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diff --git a/31620-8.txt b/31620-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b898edf --- /dev/null +++ b/31620-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19811 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vashti, by Augusta J. Evans Wilson + +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: Vashti + or, Until Death Us Do Part + +Author: Augusta J. Evans Wilson + +Release Date: March 13, 2010 [EBook #31620] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VASHTI *** + + + + +Produced by Charlene Taylor, Michael and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: The stranger raised his hat and said: "Permit me to ask +your name?" "Salome Owen. And yours, sir, is--" "Ulpian Gray." Page +10.--_Vashti._] + + + + +VASHTI + +_or_ UNTIL DEATH US DO PART + +By AUGUSTA EVANS WILSON + +(Augusta J. Evans) + +Author of "Beulah," "Macaria," "Infelice," "St. Elmo," "Inez," etc., +etc., + +"There is nothing a man knows, in grief or in sin half so bitter as to +think, what I might have been." + + +A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + + + + +Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1869, by GEORGE W. +CARLETON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United +States for the Southern District of New York. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897, by MRS. +AUGUSTA J. EVANS WILSON, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at +Washington, D.C. + +_Vashti._ + + + + +TO THE HONORED MEMORY OF MY + +_Beloved Father_, + +WHOSE DEATH HAS RETARDED THE COMPLETION OF A WORK WHICH, IN THE +BEGINNING, WAS BLESSED WITH HIS APPROVAL, + +I REVERENTLY DEDICATE THIS BOOK. + + + + +PREFACE. + + + "Every man has his own style, as he has his own nose; and it is + neither polite nor Christian to rally an honest man about his + nose, however singular it may be. How can I help it that my style + is not different? That there is no affectation in it, I am very + certain." + + _Lessing._ + + "Yea, I take myself to witness, + That I have loved no darkness, + Sophisticated no truth, + Nursed no delusion, + Allowed no fear." + + _Matthew Arnold._ + + + + +UNTIL DEATH US DO PART. + +CHAPTER I. + + +"I can hear the sullen, savage roar of the breakers, if I do not see +them, and my pretty painted bark--expectation--is bearing down +helplessly upon them. Perhaps the unwelcome will not come to-day. What +then? I presume I should not care; and yet, I am curious to see +him,--anxious to know what sort of person will henceforth rule the +house, and go in and out here as master. Of course the pleasant, +peaceful days are at an end, for men always make din and strife in a +household,--at least my father did, and he is the only one I know much +about. But, after all, why borrow trouble?--the interloper may never +come." + +The girl stood on tip-toe, shading her eyes with one hand, and peering +eagerly down the winding road which stretched at right angles to the +avenue, and over the hills, on towards the neighboring town. No moving +speck was visible; and, with a sigh of relief, she sank back on the +grassy mound and resumed the perusal of her book. Above and around her +spread the wide branches of an aged apple-tree, feathered thickly with +pearly petals, which the wind tossed hither and thither and drifted +over the bermuda, as restless tides strew pink-chambered shells on +sloping strands; and down through the flowery limbs streamed the +waning March sun, throwing grotesque shadows on the sward and golden +ripples over the face and figure of the young lounger. A few yards +distant a row of whitewashed bee-hives extended along the western side +of the garden-wall, where perched a peacock whose rainbow hues were +burnished by the slanting rays that smote like flame the narrow pane +of glass which constituted a window in each hive and permitted +investigation of the tireless workers within. The afternoon was almost +spent; the air, losing its balmy noon breath, grew chill with the +approach of dew, and the figure under the apple-tree shivered +slightly, and, closing her book, drew her scarlet shawl around her +shoulders and leaned her dimpled chin on her knee. + +Sixteen years had ripened and rounded the girlish form, and given to +her countenance that indefinable charm which marks the timid hovering +between careless, frolicsome youth, and calmly conscious womanhood; +while perfect health rouged the polished cheeks and vermillioned the +thin lips, whose outlines sharply indexed more of decision than +amiability of character. + +There were hints of brown in the heavy mass of waveless dusky hair, +that was elaborately braided and coiled around the well turned +head, and certain amber rays suggestive of topaz and gold flashed +out now and then in the dark-hazel iris of the large eyes, lending +them an eldritch and baleful glow. Fresh as the overhanging +apple-blooms, but immobile as if carved from pearl,--perhaps it +was just such a face as hers that fronted Jason, amid the clustering +boughs of Colchian rhododendrons, when first he sought old Æëtes' +prescient daughter,--the maiden face of magical Medea, innocent as +yet of murder, sacrilege, fratricide, and plunder,--eloquent of +all possibilities of purity and peace, but vaguely adumbrating all +conceivable disquietude and guilt. + +The hushed expectancy of the fair young countenance had given place to +a dreamy languor, and the dark lashes drooped heavily, when a long +shadow fell upon the grass, and simultaneously the peacock sounded its +shrill alarm. Rising quickly the girl found herself face to face with +one upon whose features she had never looked before, and for a moment +each eyed the other searchingly. The stranger raised his hat, and +inclining his head slightly, said,-- + +"Permit me to ask your name?" + +"Salome Owen. And yours, sir, is--" + +"Ulpian Grey." + +For a few seconds neither spoke; but the man smiled, and the girl bit +her under-lip and frowned. + +"Are you the miller's daughter?" + +"I am the miller's daughter; and you are the master of Grassmere." + +"It seems that I come home like Rip Van Winkle, or Ulysses, unknown, +unwelcomed,--unlike the latter,--even by a dog." + +"Where is your sister?" + +"Not having seen her for five years, I am unable to answer." + +"She went to town two hours ago, to meet you." + +"Then, after all, I am expected; but pray by what route--balloon or +telegraph?" + +"Miss Jane went to the railroad dépot, but thought it possible you +might not arrive to-day, and said she would attend a meeting at the +church, if you failed to come. I presume she missed you in the crowd. +Sir, will you walk into the house?" + +Perhaps he did not hear the question, and certainly he did not heed +it, amid the clamorous recollections that rushed upon him as he gazed +earnestly over the lawn, down the avenue, and up at the ivy-mantled +front of the old brick homestead. Thinking it might impress him as +ludicrous or officious that she should invite him to enter and take +possession of his own establishment, Salome reddened and compressed +her lips. Apparently forgetful of her presence, he stood with his hat +in his hand, noting the changes that time had wrought: the growth of +venerable trees and favorite shrubs, the crumbling of fences, the +gathering moss on the sun-dial, and the lichen stains upon two marble +vases that held scarlet verbena on either side of the broad stone +steps. + +His close-fitting travelling suit of gray showed the muscular, +well-developed form of a man of medium size, whose very erect carriage +enhanced his height and invested him with a commanding air; while the +unusual breadth of his chest and shoulders seemed to indicate that +life had called him to athletic out-door pursuits, rather than the dun +and dusty atmosphere of a sedentary, cloistered career. + +There are subtle countenances that baffle the dainty stipple and line +tracery of time, refusing to become mere tablets, mere fleshy +intaglios of the past, whereon every curious stranger may spell out +the bygone, and, counting their footprints, cast up the number of +engraving years. Thus it happened that if Salome had not known from +the family Bible that this man was almost thirty-five, her eager +scrutiny of his features would have discovered little concerning his +age, and still less concerning his character. Exposure to the winds +and heat of tropic regions had darkened and sallowed the complexion, +which his clear deep blue eyes and light brown hair declared was +originally of Saxon fairness; in proof whereof, when he drew off one +glove and lifted his hand it seemed as if the marble fingers of one +statue were laid against the bronze cheek of another. + +Looking intently at this grave yet benignant countenance, full of +serenity, because calmly conscious of its power, the girl set her +teeth and ground her heel into the velvet turf, for _frangas non +flectes_ was written on his smooth, broad brow, and she felt fiercely +rebellious as some fiery, free creature of the Kamse, when first +confronted with the bit and trappings of him who will henceforth +bridle and tame the desert-bred. + +Waking from his brief reverie, the stranger turned and extended his +hand, saying, in tones as low and sweet as a woman's,-- + +"Will you not welcome a wanderer back to his home?" + +She gave him the tips of her fingers, but the "Imp of the Perverse" +dictated her answer,-- + +"As you saw fit to compare yourself, a few moments since, to certain +celebrated absentees, I am constrained to tell you that I happen to be +neither Penelope nor Gretchen, nor yet the illustrious dog referred +to." + +He smiled good-humoredly, and replied,-- + +"I am not very sure that there is not a spice of Dame Van Winkle +somewhere in your nature. True, we are strangers, but I believe you +are my sister's adopted child, and I hope you are glad to see her +brother at home once more. Jane is a dear kind link, who should make +us at least good friends; for, if you are attached to her you will in +time learn to like me." + +"I doubt it,--seeing that you resemble Miss Jane about as nearly as I +do the Grand Lama of Larissa, or the idol Bhadrinath. But, sir, +although it is not my office to welcome you, I presume you have not +forgotten the front door, and once more I ask, Will you walk in and +make yourself at home in your own house?" + +As she led the way to the steps, the arched gate at the end of the +avenue swung open, a carriage entered, and Salome retreated to her own +room, leaving unwitnessed the happy meeting between an aged, infirm +sister, and long-absent brother. + +Locking the door to secure herself from intrusion, she drew a low +rocking-chair to the hearth, where smouldered the embers of a dying +fire, and dropping her face in her palms, stared abstractedly at the +ashes. As she swayed slowly to and fro, her lips parted and closed, +her brows bent from their customary curves of beauty, and half +inaudibly she muttered,-- + +"The sceptre is departing from Judah. My rule is well nigh ended; the +interregnum has been brief, and the old dynasty reigns once more. +Just what I dreaded from the hour I heard he was coming home. I +shall be reduced to a mere cipher, and made to realize my utter +dependence,--and the iron will soon enter my soul. We paupers are +adepts in the art of reading the countenance, and I have looked at +this Ulpian Grey long enough to know that I might as well bombard +Gibraltar with boiled peas as hope to conquer one of his whims or +alter one of his purposes. There will be bitterness and strife between +us. I shall wish him in his grave a thousand times before it closes +over him,--and he, unless he is too good, will hate me cordially. I +cannot and will not give up all my hopes and expectations, without a +long, fierce struggle." + +Salome Owen was the eldest of five children, who, by the death of both +parents, had been thrown penniless upon the world, and found a +temporary asylum in the county poor-house. Her mother she remembered +merely as a feeble, fractious invalid; and her father, who had long +been employed as superintendent of large mills belonging to Miss Jane +Grey, had, after years of reckless intemperance, ended his wretched +career in a fit of mania a potu. His death occurred at a season when +Miss Grey was confined to her bed by an attack of rheumatism, which +rendered her a cripple for the remainder of her days; but the first +hours of her convalescence were spent in devising plans for the +education and maintenance of his helpless orphans. In the dusty, +cheerless yard of the poor-house she had found the little group +huddled under a mulberry tree one hot July noon; and, sending the two +younger children to the orphan asylum in a neighboring town, she had +apprenticed one boy to a worthy carpenter, another to an eminent +horticulturist in a distant State; and Salome, the handsomest and +brightest of the flock, she carried to her own home as an adopted +child. Here, for four years, the girl had lived in peace and luxurious +ease, surrounded by all the elegances and refining associations which +though not inherent in are at the command of wealth; and so rapidly +and gracefully had she fitted herself into the new social niche, that +the dark and stormy morning of her life had become only a dim and +hideous recollection, that rarely lifted its hated visage above the +smooth and shining surface of the happy present. + +Fortuitous circumstances constitute the moulds that shape the majority +of human lives, and the hasty impress of an accident is too often +regarded as the relentless decree of all-ordaining fate; while to the +philosophic anthropologist it might furnish matter for curious +speculation whether, if Attila and Alaric had chanced to find +themselves the pampered sons of some merchant prince,--some Rothschild +or Peabody of the fifth century,--their campaigns had not been purely +fiscal and bloodless, limited to the leaves of a ledger, while the +names of Goth and Hun had never crystallized into synonyms of havoc +and ruin; or had Timour been trained to cabbage-raising and +vine-dressing, whether he would not have lived in history as the great +horticulturist of Kesth, or the Diocletian of Samarcand, rather than +the Tartar tyrant and conqueror of the East? How many possible Howards +have swung at Tyburn? How many canonized and haloed heads have barely +escaped the doom of Brinvilliers, and the tender mercies of Carnifex? + +Analogous to that wonderful Gulf Stream, once a myth and still a +mystery, the strange current of human existence, four score and +ten years long, bears each and all of us with a strong, steady sweep +away from the tropic lands of sunny childhood, enamelled with verdure +and gaudy with bloom, through the temperate regions of manhood and +womanhood, fruitful and harvest-hued, on to the frigid, lonely shores +of dreary old age, snow-crowned and ice-veined; and individual +destinies seem to resemble the tangled drift on those broad +bounding gulf-billows, driven hither and thither, strewn on barren +beaches, scattered over bleaching coral crags, stranded upon blue +bergs,--precious germs from all climes and classes; some to be +scorched under equatorial heats; some to perish by polar perils; a +few to take root and flourish and triumph, building imperishable +land-marks; and many to stagnate in the long, inglorious rest of a +Sargasso Sea. + +For all helpless human waifs in this surging ocean of time, there is +comfort in the knowledge that the fiercest storms toss their drift +highest; and one of these apparently savage waves of adversity had +swept Salome Owen safely to an isle of palms and peace, where, under +the fostering rays of prosperity, the selfish and sordid elements of +her character found rapid development. + +In affectionate natures, family ties serve as cords to strangle +selfishness; for, in large domestic circles, each member contributes a +moiety to swell the good of the whole--silently endures some trial, +makes some sacrifice, shares some sympathy and sunshine, hoards some +grief and gloom, and had Salome remained with her brothers and +sisters, their continual claims on her time and attention would have +healthfully diverted thoughts that had long centred solely in self. +Finding that fortune had temporarily sheathed in velvet the goad of +necessity, the girl's aspirations soared no higher than the +maintenance of her present easy and luxurious position, as a petted +dependent on the affection and bounty of a weak but generous and +lonely old lady. Having no other object near, upon which to lavish the +love and caresses that were stored in her heart, Miss Jane had turned +fondly to Salome, and so earnestly endeavored to brighten her life, +that the latter felt assured she was selected as the heiress of that +house and estate where she had dwelt so happily; and thus sanguine +concerning her future prospects, the strong will of the girl +completely dominated the feebler and failing one of her benefactress, +through whose fingers the reins of government slipped so gradually, +that she was unconscious of her virtual abdication. + +From this pleasant dream of a handsome heritage and life-long plenty, +Salome had been rudely aroused by the unwelcome tidings that a young +half-brother of Miss Jane was coming to reside under her roof; and +prophetic fear whispered that the stranger would contest and divide +her dominion. A surgeon in the United States navy, he had been absent +for five years in distant seas, and only resigned his commission in +consequence of letters which informed him of the feeble condition of +his only surviving relative. Those who have eaten the bread of charity +learn to interpret countenances with an unerring facility that +eclipses the vaunted skill of Lavater, and the girl's brief inspection +of the face which would henceforth confront her daily, yielded little +to dispel her gloomy forebodings. The sound of the tea-bell terminated +her reverie, and rising, she walked slowly to the dining-room, +throwing her head as erect as possible, and compressing her mouth like +some gladiator summoned to the fatal arena of the Coliseum. + +The dining-room was large and airy, with lofty wide windows, and +neatly papered walls, where in numerous old-fashioned and quaintly +carved frames hung the ancestral portraits of the family. Although one +window was open, and the mild air laden with the perfumed breath of +spring, a bright wood fire flashed on the hearth, near which Miss Jane +sat in her large, cushioned rocking-chair, resting her swollen +slippered feet on a velvet stool, while her silver-mounted crutches +leaned against the arm of her chair. An ugly and very diminutive brown +terrier snarled and frisked on the rug, tormenting a staid and aged +black cat, who occasionally arched her back and showed her teeth; and +Dr. Grey stood leaning over his sister's chair, smoothing the soft +grizzled locks that clustered under the rich lace border of her cap. +He was talking of other days,--those of his boyhood, when, kneeling by +that hearth, she had pasted his kites, found strings for his tops, +made bags for his marbles, or bound up his bleeding hands, bruised in +boyish sports; and, while he read from the fresher page of his memory +the blessed juvenile annals long since effaced from hers, a happy +smile lighted her withered face, and she put up one thin hand to pat +the brown and bearded cheek which nearly touched her head. To the +pretty young thing who had paused on the threshold, watching what +passed, it seemed a peaceful picture, cosy and complete, needing no +adjuncts, defying intruders; but Miss Jane caught a glimpse of the +shrinking figure, and beckoned her to the fire-place. + +"Salome, come shake hands with my sailor-boy, and tell him how glad we +are to have his sunburnt face once more among us. Ulpian, this is my +dear child Salome, who makes noise and sunshine enough in an otherwise +dark and silent dreary house. Why, children, don't stand bowing at +each other, like foreign ministers at court! Ulpian, you are to be a +brother to that child; so go and kiss her like a Christian, and let us +have no more state and ceremony." + +"_Sans cérémonie_ we introduced ourselves this afternoon, under the +apple-tree, and I presume Salome will accept the assurance of my +friendly intentions and fraternal regard, and decline the seal which +only long acquaintance and perfect confidence could induce her to +permit. Notwithstanding the very evident fact that she is not entirely +overwhelmed with delight at my return, I gratefully acknowledge my +indebtedness to one who has so largely contributed to my sister's +happiness, and shall avail myself of every opportunity to prove my +appreciation of her devotion." + +Dr. Grey stepped forward, took Salome's hand, and touched it lightly +with his lips, while the grave dignity of his manner forbade the +thought that affectation of gallantry or idle persiflage suggested the +words or action. + +Disarmed by the quiet courtesy which she felt she had not merited, the +girl's ready wit and nimbly obedient tongue for once proved +treacherous; and, conscious that the flush was deepening on cheek and +brow, she moved to the oval table in the centre of the floor, and +seated herself behind the massive silver urn. + +"Ulpian, take your place yonder, at the foot, and excuse my absence +from the table this first evening of your return. I always have my +meals here, close to the fire, and Salome presides in my place. Child, +put no cream in his tea, but a bountiful share of sugar. You see, my +boy, I have not grown too old to recollect your whims." + +As he obeyed her, Salome was preparing to pour out the tea; but, +catching his eye, she paused, and Dr. Grey bowed his head on his hand, +and solemnly and impressively asked a blessing, and offered up fervent +thanks for the family reunion. In the somewhat fragmentary discourse +that ensued between brother and sister the orphan took no part; and, a +half hour later, when the little party removed to the library and +established themselves comfortably for the evening, Salome drew her +chair close to the lamp, and, under pretence of examining a book of +engravings, covertly studied the features and mien of the new-comer. + +His quiet, low-toned conversation was of other lands and distant +nations, and, while there was an entire absence of that ostentatious +braggardism and dropsical egotism which unfortunately attacks the +majority of travellers, his descriptions of foreign scenery were so +graceful and brilliant, that despite her ungracious determination and +premeditated dislike, she became a fascinated listener; and, more than +once, found herself leaning forward to catch his words. Her own vivid +fancy travelled with him over the lakes and isles, temples and +palaces, he had visited; and, when the clock struck eleven, and a +brief silence succeeded, she started as from some delightful dream. + +"Janet, shall we have prayers, or have I already kept you up too +late?" + +Dr. Grey stooped and pressed his lips to his sister's wrinkled +forehead, and her voice faltered slightly, as she answered,-- + +"It is never too late to thank God for all his goodness, especially in +bringing my dear boy safely back to me. Salome, get the large Bible +from the cushion in the parlor." + +As the orphan placed the book in Dr. Grey's hand it opened at the +record of births, where on the wide page appeared only the name of +Ulpian Grey, and from the leaves fluttered a small bow of blue +ribbon. + +He picked it up, and, considering it merely a book-mark, would have +replaced it, but Miss Jane exclaimed,-- + +"It is the blue knot that fastens that child's collar. Give it to her. +She lost it yesterday, and has searched the house for it. How came it +in that old Bible, which I am sure has not been used for fifteen +years?" + +Whatever solution of the mystery Salome might have deigned to offer, +remained unuttered, for Dr. Grey kindly obviated the necessity of a +reply by requesting her to bring him an additional candle from an +adjoining room; and the superfluous celerity with which she started on +the errand called a twinkle to his eye and a half-smothered smile to +his lips. She felt assured that he was thoroughly cognizant of the +curiosity which had prompted her researches among the family records, +and inferred that he had either no vanity to be flattered by such +trifles, or was dowered with too much generosity to evince any +gratification at the discovery of an interest she would have +vehemently disclaimed. + +It was the first time she had ever bowed before the family altar, and, +notwithstanding her avowed aversion to "Puritanic ceremonials and +Pharisaical practices," she was unexpectedly awed and deeply +impressed by the solemnity with which he conducted the brief services; +while, despite her prejudice, his grave courtesy toward her, and the +subdued tenderness that marked his treatment of his sister, commanded +her involuntary respect. When she stood before the mirror in her own +room, unbraiding her heavy hair, a dissatisfied expression robbed her +features of half their loveliness, and discontent ploughed distorting +lines about the scarlet lips which muttered,-- + +"I wonder if, in one of his evil fits, my father sold and signed me +away to Satan? I certainly am _bon gré mal gré_ in bondage to him; +for, from my inmost heart I hate 'good, pious, sanctified souls,' such +as that marble man upstairs, who has come back to usurp my kingdom, +and lord it over this heritage. After to-day a new regime. The +potter's hands are fair and shapely, courteous and deft, but potter's +hands nevertheless. Tough kneading he shall find it, and stiffer clay +than ever yet was moulded, or my name is not Salome Owen. After all, +how much better are we than the lower beasts of prey? In the race for +riches there is but one alternative,--to devour, or be devoured; +consequently that was an immemorial and well tested rule in the +warfare that commenced when Adam and Eve found themselves shut out of +Eden. 'Each for himself,' etc., etc., etc. Since I must _ex +necessitate_ prey or be preyed upon, I shall waste no time in +deliberation." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +When fifty-two years old, Daniel Grey amassed a handsome fortune +by speculating in certain gold and coal mine stocks, which not +only relieved him from the necessity of daily toil in his dusty +counting-room, but elevated him to that more than Braminical caste, +dubbed in Mammon-parlance--capitalists; whose decrees outweigh +legislative statutes, and by feeling the pulse of stock-boards and +all financial corporations, regulate the fiscal currents of the +State. A few months subsequent to this sudden accession of wealth, +his meek and devoted wife--who had patiently shared all the trials +and hardships of his early impecunious career, and brightened an +humble home which boasted no treasure comparable to her loving, +unselfish heart,--was summoned to the enjoyment of a heritage beyond +the stars; and Daniel Grey, capitalist, found himself a florid +handsome widower, with two children, Enoch and Jane, to remind him +continually of the pale wife over whose quiet ashes rose a costly +mausoleum, where rare exotics nodded to each other across gilded +slab and sculptured angels. That he profoundly mourned his loss no +charitable mind could doubt, notwithstanding the obstinate fact that +ere the violets had bloomed a twelvemonth over the dead mother of +his children he had provided them with one who certainly bore her +name, usurped her precious privileges, walked in her footsteps, but +wofully failed to fill her place. + +Mrs. Daniel Grey, scarcely the senior of the step-daughter whose lips +most reluctantly framed the sacred word "mother," was a fresh fair +young thing, whose ideas of marriage extended no further than +diamonds, white satin, reception cards, and bridal presents; and whose +regard for her worthy husband sought no surer basis than his +bank-stock and insurance dividends. Dainty and bright, in tasteful and +costly apparel, the pretty child-wife flitted up and down in his house +and over the serene surface of his life, touching no feeling of his +nature so deeply as that colossal _parvenu_ vanity which exulted in +the possession of a graceful walking announcement of his ability to +clothe in fine fabrics and expensive jewels. + +Perhaps the mildew that stained the ghastly gaunt angels who kept +guard over the dust of the dead wife, extended yet further than the +silent territory over which sexton and mattock reigned, for one dreary +December night, instead of nestling for a post-prandial nap among the +velvet cushions of his luxurious parlor, Daniel Grey, capitalist, +slept his last sleep in a high-backed, comfortless chair before his +desk, where the confidential clerk found him next morning, with his +rigid icy fingers thrust between the leaves of his check-book. + +According to the old Arab proverb,-- + + "The black camel named Death kneeleth once at each door, + And a mortal must mount to return nevermore." + +And, past all peradventure, having borne away one member of the +household, the "Last Carrier" from force of habit hastens to perform +the same thankless service for the remainder;--thus ere summer +sunshine streamed on the husband's grave, another yawned at its side, +and a wreathed and fluted shaft shot up close to his mausoleum, to +tell sympathizing friends and careless strangers that the second wife +of Daniel Grey had been snatched away in the morning of life. + +Her infant son Ulpian was committed to the tender guardianship of his +maternal grandmother, in whose hands he remained until the close of +his fourth year, when her death necessitated his return to the home of +his only relatives, Enoch and Jane. At the request of his sister, the +former had sold the elegant new residence in a fashionable quarter of +the town, and removed to the old homestead and farm, hallowed by +reminiscences of their mother, and invested with the magic attractions +that early association weaves about the spots frequented in youth. + +Manifesting, even in boyhood, an unconquerable repugnance not only to +curriculum, but the monotonous routine of mercantile pursuits, Enoch +sullenly forswore stock-jobbing and finance, and declared his +intention of indulging his rural tastes and becoming a farmer. Fine +cattle and poultry of all kinds, heavy wheat-crops, and well-stored +corn-cribs engrossed his thoughts, to the entire exclusion of abstract +æsthetic speculation, of operatic music, and Pre-Raphaelitism; while +the sight of one of his silky short-horned Ayrshires yielded him +infinitely more pleasure than the possession of all Rosa Bonheur's +ideals could possibly have done, and the soft billowy stretch of his +favorite clover-meadow was worth all the canvas that Claude or Poussin +had ever colored. While Enoch had cordially hated his fair blue-eyed +young step-mother, not from any personal or individual grounds of +grievance, but simply and solely because she dared to occupy the +household niche, sanctified once and forever by his own meek +gentle-toned mother, he nevertheless tenderly loved her baby-boy; and +as Ulpian grew to manhood he became the idol, at whose shrine the +brother and sister offered their pure and most intense affection. + +Neither had married, and when the youngest of the household band +completed his studies, and decided to accept a naval appointment, the +consternation and grief which the announcement produced at the +homestead, proved how essential the presence of the half-brother had +become to the happiness of the sedate stolid Enoch, and equable +unselfish Jane. But the desire to travel subordinated all other +sentiments in Ulpian's nature, and he eagerly embarked for a cruise, +from which he was recalled by tidings of the death of his brother. + +A brief sojourn at the homestead had sufficed to arrange the affairs +of the carefully-managed estate, and the young surgeon returned to his +post aboard ship, in distant oriental seas. The increasing infirmity +of his sister had finally induced the resignation of his cherished +commission, and brought the man of thirty-five back to his home, where +the "old familiar faces" seemed to have vanished forever; and, in lieu +thereof, legions of cold-eyed strangers carelessly confronted him. + +Emancipated from all restraint, and early consigned to the guidance of +his boyish caprices and immature judgment, Ulpian Grey's character had +unfolded itself under circumstances peculiarly favorable for the +fostering of selfishness and the development of idiosyncrasies. As a +plant, unmolested by man and beast, germinates, expands, and freely +and completely manifests all its inherent tendencies, whether +detrimental or beneficial to humanity, so Dr. Grey's matured manhood +was no distorted or discolored result of repeated educational +experiments, but a thoroughly normal efflorescence of an unbiassed +healthful nature. + +Habits of unwavering application and searching study, contracted in +collegiate cloisters, tightened their grasp upon him, as he wandered +away from the quiet precincts of _Alma Mater_ and into the crowded +noisy campus of life; and even the gregarious and convivial manners +prevalent aboard ship failed to divert his attention from the +prosecution of scientific researches, or to retard his rapid progress +in classical scholarship. + +For the treasures of knowledge thus patiently and indefatigably +garnered through a series of years, travel proved an invaluable polyglot +commentator, analyzing, comparing, annotating, and italicizing, and had +converted his mind into a vast, systematically arranged pictorial +encyclopædia of miscellaneous lore, embellished with delicate etchings, +noble engravings, and gorgeous illuminations,--a thesaurus where +_savants_ might seek successfully for _data_, and whence artists +could derive grand types, and pure tender coloring. + +Reverent and loving appreciation of the intrinsically "true, good, +and beautiful" was part of the homage that his nature rendered to its +Creator, and instead of flowering into a morbid and maudlin +sentimentality which craves low-browed, long straight-nosed, +undraped statuettes in every nook and corner,--or dwarfs the soul and +pins it to the surplice of some theologic _dogmata_ claiming +infallibility--or coffins the intellect in cramped, shallow, +psychological categories,--it bore fruit in a wide-eyed, large-hearted, +liberal-minded eclecticism, which, waging no crusade against the various +Saladins of modern systems, quietly possessed itself of the really +valuable elements that constitute the basis of every ethical, +æsthetic, and scientific creed, which has for any length of time +levied black-mail on the credulity of mankind. + +Breadth of intellectual vision promotes moral and emotional +expansion--for true catholicity of mind manufactures charity in the +heart; and toleration is the real mesmeric current which brings the +extremes of humanity _en rapport_,--is the veritable ubiquitous +Samaritan always provided with wine and oil for the bruised and +helpless, who are strewn along the highway of life; and those who +penetrated beyond the polished surface of Dr. Grey's character, +realized that no tinge of cynicism, no affectation of contempt for his +country and countrymen lurked in his heart, while erudition and +foreign sojourning seemed only to have warmed and intensified his +sympathy with all noble aims--his compassion for all grovelling ones. + +That his compulsory return to the uneventful routine of life at the +homestead, involved a sacrifice which he would gladly have avoided, he +did not attempt to deny; but having invested a large amount of +earnest, vigorous faith in the final conservatism of that much-abused +monster which the seditious army of the Disappointed anathematize as +"Bad Luck," he went to work contentedly in this new sphere of action, +and waited patiently and trustfully for the slow grinding of the great +mill of Compensation, into whose huge hopper Fate had unceremoniously +poured all his plans. + +His advent produced a very decided sensation not only in the quiet +neighborhood in which the farm was located, but also in the adjacent +town where the memory of Daniel Grey's meteoric ascent to pecuniosity +still lingered in the minds of the oldest citizens, and pleasantly +paved the way for a cordial reception of the fortunate son who +inherited not only his mother's comeliness but his father's hoarded +wealth. + +Living in the middle of the nineteenth century, and in a hemisphere +completely antipodal to that in which Utopia was situated, or +"Bensalem" dreamed of, the appearance of a good-looking, well-educated, +affluent bachelor could not fail to stir all gossipdom to its dreg; +and society, ever tenderly concerned about the individual affairs of +its prominent members, was all agog--busily arranging for the +_ci-devant_ United States Surgeon a programme, than which he would +sooner have undertaken the feats of Samson or the Avatars of Vishnu. + +His published card, announcing the fact that he had permanently +located in the city and was a patient candidate for the privilege of +setting fractured limbs and administering medicine, somewhat dashed +the expectations of many who conjected that the Grey estate could not +possibly be worth the amount so long reputed, or the principal heir +would certainly not soil his fingers with pills and plasters, instead +of sauntering and dawdling with librettos, lorgnettes, meerschaums, +and curiously-carved canes cut in the Hebrides or the jungles of +Java. + +Over the door of that office, where the Angel of Death had smitten his +father thirty-five years before, a new sign swung in the breeze, and +showed the citizens the name of "Dr. Ulpian Grey. Office hours from +nine to ten, and from two to three." + +The members of the profession called formally to welcome him to a +share of their annual profits, and collectively gave him a dinner; the +"best families" invited him to tea or luncheon, croquet or "German," +and thus, having accomplished his professional and social _début_, +Ulpian Grey, M.D., henceforth claimed and exercised the privilege of +selecting his associates, and employing his time as inclination +prompted. + +In the comprehensive course of study to which he had so long devoted +his attention, he had not omitted that immemorial stereotyped +volume--Human Nature--which, despite the attempted revisions of sages, +politicians, and ecclesiastics, remains as immutable as the +everlasting hills; printing upon the leaves of the youngest century +phases of guilt and guilelessness which find their prototypes in the +gray dawn of time, when the "morning stars sang together,"--yea, busy +to-day as of yore, slaughtering Abel, stoning Stephen, fretting Moses, +crucifying Christ. Finding much that was admirable, and more that +seemed ignoble, he gravely and reverently sought to possess himself of +the subtle arcana of this marvellous book, rejecting as equally +erroneous and unreliable the magnifying zeal of optimism and the +gloomy jaundiced lenses of sneering pessimism,--thoroughly satisfied +that it was a solemn duty, obligatory upon all, to study that complex +paradoxical human nature, for the mastery of which Lucifer and Jesus +had ceaselessly battled since the day when Adam and Eve were called +"to dress and to keep" the Garden by the Euphrates,--that heaven-born, +heaven-cursed, restless human nature, which now, as then,-- + + "Grasps at the fruitage forbidden, + The golden pomegranates of Eden, + To quiet its fever and pain." + +A few days' residence under the same roof, and a guarded observation +of Salome's conduct, sufficed to acquaint Dr. Grey with the ungenerous +motives that induced her chagrin at his return; and, without +permitting her to suspect that he had so accurately read her +character, he endeavored as unobtrusively as possible to bridge by +kindness and courtesy the chasm of jealous distrust which divided +them. + +Indolent and self-indulgent, she neither brooked dictation, nor +gracefully accepted any suggestions at variance with the reigning +whim; for, since she became an inmate of Miss Jane's hospitable home, +existence had been a mere dreamy, aimless succession of golden dawns +and scarlet-curtained sunsets--a slow, quiet lapsing of weeks into +months,--an almost stagnant stream curled by no eddies, freighted with +few aspirations, bearing no drift. + +The circumstances and associations of her early life had destroyed her +faith in abstract nobility of character; self-abnegation she neither +comprehended nor deemed possible; and of a stern, innate moral heroism +she was utterly sceptical; consequently a delicately graduated scale +of selfishness was the sole balance by which she was wont to weigh men +and women. + +Her irregular method of study and desultory reading had rather +enervated than strengthened a mind naturally clear and vigorous, and +left its acquisitions in a confused and kaleidoscopic mass, bordering +upon intellectual salmagundi. + +One warm afternoon, on his return from town, as Dr. Grey ascended the +steps he noticed Salome reclining on a bamboo settee at the western +end of the gallery, where the sunshine was hot and glaring, +unobstructed by the thin leafy screen of vines that drooped from +column to column on the southern and eastern sides of the building. If +conscious of his approach she vouchsafed not the slightest intimation +of it, and when he stood beside her she remained so immovable that he +might have imagined her asleep but for the lambent light which rayed +out from eyes that seemed intently numbering the soft fluttering young +leaves on a distant clump of elm trees, which made a lace-like tracery +of golden glimmer and quivering shadow on the purple-headed clover at +their feet. + +Her fair but long slender fingers carelessly held a book that +threatened to slip from their light relaxing grasp, and compressing +his lips in order to smother a smile under his heavy moustache, Dr. +Grey stooped and put his hand on her plump white wrist, where the blue +veins were running riot. + +"So young,--yet cataleptic! Unfortunate, indeed," he murmured. + +She shook off his touch, and instantly sat erect. + +"I should be glad to know what you mean." + +"I have an admirable, nay, I venture to add, an almost infallible +prescription for catalepsy, which has cured two chronic and apparently +hopeless cases, and it will afford me great pleasure to try the third +experiment upon you, since you seem pitiably in want of a remedy." + +"Thank you. Were I as free from all other ills that 'flesh is heir +to,' as I certainly am of the taint of catalepsy, I might indeed +congratulate myself upon an immunity which would obviate the dire +necessity of ever meeting a physician." + +"Are you sure that you sufficiently understand the symptoms, to +recognize them unerringly?" + +The rose tint in her cheeks deepened to scarlet, as she haughtily drew +herself up to her full height, and answered,-- + +"Dr. Grey himself is not more sagacious and adroit in detecting them; +especially when open eyes discover unwelcome and disagreeable objects, +which, wishing to avoid, they are still compelled to see. I hope you +are satisfied that I comprehend you." + +"My meaning was not so occult as to justify a doubt upon that subject; +and moreover, Salome, lack of astuteness is far from being your +greatest defect. My motive should eloquently plead pardon for my +candor, if I venture to tell you that your frequent affectation of +unconsciousness of the presence of others, 'is a custom more honored +in the breach than the observance,' and may prove prolific of +annoyance in coming years; for courtesy constitutes the keystone in +the beautiful arch of social amenities which vaults the temple of +Christian virtues. Lest you should take umbrage at my frankness, which +ought to assure you of my interest in your happiness and improvement, +permit me to remind you of the oriental definition of a faithful +friend, that has more pith than verbal polish,-- + + "The true friend is not he who holds up Flattery's mirror, + In which the face to thy conceit most pleasing hovers; + But he who kindly shows thee all thy vices, sirrah! + And helps thee mend them ere an enemy discovers." + +Rising, Salome swept him a profound courtesy, and, while her fingers +beat a tattoo on the book she held, she watched him with a peculiar +sparkle in her eyes, which he had already learned to understand was a +beacon flame kindled by intense displeasure. Dr. Grey seated himself, +and, taking off his hat, said gently and winningly, as he pushed aside +the hair that clustered in brown rings over his forehead,-- + +"Here is ample room for both of us. Sit down, and be reasonable; and +let me catch a glimpse of the amiable elements which I feel assured +must exist somewhere in your nature, notwithstanding your persistent +endeavor to conceal them. Your Janus character has hitherto breathed +only war--war; but, my young friend, I earnestly invoke its peaceful +phase." + +The kindness of tone and evident sincerity of manner might have +disarmed a prejudice better founded than hers; but wrath consumed all +scruples, and, recollecting his forbearance with various former acts +of rudeness, she presumed to attempt further aggressions. + +Waving her hand in tacit rejection of the proffered share of the +settee, she answered with more emphasis than perspicuity demanded,-- + +"Does your reading of the book of Job encourage you to believe that +when those self-appointed counsellors--Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad +the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite--returned to their respective +homes, they had cause to congratulate themselves upon their cordial +welcome to Job's bank of ashes, or felt bountifully repaid for their +voluntary mission of advice?" + +"Unfortunately, no. My study of the record of the man of Uz renders +painfully patent that humiliating fact--old as humanity--that sanctity +of motive is no coat-of-mail to the luckless few who bravely bear to +the hearts of those with whom they associate the unwelcome burden of +unflattering truths. Phraseology--definitions--vary with advancing +centuries, but not so the human impulses they express or explain; and +friendship in the days of Job was the identical 'Mutual Admiration +Society,' which at present converts its consistent servile members +into Damon and Pythias, but punishes any violation of its canons with +hatred dire and inextinguishable. Were I blessed with the genius of +Praxiteles or of Angelo, I would chisel and bequeath to the world a +noble statue,--typical of that rare, fearless friendship, which, +walking through the lazaretto of diseased and morbid natures, bears +not honied draughts alone, but scalpel, caustic, and bitter tonics." + +The calm sweetness of voice and mien lent to his words an influence +which no amount of gall or satire could have imparted; and, in the +brief silence that ensued, Salome's heart was suddenly smitten with a +humiliating consciousness of her childish flippancy,--her utter +inferiority to this man, who seemed to walk serenely in a starry plane +far beyond the mire where she grovelled. + +Ridicule braced and exaggerated her weaknesses, and the strokes of +sarcasm she could adroitly parry; but for persistent magnanimity she +was no match, and recoiled before it like the traditional Fiend at +sight of the _Santo Sudario_. Watching her companion's quiet +countenance, she saw a shadow drift over it, betokening neither anger +nor scorn, but serious regret; and involuntarily she drooped her head +to avoid the eyes that now turned full upon her. + +"Since I became a man, and to some extent capable of discriminating +with reference to the characters of persons with whom I found myself +in contact, I have made and invariably observed one rule of +conduct,--namely, never to associate with those whom I cannot +respect. Ignorance, want of refinement, irritability of temper, and +even lack of generous impulses, I can forgive, when redeemed by candor +and stern honesty of purpose; but arrogance, dissimulation, and +all-absorbing selfishness I will not tolerate. In you I hoped and +expected better qualities than you permit me to find, and I trust you +will acquit me of intentional rudeness if I acknowledge that you have +painfully disappointed me. It was, and still is, my earnest wish to +befriend and to aid you,--to contribute to your happiness, and +cordially sympathize in any annoyances that may surround you; but thus +far you have rendered it impossible for me to esteem you, and while I +do not presume that my good opinion is of any importance to you, our +present relations compel me to request that our intercourse may in +future be characterized by more urbanity than has yet graced it. My +sister has been much pained by the feelings with which you evidently +regard me, and since you and I are merely guests under her roof, a due +deference to her wishes should certainly repress the exhibition of +antipathies towards those whom she loves. It is her earnest desire (as +expressed in a conversation which I had with her yesterday) that I +should treat you as a young sister; and, for her sake, I offer you +once more, and for the last time, my hearty assistance in any +department in which I am able to render it." + +"The folds of your flag of truce do not conceal the drawn sword +beneath it; and let me tell you, sir, it is very evident that +'demand' would far better have expressed your purpose than the +word 'request.'" + +"At least you should not be surprised if I doubt whether you regard +any truce as inviolable, and am inclined to suspect you of latent +treachery." + +"Your accusation of dissimulation is unjust, for I have openly, +fearlessly manifested my prejudice--my aversion." + +"That you dislike me is my misfortune, but that you allow your +detestation to generate discord in our small circle is an error which +I trust you will endeavor to correct. That I have many faults I shall +not attempt to deny; but mutual forbearance will prove a mutual +blessing. For Jane's sake, shall there not be peace between us?" + +Standing before her, he looked gravely down into her face, where flush +and sparkle had died out, and saw--what she was too proud to +confess--that he had partially conquered her waywardness, that she was +reluctantly yielding to his influence; but he understood her nature +too thoroughly to pause contented with this slight advantage in a +contest which he foresaw must determine the direction of her aims +through life. + +"Salome, I am waiting for your decision." + +Her lips stirred twice, but the words they framed were either too +haughty or too humble, for she refused them utterance; and, while she +deliberated, two tears settled the question by rolling swiftly over +her cheeks, and falling upon the cherry ribbon at her throat. + +Accepting it as a tacit signature to his terms of capitulation, and +satisfied with the result, Dr. Grey forbore to urge verbal assurances. +Taking the book from her hand, he said, pleasantly,-- + +"Are you fond of French? I frequently find you poring over your +grammar." + +"I have never had a teacher, nor have I conquered the conjugations; +consequently, I know comparatively little about the language." + +"Are you studying it with the intention of familiarizing yourself with +French literature, or merely to enable you to translate the few +phrases that modern writers sprinkle through novels and essays?" + +"For neither purpose, but simply because it is the court language of +the old world; and, if I should succeed in my hope of visiting Europe, +I might regret my ignorance of the universally received medium of +communication." + +"Have you, then, no desire to master those noble bursts of eloquence +by which Racine, Bossuet, Fénélon, and Cousin have charmed the +intellects of all nations?" + +"None, whatever. I might as well tell you at once, what you will +inevitably discover ere long if you condescend to inspect my meagre +attainments, that for abstract study I have no more inclination than +to fondle some mummy in the crypts of Cyrene, or play 'blind man's +buff' with the corpses in the Morgue. My limited investments of time +and thought in intellectual stock have been made solely with reference +to speedy dividends of most practical and immediate benefits; and +knowledge _per se_--knowledge which will not pay me handsome +interest--has no more value in my eyes than a handful of the dust of +those Atures found in the cavern of Ataruipe. Doubtless you think me +pitiably benighted, and possibly I might find more favor in your sight +if I affected a prodigious amount of literary enthusiasm, and +boundless admiration for scholarship and erudition; but that would +prove too troublesome an imposture,--for I am constitutionally, +habitually, and premeditatedly lazy." + +She saw a smile lurking under his heavy lashes, and half ambushed in +the corners of his mouth; and, vaguely conscious that she was +rendering herself ridiculous, she bit her lip with ill-disguised +vexation. + +"Salome, I am afraid that under the garb of a jest you are making me +acquainted with a very mournful truth. You have probably never heard +of Lessing,--Gotthold Ephraim Lessing." + +"Oh, I am not quite as ignorant as a Pitcairn's Islander; and I think +I have somewhere seen that such a person as Lessing lived at +Wolfenbüttel. He once said, 'The chase is always worth more than +the quarry.' And again, 'Did the Almighty, holding in his right hand +Truth, and in his left Search after Truth, deign to proffer me the +one I might prefer,--in all humility, but without hesitation, I +should request Search after Truth.' When you have nothing more +important to occupy your attention, give ten minutes' reflection to +his admonition, and perhaps it may declare a dividend years hence. +Last week I found your algebra on the rug before the library grate, +and noticed several sums worked out in pencil on the margin. Are +you fond of mathematics?" + +"Not that I am aware of." + +"What progress have you made?" + +"My knowledge of arithmetic is barely sufficient to take me through a +brief shopping expedition." + +"Have you no ambition to increase it?" + +"Dr. Grey, I have no ambition. That 'last infirmity of noble minds' +has never attacked me; and, folding my hands, I chant ceaselessly to +my soul, 'Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.' The rapture of +the mathematician, who bows before the shrine of his favorite science, +is to my dull intellect as incomprehensible as the jargon of +metaphysics or the mysteries wrapped up in Pali cerements. Equations, +conic sections, differential calculus, constitute a skull and +cross-bones to which I allow as wide a berth as possible." + +The weary dissatisfied expression of her large, luminous eyes, belied +the sneer in her voice and the curl of her thin lip, and it cost her +an effort to answer his next question. + +"Will you tell me what rule you have adopted for the distribution of +your time, and the government of your life?" + +"Yes, sir; you are heartily welcome to it: 'Yet a little slumber, a +little folding of the hands to sleep.' _Laissez nous faire_. Moreover, +Dr. Grey, if you will courteously lend me your ears, I will favor you +with a still more felicitous exposition of my invaluable organon." + +Stooping suddenly, she raised from the floor a small volume which had +been concealed by her dress, and, as it opened at a page stained with +the juice of a purple convolvulus, she smiled defiantly, and read with +almost scornful emphasis,-- + + ... "'Ah, why + Should life all labor be? + Let us alone. Time driveth onward fast, + And in a little while our lips are dumb. + Let us alone. What is it that will last? + All things are taken from us, and become + Portions and parcels of the dreadful Past. + Let us alone. What pleasure can we have + To war with evil? Is there any peace + In ever climbing up the climbing wave? + All things have rest, and ripen towards the grave + In silence; ripen, fall, and cease: + Give us long rest or death; dark death or dreamful ease.' + +There, Dr. Grey, you have my creed and method,--_Laissez nous +faire_." + +With a degree of gravity that trenched on sternness, he bowed, and +answered,-- + +"So be it. I might insist that the closing lines of 'Ulysses' nobly +refute all the numbing heresy of the 'Lotos Eaters'-- + + ... 'But something ere the end, + Some work of noble note may yet be done. + That which we are, we are: + One equal templer of heroic hearts, + Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will + To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.' + +But I would not rouse you from a lethargy, which, knowing it to be +fatal to all hopes of usefulness, you still deliberately prefer. Take +care, however, lest you bury the one original talent so deep that you +fail to unearth it when the Master demands it in the final day of +restitution. I have questioned you concerning your studies, because I +desired and intended to offer my services as tutor, while you +prosecuted mathematics and the languages; but I forbear to suggest a +course so evidently distasteful to you. Unless I completely misjudge +your character, I fear the day is not distant, when, haunted by ghosts +of strangled opportunities, you will realize the solemn and painful +truth, that,-- + + 'There is nothing a man knows, in grief or in sin, + _Half so bitter as to think, What I might have been_!'" