
+   hotels and boarding-houses. Therefore I will ask you to be so
+   good as to seek out and engage apartments for us. There will be
+   four ladies and one gentleman to be accommodated; we shall want
+   at least three rooms--one for Mr. Lyle, one for Aunt Fanning and
+   myself, and one for Laura and Electra. We want our rooms all in
+   the same house, if possible; if not, then Mr. Lyle can be
+   accommodated apart from the set; but we women must remain
+   together.
+
+   "Please see to it at once, and write and let me know.
+
+   "By the way: after Mr. Lytton takes his degree he will make us a
+   short visit at Blue Cliffs, after which he will go to Richmond to
+   commence the practice of law, where _he_ thinks the prestige of
+   his father's name, and _I_ think his own talents, will speedily
+   advance him to fame and fortune.
+
+   "But what am I telling you? That of which you probably know much
+   more than I do; for of course Mr. Lytton must have informed you
+   of his plans.
+
+   "We confidently hope to persuade you to accompany us when we go
+   back to Blue Cliffs. Our summer party will be such a very
+   pleasant one: there will be Laura, Electra, Mrs. Grey and Aunt
+   Fanning among the ladies, and Mr. Lyle, Mr. Lytton and Dr. Jones
+   among the gentlemen. I shall have your rooms made ready for you."
+
+There was much more of kind and affectionate planning for the summer's
+work and pleasure. But Mary Grey read no further. Dropping the letter
+upon her lap, she clasped her hands and raised her pale face toward
+heaven, murmuring:
+
+"She is coming here. I dare not meet her. I must go away again. I am
+hunted to death--I am hunted to death! I was hunted from Blue Cliffs,
+and now I am hunted from Charlottesville! Where shall I go next? To
+Richmond? Yes, of course, to Richmond! And there I will stay. For there
+is room to hide myself from any one whom I do not wish to see. And in a
+few weeks _he_ will go to Richmond to settle there permanently. But I
+will go some few weeks in advance of him, so that he will never be able
+to say that I followed him there!"
+
+Having formed this resolution, Mary Grey then set about, immediately to
+engage lodgings for the Blue Cliffs party.
+
+She knew that her hostess, the bishop's widow, had one vacant room: that
+would accommodate two of the ladies, and therefore she resolved to make
+a virtue of her own necessities and give up her own room for the
+accommodation of the other two.
+
+She proposed this plan to her hostess, who at first opposed the
+self-sacrifice, as she called it. But finally, being persuaded by Mary
+Grey, she yielded the point, and fervently praised the beautiful,
+unselfish spirit of her young guest, who was ever so ready to sacrifice
+her own comfort for the convenience of others.
+
+Mary Grey then wrote to Miss Cavendish, telling her of the arrangement,
+and then explaining:
+
+   "You must know, my dear girl, that my health is not improved. For
+   the last twelve months it has been growing steadily worse. My
+   nervous system is shattered. I can not bear noise or tumult or
+   excitement. I dread even to meet strangers. Therefore I think I
+   shall go away and stay during this carnival of a Commencement. I
+   hope that you and Laura will occupy my vacant chamber. The
+   chamber adjoining is already vacant, and I have engaged it for
+   Mrs. Fanning and Electra. I know I have paired your party off
+   differently from _your_ pairing; but then I like the thought of
+   having you and Laura in my deserted chamber. I think I shall go
+   to some very quiet village far from the bustle of company.
+   Forgive me for not remaining to meet you, and set me down as
+   very, _very_ nervous; or, if that will not excuse me in your
+   eyes, set me down as _crazy_; but never, _never_ as ungrateful or
+   unloving.
+
+        MARY.
+
+   "P.S.--Mr. Lyle must find accommodations at the hotel."
+
+Having finished, sealed and dispatched this letter, Mary Grey went to
+work and packed her three great trunks for her journey. That kept her
+busy all the remainder of the day.
+
+The next morning she dressed herself and went to call upon her friends
+and bid them good-bye. They were very much surprised at the suddenness
+of her departure; but she explained to one and all that she rather
+wished to avoid the crowd, bustle and confusion of Commencement week,
+and had therefore determined to leave town for a few days, and that her
+rooms with the bishop's widow would be occupied in the meantime by her
+friend Miss Cavendish, of Blue Cliffs, and her party.
+
+This made an impression upon all minds that "sweet Mrs. Grey," with her
+spirit of self-sacrifice, had left town at this most interesting period
+for no other reason than to give up her quarters to her friends.
+
+Lastly, Mary Grey went to her pastor and obtained from him a letter to
+the pastor of St. John's Church in Richmond.
+
+Furnished with this, she would obtain entrance into the most respectable
+society in the city, if she desired to do so.
+
+On the third day from this, Mrs. Grey left Charlottesville for Richmond.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+AN OLD FACE REAPPEARS.
+
+
+What the Carnival is to Rome, and the Derby is to London, the
+Commencement week of its great University is to the little country town
+of Charlottesville.
+
+It is looked forward to for weeks and months. A few days previous to
+Commencement week the little town begins to fill. The hotels and
+boarding-houses are crowded with the relatives and friends of the
+students and professors, and even with numbers of the country gentry,
+who though they may have no relative at the University yet take an
+interest in the proceedings of Commencement week.
+
+Emma Cavendish and her friends were therefore peculiarly fortunate in
+having had comfortable apartments pre-engaged for them.
+
+It was late on the evening of the Monday beginning the important week
+that they arrived at Charlottesville, and proceeded at once to the house
+of the bishop's widow.
+
+They found the house hospitably lighted up, and open.
+
+Their hostess, a dignified gentlewoman, received them with great
+cordiality, and rather as guests than as lodgers.
+
+She showed the ladies to the two communicating rooms on the first floor
+that they were to occupy--large, airy, pleasant rooms, with a fresh
+breeze blowing from front to back. Each room had two neat white-draped
+single beds in it.
+
+"If you please, Mrs. Wheatfield, which of these was Mrs. Grey's
+apartment?" inquired Emma Cavendish.
+
+"This back room overlooking the flower-garden. But as the front room was
+unoccupied she had the use of that also, whenever she wished it,"
+answered the bishop's widow.
+
+"I was very sorry to hear from her by letter that she would not be able
+to remain here to receive us," said Miss Cavendish.
+
+"Ah, my dear, I was just as sorry to have her go away! A sweet woman she
+is, Miss Cavendish," answered Mrs. Wheatfield.
+
+"Why did she go? Is her health so very bad, Mrs. Wheatfield?"
+
+"My dear, I think that her malady is more of the mind than of the body.
+But I believe that she went away only to give up these rooms to you and
+your friends, because there were no other suitable rooms to be obtained
+for you in Charlottesville."
+
+"I am very sorry to hear that; for indeed I and my companions would
+rather have given up our journey than have turned Mary Grey out of her
+rooms. It was really too great a sacrifice on her part," said Emma
+Cavendish, regretfully.
+
+"My dear, that angel is always making sacrifices, for that matter. But I
+do think that _this_ sacrifice did not cost her much. Love made it
+light. I feel sure she was delighted to be able to give up her quarters
+to friends who could not in any other way have been accommodated in the
+town," said the bishop's widow, politely.
+
+"I am sorry, however, not to have met her," murmured Emma Cavendish.
+
+"And now, ladies, here are the apartments. Arrange as to their
+occupancy and distribution among yourselves as you please," said the
+hostess, as she nodded pleasantly and left the room.
+
+The ladies had brought but little luggage for their week's visit, and it
+had already arrived and was placed in their rooms.
+
+They washed, dressed their hair, changed their traveling-suits for
+evening-dresses and went down into the parlor, where they found Alden
+Lytton--who had walked over from the University to meet his sister--in
+conversation with Mr. Lyle.
+
+There was quite a joyous greeting. But Alden had to be introduced to
+Mrs. Fanning, who had changed so much in the years that had passed since
+their last meeting that the young man would never have known her again.
+
+But every one remarked that when the lady and the student were
+introduced to each other their mutual agitation could not be concealed.
+And every one marveled about its cause.
+
+Alden Lytton found fair Emma Cavendish more beautiful than ever, and he
+now no longer tried to deny to himself the truth that his heart was
+devoted to her in the purest, highest, noblest love that ever inspired
+man.
+
+"Do you know, Mr. Lytton, where Mrs. Grey has gone? She did not tell me
+in her letter where she intended to go; I believe she had not then quite
+made up her mind as to her destination," said Miss Cavendish.
+
+"I was not even aware of her departure until I learned it from Mrs.
+Wheatfield this evening," answered Alden Lytton.
+
+"Then no one knows. But I suppose we shall learn when we hear from her,"
+said Emma, with a smile.
+
+Then Alden produced cards for the Commencement, with tickets inclosed
+for reserved seats in the best part of the hall, which he had been
+careful to secure for his party. These he gave into the charge of Mr.
+Lyle, who was to attend the ladies to the University.
+
+And then, as it was growing late, the two gentlemen arose and took
+leave.
+
+They left the house together and walked down the street as far as the
+corner, where Alden Lytton paused and said:
+
+"Our ways separate here, I am sorry to say. I have to walk a mile out to
+the University. Your hotel is about twenty paces up the next street, on
+your right. You will be sure to find it."
+
+And Alden lifted his hat and was about to stride rapidly away when Mr.
+Lyle laid his hand on his arm and said:
+
+"One moment. I did not know our paths parted so soon or I might have
+spoken as we left the house. The fact is, I have a very large sum of
+money--ten thousand dollars--sent me to be paid to you as soon as you
+shall have taken your degree. It is to be employed in the purchase of a
+law library and in the renting and furnishing of a law office in the
+best obtainable location. I wish to turn this money over to you as soon
+as possible."
+
+"It is from my unknown guardian, I presume," said Alden, gravely.
+
+"Yes, it is from your unknown guardian."
+
+"Then we will talk of this after the Commencement. I hardly know, Mr.
+Lyle, whether I ought to accept anything more from this lavish
+benefactor of ours. I may never be able to repay what we already owe
+him."
+
+"You need have no hesitation in accepting assistance from this man, as I
+have often assured you. But, as you say, we will talk of this some other
+time, when we have more leisure. Good-night!"
+
+And the gentlemen separated: Alden Lytton striding westward toward the
+University, and Mr. Lyle walking thoughtfully toward his hotel.
+
+His room had been secured and his key was in his pocket, so that he
+possessed quite an enviable advantage over the crowd of improvident
+travelers who thronged the office clamoring for quarters, and not half
+of whom could by any possibility be accommodated.
+
+As it was long after the minister's usual hour for retiring, he walked
+through the crowded office into the hall and up the stairs to his
+room--a very small chamber, with one window and a single bed, both
+window and bed neatly draped with white.
+
+Mr. Lyle sat down in a chair by the one little table, on which stood a
+bright brass candlestick with a lighted spermaceti candle, and took from
+his pocket a small Bible, which he opened with the intention of reading
+his customary chapter before going to bed, when a rap at his door
+surprised him.
+
+"Come in," he said, supposing that only a country waiter had come with
+towels or water, or some other convenience.
+
+The door opened and a waiter indeed made his appearance. But he only
+said:
+
+"A gemman for to see yer, sah!" and ushered in a stranger and closed the
+door behind him.
+
+Mr. Lyle, much astonished, stared at the visitor, whom he thought he had
+never seen before.
+
+The stranger was a tall, finely-formed, dark-complexioned and very
+handsome man, notwithstanding that his raven hair was streaked with
+silver, his brow lined with thought, and his fine black eyes rather
+hollow. A full black beard nearly covered the lower part of his face.
+
+"Mr. Lyle," said the visitor, holding out his hand.
+
+"That is my name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said the
+minister.
+
+"You do not know me?" inquired the stranger in sad surprise.
+
+"I do not, indeed."
+
+"I am Victor Hartman!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE RETURNED EXILE.
+
+    Danger, long travel, want, or woe,
+    Soon change the form that best we know;
+    For deadly fear can time outgo,
+      And blanch at once the hair;
+    Hard time can roughen form and face,
+    And grief can quench the eyes' bright grace;
+    Nor does old age a wrinkle trace
+      More deeply than despair.
+                                       --SCOTT.
+
+
+"Victor Hartman!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, in a tone of astonishment and joy,
+as he sprang from his chair and grasped both the hands of the traveler
+and shook them heartily--"Victor Hartman! My dear friend, I am so
+delighted--and so surprised--to see you! Sit down--sit down!" he
+continued, dragging forward a chair and forcing his visitor into it.
+"But I never should have known you again," he concluded, gazing intently
+upon the bronzed, gray, tall, broad-shouldered man before him.
+
+"I am much changed," answered the stranger, in a deep, mellifluous
+voice, that reminded the hearer of sweet, solemn church music.
+
+"Changed! Why, you left us a mere stripling! You return to us a mature
+man. To all appearance, you might be the father of the boy who went
+away," said the minister, still gazing upon the stranger.
+
+"And yet the time has not been long; though indeed I have lived much in
+that period," said the traveler, in the same rich, deep tone, and with
+a smile that rendered his worn face bright and handsome for the moment.
+
+"Well, I am delighted to see you. But how is it that I have this joyful
+surprise?" inquired the minister.
+
+"What brings me here, you would ask; and why did I not write and tell
+you that I was coming?" said Hartman, with an odd smile. "Well, I will
+explain. When I got your letter acknowledging the receipt of the last
+remittance I sent to you for my children, I learned for the first time
+by that same letter that my boy would graduate at this Commencement, and
+hoped to take the highest honors of his college. Well, a steamer was to
+sail at noon that very day. I thought I would like to be present at the
+Commencement and see my boy take his degree. I packed my trunk in an
+hour, embarked in the 'Porte d'Or' in another hour, and here I am."
+
+"That was prompt. When did you arrive?"
+
+"Our steamer reached New York on Thursday noon. I took the night train
+for Washington, where I arrived at five on Friday morning. I took the
+morning boat for Aquia Creek, and the train for Richmond and
+Charlottesville. I got here about noon."
+
+"And you have not seen your _proteges_?"
+
+"Yes, I have seen my boy pass the hotel twice to-day. I knew him by his
+likeness to his unfortunate father. But I did not make myself known to
+him. I do not intend to do so--at least not at present."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Why not?" echoed Hartman, sorrowfully. "Ah, would he not shrink from me
+in disgust and abhorrence?"
+
+"No; not if he were told the awful injustice that has been done you."
+
+"But if he were told, would he believe it? We have no proof that any
+injustice has been done me, except those anonymous letters and the word
+of that strange horseman who waylaid me on my tramp and thrust a bag of
+gold in my hands, with the words, 'You never intended to kill Henry
+Lytton, and you never killed him. Some one else intended to kill him,
+and some one else killed him.'"
+
+"Have you ever heard anything more of that mysterious horseman?"
+
+"Not one word."
+
+"Have you no suspicion of his identity?"
+
+"None, beyond the strong conviction that I feel that he himself was the
+homicide and the writer of the anonymous letters."
+
+"Well, I can not tell you why, but I always felt persuaded of your
+innocence, even before the coming of those anonymous letters, and even
+while _you_ were bitterly accusing yourself."
+
+"You knew it from intuition--inward teaching."
+
+"May I ask you, Hartman, _why_ after you discovered that you had nothing
+to do with the death of Henry Lytton, you still determined to burden
+yourself with the support and education of his children--a duty that was
+first assumed by you as an atonement for an irreparable injury you
+supposed you had done them?"
+
+"Why I still resolved to care for them after I learned that I had
+nothing to do with their great loss? Indeed I can not tell you.
+Perhaps--partly because I sympathized with them in a sorrow that was
+common to us all, in so far as we all suffered from the same cause;
+partly, I also think, because it was pleasant to have _some one_ to live
+for and work for; partly because I was so grateful to find myself free
+from blood guiltiness that I wished to educate those children as a
+thank-offering to Heaven! It was also very pleasant to me to think of
+this boy at college and this girl at school, and to hope that some day
+they might come to look upon me with affection instead of with horror.
+And then I took so much pride in talking to my brother miners about my
+son at the University and my daughter at the Academy! And then, again,
+your letters--every one of them telling of the progress my children made
+and the credit they were doing me. I tell you, sir, all this was a great
+comfort to me, and made me feel at home in this strange, lonesome
+world," said the exile, warmly.
+
+"Hartman, you have a noble soul! You must have made a very great
+pecuniary sacrifice for the sake of these young people," said the
+minister, earnestly.
+
+"No, sir; no sacrifice at all. That was the strangest part of it; for it
+seemed to me the more I gave the more I had."
+
+"How was that?"
+
+"I don't know how it was, sir; but such was the fact. But I will tell
+you what I do know."
+
+"Yes, tell me, Hartman."
+
+"You may remember, Mr. Lyle, that when I told you I was going back to
+California I explained to you that I knew a place where I felt sure
+money was to be made."
+
+"Yes, I remember."
+
+"Well, sir, the place was a gully at the foot of a certain spur of the
+mountains, called the Red Cleft. Now, at that time I knew very little of
+geology. I know more now. Also, I had had but little experience in
+mining; and, moreover, whenever I mentioned Red Ridge I was simply
+laughed at by my mates. I was laughed out of giving the place a fair
+trial. But even after I left the Gold State the idea of the treasure
+hidden in the gully at the foot of Red Ridge haunted me day and night,
+something always prompting me to go back there and dig. Sir, it was
+intuition--inward teaching. When I went back to California I made for
+Red Ridge. Sir, when I first went to Red Ridge I dug there eight weeks
+without finding gold. That was the time my mates laughed at me. When I
+next went back--the time I now speak of--I worked four hours and then
+struck--struck one of the best paying mines in the Gold State. It is
+worked by a company now, but I have half of all the shares."
+
+"You have been wonderfully blessed and prospered, Hartman."
+
+"Yes," said the traveler, reverently bowing his head; "for their sakes,
+I have."
+
+"And for your own, I trust, Hartman."
+
+"Mr. Lyle--"
+
+"Well, Hartman."
+
+"May I ask you a favor?"
+
+"Certainly you may."
+
+"You addressed all your letters to me under the name of Joseph Brent."
+
+"Yes, certainly--at your request."
+
+"Continue, then, to call me Joseph Brent. That name is mine by act of
+legislature."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes, and I have a still better claim. It was the name of my
+grandfather--my mother's father. It was also the name of his eldest son,
+my uncle, who died recently a bachelor, in the State of Missouri, and
+left me his farm there, on condition that I should take his name. I was
+more anxious to have his name than his estate. So I applied to the
+legislature, and the name that I had borrowed so long became my own of
+right."
+
+"So I am to introduce you to my young friends as Mr. Joseph Brent?"
+
+"Yes, if you please. Let the name of poor Victor Hartman sink quietly
+into the grave. And do not let them know that I was Victor Hartman, or
+that Joseph Brent was ever their benefactor," said the exile, gravely.
+
+"I will keep your counsel so long as you require me to do so, hoping
+that the time may speedily come when all shall be made as clear to these
+young people as it is to me."
+
+"Now when will you introduce me to my children?"
+
+"To-morrow, after the ceremonies are concluded. But, my friend, it is a
+little strange to hear you call these grown-up young people your
+children, when you yourself can be but little older than the young man."
+
+"In years, yes. But in long experience, suffering, thought, how much
+older I am than he is! You yourself said that, to all outward
+appearance, I might be the father of the boy who went away two years
+ago."
+
+"Yes, for you are very much changed--not only in your person, but in
+dress and address."
+
+"You mean that I speak a little more correctly than I used to do? Well,
+sir, in these two years all the time that was not spent in work was
+spent in study. Or, rather, as study was to me the hardest sort of work,
+it would be most accurate to say all the time not spent by me in manual
+was spent in mental labor. I had had a good public-school education in
+my boyhood. I wished to recover all I had lost, and to add to it. You
+see, Mr. Lyle, I did not want my boy and girl to be ashamed of me when,
+if ever, we should meet as friends," said Hartman, with his old smile.
+
+"That they could never be. Any other than grateful and affectionate they
+could never be to you--if I know them."
+
+"I believe that too. I believe my children will love me when they
+understand all."
+
+"Be sure they will. But, Hartman--by the way, I like the name of
+Hartman, and I hope you will let me use it when we are alone, on
+condition that I promise never to use it when we are in company."
+
+"As you please, Mr. Lyle."
+
+"Then, Hartman, I was about to say that when I hear you speak of Henry
+Lytton's son and daughter as your boy and girl, the wonder comes over me
+as to whether you never think of marriage--of a wife and children of
+your own."
+
+"Mr. Lyle, since my mother went away to heaven I have never felt any
+interest in any woman on earth. I have been interested in some girls,
+but they happened to be children: and I could count them with the
+fingers of one hand and have a finger or two left over. Let me see,"
+said Hartman, with his odd smile. "First there was Sal's Kid."
+
+"Sal's Kid?" echoed the minister, who had never heard the name before,
+but thought it a very eccentric one.
+
+"Yes, Sal's Kid--a wild-eyed, elf-locked, olive-skinned little imp,
+nameless, but nicknamed Sal's Kid, who lived in a gutter called Rat
+Alley, down by the water-side in New York. I used to be fond of the
+child when I was cook's galley-boy, and our ship was in port there. I
+haven't seen her for ten years, yet I've never forgotten her. And I
+would give a great deal to know whatever became of Sal's Kid. Probably
+she has gone the way of the rest. They were all beggars, thieves, or
+worse," added Hartman, with a deep sigh.
+
+"And the next?" inquired the minister, with a wish to recall his visitor
+from sorrowful thoughts.
+
+"The next girl that interested me," continued Hartman, looking up with a
+bright smile, as at the recollection of some celestial vision, "was as
+different from this one as the purest diamond from a lump of charcoal.
+She was a radiant blonde, with golden hair and sapphire eyes and a
+blooming complexion. In the darkest hour of my life she appeared to me a
+heavenly messenger! They were leading me from the Court House to the
+jail, after my sentence. I was passing amid the hooting crowd, bowed
+down with despair, when this fair vision beamed upon me and dispersed
+the furies. She looked at me with heavenly pity in her eyes. She spoke
+to me and told me to pray, and said that she too would pray for me. At
+her look and voice the jeering crowd fell back in silence. I thought of
+that picture of Dore's where the celestial visitant dispersed the
+fiends. I have never, never seen her since."
+
+"And you do not know who she was?"
+
+"Her companions called her 'Emma.' That is all I know."
+
+"The third girl in whom you became interested?"
+
+"Is my child Laura Lytton, whom I have never seen. During the weeks I
+was in Mr. Lytton's law office I never once beheld his son or daughter."
+
+"Then personally you are a stranger to both?"
+
+"Yes, personally I am a stranger to both. But to-morrow I hope to know
+them, although I can not be perfectly made known to them. Remember, Mr.
+Lyle, I do not wish them to know that I was ever Victor Hartman, or that
+Joseph Brent was ever their benefactor."
+
+"I will remember your caution. But I will hope, as I said before, for
+the time when they shall know and esteem you as I know and esteem you."
+
+"Your confidence in me has been, and is, one of my greatest earthly
+supports," said Hartman, earnestly, as he arose to bid his friend
+good-night.
+
+Long after his visitor had left him, Mr. Lyle sat at his window in an
+attitude of deep thought.
+
+The unexpected meeting with Victor Hartman had deprived him of all power
+or wish to sleep.
+
+He sat at the window watching the crowd that thronged the village
+streets with his outward eyes, but reviewing all the past with his inner
+vision. It was long after midnight before he retired.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+VICTOR MEETS "HIS CHILDREN."
+
+
+The next morning revealed the full measure of the crowd that filled the
+little country town to overflowing. And the road leading from the
+village westward to the University was crowded with foot-passengers,
+horsemen and carriages of every description.
+
+Those who had no reserved seats set out early, to secure the most
+eligible of the unreserved places.
+
+The ceremonies were to commence at twelve noon.
+
+Our party, consisting of Emma Cavendish, Laura Lytton, Electra Coroni,
+Mrs. Fanning, Mrs. Wheatfield and Dr. Jones occupied the whole of the
+third form from the front.
+
+They were in their places just a few moments before the overture was
+played.
+
+The hall was crowded to overflowing. Not only was every form filled, but
+chairs had to be set in the space between the audience and the
+orchestra, and also in the middle and side aisles, to accommodate ladies
+who could not otherwise be seated; while every foot of standing room was
+occupied by gentlemen.
+
+Mr. Lyle had given up his seat next to Laura Lytton in favor of a lady,
+and had explained to his party that he had a friend from San Francisco
+who was present and with whom he could stand up.
+
+And he went away and took up his position in a corner below the
+platform, beside Victor Hartman, but entirely out of the range of his
+party's vision.
+
+I will not weary my readers with any detailed account of this
+Commencement, which resembled all other college commencements in being
+most interesting to those most concerned.
+
+There was an overture from a new opera.
+
+Then there was an opening oration by one of the learned professors of
+the University, which was voted by the savants to be a masterpiece of
+erudition and eloquence, but which the young people present found
+intolerably dull and stupid. And when the great man sat down a storm of
+applause followed him.
+
+Then ensued the usual alternation of opera music and orations.
+
+And the young people listened to the opera music, and yawned behind
+their fans over the orations.
+
+And the savants gave heed to the orations, and closed their senses, if
+not their ears, to the music.
+
+At length the time for the distribution of the diplomas arrived, and the
+names of the successful graduates were called out, and each in turn went
+up to receive his diploma and make the customary deep bow, first to the
+faculty and then to the audience.
+
+Then followed the offertory of beautiful bouquets and baskets of flowers
+from friends to the graduates. But the most beautiful offering there was
+a basket of delicate silver wire filled with fragrant pure white lilies
+sent by Emma Cavendish to Alden Lytton.
+
+Laura Lytton, in a patriotic mood, sent a bouquet composed of red, white
+and blue flowers only.
+
+The other ladies of the party sent baskets of geraniums.
+
+The valedictory address was delivered by Alden Lytton, who had, besides,
+taken the highest honors of the college.
+
+His address was pronounced to be a great success. And his retiring bow
+was followed by thunders of applause from the audience.
+
+There were several proud and happy fathers there that day; but perhaps
+the proudest and the happiest man present was Victor Hartman.
+
+With tearful eyes and tremulous tones he said, as he grasped Mr. Lyle's
+arm:
+
+"My boy pays me for all--my boy pays me for all! He is a grand fellow!"
+
+The people were all going out then.
+
+"Come," said Mr. Lyle, himself moved by the generous emotion of Victor.
+"Come, let me introduce you to your boy."
+
+"No, not now. Let me go away by myself for a little while. I will see
+you an hour later at the hotel," said Hartman, as he wrung his friend's
+hand and turned away.
+
+Mr. Lyle joined his party, with whom he found the most honored graduate
+of the day, who was holding his silver basket of lilies in his hand and
+warmly thanking the fair donor.
+
+Mr. Lyle shook hands with Alden and heartily congratulated him on his
+collegiate honors, adding:
+
+"We shall see you on the Bench yet, Mr. Lytton."
+
+Alden bowed and laughingly replied that he should feel it to be his
+sacred duty to get there, if he could, in order to justify his friend's
+good opinion.
+
+"But what have you done with your Californian, Mr. Lyle?" inquired Laura
+Lytton.
+
+"Sent him back to his hotel. By the way, ladies, he is a stranger here.
+Will you permit me to bring him to see you this evening?"
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Lyle," promptly replied Emma Cavendish, speaking for
+all.
+
+But then she gave a questioning glance toward her aunt, the chaperon of
+the party.
+
+"Of course," said Mrs. Fanning, in answer to that glance. "Of course the
+Reverend Mr. Lyle's introduction is a sufficient passport for any
+gentleman to any lady's acquaintance."
+
+Mr. Lyle bowed and said:
+
+"Then I will bring him at eight o'clock this evening."
+
+And, with another bow, he also left the party and hurried off to the
+hotel.
+
+That evening, at eight o'clock, the three young ladies were seated alone
+together in the front drawing-room of their boarding-house. Their
+elderly friends were not present.
+
+Dr. Jones was dining at the college with Alden Lytton and his
+fellow-graduates.
+
+Mrs. Fanning, fatigued with the day's excitement, had retired to a
+dressing-gown and sofa in her own room.
+
+Mrs. Wheatfield was in consultation with her book concerning the next
+day's bill of fare.
+
+Thus the three beauties were left together, and very beautiful they
+looked.
+
+Emma Cavendish, the "radiant blonde, with the golden hair and sapphire
+eyes and blooming complexion," was dressed in fine pure white tulle,
+with light-blue ribbons.
+
+Electra, the wild-eyed, black-haired, damask-cheeked brunette, was
+dressed in a maize-colored silk, with black lace trimmings.
+
+Laura Lytton, the stout, wholesome, brown-haired and brown-eyed lassie,
+wore a blue _barege_ trimmed, like Electra's dress, with black lace.
+
+The room was brilliant with gas-light, and they were waiting for their
+friends and visitors.
+
+Dr. Jones had promised to return, and bring Alden with him, by eight
+o'clock at latest. And Mr. Lyle had promised to come and bring "the
+Californian."
+
+The clock struck eight and with dramatic punctuality the bell rang.
+
+The next moment the little page of the establishment opened the
+drawing-room door and announced:
+
+"Mr. Lyle and a gemman."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+AN INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+The three young ladies looked up, to see Mr. Lyle enter the room,
+accompanied by a tall, finely-formed, dark-complexioned man, with deep
+dark eyes, and black hair and full black beard, both lightly streaked
+with silver, which, together with a slight stoop, gave him the
+appearance of being much older than he really was.
+
+Mr. Lyle bowed to the young ladies, and then, taking his companion up to
+Emma Cavendish, he said, with old-fashioned formality:
+
+"Miss Cavendish, permit me to present to you my friend Mr. Brent, of San
+Francisco."
+
+"I am glad to see you, Mr. Brent," said the young lady, with a graceful
+bend of her fair head.
+
+But in an instant the Californian seemed to have lost his
+self-possession.
+
+He stared for a moment almost rudely at the young lady: he turned red
+and pale, drew a long breath; then, with an effort, recovered himself
+and bowed deeply.
+
+Miss Cavendish was surprised; but she was too polite and self-possessed
+to let her surprise appear. She mentally ascribed the disturbance of her
+visitor to some passing cause.
+
+Mr. Lyle, who had not noticed his companion's agitation, now presented
+him to Laura Lytton and to Electra Coroni.
+
+To Laura he bowed gravely and calmly.
+
+But when he met the wild eyes of Electra he started violently and
+exclaimed:
+
+"Sal's--" then stopped abruptly, bowed and took the chair that his
+friend placed for him.
+
+He sat in perfect silence, while Emma Cavendish, pitying, without
+understanding, his awkwardness, tried to make conversation by
+introducing the subject of California and the gold mines.
+
+But Victor Hartman replied with an effort, and frequently and furtively
+looked at Emma, and looked at Electra, and then put his hand to his head
+in a perplexed manner.
+
+At length his embarrassment became obvious even to unobservant Mr. Lyle,
+who longed for an opportunity of asking him what the matter was.
+
+But before that opportunity came there was another ring at the street
+door-bell, followed by the entrance of Dr. Jones and Alden Lytton.
+
+The last-comers greeted the young ladies and Mr. Lyle, and acknowledged
+the presence of the stranger with a distant bow.
+
+But then Mr. Lyle arose and asked permission to introduce his friend Mr.
+Brent, of California.
+
+And Dr. Jones and Mr. Lytton shook hands with the Californian and
+welcomed him to Virginia.
+
+Then Alden Lytton, who had some dim dreams of going to California to
+commence life, with the idea of one day becoming Chief Justice of the
+State, began to draw the stranger out on the subject.
+
+Victor Hartman, the unknown and unsuspected benefactor, delighted to
+make the acquaintance of "his boy," and, to learn all his half-formed
+wishes and purposes, talked freely and enthusiastically of the Gold
+State and its resources and prospects.
+
+"If all that I have heard about the condition of society out there be
+true, however, it must be a much better place for farmers and mechanics,
+tradesmen and laborers, than for professional men."
+
+"What have you heard, then, of the condition of society out there?"
+inquired Victor.
+
+"Well, I have heard that the climate is so healthy that the well who go
+there never get sick, and the sick who go there get well without the
+doctor's help. And, furthermore, that all disputes are settled by the
+fists, the bowie-knife, or the revolver, without the help of lawyer,
+judge or jury! So, you see, if all that is told of it is true, it is a
+bad place for lawyers and doctors."
+
+"'If all that is told of it is true?' There is not a word of it true! It
+is all an unpardonable fabrication," said Victor Hartman, so indignantly
+and solemnly that Alden burst out laughing as he answered:
+
+"Oh, of course I know it is an exaggeration! I did think of trying my
+fortune in the Gold State; but upon reflection I have decided to devote
+my poor talents to my mother state, Virginia. And not until she
+practically disowns me will I desert her."
+
+"Well said, my dear bo--I mean Mr. Lytton!" assented the Californian.
+
+He had begun heartily, but ended by correcting himself with some
+embarrassment.
+
+Alden looked up for an instant, a little surprised by his disturbance;
+but ascribed it to the awkwardness of a man long debarred from ladies'
+society, as this miner seemed to have been.
+
+Gradually Victor Hartman recovered his composure and talked
+intelligently and fluently upon the subject of gold mining, Chinese
+emigration, and so forth.
+
+Only when he would chance to meet the full gaze of Electra's "wild
+eyes," or catch the tones of Emma's mellifluous voice, then, indeed, he
+would show signs of disturbance. He would look or listen, and put his
+hand to his forehead with an expression of painful perplexity.
+
+At ten o'clock the gentlemen arose to bid the young ladies good-night.
+
+It was then arranged that the whole party should visit the University
+the next day and go through all the buildings on a tour of inspection.
+
+When the visitors had gone, Electra suddenly inquired:
+
+"Well, what do you think of the Californian?"
+
+"I think him very handsome," said Laura, "but decidedly the most awkward
+man I ever saw in all the days of my life. Except in the matter of his
+awkwardness he seems to be a gentleman."
+
+"Oh, that is nothing! One of the most distinguished men I ever met in my
+father's house--a gentleman by birth, education and position, a
+statesman of world-wide renown--was unquestionably the most awkward
+human being I ever saw in my life. He knew very well how to manage men
+and nations, but he never knew what to do with his feet and hands: he
+kept shuffling them about in the most nervous and distracting manner,"
+said Emma Cavendish, in behalf of the stranger.
+
+"Somehow or other that man's face haunts me like a ghost," mused
+Electra, dreamily.
+
+"So it does me," quickly spoke Emma. "I feel sure that I have met those
+sad, wistful dark eyes _somewhere_ before."
+
+"I'll tell you both what. Whether you have ever met him before or not,
+he _thinks_ he has seen you. He seemed to me to be trying to recollect
+_where_ all the evening," said Laura Lytton, with her air of
+positiveness.
+
+"Then that might account for his awkwardness and embarrassment," added
+Emma.
+
+"But he is certainly very handsome," concluded Electra, as she took her
+candle to retire.
+
+Meanwhile the four gentlemen walked down the street together to a
+corner, where they bade each other good-night and separated--Dr. Jones
+and Alden Lytton to walk out to the University, and Mr. Lyle and Victor
+Hartman to go to their hotel.
+
+"What on earth was the matter with you, Victor?" inquired Mr. Lyle, as
+they walked on together.
+
+"What?" exclaimed Hartman, under his breath, and stopping short in the
+street.
+
+"Yes, what! I never saw a man so upset without an adequate cause in all
+my life."
+
+"Don't let us go into the house yet," said Victor; for they were now
+before the door of the hotel. "It is only ten o'clock, and a fine night.
+Take a turn with me down some quiet street, and I will tell you."
+
+"Willingly," agreed Mr. Lyle; and they walked past the hotel and out
+toward the suburbs of the little town.
+
+"Mr. Lyle, I have seen them both!" exclaimed Victor, when they were out
+of hearing of every one else.
+
+"Both? Whom have you seen, Hartman?" inquired the minister a little
+uneasily, as if he feared his companion was not quite sane.
+
+"First, I have seen again the heavenly vision that appeared and
+dispersed the furies from around me on that dark day when I passed, a
+condemned criminal, from the Court House to the jail," replied Victor
+Hartman, with emotion.
+
+"Hartman, my poor fellow, are you mad?"
+
+"No; but it was enough to make me so. To meet one of them, whom I never
+expected to see again in this world, would have been enough to upset me
+for a while; but to meet both, and to meet them together, who were so
+widely apart in place and in rank, I tell you it was bewildering! I felt
+as if I was under the influence of opium and in a delightful dream from
+which I should soon awake. I did not quite believe it all to be real. I
+do not quite believe it to be so yet. Have I seen that celestial
+visitant again?" he inquired, putting his hand to his head in the same
+confused manner.
+
+"Now, which one of these young ladies do you take to have been your
+'celestial visitant,' as you most absurdly call her?"
+
+"Oh, the fair, golden-haired, azure-eyed angel, robed so appropriately
+in pure white!"
+
+"That was Miss Emma Cavendish," said Mr. Lyle, very uneasily; "and you
+talk of her like a lover, Hartman--and like a very mad lover too! But
+oh, I earnestly implore you, do not become so very mad, so frenzied as
+to let yourself love Emma Cavendish! By birth, education and fortune she
+is one of the first young ladies in the country, and a bride for a
+prince. Do not, I conjure you, think of loving her yourself!"
+
+Victor Hartman laughed a little light laugh, that seemed to do him good,
+as he answered:
+
+"Do not be afraid. I worship her too much to think of loving her in the
+way you mean. And, besides, if I am not greatly mistaken, _my boy_ has
+been before me."
+
+"Alden Lytton?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I saw it all. I was too much interested not to see it. My boy
+and my angel like one another. Heaven bless them both! They are worthy
+of each other. They will make a fine pair. He so handsome; she so
+beautiful! He so talented; she so lovely! His family is quite as good as
+hers. And as for a fortune, his shall equal hers!" said Victor, warmly.
+
+"Will you give away all your wealth to make your 'boy' happy?" inquired
+Mr. Lyle, with some emotion.
+
+"No! The Red Cleft mine is not so easily exhausted. Besides, in any
+case, I should save something for my girl She must have a marriage
+portion too!"
+
+"You really ought to have a guardian appointed by the court to take care
+of you and your money, Victor. You will give it all away. And,
+seriously, it grieves me to see you so inclined to rob yourself so
+heavily to enrich others, even such as these excellent young people,"
+said Mr. Lyle, with feeling.
+
+"Be easy! When I have enriched them both I shall still have an
+unexhausted gold mine! By the way, parson--parson!"
+
+"Well, Hartman?"
+
+"I saw something else beside the love between my angel and my boy. I
+saw--saw a certain liking between my girl and my friend."
+
+If the bright starlight had been bright enough Victor Hartman might have
+seen the vivid blush that mantled all over the ingenuous face of Stephen
+Lyle.
+
+"I certainly admire Miss Lytton very much. She is a genuine girl," said
+Mr. Lyle, as composedly as if his face was not crimson.
+
+"And I see she certainly admires you very much. She evidently thinks you
+are a genuine man. So, my dear friend, go in and win. And my girl shall
+not miss her marriage portion," said Hartman, cordially.
+
+Mr. Lyle was beginning to feel a little embarrassed at the turn the
+conversation had taken, so he hastened to change it by saying:
+
+"You told me that you had met them _both_ whom you never had expected to
+see again in this world. One was Miss Cavendish, your 'heavenly vision;'
+who was the other?"
+
+"Can you be at a loss to know? There were but three young ladies
+present. My own girl, whom I went to see and did expect to meet; Miss
+Cavendish, whom you have just identified as one of the two alluded to,
+and the brilliant little creature whom you introduced by a heathenish
+sort of name which I have forgotten."
+
+"Miss Electra?"
+
+"Aye, that was the name; but however you call her, I knew her in Rat
+Alley as Sal's Kid."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, stopping short and trying to gaze through
+the darkness into the face of his companion; for Mr. Lyle had never
+happened to hear of the strange vicissitudes of Electra's childhood.
+
+"She is Sal's Kid, I do assure you. Her face is too unique ever to be
+mistaken. I could never forget or fail to recognize those flashing eyes
+and gleaming teeth. And, I tell you, I would rather have found her again
+as I found her to-night than have discovered another gold mine as rich
+as that of Red Cleft."
+
+"Hartman, you were never more deceived in your life. That young lady,
+Electra Coroni, is the granddaughter of Dr. Beresford Jones, and is the
+sole heiress of Beresford Manors. She was educated at the Mount
+Ascension Academy for Young Ladies in this State, from which she has
+just graduated."
+
+"Whoever she is, or whatever she is, or wherever she lives now, when I
+knew her she was Sal's Kid, and lived in Rat Alley, New York. And she
+knew me as Galley Vick, the ship cook's boy."
+
+"Hartman, you have certainly 'got a bee in your bonnet!'"
+
+"We shall see. She almost recognized me to-night. She will quite know me
+soon," answered Victor, as they turned their steps toward their hotel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+VICTOR AND ELECTRA.
+
+    Heaven has to all allotted, soon or late,
+    Some lucky revolution of their fate;
+    Whose motions, if we watch and guide with skill--
+    For human good depends on human will--
+    Our fortune rolls as from a smooth descent,
+    And from a first impression takes its bent;
+    But if unseized, she glides away like wind,
+    And leaves repenting folly far behind,
+    Now, now she meets you with a glorious prize,
+    And spreads her locks before her as she flies.
+                                            --DRYDEN.
+
+
+The next morning at the appointed hour the Rev. Mr. Lyle and Victor
+Hartman left their hotel together and went to Mrs. Wheatfield's, to
+escort the ladies to the University, where Dr. Jones and Alden Lytton
+were to meet them and introduce them to the president. The two gentlemen
+found the young ladies already dressed and waiting.
+
+Miss Cavendish explained that her aunt did not care about seeing more of
+the University than she had already seen, and preferred to remain in the
+house with the bishop's widow and rest that day.
+
+And so, under the circumstances, they--Miss Cavendish and her young
+friends--had decided not to have a carriage, but to take advantage of
+the fine morning and walk the short mile that lay between the village
+and its great seat of learning.
+
+Nothing could have pleased their escorts better than this plan.
+
+And soon they--the party of five--set out upon the pleasant country road
+that led out to the University.
+
+Emma Cavendish and Laura Lytton led the way, and by Laura's side walked
+the Rev. Mr. Lyle. Electra dropped a little behind, and was attended by
+Victor Hartman.
+
+They talked of the fine morning and of the beautiful country, of the
+grand Commencement of the preceding day and of the University they were
+going to see; but they talked in an absent-minded manner, as if, indeed,
+they were both thinking of something else.
+
+This lasted until they were half-way to the place, when at length
+Electra turned suddenly upon Victor and said:
+
+"Do you know, Mr. Brent, that your face seems a very familiar one to
+me?"
+
+"Indeed!" said Victor, bending his head nearer to her.
+
+"Yes, indeed! Your face struck me as being familiar the first moment I
+saw you, and this impression has grown deeper every moment we have been
+walking together; and now I _know_ of whom you remind me," answered
+Electra; and then she paused and looked at him.
+
+He made no remark.
+
+"You do not care to know who that was, it seems," she said.
+
+"Oh, yes, I do, I assure you, Miss Coroni, if you please to tell me!"
+
+"Then you remind me of a poor lad whom I once knew and liked very much
+in New York, when I was as poor as himself," said Electra, meaningly.
+
+"It is very kind of you to remember the poor lad after so many years and
+so many changes," replied Victor.
+
+"I wonder if that poor lad ever thinks of _me_, 'after so many years and
+so many changes?'" murmured Electra, musingly.
+
+"I don't know. Tell me his name, and then perhaps I can answer your
+question. I have roamed around the world a good deal and seen a great
+many different sorts of people. Who knows but I may have met your poor
+lad? Let us have his name," said Victor, gravely.
+
+They were both, to use a household phrase, "beating about the bush."
+
+"Oh, he was too poor to own a name! But he was cook's boy on board a
+merchantman, and they called him 'Galley Vick.' I never knew him by any
+other name. Did you ever see him at all?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I've seen him! A good-for-nothing little vagabond he was! No,
+I don't suppose he ever dares to think about such a fine young lady as
+you are. But he cherishes the memory of a poor little girl he once knew
+in Rat Alley, New York. And only the day before yesterday, when I
+happened to be with him, he was saying how much he would give to know
+what had become of that poor little girl."
+
+"Yes, it was very nice of him to remember her," said Electra, musingly.
+
+"You say that you knew the poor lad in New York. Perhaps, as they were
+so much together, you may have known the poor little girl also?" said
+Victor.
+
+"I can not tell you unless you give me her name. There were so many
+poor little girls in New York," answered Electra, shaking her head.
+
+"_She_, like the boy, was too poor then to own a name. They called her
+'Sal's Kid.' I never knew her by any other name," answered Victor.
+
+And then their eyes met, and both laughed and impulsively put out their
+hands, which were then clasped together.
+
+"I knew you at the very first sight, Vick," said Electra, giving full
+way to her feelings of pleasure in meeting her old playmate again.