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +"Salome, you look so weary that I must insist upon relieving you. Give +me the book and run out for a breath of fresh air--a glimpse of blue +sky." + +Dr. Grey laid his hand on the volume, but the girl shook her head and +pushed aside his fingers. + +"I am not at all tired, and even if I were it would make no +difference. Miss Jane desires me to read this sermon aloud, and I +shall finish it." + +The invalid, who had been confined to her bed for many days by a +severe attack of rheumatism, partially raised herself on one elbow, +and said,-- + +"My dear, give him the book, while you take a little exercise. You +have been pent up here long enough, and, moreover, I want to talk to +Ulpian about some business matters. Don't look so sullen, my child; it +makes no difference who reads the sermon to me. Kiss me, and run out +on the lawn." + +The orphan relinquished chair and book, but there was no relaxation of +her bent brows, and neither warmth nor lingering pressure in the firm, +hardly drawn lips, which lightly touched the old lady's sallow, +wrinkled cheek. When she had left the room, closing the door after her +with more force than was requisite to bolt it securely, Miss Jane +sighed heavily, and turned to her brother. + +"Poor thing! She is so jealous of you; and it distresses me to see +that no friendship grows up between you, as I hoped and believed would +be the case. If you would only notice her a little more I think you +might win her over." + +"Leave it to time, Janet. I 'have piped unto her and she would not +dance; I have mourned unto her, and she has not lamented,'--and +concessions only feed her waywardness. If there be a residuum of good +sense and proper feeling in her nature, they will assert themselves +after a while; if not, all extraneous influences are futile. I will +resume the reading, if agreeable to you." + +Moody and rebellious, Salome stood for some moments on the threshold +of the front door, staring vacantly out over the lawn; then, snatching +her hat from a hook in the hall, she swiftly crossed the grounds, +climbed over a low lattice fence at the foot of the declivity, and +followed a worn but neglected path leading into the adjoining forest. + +The sanctity of the Sabbath afternoon rested like a benison over the +silent glades, where sunshine made golden roads along the smooth brown +pine straw, and glinted on the purple flags that fluttered in the mild +west wind. Even the melancholy plaint of sad-eyed dun doves was +hushed, as they slowly swung in the swaying pine-tops; and two young +lambs, neglected by the wandering flock, lay sleeping quietly, with +their snowy heads pillowed on clustering violets,--far from the fold, +forgotten by their mothers, at the mercy of strolling dogs, watched +only by the Great Shepherd. + +Salome's rapid pace soon placed a mile between her and the fence that +bounded the lawn; and, pushing through the dense undergrowth which +betokened the proximity of a stream, she stood ere long on the margin +of a wide pond which supplied the broad, shining sheet of beryl water +that poured over the rocky dam, close to the large irregular building +called "Grey's Mill." + +Piles of lumber were bleaching in the sunshine, but the machinery was +at rest, the workmen were all absent, and not a sound broke the +stillness, save the steady, monotonous chant of the water leaping down +into the race, where a thousand foam-flakes danced along towards the +huge wheels, and died on the soft green mosses and lush-creepers that +stole down to bathe in the sparkling wavelets. The knotted roots of an +old beech tree furnished a resting-place, and Salome sat down and +leaned her head against the scarred trunk, where lightning had once +girdled and partially destroyed it,--leaving one-half the branches +leafy, the remainder scorched and barren. + +Overhanging willows darkened the edges of the pond; and, in the +centre, one tall, venerable cypress, lonely as some palm in the +desert, rose like a gray shaft tufted with a fine fringe of fresh +green; and occasional clusters of broad, shining leaves, spread +themselves on the surface of the water, cradling large, snowy lilies, +whose gold-powdered stamens trembled ceaselessly. Now and then a trout +leaped up, as if for a breath of May air, and fell back into the +circle that widened until it touched either bank; and not far from a +cow who stood knee-deep in water, browsing on a wild rose that +clambered over the willows to peep at its pink image in the pond, a +proud pair of gray geese convoyed a brood of yellow younglings that +dived and breasted the ripples with evident glee. + +With her arms clasped around her knees, Salome sat watching the blue +tendrils of smoke that rose from a clump of elms beyond the mill and +curled lazily upward until they lost themselves in air; and, though +the arching elm boughs hid mossy roof and chimney, she nevertheless +felt that she was looking on the old house where she was born, and +where ten dreary years of sorrow and humiliation had embittered and +perverted her nature. + +Those elms had seen her mother die, had heard her father's drunken +revelry, and bent their aged heads to listen on that wild wintry +night, when in blood-curdling curses his soul rent itself from the +degraded tenement of clay. Apparently peace brooded over earth, sky, +and water; but to that lonely figure under the riven beech, every +object within the range of vision babbled horrible tales of the early +years, and memory pointed to a corner of the lumber-shed adjoining the +mill where she had often secreted herself to avoid her father's +brutality,--always keeping her head in the moonshine, because she +dreaded the darkness inside, which childish fancy filled with ghostly +groups. She hated the place as she hated the past, and this was the +second time she had visited it since the day that consigned her to the +poor-house; for it was impossible for her to look at the pond without +recollecting one dark passage in her life, known only to God and +herself. To-day she recalled, with startling vividness a dusky, +starlit June evening, when, maddened by an unmerited and unusually +severe punishment inflicted by her father, she had resolved to drown +herself, and find peace in the mud at the bottom of the mill-pond. +Placing her infant sister on the grass, she had kissed her good-by, +and selecting the deepest portion of the water, had climbed out on a +willow branch and prepared for the final plunge. Putting her fingers +in her ears that she might not hear the bubbling of the murderous +water, she shut her eyes and sprang into the pond; but her long hair +caught the willow twigs, and, half strangled and quite willing to +live, she scrambled up into the low limbs that seemed so anxious to +rescue her from a watery grave; and, dripping and trembling, crept +back to the house, comforting herself with the grim assurance that +whatever else might befall, she certainly was not foreordained to be +either beaten to death or drowned. The impulse which had brought her +on this occasion to a scene so fraught with harrowing memories, was +explicable only by the supposition that its painful surroundings were +in consonance with the bitter and despondent mood in which she found +herself; and, in the gloom that this retrospection shed over her +countenance, her features seemed to grow wan and angular. For several +days she had been sorely disquieted by the realization of Miss Jane's +rapidly failing strength; and the probability of her death, which a +year ago would have been entirely endurable as an avenue to wealth, +now appeared the direst catastrophe that had yet threatened her +ill-starred life. + +It was distressing to think of the kind old face growing stiff in a +shroud, but infinitely more appalling to contemplate the possibility +of being turned out of a comfortable home and driven to labor for a +maintenance. Salome had a vague impression that either Providence or +the world owed her a luxurious future, as partial compensation for her +juvenile miseries; but since both seemed disposed to repudiate the +debt, she was reluctantly compelled to ponder her prospective +bankruptcy in worldly goods, and, like the unjust steward, while +unwilling to work she was still ashamed to beg. + +Although she strenuously resisted the strong, steady influence so +quietly exerted by Dr. Grey, the best elements of her nature, long +dormant, began to stir feebly, and she was conscious of nobler +aspirations than those which had hitherto swayed her; and of a +dimly-defined self-dissatisfaction that was novel and annoying. +Unwilling to admit that she valued his good opinion, she nevertheless +felt chagrined at her failure to possess it, and gradually she +realized her utter inferiority to this man, whose consistent Christian +character commanded an entire respect which she had never before +entertained for any human being. Immersed in vexing thoughts +concerning her future, she mechanically stretched out her hand to +pluck a bunch of phlox and of lemon-hued primroses that were nodding +in the sunshine close to her feet; but, as she touched the stems, a +large copper-colored snake slowly uncoiled from the tuft of grass +where they nestled and, gliding into the water, disappeared in the +midst of the lilies. + +"I wonder if throughout life all the flowers I endeavor to grasp will +prove only Moccasin-beds! Why should they,--unless God abdicates and +Satan reigns? I have found, to my cost, that existence is not made +entirely of rainless June days; but I doubt whether darkness and +storms shut out the warm glow and perpetually curtain the stars. +Obviously I am no saint; still, I am disposed to believe I am not +altogether wicked. I have committed no capital sins, nor grievously +transgressed the decalogue,--and why should I despair of my share of +the good things of life? I am neither Cain nor Jezebel, and therefore +Fates and Furies have no warrant to dog my footsteps. Moreover, how do +I know that Destiny is indeed the hideous, vindictive crone that +luckless wretches have painted her, instead of an amiable, good soul, +who is quite as willing to scatter blessings as curses? Because some +dyspeptic Greek dreamed of three pitiless old weavers, blind to human +tears, deaf to human petitions, why should we wise and enlightened +people of the nineteenth century scare ourselves with the skeleton of +Paganism? I have as inalienable a right to brocades, crown-jewels, and +a string of titles, as any reigning queen, provided I can only get my +hands upon them; and, since life seems to be a sort of snatch-and-hold +game, quick keen eyes and nimble fingers decide the question. I have +never trodden on the world's tender toes, nor smitten its pet follies, +nor set myself aloft to gaze pityingly on its degradation, therefore, +the world honors me with no special grudge. But one thing is +mournfully certain,--my path is not strewn with loaves and fishes +ready baked and broiled, and I must even go gleaning and fishing for +myself. Almost everybody has some gift or some mission; but I really +do not see in what direction I can set to work. Work! How I hate the +bare thought! I have not sufficient education to teach, nor genius to +write, nor a talent for drawing, and barely music enough in my soul to +enable me to carry the church tunes respectably. Come, Salome Owen! +Shake off your sloth, and face the abominable fact that you must earn +your own bread. It is a great shame, and I ought not to be obliged to +work, for I am not responsible for my existence, and those who brought +me into the world owed it to me to provide for my wants. I cannot and +will not forgive my father and mother; but that will not mend matters, +since, nevertheless, here I am, with a body to feed and clothe, and +God only knows how I am to accomplish it. I find myself with youth, +health, some beauty, an average share of intellect, and all the wants +pertaining thereunto. If the worst comes to the worst I suppose I can +contrive, like other poverty-stricken girls, to marry somebody who +will support me comfortably; but that is rather an uncertain +speculation, and meantime Miss Jane might die. Now, if the Bible is +true, it must indeed be a blessed lot to be born a brown sparrow, and +have the Lord for a commissary. I am a genuine child of old Adam, and +labor is the heaviest curse that could possibly be sent upon me." + +Once or twice during this profitless reverie she had paused to listen +to a singular sound that came from a dense group of willows not far +from the spot where she sat, and now it grew louder, swelling into a +measured cry, as of a child in great distress. + +"Somebody in trouble, but it does not concern me; I have enough and to +spare, of my own." + +She settled herself once more quite comfortably, but the low, +monotonous wail, smote her heart, and womanly sympathy with suffering +strangled her constitutional selfishness. Rising, she crept cautiously +along the edge of the pond until she reached the thicket whence the +sound proceeded, and, as she pushed aside the low branches and peeped +into the cool, green nook, her eyes fell upon the figure of a little +boy who lay on the ground, rolling from side to side and sobbing +violently. + +"What is the matter? Are you sick or hungry?" + +Startled by the sound of her voice, the child uttered a scream of +terror, and whirled over, hiding his face in the leaves and grass. + +"For Heaven's sake, stop howling! What are you about,--wallowing here +in the mud, ruining your clothes, and yelling like a hyena? Hush, and +get up." + +"Oh, please, ma'am, don't tell on me! Don't carry me back, and I will +hush!" + +"Where do you live?" + +"Nowhere. Oh!--oh!" And he renewed his cries. + +"A probable story. What is your name?" + +"Haven't got any name." + +"You have no name, and you live nowhere? Come, little fellow, this +will never do. I am afraid you are a very bad boy and have run away +from home to escape being punished. Hush this instant!" + +He had kept his face carefully concealed, and, resolved to ascertain +the truth, Salome stooped and tried to lift him; but he struggled +desperately, and screamed frantically,-- + +"Let me alone! I won't go back! I will jump into the pond and drown +myself if you don't let me alone." + +He was so hoarse from constant crying that she could recognize no +familiar tones in his voice, but a great dread seized her, and, +suddenly putting her hands under his head, she forced the face up, and +looked at the flushed, swollen features. + +"Stanley! Is it possible? My poor little brother!" + +The equally astonished boy started up, and stared half wistfully, half +fearfully, at the figure standing before him. + +"Is it you, Salome? I did not know you." + +"How came you here? When did you leave the Asylum?" + +"I ran away, three days ago." + +"Why?" + +"Because I was tired of living there, and I wanted to come back +home." + +"Home, indeed! You miserable begger, don't you know you have no home +but the Orphan Asylum?" + +"Yes, I have. I want to come back yonder. Don't you see home yonder, +among the trees, with the pretty white and speckled pigeons flying +over it?" + +He pointed across the pond to the old house beyond the mill, whose +outlines were visible through the openings in the elms; and, as he +gazed upon it with that intense longing so touching in a child's face, +his sobs increased. + +"Stanley, that is not your home now. Other people live there, and you +have no right to come back. Why did you run away from the Asylum? Did +they treat you unkindly?" + +"No,--yes. They whipped me because I cried and said I hated to stay +there, and wanted to come home." + +Salome looked at the soiled, torn clothes, and sorrowful face; and, +bursting into tears, she bent forward and drew her brother to her +bosom. He put his arms around her neck, and kissed her cheek several +times, saying, softly and coaxingly,-- + +"Sister Salome, you won't send me back, will you? Please let me stay +with you, and I will be a good boy." + +For some minutes she was unable to reply, and wept silently as she +smoothed the tangled hair back from the child's white forehead and +pressed her lips to it. + +"Stanley, how is Jessie? Where did you leave her?" + +"She is well, and I left her at the Asylum. She had a long cry the +night I ran away, and said she wanted to see you, and she thought you +had forgotten us both. You know, Salome, it is over a year since you +came to see us, and Jessie and I are so lonesome there, we hate the +place." + +"What were you crying so bitterly about when I found you, just now?" + +"I am so hungry, and the man who lives yonder at home drove me away. +He said I was prowling around to steal something, and if he saw me +there any more he would shoot me. I ate my last piece of biscuit +yesterday." + +"Why did you not come to me instead of the miller?" + +"I was afraid you would send me back to the Asylum; but you won't,--I +know you won't, Salome." + +"Suppose I had not happened to hear you crying,--what would have +become of you? Did you intend to starve here in the swamp?" + +"I thought I would wait till the miller left home, and then beg his +wife to give me some bread, and, if I could get nothing, I was going +to pull up some carrots that I saw growing in a field back of the +house. Oh, Salome, I am so hungry and so tired!" + +She sat down on a heap of last year's leaves, which autumn winds and +winter rains had driven against the trunk of a decayed and fallen +sweet-gum, and, drawing the weary head with its shock of matted yellow +curls to her lap, she covered her own face with her hands to hide the +hot tears that streamed over her cheeks. + +"Salome, are you very mad with me?" + +"Yes, Stanley; you have behaved very badly, and I don't know what I +ought to do with you." + +He tried to put aside one of her shielding hands, and failing, wound +his arms around her waist, and nestled as close as possible. + +"Sister, please let me stay and live with you, and I promise--I +declare--I will be a good boy." + +"Poor little fellow! You don't in the least know what you are talking +about. How can you live with me when I have no home, and not a +dollar?" + +"I thought you stayed with a rich lady, and had everything nice that +you wanted." + +"I do not expect to have even a shelter much longer. The lady who +takes care of me is sick, and cannot live very long; and, when she +dies, I don't know where I shall go or what I may be obliged to do." + +"If you will only keep me I will help you work. At the Asylum I saw +wood, and pick peas, and pull out grass and weeds from the strawberry +vines, and sometimes I sweep the yards. Just try me a little while, +Salome, and see how smart I can be." + +"Would you be willing to leave poor little Jessie at the Asylum? If +she felt so lonesome when you were there, how will she get along +without you?" + +"Oh, we could steal her out some night, and keep her with us. Salome, +I tell you I don't mean to go back there. I will die first. I will +drown myself, or run away to sea. I would rather starve to death here +in the swamp. Everybody else can get a home, and why can't we?" + +"Because your father was a drunkard, and left his children to the +charity of the poor-house; and, God knows, I heartily wish we were all +screwed down in the same coffin with him. You and I, Jessie, and Mark, +and Joel are all beggars--miserable beggars! Hush, Stanley, you will +sob yourself into a fever! Stop crying, I say, if you do not want to +drive me crazy! I thought I had trouble enough, without being +tormented by the sight of your poor, wretched face; and now, what to +do with you I am sure I don't know. There--do be quiet. Take your arms +away; I don't want you to kiss me any more." + +In the long silence that succeeded, the child, spent with grief and +fatigue, fell into a sound sleep, and Salome sat with his head in her +lap and her clasped hands resting on her knee. + +The afternoon slowly wore away, and the dimpled pond caught +lengthening shadows on its surface as the sun dipped into the forest. +The measured tinkle of a distant bell told that the cows were wending +quietly homeward; and, while the miller's wife drove her geese into +the yard, the pigeons nestled in their leafy coverts high among the +elm arches, and the solemn serenity of coming summer night stole with +velvet tread over the scene, silencing all things save the silvery +barcarolle of the falling water, and the sweet, lonely vesper hymn of +a whippoorwill, half hidden in the solitary cypress. + +Although tears came very rarely to her eyes, the orphan had wept +bitterly, and, surprised at finding herself so completely unnerved on +this occasion, she made a powerful effort to regain her composure and +usual stolidity of expression. Shaking the little sleeper, she +said,-- + +"Wake up, Stanley. Get your hat and come with me, at least for +to-night." + +The child was too weary to renew the conversation, and, hand in hand, +the two walked silently on until they approached the confines of the +farm, when Salome suddenly paused at sight of Dr. Grey, who was +crossing the pine forest just in front of them. Pressing his sister's +hand, Stanley looked up and asked, timidly,-- + +"What are you going to do with me?" + +"Hush! I have not fully decided." + +She endeavored to elude observation by standing close to the body of a +large pine, but Dr. Grey caught a glimpse of her fluttering dress, +and came forward rapidly, carrying in his arms one young lamb and +driving another before him. + +"Salome, will you be so good as to assist me in shepherding this +obstinate little waif? It has been running hither and thither for +nearly half an hour, taking every direction but the right one. If you +will either walk on and lower the bars for me or drive this lamb while +I go forward, you will greatly oblige me. Pardon me,--you look +distressed. Something painful has occurred, I fear." + +The girl's usually firm mouth trembled as she laid her hand on the +torn straw hat that shaded Stanley's features, and answered, +hurriedly,-- + +"Yes. We have both stumbled upon stray lambs; but mine, unfortunately, +happens to prove my youngest brother, and, since I am neither Reuben +nor Judah, I could not leave him in the woods to perish. Stanley, run +on and pull down the bars yonder, where you see the sheep looking +through the fence." + +"How old is he?" + +"About eight years, I believe, but he is small for his age." + +"He does not in the least resemble you." + +"No; pitiable little wretch, he looks like nothing but destitution! +When a poor man dies, leaving a houseful of beggarly orphans, the +State ought to require the undertaker who buries him to shoot or hang +the whole brood, and lay them all in the Potter's Field out of the +world's way." + +"Such words and sentiments are strangely at variance with the +affectionate gentleness and resignation which best become womanly +lips, and I pity the keen suffering that wrings them from yours. He +who 'setteth the solitary in families' never yet failed in loving +guardianship of trusting orphanage, and certainly you have no cause to +upbraid fate, or impiously murmur against the decrees of your God." + +He stood before her, with one hand stroking the head of the lamb that +nestled on his bosom; but his face was sterner, his voice far more +severe, than she had ever known either before, and her eyes fell +beneath the grave and sorrowful rebuke which looked out from his. + +"Your brother ran away from the Asylum, three days ago." + +"How did you ascertain that fact?" + +"About an hour after you left the house, the matron of the Asylum sent +to inquire whether you were aware of his absence, and to notify you +that your little sister Jessie is quite ill. I was searching for you, +when I accidentally found these lambs, deserted by their mother. Thank +you, Stanley; I will put up the bars, and you can go to the house with +your sister. Salome, the carriage is ready, and if you desire to see +Jessie immediately I will take you over as soon as possible. There is +a full moon, and you can return with me or remain at the Asylum until +morning. Confer with my sister concerning the disposal of this little +refugee." + +He patted the boy's head, and entered the sheepfold, while Salome +stood leaning against the fence, looking vacantly down at the bleating +flock. + +Catching her brother's hand, she hurried to the house, bathed his +face, brushed his disordered hair, and gave him a bountiful supper of +bread and milk; after which, Jane Grey ordered the little culprit +brought to her bedside, where she delivered a kind lecture on his +sinful disobedience. When Dr. Grey entered the room, Salome was +standing at the window, while Stanley clung to her dress, hiding his +face in its folds, vowing vehemently that he would not return to the +Asylum, and protesting with many sobs that he would be the best boy in +the world if he were only allowed to remain at the farm. + +"Salome, do quiet him; he will fret himself into a fever," said Miss +Jane, whose nerves began to quiver painfully. + +"He has it already," answered the girl, without turning her head. She +did not observe Dr. Grey's entrance, and when he approached the +window, where the mellow moonshine streamed full on her face, he saw +tears stealing over her cheeks, and noticed that her fingers were +clenched tightly. + +"Salome, do you wish to see Jessie to-night? She has had convulsions +during the day, and may not live until morning." + +She looked up at his grave, noble countenance, and her lips fluttered +as she answered, huskily,-- + +"I can do nothing for her, and why should I see her die?" + +"To whose care was she committed by her dying mother?" + +"To mine." + +"Have you faithfully kept the sacred trust?" + +"I did all that I could until Miss Jane placed her in the asylum." + +"Does your conscience acquit you?" + +She silently dropped her face in her hands, and for some seconds he +watched her anxiously. + +"Have you and Janet decided what shall be done with Stanley?" + +"No; the longer I ponder the matter, the more confused my mind +becomes." + +"Will you leave it in my hands, and abide by my decision?" + +"Yes, gladly." + +"You promise to be satisfied with any course upon which I may +resolve?" + +Looking up quickly, she exclaimed,-- + +"Oh, yes; I trust you, fully. Do what you think best." + +Dr. Grey put his hand under Stanley's chin, and, lifting his face, +examined his countenance and felt his pulse. + +"He is only frightened and fatigued. Put him to bed at once in your +room, and then let me take you to see little Jessie. If you fail to +go, you might reproach yourself in coming years." + +It was nine o'clock when the carriage stopped at the door of the +Asylum, and Salome and Dr. Grey went up to the "Infirmary," where the +faithful matron sat beside one of the little beds, watching the deep +slumber of the flushed and exhausted sleeper. + +The disease had almost spent its force, the crisis was passed, and the +attending physician had pronounced the patient much better; still, +when Salome stooped to kiss her sister, the matron held her back, +assuring her that perfect quiet was essential for her recovery. +Kneeling there beside the motherless girl, Salome noted the changes +that time and suffering had wrought on the delicate features; and, as +she listened to the quick, irregular breathing, the fountain of +tenderness was suddenly unsealed in her own nature, and she put out +her arms, yearning to clasp Jessie to her heart. So strong were her +emotions, so keen was her regret for past indifference and neglect, +that she lost all self-control, and, unable to check her passionate +weeping, Dr. Grey led her from the room, promising to bring her again +when the sick child was sufficiently strong to bear the interview. + +During the ride homeward he made no effort to divert her thoughts or +relieve her anxiety, knowing that although severe it was a healthful +regimen for her long indurated heart, and was the _rénaissance_ of her +better nature. + +When they arrived at home, the moon was shining bright and full, and, +as they waited on the gallery for a servant to open the door, Dr. Grey +drew most favorable auguries from the chastened, blanched face, with +its humbled and grieved expression. + +"Salome, I shall for the present keep Stanley here; and, until I can +make some satisfactory arrangement with reference to his education, I +would be glad to have you hear his recitations every day. Have you the +requisite leisure to superintend his lessons?" + +"Yes, sir. I have not deserved this kindness from you, Dr. Grey; but I +thank you, from my inmost heart. You are good enough to forgive my +many offences, and I shall not soon forget it." + +"Salome, you owe me no gratitude, but there is much for which you +should go down on your knees and fervently thank your merciful God. My +young friend, will you do this?" + +He extended his hand, and, unable to utter a word, Salome gave him +hers, for a second only, and hastened to her own room, where Stanley's +fair face lay in the golden moonlight, radiant with happy dreams of +white pigeons and pet lambs. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +"Don't strangle me, Jessie! Put down your arms, and listen to me. +Sobbing will not mend matters, and you might as well make up your mind +to be patient. Of course I should like to take you with me, if I had +a home; but, as I told you just now, we are so poor that we must live +where we can, not where we prefer. Because I wear nice pretty clothes +do you suppose I have a pocketful of money? I have not a cent to buy +even a loaf of bread, and I can't ask Miss Jane to take care of you as +well as of Stanley and myself. Poor little thing, don't cry so! I know +you are lonely here without Stanley, but it can't be helped. Jessie, +don't you see that it can not be helped?" + +"I don't eat so very much, and I could sleep with Buddie and wouldn't +be in the way,--and I can wear my old clothes. Oh, please, Salome! I +will die if you leave me here." + +"You will do no such thing; you are getting well as fast as possible. +Crying never kills people,--it only makes their heads ache, and their +eyes red and ugly. See here, if you don't stop all this, I shall quit +coming to see you! Do you hear what I say?" + +The only reply was a fresh sob, which the child strove to smother by +hiding her face in Salome's lap. + +The matron, who sat by the open window, looked up from the button-hole +she was working, and, clearing her throat, said,-- + +"Better let her have her cry out,--that is the surest cure for such +troubles as hers. She was always manageable and good enough until +Stanley ran away, and since then she does nothing but mope and bite +her finger-nails. Cry away, Jessie, and have done with it. Ah, miss, +the saddest feature about Asylums is the separation of families; +and if the matron had a heart of stone it would melt sometimes at +sight of these little motherless things clinging to each other. I'm +sure I have shed a gallon of tears since I came here. It is a +fearful responsibility to take charge of an institution like this, +for if I try to make the children respect my authority, and behave +themselves properly, outsiders 'specially the neighbors, says I am +too severe; and if I let them frolic and romp and make as much din +and uproar as they like, why, then the same folks scandalize me +and the managers, and say there is no sort of discipline maintained. +I verily believe, miss, that if an angel came down from heaven to +matronize these children, before six months elapsed all the +godliness would be worried out of her soul by the slanders of the +public and the squabbles of the children. Now I don't confess to be +an angel, but I do claim a conscience, and God knows I make it a +rule to treat these orphans exactly as I treated my own and only +child, whom I buried three years ago. Do you suppose that any woman +who has laid her first-born in its coffin could be brutal enough to +maltreat poor little motherless lambs? I don't deny that sometimes I +am compelled to punish them, for it is as much my duty to whip them +for bad conduct as to see that their meals are properly cooked and +their clothes kept in order. Am I to let them grow up thieves and +liars? Must I stand by and see them pull out each other's hair and +bite off one another's ears?" + +"Of course not, Mrs. Collins. You must preserve some discipline." + +"Must I? Well, miss, I will show you how beautifully that sounds and +how poorly it works. There is your brother Stanley (I mean no offence, +miss, but special cases explain better than generalities),--there's +your brother Stanley, who ran away--for what?" + +"Because he was homesick and wanted to see me." + +"No such thing, begging your pardon. Perhaps he told you that, but +remember there are always two sides to every tale. The truth of the +matter is just this: Stanley has an ugly habit of cursing, which I +will not tolerate; and, twice when I heard him swearing at the other +children, I shamed him well and slapped him soundly. Last week I told +him and Joe Clark to shell a basket of peas, while the cook was making +some ginger-bread for them, and before I was out of the room they +commenced quarrelling. They raised such an uproar that I came back and +saw the whole fray. Stanley cursed Joe, who expostulated and tried to +pacify him, and when he finally threatened to tell me that Stanley was +cursing again, your brother snatched a hatchet that was lying on the +dresser and swore he would kill him if he did. He aimed a blow at +Joe's head, but slipped on the pea-hulls, and the hatchet struck the +boy's right foot, cutting off one of his toes. Now what would you have +done, under the circumstances,--allowed the children to be tomahawked +in that style? You say I must have discipline. Well, miss, I tried to +'discipline' Stanley's wickedness out of him by giving him a whipping, +and the end of the matter was that he ran away that afternoon. That is +not the worst of it,--for the children all know the facts, and since +they find that Stanley Owen can run away and be sustained in his +disobedience, of course it tends to demoralize them. So I say that if +I do my duty I am lashed by the tongues of people who know nothing of +the circumstances; and if I fail to perform my duty I am lashed by my +own conscience,--and between the two I have a sorrowful time; for I +declare to you, miss, that Stephen's martyrdom was a small affair in +comparison with what I pass through every week. I love the children +and try to be kind to them, but I can't have them cursing and swearing +like sailors, and scalping each other. I must either raise them like +Christians, or resign my situation to some one who is 'wise as +serpents and harmless as doves.' It is all very fine to talk of +'proper discipline' in charitable institutions; but, miss, in the name +of common sense, how can I get along unless the friends of the +children sustain me? Did you punish Stanley, and send him back? On the +contrary, you countenanced his bad conduct and kept him with you, and +it is perfectly natural that little Jessie here should be dissatisfied +and anxious to join him. I can't scold her, for I know she misses her +brother, who was always very tender and considerate in his treatment +of her." + +"I appreciate the difficulties which surround you, and believe that +you are conscientiously striving to do your duty towards these +children; but I knew that if I compelled Stanley to return it would +augment instead of correcting the mischief." + +At this juncture the matron was summoned from the room, and, during +the silence that ensued, Jessie climbed into her sister's lap, wound +her thin arms around her neck, and softly rubbed her pale cheek +against the polished rosy face, where perplexity and annoyance were +legibly written. + +"Salome, don't you love me a little?" + +"Of course I do; Jessie, don't be so foolish." + +"Please let me go with you and Stanley." + +"Do you want to starve,--you poor silly thing?" + +"Yes; I would rather starve with Buddie than stay here by myself." + +"I want to hear no more of such nonsense. You have not tried starving, +and you are too young to know what is really for your good. Now, +listen to me. At present I am obliged to leave you here,--come, don't +begin crying again; but, if you will be a good girl and try not to +fret over what cannot be helped, I promise you that just as soon as I +can possibly support you I will take you to live with me." + +"How long must I wait?" + +"Until I make money enough to feed and clothe you." + +"Can't you guess when you can come for me?" + +"No, for as yet I know not how I can earn a dollar; but, if you will +be patient, I promise to work hard for you and Stanley." + +"I will be good. Salome, I have saved a quarter of a dollar that the +doctor gave me when I was sick,--because I let the blister stay on my +side a half hour longer; and I thought I would send it to Buddie, to +buy him some marbles or a kite; but I reckon I had better give it to +you to help us get a house." + +She drew from her pocket a green calico bag, and, emptying the +contents into her hand, picked out from among brass buttons and bits +of broken glass a silver coin, which she held up triumphantly. + +"No, Jessie,--keep it. Stanley has plenty of playthings, and you may +need it. Besides, your quarter would not go far, and I don't want it. +Good-bye, little darling. Try to give Mrs. Collins no trouble, and +recollect that when I promise you anything I shall be sure to keep my +word." + +Salome drew the child's head to her shoulder, and, as she bent over +and kissed the sweet, pure lips, Jessie whispered, "When we say our +prayers to-night, we will ask God to send us some money to buy a home, +won't we? You know he made the birds feed Elijah." + +"But we are not prophets, and ravens are not flying about with bags of +money under their wings." + +"We do not know what God can do, and if we are only good, He is as +much bound to take care of us as of Elijah. He made the sky rain manna +and partridges for the starving people in the desert, and He is as +much our God as if we came out from Egypt under Moses. I know God will +help us, if we ask Him. I am sure of it; for last week I lost Mrs. +Collins' bunch of keys, and, when I could not find them anywhere, I +prayed to God to help me, and, sure enough, I remembered I left them +in the dairy where I was churning." + +Jessie's countenance was radiant with hope and faith, which her sister +could not share, yet felt unwilling to destroy; and, checking the +heavy sigh that rose from her oppressed heart, she hastily quitted the +house. + +In the midst of confused and perturbed reflections, rose like some +lonely rock-based beacon in boiling waves her sacred promise to the +trusting child, and ingenuity was racked to devise some means for its +prompt fulfilment. Consanguinity began to urge its claim vehemently, +and long dormant tenderness pleaded piteously for exiled idols. + +"If I were only a Christian, like Dr. Grey! His faith, like strong +wings, bears him high above all sloughs of despond, all morasses of +moodiness. People cannot successfully or profitably serve two masters. +That is eminently true; not because it is scriptural, but _vice +versa_; because it is so obviously true it could not escape a place in +the Bible. Half work pays poor wages, and it is not surprising that +neither God nor Mammon will patiently submit to it. I suppose the time +has come when I must bargain myself to one or the other; for, +hitherto, I have declared in favor of neither. I am not altogether +sanctified, nor yet desperately wicked, but I hate Satan, who ruined +my father, infinitely more than I dislike the restrictions of +religion. I owe him a grudge for all the shame and suffering of my +childhood,--which, if God did not interfere to prevent, at least there +is strong presumptive evidence that he took no pleasure in witnessing. +I don't suppose I have any faith; I scarcely know what it means; but +perhaps if I try to serve God instead of myself, it will come to me +as it came to Paul and Thomas. I wonder whether mere abstract love of +righteousness and of the Lord drives half as many persons into +Christian churches as the fear of eternal perdition. I don't deny that +I am afraid of Satan, for if he contrives to smuggle so much sin and +sorrow into this world what must his own kingdom be? If there be any +truth in the tradition that every human being is afflicted by some +besetting sin that crouches at the door of the soul, lying in ambush +to destroy it, then my own 'Dweller of the Threshold,' is love of mine +ease. Time was when I would have bartered my eternal heritage for a +good-sized mess of earthly pottage, provided only it was well spiced +and garnished; but to-day I have no inclination to be swindled like +Esau. Idleness has well-nigh ruined me, so I shall take industry by +the horns, and laying thereon all my sins of indolence, drive it +before me as the Jews drove Apopompoeus." + +She walked on in the direction of the town, turning her head neither +to right nor left, and keeping her eyes fixed on the blue air before +her, where imagination built a home, through whose spacious halls +Stanley and Jessie sported at will. On the principal street stood a +fashionable dress-making and millinery establishment, and thither +Salome bent her steps, resolved that the sun should not set without +having witnessed some effort to redeem the pledge given to Jessie. + +Panoplied in Miss Jane's patronage, she demanded and obtained +admission to the inner apartment of this Temple of Fashion, where +presided the Pythoness whose oracular utterances swayed _le beau +monde_. + +What passed between the two never transpired, even among the +apprentices that thronged the adjoining room; but when Salome left the +house she carried under her arm a large bundle which furnished work +for the ensuing fortnight. + +Evening shadows overtook her, while yet a mile distant from home, and +as she passed a small cottage, where candle-light flared through the +open window, she saw Dr. Grey standing beside the bed, on which, +doubtless, lay some sufferer. + +Ere many moments had elapsed, she heard his well-known footstep on +the rocky road, and involuntarily paused to greet him. + +"What called you to old Mrs. Peterson's?" + +"Her youngest grandchild is very ill with brain fever; so ill that I +shall return and sit up with him to-night." + +"I was not aware that physicians condescended to act as mere +nurses,--to execute their own orders." + +"Then I fear you have formed a very low estimate of the sacred +responsibilities of my profession, or of the characters of those who +represent it. The true physician combines the offices of surgeon, +doctor, nurse, and friend." + +"Mrs. Peterson is almost destitute, and to a great extent dependent on +charity; consequently you need not expect to collect any fee." + +"Knowing her poverty, I attend the family gratuitously." + +"Is not your charity-list a very long one?" + +"Could I divest myself of sympathy with the sufferings of those who +compose it I would not curtail it one iota; for I feel like Boerhaave, +who once said, 'My poor are my best patients; God pays for them.'" + +"Then, after all, you are actuated merely by selfishness, and remit +payments in earthly dross,--in 'filthy lucre,'--in order to collect +your fees in a better currency, where thieves do not break through nor +steal?" + +"'He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker; but he that +honoreth Him, hath mercy on the poor.' If a tinge of selfishness +mingle with the hope of future reward, it will be forgiven, I trust, +by the great Physician, who, in sublimating human nature, seized upon +its selfish elements as powerful agencies in the regeneration of +mankind. An abstract worship of virtue is scarcely possible while +humanity is clothed with clay, and I am not unwilling to confess that +hope of eternal compensation influences my conduct in many respects. +If this be indeed only subtle selfishness, at least we shall be +pardoned by Him who promised to prepare a place in the Father's +mansion for those who follow His footsteps among the poor." + +She looked up at him, with a puzzled, searching expression, that +arrested his attention, and exclaimed,-- + +"How singularly honest you are! I believe I could have faith if there +were more like you." + +"Faith in what?" + +"In the nobility of my race,--in the possibility of my own +improvement,--in the watchful providence of God." + +"Salome, there is much sound philosophy in the eighty-seventh and +eighty-ninth maxims of cynical Rochefoucauld, 'It is more disgraceful to +distrust one's friends than to be deceived by them. Our mistrust +justifies the deceit of others.' My opportunities have been favorable +for studying various classes of men, and my own experience corroborates +the truth of Montaigne's sagacious remark, 'Confidence in another +man's virtue is no slight evidence of a man's own.' Try to cultivate +trust in your fellow creatures, and the bare show of faith will +sometimes create worth." + +"Did Christ's show of confidence in Judas save him from betrayal?" + +"Let us hope that he was the prototype of a very limited class. You +must not expect to find mankind divided into two great castes--one all +angels, the other comprising hopeless demons. On the contrary, noble +and most ignoble impulses alternately sway the actions and thoughts of +the majority of our race; and the saint of to-day is not unfrequently +tempted to become the fiend of to-morrow. Remember that the conflict +with sinful promptings begins in the cradle--ends only in the +coffin,--and try to be more charitable in your judgments." + +They walked a few yards in silence, and at length Salome asked,-- + +"Were you not kept up all of last night?" + +"Yes; I was obliged to ride fifteen miles to set a dislocated +shoulder." + +"Then you must be exhausted from fatigue, and unfit for watching +to-night. Will you not allow me to relieve you, and take charge of +Mrs. Peterson's grandchild? I admit I am very ignorant; but I will +faithfully follow your directions, and I think you may venture to +trust me." + +Confusion flushed her face as she made this proposition, but in the +pale, pearly lustre of the summer starlight, it was not visible. + +"Thank you heartily, Salome. I could implicitly trust your intentions, +but the case is almost hopeless, and I fear you are too inexperienced +to render it safe for me to commit the child to your care. I +appreciate your kindness, but am too much interested in the boy to +leave him when the disease is at its crisis, and a cup of coffee will +strengthen me for the vigil. You have been to the Asylum this +afternoon; tell me something about little Jessie." + +"She is still rather pale, but otherwise seems quite well again. Of +course she is dissatisfied since Stanley has left, and thinks she +ought to be allowed to follow his example; but I finally persuaded her +to remain there patiently, at least for the present. It is well that +the poor have their sensibilities blunted early in life, for they are +spared many sorrows that afflict those who are pampered by fortune and +rendered morbidly sensitive by years of indulgence and prosperity." + +A metallic ring had crept into her voice, hardening it, and although +he could not distinctly see her countenance, he knew that the words +came through set teeth. + +"Salome, I hope that I misunderstand you." + +"No; unfortunately, you thoroughly comprehend me. Dr. Grey, were you +situated precisely as I find myself, do you suppose you would feel +your degradation as little as I seem to do? Do you think you would +relish the bread of charity as keenly as one, who, for courtesy's +sake, shall be nameless? Could you calmly stand by, and with utter +_sang froid_ see your brothers and sisters--your own flesh and +blood--drift on every chance wave, like some sodden crust or withered +weed on a stormy, treacherous sea? Would not your family pride bleed +and die, and your self-respect wail and shrivel and expire?" + +"You have so grossly exaggerated and overcolored your picture that I +recognize little likeness to reality." + +"I neither gloze nor mask; I simply front the facts, which are, +briefly, that you were nurtured in independence and trained to abhor +the crumbs that fall from other people's tables, while all heroic +aspirations and proud chivalric dreams were fed by the milk that +nourished you; whereas, I grew up in the wan, sickly atmosphere of +penury; glad to grasp the crust that chance offered; taught to +consider the bread of dependence precious as ambrosia; willing to +forget family ties that were fraught only with humiliation and +wretchedness; coveting bounty that I had not sufficient ambition to +merit; and eager to live on charity, as long as it could be coaxed, +hoodwinked, or scourged into supporting me comfortably. Yesterday I +read a sentence that might have been written for me, so felicitously +does it photograph me, 'Temperament is a fate oftentimes, from whose +jurisdiction its victims hardly escape, but do its bidding herein, be +it murder or martyrdom. Virtues and crimes are mixed in one's cup of +nativity, with the lesser or larger margin of choice. _Blood is a +destiny._' You, Ulpian Grey, are what you are because your father was +a gentleman, and all your surroundings were luxurious and refined; and +I, the miller's child, am what you see me because my father was coarse +and brutal; because my body and soul struggled with staring +starvation,--physical, mental, and moral. Be just, and remember these +things when you are tempted to despise me as a pitiable, spiritless +parasite." + +"My little friend, you have most unnecessarily tortured yourself, and +grieved and mortified me. Have I ever treated you with contempt or +disrespect?" + +"You evidently pity me, and compassion is about as welcome to my +feelings as a vitriol bath to fresh wounds." + +"Are you not conscious of having more than once acted in such a manner +as to necessitate my compassion?" + +She was silent for some moments; but as they entered the avenue, she +said, impetuously,-- + +"I want you to respect me." + +"If you respect yourself and merit my good opinion, I shall not +withhold it. But of one thing let me assure you; my standard of +womanly delicacy, nobility, gentleness, and Christian faith is very +exalted; and I cannot and will not lower it, even to meet the +requirements of those who claim my friendship. Thoroughly cognizant of +my opinions concerning several subjects, you have more than once, +premeditatedly and obtrusively outraged them, and while I can and do +most cordially overlook the offence, you should not deem it possible +for me to entertain a very lofty estimate of the offender. When I came +home you took such extraordinary pains to convince me that not a +single noble aspiration actuated you that I confess you almost +succeeded in your aim; but, Salome, I hope you are far more generous +than you deign to prove yourself, and I promise you my earnest respect +shall not lag behind,--shall promptly keep pace with your deserts. You +can, if you so determine, make yourself an attractive, brilliant, +noble woman; an ornament--and better still--a useful, honored member +of society; but the faults of your character are grave, and only +prayer and conscientious, persistent efforts can entirely correct +them. I am neither so unreasonable nor so unjust as to hold you +accountable for circumstances beyond your control; and, while I warmly +sympathize with all your sorrows, I know that you are still +sufficiently young to rectify the unfortunate warping that your nature +received in its mournful early years. To ask me to respect you is as +idle and useless and impotent as the soft murmur of this June breeze +in the elm boughs above us; but you can command my perfect confidence +and friendship solely on condition that you merit it. Salome, +something very unusual has influenced you to-day, forcing you to throw +aside the rubbish that you patiently piled over your better self until +it was effectually concealed; and, if you are willing to be frank with +me, I should be glad to know what has so healthfully affected you. I +believe I can guess: has not little Jessie wooed and won her sister's +heart, melting all its icy selfishness and warming its holiest +recesses?" + +At this moment Stanley bounded down the steps to meet them, and, +bending over to receive his kiss and embrace, Salome gladly evaded a +reply. That night, after she had taught her brother his lessons for +the next day and made him repeat the prayer learned in the dormitory +of the Asylum,--when she had read Miss Jane to sleep and seen the +doctor set out on his mission of mercy, she brightened the lamp-light +in her own room, and, opening the parcel, drew out and commenced the +dainty embroidery which she had promised should be completed at an +early day. + +The night was warm, but the sea-breeze sang a lullaby in the trees +that peeped in at her window, and now and then a strong gust +blew the flame almost to the top of the lamp-chimney. Stanley +slept soundly in his trundle-bed, occasionally startling her by +half-uttered exclamations, as in his dreams he chased rabbits or +found partridge-eggs. Oblivious of passing hours, and profoundly +immersed in speculations concerning her future, the girl sewed +on, working scallop after scallop, and flower after flower, in +the gossamer cambric between her slender fingers. Stars that looked +upon her early in the night had gone down into blue abysms below +the horizon, and the midnight song of a mocking-bird, swinging in +a lemon-tree beneath her window, had long since hushed itself with +the chirp of crickets and gossip of the katydids. + +A tap on the facing of her open door finally aroused her, and she +hastily attempted to hide her work, as Dr. Grey asked,-- + +"What keeps you up so late? Are you dressing a doll for Jessie?" + +"What brings you home so early? Is your patient better?" + +"Yes; in one sense he is certainly better; for, free from all pain, he +rests with his God." + +"What time is it?" + +"Half-past three. Little Charles died about an hour ago, and, as I +shall be very busy to-morrow, I came upstairs to ask if you will +oblige me by going over to Mrs. Peterson's and remaining with her +until the neighbors assemble in the morning. It is an unpleasant duty, +and unless you are perfectly willing I will not request you to perform +it." + +"Certainly, sir; I will go at once. Why should I hesitate?" + +"Come down as soon as you are ready, and I will make Harrison drive +you over in my buggy. As it is only a mile I walked home." + +When she stood before him, waiting for the servant to adjust some +portion of the harness, Dr. Grey wrapped her shawl more closely around +her, and said,-- + +"What new freak keeps you awake till four o'clock?" + +"It is no freak, but the beginning of a settled purpose that reaches +in numberless ramifications through all my coming years. It does not +concern you, so ask me no more. Good-night. I suppose I ought to +tender you my thanks for deeming me worthy of this melancholy mission; +and if so, pray be pleased to accept them." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +"Jane, have you heard that we shall soon have some new neighbors at +'Solitude'?" + +"No; who is brave enough to settle there?" + +"Mrs. Gerome, a widow, has purchased and refitted the house, +preparatory to making it her home." + +"Do you suppose she knows the history of its former owners?" + +"Probably not, as she has never seen the place. The purchase was made +some months since by her agent, who stated that she was in Europe." + +"Ulpian, I am sorry that the house will again be occupied, for some +mournful fatality seems to have attended all who ever resided there; +and I have been told that the last proprietor changed the name from +'Solitude' to 'Bochim.'" + +"You must not indulge such superstitious vagaries, my dear, wise +Janet. The age of hobgoblins, haunted houses, and supernatural +influences has passed away with the marvels of alchemy and the weird +myths of Rosicrucianism. Because many deaths have occurred at that +place, and the residents were consequently plunged in gloom, you must +not rashly impute eldritch influences to the atmosphere surrounding +it. Knowing its ghostly celebrity, I have investigated the grounds of +existing prejudice, and find that of the ten persons who have died +there during the last fifteen years, three deaths were from hereditary +consumption, one from dropsy, two from paralysis, one from epilepsy, +one from brain-fever, one from drowning, and the last from a fall that +broke the victim's neck. Were these attributable to any local cause, +the results would certainly not have proved so diverse." + +"Call it superstition, or what you will, no amount of coaxing, +argument, or ridicule, no imaginable inducement could prevail on me to +live there,--even if the house were floored with gold and roofed with +silver. It is the gloomiest-looking place this side of Golgotha, and I +would as soon crawl into a coffin for an afternoon nap as spend a +night there." + +"Your imagination invests it with a degree of gloom which is +adventitious, and referable solely to painful associations; for +intrinsically the situation is picturesque and beautiful, and the +grounds have been arranged with consummate taste. This morning I +noticed a quantity of rare and very superb lilies clustered in a +corner of the _parterre_." + +"Pray, what called you there?" + +"A workman engaged in repairing some portion of the roof, slipped on +the slate and broke his arm; consequently, they sent for me." + +"Just what he might have expected. I tell you something happens to +everybody who ever sleeps there." + +"Do you suppose there is a squad of malicious spirits hovering in +ambush to swoop upon all new-comers, and not only fracture limbs, but +scatter to right and left paralysis, epilepsy, and other diseases? +From your rueful countenance a stranger might infer that Pandora's box +had just been opened at 'Bochim,' and that the very air was thick with +miasma and maledictions." + +"Oh, laugh on if you choose at my old-fashioned whims and superstition; +but, mark my words, that place will prove a curse to whoever buys it +and settles there! Has Mrs. Gerome a family?" + +"I believe I heard that she had no children, but I really know little +about her except that she must be a woman of unusually refined and +cultivated tastes, as the pictures, books, and various articles of +vertu that have preceded her seem to indicate much critical and +artistic acumen. The entire building has been refitted in exceedingly +handsome style, and the upholsterer who was arranging the furniture +told me it had been purchased in Europe." + +"When is Mrs. Gerome expected?" + +"During the present week." + +"What aged person is she?" + +"Indeed, my dear, curious Janet, I have asked no questions and formed +no conjectures; but I trust your baleful prognostications will find no +fulfilment in her case." + +"Ulpian, I had some very fashionable visitors to-day, who manifested +an extraordinary interest in your past, present, and future. Mrs. +Channing and her two lovely daughters spent the morning here, and left +an invitation for you to attend a party at their house next Thursday +evening. Miss Adelaide went into ecstasies over that portrait in which +you wore your uniform, and asked numberless questions about you; among +others, whether you were still heart-whole, or whether you had +suffered some great disappointment early in life which kept you a +bachelor. What do you suppose she said when I told her that you had +never had a love-scrape in your life?" + +"Of course she impugned the statement, which, to a young lady framed +for flirtations, must indeed have appeared incredible." + +"On the contrary, she declared that the woman who succeeded in +captivating you would achieve a triumph more difficult and more +desirable than the victory of the Nile or of Trafalgar. I was tempted +to ask her if she might be considered the ambitious Nelson, but of +course politeness forbade. Ulpian, she is the prettiest creature I +ever looked at." + +"Yes, as pretty as mere healthy flesh can be without the sublimation +and radiance of an indwelling soul. There is nothing which impresses +me so mournfully as the sight of a beautiful, frivolous, unscrupulous +woman, who immolates all that is truly feminine in her character upon +the shrine of swollen vanity; and whose career from cradle to grave is +as utterly aimless and useless as that of some gaudy, flaunting +ephemeron of the tropics. Such women act as extinguishers upon the +feeble, flickering flame of chivalry, which modern degeneracy in +manners and morals has almost smothered." + +His tone and countenance evinced more contempt than Salome had known +him to express on any former occasion, and, glancing at his clear, +steady, grave blue eyes, she said to herself,-- + +"At least he will never strike his colors to Admiral Adelaide +Channing, and I should dislike to occupy her place in his estimation." + +"My dear boy, you must not speak in such ungrateful terms of my +beautiful visitor, who certainly has some serious design on your +heart, if I may judge from the very extravagant praise she lavished +upon you. I daresay she is a very nice, sweet girl, and you know you +told me once that if you should ever marry your wife must be a beauty, +else you could not love her." + +"Very true, Janet, and I have no intention of retracting or +diminishing my rigid requirements, but my definition of beauty +includes more than mere physical perfection,--than satin skin, +pearl-tinted, fine eyes, faultless teeth, abundant silky tresses, and +rounded figure. It demands that the heart whose blood paints lips and +cheek, shall be pure, generous, and holy; that the soul which looks +out at me from lustrous eyes shall be consecrated to another deity +than Fashion,--shall be as full of magnanimity, and strength, and +peace, as a harp is of melody; my beauty means meekness, faith, +sanctity, and exacts mental, moral, and material excellence. Rest +assured, my dear, sage counsellor, that if ever I bring a wife to my +hearthstone I will have selected her in obedience to the advice of +Joubert, who admonished us, 'We should choose for a wife only the +woman we would choose for a friend, were she a man.'" + +"You expect too much; you will never find your perfect ideal walking +in flesh." + +"I will content myself with nothing less--I promise you that." + +"Oh, no doubt you will believe that the woman you marry is all that +you dream or wish; but some fine morning you will present me with a +sister as full of foibles and vanities and frailties as any other +spoiled and cunning daughter of Eve. Of course every bridegroom +classes as 'perfect' the blushing, trembling young thing who peeps +shyly at him from under a tulle veil and an orange wreath; but, take +my word for it, there is a spice of Delilah in every pretty girl, and +the credulity of Samson slumbers in all lovers. Nevertheless, Ulpian, +I would sooner see you in bondage to a pair of white hands and hazel +eyes,--would rather know that like all your race you were utterly +humbugged--hoodwinked--by some fair-browed belle, whose low voice +rippled over pouting pink lips, than have you live always alone, a +confirmed old bachelor. After all, I doubt whether you have really +never had a sweetheart, for every schoolboy swears allegiance to some +yellow-haired divinity in ruffled muslin aprons." + +Dr. Grey laid his hand gently on the shrivelled fingers that were +busily engaged in shelling some seed-beans, and answered, jocosely,-- + +"Have I not often told you, that my dear, old, patient sister Janet, +is my only lady-love?" + +"And your silly old Janet is not such an arrant fool as to believe any +such nonsense,--especially when she remembers that from time +immemorial sailors have had sweethearts in every port, and that her +spoiled pet of a brother is no exception to his race or his +profession." + +He laughed, and smoothed her grizzled hair. + +"Since my sapient sister is so curious, I will confess that once--and +only once in my life--I was in dire danger of falling most desperately +in love. The frigate was coaling at Palermo, and I went ashore. One +afternoon, in sauntering through the orange and lemon groves which +render its environs so inviting, I caught a glimpse of a countenance +so serene, so indescribably lovely, that for an instant I was disposed +to believe I had encountered the beatific spirit of St. Rosalie +herself. The face was that of a woman apparently about eighteen years +old, who evidently ranked among Sicilian aristocrats, and whose +elegant attire enhanced her beauty. I followed, at a respectful +distance, until she entered the garden of an adjacent convent and fell +on her knees before a marble altar, where burned a lamp at the feet of +a statue of the Virgin; and no painting in Europe stamped itself so +indelibly on my memory as the picture of that beautiful votary. Her +delicate hands were crossed over her heart,--her large, liquid, black +eyes, raised in adoration,--her full, crimson lips parted as she +repeated the '_Ave Maria_' in the most musical voice I ever heard. +Just above the purplish folds of her abundant hair drooped pomegranate +boughs all aflame with scarlet blooms that fell upon her head like +tongues of fire, as the wind sprang from the blue hollows of the +Mediterranean and shook the grove. The sun was going swiftly down +behind the stone turrets of a monastery that crowned a distant hill, +and the last rays wove an aureola around my kneeling saint, who, +doubtless, aware of the effect of her graceful attitudinizing, seemed +in no haste to conclude her devotions. As I recalled the charming +tableau, those lines wherein Buchanan sought to photograph the +picturesqueness of the Digentia, float up from some sympathetic cell +of memory,-- + + 'Could you look at the leaves of yonder tree,-- + The wind is stirring them, as the sun is stirring me! + The woolly clouds move quiet and slow + In the pale blue calm of the tranquil skies, + And their shades that run on the grass below + Leave purple dreams in the violet's eyes! + The vine droops over my head with bright + Clusters of purple and green,--the rose + Breaks her heart on the air; and the orange glows + Like golden lamps in an emerald night.' + +My Sicilian Siren finally disappeared in a gloomy arched-way +leading into the convent, and I returned to the hotel to dream of +her until the morning sunshine once more bathed Conca D'Oro in +splendor,--when I instituted a search for the name and residence of +my inamorata. Six hours of enthusiastic investigation yielded me +the coveted information, but imagine the profound despair in which +I was plunged when I ascertained from her own smiling lips that +she was a happy wife and the proud mother of two beautiful children. +As she rose to present her swarthy husband, I bowed myself out and +took refuge aboard ship. Here ends the recital of the first and last +bit of romance that ever threw its rosy tinge over the quiet life of +your staid and humble brother--Ulpian Grey, M.D." + +"Ah, my dear sailor boy, I am afraid thirty-five years of experience +have rendered you too wary to be caught by such chaff as pretty girls +sprinkle along your path! I should be glad to see your bride enter +this door before I am carried out feet foremost to my final rest by +Enoch's side." + +"Do not despair of me, dear Jane, for I am not exactly Methuselah's +rival; and comfort yourself by recollecting that Lessing was forty +years old when he first loved the only woman for whom he ever +entertained an affection--his devoted Eva König." + +Dr. Grey bent over his sister's easy-chair, and, taking her thin, +sallow face tenderly in his soft palms, kissed the sunken cheeks--the +wrinkled forehead; and then, laying her head gently back upon its +cushions, entered his buggy and drove to his office. + +"Salome, what makes you look so moody? There are as many furrows on +your brow as lines in a spider's web, and your lips are drawn in as if +you had dined on green persimmons. Child, what is the matter?" + +Miss Jane lifted her spectacles from her nose, and eyed the orphan, +anxiously. + +"I am very sorry to hear that 'Solitude' will be filled once more with +people, and bustle, and din. It is the nearest point where we can +reach the beach, and I have enjoyed many quiet strolls under its +grand, old, solemn trees. If haunted at all, it is by Dryads and +Hamadryads, and I like the babble of their leaves infinitely better +than the strife of human tongues. Miss Jane, if I were only a pagan!" + +"I am not very sure that you are not," sighed the invalid. + +"Nor I. I have lost my place,--I am behind my time in this world by at +least twenty centuries, and ought to have lived in the jovial age of +fauns and satyrs, when groves were sacred for other reasons than the +high price of wood,--when gods and goddesses were abundant as +blackberries, and at the beck and call of every miserable wretch who +chose to propitiate them by offering a flask of wine, a bunch of +turnips, a litter of puppies, or a basket of olives. Hesiod and Homer +understood human nature infinitely better than Paul and Luther." + +"Salome, you are growing shockingly irreverent and wicked." + +"No, madam,--begging your pardon. I am only desperately honest in +wishing that my salvation and future felicity could be secured beyond +all peradventure, by a sacrifice of oatcakes, or white doves, or black +cats, instead of a drab-colored life of prayer, penance, purity, and +patience. I don't deny that I would rather spend my days in watching +the gorgeous pageant of the_ Panathenaea_, or chanting dithyrambics to +insure a fine vintage, or even offering a _Taigheirm_, than in running +neck and neck with Lucifer for the kingdom of heaven. I love kids, and +fawns, and lambs, as well as Landseer; but I should not long hesitate, +had I the choice, between flaying their tender flesh in sacrifice and +mortifying my own as a devout life requires." + +"But what would have become of your poor soul if you had lived in +Pagan times?" + +"What will become of it under present circumstances, I should be +exceedingly glad to know. 'The heathen are a law unto themselves,' and +I sometimes wish I had been born a Fejee belle, who lived, was +tastefully tattooed, and died without having even dreamed of +missionaries,--those officious martyrs who hope to wear a whole +constellation on their foreheads as a reward for having been eaten by +cannibals, to whom they expounded the unpalatable doctrine that, +'this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men +loved darkness rather than light.' Moreover, I confess--" + +"That is quite sufficient. I have already heard more than I relish of +such silly and sacrilegious chat. At least, you might have more +prudence and discretion than to hold forth so disgracefully in the +hearing of your little brother." + +Miss Jane's cheek flushed, and her feeble voice faltered. + +"He has fallen fast asleep over the bean-pods; and, even if he +had not, how much of the conversation do you imagine he would +comprehend? His sole knowledge of Grecian theogony consists of a +brief acquaintance with a bottle of pseudo Greek fire which +burnt the pocket out of his best pantaloons." + +"Salome, you distress me; and, if Ulpian had not left us, you would +have kept all such heathenish stuff shut up in your sinful and wayward +heart." + +"Dr. Grey is no Gorgon, having power to petrify my tongue. I am not +afraid of him; and my respect for your feelings is much stronger than +my dread of his." + +"Hush, child! You are afraid of him, and well you may be. I fear +that all your Sabbath-school advantages--all your Christian +privileges--have been wofully wasted; and I shall ask Ulpian to talk +to you." + +"No, thank you, Miss Jane. You may save yourself the trouble, for he +has given me over to hardness of heart and 'a reprobate mind,' and his +patience is not only 'clean gone forever,' but he has carefully washed +his hands of all future interest in my rudderless and drifting soul. +Let me speak this once, and henceforth I promise to hold my peace. I +do not require to be 'talked to' by anybody,--I only need to be let +alone. Sabbath-schools are indisputably excellent things,--and I can +testify that they are ponderous ecclesiastical hammers, pounding +creeds and catechisms into the mould of memory; but these nurseries of +the church nourish and harbor some Satan's imps among their +half-fledged saints; and while they certainly accomplish a vast amount +of good, they are by no means infallible machines for the manufacture +of Christians,--of which fact I stand in melancholy attestation. I +have a vague impression that piety does not grow up in a night, like +Jonah's gourd or Jack the Giant-killer's beanstalk; but is a pure, +glittering, spiritual stalactite, built by the slow accretion of +dripping tears. Do you suppose that you can successfully train my soul +as you have managed my body?--that you can hold my nose and pour a +dose of faith down my throat, like ipecac or cod-liver oil? In matters +of theology I am no ostrich, and, if you afflict me _ad nauseam_ with +religious dogmas, you must not wonder that my moral digestion rebels +outright. I shall not dispute the fact that in justice to your +precepts and example I ought to be a Christian; but, since I am not, I +may as well tell you at once and save future trouble, that I can +neither be baited into the church like a hawk into a steel-trap, nor +scared and driven into it like bees into a hive by the rattling of tin +pans and the screaking of horns. Don't look at me so dolefully, dear +Miss Jane, as if you had already seen my passport to perdition signed +and sealed. You, at least, have done your whole duty,--have set all +the articles of orthodoxy, well-flavored and garnished, before me; +and, if I am finally lost, my spiritual starvation can never be +charged against you in the last balance-sheet. I am not ignorant of +the Bible, nor altogether unacquainted with the divers creeds that +spring from its pages as thick, as formidable, as ferocious, as the +harvest from the dragon's teeth; and, thanking you for all you have +taught me, I here undertake to pilot my own soul in this boiling, +bellowing sea of life. I doubt whether some of the charts you value +will be of any service in my voyage, or whether the beacons by which +you steer will save me from the reefs; but, nevertheless, I take the +wheel, and, if I wreck my soul,--why, then, I wreck it." + +In the magic evening light, which touches all things with a rosy, +transitory glamour, the fresh young face with its daintily sculptured +lineaments seemed marvellously and surpassingly fair; but, like +_morbidezza_ marble, hopelessly fixed and chill, and might have served +for some image of Eve, when, standing on the boundary of eternal +beatitude, she daringly put up her slender womanly fingers to pluck +the fatal fruit. Her large, brilliant eyes followed the sinking sun +as steadily--as unblinkingly--as an eagle's; but the gleam that rayed +out was baleful, presaging storms, as infallibly as that sullen, lurid +light, which glares defiantly over helpless earth when to-day's sun +falls into the cloudy lap of to-morrow's tempest. + +A heavy sigh struggled across Miss Jane's unsteady lips, as, removing +her glasses, she wiped her eyes, and said, slowly,-- + +"Yes; I am a stupid, unsuspecting old dolt; but I see it all now." + +"My ultimate and irremediable ruin?" + +"God forbid!" + +Salome approached the arm-chair, and, stooping, looked intently at the +aged, wan face. + +"What is it that you see? Miss Jane, when people stand, as you do, +upon the borders of two worlds, the Bygone fades,--the Beyond grows +distinct and luminous. Lend me your second sight, to decipher the +characters scrawled like fiery serpents over the pall that envelops +the future." + +"I see nothing but the grim, unmistakeable fact that my little, +clinging, dependent child, has, without my knowledge, put away +childish things, and suddenly steps before me a wilful, irreverent, +graceless woman, as eager to challenge the decrees of the Lord as was +complaining Job before the breath of the whirlwind smote and awed him. +Some day, Salome, that same voice that startled the old man of Uz will +make you bend and tremble and shiver like that acacia yonder, which +the wind is toying with before it snaps asunder. When that time comes +the clover will feed bees above my gray head, but I trust my soul will +be near enough to the great white throne to pray God to have mercy on +your wretched spirit, and bring you safely to that blessed haven +whither you can never pilot yourself." + +Nervous excitement gave unwonted strength to the feeble limbs; and, +grasping her crutches, Miss Jane limped into her own room and closed +the door after her. + +For some moments the girl stood looking out over the lawn, where +fading sunshine and deepening shadow made fitful _chiaroscuro_ along +the primrose-paved aisles that stretched under the elm arches,--then, +raising her fingers as if tracing lines on the soft, gold-dusted +atmosphere that surrounded her, she muttered doggedly,-- + +"Yes; I am at sea! But, if God is just, Miss Jane and I will yet shake +hands on that calm, surgeless, crystal sea, shining before the throne. +So, now I take the helm and put the head of my precious charge before +the wind, and only the Almighty can foresee the result. In His mercy I +put my trust. So be it. + + 'Gray distance hid each shining sail, + By ruthless breezes borne from me; + And lessening, fading, faint, and pale, + My ships went forth to sea.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +"Mother, I am afraid Mrs. Gerome does not like this place, or the +furniture, or something, for she has not spoken a kind word about the +house since she came. She looks closely at everything, but says +nothing. What do you suppose she thinks?" + +Robert Maclean, the gardener at "Solitude," paused abruptly, as his +mother pinched his arm sharply and whispered,-- + +"Whist! There she comes down the azalea walk; and no one likes to +stumble upon their own name when they are not expecting the sound +or sight of it. No; she has turned off towards the cedars, and does +not see us. As to her likes and dislikes, there is nothing this side +of heaven that will content her; and you might have known better +than to suppose she would be much pleased with anything. No matter +what she thinks, she seldom complains, and it is hard to find out her +views; but she told me to tell you that she approved all you had +done, and thanked you for the pains you have taken to arrange things +comfortably." + +Old Elsie tied the strings of her white muslin cap, and turned her +back to the wind that was playing havoc with its freshly fluted +frills. + +"Mother, I heard her laugh yesterday, for the first time. It was a +short, quick, queer little laugh, but it pleased me greatly. The cook +had set some duck-eggs under that fine black Spanish hen; and, when +they hatched, she marched off with the brood into the fowl-yard, where +they made straight for the duck-pool and sailed in. The hen set up +such a din and clatter that Mrs. Gerome, who happened to get a glimpse +of them, felt sorry for the poor frightened fowl, and tried to drive +the little ones out of the water; but, whenever she put her hand +towards them to catch the nearest, the whole brood would quack and +dive,--and, when she had laughed that one short laugh, she called to +me to look after them and went back to the house. You don't know how +strangely that laugh sounded." + +"Don't I? Speak for yourself, Robert. I have heard her laugh twice, +but it was when she was asleep, and it was an uncanny, bitter +sound,--about as welcome to my ears as her death-rattle. Last night +she did not close her eyes,--did not even undress; and the hall clock +was striking three this morning when I heard her open the piano and +play one of those dismal, frantic, wailing things she calls 'fugues,' +that make the hair rise on my head and every inch of my flesh creep as +if a stranger were treading on my grave. When she was a baby, cutting +her eye-teeth, she had a spasm; and seeing her straighten herself out +and roll back her eyes till only the white balls showed, I took it for +granted she was about to die, and, holding her in my arms, I fell on +my knees and prayed that she might be spared. Well, now, Robert, I am +sorry I put up that petition, for the Lord knew best; and it would +have been a crowning mercy if he had paid no attention to my +half-crazy pleadings and taken her home then. What meddling fools we +all are! I thought, at that time, it would break my heart to shroud +her sweet little body; but ah! I would rather have laid my precious +baby in her coffin, with violets under her fingers, than live to see +that desperate, unearthly look, come and house itself in her great, +solemn, hungry, tormenting eyes, that were once as full of sparkles +and merriment as the sky is of stars on a clear, frosty night. My son, +we never know what is good for us; for, many times, when we clamor for +bread we break our teeth on it; and then, again, when we rage and howl +because we think the Lord has dealt out scorpions to us, they prove +better than the fish we craved. So, after all, I conclude Christ +understood the whole matter when he enjoined upon us to say, 'Thy will +be done.'" + +The old nurse wiped her eyes with the corner of her black silk apron, +and, leaning against the trunk of a tree, crossed her arms comfortably +over her broad and ample chest, while Robert busied himself in +repotting some choice carnations. + +"But, mother, do you really think she will be satisfied to stay here, +after travelling so long up and down in the world?" + +"How can I tell what she will or will not do? You know very well that +she goes to sleep with one set of whims and wakes up with new ones. +She catches odd freaks as some people catch diseases. She said +yesterday that she had had enough of travel and change, and intended +to settle and live and die right here; but that does not prove that I +may not receive an order next week to pack her trunks and start to +Jericho or Halifax, and I should not think the world was upside down +and coming to an end if such an order came before breakfast to-morrow. +Poor lamb! My poor lamb! Yonder she comes again. Do you notice how +fast she walks, as if the foul fiend were clutching at her skirts or +she were trying to get away from herself,--trying to run her restless +soul entirely out of her wretched body? Come away, Robert, and let her +have all the grounds to herself. She likes best to be alone." + +Mother and son walked off in the direction of the stables, and the +advancing figure emerged from the dense shade where interlacing limbs +roofed one of the winding walks, and paused before the circular stand +on which lemon, rose, white, crimson, and variegated carnations, +nodded their fringed heads and poured spicy aromas from their velvety +chalices. + +The face and form of Mrs. Gerome presented a puzzling paradox, in +which old age and youth seemed struggling for mastery; and "death in +life" found melancholy verification. Tall, slender, and faultlessly +made, the perfection of her figure was marred by the unfortunate +carriage of her head, which drooped forward so heavily that the chin +almost touched her throat and nearly destroyed the harmony of the +profile outline. The head itself was nobly rounded, and sternly +classic as any well authenticated antique, but it was no marvel that +it habitually bowed under the heavy glittering mass of silver hair, +which wound in coil after coil and was secured at the back by a comb +of carved jet, thickly studded with small silver stars. The +extraordinary lustrousness of these waves of gray hair that rippled on +her forehead and temples like molten metal, lent a weird and wondrous +effect to the straight, regular, rigid features,--daintily cut as +those of Pallas, and quite as pallid. The delicate and high arch of +the eyebrows was black as ebony, and in conjunction with the long +jetty lashes formed a very singular contrast to the shining white +tresses, which lay piled like freshly fallen snow-drift above them. +The brow was full, round, smooth, and fair as a child's; and more than +one azure thread showed the subtle tracery of veins, whose crimson +currents left no rosy reflex on the firm, gleaming white flesh, +through which they branched. + +Beneath that faultless forehead burned unusually large eyes, deep as +mountain tarns, and of that pure bluish gray that tolerates no hint of +green or yellow rays. The dilated pupils intensified the steel color, +and faint violet lines ran out from the iris to meet the central +shadows, while above and below the heavy black fringes enhanced their +sombre depths, where mournful mysteries seemed to float like corpses +just beneath the crystal shroud of ocean waves. The pale, passionless +lips,--perfect in their pure curves, but defrauded of the blood which +resolutely refused to come to the surface and tint the fine satin +skin,--were lined in ciphers that the curious questioned and wondered +over, but which few could read and none fully comprehend. The +beautiful, frigid mouth, where all sweetness was frozen out to make +room for hopelessness and defiance, would have admirably suited some +statue of discrowned and smitten Hecuba; and no amount of sighs and +sobs, no stormy bursts of grief or fierce invective, could rival the +melancholy eloquence of its mute, calm pallor. + +The wan face, with its gray globe-like eyes, and the metallic glitter +of the prematurely silvered hair, matched in hue the pearl-colored +muslin dress which fluttered in the wind; and, standing there, this +gray woman of twenty-three looked indeed like Pygmalion's stone +darling,-- + + "Fair-statured, noble, like an awful thing + Frozen upon the very verge of life, + And looking back along eternity + With rayless eyes that keep the shadow Time." + +Her frail, white hands, with their oval nails polished and opalescent, +were exceedingly beautiful; and, where the creamy foam of the fine +lace fell back from the dimpled wrists, quaintly carved jet serpents +with blazing diamond eyes coiled around the throbbing thread-like +pulses of sullen _sang azure_. + +Bending over the carnations, she examined the gorgeous hues,--toyed +with their fragile stems,--and then, glancing shyly over her shoulder +like a startled fawn half expectant of hounds and hunter, she glided +rapidly to an artificial mound crowned with a mouldering mossy plaster +image of Ariadne and her pard, and stood surveying her new domain. + +"Solitude" filled a semicircular hollow between low wooded hills, +which ran down to lave their grassy flanks in the blue brine of the +Atlantic, and constituted the horns of a crescent bay, on whose +sloping sandy beach the billows broke without barrier. + +The old-fashioned brick house--with sharp, peaked roof, turreted +chimneys, and gable window looking down in front upon the clumsily +clustered columns that supported the arched portico--was built upon a +rocky knoll, of which nature laid the foundation and art increased the +height; and, around and above it, towered a dense grove of ancient +trees that shut out the glare of the sea and effectually screened the +mansion from observation. The damp walls were heavily draped with the +sombre verdure of ivy, whose ambitious tendrils clambered to the cleft +chimney-tops, and peered impertinently over the broad stone +window-sills, whence the indignant housemaid remorselessly sheared +them away as often as their encroachments grew perceptible. + +In the rear of the house, and toward the west, stretched orchard, +vegetable garden, vineyard, and wheat-field, whose rolling green waves +seemed almost to break against the ruddy trunks of cedars that clothed +the hillside. To the left and north lay low, marshy, meadow land, +covered with rank grass and frosted with saline incrustations; while +south of the building extended spacious grounds, studded here and +there with noble groups of deodars, Norway spruce, and various +ornamental shrubs, and bounded by a tall impenetrable hedge of osage +orange. Before the house, which faced the ocean and fronted east, the +lawn sloped gently down to a terrace surmounted by a granite +balustrade; and just beyond, supported by stone piers on the golden +sands, stood an octagonal boat-house, built in the Swiss style, with +red-tiled roof, and floored with squares of white and black marble, +whence a flight of steps led to the little boat chained to one of the +rocky piers. Along the entire length of the terrace a line of giant +poplars lifted their aged, weather-beaten heads, high above all +surrounding objects,--ever on the _qui vive_, looking seaward,--trim +and erect as soldiers on dress parade, and defiant of gales that had +shorn them of many boughs, and left ghastly scars on their glossy +limbs. + +Tradition whispered, with bated breath, that in the dim dawn of +colonial settlement a rude log hut had been erected here by pirates, +who came ashore to bury their ill-gotten booty, and rumors were rife +of bloody deeds and midnight orgies,--all of which sprang into more +vigorous circulation, when, in laying the foundations of the +boat-house piers, an iron pot containing a number of old French and +Spanish coins was dug out of the shells and sand. + +Melancholy tales of stranded vessels and drowned crews, of a +slaver burned to the water's edge to escape capture, and of charred +corpses strewn on the beach, thickened the atmosphere of legendary +gloom that enveloped the spot,--where the successive demise of +several proprietors certainly sanctioned the feeling of dread and +superstitious distrust with which it was regarded. That the +unenviable celebrity it had attained was referable to local causes +generating disease, appeared almost incredible; for, if miasmatic +exhalations rose dank and poisonous from the densely shaded humid +house, they were promptly dispelled by the strong, invincible +ocean-breeze, which tore aside leafy branches and muslin curtains, and +wafted all noxious vapors inland. + +A committee of medical sages having cautiously examined the place, +unanimously averred that its reputed fatality could not justly be +ascribed to any topographical causes. Whereupon the popular nerve, +which closely connected the community with supernaturaldom, thrilled +afresh; and all the calamities, real and imaginary, that had afflicted +"Solitude" from a period so remote that "the memory of man runneth not +to the contrary," were laid upon the galled shoulders of some +red-liveried, sulphur-scented Imp of Abaddon, whose peculiar mission +was to haunt the "piratical nest;" and, in lieu of human victims, to +addle the eggs, blast the grape crop, and make night hideous with +spectral sights and sounds. + +To an unprejudiced observer the hills seemed to have gleefully clasped +hands and formed a half-circle, shutting the place in for a quiet +breezy communion with garrulous ocean, whose waves ran eagerly up the +strand to gossip of wrecks and cyclones, with the staid martinet +poplars that nodded and murmured assent to all their wild romances. + +Such was the pleasant impression produced upon the mind of the lonely +woman who now owned it, and who hoped to spend here in seclusion and +peace the residue of a life whose radiant dawn had been suddenly +swallowed by drab clouds and starless gloom. + +The Scotch are proverbially credulous concerning all preternatural +influences; and, had Robert Maclean been cognizant of half the ghostly +associations attached to the residence which he had selected in +compliance with general instructions from his mistress, it is scarcely +problematical whether the house would not have remained in the hands +of the real-estate broker; but, fortunately for their peace of mind, +Elsie and her son were as yet in blissful ignorance of the dismal +celebrity of their new home. + +Resting her folded hands on the bare shoulders of the Ariadne, which +modest lichens and officious wreaths of purple verbena were striving +to mantle, Mrs. Gerome scanned the scene before her; and a quick, +nervous sigh, that was almost a pant, struggled across her lips. + +"Unto this last nook of refuge have I come; and, expecting little, +find much. Shut out from the world, locked in with the sea,--no +neighbors, no visitors, no news, no gossip,--solitary, shady, cool, +and quiet,--surely I can rest here. Forked tongues of scandal can not +penetrate through those rock-ribbed hills yonder, nor dart across that +defying sea; and neither wail nor wassail of men or women can disturb +me more. But how do I know that it will not prove a mocking cheat like +Baiæ and Maggiore, or Copais and Cromarty? I have fled in disgust and +_ennui_ from far lovelier spots than this, and what right have I to +suppose that contentment has housed itself as my guest in that old, +mossy, brick pile, where mice and wrens run riot? Like Cain and +Cartophilus, my curse travels with me, and I no sooner pitch my tent, +than lo! the rattle and grin of my skeleton, for which earth is not +wide enough to furnish a grave! Well! well! at least I shall not be +stared to death here,--shall not be tormented by eye-glasses and +sketch-books; can live in that dim, dark, greenish den yonder, +unobserved and possibly forgotten and finally sleep undisturbed in the +dank shade of those deodars, with twittering birds overhead and a +sobbing sea at my feet. How long--how long before that dreamless +slumber will fall upon my heavy lids,--weary with waiting? Only +twenty-three yesterday! My God, if I should live to be an old woman! +The very thought threatens insanity! Ten--twenty--possibly thirty +years ahead of me. No; I could not endure it,--I should go mad, or +destroy myself! If I were a delicate woman, if I only had weak lungs +or a dropsical heart, or a taint of any hereditary infirmity that +would surely curtail my days, I could be tolerably patient, hoping +daily for the symptoms to develop themselves. But, unfortunately, +though my family all died early, no two members, selected the same +mode of escape from this bastile of clay; and my flesh is sound, and I +am as strong and compact as that granite balustrade, and--ha! +ha!