+
+"And so did I you. Heaven bless you, child! I am so happy and thankful
+to find you here, so healthy and prosperous. You were a sickly, poor
+little thing when I knew you," said Victor, with much emotion.
+
+"I was a famished poor little thing, you mean, food has made all the
+difference, Victor," laughed Electra.
+
+"My name is Joseph Brent, my dear," said Hartman, who almost trembled to
+hear the old name spoken.
+
+"Ah, but Sal's Kid knew you only as Galley Vick. I thought Vick was the
+short for Victor. But it seems you really had a name all the time as
+well as I had, though neither of us suspected we possessed such an
+appendage."
+
+Hartman bowed in silence.
+
+"And now I suppose you would like to know how it happens that you find
+poor little ragged, famished, sickly Sal's Kid, who used to live in Rat
+Alley among thieves and tramps, here--well lodged, well dressed and in
+good company?"
+
+"Yes, I really would."
+
+"Well, it was 'all along of' a grandfather."
+
+"A grandfather!"
+
+"Yes, a grandfather. I really had a grandfather! And I have him still.
+And you have seen him, and his name is Dr. Beresford Jones. And,
+moreover, I had a great-grandfather back of _him_; and also forefathers
+behind _them_, and ancestors extending away back to antiquity. In fact,
+I think they ran away back to Adam!"
+
+"I dare say they did," answered Victor, with a smile; "but tell me about
+that grandfather."
+
+"Well, you must know that he was wealthy. He owned Beresford Manors. He
+had one child, 'sole daughter of the house.' She married a poor young
+Italian music-master against her father's will. Her father cast her off.
+Her husband took her to New York, where they fell by degrees into the
+deepest destitution. They both died of cholera, leaving me to the care
+of the miserable beings who were their fellow-lodgers in the old
+tenement house. I believe I was passed from the hands of one beggar to
+those of another, until my identity was lost and my real name forgotten.
+But I do not clearly remember any of my owners except Sal. And I was
+called 'Sal's Kid.'"
+
+"It was then I knew you," said Victor.
+
+"So it was. Well, you know all about that period. It was soon after you
+went to sea that Sal's husband, being mad with drink and jealousy,
+struck his wife a fatal blow and killed her."
+
+"Horrible!"
+
+"Yes, horrible! I have heard since that the man died of _mania-a-potu_
+in the Tombs, before his trial came on."
+
+"And you?"
+
+"I was taken by the Commissioners of Charity and put into the Orphan
+Asylum at Randall's Island."
+
+"And how did your grandfather ever find you there, where your very name
+was lost?"
+
+"You may well ask that. My name was lost. I suppose, hearing me called
+Sal's Kid, they mistook that for Sal Kidd. Any way they registered my
+name on the books of the Island as Sarah Kidd."
+
+Victor laughed at this piece of ingenuity on the part of the
+authorities, and again expressed wonder as to how her grandfather ever
+found her.
+
+"If I were a heathen, I should say he found me by chance. It looked
+like it. You see, he had met with misfortunes. His wife--my
+grandmother--died. And he was growing old, and his home was lonely and
+his life was dreary. And so he relented toward his poor daughter, and
+even toward her husband."
+
+"But too late!" put in Victor.
+
+"Yes; too late. He relented too late," sighed Electra. "He went to New
+York, where they had been living when he had last heard of them, and
+after making the most diligent inquiries he only learned that they had
+been dead several years, and had left an orphan girl in great
+destitution. Well, he advertised for the child, offering large rewards
+for her discovery."
+
+"But in vain, I suppose?" said Victor.
+
+"Ah, yes, in vain, for I was at Randall's Island, registered under
+another name."
+
+"The case seemed hopeless," said Victor.
+
+"Entirely hopeless. And then, partly from his disappointment and partly
+from seeing so much of suffering among children, he became a sort of
+city missionary. It was in his character of missionary that he went one
+day to an examination of the pupils of the girls' school on Randall's
+Island. There he saw me, and recognized me by my striking likeness to my
+mother. Indeed he has since told me that I am a counterpart of what my
+mother was at my age."
+
+"And your face is such a very peculiar and, I may say, unique face, that
+the likeness could not have been accidental, I suppose," observed
+Victor.
+
+"That is what he thought. Well, without saying a word to me then of his
+recognition, he commenced with the slight clew that he had in his hands
+and pursued investigations that in a few days proved me to be the child
+of Sebastian and Electra Coroni. Then he came to the Island and took me
+away, and put me to school at Mount Ascension. There I made the
+acquaintance of the young lady friend that I am now staying with. Miss
+Cavendish is my cousin. Last month I graduated from Mount Ascension. And
+on the first of next month I am going to Beresford Manors, to commence
+my new life there as my grandfather's housekeeper. And, Victor--I beg
+your pardon!--Mr. Brent, I hope that you will come and visit us there,"
+concluded Electra, with a smile.
+
+"But how would your grandfather, Dr. Beresford Jones of Beresford
+Manors, take a visit from a poor adventurer like me?" inquired Victor.
+
+"He will take it very kindly; for he also will ask you to come," said
+Electra.
+
+Victor bowed and walked on in silence.
+
+Electra spoke again:
+
+"I have told you without reserve how it was that I was so suddenly
+raised from extreme poverty to wealth, and now--"
+
+She paused and looked at her companion.
+
+"And now you want to know how I came by my fortune?" smilingly inquired
+Victor.
+
+"Yes, of course I do," answered Electra.
+
+"The explanation is short and simple enough. I became suddenly rich, as
+some few other poor vagabonds have, by a fortunate stroke of the
+pick--by a California gold mine," quietly answered Victor.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Electra.
+
+And she stopped and put him away from her a step, and stood and stared
+at him.
+
+Victor laughed. And then they went on, for their companions were at the
+gates of the University, waiting for them to come along.
+
+They entered the beautiful grounds occupied by the extensive buildings
+of the University, and where several of the professors, as well as a few
+of the students who had not yet left for the vacation, were taking their
+morning walks.
+
+The visitors were soon met by Dr. Jones and Alden Lytton, who came up
+together to welcome them.
+
+After the usual greetings, Alden introduced his party to several of the
+professors, who received them with great courtesy, and attended them
+through the various buildings, pointing out to them the most notable
+objects of interest, and entertaining them with the history, statistics
+and anecdotes of the institution.
+
+They were taken into the various libraries, where they saw collected
+vast numbers of the most valuable books, among which were a few very
+unique black letter and illuminated volumes of great antiquity.
+
+They were then led into the several halls, where were collected costly
+astronomical and chemical apparatus.
+
+And finally they visited the museum, filled with cabinets of minerals,
+shells, woods, fossils, and so forth.
+
+And after an interesting but very fatiguing tour of inspection, that
+occupied four hours, they were invited to rest in the house of one of
+the professors, where they were refreshed with a dainty lunch, after
+which they returned to the village.
+
+And the evening was spent socially in Mrs. Wheatfield's drawing-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+A SURPRISE.
+
+
+In the course of that evening they were surprised by a visit. It was
+from Mr. Craven Kyte, who came to call on Miss Cavendish.
+
+He was invited into the drawing-room and introduced to the whole party.
+
+Mr. Kyte was in the deepest state of despondency.
+
+He told Miss Emma that a few days previous he had received a letter from
+Mrs. Grey, saying that she was about to leave Charlottesville for a
+little while, in order to give up her rooms to Miss Cavendish and her
+party, and that she did not know exactly where she should go, but that
+she would write and tell him as soon as she should get settled.
+
+"And since that, Miss Emma, I have not heard one word from her, nor do I
+know where she is, or how she is, or how to find out," concluded Mr.
+Kyte, in the most dejected tone.
+
+"How long has it been, Mr. Kyte?" inquired Miss Cavendish.
+
+"Five days," answered the young man, as solemnly as if he had said five
+years.
+
+"That is but a short time. I do not think you have cause to be anxious
+yet awhile," said Emma, with a smile.
+
+"But you haven't heard from her yourself even, have you, Miss Emma?" he
+anxiously inquired.
+
+"Certainly not, else I should have told you at once," replied Miss
+Cavendish.
+
+"For mercy's sake, you never came all the way from Wendover to
+Charlottesville to ask that question, did you, Mr. Kyte?" inquired
+irrepressible Electra, elevating her eye-brows.
+
+The lover, who had so unconsciously betrayed himself, blushed violently
+and stammered forth:
+
+"No--not entirely. The fact is, for more than a year past I have been
+watching and waiting for an opportunity to change my business from
+Wendover to Charlottesville. And I came up partly about that also. But
+as a--a friend of Mrs. Grey, I do feel anxious about her mysterious
+absence and silence."
+
+"I assure you, Mr. Kyte, that Mrs. Grey is quite capable of taking
+excellent care of herself," added plain-spoken Laura Lytton.
+
+"Come, Mr. Kyte, cheer up! We are going on a pilgrimage to Monticello
+to-morrow and you must join our party," said Miss Cavendish, kindly.
+
+But Mr. Kyte excused himself, saying that he could not leave his
+business long, and must start for Wendover the next morning.
+
+And soon after this he took leave.
+
+The next day was devoted by our party to a pious pilgrimage to the
+shrine of classic Monticello, once the seat, now the monument of Thomas
+Jefferson.
+
+The whole party, young and old, gentlemen and ladies, went.
+
+The bishop's widow forgot her housekeeping cares and took a holiday for
+that day.
+
+And even Mrs. Fanning, who did not care to see the great University,
+could not miss the opportunity of a pilgrimage to that mecca.
+
+The party was a large one, consisting of five ladies and four
+gentlemen.
+
+And so it required two capacious carriages and two saddle horses to
+convey them.
+
+They formed quite a little procession in leaving the village.
+
+In the first carriage rode Mrs. Fanning, Emma Cavendish, Electra and Dr.
+Jones.
+
+In the second carriage rode Mrs. Wheatfield, Laura Lytton and Mr. Lyle.
+
+Alden Lytton and Victor Hartman rode on horseback, and brought up the
+rear.
+
+Their way lay through the most sublime and beautiful mountain and valley
+scenery.
+
+Monticello is built upon a mountain, some three miles south of the
+village.
+
+Perhaps there is no private dwelling in the whole country occupying a
+more elevated site, or commanding a more magnificent panorama of
+landscape, than Monticello.
+
+It is a fine country house of great architectural beauty and strength,
+built upon a lofty and slightly inclined plain, formed by grading the
+top of the mountain.
+
+It commands a stupendous prospect, bounded only by the spherical form of
+the earth. And standing there, with the earth beneath and the heavens
+all around, one fully realizes that we live upon a great planet rolling
+in its orbit through immense space.
+
+Our party spent a long summer's day up there in the sunshine, and then,
+after eating the luncheon they had brought with them, they set out on
+their return to the village, where they arrived in time for one of Mrs.
+Wheatfield's delicious early teas.
+
+The remaining days of the week were passed in walking, riding or driving
+to the most interesting points of the neighborhood.
+
+On Saturday morning they took leave of the bishop's widow and set out
+for Richmond, _en route_ for Wendover and Blue Cliffs.
+
+They reached the city late on the same night, and took up their old
+quarters at the Henrico House.
+
+They staid over the Sabbath, and went to hear Mr. Lyle preach, morning
+and evening, to his old congregation.
+
+On Monday morning the whole party resumed their journey, and arrived at
+Wendover early in the afternoon of the same day.
+
+There the party were destined to divide.
+
+There were carriages from Blue Cliffs waiting by appointment at the
+railway station to meet Miss Cavendish and her friends; and there was
+the hack from the Reindeer Hotel for the accommodation of any other
+travelers who might require it.
+
+Mrs. Fanning, Emma Cavendish, Laura Lytton and Electra, attended by Dr.
+Jones and Alden Lytton, entered their carriages to go to Blue Cliff
+Hall.
+
+Mr. Lyle and Victor Hartman took leave of them at their carriage doors,
+saw the horses start, and then set out to walk together to the bachelor
+home of Mr. Lyle, where Hartman was to be a guest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+AT THE PARSONAGE.
+
+
+Mr. Lyle lived in a pretty white cottage, covered nearly to the roof
+with fragrant creeping vines, and standing in the midst of a beautiful
+flower-garden.
+
+Here he lived his bachelor life quite alone but for the occasional sight
+of the old negro couple that were waiting on him--Aunt Nancy, who did
+all his housework, and Uncle Ned, who worked in the garden.
+
+He found the faithful old couple prepared to receive him and his guest.
+
+A tempting repast, combining the attractions of dinner and tea, was
+ready to be placed upon the table just as soon as the gentlemen should
+have made their toilets after their long journey.
+
+Mr. Lyle led his guest into a fresh, pretty room, with white muslin
+curtains at the vine-clad windows and a white dimity spread on the bed,
+and white flower enameled cottage furniture completing the appointments.
+
+"This is a room for a pretty girl rather than for a grim miner," said
+Victor Hartman, looking admiringly around the little apartment.
+
+"I call it the 'Chamber of Peace,' and that is why I put you in it,"
+said Mr. Lyle.
+
+After they had washed and dressed they went down together to the cozy
+little dining-room, where they did such justice to the tea-dinner as
+made Aunt Nancy's heart crow for joy.
+
+And when that was over they went into the snug little parlor and sat
+down to talk over their plans.
+
+It was then that Mr. Lyle informed Victor Hartman that he was doing all
+the work of the parish during Dr. Goodwin's hopeless indisposition, and
+that he had been doing it for the last twelve months.
+
+"You will succeed him here as rector, I presume?" said Victor.
+
+"I presume so; but I do not like to speak of that," gravely replied Mr.
+Lyle.
+
+"No, of course you do not. And I really beg your pardon. I should not
+have spoken myself, only in my girl's interests. You see, I felt a
+little curious and anxious to know where her future life would be likely
+to be passed, and I thought it would be a much happier life if passed
+here, near her dear friend Miss Cavendish, that's all," explained
+Victor.
+
+"You seem to consider that quite a settled matter," replied Mr. Lyle, a
+little incoherently, and blushing like a maiden.
+
+"Yes, of course I consider it all quite settled! You, in your
+earnestness, can not conceal your liking for my girl, and she, in her
+innocent frankness, does not even try to conceal hers from you. And I
+heartily approve the match and am ready to dower the bride," said
+Victor.
+
+"But I have not ventured to speak to her yet," stammered Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Then you may do so just as soon as you please," answered Victor.
+
+"And now about Alden," said Mr. Lyle, by way of changing the
+conversation.
+
+"Yes, now about Alden. He does not suspect that I am his banker, I
+hope?"
+
+"No, indeed! I paid him over the munificent sum you intrusted to me for
+him. He feels--well, I may say painfully grateful, and is confident that
+he must some time repay you, with interest and compound interest."
+
+"Yes, my boy will certainly repay me, but not in the way he thinks,"
+observed Victor, gravely.
+
+"After a week's visiting with his sister at Blue Cliffs, he will go up
+to Richmond and select a site for his office and purchase his law
+library, though I think he will have to go to Philadelphia to do that."
+
+"Yes, I suppose he will," admitted Hartman.
+
+"What are your own plans about yourself, Victor, if I may be allowed to
+ask?" inquired the minister.
+
+"Well, I haven't any. I came on here to see my boy and girl, and settle
+them in life as well as I can. I shall stay till I do that anyway. After
+that I don't know what I shall do. I do not care about going back to
+California. My business there is in the hands of a capable and
+trustworthy agent. And somehow I like the old mother State; and now
+that you lead me to think about it, perhaps I shall spend the rest of my
+life here; but, as I said before, I don't know."
+
+"By the way, dear Victor, you spoke to me with much simple frankness of
+my most private personal affairs. May I take the same liberty with you?"
+inquired Mr. Lyle, very seriously.
+
+"Why, of course you may, if you call it a liberty, which I don't, you
+know!" answered Victor, with a smile.
+
+"Then, my dear Hartman, how about Miss Electra? I was not so absorbed in
+my own interests as not to have an eye to yours."
+
+"Ah, Miss Electra! Well, parson, she _was_ my little old acquaintance of
+Rat Alley, when I flourished in that fragrant neighborhood as Galley
+Vick."
+
+"No!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle, opening his eyes wide with astonishment.
+
+"Yes," quietly answered Victor Hartman. "And it is a wonder that you,
+who know the family so well, do not know this episode in its history."
+
+"How was I to know, my friend, when no one ever told me? I suppose that
+few or none but the family know anything about it."
+
+"I suppose you are right," said Victor. "Well, you see, she recognized
+me, as surely as I did her, at first sight. We had an explanation as we
+walked out to the University that day."
+
+"But how came the granddaughter of Dr. Beresford Jones ever to have had
+such a miserable childhood?"
+
+"Well, you see, there was a disobedient daughter, a runaway marriage, a
+profligate husband, and the consequences--poverty, destitution, early
+death, and an orphan child left among beggars and thieves! Her
+grandfather found her at last and took her under his guardianship. That
+is the whole story in brief."
+
+"Well, well, well!" mused Mr. Lyle, with his head on his breast; then,
+raising it, he went back to the previous question: "But what about Miss
+Electra?"
+
+"I have just told you about her," replied Victor.
+
+"Oh, yes, I know! You have told me something about her, but you haven't
+told me all. Take me into your confidence, Victor."
+
+"What do you mean?" inquired Hartman, in some embarrassment.
+
+"Why, that you and your little old acquaintance seem to be very fond of
+each other."
+
+Victor laughed in an embarrassed manner, and then said: "Do you know
+that when we were in Rat Alley, and she was a tiny child and I was a
+lad, there was a promise of marriage between us?"
+
+"That was funny too! Well, what about it?"
+
+"Nothing. Only, if I dared, I would, some day, remind her of it."
+
+"Do, Victor! Believe me, she will not affect to have forgotten it," said
+Mr. Lyle, earnestly.
+
+"Ah, but when I think of all I have passed through I dare not ask a
+beautiful and happy girl to unite her bright life with my blackened one!
+I dare not," said Hartman, very sadly.
+
+"Nonsense, Victor! You are morbid on that subject. Yours is a nobly
+redeemed life," said Mr. Lyle, solemnly.
+
+"But--my past!" sighed Victor.
+
+"She had a dark past too poor child! But no more of that. In both your
+cases
+
+    "'Let the dead past bury its dead!
+    Live--live in the living present,
+    Heart within and God o'erhead!'
+
+And now it is time to retire, dear Victor. We keep early hours here,"
+said Mr. Lyle, as he reached down the Bible from its shelf, preparatory
+to commencing evening service.
+
+Then they read the Word together, and offered up their prayers and
+thanksgivings together, and retired, strengthened.
+
+This week, to which Alden Lytton's holiday visit to Blue Cliffs was
+limited, was passed by the young people in a succession of innocent
+entertainments.
+
+First there was a garden-party and dance at Blue Cliff Hall, at which
+all the young friends and acquaintances of Miss Cavendish assisted,
+which the Rev. Dr. Jones and the Rev. Mr. Lyle endorsed by their
+presence, and in which even Victor Hartman forgot, for the time being,
+his own dark antecedents.
+
+Next Mr. Lyle himself opened his bachelor heart and bachelor home to the
+young folks by giving them a tea-party, which delighted the hearts of
+Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ned, who both declared that this looked something
+_like_ life.
+
+But the third and greatest event of the week took place on Friday
+evening, when Dr. Beresford Jones gave a great house-warming party, on
+the occasion of his carrying home his granddaughter and sole heiress,
+Electra Coroni.
+
+Not only all our own young friends, including the reverend clergy and
+the California miner, but all the neighborhood and all the county were
+there.
+
+And they kept up the festivities all day and well into the night.
+
+Emma Cavendish and Laura Lytton remained with Electra for a few days
+only, for Alden Lytton was to leave the neighborhood for Richmond on the
+Monday morning following the party at Beresford Manors.
+
+And during all this time no word was heard of Mary Grey.
+
+That baleful woman had heard all that had passed at Charlottesville and
+at Wendover, and her vain and jealous spirit was filled with such
+mortification and rage that she was now hiding herself and deeply
+plotting the ruin of those who had been her best friends and
+benefactors.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+MORE MANEUVERS OF MRS. GREY.
+
+    She, under fair pretense of saintly ends,
+    And well-placed words of sweetest courtesy
+    Baited with reason, not unplausible,
+    Glides into the easy hearts of men,
+    And draws them into snares.
+                              --MILTON'S _Comus_.
+
+
+When Mary Grey reached Richmond she went first to a quiet family hotel,
+where she engaged a room for a few days.
+
+Then she took a carriage and drove to the rectory of old St. John's
+Church and presented her letter to the rector.
+
+The reverend gentleman received her very kindly and cordially, and
+glanced over her letter, saying, as he returned it to her:
+
+"But this was not at all necessary, my dear madam. I remember you
+perfectly, as a regular attendant and communicant of this church, while
+you were on a visit to the family of the late lamented Governor of this
+State."
+
+"Yes, sir; but then I was only a visitor at the church, just as I was a
+guest at the Government House. Now I wish to be a member of the church,
+as I intend to become a permanent resident of the city," Mary Grey
+explained, with her charming smile.
+
+The pastor expressed himself highly gratified, and added:
+
+"Your large circle of friends, that you won during your long visit here
+two or three years ago, will be delighted to hear of this."
+
+Mary Grey bowed gracefully and said:
+
+"The pleasure, she believed, would, like the advantage, be mostly on her
+own side."
+
+Then she inquired of the rector--with an apology for troubling him with
+her own humble affairs--whether he could recommend her to any private
+boarding-house among the members of his own church, where the family
+were really earnest Christians.
+
+The rector could not think of any suitable place just then, but he
+begged to have the pleasure of introducing Mrs. Grey to his wife, who,
+he said, would most likely be able to advise her.
+
+And he rang the bell and sent a message to Mrs. ----, who presently
+entered the study.
+
+The introduction took place, and the rector's wife received the visitor
+as cordially as the rector had.
+
+She knew of no boarding-house of the description required by Mrs. Grey,
+but she promised to inquire among her friends and let that lady know the
+result.
+
+Soon after this Mrs. Grey took leave.
+
+Many of her former friends were, at this season of the year, out of
+town, as she felt sure; but some among them would probably be at home.
+
+So, before she returned to her hotel, she made a round of calls, and
+left her cards at about a dozen different houses.
+
+She then went back to her room at the hotel and spent the remainder of
+the day in unpacking and reviewing her elegant wardrobe.
+
+There was no sort of necessity for doing this, especially as she
+intended to remain but a few days at the house; and the operation would
+only give her the trouble of repacking again to move.
+
+But Mary Grey never read or wrote or sewed or embroidered if she could
+avoid it, and had nothing on earth else to occupy or amuse her; so her
+passion for dress had to be gratified with the sight of jewels, shawls
+and mantles, laces, silks and satins, even though she durst not wear
+them.
+
+Next day the rector's wife called on her and recommended a very superior
+boarding-house to her consideration.
+
+It was a private boarding-house, in a fashionable part of the town, kept
+by two maiden ladies of the most aristocratic family connections and of
+the highest church principles.
+
+This was exactly the home for Mrs. Grey.
+
+And the rector's wife kindly offered to take her, then and there, in the
+rectory carriage, to visit "the Misses Crane," the maiden ladies in
+question.
+
+"The Misses Crane," as they were called, dwelt in a
+handsomely-furnished, old-fashioned double house, standing in its own
+grounds, not very far from the Government House.
+
+The Misses Crane were two very tall, very thin and very fair ladies,
+with pale blue eyes and long, yellow, corkscrew curls each side of their
+wasted cheeks.
+
+They were dressed very finely in light checked summer silks, and flowing
+sleeves and surplice waists, with chemisettes and undersleeves of linen
+cambric and thread lace.
+
+They were very poor for ladies of their birth. They had nothing in the
+world but their handsome house, furniture and wardrobe.
+
+They depended entirely upon their boarders for their bread; yet their
+manners were a mixture of loftiness and condescension that had the
+effect of making their guests believe that they--the guests--were highly
+honored in being permitted to board at the Misses Cranes'.
+
+But if not highly honored they were certainly much favored, for the
+Misses Crane kept neat and even elegant rooms, dainty beds and an
+excellent table.
+
+Presented by the rector's lady, Mrs. Grey was received by the Misses
+Crane with a lofty politeness which overawed even her false pretensions.
+
+Presently the rector's lady, leaving Mrs. Grey to be entertained by Miss
+Romania Crane, took the elder Miss Crane aside and explained to her the
+nature of their business call.
+
+"I think she is just the kind of boarder that will suit you, as your
+house is just the kind of home needed by her," added the lady.
+
+Miss Crane bowed stiffly and in silence.
+
+"She is, like yourself, of an old aristocratic family, and of very
+high-church principles; and she has, besides, an ample income, much of
+which she spends for benevolent purposes," continued Mrs. ----.
+
+Miss Crane bowed and smiled a ghastly smile, revealing her full set of
+false teeth.
+
+"She is, I should tell you, also entitled to all our sympathy. She has
+suffered a great disappointment in her affections. She was engaged to be
+married to the late lamented Governor of the State, when, as you know,
+he was suddenly struck down with apoplexy, and died a few days before
+the day appointed for the wedding."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" breathed Miss Crane, in a low, eager voice, losing all her
+stiffness and turning to glance at the interesting widowed bride elect.
+
+"Yes. And you will find her a most interesting young person--devoted to
+good works, one of the excellent of the earth. When she was here, two or
+three years ago--in the same season that she was engaged to our honored
+and lamented Governor--she was quite famous for her charities."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" again aspirated Miss Crane, glancing at Mrs. Grey.
+
+"I am sure that you will be mutually pleased with each other, and, as
+she has declared her intention to make Richmond her permanent residence,
+I should not wonder if she also should make your pleasant house her
+permanent home," added the lady.
+
+"Much honored, I'm sure," said Miss Crane, with a mixture of hauteur and
+complacency that was as perplexing as it was amusing.
+
+"And now, if you please, we will rejoin your sister and Mrs. Grey," said
+the rector's lady, rising and leading the way to the front windows, near
+which the other two ladies were sitting.
+
+The end of all this was that the Misses Crane engaged to take Mrs. Grey
+as a permanent boarder, only asking a few days to prepare the first
+floor front for her occupation.
+
+No arrangement could have pleased Mary Grey better than this, for she
+wished to remain at the hotel a few days longer to receive the calls of
+her old friends, who would naturally expect to find her there, as she
+had given that address on the cards that she had left for them.
+
+So it was finally arranged that Mrs. Grey should remove from the hotel
+to the Misses Cranes' on the Monday of the next week.
+
+Then the two took leave, and the rector's lady drove the widow back to
+her hotel and left her there.
+
+The next day Mrs. Grey had the gratification of hearing from the cards
+she had left at the different houses of her old acquaintances. Several
+ladies called on her and welcomed her to the city with much warmth.
+
+And on the Saturday of that week she had a surprise.
+
+The Rector of St. John's paid her a morning visit, bringing a letter
+with the Charlottesville postmark.
+
+"It came this morning, my dear madam. It was inclosed in a letter to me
+from Mrs. Wheatfield, the esteemed widow of my late lamented friend,
+Bishop Wheatfield," said the rector, as he placed the letter in her
+hand.
+
+She thanked the reverend gentleman, and held the letter unopened,
+wondering how Mrs. Wheatfield could have found out that she was in
+Richmond.
+
+When the rector had taken his leave, she opened her letter and read:
+
+
+                                "CHARLOTTESVILLE, July 15, 18--.
+
+   "MY DEAREST MARY:--We have not heard a word from you since you
+   left us.
+
+   "All your friends here suffer the deepest anxiety on your
+   account, fearing that you may be ill among strangers.
+
+   "Only on Sunday last, when I happened to speak to our minister,
+   after the morning service, I got a slight clew to you; for he
+   told me that you had asked him for a church letter to the Rector
+   of St. John's Parish in Richmond.
+
+   "That information gives me the opportunity of writing to you,
+   with some prospect of having my letter reach you, for I can
+   inclose it to the Rector of St. John's, who will probably by this
+   time know your address.
+
+   "And now, having explained how it is that I am enabled to write
+   to you, I must tell you the news.
+
+   "The great nuisance of the Commencement is abated. It is all
+   over; the students, the visitors and the vagrants have nearly all
+   gone, and the town is empty and--peaceful.
+
+   "One set of visitors I lamented to lose. They went on Saturday.
+
+   "I mean, of course, your friends from Blue Cliffs. They were all
+   charming.
+
+   "I was very much interested in Miss Cavendish.
+
+   "And now, my dear child, although I am no gossip and no meddler,
+   as you are well aware, I really must tell you what I would not
+   tell to any other living being, and which I tell you only because
+   I know you to be perfectly discreet, and also deeply interested
+   in the parties of whom I shall take the liberty of writing.
+
+   "There are three marriages in prospect, my dear. I see it quite
+   plainly. Our young people are the frankest and most innocent of
+   human beings. They have no disguises.
+
+   "Who are to be married? you ask me.
+
+   "I will tell you who, I _think_, will be married.
+
+   "First, Mr. Alden Lytton and Miss Emma Cavendish.
+
+   "Not a prudent marriage for her, because she is a minor, with an
+   immense fortune. And he is a young lawyer, with not a dollar of
+   his own and his way yet to make in the world.
+
+   "But what can we do about it?
+
+   "With one guardian in her dotage and the other at the antipodes
+   Miss Cavendish is practically, if not legally, her own mistress.
+
+   "The only comfort is that the young man in question is rich in
+   _everything else_, if not in money.
+
+   "Well, the second prospective marriage pleases me better. The
+   Rev. Mr. Lyle, a worthy young clergyman, is devoted to Miss Laura
+   Lytton.
+
+   "The third approaching nuptials interest me least of all, in any
+   manner. A dark, brigandish-looking Californian, of almost
+   fabulous wealth, who is the friend and guest of Mr. Lyle, has
+   evidently fallen in love at first sight with pretty little
+   sparkling Electra Coroni.
+
+   "They have all gone down to Wendover together, and the Lyttons
+   are to make a long visit at Blue Cliffs.
+
+   "I must not forget to tell you that worthy young man, Mr. Kyte,
+   has been here inquiring after you with much anxiety. He went back
+   to Wendover a day or two before our young people left.
+
+   "Now, my dearest Mary, let me hear that you are well, and believe
+   me ever your devoted friend,
+
+        "MARIA WHEATFIELD."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+A DIABOLICAL PLOT.
+
+    Between the acting of a dreadful thing
+    And the first motion, all the interim is
+    Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream;
+    The genius and the mortal instruments
+    Are then in council; and the state of man,
+    Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
+    The nature of an insurrection.
+                  --SHAKESPEARE'S _Julius Caesar_.
+
+
+No language can adequately describe the mortification and rage that
+filled the bosom of Mary Grey as she read the foregoing letter.
+
+Two of her once ardent worshipers--handsome Alden Lytton and eloquent
+Stephen Lyle--had forsaken her shrine and were offering up their
+devotion to other divinities.
+
+They had wounded her vanity to the very quick.
+
+And to wound Mary Grey's vanity was to incur Mary Grey's deadly hatred.
+
+She was always a very dangerous woman, and under such an exasperation
+she could become a very desperate enemy.
+
+She had felt so sure that no woman, however young and lovely, could ever
+become her rival, or even her successor, in any man's affections. So
+sure, also, that no man, however wise and strong, could ever resist her
+fascinations or escape from her thraldom.
+
+And now that charming illusion was rudely dispelled! She saw herself
+even contemptuously abandoned by her subjects, who transferred their
+allegiance to a couple of "bread-and-butter school-girls," as she
+sneeringly designated Emma Cavendish and Laura Lytton.
+
+She was consumed with jealousy--not the jealousy born of love, which is
+like the thorn of the rose, a defence of the rose--but the jealousy born
+of self-love, which is like the thorn of the thorn-apple, a deadly
+poison.
+
+She sat on one of her trunks, with her elbows on her knees and her
+clutched fists supporting her chin. Her lips were drawn back from her
+clinched teeth and her black eyes gleamed like fire from the deathly
+whiteness of her face.
+
+And so she sat and brooded and brooded over her mortification, and
+studied and studied how she might pull down ruin upon the heads of those
+hated young people who were loving each other and enjoying life at the
+cost of her humiliation.
+
+And of course the foul fiend very soon entered into her counsels and
+assisted her.
+
+"I have one devoted slave--one willing instrument left yet," she
+muttered to herself: "he would pay any price--yes, the price of his
+soul--for my love! He shall pay _my_ price down! He shall be the means
+of drawing destruction upon all their heads! Yes, Miss Cavendish, marry
+Alden Lytton, if you _will_, and afterward look honest men and women in
+the face if you _can_! Yes, Stephen Lyle, become the husband of Laura
+Lytton, and then hold up your head in the pulpit--if you dare! Ah, if my
+plot succeed! Ah, if my plot succeed, how terribly will I be avenged!
+And it _shall_ succeed!" she hissed through her grinding teeth, with a
+grim hatred distorting her white features and transforming her beautiful
+face for an instant into demoniac hideousness.
+
+She started up and commenced traversing the floor, as a furious tigress
+her den.
+
+When she had raged herself into something like composure she opened her
+writing-case and wrote the following letter:
+
+
+                                    "RICHMOND, VA., Aug. --, 18--.
+
+  "TO CRAVEN KYTE, ESQ.
+
+   "_Dear Friend_:--My wanderings have come to a temporary end here
+   in this city, where I expect to remain for some weeks, even if I
+   do not conclude to make it my permanent residence.
+
+   "Shall I trouble you to do me a favor? Some time ago I left in
+   the hands of the jeweler at Wendover a little pearl brooch, which
+   I forgot to call for when I left, and have neglected to send for
+   ever since.
+
+   "The brooch in itself is of small intrinsic value; but as it is
+   an old family relic I should like to recover it. Will you,
+   therefore, please go to the jeweler's and get it and send it to
+   me in a registered letter by mail? and I shall be very much
+   indebted to you. And if you should happen to come to this city
+   during my stay here I hope you will call to see me; for I should
+   be very glad to see any old friend from Wendover.
+
+      "Yours truly,
+        M. GREY."
+
+
+She immediately sealed this letter, rang for a waiter, and dispatched it
+to the post-office.
+
+This letter had been written for but one purpose--to bring Craven Kyte
+immediately to Richmond, without seeming especially to invite him to
+come.
+
+She always wrote her letters with an eye to the remote contingency of
+their being produced in court or read in public.
+
+This letter to Craven Kyte was a sample of her non-committal style--it
+compromised no one.
+
+When she had sent it off she began to pack up her effects, in
+preparation for their removal, on Monday morning, to the Misses Cranes'.
+
+Even after that work was done she could not be still. Like an uneasy
+beast of prey, she must needs move to and fro.
+
+So she put on her bonnet, called a carriage and drove out to the rectory
+to spend the evening.
+
+But though she was received in the most friendly manner she could not
+enjoy the visit. She was absent and distracted during the whole evening.
+
+She returned late to a restless bed. And then she got up and took
+laudanum to put her to sleep. And this was not the first time she had
+had to resort to the same dangerous narcotic.
+
+No more rest for Mary Grey!
+
+Remorse sometimes begins _before_ the commission of a contemplated and
+determined crime; repentance never. That is one difference between the
+two.
+
+On Sunday morning, to keep herself actively employed, as well as to win
+"golden opinions," Mrs. Grey dressed herself plainly, but very
+becomingly, and went early to the Sunday-school at old St. John's, to
+offer herself as a teacher.
+
+She was soon appointed to the temporary charge of a class of little
+girls, whose regular teacher was then absent on a summer tour of the
+watering places.
+
+Afterward she attended both morning and afternoon services, and went to
+a missionary meeting in the evening.
+
+Still, after all the fatigues of the day, she was unable to sleep at
+night, and again she had recourse to the deadly drug.
+
+On Monday morning she paid her week's bill at the hotel and removed to
+the Misses Cranes'.
+
+She was received with lofty politeness by the two maiden ladies; and she
+was put in immediate possession of her apartment--a spacious chamber,
+with a balcony overhanging the front flower-garden.
+
+She had scarcely finished unpacking her effects and transferring them
+from her trunks to the bureaus and wardrobes of the chamber, before a
+card was brought to her by the neat parlor-maid of the establishment.
+
+The card bore the name of Mr. Craven Kyte.
+
+"Where is the gentleman?" inquired Mrs. Grey.
+
+"In the drawing-room, madam," answered the maid.
+
+"Ask him to be so kind as to wait. I will be down directly," said Mrs.
+Grey.
+
+The girl left the room to take her message, and Mrs. Grey began to
+change her dress, smiling strangely to herself as she did so.
+
+She gave a last finishing touch to the curls of her glossy black hair,
+and a last lingering look at the mirror, and then she went down-stairs.
+
+There, alone in the drawing-room, stood the one devoted lover and slave
+that she had left in the whole world.
+
+He came down the room to meet her.
+
+"You here! Oh, I'm so delighted to see you!" she said, in a low tone,
+full of feeling, as she went toward him, holding out both her hands.
+
+He trembled from head to foot and turned pale and red by turns as he
+took them.
+
+"I am so happy--You are so good to say so! I was almost afraid--I
+thought you might consider it a liberty--my coming," faltered the poor
+fellow, in sore confusion.
+
+"A liberty? How could you possibly imagine I would consider your coming
+here a liberty on your part? Why, dearest friend, I consider it a favor
+from you, a pleasure for me! Why should you think otherwise?" inquired
+Mary Grey, with her most alluring smile.
+
+"Oh, thanks--thanks! But it was your letter!"
+
+"My letter? Sit down, Craven, dear, and compose yourself. Here, sit
+here," she said, seating herself on the sofa and signing for him to take
+the place by her side.
+
+He dropped, trembling, flushing and paling, into the indicated seat.
+
+"Now tell me what there was in my harmless letter to disturb you," she
+murmured, passing her soft fingers over his forehead and running them
+through the dark curls of his hair.
+
+"Nothing that was _meant_ to disturb me, I know. It was all kindness.
+You could not write to me, or to any one, otherwise than kindly,"
+faltered the lover.
+
+"Well, then?" inquired Mary Grey, in a pretty, reproachful tone.
+
+"But I felt it was cold--cold!" sighed the young man.
+
+"Why, you dearest of dears, one must be discreet in writing letters!
+Suppose my letter had expressed all my feelings toward you, and then had
+fallen into the hands of any one else? Such mistakes are made in the
+mails sometimes. How would you have liked it?" she inquired, patting his
+cheeks.
+
+"I should have been wild. But it would only have been at the loss of
+your letter. As for me, Heaven knows, I should not mind if all the world
+knew how much I adore you. On the contrary, I should glory in it," added
+the lover.
+
+"But a lady feels differently. She only lets her _lover_ know how well
+she loves him; and not always does she even let him know," softly
+murmured the beautiful temptress, as she lightly caressed his raven
+curls. "And now tell me the news, dear Craven. How are all our friends
+at Blue Cliffs?" she archly inquired.
+
+"I only want to tell you how much I adore you," whispered the lover, who
+was beginning to recover his composure.
+
+"That would be a vain repetition, darling, especially as I know it all
+quite well," murmured Mary Grey, with a smile, and still passing her
+hand with mesmeric gentleness over his hair.
+
+"Aye; but when will you make me completely happy?" sighed the poor
+fellow.
+
+"Whew!" smiled Mary Grey, with a little bird-like whistle. "How fast we
+are getting on, to be sure! Why, a few minutes ago we were afraid that
+we were taking a liberty in coming here to call on our lady-love at all!
+And now we are pressing her to name the day! See here, you impatient
+boy, answer me this: When did I ever promise to 'make you happy' _at
+all_?" she inquired, in a bantering tone.
+
+"But you gave me hopes--oh, do not say that you never gave me hopes!" he
+pleaded, turning red and pale and trembling from head to foot as before.
+
+"Well, I don't say it; for I know I promised if ever I should marry
+living man I should marry you. I repeat that promise now, dear Craven,"
+she added, gravely and tenderly.
+
+"Ah, Heaven bless you for those blessed words! But when--_when_ will you
+make me happy? Oh, if I possess your love, when--_when_ shall I possess
+your hand?" he pleaded.
+
+And then, as if suddenly ashamed of his own vehemence, he stopped in
+confusion.
+
+"You have won my love, you petulant boy!" she answered, archly. Then,
+dropping her voice to its tenderest music, she murmured: "What would you
+do to win my hand?"
+
+"Anything--anything under the sun!" he answered, wildly, and forgetting
+all his embarrassment. "Whatever man has done to win woman would I do to
+win you--more than ever man did to win woman would I do to win you! I
+would renounce my friends, betray my country, abjure my faith, _lose my
+soul_ for you!"
+
+"Words, words, words! You talk recklessly! You know you would not do the
+least one of these dreadful deeds for me," answered Mary Grey, laying
+her hand on his lips.
+
+"Try me!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE PRICE OF A SOUL.
+
+    I love you, love you; for your love would lose
+    State, station, heaven, mankind's, my own esteem.
+                                               --BYRON.
+
+
+He spoke these two words with such a desperate look, in such a desperate
+tone, that Mary Grey was half frightened; for she saw that he was in
+that fatal mood in which men have been driven to crime or death for the
+love of woman.
+
+This was the mood to which she wished to bring him, and in which she
+wished to keep him until he should have done his work; and yet it half
+frightened her now.
+
+"Hush--hush!" she murmured. "Be quiet! There are people in the next
+room. They may hear you. And I am sure they should do so they would take
+you for a lunatic."
+
+"But--do you believe me? Do you believe that I would defy the universe
+in your service? Do you believe me? If not, try me!" he aspirated,
+vehemently.
+
+"I _do_ believe you. And some day I _will_ try you. You have won my
+love; but he who wins my hand must first prove his love for me in a way
+that will leave no doubt upon the fact."
+
+"Then I am safe, for I am sure to prove it," he said, with a sigh of
+intense relief.
+
+She looked at him again, and knew that he spoke as he felt. Yes, for her
+sake he would "march to death as to a festival."
+
+"Now, then, will you be good and quiet and tell me news of my old
+neighbors at Wendover and Blue Cliffs?" she archly inquired.
+
+"I do not think I can. I wish to sit here and look at you and think only
+of you. It would be a painful wrench to tear away my thoughts from you
+and employ them upon anything else. Let me sit here in my heaven!" he
+pleaded.
+
+"Yes, love; but remember I am very anxious to know something about my
+dear friends, whom I have not heard from for a month. Can not you
+gratify me?" coaxed Mary Grey.
+
+"I can not fix my mind upon them long enough to remember anything. You
+absorb it all," he answered, dreamily gazing upon her.
+
+"But if I ask you questions surely you can answer them," said Mary Grey,
+who, though very anxious for information later than that afforded by
+Mrs. Wheatfield's letter, was not ill-pleased at the devotion which
+baffled her curiosity.
+
+"Yes, I will answer any question you ask. That will not be so much of a
+wrench," he said.
+
+"Then how is my dear friend, Emma Cavendish?" inquired the traitress.
+
+"Well and happy, at Blue Cliffs," answered the lover.
+
+"Is it true, as I hear, that she is to marry--" Mary Grey hesitated for
+a moment before her choking voice could pronounce his name--"Mr. Alden
+Lytton?"
+
+"Yes, I believe so. Everybody says so."
+
+"When?"
+
+"As soon as he gets established in his profession, I suppose."
+
+"Tell me about him."
+
+"Well, he is coming here on the first of the month to find an office and
+fit it up. And then he is going on to Philadelphia to select books for a
+law library."
+
+"Ah, he is coming here and he is going on to Philadelphia. Yes, yes,
+yes, yes! That will do," murmured Mary Grey, to herself.
+
+"What did you say?" inquired Craven Kyte.
+
+"I said that it was a good plan; but it will take money," answered Mrs.
+Grey.
+
+"Yes, that it will. And he has got it. That mysterious guardian of his
+has sent him ten thousand dollars to begin with."
+
+"A round sum! When did you say he was coming here?"
+
+"On the first of next month; or, perhaps, before the end of this month."
+
+"Good! Very good!"
+
+"Good for what?" innocently inquired Craven Kyte.
+
+"Good for his professional prospects, of course! The sooner he begins
+the better, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh, yes; certainly!"
+
+"And when does he go to Philadelphia?"
+
+"Just as soon as he has selected his law office and set painters and
+glaziers and paper-hangers and upholsterers and such to fit it up. For
+no expense is to be spared, and the young lawyer is to set up in style.
+For such is the wish of his guardian."
+
+"You know this?"
+
+"Yes, I know it. One knows everything that anybody else knows in a small
+village like Wendover."
+
+"You do not know when Mr. Lytton and Miss Cavendish are to be married?"
+
+"No, because I do not think they know themselves. But the people say it
+will be as soon as the young gentleman gets settled in his practice."
+
+"Good again! The delay is favorable," muttered Mary Grey to herself.
+
+"What did you say?" again inquired the ingenuous young man.
+
+"I say the delay is wise, of course."
+
+"Oh, yes; certainly!" assented Mr. Kyte.
+
+"And now tell me about the others," said Mrs. Grey.
+
+But her lover took her hand and gazed into her face, murmuring:
+
+"Oh, my love, my life, let me sit here and hold your thrilling little
+hand and gaze into your beautiful eyes, and think only of you for a
+moment!"