--quite as hard. _Au pis aller_, if the burden of life becomes +utterly intolerable I can shuffle it off as quickly as did that proud +Roman, who, 'when the birds began to sing' in the dawn of a day +heralded by tempestuous winds laden with perfume from the vales of +Sicily, shut his eyes forever from the warm sparkling Mediterranean +billows that broke in the roads of Utica, and pricked the memory of +inattentive Azrael with the point of a sword. Neither Phædo, family, +nor fame, could coax Cato to respect the prerogative of Atropos; and +if he, 'the only free and unconquered man,' quailed and fled before +the apparition of numerous advancing years, what marvel that I, who am +neither sage nor Roman, should be tempted some fine morning when the +birds are sounding _reveille_ around my chamber windows, to imitate +'what Cato did, and Addison approved'? After all, what despicable +cowards are human hearts, and how much easier to die like Socrates, +Seneca, and Zeno, than stagger and groan under the load of hated, +torturing years, that are about as welcome to my shoulders as the 'old +man of the sea' to Sinbad's! How long?--oh, how long?" + +The gloomy gray eyes had kindled into a dull flicker that resembled +the fitful, ghostly gleam of sheet lightning, falling through painted +windows upon crumbling and defiled altars in some lonely ruined +cathedral; and her low, shuddering tones, were full of a hopeless, +sneering bitterness, as painfully startling and out of place in a +woman's voice as would be the scream of a condor from the irised +throats of brooding doves, or the hungry howl of a wolf from the +tender lips of unweaned lambs. In the gloaming light of a soft gray +sky powdered by a few early stars, stood this desolate gray woman, +about whose face and dress there was no stain of color save the blue +glitter of a large sapphire ring, curiously cut in the form of a +coiled asp, with hooded head erect and brilliant diamond eyes that +twinkled with every quiver of the marble-white fingers. + +Impatiently she turned her imperial head, when the sound of +approaching steps broke the stillness; and her tone was sharp as that +of one suddenly roused from deep sleep,-- + +"Well, Elsie! What is it?" + +"Tea, my child, has been waiting half-an-hour." + +"Then go and get your share of it. I want none." + +"But you ate no dinner to-day. Does your head ache?" + +"Oh, no; my heart jealously monopolizes that privilege!" + +The old woman sighed audibly, and Mrs. Gerome added,-- + +"Pray, do not worry yourself about me! When I feel disposed to come in +I can find the way to the door. Go and get your supper." + +The nurse passed her wrinkled hand over the drab muslin sleeves and +skirt, and touched the folds of hair. + +"But, my bairn, the dew is thick on your head and has taken all the +starch out of your dress. Please come out of this fog that is creeping +up like a serpent from the sea. You are not used to such damp air, and +it might give you rheumatic cramps." + +"Well, suppose it should? Does not my white head entitle me to all +such luxuries of old age and decrepitude? Don't bother me, Elsie." + +She put out her hand with a repellent gesture, but Elsie seized it, +and clasping both her palms over the cold fingers, said, with +irresistible tenderness,-- + +"Come, dearie!--come, my dearie!" + +Without a word Mrs. Gerome turned and followed her across the lawn and +into the house, whose internal arrangement was somewhat at variance +with its unpretending exterior. + +The rooms were large, with low ceilings; and fire-places, originally +wide and deep, had been recently filled and fitted up with handsome +grates, while the heavy mantelpieces of carved cedar, that once +matched the broad facings of the windows and the massive panels of the +doors, were exchanged for costly _verd antique_ and lumachella. The +narrow passage running through the centre of the building was also +wainscoted with cedar and adorned with fine engravings of Landseer's +best pictures, whose richly carved walnut frames looked almost cedarn +in the pale chill light that streamed upon them through the +violet-colored glass which surrounded the front door and effectually +subdued the hot golden glare of the sunny sun. The old-fashioned +folding doors that formerly connected the parlor and library had been +removed to make room for a low, wide arch, over which drooped lace +curtains, partially looped with blue silk cord and tassels, and both +apartments were furnished with sofas and chairs of rosewood and blue +satin damask, while the velvet carpet, with its azure ground strewn +with wreaths of white roses and hyacinths, corresponded in color. +Handsome book-cases, burdened with precious lore, lined the walls of +the rear room; and on either side of a massive ormolu _escritoire_, +bronze candelabra shed light on the blue velvet desk where lay +delicate sheets of gossamer paper with varied and _outré_ monograms, +guarded by an exquisite marble statuette of Harpocrates, which stood +in the mirror-panelled recess reserved for pen, ink, and sealing-wax. +The air was fragrant with the breath of flowers that nodded to each +other from costly vases scattered through both apartments; and, before +one of the windows, rose a bronze stand containing china jars filled +with pelargoniums, in brilliant bloom. An Erard piano occupied one +corner of the parlor, and the large harp-shaped stand at its side was +heaped with books and unbound sheets of music. Here two long wax +candles were now burning brightly, and, on the oval marble table in +the centre of the floor, was a superb silver lamp representing Psyche +bending over Cupid, and supporting the finely-cut globe, whose soft +radiance streamed down on her burnished wings and eagerly-parted sweet +Greek lips. The design of this exceedingly beautiful lamp would not +have disgraced Benvenuto Cellini, nor its execution have reflected +discredit upon the genius of Felicie Fauveau, though to neither of +these distinguished artificers could its origin have been justly +ascribed. In its mellow, magical glow, the fine paintings suspended on +the walls seemed to catch a gleam of "that light that never was on +sea or land," for their dim, purplish Alpine gorges were filled with +snowy phantasmagoria of rushing avalanches; their foaming cataracts +braided glittering spray into spectral similitude of Undine tresses +and Undine faces; their desolate red deserts grew vaguely populous +with mirage mockeries; their green dells and grassy hill-sides, +couching careless herds, and fleecy flocks, borrowed all Arcadia's +repose; and the marble busts of Beethoven and of Handel, placed on +brackets above the piano, shone as if rapt, transfigured in the mighty +inspiration that gave to mankind "_Fidelio_" and the "_Messiah_." + +On the sofa which partially filled the oriel window, where the lace +drapery was looped back to admit the breeze, lay an ivory box +containing materials and models for wax-flowers; and, in one corner, +half thrust under the edge of the silken cushion, was an unfinished +wreath of waxen convolvulus and a cluster of gentians. There, too, +open at the page that narrated the death-struggle, lay Liszt's "Life +of Chopin," pressed face downwards, with two purple pansies crushed +and staining the leaves; and a small gold thimble peeping out of a +crevice in the damask tattled of the careless feminine fingers that +had left these traces of disorder. + +The collection of pictures was unlike those usually brought from +Europe by cultivated tourists, for it contained no Madonnas, no +Magdalenes, no Holy Families, no Descents or Entombments, no Saints, +or Sibyls, or martyrs; and consisted of wild mid-mountain scenery, of +solemn surf-swept strands, of lonely moonlit moors, of crimson sunsets +in Cobi or Sahara, and of a few gloomy, ferocious faces, among which +the portrait of Salvator Rosa smiled sardonically, and a head of +frenzied Jocasta was preëminently hideous. + +As Mrs. Gerome entered the parlor and brightened the flame of the +Psyche lamp, her eyes accidentally fell upon the bust of Beethoven, +where, in gilt letters, she had inscribed his own triumphant +declaration, "_Music is like wine, inflaming men to new achievements; +and I am the Bacchus who serves it out to them_." While she watched +the rayless marble orbs, more eloquent than dilating darkening human +pupils, a shadow dense and mysterious drifted over her frigid face, +and, without removing her eyes from the bust above her, she sat down +before the piano, and commenced one of those marvellous symphonies +which he had commended to the study of Goethe. + +Ere it was ended Elsie came in, bearing a waiter on which stood a +silver _epergne_ filled with fruit, a basket of cake, and a goblet of +iced tea. + +"My child, I bring your supper here because the dining-room looks +lonesome at night." + +"No,--no! take it away. I tell you I want nothing." + +"But, for my sake, dear--" + +"Let me alone, Elsie! There,--there! Don't teaze me." + +The nurse stood for some moments watching the deepening gloom of the +up-turned countenance, listening to the weird strains that seemed to +drip from the white fingers as they wandered slowly across the keys; +then, kneeling at her side, grasped the hands firmly, and covered them +with kisses. + +"Precious bairn! don't play any more to-night. For God's sake, let me +shut up this piano that is making a ghost of you! You will get so +stirred up you can't close your eyes,--you know you will; and then I +shall cry till day-break. If you don't care for yourself, dearie, do +try to care a little for the old woman who loves you better than her +life, and who never can sleep till she knows your precious head is on +its pillow. My pretty darling, you are killing me by inches, and I +shall stay here on my knees until you leave the piano, if that is not +till noon to-morrow. You may order me away; but not a step will I +stir. God help you, my bairn!" + +Mrs. Gerome made an effort to extricate her hands, but the iron grasp +was relentless; and, in a tone of great annoyance, she exclaimed,-- + +"Oh, Elsie! You are an intolerable--" + +"Well, dear, say it out,--an intolerable old fool! Isn't that what you +mean?" + +"Not exactly; but you presume upon my forbearance. Elsie, you must not +interrupt and annoy me, for I tell you now I will not submit to it. +You forget that I am not a child." + +"Darling, you will never be anything but a child to me,--the same +pretty child I took from its dead mother's arms and carried for years +close to my heart. So scold me as you may, my pet, I shall love you +and try to take care of you just as long as there is breath left in my +body." + +She ended by kissing the struggling hands; and, striving to conceal +her vexation, Mrs. Gerome finally turned and said,-- + +"If you will eat your supper, and stay with Robert, and leave me in +peace, I promise you I will close the piano, which your flinty Scotch +soul can no more appreciate than the brick and mortar that compose +these walls. You mean well, my dear, faithful Elsie, but sometimes you +bore me fearfully. I know I am often wayward; but you must bear with +me, for, after all, how could I endure to lose you,--you the only +human being who cares whether I live or die? There,--go! Good night!" + +She threw her arms around Elsie's neck, leaned her wan cheek for an +instant only on her shoulder, then pushed her away and hastily closed +the piano. + +Two hours later, when the devoted servant stole up on tip-toe, and +peeped through the half-open door that led into the hall, she found +the queenly figure walking swiftly and lightly across the room from +oriel to arch, with her hands clasped over the back of her head, and +the silvery lamp-light shining softly on the waves of burnished hair +that rippled around her pure, polished forehead. + +As she watched her mistress, Elsie's stout frame trembled, and hot +tears streamed down her furrowed face while she lifted her heart in +prayer, for the dreary, lonely, lovely woman, who had long ago ceased +to pray for herself. But when the quivering lips of one breathed a +petition before the throne of God, the beautiful cold mouth of the +other was muttering bitterly,-- + + "Yea, love is dead, and by her funeral bier + Ambition gnaws the lips, and sheds no tears; + And, in the outer chamber Hope sits wild,-- + Hope, with her blue eyes dim with looking long." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +"Ulpian, why do you look so grave and grieved? Does your letter +contain bad news?" + +Miss Jane pushed back her spectacles and glanced anxiously at her +brother, who stood with his brows slightly knitted, twirling a +crumpled envelope between his fingers. + +"It is not a letter, but a telegraphic dispatch, summoning me to the +death-bed of my best friend, Horace Manton." + +"The man whose life you saved at Madeira?" + +"Yes; and the person to whom, above all other men, I am most strongly +and tenderly attached. His constitution is so feeble that I have long +been uneasy about him; but the end has come even earlier than I +feared." + +"Where does he live?" + +"On the Hudson, a few miles above New York City. I have no time to +spare, for I shall take the train that leaves at one o'clock, and must +make some arrangement with Dr. Sheldon to attend my patients. Will it +trouble or tire you too much to pack my valise while I write a couple +of business letters? If so, I will call Salome to assist you." + +"Trouble me, indeed! Nonsense, my dear boy; of course I will pack your +valise. Moreover, Salome is not at home. How long will you be +absent?" + +"Probably a week or ten days,--possibly longer. If poor Horace +lingers, I shall remain with him." + +"Wait one moment, Ulpian. Before you go I want to speak to you about +Salome." + +"Well, Janet, I lend you my ears. Has the girl absolutely turned +pagan and set up an altar to Ceres, as she threatened some weeks +since? Take my word for the fact that she does not believe or mean +one half that she says, and is only amusing herself by trying to +discover how wide her audacious heresies can expand your dear +orthodox eyes. Expostulation and entreaty only feed her affected +eccentricities and skepticism, and if you will persistently and +quietly ignore them, they will shrivel as rapidly as a rank +gourd-vine, uprooted on an August day." + +"Pooh! pooh! my dear boy. How you men do prate sometimes of +matters concerning which you are as ignorant as the yearling calves +and gabbling geese that I suppose your learned astronomers see +driven every day to pasture on that range of mountains in the +moon--Eratosthenes--that modern science pretends to have discovered, +and about which you read so marvellous a paper last week." + +Miss Jane reverently clung to the dishonored remnants of the Ptolemaic +theory, and scouted the philosophy of Copernicus which she vehemently +averred was not worth "a pinch of snuff," else the water in the well +would surely run out once in every twenty-four hours. Now, as she +dived into the depths of her stocking-basket, collecting the socks +neatly darned and rolled over each other, her brother smiled, and +answered, good humoredly,-- + +"Dear Janet, I really have not time to follow you to the moon, nor to +prove to you that your astronomical doctrines have been dead and +decently buried for nearly three hundred years; but I should like to +hear what you desire to tell me with reference to Salome. What is the +matter now?" + +"Nothing ails her, except a violent attack of industry, which has +lasted much longer than I thought possible; for, to tell you the truth +without stint or varnish, she certainly was the most sluggish piece of +flesh I ever undertook to manage. Study she would not, keep house she +could not, sewing gave her the headache, and knitting made her +cross-eyed; but, behold! she has suddenly found out that her pretty +little pink palms were made for something better than propping her +peach-bloom cheeks. A few days ago I accidentally discovered that she +was sitting up until long after midnight, and when I questioned her +closely, she finally confessed that she had entered into a contract to +furnish a certain amount of embroidery every month. Bless the child! +can you guess what she intends to do with the money? Hoard it up in +order to rent a couple of rooms, where she can take Jessie and +Stanley to live with her. Ulpian, it is a praiseworthy aim, you must +admit." + +"Eminently commendable, and I respect and admire the motive that +incites her to such a laborious course. At present she is too young +and inexperienced to take entire charge of the children, and I know +nothing of your plans or intentions concerning her future; but, let me +assure you, dear Jane, that I will cordially coöperate in all your +schemes for aiding her and providing a home for them, and my purse +shall not prove a laggard in the race with yours. Recently I have been +revolving a plan for their benefit, but am too much hurried just now +to give you the details. When I return we will discuss it _in +extenso_." + +"You know that I ascribe great importance to blood, but strange as +it may appear, that girl Salome has always tugged hard at my +heart-strings, as if our proud old blood beat in her veins; and +sometimes I fancy there must be kinship hidden behind the years, or +buried in some unknown grave." + +"Amuse yourself while I am away by digging about the genealogical +tree of the house of Grey, and, if you can trace a fibre that +ramifies in the miller's family, I will gladly bow to my own blood +wherever I find it, and claim cousinship. Meantime, my dear sister, +do keep a corner of your loving heart well swept and dusted for your +errant sailor-boy." + +He hastily kissed her cheek and turned away to write letters, while +she went into the adjoining room to pack his clothes. + +When Salome returned from town, whither she had gone to carry a +package of finished work and obtain a fresh supply, she found Miss +Jane alone in the dining-room, and wearing a dejected expression on +her usually cheerful countenance. + +"Did Ulpian tell you good-by?" + +"No, I have not seen him. Where has he gone?" + +"To New York." + +The long walk and sultry atmosphere had unwontedly flushed the girl's +face, and the damp hair clung in glossy rings to her brow; but, as +Miss Jane spoke, the blood ebbed from cheeks and lips, and sweeping +back the dark tresses that seemed to oppress her, she asked, +shiveringly,-- + +"Is Dr. Grey going back to sea?" + +"Oh no, child! An old friend is very ill, and telegraphed for him. Sit +down, dear,--you look faint." + +"Thank you, I don't wish to sit down, and there is nothing the matter +with me. When will he come home?" + +"I can not tell precisely, as his stay is contingent upon the +condition of his friend." + +"Is it a man or woman whom he has gone to see?" + +The astonishment painted on Miss Jane's face would have been ludicrous +to a careless observer, less interested than the orphan in her slow +and deliberate reply. + +"A man, of course." + +"Did he tell you so?" + +"Certainly. He went to see Mr. Horace Manton, with whom he was +associated while abroad. But suppose it had been some winsome, +brown-eyed witch of a woman, instead of a dying man, what then?" + +"Then you would have lost your brother, and I my French pronouncing +dictionary,--that is all. Did he leave any message about my grammar +and exercises?" + +"No, dear; but he started so hurriedly--so unexpectedly--he had not +time for such trifles. Where are you going?" + +"To put away my bonnet and bundle, and look after Stanley, who is +romping with the kittens on the lawn." + +The old lady laid down her knitting, leaned her elbows on the arms of +her rocking-chair, and, clasping her hands, bowed her chin upon them, +while a half-stifled sigh escaped her. + +"Mischief,--mischief, where I meant only kindness! I sowed good seed, +and reap thistles and brambles! My charity-cake turns out miserable +dough! But how could I possibly foresee that the child would be such a +simpleton? What right has she to be so unnecessarily interested in my +brother, who is old enough to have been her father? It is unnatural, +absurd, and altogether unpardonable in Salome to be guilty of such +presumptuous nonsense; and, of course, it is not in the least my +fault, for the possibility of this piece of mischief never once +occurred to me! True, she is as old as Ulpian's mother was when father +married her; but then Mrs. Grey was not at all in love with her +white-haired husband, and had set her affections solely on that +Mercer-Street house, with marble steps and plate-glass windows. How do +I know that, after all, Salome is not in love with Ulpian's fortune +instead of the dear boy's blue eyes, and handsome hair, and splendid +teeth? However, I ought not to think so harshly of the child, for I +have no cause to consider her calculating and selfish. Poor thing! if +she really cares for him there are breakers ahead of her, for I am +sure that he is as far from falling in love with her as I would be +with the ghost of my great-grandfather's uncle. Thank Providence, all +this troublesome, mischievous, Lucifer machinery of love and marriage +is shut out of heaven, where we shall be as the angels are. Ah, +Salome! I fear you are a giddy young idiot, and that I am a blind old +imbecile, and I wish from the bottom of my heart you had never +darkened my doors." + +The quiet current of Miss Jane's secluded life had never been ruffled +by a serious _affaire du coeur_; consequently she indulged little +charity towards those episodes, which displayed what she considered +the most humiliating weakness of her sex. + +While puzzling over the best method of extricating her _protégée_ from +the snare into which she was disposed to apprehend that her own +well-meant but mistaken kindness had betrayed her, she saw an unsealed +note lying beneath the table, and, by the aid of her crutch, drew it +within reach of her fingers. A small sheet of paper, carelessly folded +and addressed to Salome, merely contained these words,-- + + "I congratulate you, my young friend, on the correctness of your + French themes, which I leave in the drawer of the library-table. + When I return I will examine those prepared during my absence; + and, in the interim, remain, + + "Very respectfully, + + "ULPIAN GREY." + +Miss Jane wiped her glasses, and read the note twice; then held it +between her thumb and third finger, and debated the expediency of +changing its destination. Her delicate sense of honor revolted at the +first suggestion of interference, but an intense aversion to +"love-scrapes" finally strengthened her prudential inclination to +crush this one in its incipiency; and she deliberately tore the paper +into shreds, which she tossed out of the window. + +"If Ulpian only had his eyes open he would never have scribbled one +line to her; and, since I know what I know, and see what I see, it is +my duty to take the responsibility of destroying all fuel within reach +of a flame that may prove as dangerous as a torch in a hay-rick." + +Limping into the library, she took from the drawer the two books +containing French exercises and laid them in a conspicuous place on +the table, where they could not fail to arrest the attention of their +owner; after which she resumed her knitting, consoling herself with +the reflection that she had taken the first step towards smothering +the spark that threatened the destruction of all her benevolent +schemes. + +Up and down, under the spreading trees in the orchard, wandered +Salome, anxious to escape scrutiny, and vaguely conscious that she had +reached the cross-roads in her life, where haste or inadvertence might +involve her in inextricable difficulties. + +She was neither startled, nor shocked, nor mortified, that the +unceremonious departure of the master of the house stabbed her heart +with pangs that made her firm lips writhe, for she had long been +cognizant of the growth of feelings whose discovery had so completely +astounded Miss Jane. + +The orphan had not eagerly watched and listened for the sight of his +face--the sound of his voice--without fully comprehending herself; +for, however ingeniously and indefatigably women may mask their hearts +from public gaze and comment, they do not mock their own reason by +such flimsy shams, and Salome could find no prospect of gain in +playing a game of brag with her inquisitive soul. + +In the quiet orchard, where all things seemed drowsy--where the only +spectators were the mellowing apples that reddened the boughs above +her, and her sole auditors the brown partridges that nestled in the +tall grass, and the shy cicadæ ambushed under the clover leaves--her +pent-up pain and disappointment bubbled over in a gush of passionate +words. + +"Gone without giving me a syllable, a word, a touch! Gone, for an +indefinite period, without even a cold 'good-by, Salome!' You call +yourself a Christian, Dr. Grey, and yet you are cruel, now and then, +and make me writhe like a worm on a fish-hook! He told Stanley he +would return in two or three weeks, perhaps sooner,--but I know +better. I have a dull monitor here that says it will be a long, dreary +time, before I see him again. A wall of ice is rising to divide +us--but it shall not! it shall not! I will have my own! I will look +into his calm eyes! I will touch his soft, warm, white palms! I will +hear his steady, low, clear voice, that makes music in my ears and +heaven in my heart! It is three months since he shook hands with me, +but all time cannot remove the feeling from my fingers; and some day I +can cling to his hand and lean my cheek against it,--and who dare +dispute my right? He says he never loved any woman! I heard him tell +his sister he had yet to meet the woman whom he could marry,--and, if +truth lingers anywhere in this world of sin, it finds a sanctuary in +his soul! He never loved any woman! Thank God! I can't afford to doubt +it. No one but his sister has touched his lips, or his noble, +beautiful forehead. How I envied little Jessie when he put his arm +around her and stooped and laid his cheek on hers. Oh, Dr. Grey, +nobody else will ever love you as I do! I know I am unworthy, but I +will make myself good and great to match you! I know I am beneath you, +but I will climb to your proud height,--and, so help me God, I will be +all that your lofty standard demands! He does not care for me +now,--does not even think of me; but I must be patient and merit his +notice, for my own folly sank me in his good opinion. When these +apples were pale, pink blossoms, I dreaded his coming, and hoped the +vessel would be wrecked; now, ere they are ripe, I am disposed to +curse the cause of his temporary absence and think myself ill-used +that no farewell privileges were granted me. Now I can understand why +people find comfort in praying for those they love; for what else can +I do but pray while he is away? Oh, I shall not, cannot, will not, +miss my way to heaven if he gets there before me!" + +In utter abandonment she threw herself down in the long yellow +sedge-grass,--frightening a whole covey of gossiping young partridges +and a couple of meek doves, all of which whirred away to an adjacent +pea-field, leaving her with her face buried in her hands, and watched +by trembling mute crickets and cicadæ. + +On the topmost twig of the tallest tree a mocking-bird poised himself, +and sympathetically poured out his vesper canticle,--a song of +condolence to the prostrate figure who, just then, would have +preferred the echo of a man's deep voice to all Pergolese's strains. + +After a little while pitying Venus swung her golden globe in among the +apple-boughs, peeping compassionately at her luckless votary; and, +finally, in the violet west,-- + + "Two silver beacons sphered in the skies, + Eve in her cradle opening her eyes." + +Two weeks dragged themselves away without bringing any tidings of +the absent master; but, towards the close of the third, a brief +letter informed his sister that the invalid friend was still alive, +though no hope of his recovery was entertained, and that it was +impossible to fix any period for the writer's return. Salome asked +no questions, but the eager, hungry expression, with which she +eyed the letter as it lay on the top of the stocking-basket, +touched Miss Jane's tender heart; and, knowing that it contained no +allusion to the orphan, she put it into her hand, and noticed the +cloud of disappointment that gathered over her features as she +perused and refolded it. Another week--monotonous, tedious, almost +interminable--crept by, and one morning as Salome passed the +post-office she inquired for letters, and received one post-marked +New York and addressed to Miss Jane. + +Hurrying homeward with the precious missive, her pace would well-nigh +have distanced Hermes, and the dusty winding road seemed to mock her +with lengthening curves while she pressed on; but at last she reached +the gate, sped up the avenue, and, pausing a moment at the threshold +to catch her breath and appear _nonchalant_, she demurely entered Miss +Jane's apartment. The only occupant was a servant sewing near the +window, and who, in reply to an eager question, informed Salome that +the mistress had gone to spend the day with a friend whose residence +was six miles distant. + +The girl bit her lip until the blood started, and, to conceal her +chagrin, took refuge in the parlor, where the quiet dimness offered a +covert. Locking the door, she sat down in one of the cushioned +rocking-chairs and looked at the letter lying between her fingers. The +gilt clock on the mantel uttered a dull, clicking sound, and a little +green and gold-colored bird hopped out and "cuckooed" ten times. Miss +Jane would not probably return before seven, possibly eight o'clock, +and what could be done to strangle those intervening nine hours? + +The blood, heated by exercise and impatience, throbbed fiercely in her +temples and thumped heavily at her heart, producing a half-suffocating +sensation; and, in her feverish anxiety, the doom of Damiens appeared +tolerable in comparison with the torturing suspense of nine hours on +the rack. + +The envelope was an ordinary white one, merely sealed with a solution +of gum arabic, and dexterous fingers could easily open and reclose it +without fear of detection, especially by eyes so dim and uncertain as +those for which it had been addressed. A damp cloth laid upon the +letter would in five minutes prove an _open sesame_ to its coveted +contents, and a legion of fiends patted the girl's tingling fingers +and urged her to this prompt and feasible relief from her goading +impatience. Secure from intrusion and beyond the possibility of +discovery, she turned the envelope up and down and over, examining the +seal; and the amber gleams lying _perdu_ under the shadows of her +pupils rayed out, glowing with a baleful Lucifer light, as infallibly +indicative of evil purposes as the sudden kindling in a crouching +cat's or cougar's gaze, just as they spring upon their prey. + +It was a mighty temptation, cunningly devised and opportunely +presented, and six months ago her parley with the imps of Apollyon who +contrived it would not have lasted five minutes; but, in some natures, +love for a human being will work marvels which neither the fear of +God, nor the hope of heaven, nor yet the promptings of self-respect +have power to accomplish. + +Now while Salome dallied with the temper and gave audience to the +clamors of her rebellious heart, she looked up and met the earnest +gaze of a pair of sunny blue eyes in a picture that hung directly +opposite. + +It was an admirable portrait of Dr. Grey, clad in full uniform as +surgeon in the U.S. Navy, and painted when he was twenty-eight years +old. Up at that calm, cloudless countenance, the girl looked +breathlessly, spell-bound as if in the presence of a reproving angel; +and, after some seconds had elapsed, she hurled the unopened letter +across the room, and lifted her hands appealingly,-- + +"No,--no! I did not--I cannot--I will not act so basely! I must not +soil fingers that should be pure enough to touch yours. I was sorely +tempted, my beloved; but, thank God, your blessed blue eyes saved me. +It is hard to endure nine hours of suspense, but harder still to bear +the thought that I have stooped to a deed that would sink me one iota +in your good opinion. I will root out the ignoble tendencies of my +nature, and keep my heart and lips and hands stainless,--hold them +high above the dishonorable things that you abhor, and live during +your absence as if your clear eyes took cognizance of every detail. +Yea,--search me as you will, dear deep-blue eyes,--I shall not shrink; +for the rule of my future years shall be to scorn every word, thought, +and deed that I would not freely bare to the scrutiny of the man whose +respect I would sooner die than forfeit. Oh, my darling, it were +easier for me to front the fiercest flames of Tophet than face your +scorn! I can wait till Miss Jane sees fit to show me the letter, and, +if it bring good news of your speedy coming, I shall have my reward; +if not, why should I hasten to meet a bitter disappointment which may +be lagging out of mercy to me?" + +Picking up the letter as suspiciously as if it had been dropped by +the Prince of Darkness on the crest of Quarantina, she stepped upon a +table and inserted the corner of the envelope in the crevice between +the canvas and the portrait-frame, repeating the while a favorite +passage that she had first heard from Dr. Grey's lips,-- + + "'God meant me good too, when he hindered me + From saying "yes" this morning. I say no,--no! + I tie up "no" upon His altar-horns, + Quite out of reach of perjury!'" + +Young though she was, experience had taught her that the most +effectual method of locking the wheels of time consisted in sitting +idly down to watch and count their revolutions; consequently, she +hastened upstairs and betook herself vigorously to the work of +embroidering a _parterre_ of flowers on the front breadth of an +infant's christening dress which her employer had promised should be +completed before the following Sabbath. + +Stab the laggard seconds as she might with her busy needle, the day +was drearily long; and few genuine cuckoo-carols have been listened to +with such grateful rejoicing as greeted those metallic gutturals that +once in every sixty minutes issued from the throat of the gaudy +automaton caged in the gilt clock. + +True, nine hours are intrinsically nine hours under all circumstances, +whether decapitation or coronation awaits their expiration; but to the +doomed victim or the heir-apparent they appear relatively shorter or +longer. At last Salome saw that the shadows on the grass were +lengthening. Her head ached, her eyes burned from steady application +to her trying work, and laying aside the cambric, she leaned against +the window-facing and looked out over the lawn, where Time seemed to +have fallen asleep in the mild autumn sunshine. + +How sweet and welcome was the distance-muffled sound of tinkling +cow-bells, and the low bleating of homeward-strolling flocks, wending +their way across the hills through which the road crawled like a dusty +gray serpent. + +A noisy club of black-birds that had been holding an indignation +meeting in the top of a walnut tree near the gate, adjourned to the +sycamore grove that overshadowed the barn in the rear of the house; +and Stanley's pigeons, which had been cooing and strutting in the +avenue, went to roost in the pretty painted pagoda Dr. Grey had +erected for their comfort. Finally, the low-swung, heavy carriage, +with its stout dappled horses, gladdened Salome's strained eyes; and, +soon after, she heard the thump of Miss Jane's crutches and her +cheerful voice, asking,-- + +"Where are the children? Tell them I have come home. Bless me, the +house is as dark as a dungeon! Rachel, have we neither lamps nor +candles?" + +The orphan stole down the steps, climbed upon the table in the parlor, +and, seizing the letter, hurried into the dining-room, where, quite +exhausted by the fatigue of the day, the old lady lay on the sofa. + +She held out her hand and drew the girl's face within reach of her +lips, saying,-- + +"My child, I am afraid you have had rather a lonely day." + +"Decidedly the loneliest and longest I ever spent, and I believe I +never was half so glad to see you come home as just now when the +carriage stopped at the door." + +Ah, what hypocrisy is sometimes innocently masked by the earnest +utterance of the truth! And what marvels of industry are accomplished +by self-love, which seeks more assiduously than bees for the honied +drops of flattery that feed its existence! + +Miss Jane was pardonably proud that her presence was so essential to +the happiness of the orphan whom she fondly loved, and gratification +spread a pleasant smile over her worn features. + +"Where is Stanley? The child ought not to be out so late." + +"He went down to the sheep-pen to count the lambs and look after one +that broke its leg yesterday. Miss Jane, are you too much fatigued to +read a letter which I found this morning in your box at the +post-office?" + +"Is it from Ulpian? I was wondering to-day why I did not hear from +him. Dear me, what have I done with my spectacles? They are the +torment of my life, for the instant I take them off my nose they seem +to find wings. Give me the letter, and see whether I left my glasses +on the bed where I put my bonnet." + +Salome went into the next room and unsuccessfully searched the bed, +bureau, table, and wardrobe; and in an agony of impatience, returned +to the invalid. + +"You must have lost them before you came home; I can't find them +anywhere. Let me read the letter to you." + +"No; I must have my glasses. Perhaps I dropped them in the carriage. +Send word to the driver to look for them. It was very careless in me +to lose them, but I am growing so forgetful. Rachel, do hunt for my +spectacles." + +Salome ground her teeth to suppress a cry of vexation; and, to conceal +her impatience, joined heartily in the search. + +Finally she found the glasses on the front steps, where they had +fallen when their owner left the carriage; and, feeling that adverse +fate could no longer keep her in suspense, she hurried into the house +and adjusted them on Miss Jane's eagle nose. + +Conscious that she was fast losing control over the nerves that were +quivering from long-continued tension, Salome stepped to the open +window and stood waiting. Would the old lady never finish the perusal? +The minutes seemed hours, and the pulsing of the blood in the girl's +ears sounded like muttering thunder. + +Miss Jane sighed heavily,--cleared her throat, and sighed again. + +"It is very sad, indeed! It is too bad,--too bad!" + +Salome turned around, and exclaimed, savagely,-- + +"Why can't you speak out? What is the matter? What has happened?" + +"Ulpian's friend is dead." + +"Thank God!" + +"For shame! How can you be so heartless?" + +"If the man could not recover I should think you would be glad that +he is at rest, and that your brother can come home." + +"But the worst of the matter is that Ulpian is not coming home. Mr. +Manton wished him to act as guardian for his daughter, who is in +Europe, and Ulpian will sail in the next steamer for England, to +attend to some business connected with the estate. It is too +provoking, isn't it? He says it is impossible to tell when we shall +see him again." + +There was no answer, and, when Miss Jane wiped her eyes and looked +around, she saw the girl tottering towards the door, groping her way +like one blind. + +"Salome,--come here, child!" + +But the figure disappeared in the hall, and when the moonlight looked +into the orphan's chamber the soft rays showed a girlish form kneeling +at the window, with a white face drenched by tears, and quivering lips +that moaned in feeble, broken accents,-- + +"God help me! I might have known it, for I had a presentiment of +terrible trouble when he went away. How can I trust God and be +patient, while the Atlantic raves and surges between me and my idol? +After all, it was an angel of mercy whose tender white hands held +back this bitter blow for nine hours. Gone to Europe, and not one +word--not one line--to me! Oh, my darling! you are trampling under +your feet the heart that loves you better than everything else in the +universe,--better than life, and its hopes of heaven!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +"Salome, where did you learn to sing? I was astonished this morning +when I heard you." + +"I have not yet learned,--I have only begun to practise." + +"But, my child, I had no idea you owned such a voice. Where have you +kept it concealed so long?" + +"I was not aware that I had it until a month ago, when it accidentally +discovered itself." + +"It is very powerful." + +"Yes, and very rough; but care and study will smooth and polish it. +Miss Jane, please keep your eye on Stanley until I come home; for, +although I left him with his slate and arithmetic, it is by no means +certain that they will not part company the moment I am out of +sight." + +"Where are you going?" + +"To carry back some work which would have been returned yesterday had +not the weather been so inclement." + +In addition to the package of embroidered handkerchiefs, Salome +carried under her arm a roll of music and an instruction-book; and, +when she reached the outskirts of the town, turned away from the main +street and stopped at the door of a small comfortless-looking house +that stood without enclosure on the common. + +Two swart, black-eyed children were playing mumble-peg with a broken +knife, in one corner of the room; a third, with tears still on its +lashes, had just sobbed itself to sleep on a strip of faded carpet +stretched before the smouldering embers on the hearth; while the +fourth, a feeble infant only six months old, was wailing in the arms +of its mother,--a thin, sickly woman, with consumption's red autograph +written on her hollow cheeks, where the skin clung to the bones as if +resisting the chill grasp of death. As she slowly rocked herself, +striving to hush the cry of the child, her dry, husky cough formed a +melancholy chorus, which seemed to annoy a man who sat before the +small table covered with materials for copying music. His cadaverous, +sallow complexion, and keen, restless eyes, bespoke Italian origin; +and, although engaged in filling some blank sheets with musical notes, +he occasionally took up a violin that lay across his knees, and, after +playing a few bars, laid aside the bow and resumed the pen. Now and +then he glanced at his wife and child with a scowling brow; but, as +his eyes fell on their emaciated faces, something like a sigh seemed +to heave his chest. + +When Salome's knock arrested his attention he rose and advanced to the +half-open door, saying, impatiently,-- + +"Well, miss, have you brought me any money?" + +"Good morning, Mr. Barilli. Here are the ten dollars that I promised, +but I wish you to understand that in future I shall not advance one +cent of my tuition-money. When the month ends you will receive your +wages, but not one day earlier." + +"I beg pardon, miss; but, indeed, you see--" + +He did not conclude the sentence, but waved his hand towards the two +in the rocking-chair and proceeded to count the money placed in his +palm. + +"Yes, I see that you are very destitute, but charity begins at home, +and I have to work hard for the wages that you have demanded before +they are due. Good morning, madam; I hope you feel better to-day. +Come, Mr. Barilli, I have no time to waste in loitering. Are you ready +for my lesson?" + +"Quite ready, miss. Commence." + +For three-quarters of an hour he listened to her exercises, which he +accompanied with his violin, and afterwards directed her to sing an +air from a collection of songs on the table. As her deep, rich +contralto notes swelled round and full, he shut his eyes and nodded +his head as if in an ecstacy; and, when she concluded, he rapped his +violin heavily with the bow, and exclaimed,-- + +"Some day when you sing that at _Della Scala_, remember the poor devil +who taught it to you in a hovel. Soaked as those old walls are with +music from the most famous lips the world ever applauded, they hold no +echoes sweeter than that last trill. After all, there is no +passion--no pathos--comparable to a perfect contralto crescendo. It is +wonderful how you Americans squander voices that would rouse all +Europe into a _furore_." + +"I am afraid your eager desire for pupils biases your judgment, and +invests my voice with fictitious worth," answered Salome, eyeing him +suspiciously. + +"Ha! you mean that I flatter, in order to keep you. Not so, miss. If +St. Cecilia herself asked tuition without good pay, I should shut the +door in her face; but, much as I need money, I would not risk my +reputation by praising what was poor. If one of my children--that +miserable little Beatrice, yonder--only had your voice, do you think I +would copy music, or teach beginners, or live in this cursed hole? +You have a fortune shut up in your throat, and some day, when you are +celebrated, at least do me the justice to tell the world who first +found the treasure; and, out of your wealth, spare me a decent +tombstone in the Campo Santo of--of--" + +He laughed bitterly, and, seizing his violin, filled the room with +mournful _miserere_ strains. + +"How long a course of training do you think will be necessary before +the inequalities in my voice can be corrected and my vocalization +perfected?" + +"You are very young, miss, and it would not do to strain your voice, +which is well-nigh perfect in itself; but, of course, your execution +is defective,--just as a young nightingale cannot warble all its +strains before it is full-feathered. If you study faithfully, in one +year, or certainly one and a half, you will be ready for your +engagement at Della Scala. Hist! see if you can follow me?" + +He played a subtle, chromatic passage, ending in a trill, and the +orphan echoed it with such accuracy and sweetness that the teacher +threw down his bow, and, while tears stood in his glittering eyes, he +put his brown hand on the girl's head, and said, earnestly,-- + +"There ought to be feathers here instead of hair, for no nightingale, +nestled in the olive groves of Italy, ever warbled more easily and +naturally. Don't go out to the world as Miss Owen,--make it call you +_Rosignuolo_. Take the next page in the instruction-book for a new +lesson, and practise the old scales over before you touch the +new,--they are like steps in a ladder, and save jumps and jars. God +made your voice wonderful, and, if you are only careful not to undo +his work, it will develop itself every year in fresh power and depth. +Ha! if my poor squeaking Beatrice only had it! But there is no more +music stored in her throat and chest than in a regiment of rats. Good +day, miss. Your lesson is ended, and I go to buy some wood for my +miserable shiverers." + +He seized his hat and walking-stick and quitted the house, leaving his +pupil to gather up her music and conjecture, meanwhile, whether the +wood-yard or a neighboring bar-room was his real destination. + +His dissipated habits had greatly impaired her faith in the accuracy +of his critical acumen touching professional matters, and, as she +rolled up the sheet of paper in her hands, Salome approached the +feeble occupant of the rocking-chair, and said, rather abruptly,-- + +"Madam Barilli, you ought to know when your husband speaks earnestly +and when he is merely indulging in idle flattery, and I wish to learn +his real opinion of my voice. Will you tell me the truth?" + +"Yes, miss, I will. I am no musician, and never was in Europe, where +he studied; but he talks constantly of your voice, and tells me there +is a fortune in it. Only last night he swore that if he could control +it, he would not take a hundred thousand dollars for the right; and +then, poor fellow, he fell into one of his fierce ways and boxed my +little Beatrice's ears, because, he said, all the teachers in the +_Conservatoire_ could not put into her throat the trill that you were +born with. Ah, no, he flatters no one now! He has forgotten how, since +the day that I was coaxed to run away from my father's elegant home +and marry the tenor singer of an opera troupe and the professor who +taught me the gamut at boarding-school. Miss, you may believe him, for +Sebastian Barilli means what he says." + +"One hundred thousand dollars! I promise him and you that if one-half +of that amount can be 'trilled' into my pocket you shall both be +comfortable during the remainder of your days." + +"Mine are numbered, and will end before your career begins; and, when +you sing in Della Scala, I trust I shall be singing up yonder behind +the stars, where cold and hunger and heart-ache and cruel words cannot +follow me. But, miss, when I am gone, and Sebastian is over at the +corner trying to drown his troubles, and my four helpless little ones +are left here unprotected, for God's sake look in upon them now and +then, and don't let them cry for bread. My own family long ago cast me +off, and here I am a stranger; but you, who have felt the pangs of +orphanage, will not stand by and see my darlings starve! Oh, miss, +the poor who cannot pity the poor must be hard-hearted indeed!" + +The suffering woman pressed her moaning babe closer to her bosom, and, +taking Salome's hand between her thin, hot fingers, bowed her +tear-stained face upon it. + +Grim recollections of similar scenes enacted in the old house behind +the mill crowded upon the mind of the miller's daughter, hardening +instead of melting her heart; but, withdrawing her fingers, she said +in as kind a tone as she could command,-- + +"The poor are sometimes too poor to aid each other, and pity is most +unpalatable fare; but, if your husband has not grossly deceived +himself and me with reference to my voice, I will promise that your +children shall not suffer while I live. For their sake do not despond, +but try to keep up your spirits, else your husband will be utterly +ruined. Gloomy hearthstones make club-rooms and bar-rooms populous. +Good-by. When I come again, I will bring something to stimulate your +appetite, which seems to require coaxing." + +She stooped and looked for a minute at the gaunt, white face of the +half-famished infant pressed against the mother's feverish breast, and +an irresistible impulse impelled her to stroke back the rings of black +hair that clustered on its sunken temples; then, snatching her music +and bundle, she hurried out of the close, untidy room, and, once more +upon the grassy common, drew a long, deep breath of pure fresh air. + +Autumn, with orange dawns, and mellow, misty moons, when + + "Sweet, calm days, in golden haze + Melt down the amber sky," + +had died on bare brown stubble-fields and vine-veined hill-sides, +purple with clustering grapes on leafless branches; and wintry days +had come, with sleety morns and chill, crisp noons, and scarlet sunset +banners flouting the silver stars in western skies, where the +shivering, gasping old year had woven,-- + + "One strait gown of red + Against the cold." + +None of the earlier years of Salome's life seemed to her half so +drearily long as the four monotonous months that followed Dr. Grey's +departure; and, during the intervals between his brief letters to his +sister, the orphan learned a deceptive quietude of manner, at variance +with the tumultuous feelings that agitated her heart; for painful +suspense which is borne with clenched hands and firmly-set teeth is +not the more patient because sternly mute. + +Which suffered least, Philoctetes howling on the shores of Lemnos, or +the silent Trojan priest, writhing in a death-struggle with the +serpent folds that crushed him before the altar of Neptune? + +If any messages intended for Salome found their way across the ocean, +they finally missed their destination, and reached the dead-letter +office of Miss Jane's vast and inviolate pocket; and, while this +apparent neglect piqued the girl's vanity, the blessed assurance that +the absent master was alive and well proved a sovereign balm for all +the bleeding wounds of _amour propre_. + +In order to defray the expense of her musical tuition, which was +carried on in profound secrecy, it was necessary to redouble her +exertions; and all the latent energy of her character developed itself +in unflagging work, which she persistently prosecuted early and late, +and in quiet defiance of Miss Jane's expostulations and predictions +that she would permanently impair her sight. + +Paramount to the desire of amassing wealth that would enable her to +provide for Jessie and Stanley rose the hope that the cultivation of +her voice would invest her with talismanic influence over the man who +was singularly susceptible of the magic of music; and, jealously +guarding the new-found gift, she spared no toil to render it perfect. + +Fearful that her suddenly acquired fondness for singing might arouse +suspicion and inquiry, she rarely practised at home unless Miss Jane +were absent; and, having procured a tuning-fork, she retreated to the +most secluded portion of the adjoining forest and rehearsed her +lessons to a mute audience of grazing cattle, sombre pines, nodding +plumes of golden-rod, and shivering white asters, belated and +overtaken by wintry blasts. Alone with nature, she warbled as +unrestrainedly as the birds who listened to her quavering crescendos; +and more than once she had become so absorbed in this forest +practising, that twinkling stars peeped down at her through the fringy +canopy of murmuring firs. + +In fulfilment of a promise given to Stanley, with the hope of +stimulating him to more earnest study, Salome one day took a piece of +sewing and her music-book, and set off with her brother for the +sea-shore, where he was sometimes allowed to amuse himself by catching +crabs and shrimps. The route they were compelled to take was very +circuitous, since strangers were now forbidden to stroll through the +grounds attached to "Solitude," which was the nearest point where land +and ocean met. Following a cattle-path that threaded the bare brown +hills and wound through low marsh meadows, Salome at length climbed a +cliff that overhung the narrow strip of beach running along the base +of the promontory, and, while Stanley prepared his net, she applied +herself vigorously to the completion of a cluster of lilies of the +valley which she had begun to embroider the preceding night. + +It was a mild, sunny afternoon, late in December, with only a few +flakes of white curd-like cirri drifting slowly before the stiffening +south wind that came singing a song of the tropics over the gently +heaving waste of waters-- + + "Where the green buds of waves burst into white froth flowers." + +Two glimmering sails stood like phantoms on the horizon; and a silent +colony of snowy gulls, perched in conclave on a bit of weed-wreathed +drift floating landward, were the only living things in sight, save +the childish figure on the yellow beach under the bleaching rocks, and +the girlish one seated on the tallest cliff, where a storm-scarred +juniper, bending inland, waved its scanty fringe in the fresh salt +breeze. + +No note of human strife entered here, nor hum of noisy business marts; +and the solemn silence, so profound and holy, was broken only by the +soft, mysterious murmur of the immemorial ocean, as its crystal +fingers smote the harp of rosy shells and golden sands. + +Clasped in the crescent that curved a mile northward lay the house, +and grove, and grounds of "Solitude," looking sombre in the distance, +as the shadow of surrounding hills fell upon the dense foliage that +overhung its quiet precincts, and toned down the garish red of the +boat-house roof, which lent a brief dash of color to the peaceful +picture. Beyond the last guarding promontory that seemed to have +plunged through the shelving strand to bathe in blue brine and cut off +all passage along its base, a strong well-trained eye might follow the +trend of the coast even to the dim outlines and thread-like masts, +that told where the distant town hugged its narrow harbor; and, in the +opposite direction, low, irregular sand hills and brown marshes crept +southward, as if hunting the warmth that alone could mantle them with +living verdure. + +As the afternoon wore away, the sinking sun dipped suddenly behind a +wooded eminence, which, losing the warm purples it had worn since +noon, grew chill and blue as his rays departed; and, weary of her +work, Salome put it aside and began to practise her music lesson, +beating time with her slender fingers on the bare juniper-roots, from +which wind and rain had driven the soil. Running her chromatic scales, +and pausing at will to trill upon any minor note that wooed her +vagrant fancy, she played with her flexible voice as dexterous +violinists toy with the obedient strings they hold in harmonious +bondage to their bows. + +Finally she pushed the exercises away, and began a _fantasus_ from +"Traviata," which she had heard Mr. Barilli play several times; and so +absorbed was she in testing her capacity for vocal gymnastics that she +failed to observe the moving figure dwarfed by distance and pacing the +sands in front of "Solitude." + +The rich, fresh tones which seemed occasionally to tremble with the +excess of melody that burdened them played hide-and-seek among the +hills, startling whole choruses of deep-throated echoes, and attending +and retentive ocean, catching