+
+She put her hand around his head and drew it toward her and pressed a
+kiss upon his forehead, and then said:
+
+"There! Now you will go on for me, will you not?"
+
+"I would die for you!" he earnestly exclaimed.
+
+"I would rather you would live for me, you mad boy!" she answered,
+smiling archly.
+
+"I will do anything for you."
+
+"Then answer my questions. Is it also true that Mr. Lyle and Miss Lytton
+are to be married?"
+
+"Oh, yes! That is certain. Their engagement is announced. There is no
+secret about that."
+
+"When are they to be married?"
+
+"Well, there is a slight obstacle to their immediate union."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"An old school-girl compact between Miss Cavendish and Miss Lytton, in
+which they promised each other that they would both be married on the
+same day or never at all."
+
+"A very silly, girlish compact."
+
+"Very."
+
+"Why do they not break it by mutual consent?"
+
+"Because mutual consent can not be had. Miss Cavendish indeed offers to
+release Miss Lytton from her promise; but Miss Lytton refuses to be
+released. And although her clerical lover presses her to name an earlier
+day, she will name no other than the day upon which Miss Cavendish also
+weds, be that day sooner or later."
+
+"So it is settled that they will be married upon the same day?"
+
+"Quite settled."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Everything is known in a little country town like Wendover, as I said
+before."
+
+"They will be married the same day. Better and better. If I had arranged
+it all myself it could not be better for my plans," muttered Mary Grey
+to herself.
+
+"What did you say?" inquired Craven Kyte.
+
+"I say I think, upon the whole, the arrangement is a good one."
+
+"Oh, yes; certainly!" admitted the young man.
+
+"Where are you stopping, Craven?" softly inquired Mrs. Grey.
+
+"Oh, at the same hotel from which you dated your letter! I thought you
+were there, and so I went directly there from the cars. When I inquired
+for you--I hope you will pardon my indiscretion in inquiring for you,"
+he said, breaking off from his discourse.
+
+"Oh, yes, I will pardon it! But it was a very great indiscretion, you
+thoughtless boy, for a handsome youth like you to be inquiring for a
+young widow like me at a public hotel. Now go on with what you were
+talking about."
+
+"Well, when I inquired for you they told me you had left this very
+morning, and they gave me your present address."
+
+"That was the way in which you found me?"
+
+"That was the way I found you. But, before starting to come here, I
+engaged my room at that hotel; for, after it had been blessed by your
+dear presence, it had quite a home-like feeling to me," said the lover,
+fervently.
+
+"How long do you stay in the city, Craven, dear?" sweetly inquired the
+siren.
+
+His face clouded over.
+
+"I must return to-morrow," he said. "It was the only condition upon
+which our principal would consent to my leaving yesterday. He is going
+North to purchase his fall and winter goods, you see, and wants me to be
+there."
+
+"How long will he be absent?"
+
+"He says only four days, at the longest."
+
+"And when does he go?"
+
+"By the next train following my return."
+
+"Then he will be back again at his post by Saturday evening?"
+
+"Yes; in fact, he intends to be back by the end of the week, and that is
+the very reason why he is so anxious to get away to-morrow night."
+
+"Craven, dear, when your senior partner gets back do you think you will
+be able to return here for a few days?"
+
+"Do you really wish me to come back so soon?" exclaimed the lover, his
+face flushing all over with pleasure.
+
+"Yes; but don't cry out so loud--that's a dear! I repeat, there are
+people in the next room. But you have not yet answered my question."
+
+"Oh, yes, I can return here as soon as my partner gets back! He promised
+that I should take a week's holiday then. So, if he gets back on
+Saturday evening, expect to see me here on Sunday morning, in time to
+wait on you to church."
+
+"Stop; not so fast, my dear! You can take your week's holiday at any
+time, I suppose?"
+
+"At any time this month or next."
+
+"Very well. Now, dear boy, I want you to promise me two or three
+things."
+
+"I will promise you anything in the world you wish."
+
+"Then listen. Every time I write to you I will inclose within my letter
+another letter, sealed and directed to me, which you must stamp and post
+at the Wendover post-office. Will you do that for me?"
+
+While she spoke the young man gazed at her in unqualified amazement.
+
+"Will you do that for me?" she repeated.
+
+"I solemnly promise to do that for you, although I am all in the dark as
+to what you would be at," earnestly answered Craven Kyte.
+
+"I thank you, dearest dear," cooed the siren, caressing him tenderly.
+
+"I would do anything in the world for you," he answered fervently. "I
+would die for you or live for you!"
+
+"Well, secondly, I want you, when you go back, to keep an eye on Mr.
+Alden Lytton. Find out, if possible, the day that he comes to this city.
+And precede him here yourself by one train. Or, if that is not possible,
+if you can not find out beforehand the day that he is to come, at least
+you can certainly know when he actually does start, for every passenger
+from Wendover is noticed. And then follow him by the next train, and
+come directly from the depot to me, before going to a hotel or showing
+yourself at any other place. Will you do that for me?"
+
+"I promise, on my sacred word and honor, that I will, although I have
+not the slightest idea why you wish me to do this," said Craven.
+
+"You are a true knight, worthy of any lady's love! Well, thirdly, and
+lastly, as the preachers say, I wish you to promise me never to divulge
+to a human being anything that has been said between us during this
+interview."
+
+"I not only promise, but I solemnly vow, in the sight of Heaven and all
+the holy angels, sacredly to observe the silence you require of me,
+although I feel more and more deeply mystified by all this."
+
+"You must trust in me, my dear, blindly trust in me for the present, and
+in time you shall know why I require these things of you," she said,
+very sweetly.
+
+"I trust in you blindly, utterly, eternally!" answered the lover.
+
+"And now, do you know what your reward shall be?"
+
+"Your smile of approval will be my all-sufficient reward!" exclaimed the
+young man, earnestly.
+
+"Ah, but you shall hear! When you have done these little favors for me,
+and _one more_, which I will tell you about when you come back from
+Wendover, then--" she said, pausing and looking at him with a
+bewildering smile.
+
+"Then? Yes! Then?" eagerly aspirated the young man, gazing at her in
+rapt admiration and expectancy.
+
+"Then I will give you my hand in marriage. I solemnly promise it."
+
+"Oh, you angel--you angel! You have made me so happy!" fervently
+breathed the infatuated lover, as he drew her, unresisting, and pressed
+her to his heart.
+
+At this point there was heard the sound of light footsteps approaching.
+
+And the moment after, several of the lady boarders opened the door and
+entered the room.
+
+Craven Kyte, always shy of strangers, arose to take leave.
+
+As he did so, he seemed suddenly to recollect something.
+
+He put his hand in his breast-pocket and drew forth a little box, which
+he handed to Mrs. Grey, saying:
+
+"It is your brooch that you requested me to get from the jeweler."
+
+And then, with a bow, he left her.
+
+Mary Grey went back to her room.
+
+"I shall succeed in ruining them all now!" she said, her dark eyes on
+fire with anticipated triumph.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+A VERY DESPERATE GAME.
+
+    I have set my life upon a cast,
+    And I will stand the hazard of the die.
+                               --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+Craven Kyte, the infatuated and doomed instrument and victim of a cruel
+and remorseless woman, returned to Wendover and resumed his place in
+Bastiennello's establishment, where he culpably neglected his business,
+and lived only on the thought of receiving her daily letters and of soon
+returning to Richmond to be blessed by her promised hand in marriage.
+
+Every morning he was the first man at the post-office, waiting eagerly,
+impatiently, for the arrival and opening of the mail.
+
+And he was never disappointed of receiving her letter, and--never
+satisfied with its contents.
+
+Every letter was in itself something of a mortification to him,
+containing no expression of confidence or affection, no word by which
+any one might suspect that the correspondent was writing to one she
+loved and trusted, much less to her betrothed husband.
+
+Every letter began and ended in the most polite and formal manner; never
+alluded to the matrimonial intentions between the correspondents, but
+treated only of church services, Sunday-schools, sewing circles and
+missionary matters, until the young man, famishing for a word of
+affection, with pardonable selfishness, sighed forth:
+
+"She is a saint; but oh, I wish she was a little less devoted to the
+heathen, and all that, and a little more affectionate to me!"
+
+But the instant afterward he blamed himself for egotism, and consoled
+himself by saying:
+
+"She always told me that, however much she loved, she would never write
+love-letters, as they might possibly fall into the hands of irreverent
+and scoffing people who would make a mockery of the writer. It is a
+far-fetched idea; but still it is _her_ idea and I must submit. It will
+be all right when I go to Richmond and claim her darling hand."
+
+And the thought of this would fill him with such ecstasy that he would
+long to tell some one, his partner especially, that he was the happiest
+man on earth, for he was to be married in a week to the loveliest woman
+in the world. But he was bound by his promise to keep his engagement, as
+well as all other of his relations with the beautiful widow, a profound
+secret. And though the poor fellow _was_ a fool, he was an _honorable_
+fool, and held his pledged word sacred.
+
+Every letter that came to him also contained another letter, to which it
+never referred by written word. This inclosed letter was sealed in an
+envelope bearing the initial "L" embossed upon its flap. And it was
+directed to "Mrs. Mary Grey, Old Crane Manor House, Richmond."
+
+Craven Kyte would gaze at this mysterious letter in the utmost confusion
+and obscurity of mind.
+
+"Now, why in the world does she write a letter and direct it to
+_herself_ and send it to me to post privately, by night, at the Wendover
+post-office? And why did she give me only verbal instructions about it?
+And why does she avoid even alluding to it in her letter to me? Why is
+the envelope stamped with the letter L? And why, oh, why does the
+handwriting so closely resemble that of Mr. Lytton?" he inquired of
+himself, as his eyes devoured the superscription of the letter. "I can
+not tell," he sighed. "It is too deep for my fathoming. I give it up. I
+must blindly do her bidding, trusting to her implicitly, as I do, and as
+I will."
+
+Then, following her verbal instructions, given him in Richmond, in
+regard to these mysterious letters, he put it away until dark, and then
+stole out and dropped it secretly into the night-box at the post-office.
+
+Five days passed, in which he received and re-mailed three of these
+inexplicable documents.
+
+Then, on Saturday morning, Bastiennello, the head of his firm, returned
+to Wendover and resumed the control of his business.
+
+On the evening of the same day a van arrived from Blue Cliff Hall,
+bringing the heavy baggage of Mr. Alden Lytton, to be deposited at the
+railway station and left until Monday morning, when the owner intended
+to start for Richmond by the earliest train.
+
+When Craven Kyte heard this he went straight to his principal and
+claimed his promised leave of absence.
+
+"Why, Kyte, you are in a tremendous hurry! Here I have not been back
+twelve hours and you want to be off," said Bastiennello, with a shrug of
+his shoulders.
+
+"It is a case of necessity, sir, believe me," pleaded Craven Kyte.
+
+"And this is Saturday night, the busiest time in the whole week,"
+complained Bastiennello.
+
+"Well, sir, you will not keep open after twelve, will you?"
+
+"Certainly not after eleven."
+
+"Nor will you need my services after that hour?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"Then that will enable me to serve here as usual until the hour of
+closing, and then give me time to catch the midnight train to Richmond."
+
+"Oh, well, if you can do that it will be all right, and I can have no
+objection to your going to-night," said Bastiennello.
+
+And so the affair was concluded.
+
+The great village bazaar closed at eleven that night.
+
+As soon as he had put up the last shutter, Craven Kyte rushed off to his
+humble lodgings, stuffed a carpet-bag full of needed clothing and
+hurried to the railway station to catch the train.
+
+It came thundering along in due time, and caught up the waiting victim
+and whirled him along on his road to ruin, as far as Richmond, where it
+dropped him.
+
+It was nearly eleven o'clock in the morning, and all the church bells
+were ringing, when the train ran in to the station.
+
+Craven Kyte, carpet-bag in hand, rushed for the gentlemen's
+dressing-room nearest the station, hastily washed his face, combed his
+hair, brushed his clothes, put on a clean collar and bosom-piece, and
+fresh gloves, and hurried off to old St. John's Church, which he thought
+the most likely place on that Sunday forenoon to meet Mary Grey.
+
+The service was more than half over when he reached the church, but he
+slipped in and seated himself quietly on one of the back seats near the
+door and looked all over the heads of the seated congregation to see if
+he could discover his beloved in the crowd.
+
+Yes, there she was, in a front pew of the middle aisle, immediately
+under the pulpit.
+
+To be sure he could only see the back of her head and shoulders, but he
+felt that he could not be mistaken.
+
+And from that moment he paid but little attention to the service.
+
+Do not mistake the poor soul. He was not impious. He had been
+religiously brought up in the family of the late Governor Cavendish. He
+was accustomed to be devout during divine worship. And on this occasion
+he wrestled with Satan--that is, with himself--and tried to fix his mind
+in succession on anthems, psalms, collects and sermon. All to little
+purpose. His mind went with his eyes toward Mary Grey.
+
+And even when he closed those offending orbs he still found her image in
+his mind.
+
+At length the sermon was finished and the benediction pronounced.
+
+The congregation began to move out.
+
+Craven Kyte went out among the first, and placed himself just outside
+the gate to wait until his adored should pass by.
+
+In a continued stream the congregation poured forth out of the church
+until nearly all had passed out, but still he did not see Mary Grey.
+
+In truth, that popularity-seeking beauty was lingering to bestow her
+sweet smile and honeyed words upon "all and sundry" who would give her
+the opportunity.
+
+At length, among the very last to issue from the church, was Mrs. Grey.
+
+She came out chatting demurely with a group of her friends.
+
+Craven Kyte made a single step toward her, with the intention of
+speaking; but seeing that she did not notice him, and feeling abashed by
+the presence of strangers about her, he withdrew again and contented
+himself with following at a short distance until he saw her separate
+herself from the group and turn down a by-street.
+
+Then he quickened his footsteps, turned down the same street and joined
+her.
+
+At the same instant she looked back upon him with a smile, saying:
+
+"You clever boy, how good and wise of you to refrain from speaking to me
+before so many strangers! Now what is the news?"
+
+"The news is--Oh, my dear, dearest, dearest Mary! I am so delighted to
+meet you!" he exclaimed, breaking suddenly off from his intended
+communications.
+
+"So am I to see you, darling. But that is no news. Come, this is a quiet
+street, and leads out of the city. Let us walk on, and as we walk you
+can tell me all the news," she said, smilingly, resting her delicate
+hand on his arm.
+
+"I can tell you nothing--nothing yet, but that I love you--I love you!"
+he fervently breathed, as he drew her arm within his own and pressed her
+hand to his bosom.
+
+"And I love you," she murmured, in the lowest, sweetest music. And then,
+after a moment's pause, she added, gayly: "And now tell me what has
+brought you here so suddenly."
+
+"Did I not promise you that I would be in Richmond this Sunday morning,
+in time to attend you to church?"
+
+"Yes, you did, but--"
+
+"Well, I could not get in so early as I intended, because I came on by
+the train that leaves Wendover at midnight. So I did not reach the city
+until nearly noon to-day. However, if I was not in time to attend you
+_to_ church, I was in time to attend you _from_ church. So I kept my
+promise tolerably well."
+
+"Yes; but, my dear friend, I particularly requested that you would wait
+at Wendover and watch certain events, and not come to Richmond until
+something had happened or was about to happen."
+
+"Well then?"
+
+"You gave me your word that you would do as I directed you."
+
+"Yes, certainly I did."
+
+"Then, seeing you here, I am to presume that all the conditions of your
+engagement have been fulfilled."
+
+"Yes, they have, dear lady mine."
+
+"First, then, as you were not to come here until Mr. Alden Lytton was
+about to start or had started for this place, why, I am to presume, by
+seeing you here, that Mr. Lytton is either present in the city or on his
+way here."
+
+"Mr. Lytton will leave Wendover for Richmond by the earliest train
+to-morrow. He will be here to-morrow evening," said Craven Kyte,
+gravely.
+
+"You are absolutely sure of this?" inquired Mrs. Grey.
+
+"As sure of it as any one can be of any future event. His heavy baggage
+came over from Blue Cliff Hall yesterday evening, and was left at the
+station to be ready for transportation on Monday morning, when Mr.
+Lytton intended to take the earliest train for this city."
+
+"Then there can be no mistake," said Mary Grey.
+
+"None whatever, I think."
+
+"You say you have fulfilled all the conditions of our engagement?"
+
+"Yes, dearest, I have indeed."
+
+"How about those letters I inclosed to you to be re-mailed?"
+
+"I received them all, and re-mailed them all. Did you get them? You
+never acknowledged the receipt of one of them, however," said Craven
+Kyte, thoughtfully.
+
+"I got them all safe. There was no use in acknowledging them by letter,
+as I expected to see you so soon, and could acknowledge them so much
+better by word of mouth. But that is not exactly what I meant by my
+question, darling. Of course I knew without being told that you had
+re-mailed all those letters, as I had received them all."
+
+"Then what was it you wished me to tell you, dearest Mary? Ask me
+plainly. I will tell you anything in the world that I know."
+
+"Only this: Did you post those letters with great secrecy, taking
+extreme care that no one saw you do it?"
+
+"My dearest, I took such care that I waited until the dead of night,
+when no one was abroad in the village, and I stole forth then, and, all
+unseen, dropped the letters into the night box."
+
+"You darling! How good you are! What shall I ever do to repay you?"
+exclaimed the traitress, with well-acted enthusiasm.
+
+"Only love me--only love me! That will richly repay me for all. Ah, only
+love me! Only love me truly and I will die for you if necessary!"
+fervently breathed the poor doomed young man, fondly gazing upon her,
+who, to gain her own diabolical end, was almost putting his neck into a
+halter.
+
+"You foolish darling! Why, you would break my heart by dying! You can
+only make me happy by living for me," she said, with a smile.
+
+"I would live for you, die for you, suffer for you, sin for you--do
+anything for you, bear anything for you, be anything for you!" he burst
+forth, in a fervor of devotion.
+
+"There, there, dearest, I know you would! I know it all! But now tell
+me: Have you kept our engagement a profound secret from every human
+being, as I requested you to do?"
+
+"Yes, yes, a profound secret from every human being, on my sacred word
+and honor! Although it was hard to do that. For, as I walked up and down
+the streets of Wendover, feeling so happy--so happy that I am sure I
+must have looked perfectly wild, as the people stared at me so
+suspiciously--I could scarcely help embracing all my friends and saying
+to them, 'Congratulate me, for I am engaged to the loveliest woman in
+the world, and I am the happiest man on earth!' But I kept the secret."
+
+"You mad boy! You love too fast to love long, I doubt! After a month or
+two of married life you will grow tired of me, I fear," said Mary Grey,
+with mock gravity.
+
+"Tired of you! Tired of heaven! Oh, no, no, no!" he burst forth,
+ardently.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+THE HAUNTED COTTAGE.
+
+
+She suddenly brought him down to the earth with a homely remark.
+
+"I am tired of walking. And here is a vacant house placarded 'To Let,'
+with a nice long porch in front. Come, let [us] go in and sit down on
+one of the benches and rest."
+
+And she drew him toward the little gate that led into the yard in front
+of the house.
+
+It was a rustic two-story frame cottage, with a long porch in front, all
+overgrown with honeysuckles, clematis, woodbine and wild roses.
+
+They went in together and sat down on the porch, under the shadow of the
+blooming and fragrant vines.
+
+Then she turned and looked at him attentively for the first time since
+they met at the church.
+
+"You look tired," she said, with alluring tenderness. "You look more
+exhausted than I feel. And that is saying a great deal, for I am quite
+out of breath."
+
+"I am grieved that you feel so, dearest! It was selfish and thoughtless
+in me to keep you walking so long," said Craven, compunctiously.
+
+"Oh, it is nothing! But about yourself. You really look quite
+prostrated."
+
+"Do I, dearest? I am not conscious of fatigue. Though indeed I should
+never be conscious of that by your dear side."
+
+"Now tell the truth," she said, again bringing him down from his
+flights. "Have you had your breakfast this morning?"
+
+"Breakfast? I--don't remember," he said, with a perplexed air.
+
+"Come to your senses and answer me directly. What have you taken this
+morning?" she demanded, with a pretty air of authority.
+
+"I--Let me see. I believe I bought a package of lemon-drops from a boy
+that was selling them in the cars. I--I believe I have got some of them
+left yet," he said, hesitating, and drawing from his pocket one of those
+little white packets of candy so commonly sold on the train.
+
+Mary Grey burst into a peal of soft, silvery laughter as she took them,
+and said:
+
+"An ounce of lemon-drops and nothing else for breakfast! Oh, Cupid, God
+of Love, and Hebe, Goddess of Health, look here, and settle it between
+you!"
+
+"But I do not feel hungry. It is food enough for me to sit here and
+feast upon the sight of your face, your beautiful face!"
+
+"You frenzied boy! I see that I must take care of you. Come, now that we
+have recovered our breath, we will go on a little further to a nice,
+quiet, suburban inn, kept by an old maid. I have never been there
+myself, but I have seen it in driving by with the rector's family. It is
+such a nice place that the school children go there to have picnic
+parties in the grounds. We will go and engage a parlor, and have a quiet
+little breakfast or dinner, whichever you may please, for it shall
+combine the luxuries of both. Now will you go?" said Mary Grey, rising
+from her shady seat.
+
+"Of course, if you wish me to do so; but indeed I do not need anything."
+
+"But I do; for I breakfasted at seven o'clock this morning, before going
+to the Sunday-school. It is now one o'clock. I have been fasting six
+hours, and as I intend to spend the most of the day with you, I shall
+miss our luncheon at home; for, you see, we are deadly fashionable at
+the Misses Cranes'. We lunch at two and dine at six. So come along."
+
+Craven Kyte arose and gave her his arm, and they walked on together
+until they reached the little cottage, half farmhouse, half hotel, that
+was so well-kept by the nice old maiden hostess.
+
+The good woman looked rather surprised to see Sunday visitors walk into
+her house.
+
+But Mary Grey, prayer-book ostentatiously in hand, took her aside, out
+of the hearing of Craven Kyte, and explained:
+
+"I and my brother walked in from the country to attend church this
+morning. We have a carriage and might have ridden, only we do not think
+it is right to make the horses work on Sunday, do you?"
+
+"No, miss, I candidly don't; and that's a fact," replied the good
+creature.
+
+"Mrs.," amended Mary Grey, with a smile.
+
+"'Mrs.' of course! I beg your pardon, ma'am! But you looked so young,
+and I may say childish, and I didn't notice the widow's cap before,"
+apologized the hostess.
+
+"Well, as we had no friends in the town--no one with whom we could stop
+to dinner--I and my brother set out to walk home again. He is an
+invalid, and is quite exhausted with fasting and fatigue. So perhaps,
+under the circumstances, you would not mind letting us have a parlor to
+rest in and a little dinner."
+
+"Of course not, ma'am; for under such circumstances it is clearly my
+duty to entertain you," answered the good soul, who, under no possible
+circumstances, would have been false to her ideas of right.
+
+"You are very kind. I thank you very much," said Mary Grey, sweetly.
+
+"Here is a room at your and your brother's disposal, ma'am. No one will
+intrude upon you here," said the hostess, opening a door that led into a
+neat back parlor, whose windows overlooked the garden and orchard
+attached to the house.
+
+"Come," said Mary Grey, beckoning to her companion.
+
+"Dear me! I never saw a brother and sister look so much alike as you two
+do," remarked the hostess, admiringly, as she showed them into the back
+parlor.
+
+She left them, promising to send in a nice dinner.
+
+"And coffee with it, if you please," added Mary Grey, as the landlady
+went out.
+
+"Yes, certainly, ma'am, if you wish it," she answered, as she
+disappeared.
+
+Mary Grey went to the back window and looked out upon the pleasant
+garden, verdant and blooming with shrubs, rose-bushes and flowers.
+
+Craven Kyte joined her.
+
+"Did you hear that old lady call us brother and sister?" inquired the
+young man.
+
+"Yes," answered Mary Grey, with her false smile. "But I did not think it
+necessary to set her right."
+
+"And she said we looked so much alike," smiled Craven.
+
+"We both have dark hair and dark eyes. And we are both rather thin in
+flesh. That is the beginning and the ending of the likeness. And her
+imagination did the rest," explained Mary Grey.
+
+They were interrupted by a pretty mulatto girl, who came in to lay the
+cloth for dinner.
+
+And this girl continued to flit in and out of the room, bringing the
+various articles of the service, until, on one of her temporary
+absences, Craven Kyte exclaimed:
+
+"I would rather have sat and fasted with you under that pretty porch of
+the old road-side empty house than sit at a feast here, with that girl
+always running in and out to interrupt us."
+
+"Never mind, dear. As soon as we get something to eat we will go," said
+Mary Grey, with her sweet, false smile.
+
+In a reasonable time a dainty little dinner was placed upon the table,
+consisting of broiled chickens, green corn, asparagus and mashed
+potatoes, with fragrant coffee for a beverage and peaches and cream for
+dessert.
+
+When they had partaken of this, and had rested a while, Craven Kyte went
+out and paid the bill. And Mary Grey again drew the landlady aside, out
+of hearing of her companion, and said:
+
+"We are so much rested and refreshed by your admirable hospitality that
+my brother and myself think we shall walk back to town and attend
+afternoon service."
+
+The good hostess smiled approval, but expressed a hope that they would
+not overdo themselves.
+
+Mary Grey smiled and took leave, and walked off with her captive.
+
+They went on until they came in front of the vacant house with the
+vine-clad porch.
+
+"Come, won't you rest here a little while?" inquired Craven Kyte, laying
+his hands upon the latch of the gate.
+
+"Yes, for a little while only," said Mary Grey, consulting her watch.
+"It is now half-past three o'clock, and service commences at half-past
+four. And I _must_ be at church in time for the commencement of the
+service. You will go to church with me, of course," she added.
+
+"Of course!" answered Craven Kyte, emphatically.
+
+"I am sorry that I can not ask you to sit with me; but the fact is I
+have only one seat that I can call my own in a crowded pew belonging to
+the Blairs. But you can walk with me to church, and join me again after
+the service," exclaimed Mary Grey.
+
+"I should so much like to sit by your side!" said poor Craven, with a
+disappointed look.
+
+"Don't you see, my dear, it is quite impossible? The service, however,
+is short, and I will join you immediately after it."
+
+And as they talked they went in and sat down on the porch.
+
+"This is a pretty little old-fashioned cottage. Don't you think so?"
+inquired the beauty, as they looked around them.
+
+"Very pretty," agreed her victim, who would equally have agreed to
+anything she might have proposed.
+
+"Look what a fine luxuriant garden it has behind it, all growing wild
+with neglect."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And the orchard back of that. See the trees bending under their loads
+of ripening apples or peaches."
+
+"Yes. It's a wonder the boys don't go in and steal them."
+
+"No boy would enter there for love or money."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because this is the house in which Barnes killed his wife and child, in
+a fit of insane jealousy; and the place has the terrible reputation of
+being haunted."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Yes; it is said that the ghost of a weeping woman, carrying a weeping
+child in her arms, is seen to wander through garden and orchard at all
+hours of the night, or to come in and look over the beds of the sleepers
+in the house, if any are found courageous enough to sleep there."
+
+"Oh! And that is the reason, I suppose, that the house remains
+untenanted?" said Craven Kyte.
+
+"Yes, that is the reason why the house, pleasant and attractive as it
+looks, remains untenanted; and why the garden and orchard, with their
+wealth of flowers and fruit, remain untouched by trespassers," said Mrs.
+Grey.
+
+"It is a pity such a pretty place should be so abandoned," mused the
+young man.
+
+"It is. But, you see, family after family took it and tried to live in
+it in vain. No family could stay longer than a week. It has now been
+untenanted for more than a year. I have heard that the owner offers to
+rent it for the paltry sum of fifty dollars a year."
+
+"For this delightful house!"
+
+"For this haunted house, you mean!" said Mrs. Grey.
+
+"Oh, nonsense! I beg your forgiveness, my dearest, I did not mean that
+for you, but for the gabies that believe in ghosts!" said Craven Kyte.
+
+"Then you do not believe in ghosts?"
+
+"I!"
+
+"Well, I thought you did not. In fact, I knew you did not. Now I want
+you to do something to please me," said the siren, laying her soft hand
+upon his shoulder.
+
+"Anything in this world, you know, I will do to please you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+WHAT SHE WANTED HIM TO DO.
+
+
+"Well, I want you to rent this house."
+
+Craven Kyte started with surprise and looked at the speaker.
+
+She went on, however, regardless of his astonishment.
+
+"And I want you to purchase furniture enough to fit up one room for
+yourself; and I want you to do that the first thing to-morrow. And I
+want you to lodge here alone, while you remain in Richmond."
+
+He still stared at her in amazement, but with no sign of a wish to
+disobey her strange commands.
+
+She went on with her instructions.
+
+"You can walk into the city, and take your meals at any restaurant you
+please; but you must lodge here alone while you stay in the city."
+
+"I will do so," he answered, earnestly, as he recovered the use of his
+tongue--"I will do anything you tell me. I am entirely under your
+orders."
+
+"You are the best fellow in the whole world, and I love the very ground
+you walk on!" exclaimed the traitress, warmly.
+
+He grasped her hand convulsively and pressed it to his lips, and then
+waited her further directions.
+
+"To reward you I will come out here every morning and spend the whole
+day with you."
+
+"Oh, that will be heavenly! I should be willing to live in a cave on
+such delightful conditions!"
+
+"But mind, my dearest one, you must not come to see me at my
+boarding-house, or try to meet me, or to speak to me, after to-day,
+anywhere where I am known," added Mrs. Grey, gravely.
+
+"Oh, that seems very hard!" sighed the victim, with a look of grief,
+almost of suspicion.
+
+"Why should it seem hard, when I tell you that I will come out here
+every morning to spend the whole day with you?" inquired Mrs. Grey.
+
+"But why, then, can I not go home with you and spend the whole evening
+in your company at your boarding-house?" pleaded the poor fellow.
+
+"Because we should have no comfort at all in a whole parlor full of
+company, as there is at the Misses Cranes' every evening. And because we
+should be talked about in that gossiping boarding-house circle. And,
+finally, because I should much rather stay with you alone here in this
+house, where there is no one to criticise us, as late every evening as I
+possibly can, and let you walk home with me and leave me at the door at
+bed-time. Now don't you think mine the better plan?"
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed, if you really will spend the evenings with me also!"
+
+"Why, certainly I will! And now let us walk on to church. And mind, you
+must leave me at the church door and find a seat for yourself, while I
+go to mine. After church I will come out here with you again and sit
+with you all the evening. I have no doubt the good woman at the rustic
+inn down the road will give us tea, as she gave us dinner," said the
+beauty, as she arose and slipped her hand within her companion's arm.
+
+They left the house together and walked on to the church.
+
+And the programme for the afternoon and evening was carried on according
+to the beautiful schemer's arrangement.
+
+After the services were concluded they walked out to the suburban inn,
+where the simple-minded hostess willingly agreed to furnish tea for such
+a pious church-going brother and sister.
+
+And when they had had this tea, Mary Grey, to beguile the landlady, took
+her willing captive for a walk further out toward the country; and then
+returning by a roundabout route, came to the vacant road-side cottage,
+where, as the September evening was very warm, they sat under the
+vine-clad porch until ten o'clock.
+
+Then they walked back to the town together.
+
+Craven Kyte took Mary Grey to the gate of her boarding-house, where, as
+the place was silent and deserted, they paused for a few last words.
+
+"Mind, the first thing you do to-morrow morning will be to go and find
+the owner of the haunted house and rent it from him," said the widow.
+
+"Yes," answered her white slave.
+
+"And the next thing you do will be to go and buy the furniture necessary
+to fit up one room for yourself, and have it taken out there and
+arranged."
+
+"Yes," he answered again, very submissively.
+
+"That will take you nearly all day, I think."
+
+"I will hurry through the business as fast as I can, so that I may see
+you the sooner. When can I see you to-morrow?" he pleaded.
+
+"At seven o'clock to-morrow evening wait for me at the haunted house. I
+will come and stay with you there until eleven."
+
+"Oh, that is so long to wait! May I not see you sooner?"
+
+"Impossible! I have a sacred duty to do to-morrow that will engage me
+all day. But you too will be busy. And we can look forward all day to
+our meeting in the evening. And after to-morrow we can meet every
+morning and spend the whole day together," said the traitress, sweetly.
+
+"I suppose I must be content!" sighed the victim.
+
+"Now good-night, dear. And good-bye until to-morrow night," murmured the
+siren, as she gave her lover a Judas kiss and dismissed him.
+
+Mary Grey hurried into the drawing-room, where the Misses Crane were
+still sitting up.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Grey, we feared that something had happened to you," said
+the elder Miss Crane.
+
+"Oh, no! I went to see one of my Sunday-school pupils, whom I missed
+from my class, and whom, upon inquiry, I found to be ill at home. I have
+spent the whole day with the sick child, except the hours spent at
+church. And I must go to see her again to-morrow morning," said the
+widow, with a patient smile.
+
+"How good you are!" murmured Miss Crane.
+
+Mary Grey shook her head deprecatingly, bowed good-night to the slim
+sisters and went upstairs to her own room.
+
+Early the next morning Mary Grey, telling her hostesses that she was
+then going to sit with the sick child, left the old manor-house and
+walked rapidly to the railway station and took a ticket for Forestville,
+a village about twenty miles from the city, on the Richmond and Wendover
+Railroad.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+A HAPPY LOVER.
+
+    The lover is a king; the ground
+      He treads on is not ours;
+    His soul by other laws is bound,
+      Sustained by other powers.
+    Liver of a diviner life,
+      He turns a vacant gaze
+    Toward the theater of strife,
+      Where we consume our days.
+                   --R. M. MILNES.
+
+
+On that Monday morning Alden Lytton left Blue Cliff Hall with his heart
+full of joy and thankfulness.
+
+He was the accepted lover of Emma Cavendish. And he was so somewhat to
+his own amazement, for he had not intended to propose to her so soon.
+
+She was a very wealthy heiress, and he was a poor young lawyer, just
+about to begin the battle of life.
+
+They were both still very young and could afford to wait a few years.
+And, ardently as he loved her, he wished to see his way clearly to fame
+and fortune by his profession before presuming to ask the beautiful
+heiress to share his life.
+
+But the impulse of an ardent passion may, in some unguarded hour,
+overturn the firmest resolution of wisdom.
+
+This was so in the case of Alden Lytton.
+
+Up to Saturday, the last day but one of his stay at Blue Cliff Hall, the
+lovers were not engaged.
+
+Rumor, in proclaiming their engagement, had been, as she often is,
+beforehand with the facts.
+
+But on that Saturday evening, after tea, Alden Lytton found himself
+walking with Emma Cavendish up and down the long front piazza.
+
+It was a lovely summer night. There was no moon, but the innumerable
+stars were shining with intense brilliancy from the clear blue-black
+night sky; the earth sent up an aroma from countless fragrant flowers
+and spicy shrubs; the dew lay fresh upon all; and the chirp of myriads
+of little insects of the night almost rivaled the songs of birds during
+the day. And so the night was filled with the sparkling light of stars,
+the fresh coolness of dew, the rich perfume of vegetation and the low
+music of insect life.
+
+The near mountains, like walls of Eden, shut in the beautiful scene.
+
+Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish sauntered slowly up and down the long
+piazza feeling the divine influence of the hour and scene, without
+thinking much about either.
+
+Indeed, they thought only of each other.
+
+They were conscious that this was to be their last walk together for
+many months, perhaps for years.
+
+Something to this effect Alden murmured.
+
+He received no reply, but he felt a tear drop upon his hand.
+
+Then he lost his self-control. The strong love swelling in his soul
+burst forth into utterance, and with impassioned tones and eloquent,
+though broken words, he told her of his most presuming and almost
+hopeless love.
+
+And then he waited, trembling, for the rejection and rebuke that his
+modesty made him more than half expect.
+
+But no such rebuff came from Emma Cavendish.
+
+She paused in her walk, raised her beautiful eyes to his face and placed
+both her hands in his.
+
+And in this manner she silently accepted him.
+
+How fervently he thanked and blessed her!
+
+Emma Cavendish had always been a dutiful daughter to the doting old lady
+in the "throne room;" so that night, before she slept, she went in and
+told her grandmother of her engagement to Alden Lytton.
+
+Now, by all the rules of wrong, Madam Cavendish should have resolutely
+set her face against the betrothal of her wealthy granddaughter to a
+young lawyer with no fortune of his own and with his way yet to make in
+the world.
+
+And if the old lady had been somewhat younger she would probably have
+done this very thing.
+
+But as it was, she was "old and childish;" which means that she was more
+heavenly-minded and nearer heaven than she ever had been since the days
+of her own infancy and innocence.
+
+So, instead of fixing a pair of terrible spectacled eyes upon the young
+girl and reading her a severe lecture upon "the eternal fitness of
+things," as illustrated in wealth mating with wealth and rank with rank,
+she looked lovingly upon her granddaughter, held out her venerable hand,
+and drew her up to her bosom, kissed her tenderly, and said:
+
+"Heaven bless you, my own darling! This has come rather suddenly upon
+me; but since, in the course of nature, you must some time marry, I do
+not know a young gentleman in this world to whom I would as soon see you
+married as to Mr. Alden Lytton. But, my child, I do not think you ought
+to be married very soon," she added.
+
+"No, dear grandma, I know that," said Emma, kneeling down by her side
+and tenderly caressing and kissing her withered hands. "No, dear
+grandma, I will never leave you--never for any one--not even for him!"
+
+"My darling child, you mistake my meaning. It is not for the selfish
+purpose of keeping you here near me that I advise you to defer your
+marriage for a time. It is because I think it is decorous that some
+months should elapse between the betrothal of a young pair and their
+wedding. Though, of course, there are some cases in which a short
+engagement and a speedy marriage become expedient or even necessary. As,
+for instance, my child, if I felt myself near death now I should
+certainly wish to hasten your marriage, rather than leave you
+unprotected in this world."
+
+Emma Cavendish could only kiss her grandmother's hands and thank her
+through falling tears.
+
+"And now; my child, I must go to sleep. I always want to go to sleep
+after anything exciting has happened to me. Good-night, and may Heaven
+bless you, my love!" said the old lady, affectionately, as she dismissed
+her granddaughter.
+
+While Emma Cavendish was talking with her grandmother, Alden Lytton went
+into the parlor, where he found his sister alone, sitting by one of the
+windows, gazing thoughtfully out upon the beautiful night.
+
+He drew a chair to her side, seated himself and, with his arm around her
+waist, told her of his new-born happiness.
+
+She congratulated him fervently and earnestly; and then, returning
+confidence for confidence, told him of her engagement to the young
+minister of Wendover.
+
+For rumor, in Mr. Lyle's and Miss Lytton's case also, had anticipated
+the facts, and had reported their betrothal all over the country long
+before it was announced to their nearest friends.
+
+Alden Lytton, with all his approving heart, wished his sister joy in her
+prospective union with the worthy young clergyman.
+
+And then the two, talking together over their future, decided that they
+must write at once to their Uncle John Lytton and inform him of their
+engagements.
+
+Alden undertook to write a letter on the part of both his sister and
+himself that night.
+
+And, on further discussion, it was decided that at the close of her
+visit to Blue Cliff Hall, Laura should go to Lytton Lodge to make a
+visit to her relatives there.
+
+The entrance of Emma Cavendish put an end to the discussion, and was the
+occasion of new congratulations.
+
+The next morning Madam Cavendish sent for Alden Lytton and Emma
+Cavendish to come up to her room together.
+
+And she then and there read them a grave and affectionate little lecture
+upon the duties and responsibilities of an engaged couple, gave them her
+blessing and dismissed them to go to church.
+
+That Sunday morning every one at Blue Cliffs knew of the betrothal of
+Mr. Lytton to the young mistress of the Hall.
+
+And on Monday morning all the county knew it just as well as they had
+known it a month before it happened.
+
+And every one said over once more what they had already said so
+often--that it was a great pity the daughter of the late Governor
+Cavendish should be allowed to throw herself and her wealth away upon a
+penniless young fortune-hunter like Alden Lytton, and all for the want
+of a proper guardian at hand to restrain her. Old Madam Cavendish, they
+said, was no better than none at all. And really the Orphans' Court
+ought to interfere, etc.
+
+But the very bitterest of the malcontents were parents with marriageable
+sons of their own, any one of which might one day have aspired to the
+hand of the heiress.
+
+Little cared the happy lovers what their neighbors might think about
+their betrothal.
+
+They parted that morning, not with tears, but with bright smiles and
+promises of frequent correspondence.
+
+Alden Lytton stopped in Wendover to take leave of his friend, Mr. Lyle,
+and to announce the betrothal of Miss Cavendish and himself.
+
+And then, scarcely waiting to receive the congratulations of the
+minister, he hurried off to catch his train for Richmond.
+
+An hour after this Mr. Lyle had an interview with Victor Hartman, and
+delighted that poor fellow's soul with the announcement of the
+betrothal.
+
+And on the same day Mr. Lyle, commissioned by Victor Hartman, went to
+Blue Cliff Hall and requested an interview with Madam Cavendish.
+
+The old lady, thinking this was the usual pastoral call from the
+minister, sent word for him to come up to her room.
+
+And there she received him alone, and after the usual greetings opened
+the conversation herself by informing him of the betrothal of her
+granddaughter to Mr. Alden Lytton.
+
+"It was upon that very subject that I came to see you, madam, on the
+part of the young gentleman's guardian," replied the minister, and then
+and there announced the fact that Mr. Alden Lytton's "guardian" would be
+prepared to pay down to his ward one hundred thousand dollars on the day
+of his marriage with Miss Cavendish.
+
+"Emma has money enough," said the old lady; "but that indeed is very
+liberal. I never could understand about that secret guardian, friend,
+patron, or whatever you might call him, of the young Lyttons," she
+added, as if she would have liked some information on the subject.
+
+"No, madam, and I am sorry that I am not yet at liberty to tell you more
+about him. This, however, I may say, that he is able and willing to keep
+his word."
+
+And so that interview ended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+ON TO MEET HIS FATE.
+
+
+Meanwhile, Alden Lytton sped on toward the city. He traveled by the
+express train, which stopped at but few stations.
+
+About two o'clock in the afternoon the train made its longest pause, at
+a little station about midway between Wendover and Richmond, where it
+stopped twenty minutes for dinner.
+
+Many of the passengers left the train to stretch their cramped limbs or
+to satisfy their hunger.
+
+Alden Lytton got out and went into the waiting-room, when the first form
+his eye fell upon was that of Mary Grey.
+
+She looked pale, weary and harassed, as she sat alone on one of the
+benches, with a small carpet-bag at her feet.
+
+Now Alden Lytton's heart was so full of happiness that it expanded with
+affection for the whole human race, and even warmed with sympathy for
+this erring woman, who had once possessed and forfeited his faithful
+boyish love.
+
+And now, in his compassion, he went to her and, smiling very kindly, he
+said:
+
+"Why, Mrs. Grey! I am so surprised to see you here, and alone too!" he
+added.
+
+"When, since I left Blue Cliff Hall, have you ever seen me when I have
+not been alone?" she inquired, with a sad smile.
+
+"True," he answered, gently. "Even in a church, or a crowded parlor, you
+have still been ever alone. But why should this be so, while you have so
+many faithful friends? Miss Cavendish I know is--"
+
+She put up her hand to stop him. She turned paler than before, and
+trembled as with a chill. For she had loved this man _only_, of all that
+she had fascinated and fooled; she had loved him _utterly_; and even
+now, when she bitterly hated him, she could not bear to hear her rival's
+name from his lips.
+
+"'The heart knoweth its own bitterness,'" she murmured, in faltering
+tones. "Let us talk of something else. I came down here to bring some
+funds that I had collected from charitable friends for a poor family who
+were burned out near this village. And now I am going back by this
+train. Pray pardon my nervousness! But the crowd and bustle and
+excitement of a railway station always does make me very nervous."
+
+"You need refreshment. Come to the table with me and have something.
+There is yet plenty of time," he said, kindly, offering her his arm.
+
+He felt so safe and happy in his wisely placed affection and firmly
+based engagement to Emma Cavendish that he could afford to be very kind
+to this poor woman, although she had once possessed--and by her conduct
+forever forfeited--his honest youthful love.
+
+He gave her his arm and led her away to the dining-room, where a crowd
+was collected at the refreshment table.
+
+There was a whisper between two attendants as they passed by.
+
+"Hush! That is the young fellow she has been waiting here to meet. It is
+a runaway marriage, bless you!"
+
+This whisper reached the ears of Alden Lytton and Mary Grey.
+
+Alden Lytton paid no attention to it, thinking that it referred to some
+"levanting" youth and girl who had chosen this station for their
+escapade.
+
+But Mary Grey smiled grimly to herself as she heard it.
+
+They had barely time to get a cup of coffee each before the warning
+shriek of the steam engine called the passengers to take their places.
+
+Alden Lytton drew his companion's arm within his own, led her into the
+ladies' car, put her into a comfortable seat, and took his place beside
+her.
+
+Purposely suggested by Mary Grey's own calculated actions while waiting
+at the station, a whisper had got around among the attendants that the
+lovely young lady in black had come down to meet her lover and elope
+with him; and from the attendants it had reached the ears of some of the
+passengers.
+
+And now, as Alden Lytton placed himself innocently enough on the seat
+beside Mary Grey, the eyes of several of their fellow-travelers turned
+with curiosity toward them.
+
+Certainly the demeanor of both rather favored the idea of their being a
+pair of engaged lovers.
+
+Alden Lytton, with his beaming and happy face, and his careful
+attentions to his companion, wore the look of a successful suitor and
+prospective bridegroom. Mary Grey, with her pale, pretty face and
+nervous manner, had as much the appearance of a runaway girl, trembling
+and frightened at what she was daring.
+
+Meanwhile the train whirled onward, bearing many passengers to happy
+homes or on pleasant visits; but carrying one among them on to crime and
+another to disaster.
+
+As they drew near the end of the journey the crowd in the ladies' car
+was thinned out by the leaving of passengers at the smaller stations,
+until at length Alden Lytton and Mary Grey were left nearly alone and
+quite out of hearing of any fellow-traveler.
+
+Then Alden said to her:
+
+"I hope you have some plan of occupation and happiness for your future
+life."
+
+"Yes," murmured Mary Grey, "I have some little prospect. I have the
+offer of a very good position in a first-class ladies' college near
+Philadelphia."
+
+"I hope it will suit you."
+
+"I do not know. I have promised to go on and see the institution and
+talk with the principal before concluding the engagement."
+
+"That would be safest, of course," said Alden.
+
+"And I should have gone on a day or two since, but the journey, with its
+changes from steamer to car and car to steamer, is really quite a
+serious one for me to take alone, especially as I always get frightened
+and lose my presence of mind in the terrible uproar of a steamboat
+landing or a railway station."
+
+"Then you should never undertake such a journey alone," said Alden,
+compassionately.
+
+"No, I know it. But yet I shall have to do so, unless I can hear of
+some party of friends going on in a few days whom I could join," sighed
+Mary Grey.
+
+"I am not 'a party of friends,'" smiled Alden; "but I am _one_ friend
+who will be pleased to escort you on that journey, as I am myself going
+to Philadelphia in a few days."
+
+"_You!_" exclaimed Mary Grey, in well-affected astonishment.
+
+"Yes, madam," replied Alden, with a bow.
+
+"I did not know you ever went North at all," she added, lifting her
+eyebrows.
+
+"I never yet have been north of Baltimore, strange to say," smiled Alden
+Lytton; "but I am going in a few days to Philadelphia to purchase a law
+library, and should be happy to escort you to your place of
+destination."
+
+"You are very kind to me, and I am very grateful to you. I accept your
+offer, and will try to give you as little trouble on the journey as
+possible."
+
+"Oh, do not speak of trouble! There will be none, I assure you," said
+Alden, pleasantly.
+
+"You are very good to say so, at all events."
+
+"What day would it suit you to go on?" inquired Alden.
+
+"Any day this week--whenever it will be convenient to you. I am the
+obliged party and should consider your convenience."
+
+"Not by any means! Any day this week would suit me equally. So I beg
+that you will please yourself alone."
+
+"No."
+
+"Let me be frank with you then and prove how little it really would
+matter to me whether we go to-morrow or any day thereafter. I have to
+select and fit up a law office, and I have to select and purchase a law
+library; and I do not care in the least which I do first," said Alden,
+with earnest politeness.
+
+"Then, if it really is a matter of indifference to you, I think we will
+go to Philadelphia on Wednesday morning."
+
+"Very well. I will make my arrangements accordingly. This is Monday
+night. We have one intervening day. Where shall I call for you on
+Wednesday morning?"
+
+"You need not call. I will meet you on the Washington boat."
+
+"Just as you please. I will be there."
+
+The engine shrieked its terrific warning, slackened its speed, and ran
+slowly into the station.
+
+"I will call a carriage for you," said Alden Lytton.
+
+And he left his companion in the waiting-room while he went out and
+selected a good carriage for her use.
+
+Then he came back, took up her traveling-bag, drew her arm in his own,
+and led her out to it.
+
+"Where shall I tell the coachman to take you?" he inquired, when he had
+placed her comfortably in her seat.
+
+"To the Misses Cranes', Old Manor, near the Government House," she
+answered.
+
+Alden Lytton bowed and closed the door, gave the order to the coachman,
+and then walked off to his own old quarters at the Henrico House.
+
+The carriage started, but had not gone more than a quarter of a mile
+when Mrs. Grey stopped it.
+
+The coachman got off his box and came to the window to know her will.
+
+"Turn into the old paper-mill road. I wish to call on a sick friend
+there before going home. Go on. I will keep a lookout and stop you when
+we get near the house."
+
+The coachman touched his hat, remounted, and turned his horses' heads to
+the required direction.
+
+Mary Grey sat close on the left-hand side of the cushion, and drew the
+curtain away, so that she could look through the window and watch their
+course.
+
+The night was clear, starlit and breezy after the hot September day.
+
+It was still early, and the sidewalks were enlivened by young people
+sauntering in front of their own houses to enjoy the refreshing evening
+air, while the porches and door-steps were occupied by the elders taking
+their ease in their own way.
+
+But in the next mile the scene began to change, and instead of the
+populous street, with its long rows of houses and the cheerful
+sidewalks, there was a lonely road with detached dwellings and
+occasional groups of people. In the second mile the scene changed again,
+and there was an old turnpike, with here and there a solitary road-side
+dwelling, with perhaps a man leaning over the front gate smoking his
+pipe, or a pair of lovers billing and cooing under the starlit sky.
+
+Mary Grey kept a bright lookout for the "haunted house," and presently
+she recognized it, and saw a light shining through the little front
+window under the vine-covered porch.
+
+"He is there, poor wretch, sure enough, waiting for me. I feel a little
+sorry for him, because he loves me so devotedly. But heigho! If I do not
+spare myself, shall I spare him? No!" said Mary Grey to herself, as she
+ordered the coachman to draw up.
+
+He stopped and jumped off his box, and came and opened the carriage
+door. But it was the door on the other side of the carriage, opposite
+the middle of the road, and not opposite the house, where she wanted to
+get out.
+
+"Open the other door," she said.
+
+But the negro's teeth were chattering and the whites of his eyes
+rolling, in fearful contrast with the darkness of his skin.
+
+"Open the other door and let me out. I want to go into that house,"
+repeated Mrs. Grey, a little impatiently.
+
+"Dat dere house? Oh, laws-a-messy! Bress my soul, missy, you don't want
+to go in dat house! Dat's de haunted house! And oh, law, dere's de
+corpse lights a-burnin' in dere now!" gasped the negro, shudderingly,
+pointing to the dimly-lighted windows under the porch.
+
+"You blockhead, those are the tapers in my friend's sickroom! Open the
+other door, I tell you!" said Mrs. Grey, angrily.
+
+"'Deed--'deed--'deed, missy, you must scuse ole nigger like me! I
+dussint do it, missy! I dussint go on t'other side ob de carriage nex'
+to de ghoses at no price!" said the negro, with chattering teeth.
+
+Mary Grey turned and tried to open the other door for herself, but found
+it impossible, and then turned again and said:
+
+"Well, stand out of my way then, you idiot, and let me out of _this_
+door!"
+
+The negro gave way, and she got out of the carriage into the middle of
+the dusty road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+THE SACRIFICE.
+
+
+At the same moment some one came softly through the cottage gate and
+looked up and down the road, as if watching for some one else.
+
+As Mary Grey came round the carriage to the front of the house, she
+recognized in the watcher Craven Kyte, who at the same instant perceived
+her.
+
+"Wait here for me," she said to the frightened coachman, as she walked
+rapidly toward the man who was hurrying to meet her.
+
+"My darling! I have been waiting for you so long!" he said, seizing her
+hand.
+
+"Hush! The coachman might hear you," she whispered. "Let me come in."
+
+He drew her arm within his own and led her into the cottage, and into a
+cool, well-lighted and tastefully-furnished parlor.
+
+Poor fellow, he had not only put in a few necessary articles of
+furniture for his own sleeping-room, but he had fitted up a pretty
+parlor for her reception, and provided a dainty feast for her
+entertainment.
+
+To do this in time, he had worked like a mill-horse all day long, and he
+had spent all his available funds, and even pawned his watch and his
+little vanities of jewelry to raise more purchase-money.
+
+And now he felt rewarded when he saw her look of surprise, which he
+mistook for a look of pleasure.
+
+There was an Indian matting of bright light colors on the floor, white
+lace curtains lined with rose-colored cambric at the windows, and a sofa
+and easy-chairs covered with rose-colored French chintz. There were a
+few marble-top stands, and tables covered with white crochet-work over
+rose-colored linings. There were vases of fragrant flowers on the
+mantle-shelf, and on the window-sills and stands, and every available
+place.
+
+In the center of the room stood a small table, covered with fine white
+damask, decorated with a Sevres china set for two, and loaded with a
+variety of choice delicacies--delicious cakes, jellies, fruits,
+preserves and lemonade.
+
+"This is a surprise," said Mary Grey, sinking into one of the tempting
+easy-chairs.
+
+"Oh, I am glad you like it as it is! But oh, indeed, I wish everything
+here was more worthy of you! If it were in my power I would receive and
+entertain you like a queen."
+
+"You are so good--so thoughtful! And nothing in the world could be
+pleasanter than this cool, pretty parlor," said Mary Grey, trying to
+rouse herself from the abstraction into which she had fallen after her
+first look of surprise at the decorated room; for, truth to tell, her
+mind was occupied with graver thoughts than appertained to house or
+furniture, flowers or fruits.
+
+"And this has been ready for you, my queen, ever since sunset. And here
+I have sat and waited for you, running out every five minutes to see if
+you were coming," he said, half reproachfully.
+
+"Well, I am here at last, you impatient boy! I could not come before. I
+was sitting with a sick friend and could not leave her until she went to
+sleep," smiled the siren.
+
+"I shall end in being very wickedly jealous of your sick friends, and
+your poor friends, and your lame friends, and all the other forlornities
+that take you away from me, and keep you away from me so much," he
+sighed.
+
+"Ah, but when we are married I shall give up this sort of life! For I
+know that 'charity begins at home;' and though it ought not always to
+stay there, yet should it stay there the principal part of its time,"
+smiled the witch.
+
+"Ah, I am so glad to hear you say so, dearest dear! You _will_ stay at
+home for me most of your time then?"
+
+"It will be my delight to do so!"
+
+He caught her hand and kissed it ardently, and drew her slightly toward
+him, looking at her longingly, as if pleading for a closer kiss.
+
+But she smiled and shook her head, saying, archly:
+
+"Remember--remember, if I come here to see you, you must treat me with
+some respectful reserve, or I will never come again."
+
+"I will do exactly as you wish. I am your slave, and can do no otherwise
+than as you bid me," he said, with a sigh.
+
+"That is a good, dear boy!" she answered, patting his cheeks; and then
+adding, archly, "A few days, you know, and 'the tables will be turned.'
+It will then be _you_ who will have the right to command, and some one
+else who must obey."
+
+As the Circe murmured these words, his color went and came, and when she
+ceased he panted out his answer:
+
+"Oh, the thought of ever having you for my own is--too much rapture to
+be credited! But, Mary, my queen Mary, then and ever I shall be your
+slave as now!"
+
+"Well, we'll see," she murmured, smiling and caressing him. "But now I
+am tired and hungry, and you are forgetting the duties of a host."
+
+"I am forgetting everything in looking at your beautiful face. But now,
+will you let me take off your bonnet and shawl here, or will you go into
+the next room and do it for yourself, I remaining here until you come
+back?"
+
+"I will go into the next room, if you please," said Mary Grey.
+
+And he arose and opened the back door of the cottage parlor and held it
+open for her.
+
+She passed through into a prettily-furnished and well-lighted little
+bed-room, whose back windows opened upon the fragrant flower-garden.
+
+Here she found everything prepared for her comfort, as if it had been
+done by the hands of a woman. She took off her bonnet and shawl,
+brushed her clothes, bathed her face and hands, smoothed her raven
+ringlets, took a fresh cambric handkerchief from her pocket and
+saturated it with Cologne from the toilet-table, and then passed out
+again into the parlor.
+
+Her devoted slave was waiting for her there. And on the table, in
+addition to the other comforts, there was a little silver pot of rich
+aromatic coffee.
+
+"Why, have you a cook?" inquired Mrs. Grey, in some disturbance.
+
+"No, darling; I made that coffee myself. Sit down now and try it,"
+smiled the poor fellow.
+
+"You are a jewel!" she said, as all her disturbance disappeared, and she
+sat down to the table.
+
+He waited on her with affectionate solicitude, helping her to coffee and
+cream, to chicken salad and pickled oysters; changing her plate and
+pressing her to try the jellies and the cakes, or the fruit and ices,
+until she had feasted like a princess.
+
+He, in the meantime, ate but little, seeming to feed upon the sight of
+her enjoyment. At length she pushed her plate and cup away and declared
+she could touch nothing more.
+
+Then he arose as if to clear the service; but she stopped him, saying:
+
+"Leave it just as it is and come and sit with me on the porch outside.
+The night is beautiful, and I want to sit there and talk with you. I
+have something to propose."
+
+And she ran into the back room for her bonnet and shawl.
+
+He got up and gave her his arm and took her out upon the porch.
+
+And they sat down together on the bench, under thickly overhanging
+vine-leaves.
+
+"Craven," she murmured, with her head upon his shoulder, "do you really
+love me as much as you profess to do?"
+
+"Do I really love you?" he repeated, with impassioned earnestness. "Oh,
+how shall I prove to you how much? Protestations are but words. Show me
+how I can prove to you how much I love you! Put me to the test! Try
+me--_try me!_"
+
+She hesitated and sighed--perhaps in pity and remorse for this poor boy,
+who loved her so devotedly, and whom she was about to require to pay
+down his honor and his life as the price of her hand.
+
+"Oh, tell me how I can show you the height and depth and breadth--no; I
+should rather say the immeasurability of my infinite love!" he pleaded,
+prayerfully.
+
+Again she sighed and trembled--yes, trembled at the contemplation of the
+wickedness she was about to perpetrate; but she did not draw back from
+it. She slid her arm around his neck and kissed him softly, and then
+said:
+
+"Listen to me, Craven, my dearest. This is Monday night, you know."
+
+"Yes," he said, attentively.
+
+"On Wednesday morning I am to start for Philadelphia."
+
+"Oh!" he exclaimed, uneasily.
+
+"Hush! Wait until you hear me out. You must meet me in Philadelphia on
+Friday morning. And we will be married on Friday noon."
+
+He was struck speechless, breathless, for a few moments with the excess
+of his delight.
+
+Then he panted forth the words:
+
+"Oh, bless you! Bless you, my queen, my angel! I bless you for this
+great joy!"
+
+"You must be calm, my dear, and hear me out. You must be punctual, and
+meet me on Friday morning at ten o'clock, at _this_ address," she
+continued, handing him a slip of paper with the address in question
+written upon it. "There; now put it into your pocket-book and keep it
+safe."
+
+"I will--I will, my queen! But why may I not go with you?"
+
+"For reasons that I will explain soon. Till I do, you must trust me."
+
+"I trust you utterly."
+
+"Then please leave here for Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, so as to
+precede me by twelve hours. And on Friday morning, by ten o'clock, be at
+the place I have designated, and wait until I join you."
+
+"And we will be married the same day?"
+
+"We will be married at noon on the same day. Now do you understand?"
+
+"My mind is in a delirium of joy, but I understand."
+
+"Now, dearest, you must take me out to the carriage," she said, rising
+and drawing her shawl around her.
+
+He gave her his arm and led her out to the carriage, which the
+frightened negro coachman had driven quite to the opposite side of the
+road from the terrible haunted house.
+
+"Now go on to the Misses Cranes'," she said, after she had taken leave
+of her victim and settled herself in her seat.
+
+It was nearly twelve o'clock when she entered her boarding-house; but
+she told her waiting landladies that she had spent the day and half the
+night with the sick child, and they were satisfied.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+A FATAL JOURNEY.
+
+    Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge,
+    Accursed and in a cursed hour, she hies.
+                                          --MILTON.
+
+
+On that Wednesday morning the fine steamer "Pocahontas" lay at her wharf
+receiving freight and passengers for Washington and Alexandria.
+
+Her decks were crowded with men, women and children, all either going on
+the voyage or "seeing off" departing friends and acquaintances.
+
+Among the passengers on the forward deck stood a slight, elegant,
+graceful woman, clothed in widow's weeds and deeply veiled.
+
+This was, of course, Mary Grey, bound upon her baleful errand.
+
+She had spent the intervening Tuesday with her infatuated instrument,
+Craven Kyte. But when he pleaded to attend her to the boat and see her
+off she forbid his doing so on pain of an eternal separation from her.
+
+But she renewed their agreement that he should precede her by twelve
+hours, and meet her at a designated place in Philadelphia on Friday
+morning.
+
+And she stayed with him until quite late in the evening, and finally
+left him comforted with the hope of a speedy meeting and a certain
+marriage.
+
+For the edification of her landladies, the precise Misses Crane, she
+trumped up a story that at once explained the necessity of her sudden
+journey North, and, as usual, redounded to her own credit.
+
+She had received a telegram, she said, from a friend who had just lost
+her father, and who was in great affliction. And she must go on
+immediately to comfort that bereaved soul.
+
+The Misses Crane, as usual, thought she was an angel in woman's form,
+and bade her heaven speed on her benevolent errand.
+
+And now she stood upon the deck of the "Pocahontas," waiting for that
+traveling companion whom she had fatally beguiled to be her escort.
+
+The boat was getting up her steam, and yet he had not made his
+appearance.
+
+What if he should not come, after all?
+
+Just as she asked this question it was answered by his rapid approach.
+
+He came up, traveling-bag in hand, happy, smiling, radiant.
+
+"Mrs. Grey, I have been looking for you all over the boat. I feared that
+I had missed you," he said, gayly, holding out his hand.
+
+"I have been waiting for you here," she answered, with a smile.
+
+"I am glad to find you at last. But will you not come into the cabin?
+The deck is not a pleasant place while the boat is at the wharf," he
+said, as he offered her his arm.
+
+She thanked him with a smile, took his arm and let him lead her into the
+saloon.
+
+It was at that moment empty of other visitors. And those two were
+_tete-a-tete_.
+
+He gave her a pleasant seat, placed himself beside her, and then and
+there he told her of his betrothal to Emma Cavendish.
+
+Of course she already knew all about it. But he was not aware of her
+knowledge. And his motive in announcing the intelligence to her was
+evident even to Mary Grey's vanity-blinded mind. It was to set their own
+relations at once upon a true basis, and prevent all misunderstanding
+and all false hopes growing out of their long-lost love.
+
+Although she had known all this so well before he spoke of it, yet it
+required all her powers of self-control and duplicity to listen quietly
+while he spoke of her rival and to affect a sympathy with his happiness.
+
+Yet she did this so well that he was thoroughly deceived.
+
+"It was all a foolish mistake our fancying we loved each other so much,
+was it not, Alden, dear?" she inquired, with an arch smile.
+
+"I think so," he answered, quite frankly.
+
+"I am glad to hear you admit that, for now we can understand each other
+and be good friends, and nothing more," she added, sweetly.
+
+"Yes, good friends always, Mary," he agreed.
+
+He was so happy in his blessed love for Emma Cavendish that he felt
+kindly toward all the world, and especially toward this "friendless
+young widow," as he called her.
+
+"But you know, Alden, that it is quite common for young men of earnest
+souls like yours to take a liking to women older than themselves."
+
+"You are not older than myself, Mary."
+
+"Not in years, perhaps, but oh, ever so much in suffering, and in the
+bitter knowledge of the world it brings! And thus, for this reason, I
+was no proper wife for a happy young man like you. No young man should
+ever marry a widow, and no young girl should ever marry a widower. Our
+fancied love for each other was a mistake, dear Alden, and I am very
+glad it was discovered before it was rendered irremediable."
+
+"So am I," replied the young man, quite frankly. "But, dear Mary, I hope
+you will henceforth look upon me and my dearest Emma as your brother and
+sister, for we will be truly such in deed as well as in word to you," he
+added, with grave gentleness.
+
+"I know you will; I feel certain of that. And I thank you from my heart,
+while I rejoice in your happiness. Yours will be a good, wise and
+beautiful marriage with Emma, Alden," she murmured, with emotion.
+
+"Yes, I think so too. Thanks be to Heaven!" replied the young man,
+reverently bowing his head.
+
+The steamer was now pushing off from the wharf amid much pulling,
+hauling, hallooing and shouting.
+
+You couldn't "hear yourself think," even in the cabin, for a while.
+
+"We are off, I believe," said Mary Grey, at length, when the uproar had
+subsided and they were moving swiftly and smoothly along.
+
+"Yes. Will you come on deck? It is pleasanter there now," said Alden,
+rising and offering her his arm.
+
+She took it with a smile and let him lead her up on deck.
+
+And as they promenaded slowly up and down, enjoying the fine September
+morning and the beautiful river scenery, Mary Grey drew him on to speak
+of Emma Cavendish.
+
+Of course the young lover desired no better theme.
+
+And in this way, leading him to discourse of his love, listening to him
+with attention, pretending sympathy with his happiness, she effected
+several objects important to the success of her demoniac plot. She
+pleased him with himself and with her. She dispelled his suspicions, if
+any still lurked in his candid soul, and she kept him always near her,
+talking with her, and unconsciously attracting the attention of their
+fellow-voyagers, and leading them to believe that this handsome young
+man, speaking so earnestly in such low tones to his companion, and the
+lovely youthful widow, who was listening to him with such rapt
+attention, were a pair of happy and devoted lovers.
+
+Thus passed the forenoon.
+
+When the early steamboat dinner was ready he took her down to the table,
+sat beside her, and assiduously attended to her wants.
+
+After dinner, when she was disinclined to walk or to talk, he brought
+out some newspapers and magazines and sat down beside her on deck and
+they read together.
+
+At tea-time he took her down to the table again.
+
+And after tea, as the September night was cool on the water, they sat
+down at one of the cabin tables and played checkers together until it
+was time to retire.
+
+And thus all day long and all the evening through, in sight of all the
+people, Alden Lytton unconsciously conducted himself, as Mary Grey
+intended that he should, like her betrothed lover.
+
+In due time they reached Washington, and crossed the length of the city
+to take the train for Philadelphia, where they arrived late on Thursday
+night.
+
+"Have you any preference for one hotel over another?" inquired Alden, as
+they stood amid the horrible din of contesting hackmen, porters,
+'bus-drivers, _et caetera_.
+
+"None whatever," she answered.
+
+"Then we'll go to the Blank House, if you have no objection."
+
+"None. We will go there."
+
+"Here's your Blank House 'bus!" shouted a driver above all the other
+shouts.
+
+"Oh, don't let us get into that crowded cage! A carriage, please,"
+pleaded Mrs. Grey.
+
+And Alden Lytton, believing her fastidiousness and timidity to be real
+and not affected, and withal feeling bound to be guided by her wishes,
+called a carriage and put her into it.
+
+As they were rolling rapidly on their way to the Blank House, Mary Grey
+shivered and suddenly said:
+
+"Oh, please, when we get to that great rambling hotel do not let them
+put me away off in a room in a remote part of the house by myself or
+among total strangers. I always feel so frightened in a great hotel. And
+I am always sure to lose myself, or do something ridiculous, or get into
+trouble, whenever I attempt to find my way through the labyrinth of
+halls and passages between the bedrooms and parlors. Will you please
+take care of me?"
+
+"I will take the same care of you that I would take of my sister Laura.
+I will see that you have a room adjoining my own," answered Alden
+Lytton, unsuspiciously, and smiling indulgently at what he thought her
+childish cowardice.
+
+When their carriage reached the Blank House he took her up to the
+reception-room and left her there, while he went to the office and
+engaged apartments for himself and for her.
+
+And then he came for her, attended by the porter, who loaded himself
+with their traveling-bags, umbrellas, and so forth, and led the way up
+two pairs of stairs to a little suite of apartments, consisting of two
+small chambers, with a small parlor between them.
+
+They entered the parlor first, where communicating doors on the right
+and left led into opposite chambers.
+
+The porter put down the luggage, received his fee, and retired.
+
+"I hope you like these rooms, Mrs. Grey. The two chambers are exactly
+alike; but if you have a preference, please take it," said Alden,
+pleasantly.
+
+"It does not matter the least. I will go in here," answered Mary Grey,
+opening the right-hand door and disappearing through it, with her
+traveling-bag in her hand.
+
+She found every convenience for making a clean toilet there. And when
+she had refreshed herself with a wash and a change of dress, she
+re-entered the little parlor, where she found supper laid on the table
+and an attentive waiter at hand.
+
+"I ordered supper here, because I remembered your fastidiousness and
+thought you would prefer this to the public dining-room," explained
+Alden.
+
+"Thanks! Oh, I do like it ever so much better! I can not endure the
+public rooms," said Mary Grey, as she took the seat the obsequious
+waiter placed for her.
+
+"Anything more, if you please, sir?" inquired the man.
+
+"N-n-no," answered Alden, hesitatingly; for in fact, if he could have
+found a fair excuse, he would have preferred to have the waiter remain
+in attendance.
+
+The man bowed and left the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+THE SERPENT AT WORK.
+
+    One sole desire, one passion, now remains
+    To keep life's fever still within her veins.
+    For this alone she lives--like lightning's fire,
+    To speed one bolt of ruin--and expire.
+                                           --BYRON.
+
+
+Alden sat down at the table and began to carve a roasted chicken.
+
+While he was intent upon his task, Mary Grey drew from her watch-pocket
+a little folded paper. With her eyes upon him, to be sure that he was
+not observing her, she deftly poured a white powder from this paper into
+one of the coffee-cups, and then quickly returned the empty paper to her
+watch-pocket.
+
+Meanwhile he had taken off the liver-wing from the roasted chicken and
+placed it on a warm plate, which he passed to her.
+
+"Will you have a cup of coffee now, or afterward?" she inquired, as she
+took the offered plate.
+
+"Now, please. Coffee is the most refreshing of all beverages after a
+fatiguing journey," he added, as he received the cup from her hands.
+
+It was a very nice supper, yet neither of them seemed inclined to eat.
+
+Mary Grey trifled with her chicken-wing, tasted her milk-toast and
+sipped a little coffee. She looked pale, frightened and
+self-concentrated.
+
+Alden Lytton drank his coffee, remarking, with a smile, that it was
+very, very strong, in fact quite bitter in its strength.
+
+And when he had finished it he pushed the cup away, saying that it had
+quite satisfied him and deprived him of the inclination to take anything
+else.
+
+As he said this he looked at his companion, and noticed for the first
+time the ghastliness of her countenance.
+
+"Mrs. Grey, are you ill?" he inquired, in some alarm.
+
+"No; only fatigued from that railway journey. The train always shakes me
+into a jelly," she answered, shivering.
+
+"How very delicate you are, poor child! It is a great pity you should
+ever be called to bear any of the roughness of life. And when my dear
+Emma and I have a home together we must take care to shield you from all
+that," he said.
+
+And then he sank into a sudden silence, while she watched him closely.
+
+"Will _you_ not take anything?" she inquired.
+
+"No, thank you. That coffee was no doubt very fine; but it was a bitter
+draught, and it has taken away my appetite for anything else," he
+answered, with a smile and a half-suppressed yawn.
+
+"Are you not well?" she next inquired.
+
+"Oh, yes; quite well; never better in my life!" he answered, putting his
+hands on his lips to conceal an irrepressible yawn.
+
+"But you also seem very tired."
+
+"No, only deliciously sleepy, as if I would like to go to sleep and
+never wake up again," he said, with a laugh and a smothered gape.
+
+"Then do not stand on ceremony with an old friend like me. Bid me
+good-night and go at once," she said.
+
+"And you?" he inquired.
+
+"I am too tired to go to sleep yet. I shall sit in that rocking-chair
+and rock gently. That motion will soothe and rest me better than
+anything else, and after an hour I shall be able to go to bed and go to
+sleep."
+
+As Mary Grey spoke, Alden Lytton staggered to his feet and tottered
+toward her, held out his hand and faltered, drowsily:
+
+"I am forced to take your advice. I must retire at once or I shall not
+be able to reach my room. I never felt so over-powered by sleep in all
+my life before. Good-night, my dear Mrs. Grey. I hope that you will
+sleep as well as I am sure that I shall. Good-night."
+
+He pressed her hand, and then, groping like a blind man, he passed into
+his own room and shut the door behind him.
+
+Mary Grey gazed breathlessly at the closed door for a while, murmuring
+to herself:
+
+"I doubt if that fellow will be able to divest himself of his outer
+garments before he falls down headlong in a dead stupor. I have him in
+my power now--I have him in my power now! At last--at last! Oh, yes! Oh,
+yes, Miss Cavendish, you will marry him, will you not? And you, Stephen
+Lyle, how proud you will be to have his sister for your wife and himself
+for a brother-in-law! But I must cover up my tracks," she added,
+suddenly, as she went around to his vacated place at the table and took
+his empty cup and rinsed it out carefully several times, throwing the
+water into the empty grate, where it soon dried up. Then she poured some
+of the coffee-grounds from her own cup into the rinsed cup to conceal
+the rinsing. Finally she drew from her watch-pocket the little white
+paper from which she had poured the powder into the coffee-cup and she
+held it in the blaze of the gas-light until it was burned to ashes.
+
+Then she sat down in the rocking-chair and smiled as she rested.
+
+At intervals she bent her head toward the door leading into Alden
+Lytton's room and listened; but she heard no sound of life in there.
+
+She sat on in the rocker until the striking of a large clock somewhere
+in the neighborhood aroused her.
+
+It was twelve o'clock.
+
+Midnight!
+
+She arose and cautiously opened the door leading into Alden Lytton's
+room.
+
+She looked like a thief.
+
+The gas was turned down very low; but by its dim light she saw him
+sleeping a heavy, trance-like sleep.
+
+She went into the room and to the door leading into the passage and
+bolted it.
+
+Then she closed every window-shutter and drew down every window-shade
+and let down the heavy moreen curtains, making all dark.
+
+Then she returned to the parlor, closed the intervening door and threw
+herself into the rocking-chair and closed her eyes in the vain endeavor
+to rest and sleep.
+
+But sleep and rest were far from her that night.
+
+The clock struck one.
+
+All sounds even about that busy hotel gradually ceased. The house was
+still, awfully still, yet she could not sleep.
+
+The clock struck two.
+
+She started up with a shiver, exclaiming:
+
+"I can not sleep; but I can go to bed and lie there."
+
+And she went into her own room and went to bed, but not to rest.
+
+She heard the clock strike in succession every hour of the night, until
+it finally struck four.
+
+Then, when the people of the house were beginning to stir, she, overcome
+with fatigue and watching, at length fell asleep.
+
+As usual in such cases of long night watching and early morning sleep,
+she slept long into the forenoon. When she awoke and looked at her watch
+she found it was nine o'clock.
+
+She arose in haste and dressed herself.
+
+This was the morning in which she was to meet her unconscious
+confederate in crime, Craven Kyte.
+
+As soon as she was dressed she went into the parlor, where, it appeared,
+the waiter with his pass-key had already been before her, for the
+remains of the last night's supper had been carried away and the room
+had been restored to order.
+
+She then listened at Alden Lytton's door.
+
+All was dark as a vault and still as death there.
+
+She opened the door cautiously and went in.
+
+He was still sleeping a death-like sleep in the pitch-dark room. She
+went and looked to the door leading into the passage and found it still
+bolted.
+
+Then she came out of the room, locked the door between it and the
+parlor, and so isolated the sleeper from all the house.
+
+Lastly she put on her bonnet and shawl and walked out. She walked down
+the street for several blocks, and then hailed an empty cab that was
+passing and engaged it to take her to a certain picture-shop in a
+distant part of the city.
+
+It was at this shop that she had engaged to meet Craven Kyte that
+morning at ten o'clock.
+
+A half-hour's rapid drive brought her to the place.
+
+On arriving, she got out, paid and dismissed the cab, and entered the
+shop.
+
+It was not yet ten o'clock, nor had her intended tool and victim yet
+made his appearance.
+
+It was also too early for the usual customers of the establishment.
+
+But a polite clerk came forward and placed a catalogue and a small
+telescope in her hands, that she might the better examine the pictures.
+
+"Thank you. I would like to look at a city directory first, if you
+please," she said, as she put aside the catalogue and the telescope.
+
+The clerk handed her the required volume.
+
+She turned to the church directory, and looked down its columns until
+she found what she seemed to be in search of.
+
+And then she marked it with a pencil and closed the book.
+
+At that moment Craven Kyte entered the shop.
+
+On catching sight of her whom he loved and came to meet his face lighted
+up with joy and he hastened toward her.
+
+But she held up a warning finger to him, and in obedience to its signal
+he moderated his transports and came to her quietly.
+
+"This is no place to make demonstrations of that sort," she said.
+"Here, take your pencil and a bit of paper and copy off this address for
+me," she added, opening the directory and pointing to the name she had
+marked.
+
+"The Reverend Mr. Borden, number --, ---- street," said Craven Kyte,
+reading the address that he had copied.
+
+"That will do; now come along. We will go straight to that reverend
+gentleman's house," said Mary Grey.
+
+And they left the shop together.
+
+"Oh, Mary, my love--my love! How tantalizing it is to me to meet you
+here in public, where I may scarcely take your dear hand, when my heart
+is nearly breaking with its repressed feelings!" he whispered, in eager
+tones.
+
+"You impatient boy, you are worse than any spoiled child!" she said,
+archly.
+
+"Oh, Mary, my love, my lady, you will keep your promise? You will be
+mine to-day?" he pleaded.
+
+"I will be yours within two hours--upon one condition."
+
+"Name it--name it!" he eagerly exclaimed.
+
+"You must not marry me under your own name, but under that of Alden
+Lytton."
+
+When she had said this, she stole a glance at him to see how he took it,
+and she was somewhat abashed by the look of unutterable amazement on the
+honest face of the young man.
+
+"Come, what do you say to that?" she inquired.
+
+"My dear Mary, what an astounding proposition!" he exclaimed.
+
+"But you will agree to it?"
+
+He was silent.
+
+"You will agree to this, because you love me," she added.
+
+But he continued silent and very sad.
+
+"You will agree to do this for the sake of making me your wife?" she
+persisted.
+
+"My dearest Mary, it is impossible!" he answered, with a painful effort.
+
+"There! I knew it! Say no more! You professed great love for me once.
+You were willing to do, dare, or die for me, if necessary. You wished me
+to put you to the test, to _try_ you, as you called it; yet, the very
+first time I have tested your sincerity, you have failed me, as I
+foresaw that you would. Good-bye, Mr. Craven Kyte. We part here, and we
+part forever," said Mary Grey, with cold contempt, as she turned away
+from him.
+
+"No, no, no--for Heaven's sake, no!" cried the young man, piteously. "Do
+not leave me so suddenly. Give me time to think. Oh, I can not part
+with you! I must--must have you at any cost!" he muttered to himself.
+
+She stopped and contemplated him as with scornful pity.
+
+"Come--come into the square here and sit down. Let us talk this matter
+over. Pray do! Oh, I can not lose you so!" he pleaded, seizing her hand.
+
+"Well, I will go in and sit on one of those benches for a few moments,
+and give you the opportunity of recovering your place in my confidence,"
+she said, with a sort of contemptuous pity, as she turned and entered
+the square.
+
+He followed her immediately, and they sat down together.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+A WICKED WEDDING.
+
+                         Bid me to leap
+    From off the battlements of yonder tower
+    And I will do it.
+                              --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+"Now tell me what you wish me to do, and why you wish me to do it," said
+the lover, submissively.
+
+"I have already told you _what_ I wish you to do. _Why_ I wish you to do
+it must remain my secret for the present. You must trust me. Oh,
+Craven," she added, suddenly changing her tone to one of soft, sorrowful
+pleading, "why will you not trust me, when I am about to trust you with
+the happiness of my whole future life?"
+
+"I do trust you! I trust you, as I love you, without limit!" answered
+the poor fellow, almost weeping.
+
+"Ah, you _say_ you do, yet you refuse to do as I wish you," sorrowfully
+replied the siren.
+
+"I refuse no longer! I will do anything in the world you wish me to do
+with joy, if in that way I can have you for my own," he declared, with
+tearful emphasis.
+
+"I knew you would. You are a dear, good, true heart, and I love you more
+than life!" she said, giving his arm a squeeze. "Listen, now."
+
+He became suddenly all devoted attention, as she artfully unfolded to
+him just as much of her nefarious plan as was absolutely necessary to
+secure his co-operation in it. The whole of her scheme in all its
+diabolical wickedness she dared not expose to his honest soul.
+
+She told him now that she had set her mind on a harmless practical joke,
+to win a wager with Emma Cavendish.
+
+She said that he must so with her to see the Rev. Mr. Borden, rector of
+St. ---- Church, and ask him to perform the marriage ceremony between
+them, and that he must give his own name as Mr. Alden Lytton, attorney
+at law, Richmond, Virginia, and give her name as it was--Mrs. Mary Grey,
+of the same city. And that they must be married under those names.
+
+The young man stared until his black eyes looked big as old Booth's in
+the last scene of "Richard."
+
+"But why?" he inquired.
+
+"A practical joke, I tell you. Ah, how hard you are to manage! Why can
+you not trust me through a little mystery like this--a little practical
+joke like this?"
+
+"I _do_ trust you; but I am afraid that it might seem like a practical
+forgery to be married under another person's name," he replied.
+
+"Nonsense! Do you think that I could be such an idiot as to implicate
+you in any act that might be construed into forgery, practical or
+otherwise?" she inquired, with a light laugh.
+
+"Oh, no, certainly you are not the lady to do that!" he admitted.
+
+"Well, then, what next? You look as solemn as a judge or an owl!"
+
+"I am afraid, also, that if I should be married under any other name
+than my own our marriage itself might turn out to be nothing more than a
+practical joke instead of a legal union."
+
+"Mr. Kyte!" she suddenly exclaimed, with her eyes flashing fire. "You
+insult me! Am I the sort of woman that would compromise my good name in
+a marriage of doubtful legality?"
+
+"Oh, no; certainly you would not! Nor did I mean that. I earnestly beg
+your pardon!" said Craven, penitently.
+
+"You are a silly gander, and a dear, darling duck of a boy! And I love
+you! But you must understand that I know what I am about. And you must
+trust me--you must trust me; and, once for all, you must _trust_ me!"
+she said, archly, giving his arm another squeeze.
+
+"I do--I do! Come; shall we be going? I am on the rack till our wedding
+is over."
+
+"Yes; but we must take a cab. The distance is a long one."
+
+"There is a cab-stand a couple of blocks from here. I noticed it as I
+came along. We will take one there, if you please."
+
+She assented, and they walked on to the stand and engaged a cab.
+
+When they were seated in it Craven Kyte ordered the cabman to drive to
+the rectory of St. ---- Church.
+
+Half an hour's driving brought them to their destination.
+
+When the cab drew up to the door of the house, Craven was about to
+alight, when Mary Grey stopped him.
+
+"Wait," she said.
+
+And taking from her card-case a pencil and a blank card, she wrote upon
+it the name:
+
+"Mr. Alden Lytton."
+
+"Send that in," she said, handing the card to the bewildered young man.
+
+Craven Kyte took it, looked at it attentively, and then exclaimed:
+
+"Why, that is exactly like Mr. Lytton's own handwriting! If I had not
+seen you write it I should have taken it to be his autograph."
+
+"Should you? So much the better. But never mind that now. Go and do as I
+told you."
+
+He alighted immediately and went up to the door of the house. He rang
+the bell, and sent in the card by the servant who answered it.
+
+After the lapse of a few moments the servant came back with a very
+favorable message.
+
+Craven Kyte returned to the cab and whispered:
+
+"Mr. Borden is at home and will see us. Come."
+
+And he assisted her to alight.
+
+And they went into the rectory, and were shown by a servant into the
+study of the rector.
+
+Mary Grey courtesied to the gray-haired, dignified clergyman, who arose
+to receive her; but she kept her veil down as she took her seat in the
+chair he placed for her.
+
+Craven Kyte then drew the reverend gentleman aside and spoke to him in a
+low voice.
+
+Mr. Borden nodded and nodded as the speaker proceeded.
+
+When he had finished speaking, the rector inquired:
+
+"Both of legal age?"
+
+"Both of more than legal age, and both quite independent of others,"
+answered Craven Kyte.
+
+"I merely asked the question because in cases of this kind I prefer that
+the parties should be of legal age; though were they minors I should
+feel it to be my duty to marry them all the same, because, I think, when
+a youth and maiden run away with each other the best thing a Christian
+minister can do for them is to tie them together for life."
+
+"I am a bachelor of twenty-two years of age, and my chosen wife is a
+widow of twenty-one. We take this simple method of getting married for
+economy and convenience, and for no other reason; for there is no one in
+the world who has either the power or the will to prevent us," said
+Craven Kyte.
+
+"Very well, Mr. Lytton; I am ready to wait on you. I prefer, however, to
+solemnize marriage in the church, when possible. There must be witnesses
+also. And if you have none at hand the sexton and some members of his
+family can serve."
+
+Craven Kyte winced at the prospect of all these formalities.
+
+"I thought that in the Quaker City marriage was a matter of less form,"
+he said.
+
+"Yes, among the Quakers; but even they must have witnesses. If you and
+the lady will go into the church I will join you there in a few minutes.
+You will find the doors open and the sexton in the building, preparing
+for the usual Friday afternoon service," said the rector.
+
+And Craven Kyte again offered his arm to his companion and led her out
+of the rectory and into the church.
+
+It was evident from all signs that the interior had just been swept out.
+
+And an old man and a young woman, whom Craven Kyte and his companion
+rightly guessed to be the sexton and the sexton's daughter, were busily
+engaged in dusting the pews.
+
+Craven Kyte and Mary Grey sat down upon a front seat before the altar to
+wait until the rector should make his appearance.
+
+Mr. Borden did not keep them long in suspense. He soon entered, dressed
+in his surplice, and took his place within the chancel.
+
+The candidates for matrimony advanced and stood before him.
+
+He beckoned the sexton and the sexton's daughter to draw near and stand
+as witnesses.
+
+And they came up, dusting-brushes in hand, and stood staring while the
+ceremony was performed.
+
+After the preliminary exhortation and prayers the important questions
+were put:
+
+"Will you, Alden, take Mary to be your wedded wife, to live together
+after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony?" and so forth,
+and so forth, and so forth.
+
+To which Craven Kyte, turning pale at his own unwilling duplicity in
+answering to a false name, replied:
+
+"I will."
+
+"Will you, Mary, take Alden to be your wedded husband?" and so forth,
+and so forth.
+
+To which Mary Grey answered firmly:
+
+"I will."
+
+And the ring was placed upon her finger. And her marriage vows were
+solemnly repeated, the last prayer said, and the benediction pronounced.
+
+It was all over.
+
+"Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder."
+
+The newly-married pair were about to turn from the altar, when the
+rector said:
+
+"Come with me into the vestry for a moment."
+
+And they followed him into the vestry, attended by the two witnesses.
+
+The rector made an entry into a large book, and then called upon the
+bridegroom and the bride to sign their names.
+
+Again Craven Kyte turned pale as death as he registered the false name
+under which he had been married.
+
+But his companion wrote her name in firm and steady characters.
+
+Then the sexton and his daughter signed as witnesses.
+
+The rector filled out a blank form, which he also signed and caused to
+be signed by the two witnesses.
+
+This he put into an envelope and handed to the bride.
+
+Then he bowed to both, as a signal that all the forms had been complied
+with, and they were at liberty to depart.
+
+"What was that paper the minister gave you, my dearest love?" whispered
+Craven, as they left the church.
+
+"It was the certificate of marriage which the minister usually--and very
+properly--gives to the newly-married woman," answered the bride.
+
+"Oh, quite right, my angel!" replied the doomed bridegroom, as he
+tenderly put her into the cab and took his seat beside her.
+
+And then he clasped her to his honest heart in an ecstasy of love and
+went off into the most extravagant rhapsodies about his happiness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+AFTER THE WICKED WEDDING.
+
+    "And I no friends to back my cause withal,
+    But the plain devil and dissembling looks.
+    I have him, but I will not keep him long."
+
+
+"Did you tell the coachman where to drive?" inquired the bride, as the
+carriage rolled rapidly through one of the principal streets of the
+city.
+
+"Yes, dearest," answered the infatuated bridegroom. "I told him to drive
+to the Asterick, where I am stopping, and where I have had elegant rooms
+prepared for your reception. Do you think I could have forgotten
+anything in which your comfort was concerned?"
+
+"No, I am sure you could not; but--" She hesitated a moment, and then
+added: "I wanted to go somewhere else."
+
+"My love--my love, you shall go where you please. After we have got to
+our rooms at the Asterick, and refreshed and rested ourselves, we will
+consult about where to go and spend a pleasant fortnight together," he
+answered, affectionately.
+
+"Yes; but I don't want to go to the Asterick just yet."
+
+"Where then? I will go anywhere you wish."
+
+"You know I did not come to this city alone."
+
+"Didn't you, dear? I thought you did."
+
+"No; I came with a party of lady friends. And I left them all abruptly
+this morning to meet you, without telling them where I was going or when
+I should be back. I have now been gone two hours. They will be uneasy
+about me by this time. I must go back there and relieve their anxiety,
+and also get my traveling-bag."
+
+"Very well, my darling, we will drive there immediately."
+
+"No, no; _you_ must not go there! I have not told them anything about my
+intended marriage, so I don't want them to know anything about it, lest
+they should be offended. There is a reading-room at the corner of the
+street near the hotel. Stop there, and I will get out and walk to the
+house and take leave of my friends, and then return to the reading-room
+and join you. In the meantime you can send the carriage away, and while
+waiting for me you can amuse yourself looking over the books."
+
+"But I hate to lose you even for an hour."
+
+"Ah, be reasonable, and remember that it will be but for an hour or less
+time. And when we meet again it will be to part no more forever--or
+until death himself shall part us."
+
+"I must submit, I suppose," said Craven, with a sigh.
+
+"Submit? Oh, you crazy boy! You talk as if you were making some painful
+sacrifice!" she answered, with a light laugh.
+
+"It _is_ painful to let you leave me even for an hour."
+
+"Bah! You'll be glad to be rid of me some of these days."
+
+"Never!"
+
+"Bah, I say again! Come, here we are at the reading-room. Stop the
+carriage."
+
+He did so.
+
+"Let me out here and I will walk on," she said.
+
+"Had you not better let me get out here, and keep your own seat and
+drive on?" he inquired.
+
+"No. I don't want the carriage to take me to the hotel. The distance is
+short. I prefer walking. You had better dismiss it, and go into the
+reading-room and amuse yourself while waiting for me," she said.
+
+He acquiesced, and she got out and walked rapidly on toward the Blank
+House.
+
+With her thick veil let down, she slipped in through the ladies'
+entrance with some visitors that just happened to be going there.
+
+She hurried upstairs to her own rooms and unlocked the door of the
+private parlor.
+
+All within the place was just as she had left it two hours before.
+
+She opened the window-shutters to let in the daylight, and then she went
+and listened at the door communicating with Alden Lytton's room.
+
+At first all was still. But presently she heard a step about the room,
+and soon after other motions that proved the inmate to be busy at his
+toilet.
+
+"He is up and dressing himself. I have not returned one minute too
+soon," she said, as she seated herself in an easy-chair near the window.
+
+The next moment the door opened and Alden Lytton entered, smiling.
+
+"I do not know how to apologize for my stupid neglect. But I hope you
+will believe me when I assure you it was inadvertent. The truth is I
+overslept myself. I can't think what made me do it," he said, actually
+blushing like a boy at the thought of his involuntary sluggishness.
+
+"You were very much fatigued last night. I am very glad you had a
+refreshing sleep. I hope you feel the better for it," she answered, with
+her sweet smile.
+
+"Well, no; not much better. You know there is such a thing as taking too
+much sleep. I feel quite as if I had taken twice too much--dull and
+heavy, with a stupid headache. I never was inebriated in my life, but I
+should think a man that had been so, over night, would feel just as I do
+this morning."
+
+"Ah, I am sorry! But the fresh air will do you good, no doubt."
+
+"No doubt. And really it is not worth speaking of. I see you have your
+hat on. You have been taking a walk this fine morning, while I lay like
+a sluggard, sleeping myself into a headache?"
+
+"No, I have not been out. I put my hat on merely to be ready to start
+the moment we had breakfasted. For I must go and see the principal of
+the ladies' school this morning."
+
+"Why, I hope you have not waited breakfast for me all this time!"
+exclaimed Alden, in a tone of regret.
+
+"I have not waited very long. And if I must confess the fault, I have
+not been up very long myself."
+
+"Ah!" laughed Alden Lytton. "So somebody else overslept herself!"
+
+"Yes; ''tis true, 'tis pity, and pity 'tis 'tis true!'"
+
+"You must be hungry, however. I will ring and order breakfast directly."
+
+"No, please don't. It will take too much time. For once we will go down
+in the dining-room and get our breakfast."
+
+"As you please," said Alden Lytton, as he arose to attend her
+down-stairs.
+
+The guests had nearly all left the dining-room, so there were waiters
+enough at leisure to attend to these late arrivals; and it followed, of
+course, that they had not long to wait for their coffee and rolls.
+
+They did not tarry over their meal. Both were in a hurry.
+
+"I should have been at the law publisher's two hours ago," said Alden.
+
+"And I should have been at the ladies' school about the same time,"
+added Mary.
+
+"I shall never forgive myself for sleeping so ridiculously long and
+detaining you," said Alden.
+
+"Say no more about it. We shall only have to hurry over our breakfast to
+make up for lost time," answered the traitress.
+
+And they soon finished and arose from the table.
+
+"Will you be so good as to order a carriage for me while I run upstairs
+and get my traveling-bag?" she inquired.
+
+"Certainly," he answered, as he gave her his arm and led her to the foot
+of the grand staircase.
+
+And as she ran up, he turned and sent a hall porter for the carriage.
+
+And then he waited at the foot of the stairs for her return.
+
+The carriage was announced, and she reappeared about the same time.
+
+She carried in her hand a leather bag and a small silk umbrella, both of
+which she handed to a porter.
+
+"This looks like a departure," said Alden Lytton, as he gave her his arm
+to lead her to the carriage.
+
+"It may be a departure," she answered; "and I must take this, perhaps
+last, opportunity of thanking you for all your brotherly kindness to me.
+If I should not return by six o'clock this evening, please give up my
+room."
+
+"I will do so," said Alden Lytton. "And in that case I also shall give
+up my room, for I think I shall be able to get through with my business
+to-day. If you should be returning to Virginia I should be pleased to
+escort you back."
+
+"Thanks! But I rather think that I shall try the school. That will do. I
+am very comfortable. Thanks, very much!" she added, as she settled
+herself in the seat where he had placed her.
+
+"Where shall I tell the coachman to drive?" inquired Alden.
+
+"Tell him to call first at the reading-room at the corner of the next
+street. I wish to look at the directory there before going further."
+
+This order was given to the coachman, who immediately started his
+horses.
+
+In a very few minutes the carriage drew up before the reading-room door.
+
+Mary Grey--as I still prefer to call her--got out and ran into the room.
+
+Craven Kyte was there, trying to interest himself in a morning paper. As
+soon as he saw her he dropped the paper and started to meet her.
+
+"It seems to me you have been gone four hours instead of one," he said.
+
+"I have been gone just an hour and seven minutes, you very bad boy!" she
+answered, playfully. "Now, then, I am at your lordship's service."
+
+"Oh, my beloved, do not speak so to me, even in sport, for you are my
+queen and I am your subject! Shall we go now?"
+
+"Yes, I have a carriage at the door, with my little luggage in it."
+
+"Come then, love."
+
+They went out together and entered the carriage.
+
+"Drive to the Asterick Hotel," said Craven Kyte to the coachman.
+
+"And tell him to drive slowly, for I wish to talk to you as we go
+along," she whispered.
+
+"Drive slowly," said Mr. Kyte, giving her order.
+
+"Now, Craven, dear," she said, as they went along, "I wish you to
+understand that I don't want to stop at the Asterick longer than it will
+take you to pay your bill and pack your portmanteau."
+
+"Where do you want to go then, my darling? I am ready to go anywhere
+with you," he replied.
+
+"Then I have a fancy for spending a few days at Havre-de-Grace. It is a
+very pretty place. We can take the next train and get there in two or
+three hours."
+
+"Very well, my angel, I will make every effort to catch that train."
+
+"Now, then, tell the coachman to drive fast."
+
+Again Craven Kyte conveyed her orders to the man on the box, who touched
+up his horses.
+
+And they were whirled rapidly on toward the Asterick Hotel, where they
+soon arrived.
+
+"Hadn't I better tell the carriage to wait?" inquired Craven Kyte.
+
+"No; send it away. We can pick up another one in a moment," answered his
+companion.
+
+Craven Kyte paid and discharged the carriage, and they went into the
+house.
+
+He took his companion up into the private parlor he had engaged for her,
+and he pressed her to partake of some refreshments while he packed up
+his portmanteau and paid his bill.
+
+But she declined the refreshments and said she would wait, keeping
+herself closely veiled all the time.
+
+He hurried through his business as fast as he could, and soon rejoined
+her.
+
+He took her down to the cab he had engaged, and which was already packed
+with their luggage.
+
+A half-hour's rapid drive took them to the railway station, which they
+reached only in time to buy their tickets, check their baggage and take
+their seats before the train started.
+
+It was the express. And they were soon whirled through the country to
+the town where the bride chose to spend her honeymoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+HER CRIME.
+
+
+They took rooms in a pleasant hotel in the town, and after an early tea
+they strolled down to the water-side to look at the small shipping.
+
+It was a delicious evening in September. The sun had just set, and the
+whole expanse of water was aflame with the afterglow.
+
+A refreshing breeze had sprung up, and the river was alive with pleasure
+boats of every description, from the sail- to the row-boat.
+
+And there were more boats for hire, at the service of any who might wish
+to amuse themselves upon the water.
+
+"Take a boat. Craven, and let us go out for a row. The evening is so
+delightful, the sky and the water so beautiful," said the bride,
+coaxingly.
+
+"I would like to do so, my angel; but, to tell the truth, I am a very
+inexperienced oarsman, and I can not swim at all," answered the poor
+fellow, apologetically.
+
+"Are you afraid then, Craven?" she asked, with exasperating archness.
+
+"No, love, not for myself, but for you. If by my awkwardness any
+accident should happen to you I think I should run raving mad," he
+answered, earnestly.
+
+"Oh, well, never mind me! There is no cause for fear whatever, as far as
+I am concerned. I can row like a squaw and I can swim like a duck. And I
+think I could do so ever since I could walk. At least, I certainly do
+not remember the time when I could not swim," said the lady, laughingly.
+
+"What a wonder you are--in everything!" exclaimed the lover-bridegroom,
+in a rapture of admiration.
+
+"No wonder at all. I was brought up on the water-side, and was always a
+sort of amphibious little creature, as often in the water as out of it.
+Come, now, will you hire a boat to please me?"
+
+"Of course! I would do anything in the world to please you, my angel!"
+
+"Then engage that little pea-green boat. It is a nice one," she said,
+pointing to a frail skiff moored near them.
+
+"That, my dearest Mary? Why, that is a mere egg-shell! It could not live
+in rough water. And if this gentle breeze should rise into a wind--"
+
+"Are you afraid?" she inquired, with provoking sarcasm.
+
+"I say again not for myself, but for you."
+
+"And I say again that there can be no ground of fear for me. I say again
+I can row like a squaw and swim like a duck. There! Now will you get the
+boat I want?"
+
+"Yes, my darling, I will. And I will also take the precaution to hire
+the man in charge of it to help us row, in case of accidents."
+
+"No, no, no; I won't have the man! He would spoil all our pleasure. I
+want you and myself to go out alone together, and have no interloper
+with us."
+
+"But, my beloved--"
+
+"I don't believe you love me at all, when you want a great hulking
+boatman to be in the boat with us, watching us," said the bride, with
+pretty childish petulance.
+
+"Not love you? Oh, heaven of heavens! You _know_ how I love you--how I
+_adore_ you--how I _worship_ you!" he whispered, earnestly.
+
+"Will you get the boat I want before it grows too dark?"
+
+"Yes, yes, I will, my darling! I can refuse you nothing," said the
+infatuated bridegroom as he walked down to the water's edge and
+forthwith hired the one she had set her heart on.
+
+Then he came back to take her down to the boat.
+
+It was a mere shell, as he had said; and though the boatman declared
+that it could easily carry six if required, it did not look as if it
+would safely bear more than two or three passengers at most.
+
+They were soon floating out upon the water and down with the tide past
+the dingy colliers and the small trading vessels that were anchored
+there, and out among the coming and going sloops and schooners.
+
+"Let me row toward that beautiful wooded shore. It is so lovely over
+there!" said Mary Grey, coaxingly.
+
+"'Distance lends,' and so forth," smiled Craven Kyte, as he at once
+headed for the shore.
+
+But the outgoing tide had left a muddy beach there, and so they had to
+keep at a respectful distance from it.
+
+They rowed again to the middle of the river.
+
+The afterglow had faded away, but the blue-black starlit sky was
+brilliantly reflected in the dark water.
+
+When they had rowed an hour longer, back and forth from shore to shore,
+Craven Kyte drew in his oar and said:
+
+"It is growing late and very dark, love. Had we not better go in?"
+
+"No, no, no!" answered the bride, with prettily assumed authority.
+
+"But, dear love--"
+
+"The night is beautiful! I could stay out here until morning!"
+
+"But chills and fevers, these September nights, darling!"
+
+"Fiddle-de-dee! Are you afraid?"
+
+"Not for myself, love, but for you."
+
+"I never had a chill in my life! I am acclimated to these water-side
+places. If you are tired of rowing give me the oars."
+
+"Not for the world! What, fatigue your dear arms? I would sooner mine
+dropped from my shoulders with weariness!"
+
+And he took up both oars again and plied them actively, although his
+unaccustomed muscles were aching from the long-continued exercise.
+
+"Turn down the stream then and row with the tide. It will be so much
+lighter work than rowing back and forth across the river."
+
+"But it will take us so far from the town."
+
+"Never mind!"
+
+"And it will make it very difficult, when we turn back, to row against
+wind and tide."
+
+"Bah, we will not stay out long! We will only go around that point that
+I see before us. What a fascination there is in a turning point! We
+always want to see what is on the other side," said Mary Grey, lightly.
+
+Meantime, Craven Kyte had turned the boat and they were floating down
+stream very fast.
+
+They soon passed the point, and saw on the other side a flat, sandy
+shore, with the woods at a little distance.
+
+They were still off the point, when Mary Grey suddenly uttered an
+exclamation of dismay.
+
+"What is the matter?" hastily inquired Craven Kyte.
+
+"Oh, my hat! My hat has fallen off my head and is in the water! If you
+stoop over quick you can reach it before it floats quite away!" she
+said, eagerly.
+
+Craven Kyte immediately drew in his oars and secured them, and then bent
+over the side of the boat to reach the hat that was still floating
+within three feet of his hands. He bent very far out and endangered his
+balance.
+
+Mary Grey arose to her feet. Her eyes were glittering like phosphorus in
+the night, her face pallid in the starlight.
+
+He bent lower down and further out, trying to reach the hat, when
+suddenly she gave him a push and he fell into the river, and went down
+before he could utter the cry upon his lips.
+
+The force with which she had pushed her victim into the water had given
+the little boat an impetus that sent it flying down the stream, and
+rocking violently from side to side.
+
+It was as much as she could do to keep her place in it. Any other than
+an experienced boat-woman like herself must have been shaken out and
+drowned.
+
+She heard her victim's agonized scream for help as he rose the first
+time to the surface of the water.
+
+But she gave it no attention.
+
+For even if she had repented, and had wished to save him, she could not
+do so now.
+
+She could, with the greatest difficulty, keep her place in the rocking
+boat until the impetus that had started it was spent.
+
+Yet again that awful cry for help pierced the night sky as the drowning
+man arose the second time to the surface; but on this occasion the cry
+sounded farther off, and the boat, though it had ceased to rock, was
+flying rapidly down stream.
+
+She took hold of the rudder and tried to guide the flying little shell.
+
+Her situation, self-sought as it had been, was one of almost intolerable
+horror.
+
+The night sky was above her, the dark waters beneath her, and around
+her, at various distances, like little dim white specks, were to be seen
+the sails of the coming and going colliers, and other small trading
+craft.
+
+She steered down the stream with the tide, pausing now and then and
+listening. But she heard no more that agonized cry of the drowning man,
+though she knew it would ring in her spirit's ears forever.
+
+She steered down stream until she heard the sound of oars, and of merry
+laughter and cheerful talk, and then she dimly perceived the approach of
+a large pleasure boat crowded with gentlemen and ladies.
+
+Then she, knowing it was too late to save her victim, deceitfully raised
+a shrill scream, that attracted the attention of the people in the large
+boat, which was immediately rowed in the direction of the cry.
+
+Soon the two boats were side by side.
+
+"What is the matter?" inquired a man's voice from the larger boat.
+
+"Oh, for Heaven's sake, help! My companion has fallen overboard, and, I
+fear, is drowned!" cried Mary Grey, wringing her hands in well-simulated
+grief and terror.
+
+"Where? Where?" inquired a dozen eager, interested voices, all at once.
+
+"Just about here. Oh, look for him, listen for him! Do try to save him!"
+cried the hypocrite, seizing her own hair, as if she would have pulled
+it out by the roots, in her pretended anguish of mind.
+
+"Where did he fall? Did he not struggle?" inquired two or three voices,
+as the oarsmen rowed their boat around and around in a circle and peered
+over the surface of the water for some sign of the lost man.
+
+"Oh, he sank at once--he sank at once!" cried Mary Grey, beating her
+breast.
+
+"But he will come up again. They always do, unless they are seized with
+the cramp and it holds them. Keep a bright lookout there, boys, and if
+you see so much as a ripple in the water make for it at once! We may
+save the poor fellow yet!" said the voice of a man who seemed to be in
+authority.
+
+"How in the world did he happen to fall over, miss?" inquired another
+voice.
+
+"Oh, my miserable, unlucky hat blew off my head and fell into the water.
+I begged him not to mind it--told him I would tie a pocket-handkerchief
+over my head--but he wouldn't listen to me. Oh, he wouldn't listen me!
+And so, in stooping to recover my wretched hat, he bent over too far,
+lost his balance and fell into the water. And oh, he sank at once like
+lead! Oh, do try to find him! Oh, do try to save him! He might be
+resuscitated even now, if you could find him--might he not?" she cried,
+wringing her hands.
+
+"Oh, yes, ma'am!" answered a man, in his good-natured wish to soothe who
+he took to be a distracted woman.
+
+And they rowed around and around, peering into the water and listening
+for every sound.
+
+But there was no sign of the lost man.
+
+After they had sought for him about an hour the man who seemed to be the
+chief among them said:
+
+"I am afraid it is quite vain, ma'am. It is not a drowning, but a
+drowned man that we have been seeking for the last hour. Tell us where
+you wish to go, and we will take you home. To-morrow the body may be
+recovered."
+
+But Mary Grey, with a wild shriek, fell back in her boat and lay like
+one in a swoon.
+
+"We must take the lady into this boat of ours, and tow the little one
+after us," said the man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+AFTER THE DARK DEED.
+
+
+Mary Grey was lifted, in an apparently fainting condition, from her own
+little boat into the larger one beside it. She was laid down carefully
+and waited on tenderly by the sympathizing ladies in the larger boat.
+
+Meanwhile the little boat was tied to the stern of the larger one, to be
+towed up the river.
+
+"Where are we to take the poor unfortunate woman, I wonder?" said one of
+the ladies.
+
+"If she does not come to her senses in time to tell us where she lives
+you can bring her to my house," answered another lady.
+
+"Or to mine," said a third.
+
+"Or mine," added a fourth.
+
+"Or mine," "or mine," chimed in others.
+
+Everybody was emulous to succor this unhappy one.
+
+As they neared the city Mary Grey condescended to heave a deep sigh,
+shudder and open her eyes.
+
+Then a chorus of sympathizing voices saluted her. But she wept and
+moaned, and pretended to refuse to be comforted.
+
+It was some time before the persevering efforts of a gentleman succeeded
+in persuading her to understand and answer his question as to where she
+lived.
+
+"At the Star Hotel," she said, with a gasp and a sigh, as if her heart
+were broken.
+
+The boat landed; and the "poor lady," as she was compassionately called,
+was tenderly lifted out by the gentlemen and carefully supported between
+two of them while she was led to the hotel, followed by the ladies.
+
+The sad news of the young gentleman's fate was immediately communicated
+to the people at the hotel, and soon spread through the town.
+
+Ah, the drowning of a man at that point was not such an unusual event
+after all, and it made much less impression than it ought to have done.
+
+Some people said they felt sorry for the poor young woman so suddenly
+bereaved and left among strangers; and perhaps they really believed that
+they did so; but the next instant they thought of something else.
+
+But the ladies who had been present near the scene of the catastrophe,
+and had witnessed Mary Grey's well-acted terror, grief and despair,
+really did sympathize with her supposed sorrows to a very painful
+extent.
+
+After following her to the hotel, they went with her to her room, and
+helped to undress her and put her to bed.
+
+And two among them offered to remain and watch with her during the
+night.
+
+The sinful woman, already a prey to the horrors of remorse and
+superstition, dreading the darkness and solitude of the night, fearing
+almost to see the dripping specter of the drowned man standing over her
+bed, gratefully accepted their offer, and begged, at the same time, for
+morphia.
+
+Her kind attendants were afraid to administer a dangerous opiate without
+the advice of a physician; so they sent for one immediately, who, on his
+arrival and his examination of the terribly excited patient, gave her a
+dose that soon sent her to sleep.
+
+The two ladies took their places by her bed and watched her.
+
+She slept well through the night, and awoke quite calmly in the morning.
+The composing influence of the morphia had not yet left her.
+
+And with the returning daylight much of her remorse and all of her
+superstition vanished for the time being.
+
+She thanked the ladies who had watched her during the night, and, in
+reply to their inquiries, assured them that she felt better, but begged
+them to keep her room dark.
+
+They expressed their gratification to hear her say so. One of them
+bathed her face and hands and combed her hair, while the other one rang
+the bell, and ordered tea and toast to be brought to the room.
+
+And they tenderly pressed her to eat and drink, and they waited on her
+while she partook slightly of this light breakfast.
+
+Then they rang and sent the breakfast service away, and they put her
+room in order, and smoothed her pillows and the coverlet of her bed, and
+finally they kissed her and bade her good-morning for a while, promising
+to return again in the course of the afternoon, and begging that she
+would send for them, at the address they gave her, in case she should
+require their services sooner.
+
+When she was left alone, Mary Grey slipped out of bed, locked the door
+after the ladies, and then, having secured herself from intrusion, she
+opened her traveling-bag and took from it a small white envelope, from
+which she drew a neatly-folded white paper.
+
+This was the marriage certificate, setting forth that on the fifteenth
+day of September, eighteen hundred and ----, at the parish church of
+St. ----, in the city of Philadelphia, Alden Lytton, attorney at law, of
+the city of Richmond, and Mary Grey, widow, of the same city, were
+united in the holy bonds of matrimony by the Rev. Mr. Borden, rector of
+the church, in the presence of John Martin, sexton, and Sarah Martin,
+his daughter.
+
+The certificate was duly signed by the Rev. Mr. Borden and by John
+Martin and Sarah Martin.
+
+Mary Grey sat down with this document before her, read it over slowly,
+and laughed a demoniac laugh as she folded it up and put it carefully
+into its envelope and returned it to her traveling-bag, while she
+reviewed her plot and "summed up the evidence" she had accumulated
+against the peace and honor of Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish.
+
+"Yes, I will let him marry her," she said, "and then, in the midst of
+their fancied security and happiness, I will come down upon them like an
+avalanche of destruction. I will claim him for my own husband by a
+previous marriage. I have evidence enough to convict and ruin him.
+
+"First, I have all his impassioned letters, written to me from
+Charlottesville, while I was a guest at the Government House in
+Richmond.
+
+"Secondly, I have those perfectly manufactured letters addressed to me
+in a fac-simile of his handwriting, signed by his name and mailed from
+Wendover to me at Richmond.
+
+"Why, these alone would be sufficient to prove his perfidy even to Emma
+Cavendish's confiding heart! And they would be good for heavy damages in
+a breach of promise case.
+
+"But I do not want damages--I want revenge. I do not want to touch his
+pocket--I want to ruin his life. Yes--and hers! I want to dishonor,
+degrade and utterly ruin them both! And I have evidence enough to do
+this," she said, resuming her summing up, "for there is--
+
+"Thirdly, his meeting me at Forestville and his journey with me to
+Richmond.
+
+"Fourthly, his journey with me to Philadelphia.
+
+"Fifthly, the rector's certificate, setting forth the marriage of Alden
+Lytton and Mary Grey.
+
+"Sixthly, the testimony of the rector, who will swear that he performed
+the ceremony, and of the sexton and the sexton's daughter, who will
+swear that they witnessed the marriage of Alden Lytton and Mary Grey;
+and swear, furthermore--from his exact resemblance to Craven Kyte--to
+the identity of Alden Lytton as the bridegroom.
+
+"Alden Lytton can not disprove this by an alibi, for at the very time
+Craven Kyte personated him, and under his name and character married me,
+Alden Lytton, in a dead stupor, was locked up in his darkened chamber,
+and no one knew of his whereabouts but myself, who had the key of his
+room.
+
+"Nor can Craven Kyte 'ever rise to explain,' for death and the
+Susquehanna mud has stopped his mouth.
+
+"So this chain of evidence must be conclusive not only to the minds of
+the jury, who will send my gentleman to rusticate in a penitentiary for
+a term of years, but also to Miss Cavendish, who will find her proud
+escutcheon blotted a little, I think."
+
+While Mary Grey gloated over the horrors of her plotted vengeance, there
+came a rap at the door. She hastily put on a dressing-gown, softly
+unlocked the door, threw herself into an easy-chair, with her back to
+the window, and bade the rapper to come in.
+
+The door opened and the clerk of the house entered, bringing with him
+the house register, which he held open in his hand.
+
+"I beg your pardon for this unseasonable intrusion, madam," he said, as
+he laid the open book down on the table before her; "but being called
+upon to report this sad case of the drowning of a guest of this house, I
+find some difficulty in making out the name, for the poor young
+gentleman does not seem to have written very clearly. The name is
+registered C. or G. something or other. But whether it is Hyte or Flyte
+or Kyle or Hyle, none of us can make out."
+
+Mary Grey smiled within herself, as she secretly rejoiced at the
+opportunity of concealing the real name and identity of Craven Kyte with
+the drowned man.
+
+So she drew the book toward her and said, with an affectation of
+weariness and impatience, as she gazed upon poor Craven's illegible
+hieroglyphics:
+
+"Why, the name is quite plain! It is G. Hyle--H-y-l-e. Don't you see?"
+
+"Oh, yes, madam! I see now quite plainly. Excuse me: they ask for the
+full name. Would you please to tell me what the initial G stands for?"
+
+"Certainly. It stands for Gaston. His name was Gaston Hyle. He was a
+foreigner, as his name shows. There, there, pray do not talk to me any
+more! I can not bear it," said Mary Grey, affecting symptoms of
+hysterical grief.
+
+"I beg your pardon for having troubled you, madam, indeed! And I thank
+you for the information you have given me. Good-day, madam," said the
+clerk, bowing kindly and courteously as he withdrew.
+
+The next day the newspapers, under the head of casualties, published the
+following paragraph:
+
+    "On Friday evening last a young man, a foreigner, of
+    the name of Gaston Hyle, who had been stopping at the
+    Star Hotel, Havre-de-Grace, was accidentally drowned
+    while boating on the river. His body has not yet been
+    recovered."
+
+No, nor his body never was recovered.
+
+Mary Grey, for form's sake, remained a week at Havre-de-Grace, affecting
+great anxiety for the recovery of that body. But she shut herself up in
+her room, pretending the deepest grief, and upon this pretext refusing
+all sympathizing visits, even from the ladies who had shown her so much
+kindness on the night of the catastrophe, and from the clergy, who would
+have offered her religious consolation.
+
+The true reason of her seclusion was that she did not wish her features
+to become familiar to these people, lest at some future time they might
+possibly be inconveniently recognized.
+
+As yet no one had seen her face except by night or in her darkened room.
+And she did not intend that they should.
+
+Her supposed grievous bereavement was her all-sufficient excuse for her
+seclusion.
+
+At the end of the week Mary Grey paid her bill at the Star, and,
+closely-veiled, left the hotel and took the evening train for
+Washington, _en route_ for Richmond.
+
+In due time she reached the last-named city and took up her residence at
+her old quarters with the Misses Crane, there to wait patiently until
+the marriage of Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish should give her the
+opportunity of consummating their ruin and her own triumph. Meanwhile
+poor Craven Kyte's leave of absence having expired, he began to be
+missed and inquired for.
+
+But to all questions his partner answered that he did not know where he
+was or when he would be back, but thought he was all right.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+GREAT PROSPERITY.
+
+                       Fortune is merry,
+    And in this mood will give us anything.
+                               --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+Alden Lytton prospered wonderfully. Not once in a thousand instances can
+a young professional man get on as fast as he did.
+
+Usually the young lawyer or doctor has to wait long before work comes to
+him, and then to work long before money comes.
+
+It was not so with Alden Lytton.
+
+As soon as he opened his office business came in at the door.
+
+His first brief was a success.
+
+His second, and more difficult one, was a still greater victory.
+
+His third, and most important, was the greatest triumph of the three.
+
+And from this time the high road to fame and fortune was open to him.
+
+The astonishing rapidity of his rise was explained in various ways by
+different persons.
+
+Emma Cavendish, who loved and esteemed him, ascribed his great
+prosperity to his own splendid talents alone.
+
+Alden Lytton himself, full of filial respect, attributed it to the
+prestige of his late father's distinguished name.
+
+And the briefless young lawyers, his unsuccessful rivals at the bar,
+credited it to the "loud" advertisement afforded by his handsome office
+and the general appearance of wealth and prosperity that surrounded him.
+
+No doubt they were all right and--all wrong.
+
+Not one of these circumstances taken alone could have secured the young
+barrister's success. Neither his own talents nor his father's name, nor
+the costly appointments of his office, could have done it; yet each
+contributed something, and all together they combined to insure his
+rapid advancement in his profession.
+
+While Alden Lytton was thus gaining fame and fortune, Mary Grey was
+engaged in mystifying the minds and winning the sympathy and compassion
+of all her acquaintances.
+
+From the time of her return from Philadelphia she had exhibited a deep
+and incurable melancholy.
+
+Everybody pitied her deeply and wondered what could be the secret sorrow
+under which she was suffering.
+
+But when any friend more curious than the rest ventured to question her,
+she answered:
+
+"I have borne and am still bearing the deepest wrong that any woman can
+suffer and survive. But I must not speak of it now. My hands are bound
+and my tongue is tied. But the time _may_ come when a higher duty than
+that which restrains me now may force me to speak. Until then I must be
+mute."
+
+This was extremely tantalizing to all her friends; but it was all that
+could be got from her.
+
+Meanwhile her face faded into a deadlier pallor and her form wasted to a
+ghastlier thinness. And this was real, for she was demon-haunted--a
+victim of remorse, not a subject of repentance.
+
+The specter that she had feared to look upon on the fatal night of her
+crime--the pale, dripping form of her betrayed and murdered lover--was
+ever before her mind's eye.
+
+If she entered a solitary or a half-darkened room the phantasm lurked in
+the shadowy corners or met her face to face.
+
+It came to her bedside in the dead of night and laid its clammy wet hand
+upon her sleeping brow. And when she woke in wild affright it met her
+transfixed and horrified gaze.
+
+Her only relief was in opium. She would stupefy herself every night with
+opium, and wake every morning pale, haggard, dull and heavy.
+
+She must have sunk under her mental suffering and material malpractices
+but for the one purpose that had once carried her into crime and now
+kept her alive through the terror and remorse that were the natural
+consequences of that crime. She lived only for revenge--
+
+                  "Like lightning fire,
+    To speed one bolt of ruin and expire!"
+
+"I will live and keep sane until I degrade and destroy both Alden Lytton
+and Emma Cavendish, and then--I must die or go mad," she said to
+herself.
+
+Such was her inner life.
+
+Her outer life was very different from this.
+
+She was still, to all appearance, a zealous church woman, never missing
+a service either on Sundays or on week-days; never neglecting the
+sewing-circles, the missionary meetings, the Sunday-schools, or any
+other of the parish works or charities, and always contributing
+liberally to every benevolent enterprise from the munificent income paid
+her quarterly by Miss Cavendish.
+
+Since her return from Philadelphia she had not resumed her acquaintance
+with Alden Lytton.
+
+They did not attend the same church, and were not in the same circle. It
+was a very reserved "circle" in which Mary Grey "circulated;" while
+Alden Lytton sought the company of professional and scholarly men.
+
+Thus for months after their return to Richmond they did not meet.
+
+Alden Lytton in the meanwhile supposed her to be still in Philadelphia,
+filling a position as drawing-mistress in the ladies' college.
+
+It was early in the winter when they accidentally encountered each other
+on Main Street.
+
+On seeing her form approach, Alden Lytton stepped quickly to meet her,
+with an extended hand and a bright smile; but the next instant he
+started in sorrowful surprise, as his eyes fell on her pallid face, so
+changed since he had seen it last.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Grey, I am so glad to see you! I hope I see you well," he
+added, as he took her hand, but his looks belied his "hope."
+
+"I am not well, thank you," she answered plaintively, and her looks did
+not belie her words.
+
+"I am very sorry to hear it. How long have you been in the city?" he
+next inquired, holding her hand and looking at her with eyes full of
+pity.
+
+"I have been back some time," she answered, vaguely. "I was forced to
+leave my situation from failing health."
+
+"I did not know that you had returned or I should have called on you
+before this. But," he added, perceiving her physical weakness, "I am
+wrong to keep you standing here. I will turn about and walk with you
+while we talk. Which way are you going? Will you take my arm?"
+
+"Thanks, no, Mr. Lytton. I can not take your arm; and neither, if you
+will forgive me for saying it, can I receive a visit from you. The world
+is censorious, Alden Lytton. And in my lonely and unprotected position I
+dare not receive the visits of gentlemen," she answered, pensively.
+
+"That seems hard, but doubtless it is discreet. However, that will all
+be changed, I hope, in a little while. In a very few months, I trust,
+your home will be with my beloved wife and myself. I know it is Emma's
+desire that you should live with us," he said, still kindly holding her
+thin hand.
+
+"Is your wedding to come off so soon?" she inquired.
+
+"Yes, in a few weeks, and then we are to go to Europe for a short
+holiday, and afterward take a house in the city here," said Alden,
+smiling.
+
+"I wish you every joy in your wedded life. And now, Mr. Lytton, you must
+let me go," she said, wearily.
+
+"One moment. You do not write to Emma often, do you? I ask because only
+a week ago, in one of her letters to me, Miss Cavendish wrote that she
+had not heard from you for nearly three months, and requested me to find
+out your address, if possible. I wrote back in reply that I believed you
+to be at the Ladies' College, in Philadelphia," he said, still detaining
+her hand.
+
+"I am a bad correspondent. My hand is still lame. Just before I left
+here for Philadelphia I sent Miss Cavendish an acknowledgment of the
+last quarterly sum she sent me. I told her then that I was about to go
+to Philadelphia on particular business. I have not written to her
+since."
+
+"And that was nearly three months ago. That is just what the matter is.
+She wishes to find out your address, so as to know where to send the
+next quarterly instalment of your income, which will soon be due."
+
+"Tell her that I have returned to this city, and that my address is the
+same as that to which she last wrote."
+
+"I will; but do you write to her also. I know she is anxious to hear
+directly from you."
+
+"I will do so," she replied; "though I am the worst possible
+correspondent. Now good-day, Mr. Lytton."
+
+"If I may not call to see you, at least I hope that you will let me know
+if ever I can serve you in any manner," he said, gently, as he pressed
+the pale hand he had held so long and relinquished it.
+
+They parted then, and saw no more of each other for some days.
+
+Alden went on his office, full of pity for the failing woman, who, he
+said to himself, could not possibly have many months to live.
+
+But his feelings of painful compassion were soon forgotten in his
+happiness in finding a letter from Emma Cavendish lying with his
+business correspondence on his desk.
+
+There was really nothing more in it than appeared in just such letters
+that he received two or three times a week; only she told him that she
+had written to Mrs. Grey at the Ladies' College, Philadelphia, and had
+not received any answer to her letter.
+
+Before doing any other business, Alden Lytton took a half-quire of
+note-paper and dashed off an exuberant letter to his lady-love, in
+which, after repeating the oft-told story of her peerless loveliness and
+his deathless devotion, he came down to practical matters, and spoke of
+their mutual friend Mary Grey. He told Emma that Mrs. Grey was in the
+city again, where she had been for some weeks, although he had not been
+aware of the fact until he had met her that morning on Main Street while
+on the way to his office.
+
+He told her of "poor Mary Grey's" failing health and spirits and ghastly
+appearance, and suggested those circumstances as probable reasons why
+she had not written to her friends during the last three months.
+
+Then he went back to the old everlasting theme of his infinite, eternal
+love, etc., etc., etc., and closed with fervent prayers and blessings
+and joyful anticipations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+THE MASK THROWN OFF.
+
+
+As a consequence of this, two days afterward Mary Grey received a
+tender, affectionate, sympathetic letter from Emma Cavendish pressing
+her to come down to Blue Cliffs at once and let them love her and nurse
+her back to health and happiness. And this letter inclosed a check for
+double the amount of the usual quarterly stipend.
+
+Miss Cavendish, for some coy reason or other, did not allude to her
+approaching marriage. Perhaps she deferred the communication purposely,
+with the friendly hope that Mary Grey would visit her at Blue Cliffs,
+where she could make it to her in person.
+
+Mrs. Grey, who did not dare to let her true handwriting go to Blue
+Cliffs, lest it should be seen and recognized by Mrs. Fanning, and who
+could not disguise it safely either, without some fair excuse to Emma
+Cavendish for doing so, put on a tight glove, and took a hard stiff pen
+and wrote a short note, full of gratitude and affection for Emma and all
+the family, and of complaints about her wretched crippled finger, that
+made it so painful for her to write, and prevented her from doing so as
+often as she wished; and of her still more wretched health, that
+hindered her from accepting her dear friend's kind invitation.
+
+In reply to this letter, she got another, and a still kinder one, in
+which Miss Cavendish spoke of her own speedily approaching marriage, and
+pressed Mrs. Grey to come and be present on the occasion, adding:
+
+   "My dearest, you _must_ make an effort and come. Alden himself
+   will escort you on the journey, and take such good care of you
+   that you shall suffer no inconvenience from the journey. You must
+   come, for my happiness will not be complete without the presence
+   of my dear father's dearest friend--of her who was to have been
+   his bride."
+
+This loving and confiding letter was never answered or even acknowledged
+by Mrs. Grey. It was entirely ignored, its contents were never mentioned
+to any one, and itself was torn to fragments and burned to ashes.
+
+Two more letters of precisely the same character were written to her by
+Miss Cavendish; but they suffered the same fate at the hands of Mrs.
+Grey.
+
+She had a deep motive in ignoring and destroying those letters. She did
+not wish the world ever by any accident to find out that she had been
+informed of the approaching marriage of Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish
+before it had taken place, or in time to prevent it.
+
+Two weeks passed, and then she received a visit from Mr. Alden Lytton.
+
+She received him alone in the front drawing-room.
+
+He apologized for calling on her after she had forbidden him to do so,
+but said that he came on the part of Miss Cavendish to ask if she had
+received certain letters from Blue Cliff Hall, and to renew, in Emma's
+name, her pressing invitation to Mrs. Grey to come and be present at the
+approaching wedding.
+
+"Emma wishes me to take charge of you on the journey. And I assure you,
+if you will intrust yourself to me, I will take such tender care of you
+that you shall know neither fatigue nor inconvenience of any sort," he
+added, earnestly.
+
+"I can not go," she answered, coldly.
+
+"Ah, do, for your friend's sake, change your mind," pleaded Alden.
+
+"I can not," she answered.
+
+"But Emma will be so disappointed!"
+
+"I can not help it if she should be. I can not be present at the
+wedding," she repeated, faintly.
+
+"But why not? Why can you not go?" persisted Alden.
+
+"Man--man," she burst forth, suddenly, as her whole face changed
+fearfully, "how can you ask me such a question? Do you forget that _we_
+were to have been married once?--that _we_ loved each other once? But
+you threw me over. Now you invite me to your wedding with my rival! And
+you ask me why I can not go! Do you take me for a woman of wood or stone
+or iron? You will find me a woman of fire! I told you not to come
+here--to keep away from me! If you had had sense to perceive--if you had
+had even eyes in your head to see with, you would have obeyed me and
+avoided me! I told you not to come here. I tell you now to go away. I
+will not be present at your wedding. Make what explanation or excuse to
+Miss Cavendish you please. Tell her, if you like, that the heart you
+have given her was first offered to _me_--that the vows you have made to
+her were first breathed at _my_ feet! Tell her," she added, with keen
+contempt, "that you are but a poor, second-handed article, after all!
+Now go, I say! Why do you stand gazing upon me? Go, and never come near
+me, if you can help it, again! For I fancy that you will not feel very
+glad to see me when _next_ we meet!" she hissed, with a hidden meaning,
+between her clinched teeth.
+
+Alden Lytton was so unutterably amazed by this sudden outbreak that he
+had no power of replying by word or gesture. Without resenting her
+fierce accusation, or even noticing her covert threat, he stood staring
+at her for a moment in speechless amazement.
+
+"Are you going?" she fiercely demanded.
+
+"I am going," he said, recovering his self-possession. "I am going. But,
+Mrs. Grey, I am more surprised and grieved than I have words to express.
+I shall never, willingly, voluntarily approach you again. If, however,
+you should ever need a friend, do not hesitate to call on me as freely
+as you would upon a brother, and I shall serve you in any way in my
+power as willingly as if you were my own sister."
+
+"Ur-ur-ur-r-r!" she broke forth, in an inarticulate growl of disgust and
+abhorrence.
+
+"Good-bye!" he said, very gently, as he bowed and left the room.
+
+Nothing but sympathy and compassion for this "poor woman," as he called
+her, filled his heart.
+
+Her outbreak of hysterical passion had been a revelation to him; but it
+had shown him only half the truth. In its light he saw that she loved
+him still, but he did not see that she hated her rival. He saw that she
+was jealous, but did not see that she was revengeful.
+
+He reproached himself bitterly, bitterly, for ever having fallen under
+her spell, for ever having loved her, or sought to win her love, and for
+thus being the remote cause of her present sorrows.
+
+He had never confided to Emma Cavendish the story of his first foolish,
+boyish love, and sufferings and cure. For Mary Grey's sake he had kept
+that secret from his betrothed, from whom he had no other secret in the
+world.
+
+But now he felt that he must tell Emma the truth, gently and lovingly,
+lest Mary Grey should do it rudely and angrily.
+
+For Mary Grey's sake he had hitherto been silent. For his own and Emma
+Cavendish's sake he must now speak.
+
+He went straight to the telegraph office and dispatched a message to
+Miss Cavendish, saying that he should be down to Wendover by the next
+train to pay her a flying visit.
+
+Then he hurried to his office, put his papers in order, left some
+directions with his clerk, and hastened off to the railway station,
+where he caught the train just as it started, and jumped aboard the cars
+while they were in motion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+A SUDDEN WEDDING.
+
+
+It was midnight when the Richmond train reached Wendover, and Alden
+Lytton went to the Reindeer for the night.
+
+Early in the morning he arose and breakfasted, and ordered a horse to
+take him to Blue Cliff Hall.
+
+Just as he was getting into the saddle Jerome, the colored footman from
+the Hall, rode up holding two papers in his left hand, and staring at
+them with perplexity.
+
+"Halloo, Jerome, how do you do?" called out Mr. Lytton, cheerfully.
+
+The boy looked up, and his surprise and perplexity instantly mounted to
+consternation and amazement.
+
+"Well, dis yer's witchcraf', and nuffin else!" he exclaimed.
+
+"What is witchcraft, you goose?" laughed Alden.
+
+"Look yer, massa," said Jerome, riding up to his side and putting the
+two papers in his hand, "you jes look at dem dere!"
+
+Alden took the papers and looked as required.
+
+Both papers were telegrams. One was his own telegram to Emma Cavendish,
+saying:
+
+"I shall be down to see you by the next train."
+
+The other was a telegram from Emma Cavendish to himself, saying:
+
+"Come down at once."
+
+"Well, what of all this? Here is a message and its answer. What is there
+in this like witchcraft?"
+
+"Why, massa, 'cause de answer came afore de message went, and you
+yerself come quick as enny. Dere's de witchcraf'."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I knowed as de telegraf was fast, and likewise de steam cars, but I
+didn't know as dey was bof so fast as to answer a message afore it was
+axed, and fetch a gemman afore he was sent for. But here's de answer,
+and here's you."
+
+"This is all Hebrew to me."
+
+"Which it is likewise a conundrum to me," retorted Jerome.
+
+"Tell me what you have been doing, and perhaps I shall understand you,"
+laughed Alden Lytton.
+
+"Well, massa, this mornin' by daybreak Miss Emmer sent for me, and gave
+me this," he said, pointing to the young lady's telegram. "And, says
+she:
+
+"'Jerome, saddle the fastest horse in de stable and ride as fast as you
+can to Wendover and send this message off to Mr. Lytton. Lose no time,
+for we want him to come down here as soon as possible.'
+
+"Well, Massa Alden, I didn't lose no time, sar, nor likewise let de
+grass grow underneaf of my feet. I reckon I was in de saddle and off in
+about ten minutes. But fast as I was, bress you, sar, de telegraf was
+faster! When I got to de office and hand de message in to de gemman dere
+I says:
+
+"'Send it off quick, 'cause Miss Emmer wants Massa Alden to come down
+right away.'
+
+"'All right,' he says. 'De young gemman will be down by de next train.
+And here's yer answer to yer message.'
+
+"And sure nuff, Massa Alden, he hands me this yer," said Jerome,
+pointing to Alden's own telegram. "And here's you too! Now, what anybody
+think ob dat if it a'n't witchcraf'?"
+
+"It is a coincidence, my good fellow. I was coming down, and I
+telegraphed Miss Cavendish to that effect. When you brought her message
+to the office you received mine, which must have been delayed. It is a
+coincidence."
+
+"Well I s'pose a coimperence is a fine book-larnin' name for
+witchcraf'; but it's all the same thing after all," persisted Jerome.
+
+"I hope they are all well at Blue Cliffs," said Mr. Lytton, who felt
+some little uneasiness connected with Emma's telegram.
+
+"Yes, sar, dey's all purty well, 'cept 'tis de ole madam. She a'n't been
+that hearty as she ought to 'a' been."
+
+"I hope she is not seriously ill."
+
+"No, sar; dough I did leave a message long o' Doctor Willet to come out
+dere dis morning; but you know de ole madam do frequent send for de
+doctor."
+
+"Come, Jerome, we must get on to the Hall," said Mr. Lytton, as he rode
+out of the inn yard and turned into the road leading to Blue Cliffs,
+followed by the servant.
+
+Emma Cavendish, who was on the lookout for Jerome, was surprised and
+delighted to see her lover ride up first, attended by her messenger.
+
+"It's witchcraf', Miss Emmer!" exclaimed Jerome, as he got out of his
+saddle to take the young gentleman's horse.
+
+"It is a coincidence," laughed Alden, as he ran up the steps to greet
+his beloved.
+
+"Well, dat's de Latin for witchcraf', Miss Emmer; but it's all de same
+t'ing in English," persisted Jerome, as he led away the horses.
+
+"Jerome tells me that grandma is not well. I am sorry to hear it," said
+Alden, as he walked with Emma into the house.
+
+"Grandma is nearly ninety years old, and she can not ever be well in
+this world; but she will soon be very well indeed, for she is very near
+her eternal youth and health," said Emma, with tender, cheerful
+earnestness.
+
+Alden bowed in silence as they entered the drawing-room together.
+
+"Grandma told me to telegraph for you to come down at once, Alden. She
+thinks that she can not be here many days, and perhaps not many hours.
+And she wishes to see you at once. Will you go to her now, dear, or
+would you rather go to your room first?"
+
+"I will go to see madam first. I have but ridden from the Reindeer this
+morning, and so I am neither fatigued nor dusted. I telegraphed you
+yesterday that I was coming down to see you to-day, and my telegram
+should have reached you yesterday; but it seems to have been delayed. I
+left the city by the noon train and reached the village at midnight. So
+I happened to meet Jerome just after he had taken my delayed telegram
+from the agent, which he supposed to be a magical answer to your
+message."
+
+"The whole arrangements of telegraph wires, steam engines, gas-lights
+and lucifer matches are magical to him," said Emma, smiling. "And now
+stay here a moment, dear, and wait until I go and let grandma know that
+you have come," she added, as she went out of the room.
+
+Emma Cavendish found the old lady sitting up in her easy-chair by the
+sunny window, looking very white and fragile and serene.
+
+"Alden has come, grandma, dear. When Jerome went to send the telegram
+off for him he found Mr. Lytton in Wendover. Mr. Lytton had just arrived
+from Richmond and was about to start for Blue Cliffs. It was a
+coincidence," said Emma, sitting down by the old lady.
+
+"It was a providence, my dear child--a providence which has saved two
+days in time that is very short. And so he is here?" said the old lady,
+caressing the golden hair of the girl.
+
+"Yes, dear grandma, he is here and waiting to come to you the moment you
+are ready to receive him."
+
+"Tell him to come now. And do you come with him."
+
+Emma left the room, and soon returned with Alden Lytton.
+
+"Welcome, my son! Come here and embrace me," said the old lady, holding
+out her arms.
+
+Alden went and folded the faded form to his bosom and pressed a kiss
+upon the venerable brow, as the tears sprang to his eyes; for he saw
+that she was dying.
+
+"Alden, I am going home. I must go. I want to go. I have been here so
+long. I am very tired. I have had enough of this. I want to go home to
+my Father. I want to see my Savior face to face. I want to meet my
+husband and my children, who have been waiting for me so long on the
+other side. What are you crying for, Emma?"
+
+"Because I can not help it, grandma. I know I ought not to cry, when you
+will soon be so happy," sobbed the poor child.
+
+"And when I am going to make you and your worthy young lover so happy,
+my love. Come, wipe your eyes and smile! I shall soon be very happy, and
+I want to make you and Alden as happy as I can before I go. Now sit
+down, both of you, and listen to me."
+
+Alden and Emma sat down, one on each side of her.
+
+She was a little tired with the words she had already spoken, and she
+put a small vial of ammonia to her nose and smelled it before she went
+on.
+
+"Now," she said, as she put aside the vial and gave a hand to each of
+the young people, "I want you to attend to me and do exactly as I bid
+you."
+
+"We will indeed," answered Alden and Emma, in a breath.
+
+"I wish you would be married here in my presence tomorrow morning."
+
+Alden Lytton gave her hand a grateful squeeze.
+
+"You should be married to-day, if there were time to make the necessary
+arrangements."
+
+"Are there any really necessary arrangements that can not be made
+to-day?" Alden inquired, eagerly.
+
+"Yes, my son. A messenger must take a letter to Lytton Lodge to explain
+the circumstances, and to ask your sister Laura and your aunt and uncle
+Lytton to come immediately, to be present at your marriage with my
+granddaughter. If the messenger to Lytton Lodge should start at noon
+to-day, as he must, he will hardly reach the Lodge before night. Nor
+will your relatives be able to reach here before noon tomorrow. So you
+see the necessity of the short delay."
+
+"Yes, certainly," answered Alden.
+
+"Another messenger must take a similar letter to Beresford Manors, to
+summon my son and my youngest granddaughter, and your worthy guardian,
+Mr. Brent, who is on a long visit there. And it will also take about
+twenty-four hours to bring them here."
+
+"Yes, of course," admitted Alden.
+
+"I say nothing of the time it will take to get a license and to fetch
+Mr. Lyle, who must perform the ceremony, because that can be done in a
+few hours."
+
+"If it were possible, I would like to have Mary Grey summoned by
+telegraph to attend the wedding," said Emma.
+
+"Ah, yes, certainly she ought to be here; but there is scarcely a
+chance, the time is so short," said Mrs. Cavendish, as she again
+resorted to the vial of ammonia.
+
+"Mrs. Grey is in very bad health. She would not come," explained Alden.
+
+"Go, now, my dear children. I am very tired, and I must sleep a while,"
+sighed the old lady.
+
+And Emma and Alden kissed her and left the room.
+
+In the passage outside they met Mrs. Fanning, who seemed to be waiting
+for them.
+
+She cordially welcomed Mr. Lytton, of whose arrival she had heard from
+the servants. And then she inquired of Emma how Mrs. Cavendish was
+getting on.
+
+"She grows weaker in the body and stronger in the spirit with every
+successive hour, I think," replied Miss Cavendish.
+
+"Well, my dear, I only wished to ask you that, and to tell you that I
+have had lunch laid in the little breakfast room, if Mr. Lytton would
+like any," said Mrs. Fanning, who now took equal share in all Emma's
+housekeeping cares.
+
+But Alden, when appealed to, declined the lunch and hinted that they had
+better see to sending off the messengers to Beresford Manors and Lytton
+Lodge immediately.
+
+And that same noon the letters were dispatched.
+
+Alden Lytton had come down to Blue Cliffs for the purpose of confiding
+to Emma Cavendish the story of his first boyish passion for Mary Grey,
+and of the violent manner in which it was cured forever. But finding all
+the circumstances so opposite to what he expected to find them, he
+changed his purpose. He could not bring himself to add another item to
+the disturbing influences then surrounding Emma.
+
+That afternoon, also, Dr. Willet came to Blue Cliffs, and Emma had to
+accompany him to the bedside of her grandmother, and afterward to hold
+quite a long conversation with him in the library.
+
+A few minutes after the doctor left the house, Mr. Lyle, who had heard
+of the illness of Mrs. Cavendish, arrived to inquire after her
+condition.
+
+Emma had to receive the minister and accompany him to her grandmother's
+chamber, and to stay there and join in the prayers that were offered for
+the sick woman.
+
+Mr. Lyle remained with the family all the afternoon; and having received
+from Mr. Lytton a notice of the ceremony he was desired to perform the
+next day, he promised to be at Blue Cliff Hall again punctually at noon,
+and then took leave.
+
+Very early the next morning Alden Lytton mounted the swiftest horse in
+the Cavendish stables and rode to Wendover to procure his marriage
+license.
+
+He did not stay long in the village, you may be sure; but, leaving his
+horse to rest and drink at the Reindeer trough, he hurried to the
+town-hall and took out his license, returned to the inn, remounted his
+horse, and rode immediately back to Blue Cliff Hall.
+
+As he rode up the avenue toward the front of the house he saw that there
+had already been some arrival. A large lumbering old family carriage
+was being driven, empty, around toward the stables.
+
+Alden quickened his horse's pace and rode up to the door, dismounted,
+threw his reins to Peter, the young groom, who was waiting to take the
+horse, and then ran up the steps into the house.
+
+He almost immediately found himself in the arms of his sister Laura, who
+had run out to receive him.
+
+"Oh, Alden, my darling, I am so delighted! I wish you so much joy!" she
+exclaimed.
+
+"Only the occasion that has hastened my happiness is a sad one to
+others, Laura, my dear," answered the young man, gravely.
+
+"I don't think so at all. I have seen Mrs. Cavendish. I never saw a
+happier woman. She is so happy that she wishes to make everybody else as
+happy as she is herself," said Laura.
+
+As she spoke John Lytton came lumbering into the hall.
+
+"Alden, boy, how do? I never was so astonished in my life! But under the
+circumstances I hope that it is all right to hurry up things in this
+a-way. Your Aunt Kitty couldn't come; nyther could your grandmother nor
+the gals. Fact is, they hadn't the gownds to appear in. But they wish
+you joy; and so do I. For, though I do think you might a-looked higher,
+because the Lyttonses is a much older family than the Caverndishers,
+and, in fact, were lords of the manor when the Caverndishers were
+hewers--"
+
+"Uncle John," broke in Alden, with a laugh, "pray let that subject drop
+for the present! And follow Jerome, who is waiting to show you a room
+where you can brush your coat and smooth your hair, and--"
+
+"Make myself tidy for the wedding? All right, my boy! March on, Jerome!"
+said John Lytton, good-humoredly, as he followed his guide upstairs.
+
+As he disappeared another carriage rolled up to the front door, and Dr.
+Beresford Jones, Electra and Mr. Joseph Brent--Victor Hartman--alighted
+from it and entered the house.
+
+Alden and Laura Lytton stepped forward to receive them.
+
+Electra seized and kissed Laura in a hurry, while the gentlemen were
+shaking hands, and then she flew to Alden and congratulated him with
+much effusion.
+
+"Now, Laura, take me where I can change my dress quickly. I brought a
+white India muslin with me to wear, for I am to be bride-maid, of
+course! So are you, I suppose. But you haven't changed your dress yet.
+Where is Emma? What is she going to be married in?"
+
+"Be quiet, you little Bohemian!" said Laura, cutting short Electra's
+torrent of words. "Don't you feel that this is no ordinary wedding? The
+occasion, if not a sorrowful one, is at least very serious. Come, I will
+take you with me to my own room. We are to lodge together in the
+south-west room, as usual."
+
+"But are you to be a bride-maid?" persisted the "little Bohemian."
+
+"Yes; and to wear my white tarletan dress and white rose wreath,"
+answered Laura, as they went off together.
+
+"Where's Emma, and what's she doing? as I asked you some time ago."
+
+"She is in her chamber, dressing for the ceremony."
+
+"She hasn't got her wedding-dress made yet; that I know. What's she
+going to be married in?"
+
+"She will wear her white satin trained dress, with white lace overdress,
+which she had made for the last May ball, you remember."
+
+"Oh, yes! I didn't think of that."
+
+"And she will wear that rich, priceless cardinal point-lace veil that
+was her mother's. And she will wear her grandmother's rare oriental
+pearls. There, you little gipsy! Are you answered?"
+
+"Yes. And she will be magnificent and splendid, even if she is gotten up
+in a hurry," said Electra, as she followed her companion into their
+room.
+
+Alden Lytton, under the unusual circumstances attending the sudden
+wedding, and in the surprise of his own unexpected happiness, had not
+once thought of the necessity of making a proper toilet for the
+occasion. But when he heard the girls, who never, under any
+circumstances, forget such a matter, talking of their dress, he glanced
+down at his own suit, and then hurried off as fast as he could to his
+room to improve his appearance.
+
+While the younger members of the family party were at their toilets, Dr.
+Beresford Jones was in the "Throne Room," closeted with his mother.
+
+Madam Cavendish, weak as she was, had insisted upon being arrayed
+grandly, to do honor to the wedding of the only daughter of the house.
+
+She wore a rich crimson brocade dressing-gown, a costly camel's-hair
+shawl, and a fine point-lace cap. She now reclined very wearily in her
+easy-chair, and held in her hand the vial of ammonia, which she applied
+to her nose from time to time.
+
+After a little while she said to her son:
+
+"Go and inquire if they are nearly ready, Beresford. I fear--I fear my
+strength will scarcely hold out," she faltered, faintly.
+
+Dr. Jones opened the door to go upon this errand, and immediately
+perceived that it was unnecessary.
+
+John Lytton and Mr. Lyle were coming up the stairs, and the little
+bridal procession was forming in the hall below.
+
+Mr. Lyle came in and spoke to Dr. Jones.
+
+"With Mrs. Cavendish's permission, even now, at the last moment, we must
+make some slight changes in the programme," he said.
+
+"Well?" inquired Dr. Jones, pleasantly.
+
+"I was to have performed the ceremony and you were to have given the
+bride away?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, we must change that. Mr. Lytton has but one groomsman. I must act
+in that capacity also. You will please perform the ceremony, and Mr.
+John Lytton here will have the honor of giving the bride away."
+
+John Lytton bowed.
+
+"I am quite willing. I will speak to Mrs. Cavendish," said Dr. Jones,
+who went to his mother's chair and explained the situation to her.
+
+"Certainly; be it as you will," she said.
+
+Mr. Lyle then returned to the foot of the stairs and placed himself
+beside Laura Lytton, who was acting as first bride-maid.
+
+John Lytton and Dr. Jones remained in the room.
+
+The little bridal procession soon entered and ranged themselves in order
+before the minister.
+
+Emma, as Electra had said, looked beautiful as a woman and elegant as a
+bride. Her bride-maids also were very fair to see.
+
+The ceremony was commenced with great impressiveness.
+
+Old Mrs. Cavendish listened with the deepest attention, leaning back in
+her easy-chair and sniffing at her bottle of ammonia.
+
+John Lytton gave away the bride as if he were making a magnificent
+present at his own expense.
+
+Emma Cavendish not only wore her mother's bridal veil, but was married
+with her mother's wedding-ring.
+
+Dr. Beresford Jones pronounced the benediction.
+
+And Alden Lytton and Emma Cavendish were made one in law, as they had
+long been in mind and heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+AFTER THE HOLY WEDDING.
+
+      The bride rose from her knee
+    And she kissed the lips of her mother dead
+      Or ever she kissed me.
+                             --E. B. BROWNING.
+
+
+The benediction was scarcely spoken before the fair bride left her
+bridegroom's side and moved softly and swiftly to the side of the
+easy-chair, where the form of her ancestress lay reclining.
+
+All eyes followed her strange action, as she knelt beside the chair and
+took the wasted hand of its occupant in her own. And some saw what Emma
+had been the first to discover--that the happy spirit of the aged lady
+was even then departing.
+
+She spoke no word more, but slowly raising her hand she laid it gently,
+as in silent blessing, on the bowed head of her young descendant, and
+so, with a radiant smile, passed away heavenward.
+
+"She's dropped asleep, my dear," said honest, stupid John Lytton,
+bending over to look at the closed eyes and peaceful face.
+
+"She has fainted. This has been too much for her," said Mrs. Fanning,
+catching up the vial of ammonia and coming with the intention of
+administering it.
+
+"She is neither sleeping nor swooning. She has risen," said Emma.
+
+And, calmly putting aside the useless drug, she arose and reverently
+pressed a kiss upon the lifeless lips.
+
+A moment of deep silence followed her words.
+
+Then Dr. Jones, the son, himself an aged man, drew near and tenderly
+took up the lifeless hand and looked into the motionless face, and with
+a profound sigh turned away.
+
+While this group was still gathered around the chair of death, the door
+was silently opened and the family physician entered the room and stood
+among them.
+
+"She is gone, Doctor Willet," said the son, turning to greet the
+new-comer.
+
+The physician nodded gravely to the sorrowing speaker, bowed to the
+assembled friends, and passed through them, as they made way for him to
+approach the body. He felt the wrist, where there was no pulse, looked
+into the eyes, where there was no light, and then, with a grave and
+silent nod, he confirmed the opinion of Dr. Jones.
+
+Electra, who had been incredulous all this time about the reality of the
+death, and was anxiously watching the face of the physician, now burst
+into violent weeping, and had to be led from the room by Joseph
+Brent--Victor Hartman.
+
+Emma stood, pale as marble, with her eyes cast down, her lips lightly
+pressed together, and her hands closely clasped.
+
+"Take your young bride away also, Mr. Lytton. She is exerting great
+self-command now; but she can not much longer control her feelings,"
+said Dr. Willet.
+
+"Come, love," whispered the bridegroom, as he passed his arm gently
+around the waist of the now weeping girl and drew her away from the
+scene of death.
+
+Mr. John Lytton followed them out, with the half-frightened air of a
+culprit stealing away from detection.
+
+There now remained in the room of death the aged son, Dr. Beresford
+Jones, the family physician, Dr. Willet, the minister of the parish, the
+Rev. Mr. Lyle, and the two ladies, Mrs. Fanning and Laura Lytton.
+
+"She passed away very gently, without the least suffering," said Mrs.
+Fanning.
+
+"I thought she would do so. Hers has been a really physiological death,
+of ripe and pure old age," answered the doctor.
+
+After a little more conversation the gentlemen withdrew, leaving the
+remains to the care of the two ladies, while they went to commence
+arrangements for the funeral.
+
+Four days after this the body of Mrs. Cavendish was laid in the family
+vault, beside those of her husband and her son, the late governor.
+
+The old lady had been long and widely known, and deeply and sincerely
+loved and honored, and her funeral was as largely attended as had been
+that of her son, some years before. After these solemn offices had all
+been performed the friends assembled to consult and make arrangements
+for the temporary disposition of the family left behind.
+
+It was settled that Mrs. Fanning should remain at Blue Cliff Hall, in
+charge of the establishment, with Laura Lytton as her guest and
+companion.
+
+Dr. Jones and Electra would, of course, return to Beresford Manors. They
+would be accompanied by Mr. Joseph Brent--Victor Hartman--who had grown
+to be a great favorite with the aged doctor, and in truth almost
+indispensable to his comfort and entertainment.
+
+Mr. Lyle went back to the duties of his ministry at Wendover.
+
+And finally, as there was now a vacation of the courts, and the young
+barrister was temporarily at liberty, Alden Lytton decided to take his
+young bride to Europe for their bridal tour.
+
+On their way to New York they stopped for a day in Richmond, because
+Emma wished to see her old "friend," Mrs. Grey, before leaving for
+Europe.
+
+Alden Lytton, though he felt persuaded in his own mind that Mrs. Grey
+would not receive them, yet promptly complied with his fair bride's
+wish.
+
+So, the morning after their arrival at the Henrico House, in Richmond,
+Alden took a carriage and they drove to the old Crane Manor House and
+inquired for Mrs. Grey.
+
+But, as Alden had foreseen, they received for an answer that Mrs. Grey
+was not at home.
+
+Upon further inquiry they were told that she had left the city on
+business and would not return for a week.
+
+And Alden Lytton rightly conjectured that she had gone away, and was
+staying away, for the one purpose of avoiding Emma and himself.
+
+So the young bride, with a sigh, reluctantly resigned all hope of seeing
+her unworthy "friend" before sailing for Europe.
+
+Early the next morning the newly-married pair took the steamboat for
+Washington, where in due time they safely arrived, and whence they took
+the train for the North.
+
+They reached New York on Thursday night, had one intervening day to see
+something of the city and to make some few last purchases for their
+voyage, and on Saturday at noon they embarked on the magnificent ocean
+steamship "Pekin," bound from New York to Southampton.
+
+We must leave them on board their ship, and return and look up Mary
+Grey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+MARY GREY'S MYSTERY.
+
+
+After Mrs. Grey's last interview with Alden Lytton, during which, partly
+because she lost her self-command and partly because she did not care
+longer to conceal her feelings, she had thrown off her mask, she sat
+down to review the situation.
+
+"Well, I have betrayed myself," she mused. "I have let him see how I
+really feel about this marriage engagement between him and Emma
+Cavendish. He knows now how I loved him; if he has eyes in his head he
+sees now how I hate him.
+
+"All right. I have now no further reason to deceive him. He has served
+my utmost purpose for his own and her own destruction. I no longer need
+his unconscious co-operation. I have his honor and his liberty, and her
+reputation and peace, in my power and at my mercy.
+
+"And I have done all this myself, without the voluntary help of any
+human being. I have used men as the mechanic uses tools, making them do
+his work, or as the potter uses clay, molding it to his purpose.
+
+"Let him marry Emma Cavendish. I can part them at any moment afterward
+and throw them into a felon's prison, and cast her down from her proud
+place into misery and degradation.
+
+"I _could_ stop their marriage now, or at the altar. But I will not do
+that; for to do that would be only to disappoint or grieve them. But my
+vengeance must strike a deeper blow. It must degrade and ruin them. I
+will wait until they have been married some time. Then, in the hour of
+their fancied security, I will come down upon them like an avalanche of
+destruction."
+
+In the feverish excitement of anticipating this fiendish consummation of
+her revenge she almost forgot her heinous crime, and ceased to be
+haunted by the hideous specter of her murdered lover.
+
+It was on the fifteenth of the month, when she happened to take up the
+morning paper.
+
+She turned first--as she always did--to the column containing notices of
+marriages and deaths.
+
+And her face grew wild and white as she read:
+
+    MARRIED.--On the morning of the 10th instant, at Blue
+    Cliff Hall, Virginia, the seat of the bride, by the
+    Rev. Dr. Beresford Jones, Mr. Alden Lytton, of
+    Richmond, to Miss Emma Angela, only daughter of the
+    late Charles Cavendish, Governor of Virginia.
+
+She read no further that day. There were other marriages following this;
+but she felt no curiosity now about them. And there was a formidable row
+of death notices, headed by the obituary of Mrs. Cavendish, but she did
+not even see it.
+
+The announcement of the marriage had taken her by surprise. She had not
+expected to see it for a month yet to come. And, as she did not observe
+the notice of Mrs. Cavendish's death, she could not understand why the
+marriage had been hastened by so many weeks.
+
+"So it is over," she said. "It is over, and it has been over for five
+days. They are in the midst of their happiness, enjoyed at the expense
+of my misery. Theirs is a fool's paradise from which I could eject them
+at any moment; but I will not--not just yet. The longer I suspend the
+blow the heavier it will fall at last. They will carry out their
+programme, I presume; so far, at least, as to go upon their bridal trip
+to Europe. I could stop them on the eve of their voyage; but I will not.
+I will let them go and return, and hold their wedding-reception, and
+then, in the midst of their joy and triumph, in the presence of their
+admiring friends--"
+
+She paused to gloat with demoniac enjoyment over the picture her wicked
+imagination had conjured up.
+
+--"Then I will turn all their joy to despair, all their triumph to
+humiliation, all their glory to shame! And I will do all this
+alone--alone, or use others only as my blind tools.
+
+"Of course they will take this city on their way to New York to embark
+for Europe. And they will call on me to show me their happiness, and
+take a keener relish of it from seeing the contrast of my misery. But
+they shall be disappointed in that, at least. I will not be dragged at
+the wheels of their triumphal car. I will not stay here to receive them.
+I will leave town, and stay out of it until I am sure that they have
+passed through and left it."
+
+She kept her word.
+
+She went down to Forestville, ostensibly to relieve a poor family
+suffering under an accumulation of afflictions, but really to be out of
+the way of the bridal pair, and to get up evidence in the case she
+intended to bring against the husband of Emma Cavendish.
+
+When she had been but a few days at Forestville she received a letter
+from Miss Romania Crane--who in her absence kept up a sentimental
+correspondence with her--informing her of the visit of Mr. and Mrs.
+Alden Lytton, the bride and bridegroom from Blue Cliffs, who stopped for
+a day in the city on their way to New York.
+
+Immediately on her receipt of this letter she returned to Richmond and
+to the house of the Misses Crane.
+
+And she very much surprised and shocked these ladies by assuming an air
+of grief and distraction as extreme in itself as it was unaccountable to
+them.
+
+They could not even imagine what was the matter with her. She refused to
+give any explanation of her apparent mental anguish, and she repelled
+all sympathy.
+
+The Misses Crane were afraid she was going to lose her reason.
+
+They went to see the minister and the minister's wife on the subject.
+They found only the lady at home. And to her they stated the mysterious
+case.
+
+"There is something very heavy on her mind, my dear. I am sure there is
+something awful on her mind."
+
+"There has been this long time, I think," said the minister's wife.
+
+"Yes, I know; but it is a thousand times worse now. My dear, she keeps
+her room nearly all day. She never comes to the table. If I send her
+meals up to her they come back almost untasted. And I assure you she
+does not sleep any better than she eats. Her room is over mine, and so I
+can hear her walking the floor half the night," said Miss Romania Crane.
+
+"What can be the cause of her distress?" inquired the rector's lady.
+
+"I don't know. I can't get her to tell me. She only says that 'her life
+is wrecked forever, and that she wishes only to be left to herself until
+death shall relieve her.' And all that sort of talk," said Miss Romania.
+
+"And have you no suspicion?"
+
+"None in the world that seems at all rational. The only one I have seems
+foolish."
+
+"But what is it?"
+
+"Well, I sometimes think--but indeed it is a silly thought--that her
+distress is in some way connected with the marriage of Mr. Lytton and
+Miss Cavendish, for I notice that every time the name of either of them
+is mentioned she grows so much worse that I and my sister have ceased
+ever to speak of them."
+
+"It can not be that she was ever in love with Mr. Lytton," suggested the
+minister's lady.
+
+"I should think not. I should think she was not that weak-minded sort of
+woman to give way to such sentiment, much less to be made so extremely
+wretched by it. For I do tell you, my dear, her state is simply that of
+the utmost mental wretchedness."
+
+"I will ask my husband to go to her. He is her pastor, and may be able
+to do her some good," said the minister's wife.
+
+"Do, my dear, and come to see her yourself," said Miss Romania, as she
+and her sister arose to take leave.
+
+Now you know all this distress was just "put on" by Mrs. Grey, to give
+coloring and plausibility to her future proceedings.
+
+To be sure she kept her room, but it was not to grieve in secret: it was
+to excite the compassion and wonder of her sympathizing friends, while
+she laid her plans, drank French cordials, and feasted privately on the
+delicacies of the season, which she would secretly bring in, or dozed on
+her sofa and dreamed of her coming sweet revenge.
+
+Certainly, instead of going to bed at a decent hour, she would walk the
+floor of her chamber half the night. But this was not done because she
+was suffering, or sleepless from grief, but for the purpose of keeping
+poor Miss Crane awake all night in the room below and making the poor
+lady believe that she, Mary Grey, was breaking her own heart in these
+vigils.
+
+And for her want of nightly rest Mary Grey compensated herself by dozing
+half the day on her sofa; and for her want of regular meals she made up
+by slipping out occasionally and feasting at some "ladies' restaurant."
+
+But her object was effected. She impressed everybody who came near her
+with the belief that she had suffered some awful wrong or bereavement of
+which she could not speak, but which threatened to unseat her reason or
+end her life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+MARY GREY'S STORY.
+
+
+At length her minister came to see her. He expressed the deepest
+sympathy with her sufferings, and implored her to relieve her
+overburdened heart by confiding in him or in his wife, from either or
+both of whom, he assured her, she should receive respectful compassion
+and substantial assistance, if the last was necessary.
+
+Then, pretending to yield to his better judgment, she consented to give
+him her confidence.
+
+And taking him up to her own sitting-room, where they could be safe from
+interruption, she bound him over to secrecy, and then, with many
+affected tears and moans, she told him the astounding story that she had
+long been privately married to Mr. Alden Lytton, who had deserted her
+within a few days after their wedding, and who had recently, as every
+one knew, united himself in matrimony with Miss Emma Cavendish, of Blue
+Cliffs, Virginia, and had gone with her on a wedding trip to Europe.
+
+While she told him this stupendous tale, the minister sat with open
+mouth and eyes, gazing on her with more of the air of an idiot than of a
+learned and accomplished gentleman.
+
+He was, in fact, utterly amazed and confounded by the story he had
+heard.
+
+That Alden Lytton, a young man of the highest social position, of
+unblemished reputation from his youth up, an accomplished scholar, a
+learned jurist, an eloquent barrister, and, more than all, a Christian
+gentleman, should have been guilty of the base treachery and the
+degrading crime here charged upon him was just simply incredible--no
+more nor less than incredible.
+
+Or that Mary Grey, the loveliest lady of his congregation, should be
+capable of a malicious fabrication was utterly impossible.
+
+There was then but one way out of the dilemma: Mary Grey was insane and
+suffering under a distressing hallucination that took this form.
+
+So said the look of consternation and pity that the minister fixed upon
+the speaker's face.
+
+"I see that you discredit my story, and doubt even my sanity. But here
+is something that you can neither doubt nor discredit," she said, as she
+drew from her pocket the marriage certificate and placed it in his
+hands.
+
+The minister opened and read it. And as he read this evidence of a
+"Christian gentleman's" base perfidy the look of consternation and
+amazement that had held possession of his countenance gave place to one
+of disgust and abhorrence.
+
+"Do you doubt _now_?" meaningly inquired Mary Grey.
+
+"Ah, no, I can not doubt now! I wish to Heaven I could! I would rather,
+my child, believe you to be under the influence of a distressing
+hallucination than know this man to be the consummate villain this
+certificate proves him to be. I can not doubt the certificate. I wish I
+could; but I know this Reverend Mr. Borden. On my holiday trips North I
+have sometimes stopped at his house and filled his pulpit. I am familiar
+with his handwriting. I can not doubt," groaned the minister.
+
+Mary Grey dropped her hands and pretended to sob aloud.
+
+"Do not weep so much, poor child! Deeply wronged as you have been by
+this ruthless sinner you have not been so awfully injured as has been
+this most unhappy young lady, Miss Cavendish, whom he has deceived to
+her destruction," said the minister.
+
+"And do you not suppose that I grieve for _her_ too?" sobbed Mary Grey.
+
+"Ah, yes, I am sure your tender, generous heart, wronged and broken as
+it is, has still the power left to grieve for her as well as for
+yourself."
+
+"But what is my duty? Ah, what is my duty in this supreme trial? I can
+not save my life or hers from utter wreck, but I can do my duty, and I
+will do it, if only it is pointed out to me. Oh, sir, point it out to
+me!" cried the hypocrite, clasping her hands with a look of sincerity
+that might have deceived a London detective.
+
+"My dear, can you possibly be in doubt as to what your duty is?"
+sorrowfully inquired the minister.
+
+"Oh, my mind is all confused by this terrible event! I can not judge
+rationally. Ought I to keep silence and go away to some remote place and
+live in obscurity, dead to the world, so as never even by chance to
+interfere with their happiness, or to bring trouble on Miss Cavendish? I
+think, perhaps, he expects even that much from my devotion to him. Or
+ought I not to make way with myself altogether, for her sake? Would not
+a courageous suicide be justifiable, and even meritorious, under such,
+trying circumstances?"
+
+"My child--my child, how wildly and sinfully you talk! Your brain is
+certainly touched by your troubles. You must not dream of doing any of
+the dreadful things you have mentioned. Your duty lies plainly before
+you. Will you have the courage to do it, if I point it out to you?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I will--I will! It is all that is left me to do."
+
+"Then your duty is to lodge information against that wretched man, so
+that he shall be arrested the moment he sets foot in the State."
+
+"Oh, heaven of heavens! And ruin Emma Cavendish!" exclaimed the
+traitress, in well-simulated horror.
+
+"And save Emma Cavendish from a life of involuntary degradation and
+misery. You must do this. To-morrow I will introduce you to a young
+lawyer of distinguished ability, who will give you legal advice even as
+I have given you religious counsel. And we will both confer together, so
+as to save you as much as possible from all painful share in the
+prosecution of this man."
+
+"It is _all_ painful; all agonizing! But I think you and I will not
+shrink from our duty. Oh, could you ever have believed, without such
+proof as I have given you, that Mr. Alden Lytton could ever have been
+guilty of this crime?"
+
+"Never! Never! And yet I know that men of exalted character have
+sometimes fallen very deeply into sin. Even David, 'the man after God's
+own heart,' took the wife of his devoted friend, and betrayed this
+faithful friend to a cruel death! Why should we wonder, then, at any
+man's fall? But, my child, I must ask you a question that I have been
+waiting to ask you all this time. Why did you not interfere to stop this
+felonious marriage before it took place? What timidity, what weakness,
+or what pride was it that restrained your hand from acting in time to
+prevent this fearful crime of Mr. Lytton, this awful wrong to Miss
+Cavendish, from being consummated?" gravely and sadly inquired the
+minister.
+
+"Oh, sir, how can you ask me such a question? Do you suppose that if I
+had had the remotest suspicion of what was going on I should not have
+interfered and prevented it at all hazards--yes, even at the sacrifice
+of my own life, if that had been necessary?"
+
+"You did not know of this beforehand then?"
+
+"Why, certainly not!"
+
+"Nor suspect it?"
+
+"Assuredly not! I had not the least knowledge nor the faintest suspicion
+that anything of the sort was contemplated by Mr. Lytton until after it
+was all over. The first I heard of it was from the Misses Crane, who
+wrote me at Forestville that Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton, the bride and
+bridegroom from Blue Cliffs, had called on me during my absence. The
+news, when it was confirmed, nearly killed me. But think of the insanity
+of their calling on me! But I know that was Emma's wish. And I feel sure
+that Mr. Lytton must have known of my absence from town or he never
+would have ventured to bring his deceived bride into my home."
+
+"No, indeed; probably not. Well, my poor child, I have shown you your
+painful duty. See that you do not falter in it," said the rector, as he
+rose to take leave.
+
+"I will not," answered Mary Grey.
+
+"I will call at ten o'clock to-morrow morning to take you to Mr.
+Desmond's office."
+
+"I will be ready."
+
+And the minister took his leave.
+
+Punctual to his appointment, the next morning at ten o'clock the rector
+called for Mary Grey and took her in his own carriage to the office of
+Philip Desmond, one of the most talented among the rising young
+barristers of Richmond.
+
+Mr. Desmond enjoyed a high reputation not only as a professional man but
+as a private gentleman.
+
+But he was the professional rival and the political opponent of Mr.
+Alden Lytton. They were always engaged on opposite sides of the same
+case; and on several important occasions Alden Lytton had gained a
+triumph over Philip Desmond.
+
+He was, therefore, more astonished than grieved when the rector, after
+introducing Mary Grey under the name of Mrs. Alden Lytton, proceeded to
+confide to him, under the seal of temporary secrecy, the stupendous
+story of Alden Lytton's double marriage.
+
+He expressed much amazement at the double treachery of the man, deep
+sympathy with the sorrows of the suffering and forsaken wife, and great
+indignation at the wrongs of the deceived and unhappy young lady.
+
+He readily promised to co-operate with the minister in having the
+culprit brought speedily to justice.
+
+"You, madam, of course, as his wife, can take no active part in the
+prosecution of this man. You can not even give testimony against him
+with your own voice. But you must appear in court, to be identified by
+the rector, the sexton and others who witnessed your marriage," said the
+lawyer, in taking leave of his visitors.
+
+The rector took Mrs. Grey back to her boarding-house, and while she was
+gone upstairs to lay off her bonnet and shawl he told the Misses Crane
+that their interesting boarder had confided her trouble to him; that she
+had suffered the deepest wrong that any woman could be doomed to bear;
+but he could not explain more then; they would know all about it in a
+short time, when the wrongdoer should be brought to justice.
+
+And having thus mystified the poor ladies, he further recommended Mary
+Grey to their tenderest sympathy and care.
+
+And so he went home, leaving them in a state of greater bewilderment
+than ever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+ABOUT BLUE CLIFFS.
+
+
+Before Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton had left Blue Cliff Hall they had made
+arrangements for the complete renovation of that old ancestral seat, to
+be carried on under the supervision of the Rev. Mr. Lyle.
+
+And they expressed their intention to purchase and send furniture from
+London and Paris to refit it.
+
+But the works were scarcely commenced when they had to be suspended for
+a few days.
+
+Another death had occurred in the family circle.
+
+Dr. Beresford Jones, after a very pleasant evening spent at Blue Cliff
+Hall in company with Mrs. Fanning, Laura Lytton, his granddaughter,
+Electra, and his great favorite, Mr. Joseph Brent, arose, saying:
+
+"I will now retire to bed, and I recommend you, Electra, my dear, to do
+the same, as we have to rise early to-morrow morning to set out on our
+return to Beresford Manors."
+
+And he kissed her good-night, bowed to the other members of the circle,
+took up his taper and retired.
+
+The next morning he went away indeed, but not to Beresford Manors.
+
+For when Electra went into his room, as was her custom, to kiss him
+good-morning before he should get up, she found nothing but his body,
+still warm, and with the face still wearing the happy smile with which
+his spirit had impressed it in taking his heavenward flight.
+
+Her screams desecrated the holy room of death and brought all the
+household to her presence.
+
+When they discovered the cause of the girl's wild grief, Mrs. Fanning
+and Laura Lytton together forced her from the room and took her to her
+own chamber, where they set themselves to soothe her.
+
+Joseph Brent, himself overcome with grief at the sudden loss of one who
+had proved himself so warm a friend, set out on horseback to Wendover to
+fetch the family physician and the minister.
+
+They were useless to the departed, of course, but they might be of some
+service to the bereaved ones left behind.
+
+So Mr. Lyle and Dr. Willet returned with Mr. Brent, and remained at Blue
+Cliff Hall until after all was over.
+
+And thus it happened that within one fortnight there were two funerals
+at Blue Cliffs.
+
+On the day after that upon which the remains of Beresford Jones were
+laid in the family vault his will was opened and read to his relatives.
+
+With the exception of a few legacies left to friends and servants he
+bequeathed the whole of his real estate and personal property
+exclusively and unconditionally to his beloved granddaughter, Electra
+Coroni.
+
+And he appointed his esteemed friends, Stephen Lyle and Joseph Brent,
+joint executors of the will, trustees of his estate, and guardians of
+his heiress.
+
+And to each of these executors he left a legacy of ten thousand dollars.
+
+Folded within the will was an informal letter addressed to his surviving
+friends, and requesting that no mourning should be worn for him, no
+wedding deferred, no innocent pleasure delayed on his account, for that
+death was only a higher step in life, and that which to him would be a
+great gain and glory must not seem to them a loss and gloom.
+
+Electra, with her gusty nature, wept vehemently during the reading of
+this will and letter.
+
+But there was one present who, though he betrayed no emotion, was much
+more deeply moved than any one present. This was Joseph Brent.
+
+In being appointed guardian, trustee and executor of the will, he had
+just received from Dr. Beresford Jones the greatest proof of esteem and
+confidence that any one man could receive from another. And when he
+thought of this in connection with his own woful past he felt deeply
+disturbed.
+
+After the reading of the will the assembled relatives dispersed from the
+room, leaving the two executors to converse together.
+
+When Joseph Brent found himself alone with his friend Stephen Lyle he
+gave way to his feelings and said:
+
+"My heart is full of compunction."
+
+"Why?" gravely inquired Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Because I should have confided in the dear old friend who put so much
+trust in me. I should have told him my whole miserable past history. And
+then, perhaps, he never would have given me so great a mark of his
+esteem. And Heaven knows I fully intended to tell him before asking him
+to accept me as a suitor of his granddaughter, even though it had cost
+me the loss of her who is dearer to me than life. But I put off the
+painful task, and now it is too late. And I feel as if I had obtained
+the honors he has conferred upon me by a fraud. No less!" said Joseph
+Brent, covering his face with his hands.
+
+"My brother, you are morbid on this subject. Certainly you intended to
+tell him before asking to marry his granddaughter. And most certainly it
+would have been right for you to do so, had he remained among us. But he
+is gone. And you are free from blame. If you must tell any one tell the
+girl you love, and who loves and trusts you, for it is now no one's
+business but hers and yours. Or, rather, because you would never do
+yourself justice, let me tell her how, once a poor, motherless boy, left
+to himself, lost his way in the world and strayed even to the very brink
+of perdition. And how nobly since that he has, by the grace of Heaven,
+redeemed and consecrated his life. And then see if she will not place
+her hand in yours for good and all."
+
+"You always comfort and strengthen me," said the young man, seizing and
+wringing the hand of his friend.
+
+And then they consulted about the will of the late Dr. Jones, and the
+arrangements to be made with his estates and the disposition to be made
+of his heiress.
+
+"We are her guardians," said Mr. Lyle; "but neither you nor I, being
+bachelors both, have a proper home to offer her. Nor will it be well for
+her to live at Beresford Manors, with no one but her colored servants.
+Mrs. Fanning has invited her to remain here for the present, and really
+this house seems to be the best place for her just now. But, after all,
+the decision must be left to herself, and she must choose her own home."
+
+Mr. Brent agreed perfectly with the views of Mr. Lyle.
+
+And later in the same afternoon they consulted the wishes of their young
+ward, who emphatically declared in favor of Blue Cliff Hall as her
+temporary home.
+
+The next morning Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent took leave of the ladies and
+returned to Wendover, where the Californian again became the inmate of
+the minister's home.
+
+But both gentlemen continued to be frequent visitors at Blue Cliff Hall.
+
+On the Monday following the funeral the work was recommenced on the old
+mansion and went rapidly on--the three ladies, Mrs. Fanning, Laura
+Lytton and Electra, moving from one part of the house to another as the
+improvements progressed.
+
+Six weeks after this they received the first cargo of new furniture for
+the drawing-rooms, which were ready for it.
+
+And as the work went on, from room to room, they received more furniture
+to fit them up.
+
+At the end of three months the work was completed within and without.
+
+And the fine old mansion, thoroughly remodeled and refurnished,
+presented as elegant and attractive an appearance as any modern palace
+in the whole country.
+
+And then, when all was ready for the returning bride and bridegroom,
+Mrs. Fanning received a letter from them informing her that on the
+Saturday following the date of that letter they were to embark on board
+the steamship "Amazon," bound from Liverpool to New York, and they
+expected to be at Blue Cliffs two weeks from the day of embarkation.
+
+Yes, the happy young pair were on their way home, unconscious of the
+horrible pitfall that had been dug to receive them!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+WEDDINGS AND WEDDING RECEPTIONS.
+
+    What do you think of marriage?
+    I take it as those who deny purgatory.
+    It locally contains or heaven or hell:
+    There is no third place in it.
+                                  --WEBSTER.
+
+
+It was a beautiful day near the last of May, and the scenery all around
+Blue Cliff Hall was glorious with sunshine, bloom and verdure.
+
+A happy party of friends was assembled at the Hall that day for a double
+purpose--to meet the returning bridegroom and bride, who were expected
+to arrive that evening, and to assist at their wedding reception, which
+was to be further graced by two new bridals the next morning; for it had
+been arranged by correspondence that Stephen Lyle and Laura Lytton and
+Joseph Brent and Electra Coroni should be married on that occasion.
+
+All was ready: the house newly-restored, decorated and furnished, the
+rooms aired and adorned with flowers, and the wedding-breakfast laid out
+in the long dining-room.
+
+The supper-table for the returning travelers was set in the small
+dining-room opening upon the garden of roses.
+
+Carriages had been sent from the Hall early that morning to meet the
+travelers, who were expected to reach Wendover by the noon train from
+Richmond and to come direct to the Hall, so as to arrive in time for an
+early tea.
+
+On the delightful porch in front of the house, that commanded a view of
+the carriage-drive and the forest road beyond, sat a pleasant group,
+enjoying the magnificent sunset of that mountain region, and watching
+the road or the first appearance of the carriage that was to bring home
+their beloved young friends.
+
+This happy group was composed of Mrs. Fanning, Laura Lytton, Electra
+Coroni, Stephen Lyle and Joseph Brent.
+
+"I hope they will arrive before the sun goes quite down. I should like
+them to come home in the sunshine," said Laura Lytton, looking anxiously
+at the glorious orb just then touching the horizon.
+
+No one answered. All were watching the setting sun and listening for the
+sound of the carriage-wheels until a few moments had passed, and then
+Electra said, with a sigh:
+
+"You will not get your wish then, for the sun is gone and they are not
+come."
+
+"They are coming now, however. I hear the sound of their
+carriage-wheels," said Joseph Brent.
+
+"Yes, indeed, for I see the carriage now," added Mr. Lyle, as the
+traveling-coach rolled rapidly in sight of the whole party and turned
+into the home drive.
+
+A few moments more and the carriage drew up before the house, and Alden
+Lytton alighted and handed out his wife.
+
+Another moment and Alden was in the arms of his sister and Emma on the
+bosom of Mrs. Fanning.
+
+Hearty greetings, warm embraces ensued, and then they held off to look
+at each other.
+
+Emma was more beautiful and Alden handsomer than ever.
+
+"What a happy coming home!" said Emma, gratefully. "And you are all so
+well! And you are all here except those who are in heaven. Stay! I think
+_they_ also are here to meet us, though we do not see them! Come, let
+us enter the house."
+
+"Let me show you to your rooms. No one shall be your 'groom of the
+chambers,' Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton, but myself," said Laura,
+playfully, as she led the way upstairs to the elegant apartments that
+had been prepared for the young master and mistress of the house.
+
+"Come too, Electra. I do not wish to lose sight of you so soon, my
+child," said Emma, kindly, as they went along. "Is everything arranged
+satisfactorily to yourselves, my dears, and are you both ready to be
+married at the same time to-morrow?" she inquired, addressing her two
+companions.
+
+"Why, of course!" smiled Laura.
+
+Very early the next morning the whole household was happily astir.
+
+The youthful family met at an early breakfast in the little dining-room,
+and then separated and went to their chambers to adorn themselves for
+the bridals.
+
+A little later in the morning carriages containing guests bidden to the
+wedding began to arrive. The guests were received first by accomplished
+ushers, who took them to handsome and convenient dressing-rooms, in
+which they could put the last perfecting touches on their toilets, after
+which they were ushered into the long drawing-room, where they were
+received by Mr. and Mrs. Alden Lytton.
+
+Emma was beautifully dressed for this occasion. She wore a rich white
+satin, with a point-lace overskirt, looped up with white roses sprinkled
+with small diamonds like dew. A wreath of the same flowers, bedewed in
+the same way, rested on her rich golden hair. A diamond necklace and
+bracelets adorned her bosom and arms. A delicate bouquet of white roses
+was held in her hand. Dainty gloves, and so forth, of course completed
+her toilet.
+
+The two brides were dressed exactly alike, in long-trained, rich white
+silk dresses, with illusion overdresses and illusion veils, white
+orange-blossom wreaths, pearl necklaces and bracelets, and dainty white
+kid gloves, and carried delicate white lace handkerchiefs and white
+bouquets.
+
+The bride-maids were all dressed in a uniform of white tarletan,
+trained, with overdresses of the same, rose-colored sashes and bows, and
+rose wreaths on their heads.
+
+The bridegrooms wore the regulation "invisible blue" swallow-tailed
+coats and pantaloons, white satin vests, patent leather boots and kids.
+The groomsmen were got up in precisely the same ridiculous--I mean
+fashionable--style.
+
+Now, reader, did you ever see a double marriage ceremony performed?
+
+If not, I will tell you how this was done.
+
+The first bride and groom were Mr. Lyle and Miss Lytton. They stood in
+the middle of the semicircle, immediately facing the bishop. The second
+bride and groom, Mr. Brent and Miss Coroni, stood on each side of them,
+Mr. Brent standing next to Mr. Lyle and Miss Coroni standing next to
+Miss Lytton. The six bride-maids, of course, completed the semicircle on
+the ladies' side and the six groomsmen on the gentlemen's.
+
+The opening exhortation was made and the opening prayers were offered
+for both pairs together.
+
+Then the momentous questions were put and answered, and the marriage
+vows were made, by each pair separately.
+
+Each bride was given away in turn by Alden Lytton. Finally the
+concluding prayer was offered and the benediction pronounced upon both.
+
+It was over.
+
+Congratulations, tears, smiles and kisses followed. A half an hour in
+pleasant chatter, in which every one talked and no one listened,
+followed, and then the doors of the dining-room were thrown open and the
+company was invited in to the breakfast.
+
+Three long tables stood parallel to each other, the whole length of the
+room, leaving only space to pass around them.
+
+Each table was decorated with the most fragrant and beautiful flowers,
+adorned with the most elegant plate, china and glass, and loaded with
+every delicacy appropriate to the occasion.
+
+But the middle table was distinguished by the "wedding-cake" _par
+excellence_--an elegant and beautiful piece of art, formed like a
+Grecian temple of Hymen, erected upon a rock, adorned with beautiful
+forms, birds, butterflies, flowers, and so forth.
+
+This middle table was also honored with the presence of the brides and
+bridegrooms, with their attendants and immediate friends, and with that
+of the officiating bishop.
+
+After the first course Mr. Lytton, who occupied a seat at the foot of
+this table, arose in his place and made the usual little speech, and
+proposed the health of both "happy pairs."
+
+This was drunk with enthusiasm.
+
+Then the health of the bride-maids was proposed and honored.
+
+Mr. Brent proposed their accomplished host and hostess. And this toast
+was honored with an enthusiasm equal to that which had attended that of
+the brides and bridegrooms.
+
+An hour, every moment of which was filled up with enjoyment, was spent
+at the table, and then the beautiful hostess, Mrs. Alden Lytton, gave
+the signal, and the ladies all arose and withdrew.
+
+The two brides, accompanied by Emma, went upstairs to their rooms to
+change their bridal dresses for traveling-suits, for the two carriages
+were already waiting at the gates to convey them to Wendover, whence
+they were to take the train for Richmond, _en route_ for the North.
+
+They were soon dressed in their pretty suits of soft, dove-colored silk,
+with hats and gloves of the same shade.
+
+They went down to the drawing-room, still accompanied by Emma.
+
+The gentlemen had just come in from the breakfast-table, and all the
+guests were assembled there to see the happy pairs off on their bridal
+tours.
+
+Emma had left the room for a few minutes to give some orders.
+
+Alden Lytton had just embraced his sister, and was holding the hand of
+his brother-in-law, wishing him all manner of happiness and prosperity,
+when the door opened and Jerome entered, saying:
+
+"There's a gemman out here wants to see Mr. Lytton most partic'lar."
+
+"Show him in," said Alden Lytton, smiling, and expecting to see some
+guest who had come too late for the wedding.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+A TERRIBLE SUMMONS.
+
+    You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting
+    With most admired disorder.
+                                          --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+The servant left the room, and presently returned and ushered in a tall,
+stout, gray-haired man, whom all present recognized as Mr. John Bowlen,
+the deputy sheriff of the county.
+
+The new-comer bowed to the assembled company and walked straight up to
+Alden Lytton, who advanced to meet him.
+
+"You are Mr. Alden Lytton, I presume?" said the deputy-sheriff.
+
+"Why, of course I am, Mr. Bowlen! You know that quite well, don't you?"
+smiled Alden.
+
+"I thought I did; but I wished to be quite sure in a case like this. You
+are my prisoner, Mr. Alden Lytton," said the deputy-sheriff, so calmly
+and distinctly that every one in the room both heard and understood the
+strange words.
+
+Yet no one uttered an exclamation of surprise. I think they were all too
+much stunned for that.
+
+Alden Lytton simply stared in silent amazement at the officer, while
+others, including the two bridegrooms, gathered around him.
+
+"What did you say just now? Perhaps I did not hear you aright," inquired
+Alden, elevating his eyebrows, for there was something that struck him
+as unreal, ludicrous and bordering upon the burlesque in the whole
+situation.
+
+"I said that you were my prisoner, Mr. Alden Lytton," answered the
+deputy-sheriff, gravely. "I repeat that you are my prisoner."
+
+"Prisoner!" echoed a score of voices, giving expression at length to
+their amazement.
+
+"Yes, ladies and gentlemen, he is my prisoner. I think I spoke plainly
+enough; and I hope I shall have no trouble in making the arrest,"
+answered the deputy-sheriff, who, if he were not behaving very rudely,
+was certainly not doing his duty very courteously.
+
+"Upon what charge, I pray you, am I to be arrested?" inquired Mr.
+Lytton, sarcastically, still inclined to treat the whole matter as a
+very bad practical joke.
+
+"You may read the warrant, sir," answered the officer, unfolding a
+document and placing it in the hands of Alden Lytton, who, with some
+anger and curiosity, but no anxiety, began to read it.
+
+"What is the matter? What does this person want here?" inquired Emma, in
+surprise, as she entered the room, came up to the group and saw the
+intruder.
+
+"He has some business with me, my love," answered her husband,
+controlling himself with a great effort, as he read the shameful charges
+embodied in the warrant commanding his arrest. Then, still speaking with
+forced calmness, he said to the deputy-sheriff:
+
+"I will go with you first into the library, Mr. Bowlen, where we can
+talk over this matter with my friends."
+
+And turning to the two bridegrooms he inquired:
+
+"Can you give me a few minutes with this officer in the library?"
+
+"Certainly," answered Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent, in one voice.
+
+"Ladies, you will excuse us for a few minutes?" inquired Mr. Lytton,
+smiling around upon the group.
+
+"Certainly," answered two or three ladies, speaking for the whole party.
+
+"Follow me, if you please, gentlemen," said Alden Lytton, as he led the
+way to the library.
+
+There the four men--Mr. Lytton, Mr. Lyle, Mr. Brent and the
+sheriff--stood around a small table, all with anxious and some with
+questioning looks.
+
+"Read that and tell me what you think of it," said Mr. Lytton, placing
+the warrant for his arrest in the hands of Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Think of it? I think it at once the falsest, basest and most absurd
+charge that ever was made against an honorable man!" exclaimed Mr. Lyle,
+in righteous indignation, as he threw the document on the table.
+
+"It is all a diabolical conspiracy!" added Joseph Brent, who had read
+the warrant over the shoulder of his friend.
+
+"It can not stand investigation for one moment," said Stephen Lyle.
+
+"And the wretches who got this up should be severely punished!"
+exclaimed Joseph Brent.
+
+"Most severely!" added Stephen Lyle.
+
+"But what show of foundation could they have had for such a charge? The
+warrant accuses you of having 'feloniously intermarried with one Emma
+Angela Cavendish in and during the lifetime of your lawful wife, Mary
+Lytton, now living in this State!' Now, who the very mischief is this
+Mary who claims to be Lytton? Oh, Alden, my son, what _have_ you been up
+to?" inquired Joseph Brent, half in mockery and half in real anxiety.
+
+"Whatever else I may have been 'up to,' I certainly never have been 'up
+to' marrying two wives at one time," answered Alden, in the same spirit
+of half banter, half protest.
+
+"But who is this Mary, self-styled Lytton?"
+
+"I know no more than the dead!"
+
+"But are you sure you never had a slight flirtation with, or a platonic
+affinity for, a Mary or anybody else?"
+
+"Never! Nor do I even know a single 'Mary' in this world, except--"
+
+"Oh, yes!--except whom--except whom?"
+
+"Mrs. Mary Grey," answered Alden, gravely, and with a certain new
+disturbance in his manner that had not been there before.
+
+Mr. Lyle brought his hand down upon the table with an emphatic thump.
+
+"That is the woman!" he said, with an air of entire conviction. "But
+surely you never fell under her baleful spell?"
+
+"Ah, who that ever knew her has not fallen under that baleful spell? But
+for the last two years I have been entirely disillusioned," answered
+Alden.
+
+"Come, gentlemen, I am sorry to hurry you; but really," said Sheriff
+Bowlen, taking out his watch, "it is now two o'clock, and we must get on
+to Wendover."
+
+"Very well," answered Alden Lytton, coldly. Then turning to Mr. Brent
+and Mr. Lyle he said: "And you, my friends, must be getting on, too, or
+you will lose your train. And then what will become of your bridal
+trips?"
+
+"I do not care what may become of _my_ bridal trip! I mean to see you
+safe through this abominable conspiracy--for a conspiracy it certainly
+is, whoever may be the conspirators!" said Joseph Brent, emphatically.
+
+"Pooh--pooh! Some very shallow piece of malice, or some very poor
+practical joke upon me or the magistrate! The wonder is, however, that
+any magistrate could be found to issue such a warrant as this," said
+Alden Lytton, making light of a matter which he thought the slightest
+investigation must soon set right.
+
+In the meantime Joseph Brent and Stephen Lyle spoke apart for a few
+minutes, and then came to Alden Lytton and said:
+
+"Look here; we are going with you to the magistrate's office. We are
+determined to see this matter through. It may be a trifle or it may
+not."
+
+"And how about the two pretty girls who are waiting, with their hats on,
+to be taken on their wedding tours?"
+
+"They can wait. A few hours, which must decide this, can make but little
+difference to them. Your lovely lady will give them house-room to-day,"
+said Mr. Lyle.
+
+As Alden Lytton was about to reply, urging his friends not to delay
+their journey on his account, he caught sight of Emma standing in the
+hall, just outside the library door.
+
+Her face was pale with anguish, and her hands were clasped tightly
+together, as she said:
+
+"Alden--Alden! Oh, Alden, come to me for one moment!"
+
+"Let me go and speak to my wife. I will not run away," said Mr. Lytton,
+sarcastically, to the deputy, who was close upon his heels.
+
+And he went up to Emma and said, cheerfully:
+
+"Do not be alarmed, love; there is nothing to fear."
+
+"Oh, Alden, dearest, _what is it_? They are talking about a warrant and
+an arrest in there. It is not true--oh, it can not be true!" said the
+young wife, a little incoherently.
+
+"There is some mistake, my love, which would be simply ludicrous if it
+were not so annoying. I must go to Wendover and set it all right,"
+replied Mr. Lytton, cheerfully.
+
+"Are you certain it is nothing more than a mistake?"
+
+"Nothing more than a mistake or a jest, dear love. But I must go to
+Wendover to set it right."
+
+"But what sort of a mistake is it? What is it all about?"
+
+"I will explain it all when I come back, my wife. I do not quite
+comprehend it yet."
+
+"How soon will you be back?"
+
+"As soon as ever this matter shall be explained--in time for tea, if
+possible. Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent are going with me. You will take care
+of the girls during the few hours' delay in their journey. There, love,
+return to your guests and let me go. This officer is growing impatient."
+
+While Alden Lytton was trying to soothe the anxiety of his wife, Mr.
+Brent and Mr. Lyle had crossed to the drawing-room to explain to their
+brides that an unexpected event had occurred which would delay their
+journey for a few hours, during which they would remain as the guests of
+Mrs. Alden Lytton.
+
+And before the young ladies could make a comment the deputy-sheriff,
+with Alden Lytton in custody, passed out.
+
+Then Stephen Lyle and Joseph Brent hurried out and entered the same
+carriage occupied by Alden Lytton and the sheriff.
+
+During the drive to Wendover the three gentlemen tried to learn from the
+sheriff more particulars concerning the charges made against Mr. Alden
+Lytton.
+
+But the sheriff knew little or nothing concerning those charges beyond
+what was embodied in the warrant that authorized the arrest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+THE INVESTIGATION.
+
+    One is my true and honorable wife,
+    As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
+    That visit my sad heart.
+                          --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+In due time they reached the village and were driven at once to the
+office of the magistrate, Squire Estep, of Spring Hill Manor.
+
+No rumor of the arrest had got abroad, and no crowd was collected about
+the office doors.
+
+The sheriff alighted first, and was followed out by the accused and his
+two friends.
+
+They entered the office, where just then no one was present except the
+magistrate, one clerk and two constables.
+
+The three gentlemen bowed as they entered, and the venerable magistrate
+arose and acknowledged their presence by a nod and sat down again.
+
+The sheriff laid the warrant on the table before the magistrate and,
+pointing to Mr. Alden Lytton, said:
+
+"That is the prisoner, your worship."
+
+One of the constables placed chairs, and the gentlemen seated themselves
+and waited.
+
+"White," said Mr. Estep, addressing one of the constables, "go to the
+Reindeer and serve this upon the gentleman to whom it is directed, and
+whom you will find there."
+
+The constable took the slip of paper from the speaker's hand, bowed and
+went out.
+
+And the three gentlemen waited with what patience they might command,
+while the magistrate drummed upon the table with his fingers.
+
+Presently the constable returned, ushering in two persons, in one of
+whom Alden Lytton recognized his great rival at the bar, Philip Desmond.
+The other, an elderly gentleman in a clergyman's dress, was a total
+stranger to him.
+
+Both these gentlemen bowed to the magistrate and to the accused and his
+friends, and one of them--the clerical stranger--came up to Alden and,
+to his great amazement, said:
+
+"I am very sorry, Mr. Lytton, in meeting you a second time, to see you
+here in this position; sorrier still that I am here to bear testimony
+against you."
+
+While he was saying this the magistrate, who was engaged in searching
+among some documents, drew forth from them a paper which seemed to be a
+memorandum, which he from time to time consulted, as he addressed the
+accused and said:
+
+"You are Mr. Alden Lytton, attorney at law, of the Richmond bar, I
+believe?"
+
+"I am," answered Alden Lytton.
+
+"Attend, if you please, to the reading of this," said the magistrate, as
+he commenced and read out aloud the warrant upon which the accused had
+been brought before him.
+
+At the conclusion of the reading Alden Lytton bowed gravely and waited.
+
+"Mr. Alden Lytton, you have heard that you are charged with having, on
+the fifteenth of February of this present year, feloniously intermarried
+with Emma Angela Cavendish, in and during the lifetime of your lawful
+wife, Mary Lytton, now living in this State. Such marriage, under such
+circumstances, being a felony, punishable with imprisonment and hard
+labor in the State Penitentiary for a term not less than ---- or more
+than ---- years. What have you to say to this charge?" inquired the
+magistrate.
+
+Alden Lytton with some difficulty controlled his indignation as he
+answered:
+
+"It is perfectly true that in last February I married Miss Cavendish, of
+Blue Cliffs. But it is a false and malicious slander that I ever at any
+time married any one else. It is only amazing to me, Mr. Magistrate,
+that you should have issued a warrant charging me with so base a crime.
+You could not possibly have had any grounds to justify such a
+proceeding."
+
+"We shall see," answered, the magistrate. "You admit that you married
+Miss Cavendish on the fifteenth of last February?"
+
+"Certainly I do."
+
+"Then nothing remains but to prove or to disprove the statement that at
+the time of your marriage with Miss Cavendish, at Blue Cliffs, you had a
+lawful wife then living in the city of Richmond."
+
+Alden Lytton flushed to the temples at hearing his true wife's pure and
+noble name brought into this dishonoring examination. He spoke sternly
+as he inquired:
+
+"Upon what grounds do you make this charge? Where are your witnesses?"
+
+"The Reverend Mr. Borden will please step forward," said the magistrate.
+
+The strange clergyman came up to the table and stood there.
+
+The magistrate administered the oath to this witness.
+
+At the same moment Mr. Philip Desmond took his place at the table to
+conduct the examination.
+
+"Your name is Adam Borden?"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the clerical witness.
+
+"You are the rector of Saint Blank's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You know the accused?"
+
+"Yes, sir. He is Mr. Alden Lytton," replied the rector, bowing gravely
+to the prisoner.
+
+Alden acknowledged the courtesy by a nod, and then waited with more
+amazement and curiosity than anxiety to hear what sort of a case they
+would make out against him with the aid of this man, whom he never saw
+before, and yet who claimed to know him well.
+
+"State, if you please, Mr. Borden, what you know of Mr. Lytton in regard
+to this case."
+
+"In the month of September of last year Mr. Lytton came to my house in
+company with a lady to whom he wished to be married immediately. I
+conducted the pair into the church and married them there, in the
+presence of my sexton and his daughter. I registered the marriage in the
+church books and gave a certificate, signed by myself and the witnesses
+to the marriage. They then left the church together. I had never seen
+them before, and I have never seen them since until to-day, when I see
+and recognize Mr. Lytton, just as I should recognize his bride if I
+should see her."
+
+"Where is she?" inquired the magistrate.
+
+"Your worship, the lady can be produced at once, to be identified by the
+witness," said Philip Desmond.
+
+And he wrote on a slip of paper and handed it to a constable, who
+silently left the room.
+
+Meanwhile Alden Lytton waited with constantly increasing curiosity to
+find out to whom he had been unconsciously married in the month of
+September, and in the city of Philadelphia. It flashed upon him suddenly
+that he had been in Philadelphia about the middle of the last September,
+and in company with Mary Grey. But he felt certain that he had never
+gone out with her while there; and he waited with intensely curious
+interest to hear how they could possibly make out a case against him.
+
+Presently the door opened and the constable returned, bringing with him
+a gracefully-moving woman, dressed in black and deeply veiled.
+
+"Your worship, this is the true wife of the accused, produced here to be
+identified by the witness," said Mr. Desmond, taking the hand of the
+lady and leading her to the table.
+
+"Will you be so good as to raise your veil, ma'am?" requested the
+magistrate.
+
+The lady lifted the black veil and threw it behind her head, revealing
+the beautiful face of Mary Grey.
+
+Alden Lytton had half expected to see her, yet he could not forbear the
+exclamation:
+
+"Mrs. Grey!"
+
+"Mrs. Lytton, if you please, sir! You have taken from me your love and
+your protection, but you can not take from me your name! That is still
+mine. You have taken from me my peace of heart, but you shall not take
+from me my name! When you address me again call me Mrs. Lytton, for that
+is my legal name!"
+
+"It is false--infamously false!" began Alden Lytton, crimsoning with
+indignation.
+
+But the magistrate stopped him, saying:
+
+"Mr. Lytton, this is very unseemly. If this lady claims a relation to
+you that she can not prove she will do so at her own proper peril. Let
+us continue the examination and conduct it with decent order."
+
+Alden Lytton bowed to the magistrate and said, with what calmness he
+could command:
+
+"This woman--no, this libel upon womanhood, who is brought here to be
+identified as my wife, might have rather been summoned to bear testimony
+against me in any false charge she and her co-conspirators might have
+chosen to set up, since she is not, and never has been, my wife. Her
+presence here can not establish one single point in this infamous
+accusation. Yet I am anxious to know how she and her confederate--as I
+am forced to regard this witness--will attempt to do so. Let the
+examination proceed."
+
+"Mr. Borden, will you look upon this lady?" respectfully demanded Mr.
+Desmond.
+
+The reverend gentleman put on his spectacles and scrutinized the face of
+Mary Grey, who met his gaze, and then lowered her eyes.
+
+"Can you identify her as the lady whom you united in marriage with Mr.
+Alden Lytton?" inquired Mr. Desmond.
+
+"Yes, assuredly I can. She is the lady, then called Mary Grey, whom I
+united in marriage with that gentleman, then called Alden Lytton, and to
+whom I gave the marriage certificate, signed by myself and two
+witnesses. Those witnesses can be produced when wanted," answered the
+Rev. Mr. Borden, with much assurance.
+
+"These witnesses are not needed just now. But I wish you to examine this
+certificate, Mr. Borden," said Mr. Desmond, putting a folded paper in
+the hands of the minister.
+
+The reverend gentleman adjusted his spectacles and scrutinized it.
+
+"Is that the certificate of marriage that you gave Mrs. Mary Lytton, the
+wife of Mr. Alden Lytton, on the day that you united them?" inquired Mr.
+Desmond.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is," answered the minister.
+
+"Are you quite sure?"
+
+"Quite sure, sir. Why, I know the paper and the printed form, as well as
+my own autograph and the signatures of the two witnesses," declared the
+minister.
+
+"That will do. You may sit down, sir," said Mr. Desmond.
+
+"I beg your pardon. I would like to ask that witness a few questions
+before he retires," said Mr. Lytton.
+
+"Of course that is your right, sir," said the magistrate.
+
+Alden Lytton arose and confronted the witness, looking him full in the
+face.
+
+"You are a minister of the gospel, I believe, Mr. Borden?" he inquired.
+
+"Yes, sir. I am rector of Saint Blank's Episcopal Church in
+Philadelphia, as you yourself know very well, having there received my
+ministry on the day that you then declared to be 'the happiest of your
+life,'" replied the minister.
+
+"As Heaven is my witness, I never saw your face before I met you in this
+office! Now then, reverend sir, please to look me in the eyes while you
+answer my next questions. Being upon your oath, you declare that on a
+certain day, in the month of last September, in your parish church, in
+the city of Philadelphia, you performed the marriage ceremony between
+Alden Lytton and Mary Grey?"
+
+"I do most solemnly declare, upon my sacred oath, that I did so,"
+answered Mr. Borden, meeting the searching gaze of the questioner
+without flinching.
+
+"This is the most astounding effrontery! But attend further, sir, if
+you please. Being on your oath, you declare that I am the man and that
+female is the woman whom you joined in marriage, under the names of
+Alden Lytton and Mary Grey?"
+
+"On my sacred oath I most solemnly declare that you are the man and she
+is the woman I then and there united together," unflinchingly replied
+the minister.
+
+For a moment Alden Lytton was mute with amazement; and then he said:
+
+"Let me look at that paper that is said to be a certificate of this
+marriage."
+
+Mr. Desmond handed over the document.
+
+Alden Lytton read it, and then recommenced his cross-examination of the
+minister.
+
+"And this is the certificate you gave the pretended bride?" he inquired.
+
+"That is the certificate I gave your wife, sir."
+
+"And you persist in declaring, under oath, that you solemnized a
+marriage between myself, Alden Lytton, and this woman, Mary Grey, here
+present?"
+
+"I do, most solemnly."
+
+"Then, sir," said Alden Lytton, flushing to his temples with fierce
+indignation, "all I have further to say is this--that you have basely
+perjured yourself to assist and support an infamous conspiracy!"
+
+"Sir--sir--Mr. Lytton!" said the magistrate, in trepidation. "This
+gentleman is a most highly respected preacher of the gospel, quite
+incapable of such a thing!"
+
+"I do not care whether he be priest, bishop, pope or apostle! He has
+basely perjured himself in support of an infamous conspiracy!"
+
+"Mr. Lytton--Mr. Lytton," said the magistrate, "if you have anything to
+bring forward to disprove this strange charge we shall be glad to hear
+it. But vituperation is not testimony."
+
+"I know it," said Alden Lytton, trying hard to control his raging
+passion. "I know it, and I beg pardon of the magistrate. But this is a
+foul conspiracy against my peace, honor and liberty--and oh, great
+Heaven, against the honor of my dear, noble young wife! But this vile
+conspiracy shall surely be exposed, and when it is, by all my hopes of
+heaven, no charity, no mercy, no consideration in the universe shall
+prevent me from prosecuting and pursuing these conspirators to
+punishment with the utmost rigor of the law!"
+
+"Mr. Lytton, have you anything to bring forward in disproof of the
+charges made against you?" inquired the magistrate.
+
+"No, sir; not now, nor here. I must have time to look this monstrous
+falsehood in the face and prepare for its total destruction."
+
+"Then, Mr. Lytton, I shall have to send your case to court for trial.
+Have you bail?"
+
+"Yes, sir," spoke up Joseph Brent, coming forward before Alden Lytton
+could speak, "he has bail. I will enter into bonds for my esteemed young
+friend, Alden Lytton, to any amount you may please to name."
+
+"The charge is one of the gravest; the position of the parties involved
+in it is high in the social scale; the evidence already elicited is of
+the most convincing and convicting character; every circumstance would
+seem to point to the expediency of evading the trial by flight, or any
+other means. In view of all the circumstances of the case I feel it my
+duty to demand a very heavy bail. I fix the bail, therefore, at the sum
+of twenty thousand dollars," said the magistrate.
+
+"It might be twenty times twenty thousand dollars, and I would enter it
+for him. A man of honor, like Mr. Lytton, falsely accused of a base
+crime, does not fly from trial. On the contrary he demands it for his
+own vindication," said Joseph Brent, earnestly.
+
+Alden Lytton turned and grasped his hand in silent acknowledgment of his
+noble friendship. Then, addressing the magistrate, he said:
+
+"I am ready to enter into a recognizance with my esteemed friend here
+for my appearance at court to answer this charge--this charge as
+ridiculous as it is monstrous."
+
+The magistrate nodded and directed his clerk to fill out the proper
+forms.
+
+When these were completed and signed the accused was discharged from
+custody.
+
+He bowed to the magistrate, and even to the others, and was about to
+leave the office, followed by Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent, when Mary Grey
+darted swiftly and silently to his side and hissed in his ear:
+
+"I swore that I would take you in the hour of your greatest triumph and
+strike you down to the dust in dishonor! I have done so! I will send you
+to the penitentiary yet--felon!"
+
+"I think that you will find yourself there, madam, before many months
+have passed over your head. There are severe laws against forgery,
+perjury and conspiracy," answered Alden Lytton.
+
+Outside of the office the three gentlemen consulted their watches. It
+was now six o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+Then they looked about them.
+
+They had come to Wendover in the deputy-sheriff's carriage. That had
+gone. And there was no conveyance waiting to take them to Blue Cliff
+Hall.
+
+"We must go to the old Reindeer and hire their hack," said Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Excuse me, Lyle; let us walk to your parsonage first. You must give me
+house-room there for a few weeks, for I do not wish to stop at the hotel
+to be stared at, and--I shall not return to Blue Cliffs, or enter the
+presence of my pure and noble young wife, until I shall be cleared from
+this foul charge," said Alden Lytton, firmly.
+
+"Not return to Blue Cliffs? Why, Lytton, you will break your wife's
+heart if you keep her from you in this your day of sorrow!" exclaimed
+Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Her heart is too heroic to be easily broken. And a little reflection
+will convince you that, under the peculiar circumstances of this
+accusation, it is expedient that I should absent myself from her and
+from her dwelling until I shall be cleared. Now if the charge against me
+were that of murder, or anything else but what it is, my wife might be
+by my side. But being what it is, you must see that I best consult her
+dignity and delicacy by abstaining from seeing her until after my
+acquittal. No, I shall neither see, speak, nor write to her while I
+suffer under this charge."
+
+"I see now that you are perfectly right," said Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Yes, that you are," added Mr. Brent, as the three walked out toward the
+minister's cottage.
+
+"I only wish you to install me, Lyle, by explaining to your good old
+housekeeper that I am to be an inmate of the parsonage during your
+absence, so that she may not take my presence as an unjustifiable
+intrusion," said Alden Lytton.
+
+"She would never do that in any case," answered Stephen Lyle.
+
+"And when you have installed me I wish you and Brent to return to Blue
+Cliffs and rejoin your brides at once. And you, Lyle, must break this
+matter to my dear Emma as delicately and tenderly as you can. She does
+not need to be told that I am entirely guiltless of the crime that is
+laid to my charge; for she knows that I am incapable of committing such
+an one. Nor does she require to be assured of my undying love and faith.
+She is assured of that. But tell her to be of good cheer, to bear this
+temporary separation patiently, and to wait hopefully our speedy
+meeting in happier days. Will you do this, my friend?"
+
+"Most faithfully," answered Mr. Lyle.
+
+"And then I wish you to start at once upon your wedding tours. They must
+not be further delayed on my account."
+
+"Look here, Lytton," said Stephen Lyle, earnestly. "I speak for myself
+and also for Brent, who feels just as I do. We start upon no bridal
+tours until you are out of this trouble. We could not leave you in your
+trouble. And our girls, I am sure, would not leave your wife in her
+sorrow. So that is all over. What I have to propose is this: That I
+bring our Laura home here to-morrow. And that we remain here to keep you
+company, while Victor--I mean Brent--and Electra stay for the present at
+Blue Cliffs as the guests of Mrs. Alden Lytton."
+
+"I hope you approve the plan. We talked it over and settled it all while
+we were in the magistrate's office attending the examination," added
+Joseph Brent.
+
+They had by this time reached the gates of the pretty cottage.
+
+Alden Lytton stopped, turned around and grasped a hand of each faithful
+friend. For a moment he could not speak for the strong emotion that
+choked him.
+
+"God bless you!" he said, at length, in a half suffocated voice. "God
+bless you both! I have surely found one 'precious jewel' in the head of
+this 'toad'--the priceless jewel of your friendship!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+HOW EMMA HEARD THE NEWS.
+
+               An angel guard--
+    Chariots of fire, horses of fire encamp,
+    To keep thee safe.
+                               --MRS. ELLET.
+
+
+It was eleven o'clock that night when the Rev. Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent
+reached Blue Cliffs on their return from Wendover.
+
+Of course all the guests of the bridal reception had long since gone
+away. The house was closed and all the windows were dark except those of
+the library, where the gentlemen found the two brides and their hostess
+sitting up and awaiting their return.
+
+"Where is Alden? Is he not with you?" anxiously inquired Emma, coming to
+meet them.
+
+"Our friend might certainly have come back with us if he had chosen to
+do so; but he deemed it better to remain at Wendover to-night, and we
+agreed with him. He is at my house," answered Mr. Lyle.
+
+"You have something painful to tell me. I beg you will tell it at once,"
+said Emma, turning very pale, but controlling herself perfectly and
+speaking with calmness.
+
+"Something ridiculous, if it were not so outrageous, I should say, dear
+Mrs. Lytton. Is there a light in the parlor?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then come with me there and I will tell you all about it," answered Mr.
+Lyle, speaking cheerfully, as he offered his arm to Emma.
+
+They left the room together and went to the parlor, where a lamp was
+burning low and shedding a dim light around.
+
+Mr. Lyle led his hostess to a sofa, where he sat down beside her.
+
+And then and there he told her the whole history of the charge that had
+been brought against her husband, as it came out upon the preliminary
+examination.
+
+Emma listened in unspeakable grief, horror, amazement and mortification.
+Yet with all these strong emotions struggling in her bosom, she
+controlled herself so far as to preserve her outward composure and
+answer with calmness.
+
+"And Mary Grey claims to be _his wife_? I should think the woman were
+raving mad, but for the plausible testimony she has managed to bring
+together. As it is, I am forced to look upon this in the same light that
+you do, as a base conspiracy, in which she has found some skillful
+confederates. Of course it must be only the embarrassment and
+mortification of a few days and then the whole plot must be exposed.
+Such a plot can not, certainly, bear a thorough investigation," she
+said.
+
+But though she spoke so confidently, and believed all that she said, yet
+her face continued deathly pale and her hands were clutched closely
+together on her lap.
+
+Then Mr. Lyle explained to her the delicate motives that governed her
+husband in deciding him to remain at the Wendover parsonage, and to
+absent himself entirely from Blue Cliffs and from her until this charge
+should be disproved.
+
+Emma flushed and paled again, and clutched her hands a little closer,
+but made no comment yet. She seemed to wait for Mr. Lyle to proceed.
+
+"He says, my child, and he speaks rightly, that if the accusation
+against him was of almost any other felony than what it is, you should
+be with him through all he might have to endure. But the accusation
+being what it is every consideration for your dignity and delicacy
+constrains him to absent himself from you until his fair fame shall be
+cleared. He therefore implores you, by me, not to attempt to see him, or
+even to write to him, but to let all your communications with him be
+verbal ones, sent through me. And I, on my part, my child, promise to
+fulfill my duties to you both faithfully and loyally," said Mr. Lyle.
+
+"I must comply," answered Emma, in a low, restrained voice, that would
+have faltered and broken had she not possessed and exercised such great
+power of self-control. "I must comply, although this is the very hardest
+requisition that my dear husband could make of me--to abandon him in
+this hour of his greatest need. I must comply, because I know that it is
+right. Our mutual honor demands this temporary separation--for of course
+it will be but temporary."
+
+"Very temporary, and lightened by frequent news of each other through
+me," replied Mr. Lyle.
+
+"But that woman, Mary Grey! The amazing wickedness of that woman!" said
+Emma, with a shudder, and almost under her breath.
+
+"My dear," said the minister, gravely, "you knew Mrs. Grey intimately
+for several years. Had you really confidence in her during all that
+time?"
+
+"N-no. I often doubted and suspected her. And I blamed myself for such
+doubts and suspicions, and compelled myself to think the best of her and
+do the best for her, for my father's sake--because he loved her. Oh, the
+astounding wickedness of that woman, as it has developed itself in this
+conspiracy against us! But she must have had confederates. The minister
+who professes to have married her to Mr. Lytton, and who gave her a
+marriage certificate to that effect, may he not have been a confederate
+of hers? May he not have taken a false oath--made a false statement and
+given a false certificate?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, no, my child--a thousand times no! The character of the
+Reverend Mr. Borden is far above any such suspicion," answered Mr. Lyle.
+
+"Then he must himself have been deceived. Some one must have personated
+Mr. Lytton at that ceremony--some one who has some resemblance to
+him--and utterly deceived the minister," said Emma. And she paused for a
+few moments, with her head upon her hand, as in hard, deep thought; and
+then a sudden flash of intelligence, like lightning, lit up her face,
+as she exclaimed: "I know who it was! I know all about it now! Oh, Mr.
+Lyle, I shall save my dear husband's honor from a breath of reproach,
+because I have found out all about it now!"
+
+"My dear child--" began the good minister, who thought that she looked a
+little wild.
+
+But Emma vehemently interrupted him.
+
+"It was Craven Kyte who personated Mr. Lytton at that marriage! Oh, I am
+sure it was! I am as sure of it as I am of being alive at this time! Oh,
+Mr. Lyle, don't you remember the wonderful personal resemblance between
+Craven Kyte and Mr. Lytton? They were counterparts of each other, except
+in one small particular. Craven Kyte had a black mole on his chin. And
+he was deeply in love with Mary Grey, and she could have done whatever
+she pleased with him. She could have persuaded him to personate Alden
+Lytton at that marriage ceremony; and I am sure that she has done so. I
+feel a positive conviction that he is the man."
+
+"The explanation of the mystery is a very plausible one indeed," gravely
+mused the minister, with his bearded chin in his hand.
+
+"It is the true and only one," said Emma, emphatically.
+
+"Where is the young man now? Has he been heard from yet?" inquired Mr.
+Lyle.
+
+"No; I believe not. He is still missing. He has been missing ever since
+last September, when he went away for a holiday. That is another link in
+the chain of circumstantial evidence against him, for it was in
+September that this marriage was performed."
+
+"This looks more and more likely," mused the minister.
+
+"Mr. Lyle, this is what must be done immediately: Advertisements must be
+inserted in all the principal newspapers in the principal cities of the
+United States and Canada, offering great inducements to Craven Kyte,
+late of Wendover, to return to his home, or to communicate with his
+friends."
+
+"Yes, that must be done immediately, even upon the bare chance of his
+being the man we want. But if he _be_ the man, there is little
+likelihood of his making his appearance, or even answering the
+advertisement. If he be the man he knows that he has committed a
+misdemeanor in personating Mr. Lytton under these circumstances. And he
+will not be likely to place himself within reach of justice."
+
+"Then we must also supplement these advertisements with others, offering
+large rewards for any information as to the present residence of the
+missing man. And this must be done at once."
+
+"Certainly, if it is done at all. The man must be found and produced in
+court, to be confronted with Mr. Borden beside Alden Lytton. My dear
+child, your woman's wit may have saved your husband."
+
+"Heaven grant it!" said Emma, fervently.
+
+Next Mr. Lyle informed her of the proposed arrangement by which the two
+newly-married pairs were to give up their bridal tour for the present,
+while two of them, himself and Laura, should go home to the Wendover
+parsonage to stay with Alden Lytton, and the other two, Joseph Brent and
+Electra, should remain at Blue Cliffs, in attendance upon Emma.
+
+"Emma is not a queen, that she should require ladies and gentlemen in
+waiting; but she will be very much comforted by the presence of her dear
+friends, Joseph and Electra," said the young wife, with a sad smile, as
+she arose to return to her guests.
+
+Later in the evening Laura and Electra were informed about the state of
+affairs.
+
+Their amazement was unmeasured and unutterable.
+
+But they at once set down the criminal conspiracy of Mary Grey against
+Mr. and Mrs. Lytton to its right motive--malignant hatred and revenge
+for scorned love.
+
+The two young brides most willingly gave up their tours and consented to
+stay at home with their friends during the time of the trial.
+
+The next morning, therefore, Mr. Lyle took his young wife and returned
+with her to the Wendover parsonage, where he comforted the soul of Alden
+Lytton by reporting to him all that had passed between himself and Emma.
+
+"She keeps up bravely, heroically. She is worthy to be a hero's wife!"
+said the minister, warmly.
+
+"She is--she is! She comes of a heroic race; therefore the deeper guilt
+of those who seek to bring dishonor upon her!" groaned Alden Lytton.
+
+Then Mr. Lyle said:
+
+"Her feminine intuition discovered what we men, with all our logic,
+would never have learned--that is to say, who it was that personated
+_you_ at that false marriage."
+
+"Indeed! Who was it?"
+
+"Craven Kyte," answered Mr. Lyle.
+
+And then he told Alden Lytton all that had been said between himself and
+Emma on that subject.
+
+"I feel sure that her suspicions are correct," he added.
+
+"I think it highly probable that they are. Now there are two or three
+things that must be done this morning. First, those advertisements for
+the missing man must be written out and distributed all over the
+country. Secondly, a messenger must be dispatched to Philadelphia to
+question the people at the Blank House as to whether any of them entered
+my room and saw me sleeping there during the hours of eleven a. m. and
+one p. m., on the fifteenth of September of last year, when I was said
+to have married that woman. And also to search the registers of that
+date of all the hotels in the city for the name of Craven Kyte."
+
+"To get up evidence for the defense?"
+
+"Certainly; to get up evidence for the defense."
+
+"Have you thought of employing counsel?"
+
+"Certainly. Berners and Denham are as good men as any I can find. I have
+sent a note to ask Berners to come here to see me to-day. While waiting
+for him you and I can write out those advertisements," said Alden
+Lytton.
+
+These plans were all promptly carried out.
+
+That same day an experienced detective was found and dispatched to
+Philadelphia to hunt up evidence for the defense.
+
+And that evening advertisements were sent by mail, to be scattered all
+over the country.
+
+But some days after this, Mary Grey, who was stopping at the Reindeer,
+saw one of these advertisements in a Richmond paper and smiled in
+triumph.
+
+"They have scented out a part of the truth," she said. "They have more
+sharpness than I gave them credit for possessing. They have scented out
+a part of the truth, but they can not follow the scent. Ha, ha, ha! They
+may advertise from now till doomsday, but they will never get a response
+from him! Let them rake the Susquehanna if they can! Perhaps, deep in
+its mud, they may find what the fishes have left of him!" she said, with
+a sneer.
+
+But even as she spoke these wicked words she shuddered with horror.
+
+Meanwhile, every day Mr. Lytton and his counsel, Messrs. Berners and
+Denham, consulted together concerning the proper line of defense to be
+taken by them.
+
+It is almost needless to say that Messrs. Berners and Denham felt
+perfectly sure of the absolute guiltlessness of their client, and quite
+sanguine in their expectations both of a full acquittal of the
+falsely-accused and of a thorough exposure and successful prosecution of
+the conspirators.
+
+But as time passed and no answer came to the advertisements for the
+missing man both counsel and client began to grow anxious.
+
+The detective who had been sent to Philadelphia to look up evidence for
+the defense returned to Wendover with such meager intelligence that the
+hopes of all concerned sank very low.
+
+So overwhelming was the evidence against the accused that to gain an
+acquittal it was absolutely necessary either to prove an alibi or to
+find the man who had personated Mr. Lytton at the marriage ceremony.
+
+But neither of these most important objects had been yet effected.
+
+No one had been found in Philadelphia, or elsewhere, who had set eyes on
+Mr. Alden Lytton between the hours of eleven and one on the fifteenth of
+the last September, at which time his marriage with Mary Grey was
+alleged to have taken place.
+
+And no one had answered the advertisements for Craven Kyte.
+
+And what complicated this part of the case still more was the
+circumstance that Mr. Bastiennello, the senior partner of the firm in
+which poor Craven Kyte was once the youngest "Co.," was absent in
+Europe, where he had been on a visit to his relations for the last two
+months, so that he could not be consulted as to the probable whereabouts
+of his former partner.
+
+Meanwhile Mr. Lyle and his young bride Laura did all that they possibly
+could to comfort and cheer their unfortunate brother and sister.
+
+One or the other of them went every day to Blue Cliffs to carry to Emma
+the encouraging news of Alden's continued good health and spirits, and
+to bring back to him the glad tidings of Emma's heroic patience and
+cheerfulness.
+
+And in this manner the tedious weeks passed slowly away and brought the
+day of the trial.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+THE TRIAL.
+
+
+It was a glorious morning in June. All nature seemed exulting in the
+young summer's splendor.
+
+And any stranger arriving at the town of Wendover that day would have
+supposed that the population of the whole surrounding country were
+taking advantage of the delightful weather to hold a gay festival there.
+
+The whole town was full of visitors, come to the great trial.
+
+Mr. Hezekiah Greenfield, of the Reindeer Hotel, was beside himself under
+the unusual press of business, and his waiters and hostlers were nearly
+crazy amid the confusion of arrivals and the conflicting claims made all
+at once upon their attention and services.
+
+The scene around the court-house was even more tumultuous.
+
+The court-house was a plain, oblong, two-story edifice, built of the red
+stone that abounded in the mountain quarries of that district. It stood
+in a large yard shaded with many trees and surrounded by a high stone
+wall.
+
+In the rear end of this yard stood the county prison.
+
+The court-yard was filled with curious people, who were pressing toward
+the doors of the court-house, trying to effect an entrance into the
+building, which was already crammed to suffocation.
+
+In the minister's cottage parlor, at the same early hour, were assembled
+the Rev. Mr. Lyle, honest John Lytton and his shock-headed son, Charley,
+Joseph Brent, Alden Lytton, and his counsel, Messrs. Berners and Denham.
+
+John Lytton had arrived only that morning. And on meeting his nephew had
+taken him by both hands, exclaiming:
+
+"You know, Aldy, my boy, as I told you before, I don't believe the first
+word of all this. 'Cause it's impossible, you know, for any man of our
+race to do anything unbecoming of a Lytton and a gentleman. And I think
+a man's family ought to stand by him in a case like this. So I not only
+came myself, but I fotch Charley, and if I had had another son I would
+a-fotched him too. I don't know but I'd a fotched your aunt Kitty and
+the girls, only, as I said to them, a trial of this sort a'n't no
+proper place for ladies. What do you think yourself?"
+
+"I quite agree with you, Uncle John. And I feel really very deeply
+touched by the proof of confidence and affection you give me in coming
+here yourself," said Alden, earnestly, pressing and shaking the honest
+hands that held his own.
+
+And at that moment Mr. Lyle placed in Mr. Alden Lytton's hands a little
+note from Emma, saying:
+
+"She gave it to me yesterday, with the request that I would hand it to
+you to-day."
+
+Alden unfolded and read it.
+
+It was only a brief note assuring him of her unwavering faith in Heaven
+and in himself, and her perfect confidence, notwithstanding the present
+dark aspect of affairs, in his speedy and honorable acquittal.
+
+He pressed this little note to his lips and placed it near his heart.
+
+And then Mr. Lyle told him that it wanted but a quarter to ten, the
+carriages were at the door, and it was time to start for the
+court-house.
+
+Mr. Lytton nodded assent, and they all went out.
+
+There were two carriages before the cottage gates.
+
+Into the first went the Rev. Mr. Lyle, Mr. Alden Lytton, and his
+counsel, Messrs. Berners and Denham.
+
+Into the second went Mr. John Lytton, his son Charley, and Mr. Joseph
+Brent.
+
+The court-house was situated at the opposite end of the town from the
+parsonage, and was about a mile distant. The gentlemen of this party
+might easily have walked the distance, but preferred to ride, in order
+to avoid the curious gaze of strangers who had flocked into the town.
+
+A rapid drive of twenty minutes' duration brought them to the
+court-house.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Lyle alighted first, and called a constable to clear the
+way for the party to pass into the court-room.
+
+The accused, Alden Lytton, was accommodated with a chair in front of the
+bench, and near him sat his relatives, John and Charles Lytton, his
+friends Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent, and his counsel, Messrs. Berners and
+Denham.
+
+Judge Burlington sat upon the bench to try the case.
+
+After the tedious preliminaries were over the accused was arraigned
+with the usual formula, and--not without some natural scorn and
+indignation, for he was still too youthful to have learned much
+self-control--answered:
+
+"Not guilty, of course!"
+
+As if he would have added, "You know that quite as well as I myself and
+everybody else does."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+A HOST OF WITNESSES.
+
+
+Mr. Martindale, State's Attorney, opened the case for the prosecution
+with a few brief but very severe remarks upon the baseness of the crime
+with which the prisoner stood charged, and then called his first
+witness--
+
+"The Reverend Adam Borden."
+
+Mr. Borden took the stand and testified to having performed the marriage
+ceremony between Alden Lytton and Mary Grey on the morning of the
+fifteenth of the preceding September, at his own parish church, in the
+city of Philadelphia.
+
+He was strictly cross-examined by Mr. Berners, but his testimony only
+came out the clearer from the ordeal.
+
+John Martin, sexton of the church, and Sarah Martin, his daughter, were
+successively examined, and testified to having witnessed the marriage
+ceremony between the parties in question.
+
+They also were cross-examined by Mr. Berners, without detriment to their
+testimony.
+
+"Mrs. Mary Lytton" was then called upon to come forward for
+identification.
+
+And Mary Grey, dressed in deep mourning and closely veiled, came up,
+leaning heavily on the arm of Mr. Philip Desmond, assistant counsel for
+the prosecution.
+
+At the request of counsel she drew aside her veil, revealing a face so
+ghastly pale that all who gazed upon it shuddered.
+
+Alden Lytton turned to look at her, in order to catch her eyes, but they
+were fixed upon the ground, and never once raised.
+
+Even he, so deeply injured by her diabolical arts, turned away from her
+with shuddering pity.
+
+"The woman is at once going mad and dying," he said to himself.
+
+Mary Grey was then fully identified by the three witnesses as the woman
+who was, at the time and place specified, married to Mr. Alden Lytton.
+
+But she had scarcely stood long enough to be sworn to, when her white
+face turned blue and she fell swooning into the arms of Philip Desmond.
+
+She was borne out into the sheriff's room, amid the sympathetic murmurs
+of the audience.
+
+Mr. Martindale then produced and read the marriage certificate, and
+recalled the Rev. Mr. Borden, who acknowledged it as his own document,
+presented to "Mrs. Mary Lytton" immediately after the marriage ceremony
+had been concluded.
+
+The State's Attorney next produced certain letters, purporting to have
+been written by Mr. Alden Lytton to Mrs. Mary Grey during the period of
+his courtship.
+
+These letters, he said, were important as corroborative evidence, and he
+begged leave to read them to the jury.
+
+He then commenced with the correspondence from the earliest date.
+
+And there in open court he read aloud, one after the other, all those
+fond, foolish, impassioned letters that the love-sick lad, Alden Lytton,
+had written to the artful woman who had beguiled him in the earliest
+days of their acquaintance, and before he had discovered her deep
+depravity.
+
+This was the severest ordeal Alden Lytton had to bear. For he knew he
+had written these foolish letters in his romantic boyhood, and in his
+manhood he felt heartily ashamed of them. Under _any_ circumstances he
+would have been heartily ashamed of them. His ears tingled and his face
+burned to hear them read aloud to judge, jury and gaping crowd.
+
+And then and there he registered a vow never, never, never to write
+another gushing love-letter so long as he should live in this world; no,
+not even to his own dear wife.
+
+When the last terrible letter was finished he felt as much relieved as
+if he had been unbound from the rack.
+
+But his relief was soon superseded by the utmost astonishment when Mr.
+Martindale took up another parcel, saying:
+
+"The letters that I have just read, your honor, and gentlemen of the
+jury, were, as you have heard, written from the University of
+Charlottesville some years ago. Those that I am about to read to you
+were written from Wendover last year, in the few weeks preceding the
+marriage of the prisoner with Mary Grey."
+
+And so saying, the State's Attorney proceeded to read, one after the
+other, all those forged letters which had been executed with inimitable
+skill by Mary Grey herself and mailed from Wendover by her unconscious
+confederate, Craven Kyte.
+
+These counterfeits were even fonder, more foolish and more impassioned
+than the real ones, and every letter pressed speedy marriage, until the
+last one, which actually arranged the mode and manner of proceeding.
+
+During the reading of the final letter Mr. Alden Lytton beckoned his
+counsel, who approached him.
+
+"I acknowledge the first batch of folly written from Charlottesville,
+when I was a boy of eighteen or nineteen," said Alden, between a laugh
+and a blush.
+
+"Every man has been a boy, and a fool, at least once in his life. I know
+I have; and I would much rather be hanged than have my letters read,"
+laughingly replied Mr. Berners.
+
+"But, by all my hopes of heaven, I never wrote one of those infernal
+letters of the last parcel!" added Mr. Lytton.
+
+"I never supposed you did. It will, no doubt, be possible to prove them
+to be forgeries. If we can do that the whole prosecution breaks down,"
+replied Mr. Berners.
+
+"They _are_ forgeries!" said Alden Lytton, indignantly.
+
+But that was more easily said than established.
+
+A score of witnesses, one after the other, were called, and swore to the
+hand writing of Mr. Alden Lytton in those letters.
+
+Other witnesses of less importance followed--waiters and chambermaids
+from the Blank House, Philadelphia, who swore to the fact that Mr.
+Lytton and Mrs. Grey had taken rooms together at that house on the
+fourteenth of September and had left it on the afternoon of the
+fifteenth.
+
+The prosecuting attorney said that he might call other witnesses who had
+seen the parties meet as by appointment at the railway station at
+Forestville and proceed thence to Richmond, and others again who had
+seen them together in the Richmond and Washington steamer; but he would
+forbear, for he felt convinced that the overwhelming amount of testimony
+already given was more than sufficient to establish the first marriage.
+The second and felonious marriage was a notorious fact; but for form's
+sake it must be proved before the jury.
+
+And then, to their extreme disgust, the Rev. Stephen Lyle, Joseph Brent
+and John Lytton were successively called to testify that they had all
+been present and witnessed the marriage of the accused, Alden Lytton and
+Emma Angela Cavendish, on the fifteenth of the last February, at Blue
+Cliff Hall, in this county and State.
+
+John Lytton, who was the last of the three put upon the stand, came very
+near being committed for contempt of court by saying:
+
+"Yes, he had witnessed his nephew's, Mr. Alden Lytton's marriage with
+Miss Cavendish, which he had a perfect right to marry her, never having
+been married before. None of the Lyttonses were capable of any such
+burglarious, bigamarious conduct as they accused his nephew of.
+Everybody knew the Lyttonses. The Lyttonses were none of your upstart
+judges"--this was aimed directly at the bench. "The Lyttonses was as old
+as the flood, for that matter!" and so forth, and so forth.
+
+The witness was not committed for this offense, but merely reminded that
+all this was very irrelevant to the matter in question, and ordered to
+sit down.
+
+He obeyed, growling at the indignities heaped upon the "Lyttonses" by
+"upstarts."
+
+State's Attorney Martindale then arose in his place and opened his
+argument for the prosecution in a very able review of the evidence that
+had been given by the witnesses examined and the documents presented.
+
+It was while he was still speaking that a little disturbance was heard
+at the lower end of the court-room.
+
+All who heard it looked around to see what the matter was.
+
+Presently a bailiff was seen pushing his way up through the crowd.
+
+He came up to the counsel for the accused and handed a card to Mr.
+Denham.
+
+That gentleman took it, looked at it, stared at it, changed color, and,
+without a word of explanation, abruptly rose and left his seat, and
+followed the note-bearer through the crowd and out of the court-room.
+
+Mr. Berners and Mr. Lytton looked after him in surprise and curiosity.
+
+State's Attorney Martindale, meanwhile, went on with his argument.
+
+After an absence of about fifteen minutes Mr. Denham returned and
+resumed his seat beside his senior colleague, Mr. Berners.
+
+He gave no explanation of his abrupt departure and absence, but sat
+there listening attentively to the speech of the prosecuting attorney
+and smiling to himself as in silent triumph.
+
+Neither his senior colleague, Mr. Berners, nor his client, Mr. Lytton,
+interrupted his reflections, considering that it fell to his duty to
+follow Mr. Martindale's speech with an opening address for the defense.
+
+At length Mr. Martindale brought his argument to a conclusion by a very
+brilliant peroration, and sat down, saying that there the prosecution
+would rest the case.
+
+Mr. Denham, giving his client a reassuring pressure of the hand, and
+wearing the same strange smile of secret mirth and triumph on his face,
+arose for the defense. He began by saying:
+
+"Your honor and gentlemen of the jury: The prosecution has favored us
+with some able speeches, and has produced a host of witnesses to prove
+the truth of a false and malicious charge brought against our client. We
+of the defense have no speech to make, and only one witness to call. Let
+Craven Kyte be put upon the stand and sworn."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+ONE SINGLE WITNESS.
+
+      This is all true as it is strange;
+    Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth
+    To the end of reckoning.
+                                    --SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+Every one arose and looked around to catch sight of the expected
+witness.
+
+But no one was so much affected as the accused. He started to his feet
+on first hearing the name of Craven Kyte, and then dropped back into his
+chair, pale as marble.
+
+Evidently he had not expected to hear this man called.
+
+In the meantime a little bustle was heard in the bottom of the hall, as
+of some one pushing his way through the crowd.
+
+And presently Craven Kyte, pale, calm, handsome and well-dressed in
+clerical black, came forward and entered the witness-box.
+
+He bowed to the presiding judge and stood ready to give in his
+testimony.
+
+All eyes within range of them turned constantly from the witness on the
+stand to the prisoner at the bar.
+
+The two men were perfect duplicates of each other.
+
+The oath was administered to the witness.
+
+Mr. Berners conducted the examination.
+
+"Please to state your name and age, the place of your nativity, and all
+you know of the marriage performed at the Church of St. ----, in the
+city of Philadelphia, on the fifteenth day of September last, between
+the hours of twelve and one p. m.," said the counsel.
+
+"My name is Craven Kyte. I am a native of this town. I am twenty-three
+years of age. I know Mrs. Mary Grey, one of the parties to this
+marriage. I was engaged to be married to her. On the evening of the
+fourteenth of September I arrived in Philadelphia, having followed her
+there at her request. On the morning of the fifteenth I met her by
+appointment at the art gallery of Bertue Brothers. It was arranged that
+we should be married on that day. I took a cab and we entered it. At her
+suggestion I directed the driver to take us to the rectory of the
+Reverend Mr. Borden. As we drove along she proposed that I should marry
+her under the name of Alden Lytton."
+
+At these words of the witness there was an immense sensation in the
+court, breaking forth into murmurs of astonishment and indignation, so
+that the judge arose in his place and said that order must be observed
+or he should be obliged to command the clearing of the court-room.
+
+His words produced the proper effect, and the spectators became "as
+still as mice."
+
+The examination of the witness was resumed.
+
+"You say that Mrs. Mary Grey proposed that you should marry her in the
+name of Mr. Alden Lytton?"
+
+"Yes. I was very much astonished at the proposal, and expostulated with
+her about it; but she was in earnest, and at last she made it an
+absolute condition of my ever getting her at all that I should marry her
+under the name of Alden Lytton."
+
+"What reason did she give for this singular request?"
+
+"She said she only wanted to play a harmless practical joke upon Miss
+Cavendish, the betrothed of Mr. Lytton."
+
+"But her joke was so deep and earnest that she made it the only
+condition upon which she would marry you at all, you say?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And did you comply with that condition?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Sooner than lose her I complied with that wicked condition.
+It did not seem wicked to me then. It only seemed foolish and
+purposeless. And, besides, I firmly believe I was half crazy at that
+time."
+
+"Quite likely," said Mr. Berners, dryly. "What followed?"
+
+"Well, sir, and gentlemen, we drove to the rectory. She took a blank
+card out of her pocket and with a pencil wrote Mr. Alden Lytton's name
+on it, and told me to send that in to the rector as if it were my own.
+When I looked at the name on the card, I exclaimed how much it looked
+like Mr. Lytton's own handwriting; and she said so much the better."
+
+Again, at these words, a murmur of indignation ran through the
+court-room, which was, however, instantly suppressed, as every one
+wished to hear every word uttered by this witness.
+
+He continued:
+
+"I rang the bell at the rectory, and sent the card in by the servant who
+came to open the door. Presently I was invited into the rector's study.
+He addressed me as Mr. Lytton, and wanted to know how he could serve me.
+Then I told him what I had come for. And he consented to perform the
+marriage ceremony, but said that he must do it in the church, which was
+just next door to the rectory. I went back to the carriage for Mary--"
+
+"Meaning Mrs. Grey?"
+
+"Yes. But I called her 'Mary' then. I went back for her, and brought her
+into the church, where, under the name of Alden Lytton, I was married to
+Mary Grey by the Reverend Mr. Borden, in the presence of John Martin,
+sexton of the parish, and of Sarah Martin, his daughter. A marriage
+certificate, signed by the minister and witnesses, was then given to
+Mrs. Grey."
+
+"What happened next?"
+
+"At her request I drove her back to the Blank House, where she had been
+stopping. She got out at the corner of the street, however, and walked
+to the house, while I waited in a neighboring reading-room for her
+return. After an hour's absence she came back, and we drove to the
+Asterick, where I had engaged rooms for us both. But she declined
+staying in town any time, and expressed a wish to go to Havre-de-Grace.
+So we only stopped at the Asterick long enough to pay my bill and gather
+up my effects, and then we took the train for Havre-de-Grace, where we
+arrived the same afternoon."
+
+Here the witness suddenly became so much agitated that he could not go
+on for some moments.
+
+Mr. Denham brought him a glass of water.
+
+He drank and seemed somewhat revived.
+
+"Tell us what occurred at Havre-de-Grace."
+
+"We took rooms at the Star, had tea there, and after tea she proposed to
+take a walk down by the water-side, as the evening was so delightful.
+When we had walked a while she proposed that we should hire a boat and
+go rowing. I objected, being but an indifferent oarsman. But she
+insisted, declaring that she had been brought up on the water-side and
+could row like a squaw and swim like a fish. I was her slave, and I
+obeyed her. We hired the boat of her choice--a mere shell of a boat--"
+
+Here the judge, who had been growing a little impatient, inquired of the
+counsel for the defense:
+
+"Pray, Mr. Berners, what has all this about the boat to do with the case
+on trial?"
+
+"It has a great deal to do with it, your honor, as tending to prove that
+this woman had a deep design upon the peace and honor of the gentleman
+whom she claims as her husband, and that she did not hesitate at any
+crime to carry out that design to a successful issue," respectfully
+replied the counsel.
+
+"Let the witness proceed then," said the judge.
+
+"What happened next?" inquired Mr. Denham.
+
+"Murder happened next--at least, an attempt at murder. We got into the
+little shell of a boat, and I took the oars and rowed out into the river
+and down with the tide. We rowed about for more than two hours. It grew
+very dark and I then wished to come in; but she objected, and asked me
+to row around a certain point that I saw dimly down the river. I rowed
+to the point and around it, when suddenly she made an exclamation that
+her hat had fallen into the water, and she begged me to get it for her.
+It floated about three feet from the side of the boat. I drew in my oars
+and secured them, and then leaned over the side of the boat and reached
+out my hand to get the hat, which was floating further off. I had to
+lean so far over, and stretch my hand so far out, that it was as much as
+ever I could do to keep my balance. But just as I touched the hat she
+gave me a sudden and violent push from behind and sent me into the
+water."
+
+At this a murmur of horror and indignation passed through the
+court-room. And on this occasion no one attempted to enforce silence.
+
+But soon the deep interest of the audience in the story of the witness
+closed their lips and opened their ears again, and they became silent
+and attentive.
+
+"Do you mean to say that Mrs. Grey pushed you into the water purposely?"
+inquired Mr. Denham.
+
+"Yes, sir. She could not have done it accidentally. She waited until I
+had leaned so far over that the least jar might have made me lose my
+balance; and then suddenly, with all her strength, she pushed me, and I
+dropped into the water and sunk like so much lead. I could not swim at
+all. Twice, in my struggles for life, I rose to the surface and cried
+for help. Both times I saw her boat whirling round and round from the
+impetus given it by the violence with which she had pushed me over. The
+second time I sank I lost my senses. When I recovered them I found
+myself stretched out on the deck of a collier, with several people
+rubbing and rolling me. But I was weak in all my limbs and sorely
+confused in my head."
+
+"Witness, can you not shorten this?" inquired the judge.
+
+"Yes, your honor, I can shorten it, if they will permit me. The schooner
+that picked me up was the 'Sally Ann,' trading from Havre-de-Grace, and
+other coal depots, to Washington and Georgetown. They were outward bound
+then, and, as I could give no account of myself, being so nearly dead,
+they took me along with them. They carried me to Washington, where I lay
+ill in the free ward of the Samaritan Hospital, under the care of the
+good Sisters of Mercy, for two months. When I recovered sufficiently to
+know where I was I found out that I had been registered there under the
+name of Albert Little. I don't know how that happened, but I suppose
+somebody must have found in my pocket the card with Alden Lytton written
+upon it, and perhaps blotted with the river water, and had misread it
+Albert Little. But that is only a conjecture."
+
+"Confine yourself to facts, witness, and leave conjectures," said the
+judge.
+
+"Well, your honor, the fact then was that my name was registered Albert
+Little, however it came to be done. I did not care to set the good
+Sisters right about my name, and so I let the matter go. As soon as I
+was able to write, and before I was able to walk, I wrote to my senior
+partner, Mr. Bastiennello, a private and confidential letter, asking him
+to come and visit me at the hospital, and to inquire there for one
+Albert Little. Mr. Bastiennello, who had suffered great anxiety on the
+subject of my long protracted and unaccountable absence, came at once to
+see me. I told him of everything that had befallen me, especially as to
+Mary Grey's insisting on my marrying her under the name of Alden Lytton,
+and afterward attempting to get rid of me by murder. He was dreadfully
+shocked, of course, but in a subsequent conversation with me suggested
+that Mrs. Grey had some ultimate purpose in the perpetration of these
+crimes, and he advised me to lie perdue for a while until we should see
+what her purpose was and foil her in it. Some days afterward he proposed
+that I should take a commission from him to go and purchase goods for
+him in Europe. As soon as I was able to travel I left the country on
+this business. I was absent several months, and only arrived in my
+native country five days ago. On the day after my landing at New York,
+in looking over some files of newspapers, I read the advertisements for
+me. I guessed at once that I was wanted for business connected with the
+secret of my own life, and so I packed up and took the first train to
+Washington, and the next boat to Richmond, and the train to Wendover,
+without stopping an hour on my journey. I reached this place at noon
+to-day; found the town full of people, as if a fair or a festival was
+going on; asked what was the matter, and was told about this trial. Of
+course then I had the key to Mary Grey's mysterious crime, and I knew
+where I was wanted. I came at once to the court, wrote my name on a card
+and sent it in to Mr. Lytton's junior counsel, who came out to meet me
+and brought me here."
+
+"That will do, Mr. Kyte. Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the
+testimony of our witness, the only and all-sufficient witness for the
+defense; but we will recall one who appeared here as the most important
+witness for the prosecution. The Reverend Mr. Borden will please to take
+the stand once more," said Mr. Berners.
+
+The rector of St. ---- came forward and took his place in the witness
+box.
+
+"Mr. Borden, will you be so good as to look at these two gentlemen and
+tell me, upon your oath, which of them you married to Mrs. Mary Grey?"
+politely requested Mr. Berners.
+
+The rector looked from Alden Lytton to Craven Kyte, and from Craven Kyte
+back to Alden Lytton. And his face paled and flushed as he exclaimed:
+
+"May the Lord of heaven forgive me, for I have made an awful mistake! It
+was _that_ gentleman whom I married to Mrs. Grey;" and he pointed
+straight to Craven Kyte.
+
+A murmur of great excitement passed through the court-room.
+
+"A while ago you swore it was the other man," said Mr. Desmond, with an
+ugly sneer.
+
+"So I did! May Heaven forgive me for the awful, though unconscious
+perjury; for so I thought, with all my judgment, until I saw this last
+man! And certainly they are perfect duplicates of each other. Any one,
+under the same circumstances, might have made the same mistake," meekly
+replied the minister.
+
+And certainly every one who saw and compared the two men agreed with the
+last speaker.
+
+"Will you be so good, reverend sir, as to explain by what test you now
+know these perfect duplicates, the one from the other, and are enabled
+to identify the particular one whom you married to Mrs. Grey on the
+fifteenth of the last September?"
+
+"Certainly, sir. I can distinguish them by a certain indefinable
+difference which I can perceive while I see them together, but which I
+might fail to perceive if they were apart from each other. Also I can
+identify this last man, who calls himself Craven Kyte, by that small
+mark or scar that he bears on his temple near the corner of his left
+eye. I noticed it at the time I performed the marriage ceremony, but I
+thought it was a fresh scar. And I never remembered it at all when
+called upon to identify Mr. Alden Lytton, or indeed until I saw it again
+upon Mr. Craven Kyte."
+
+"That will do," said Mr. Desmond; and the minister was allowed to
+retire.
+
+John and Sarah Martin were recalled in succession, and each, when
+confronted with the two men, recanted from their late testimony, and
+swore pointedly to the person of Craven Kyte as the man whom they saw
+married to Mary Grey.
+
+At this point the foreman of the jury arose in his place and asked
+permission of the bench to render their verdict at once, as they had all
+quite made up their minds upon the case.
+
+After a few moments' consultation, the requested permission was given,
+and the jury, without leaving their seats, rendered their verdict of--
+
+"Not guilty!"
+
+The accused was formally discharged from custody. And then the judge did
+an almost unprecedented thing. He adjourned the court, came down from
+the bench and warmly shook hands with Mr. Lytton, congratulating him
+upon his complete vindication.
+
+And friends crowded around him, rejoicing with him in hearty sympathy.
+
+Among them came Craven Kyte, saying, as soon as he got a chance to
+speak:
+
+"Mr. Lytton, I have come to implore your pardon for the great wrong I
+unconsciously did you. Heaven knows I never meant it!"
+
+"I do not believe that you ever did," said Alden Lytton, kindly, taking
+his hand.
+
+"I was mad and blind. She told me it was only to be a practical joke,
+and made it the only condition of our marriage, and I complied because I
+was her slave," continued Craven Kyte, not very clearly.
+
+"Say no more about it. Forget it all as fast as you can. I shall,"
+answered Alden, gently pressing and relinquishing the hand that he had
+held.
+
+"Your carriage waits, my dear Lytton. And I am sure you are anxious to
+get back to Blue Cliffs and be the first to convey this good news to
+your wife," said Mr. Lyle, with a view to help Alden to get rid of his
+well-meaning but troublesome friends, who, in the earnestness of their
+sympathy with his triumph, forgot they were keeping him from her whom
+his soul most longed to meet.
+
+Friends took the gentle hint, shook hands with him and released him.
+
+And very soon Alden Lytton, with Mr. Lyle and Laura, were on their way
+to Blue Cliffs.
+
+As the carriage rolled into the yard, Emma ran down the steps, her face
+radiant with joy, to meet the beloved husband from whom she had been
+separated for so many weeks under such trying circumstances, and whose
+face she had been the first to see through the glass windows of the
+carriage.
+
+A moment more and they were locked in each other's arms, fervently
+thanking Heaven for their happy reunion.
+
+Later that evening the six friends were all assembled together in the
+drawing-room.
+
+John Lytton and Charley, who were the guests of the house for the night,
+had just bid them good-night and retired to their room.
+
+And then and there two little confessions were made.
+
+Alden Lytton related the whole history of his foolish boyish love for
+the fascinating and unprincipled widow who had so nearly effected his
+destruction.
+
+Emma listened in full sympathy, with his hand clasped in hers; and no
+retrospective jealousy disturbed the serenity of her loving and trusting
+spirit.
+
+And at the close of the story she silently raised his hand and pressed
+it to her heart. That was her only comment. And the subject was never
+afterward mentioned between the two.
+
+Then it was that Joseph Brent made his identity known to Alden Lytton,
+Emma and Laura, as it had long been known to Mr. Lyle, his friend, and
+to Electra, his wife. And Emma and Laura wept anew over the long past
+sorrows of poor Victor Hartman.
+
+Alden grasped his hand in earnest gratitude and friendship.
+
+"And it is to _you_," he said, "that my sister and myself owe all our
+present happiness. You thought for us, planned for us, toiled for us,
+made us even as your own children, simply because you were falsely
+accused of having made us fatherless!" he said, as the generous tears
+filled his eyes.
+
+"I did all this because, but for the mercy of Heaven, a mad blow of
+mine _might_ have made you fatherless, as it nearly did," answered
+Victor Hartman.
+
+"Do you know who really struck the fatal blow and why it was struck?"
+
+"No; I know neither one nor the other."
+
+"Then you shall learn, for now is the time to speak," said Alden Lytton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+WHO KILLED HENRY LYTTON--FATE OF MARY GREY.
+
+
+In pursuance of his promise to tell who killed his father, Alden Lytton
+said:
+
+"One hardly knows how to begin so painful a story. But here it is. You
+may have heard of a wild, handsome ne'er-do-weel who kept the White
+Perch Point hotel and married a relative of the Cavendish family?"
+
+"Oh, yes, of course! He was the husband of this widow lady who lives
+here."
+
+"The same. They had one child, a daughter, said to have been as
+beautiful as the mother, and as wild and reckless as the father. Out of
+pure deviltry, as it would seem, this girl ran away from her
+boarding-school in company with an unprincipled young play-actor, who
+afterward abandoned her. Soon after this my dear father, who had known
+her parents and herself, too, met and recognized her under the most
+painful circumstances. He was deeply shocked, and almost with a father's
+authority he insisted on taking her home to his own house and sending
+for her friends. She was but a child. She knew, also, that, being a
+minor, she was liable to be taken in custody, upon complaint made, and
+forcibly restored to her family. But she was full of duplicity. She
+affected to consent to return to her parents, and allowed my father to
+bring her back as far as his own house, whence he wrote a letter to her
+father telling him of the whereabouts of his daughter, and asking him to
+come and receive her at his hands. But the very day upon which this
+letter was mailed two events occurred to frustrate the good intentions
+of the writer. Ivy Fanning ran away from Fairview, my father's villa.
+And Mr. Fanning, having heard from the principal of the school from
+which his daughter had eloped, came furiously to town in search of the
+fugitive. Most unfortunately, he ascertained beyond a doubt that his
+daughter was living at Fairview, whither she had been taken by the
+master of the house, Mr. Henry Lytton. Mistaking altogether the
+situation, believing my dear father to have been the first abductor of
+the girl, he waylaid him and struck that fatal blow which caused his
+death, and which had so nearly cost you, also, your life.
+
+"After committing this dreadful deed, the guilty man fled to his own
+home, where he found awaiting him the letter from Mr. Lytton explaining
+everything.
+
+"After this his remorse knew no bounds. But ah, he was a coward! He
+dared not meet the penalty of his crime. He saw another man condemned to
+die for his offense, yet he dared not confess and save the guiltless. He
+tried indirect ways. He wrote anonymous letters to the governor. And
+when at last he found that these had no effect, and the day of execution
+drew very near, he came by night to this house, and in a private
+interview with Governor Cavendish, after binding him to a temporary
+secrecy, he confessed himself the murderer of Henry Lytton and
+related all the circumstances that led to the tragedy.
+
+"This confession, made as it was under the seal of temporary secrecy,
+placed the late Governor Cavendish in a false position.
+
+"He could not permit an innocent man to be executed for the crime of a
+guilty one. Nor could he, being bound to secrecy, expose the guilty. He
+was, therefore, compelled to pardon the supposed murderer, without
+giving any explanation to outraged public sentiment for the strangeness
+of his action. Such was the explanation made to me by the late Governor
+Cavendish, with the stipulation that I should keep the secret during the
+natural life of Frederick Fanning--which he felt sure could not be of
+long duration--and also that afterward I should reveal it to you, if
+ever I should happen to meet you. That is all, my dear friend and
+benefactor. And some day, when the poor old lady upstairs shall have
+passed away to her heavenly home, this story, which is your vindication,
+shall be published to the world. And the name of Victor Hartman, which
+you have renounced and declared to be dead and buried, shall be rescued
+from unmerited reproach and crowned with merited honor."
+
+While yet they spoke together, there was heard a loud knocking at the
+hall door. And the next moment Jerome, the hall footman, who had
+immediately opened the door, entered the drawing-room, saying that there
+was a messenger from the Reindeer with a note for Mrs. Fanning on a
+matter of life and death.
+
+Mr. Lytton immediately went out to see the messenger, who proved to be
+no other than Mithridates, or Taters, once the slave of Frederick
+Fanning, some time the hired servant of John Lytton, and now the hostler
+at the Reindeer.
+
+"Well, Taters, what is it? Mrs. Fanning has gone to bed, and we don't
+like to disturb her at this hour of the night," said Mr. Lytton.
+
+"Oh, marster, you'll have to 'sturb her nebbertheless and
+notwivstandin'," said the weeping boy, "because my young missis, which
+wasn't a ghost after all, but was a libbin' 'oman when I see her here,
+is a-dyin' now, at the Reindeer, and wants to see her mudder."
+
+"What on earth are you talking about, boy?" inquired the bewildered man.
+
+"Miss Iby Fannin', sir! My young mist'ess as used to was! She be a-dyin'
+at de Reindeer and wants to see her mudder, Missis Fannin', my ole
+missis, wot libs here," explained the boy, bursting into fresh sobs and
+tears.
+
+"Ivy Fanning, the long missing girl, supposed to be dead--dying now at
+the Reindeer?"
+
+"Yes, sir--yes, sir! And if you don't make haste and tell my ole missis
+she'll be dead before her mudder can get to her," sobbed the faithful
+boy.
+
+"Sit down here and wait," said Mr. Lytton, who now understood the
+emergency.
+
+And, leaving the boy seated in the hall, he went into the drawing-room
+and told Emma the surprising news that Ivy Fanning, the long-lost,
+erring daughter of Frederick and Katharine Fanning, and the unworthy
+cousin of Emma Cavendish--Ivy Fanning, whose faults had caused so much
+misery to all connected with her--Ivy Fanning, supposed to be dead long
+ago, was now lying at the point of death at the Reindeer Hotel, and
+begging to see her poor, wronged mother!
+
+"What a terrible thing to tell Aunt Katharine, when we rouse her up at
+the dead of night!" exclaimed Emma, with a shudder.
+
+"And yet, my dear one, it is your duty to do that very terrible thing.
+Go bravely and do it, my love, while I go and order the most comfortable
+carriage in the stable to convey the poor lady to Wendover," said Alden
+Lytton, encouragingly.
+
+Emma went to Mrs. Fanning's room and waked her up, telling her at first,
+very gently, that she was wanted.
+
+The poor woman, jumping to the conclusion that some one of the household
+servants was ill and in need of her ministrations, got up at once and
+inquired who it was.
+
+"It is a friend of yours who is ill at the Reindeer Hotel at Wendover,
+and desires to see you," said Emma, beginning gently to break to the
+poor mother the news that it was her dying daughter who had sent for
+her.
+
+"Friend? I am sure I have no friend who is near enough to send for me,
+at dead of night, to come sixteen miles to see him, or her, as the case
+may be," said the widow, looking very much perplexed, as she hastened to
+put on her clothes.
+
+"I should have said a relative--a very near relative--a long-lost--"
+began Emma, but her voice broke down in sobs.
+
+"It is Ivy!" exclaimed Mrs. Fanning, as a swift intuition revealed to
+her the truth.
+
+"Yes, it is Ivy," wept Emma, throwing her arms around the afflicted
+woman. "And oh, is it not better so--better at once to know her fate,
+even to know her safe in the peace of death, than to go on enduring this
+dreadful uncertainty about her?"
+
+"Oh, my child, my child! Oh, my child, my child!" wept the poor mother,
+scarcely able, through sobs and tears, and failings of heart and frame,
+to complete her simple toilet.
+
+Emma, with great sympathy and tenderness, assisted her to dress, pinned
+the shawl around her shoulders, tied the bonnet strings under her chin,
+and brought her her gloves and pocket-handkerchief.
+
+"I will now run and get my hat and sack, Aunt Katharine. I will go with
+you to Wendover," she said.
+
+"You go with me? My dear child, you have been so long parted from your
+husband, and only received him back to-night, and leave him to go with
+me? No, no! I can not permit you to do so, Emma," said the weeping lady.
+
+"But you need me, Aunt Katharine, and I should be utterly unworthy of my
+dear Alden's love if I could fail you in your time of trouble. Besides,
+I think Alden, also, will go back with you to Wendover."
+
+"Heaven bless you both! You are the solace of my sad old age," said the
+widow, earnestly.
+
+Emma ran out, and soon returned prepared for her sudden night ride.
+
+Then she took her poor aunt's arm within her own and supported her as
+they walked down-stairs together.
+
+In the hall below they met Alden Lytton, also prepared for the journey.
+
+He did not seem at all surprised to see Emma in her hat and _paletot_.
+He understood her too well for that. He merely inquired if the ladies
+were both quite ready. And being answered in the affirmative, he took
+them out and put them into the carriage, that was immediately started at
+a rate that astonished the usually steady-going horses.
+
+The journey was made almost in silence. Mrs. Fanning wept quietly behind
+her pocket-handkerchief, and Alden and Emma sat with their hands clasped
+in each other's in mute sympathy.
+
+It was some time after midnight when the carriage entered Wendover and
+drew up before the old Reindeer Hotel.
+
+Lights about the house at that hour showed that something very unusual
+was transpiring within.
+
+Hezekiah Greenfield himself came out to meet the party from Blue Cliffs.
+
+With much gravity he greeted them, and to Mrs. Fanning's agonized
+inquiries about her daughter, he answered:
+
+"I can't well tell you how she is, ma'am. But I will call Sukey, and she
+will take you to her."
+
+He then conducted them into the parlor and went out in search of his
+wife.
+
+Very soon good Mrs. Greenfield came waddling in.
+
+Mrs. Fanning arose and hurried to meet her, eagerly inquiring:
+
+"How is my child? How is she now? Does she still live?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, she is alive, and when she sent for you she was still in
+her right senses; but now she is wandering, poor girl, and imagines
+herself still to be living at Peerch P'int," answered the weeping woman,
+as she took the poor mother's hand to lead her to her daughter.
+
+She led her to a spacious upper chamber, dimly lighted by a single
+taper, where on a white bed lay extended the form of the dying girl.
+
+"Ivy, my darling! My darling Ivy, do you know me?" tenderly whispered
+the poor mother, taking her erring daughter's wasted hand and gazing
+into the fading face, nothing but love and sorrow and forgiveness in her
+heart.
+
+"Is that you, mamma? Is it near morning? I'm so glad!" said the dying
+girl, panting as she spoke. "Oh, I've had such a dreadful dream,
+mamma--such a long, dreadful dream! I dreamed of doing such horrible and
+wicked things--that I never could have done in my waking hours. I have
+lived long years in last night's dreadful dream. I am glad it is
+morning. Kiss me, mamma."
+
+These were her last words, panted forth with her last breath. The
+mother's kiss fell upon "unanswering clay."
+
+Katharine Fanning was borne in a fainting condition from the death-bed
+of her daughter and conveyed to another chamber, where she received the
+most sympathetic and affectionate ministrations from Emma and Alden
+Lytton.
+
+But it was not until Alden and Emma saw the face of that sinful child of
+passion in her coffin that they knew Ivy Fanning and Mary Grey to be one
+and the same person.
+
+Her remains were laid in the family vault at Blue Cliffs, where, before
+many weeks had passed, the body of her brokenhearted mother was laid
+beside them.
+
+Craven Kyte was never clearly certain whether he was himself a widower
+or a bachelor. But in either character he was free. And the first use he
+made of his freedom was to go to White Perch Point and propose to the
+brave little maiden of the light-house, who was his last love, as she
+had been his first.
+
+And soon he made her his wife, and brought her and her aged relative
+away from their bleak home and dangerous duties and settled them in a
+pretty rural cottage within easy walking distance of his own thriving
+place of business--the fashionable bazaar of "Bastiennello & Kyte."
+
+The two young brides, Laura and Electra, were taken to Europe by their
+husbands, and reached Paris in time to be present at the great World's
+Fair. And before they returned Victor Hartman's story was published to
+the world, and his fame was fully vindicated.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
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+  Cruel as the Grave.
+  Curse of Clifton, The.
+  Deserted Wife.
+  Discarded Daughter.
+  Hidden Hand.
+  India.
+  Ishmael; or, In the Depths.
+  Lost Heiress, The.
+  Lost Heir of Linlithgow.
+  Miriam the Avenger.
+  Missing Bride, The.
+  Mother-in-Law, The.
+  Mystery of a Dark Hollow.
+  Noble Lord.
+  Retribution.
+  Self-Raised; or, From the Depths.
+  Three Beauties, The.
+  Tried for Her Life.
+  Victor's Triumph.
+  Vivia.
+  Widow's Son.
+
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+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
+
+Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
+possible, including obsolete and variant spellings. Obvious
+typographical errors in punctuation (misplaced quotes and the like) have
+been fixed. Corrections [in brackets] in the text are noted below:
+
+throughout:
+
+    Katherine/Katharine Fanning spelled with an "e" at the beginning
+    of the novel and with an "a" at the end; it is the same person.
+
+page 8: typo corrected
+
+    "Oh, the same sin of helplessnss[helplessness] and cowardice;
+    the same fear of discovery and exposure; the same horror of
+
+page 13: added missing "
+
+    too. For see how easily she falls into error. She ought to marry
+    some good, wise, elderly man, who could be her guide,
+    philosopher and friend as well as husband.["]
+
+page 22: typo corrected
+
+    in hand, stood with Emma Cavendish in the hall waiting for Mrs.
+    Gray[Grey], to whom they had sent a message inviting her to come
+    down and see the traveler off.
+
+page 41: added missing "
+
+    "Yes; but, my dear, she must have this change now,
+    immediately.["]
+
+page 45: added missing "
+
+    ["]I would restore to her all that she has lost, if I could. I
+    would give her back husband, daughter, home and competence,"
+    said Emma.
+
+page 54: added missing "
+
+    Jerome, if that's his name, very gravely, with a silent bow, put
+    up the steps and closed the door and mounted his box and drove
+    off.["]
+
+page 72: typo corrected
+
+    She proposed this plan to her hostess, who at first opposed the
+    self-sacrifice, as she called it. But finally, being
+    pursuaded[persuaded] by Mary Grey, she yielded the point, and
+
+page 76: added missing "
+
+    "Yes, it is from your unknown guardian.["]
+
+page 104: corrected punctuation typo
+
+    The pastor expressed himself highly gratified, and added.[:]
+
+page 109: corrected and added missing punctuation
+
+    "MARIA WHEATFIELD,[."]
+
+page 111: corrected quote
+
+    "Yours truly, M. GREY.'["]
+
+page 115: added missing "
+
+    "Hush--hush!" she murmured. ["]Be quiet! There are people in the
+    next room. They may hear you. And I am sure they should do so
+    they would take you for a lunatic."
+
+page 118: added missing punctuation
+
+    "Yes; but don't cry out so loud--that's a dear! I repeat, there
+    are people in the next room[.] But you have not yet answered my
+    question."
+
+page 126: suggested possible missing word
+
+    "I am tired of walking. And here is a vacant house placarded 'To
+    Let,' with a nice long porch in front. Come, let [us] go in and
+    sit down on one of the benches and rest."
+
+page 140: added missing "
+
+    as I always get frightened and lose my presence of mind in the
+    terrible uproar of a steamboat landing or a railway station.["]
+
+page 146: typo corrected
+
+    Her devoted slave was waiting for here[her] there. And on the
+    table, in addition to the other comforts, there was a little
+
+page break between 150-151: added missing end of word
+
+    his companion, and the lovely youthful widow, who was lis-
+
+    [Page 163 in TIA copy of a different publisher/edition
+    (www.archive.org/details/victorstriumphse00soutrich) shows only
+    "-ening" is missing here.]
+
+    to him with such rapt attention, were a pair of happy and
+    devoted lovers.
+
+page 188: added missing "
+
+    telegram from the agent, which he supposed to be a magical
+    answer to your message.["]
+
+page 213: added missing "
+
+    "I said that you were my prisoner, Mr. Alden Lytton," answered
+    the deputy-sheriff, gravely. "I repeat that you are my
+    prisoner.["]
+
+page 222: typos corrected
+
+    "Gn[On] my sacred oath I most solemnly declare that you are the
+    man and she is the woman I then and there united together,"
+
+    with fierce indignation, "all I have further to say is
+    this--that you have basely purjured[perjured] yourself to assist
+    and support an infamous conspiracy!"
+
+page 238: added missing punctuation
+
+    Church of St. ----, in the city of Philadelphia, on the
+    fifteenth day of September last, between the hours of twelve
+    and one p. m[.]," said the counsel.
+
+page 246: duplicate word removed
+
+    her father telling him of the whereabouts of his daughter, and
+    asking him to come and receive her at [at] his hands. But the
+    very day upon which this letter was mailed two events occurred
+
+page 247: typo corrected
+
+    a coward! He dared not meet the penalty of his crime. He saw
+    another man condemed[condemned] to die for his offense, yet he
+    dared not confess and save the guiltless. He tried indirect
+
+page 247: duplicate word removed
+
+   secrecy, he confessed himself the murderer of [of] Henry Lytton
+   and related all the circumstances that led to the tragedy.
+
+page 250: typo corrected
+
+    inquired if the ladies were both quite ready. And being answered
+    in the affimative[affirmative], he took them out and put them
+    into the carriage, that was immediately started at a rate that
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Victor's Triumph, by Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
+
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