the strains on her beryl strings, bore +them whither--and how far? To palm-plumed equatorial isles, where +dying auricular nerves mistook them for seraphic utterances? To +toiling mariners, tossed helplessly by fierce typhoons, who, pausing +in their scramble for spars, listened to the weird melody that +presaged woe and wreck? To the broken casements of fishermen's huts, +on distant shores, where anxious wives peered out in the blackening +tempest, and shrank back appalled by sounds which sea-tradition +averred were born in coral caves, mosaiced with blanching human +skulls? What hoary hierophant in the mysteries of cataphonics and +diacoustics will undertake to track those trills across the blue bosom +of the Atlantic or the purplish billows of the Indian Ocean? + +The wind went down with the sun; silver-edged cirri lost their +glitter, and swift was + + ... "The spread + Of orange lustre through these azure spheres + Where little clouds lie still like flocks of sheep, + Or vessels sailing in God's other deep." + +In that wondrous and magical after-glow which tenderly hovers over the +darkening face of the dying day, like the strange, spectral smile that +only sheds its cold, supernatural light on lips twelve hours dead, +Salome's fair face and graceful _pose_ was as softly defined against +the western sky as some nimbussed saint or madonna on the golden +background of old Byzantine pictures. Her small straw hat, wreathed +with scarlet poppies, lay at her feet; and around her shoulders she +had closely folded a bright plaid flannel cloak, which tinted her +complexion with its ruddy hues, as firelight flushes the olive +portraits that stare at it from surrounding walls, and the braided +black hair and large hazel eyes showed every brown tint and topaz +gleam. + +Leaning her arms on the top of her music-book, she rested her chin +upon them, and sat looking seaward, singing a difficult passage, in +the midst of which her nimble voice tripped on an E flat, and, missing +the staccato step, rolled helplessly down in a legato flood of melody; +whereupon, with an impatient grimace she shut her eyes, weary of +watching the wave-shimmer that almost dazzled her. After a few +seconds, when she opened them, there stood just on the edge of the +cliff, as if poised in air, a woman whose face and form were as +sharply cut in profile on the azure sea and sky as white cameo +features on black agate grounds. + +Around the tall figure shining folds of silver poplin hung heavy and +statuesque, and over the shoulders a blue crape shawl was held by a +beautiful blue-veined hand, where a sapphire asp kept guard; while a +cluster of double violets fastened behind one shell-like ear breathed +their perfume among glossy bands of gray hair. + + "There was no color in the quiet mouth, + Nor fulness; yet it had a ghostly grace, + Pathetically pale," + +and wan, and woful--the still face turned seaward, fronting a round +white moon that was lifting its full disk out of the line where air +and water met--she stood motionless. + +Lifting her head, Salome shivered involuntarily, and grew a shade +paler as she breathlessly watched the apparition, expecting that it +would fade into blue air or float down and mingle with the waters that +gave it birth. But there was no wavering mistiness about the shining +drapery; and, presently, when she turned and came forward, the orphan, +despite her sneers at superstition, felt the hair creep and rise on +her temples, and, springing to her feet, they faced each other. As the +stranger advanced, Salome unconsciously retreated a few steps, and +exclaimed,-- + +"Gray-eyed, gray-haired, gray-clad, gray-faced, and rising out of that +gray sea, I suppose I have at last met the gray ghost that people tell +me haunts old 'Solitude.' But how came such a young face under that +drift of white hair? If all ghosts have such finely carved, delicate +noses and chins, such oval cheeks and pretty brows, most of us here in +the flesh might thank fortune for a chance to 'shuffle off this mortal +coil.' Say, are you the troubled evil spirit that haunts 'Solitude'?" + +"I am." + +The voice was so mournfully sweet that it thrilled every nerve in +Salome's quivering frame. + +"Phantom or flesh--which are you?" + +"Mrs. Gerome, the owner of 'Solitude.'" + +"Oh, indeed! I beg your pardon, madam, but I took you for a wraith! +You know the place has always been considered unlucky--haunted--and +you are such an extraordinary-looking person I was inclined to think I +had stumbled on the traditional ghost. I am neither ignorant nor +stupidly superstitious; but, madam, you must admit you have an +unearthly appearance; and, moreover, I should be glad to know how you +rose from the beach below to the top of this cliff? I see no feathers +on your shoulders--no balloon under your feet!" + +"I was walking on the sands in front of my door, and, hearing some +very sweet strains that came floating down from this direction, I +followed the sound, and climbed by means of steps cut in the side of +this cliff. Since you regarded me as a spectre, I may as well tell you +that I was beginning to fancy I was listening to one of the old +sea-sirens, until I saw your rosy face and red lips, far too human for +a dripping mermaid or a murderous, mocking Aglaiopheme." + +"No more a siren, madam, than you are a ghost! I am only Salome Owen, +the miller's child, waiting for that boy yonder, whose sublimest idea +of heaven consists in the hope that its blessed sea of glass is +brimming with golden shrimp. Stanley, run around the cliff, and meet +me. It is too late for us to be here. We should have started home an +hour ago." + +"Who taught you 'Traviata'?" + +"I am teaching myself, with what small help I can obtain from a +vagabond musician, who calls himself Signor Barilli, and claims to +have been a tenor singer in an opera troupe at Milan." + +"You ought to cultivate your voice as thoroughly as possible." + +"Why? Is it really good? Tell me, is it worth anything? No one has +heard it except that Italian violinist; and, if he praises it, I +sometimes fear it is because he is so horribly dissipated that he +confounds my _bravura_ runs with the clicking of his wine-glasses and +the gurgling of his flask. Do you know much about music?" + +"I have heard the best living performers, vocal and instrumental, and +to a finer voice than yours I never listened; but you need study and +practice, for your execution is faulty. You have a splendid +instrument; but you do not yet understand its management. Where do you +live?" + +"At 'Grassmere,' a farm two miles behind those hills, and in a house +hidden under elm and apple trees. Madam, it is very late, and I must +bid you good-evening. Before I go, I should like to know, if you will +not deem me unwarrantably impertinent, whether you are a very young +person with white hair, or whether you are a very old woman with a +wonderfully young face?" + +For a moment there was no answer; and, supposing that she had offended +her, the orphan bowed and was turning away, when Mrs. Gerome's calm, +mournful tones arrested her: + +"I am only twenty-three years old." + +She walked away, turning her countenance towards the water, where +moonlight was burnishing the waves; and, when Salome and Stanley had +reached the bend in their path that would shut out the view of the +beach, the former looked back and saw the silver-gray figure standing +alone on the silent shore, communing with the silver sea, as desolate +and as hopeless as Buchanan's "Penelope,"-- + + "An alabaster woman, whose fixed eyes + Stare seaward, whether it be storm or calm." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +"Doctor Sheldon, do you think she is dangerously ill?" + +"I am afraid, Salome, that she will soon become so; for she is +threatened with a violent attack of pneumonia, which would certainly +be very dangerous to a woman of her age. It is a great misfortune that +her brother is absent." + +"Dr. Grey reached New York three days ago." + +"Indeed! I will telegraph immediately, and hasten his return." + +Dr. Sheldon was preparing a blister in the room adjoining the one +occupied by Miss Jane, and the orphan stood by his side, twisting her +fingers nervously over each other, and looking perplexed and anxious. +He returned to his patient, and when he came out some moments later, +and took up his hat, his countenance was by no means reassuring. + +"Although I know that you are very much attached to Miss Jane, and +would faithfully endeavor to nurse her, you are so young and +inexperienced that I do not feel quite willing to leave her entirely +to your guardianship; and, therefore, shall send a woman here to-night +who will fully understand the case. She is a professional nurse, and +Dr. Grey will be relieved to hear that his sister is in her hands, for +he has great confidence in her good sense and discretion. I shall stop +at the telegraph office, as I go home, and urge him to return at once. +Give me his address. Do not look so dejected. Miss Grey has a better +constitution than most persons are disposed to believe, and she may +struggle through this attack." + +The new year was ushered in by heavy and incessant rains, and, having +imprudently insisted upon superintending the drainage of a new +sheepfold and the erection of an additional cattle-shed, Miss Jane had +taken a severe cold, which resulted in pneumonia. + +Assiduously and tenderly Salome watched over her, and even after the +arrival of Hester Dennison, the nurse, the orphan's solicitude would +not permit her to quit the apartment where her benefactress lay +struggling with disease; while Miss Jane shrank from the stranger, and +preferred to receive the medicine from the hand of her adopted child. + +When Dr. Sheldon stood by the bed early next morning, and noted the +effect of his treatment, Salome's keen eye observed the dissatisfied +expression of his face, and she drew sad auguries from his clouded +brow. He took a paper from his pocket, and said, cheerfully,-- + +"Come, Miss Jane, get up a smile to pay me for the good news I bring. +Can you guess what this means?" holding an envelope close to her +eyes. + +"More blisters and fever mixtures, I suppose. Doctor, my poor side is +in a dreadful condition." + +As she laid her hand over her left lung, she winced and groaned. + +"How much would you give to have your brother's hand, instead of mine, +on your pulse?" + +"All that I am worth! But my boy is in Europe, and can't come back to +me now, when I need him most." + +"No, he is in New York. You have been dreaming, and forget that he has +reached America." + +"No, I never knew it. Salome, is there a letter?" + +"No letter, but a dispatch announcing his arrival. I told you; but you +must have fallen asleep while I was talking to you." + +"No such thing! I have not slept a wink for a week." + +"That is right, Miss Jane; scold as much as you like; it will do you +no harm. But, meantime, let me tell you I have just heard from Dr. +Grey, and he is now on his way home." + +Salome was sitting near the pillow, and suddenly her head bowed +itself, while her lips whispered, inaudibly,-- + +"Thank God!" + +The invalid's face brightened, and, stretching her thin, hot hand +towards the orphan, she touched her shoulder, and said:-- + +"Do you hear that, my child? Ulpian is coming home. When will he be +here?" + +"Day after to-morrow evening, I hope, if there is no detention and +he makes all the railroad connections. I trust you will prove +sufficiently generous to bear testimony to my professional skill, by +improving so rapidly that when he arrives there will be nothing +left to do but compliment my sagacity, and thank me for relieving you +so speedily. Is not your cough rather better?" + +She did not reply; and, bending down, he saw that she was asleep. + +"Doctor, I am afraid she is not much better." + +He sighed, shook his head, and beckoned Hester into the hall in order +to question her more minutely concerning the patient. + +That night and the next she was delirious, and failed to recognize any +one; but about noon on the following day she opened her eyes, and, +looking intently at Salome, who stood near the foot of the bed, she +said, as if much perplexed,-- + +"I saw Ulpian just now. Where is he?" + +"He will be here this afternoon, I hope. The train is due at two +o'clock, and it is now a quarter past twelve." + +"I tell you I saw him not ten minutes since." + +"You are feverish, dear Miss Jane, and have been dreaming." + +"Don't contradict me! Am I in my dotage, think you? I saw my boy, and +he was pale, and had blood on his hands, and it ran down his beard and +dripped on his vest. You can't deceive me! What is the matter with my +poor boy? I will see him! Give me my crutches this instant!" + +She struggled into a partially upright position, but fell back upon +her pillow exhausted and panting for breath. + +"You were delirious. I give you my word that he has not yet come home. +It was only a horrible dream. Hester will assure you of the truth of +what I say. You must lie still, for this excitement will injure you." + +The nurse gave her a powerful sedative, and strove to divert her +thoughts; but ever and anon she shuddered and whispered,-- + +"It was not a dream. I saw my dear sailor-boy, and he was hurt and +bleeding. I know what I saw; and if you and Hester swore till every +star dropped out of heaven, I would not believe you. If I am old and +dying, my eyes are better than yours. My poor Ulpian!" + +Despite her knowledge of the feverish condition of the sick woman, and +her incredulity with reference to the vision that so painfully +disturbed her, Salome's lips blanched, and a vague, nameless, horrible +dread seized her heart. + +Very soon Miss Jane fell into a heavy sleep, and, while the nurse +busied herself in preparing a bottle of beef-tea, the orphan sat with +her head pressed against the bedpost, and her eyes riveted on the face +of the watch in her palm, where the minute-hand seemed now and then to +stop, as if for breathing-time, and the hour-hand to have forgotten +the way to two o'clock. + +For nearly six months Salome had counted the weeks and days,--had +waited and hoped for the hour of Dr. Grey's return as the happiest of +her life,--had imagined his greeting, the bright, steady glow in his +fine eyes, the warm, cordial pressure of his white hand, the friendly +tones of his pleasant voice; for, though he had failed to bid her +good-by, fate could not cheat her out of the interview that must +follow his arrival. Fancy had painted so vividly all the incidents +that would characterize this longed-for greeting, that she had lived +it over a thousand times; and, now that the meeting seemed actually at +hand, she asked herself whether it were possible that disappointment +could pour one poisonous drop into the brimming draught of joy that +rose foaming in amber bubbles to her parched lips. + +In the profound silence that pervaded the darkened room, the ticking +of the watch was annoyingly audible, and seemed to Salome's strained +and excited nerves so unusually loud that she feared it might disturb +the sleeper. At a quarter to two o'clock she went to the hearth and +noiselessly renewed the fire, laying two fresh pieces of oak across +the shining brass andirons, whose feet represented lions' heads. + +She swept the hearth, arranged some vials that were scattered on the +dressing-table, and gave a few improving touches to a vase filled with +white and orange crocuses, then crept back to the bedside and again +picked up the watch. It still lacked fifteen minutes of two, and, +looking more closely, she found that it had stopped. Tossing it into a +hollow formed by the folds of the coverlid, and repressing an +impatient ejaculation, she listened for the sound of the railroad +whistle, which, though muffled by distance, had not failed to reach +her every day during the past week. + +Presently the silence, which made her ears ache, throbbed so suddenly +that she started, but it was only the "cuckoo! cuckoo!" of the painted +bird on the gilded clock. That clock was fifteen minutes slower than +Miss Jane's watch; and Salome put her face in her hands, and tried to +still the loud thumping sound of the blood at her heart. + +The train was behind time. Only a few moments as yet, but something +must have happened to occasion even this slight delay; and, if +something,--what? + +Hester came in and whispered,-- + +"Dinner is ready, and Stanley is hungry. Has Miss Jane stirred since I +went out?" + +"No; what time is it?" + +"Half after two." + +"Oh, nonsense! You are too fast." + +"Not a minute,--begging your pardon. My brother stays at the dépot, +and keeps my watch with the railroad time." + +Salome went to the dining-room, gave Stanley his dinner, and, anxious +to escape observation, shut herself in the dim, cold parlor, where she +paced the floor until the cuckoo jumped out, chirped three times, and, +as if frightened by the girl's fixed eyes, fluttered back inside the +clock. More than an hour behind time! Now, beyond all hope or doubt, +there had been an accident! Loss of sleep for several consecutive +nights, and protracted anxiety concerning Miss Jane, had so unnerved +the orphan that she was less able to cope successfully with this +harrowing suspense than on former occasions; still the sanguine +hopefulness of youth battled valiantly with the ghouls that +apprehension conjured up, and she remembered that comparatively +trivial occurrences had sometimes detained the train, which finally +brought all its human freight safely to the dépot. + +The day had been very cold and gloomy; and thick, low masses of +smoke-colored cloud scudded across the chill sky, whipped along their +skirts by a stinging north-east blast into dun, ragged, trailing +banners. Despite the keenness of the air, Salome opened one of the +parlor windows and leaned her face on the broad sill, where a +drizzling rain began to show itself. She had read and heard just +enough with reference to the phenomena of _clairvoyance_ to sneer at +them in happy hours, and to recur helplessly to the same subject with +a species of silent dread when misfortune seemed imminent. To-day, as +Miss Jane's delirious utterances haunted every nook and cranny of her +excited brain, permeating all topics of thought, she recalled many +instances, on legendary record, where the dying were endowed with +talismanic power over the secrets of futurity. Could it be possible +that Miss Jane had really seen what was taking place many miles +distant? Reason shook her hoary head, and jeered at such childish +fatuity; but superstitious credulity, goaded by an intense anxiety, +would not be silenced nor put to the blush, but boldly babbled of +Swedenborg and burning Stockholm. + +Once she had heard Dr. Grey tell his sister, in answer to some inquiry +concerning the _arcana_ of mesmerism, that he had bestowed much time +and thought upon the investigation of the subject, and was thoroughly +convinced that there existed subtle psychological laws whose +operations were not yet comprehended, but which, when analyzed and +studied, would explain the remarkable influence of mind over mind, and +prove that the dread and baffling mysteries of psychology were merely +normal developments of intellectual power instead of supernatural or +spiritual manifestations. + +This abstract view of the matter was, however, most unsatisfactory at +the present juncture; and the current of Salome's reflections was +abruptly changed by the sound of the locomotive whistle,--not the +prolonged, steady roar, announcing arrival, but the sharp, short, +shrill note of departure. Soon after, the clock struck four, and, ere +the echoes fell asleep once more in the sombre corners of the quiet +parlor, Dr. Sheldon drove up to the front door and entered the house. +Springing into the hall, Salome met him, and laid her hand on his +arm. + +"Salome, your face frightens me. How is Miss Jane? Has she grown worse +so rapidly since I was here this morning?" + +"I see little change in her. But you have locked bad news behind your +set teeth. Oh, for God's sake, don't torture me one second longer! +Tell me the worst. What has happened?" + +"The down-train was thrown from an embankment twenty feet high, and +the cars took fire. Many lives have been sacrificed, and it is the +most awful affair I ever heard of." + +He had partially averted his head to avoid the sight of her whitening +and convulsed features; but, laying her hands heavily upon his +shoulders, she forced him to face her, and her voice sank to a husky +whisper,-- + +"Is he dead?" + +"I hope not." + +"Speak out,--or I shall go mad! Is he dead?" + +"Calm yourself, Salome, and let us hope for the best. We know nothing +of the particulars of this dreadful disaster, and have learned the +names of none of the sufferers. I have little doubt that Dr. Grey was +on the train, but there is no certainty that he was injured. The +regular up-train could not leave as usual, because the track was badly +torn up; but a locomotive and three cars ran out a while ago with +several surgeons and articles required for the victims. Pray sit down, +my poor child, for you are unable to stand." + +"Where did it happen?" + +"Near Silver Run water-tank,--about forty miles from here. The +accident occurred at twelve o'clock." + +Salome's grasp suddenly relaxed, and, tossing her hands above her +head, she laughed hysterically,-- + +"Ha, ha! Thank God, he is not dead! He is only hurt,--only bleeding. +Miss Jane saw it all, and he is not dead, or she would have known it. +Thank God!" + +Dr. Sheldon was a stern man and renowned for his iron nerves, but he +shuddered as he looked at the pinched, wan face, and heard the +unnatural, hollow sound of her unsteady voice. Had care, watching, and +suspense unpoised her reason? + +Something of that which passed through his mind looked out of his +eyes, and interpreting their amazed expression, the girl waved her +hand towards the door, and added,-- + +"I am not insane. Go in, and Hester will explain." + +He turned away, and she went back to the dusky room and threw herself +down on the sofa, opposite to the portrait of the U.S. surgeon. + +Of what passed during the following two hours, she retained, in after +years, only a dim, confused, painful memory of prayers and promises +made to God in behalf of the absent. + +Once before, when Miss Jane's death seemed imminent, she had been +grieved and perplexed by the possibility that Dr. Grey would inherit +the estate and usurp her domains; but to-day, when the Great Reaper +hovered over the panting, emaciated sufferer, and simultaneously +threatened the distant brother and sole heir of the extended +possessions which this girl had so long coveted, the only thought that +filled her heart with dread and wrung half-smothered cries from her +lips was,-- + +"Spare his life, oh, my God! Leave me penniless--take friends, +relatives, comforts, hopes of wealth--take all--take everything, but +spare that precious life and bring him safely back to me! Have mercy +on me, O Lord, and do not snatch him away! for, if I lose him now, I +lose faith in Christ--in Thee--I lose all hope in time and eternity, +and my sinful, wrecked soul will go down forever in a night that knows +no dawning!" + +For six months she had been indeed,-- + + "A faded watcher through the weary night-- + A meek, sweet statue at the silver shrines, + In deep, perpetual prayer for him she loved;" + +but patience, dragging anchor, finally snapped its cable, and now, +instead of an humble suppliant for the boon that alone made existence +endurable, she fiercely demanded that her idol should not be broken, +and, battling with Jehovah, impiously thrust her life down before Him +as an accursed and intolerable burden, unless her prayers were +granted. Ah, what scorpions and stones we gather to our boards, and +then dare charge the stinging mockeries against a long-suffering, +loving God! Ten days before, Salome had meekly prayed, "Thy will be +done," and had comforted herself with the belief that at last she was +beginning to grow pious and trusting, like Miss Jane; but, at the +first hint of harm to Dr. Grey, she sprang up, utterly oblivious of +the protestations of resignation that were scarcely cold on her lips, +and furious as a tigress who sees the hunter approach the jungle where +all her fierce affections centre. God help as all who pray orthodoxly +for His will, and yet, when the emergency arrives, fight desperately +for our own, feeling wofully aggrieved that He takes us at our word, +and moulds the clay which we make a Pharisaical pretense of offering! + +A slow drizzling rain whitened the distant hills, that seemed to +blanch in their helplessness as the wind smote them like a flail; and +it wove a grayish veil over the leafless boughs of bending, shivering +elms, on the long, dim avenue. The wintry afternoon closed swiftly, +and, in its dusky dreariness, Salome listened to the tattoo of the +rain on the roof, and to the _miserere_ that wailed through the lonely +chambers of her soul. The chill at her heart froze her to numbness and +oblivion of the coldness of the atmosphere, and, when a servant came +in to close the window against the slanting sleet, she lay so still +that the woman thought her asleep, and stole away on tip-toe. The room +grew dark; but, through the half-opened door, the light from the hall +lamp crept in and fell on the gilded frame and painted face of the +portrait, tracing a silvery path along the gloomy wall. As the night +deepened, that wave of light rippled and glittered until the handsome +features in the picture seemed to belong to some hierarch who peeped +from a window of heaven, into a world drenched with unlifting +darkness. + +That oval piece of canvas had become the one fetich to which Salome's +heart clung in silent adoration, defiant of the iconoclastic touch of +reason and the adverse decree of womanly pride; for natures such as +hers will always grovel in the dust, hugging the mutilated fragments +of their idol, rather than bow at some new, fretted shrine, where +other images hold sway, commanding worship. Looking up almost +wolfishly at that tranquil, shining countenance, she said to her +sullen, mourning heart,-- + +"There are no more like him, and, if we lose him, there is nothing +left in life, and all hope is at an end, and _finis_ shall be printed +on the first page of the book of our existence; and ruin, like a +pitiless pall, shall cover what might have been a happy, possibly a +grand and good, human career. We did not intend to love him,--no, no; +we tried hard to hate him who stood between us and affluence and +indolent ease, but he conquered us by his matchless magnanimity, and +shamed our ignoble aims and base selfishness, and put us under his +royal feet; and now we would rather be trampled by Ulpian, our king, +than crowned by any other man. Let us plead with Christ to spare the +only pilot who can save us from eternal shipwreck." + +Lying there so helpless yet defiant in her desolation, some subtle +thread of association, guided, perhaps, by the invisible fingers of +her guardian angel, led her mind to a favorite couplet often quoted by +Dr. Grey,-- + + "I heard faith's low, sweet singing, in the night, + And, groping through the darkness, touched God's hand." + +If the painted lips in the aureola on the wall had parted and audibly +uttered these words, they would scarcely have impressed her more +powerfully as a message from the absent; and, rising instantly, the +orphan prayed in chastened, humbled tones for strength to be patient, +for ability to trust God's wisdom and mercy. + +How often, when binding our idolized Isaacs upon the altar, and, +meekly submissive to what appears God's inexorable mandates, we +unmurmuringly offer our heart's dearest treasure, the sacrificial +knife is stayed, and our loathed and horrible Moriahs, that erst smelt +of blood and echoed woe, become hallowed Jehovah-jirehs, all aglow, +not with devouring flames, but the blessed radiance of God's benignant +smile, and musical with thanksgiving strains. But Abraham's burden +preceded Abraham's boon, and the souls who cannot patiently endure the +first are utterly unworthy of the rapture of the last. + +As the girl's mind grew calmer under the breath of prayer--which +stills the billows of human passion and strife as the command of Jesus +smoothed the thundering surf of Genesareth,--she recollected that she +had absented herself from the sick-room for an unusually long time. +How long, she could not conjecture, for the face of the clock was +invisible, and she had ceased to count the cuckoo-notes; but her limbs +ached, and a fillet of fire seemed to circle her brow. + +With a lingering gaze upon the radiant portrait, she quitted the +parlor, and went wearily back to renew her vigil. + +Hester Dennison was cowering over the hearth, spreading her bony hands +towards the crackling flames, and, walking up to the mantelpiece, +Salome touched the nurse, and whispered,-- + +"Hester, what did the doctor say? Is there any change?" + +"Hush!" The woman laid a finger on her lip, and glanced over her +shoulder. + +There was only a subdued light of a shaded lamp mingling with the +flicker of the fire, and, as Salome's eyes followed those of the +nurse, they rested upon the figure of a man kneeling at the bedside, +and leaning his head against the pillow where Miss Jane's white hair +was strewn in disorder. + +A cry of delight, which she had neither the prudence nor power to +repress, rang through the silent chamber, startling its inmates, and +partially arousing the invalid. Salome forgot that life and death were +grappling over the prostrate form of the aged woman,--forgot +everything but the supreme joy of knowing that her idol had not been +rudely shattered. + +Springing to the bedside, she put out her hands, and exclaimed, +rapturously: + +"Oh, Dr. Grey! Were you much hurt? Thank God, you are alive and here! +Indeed, He is merciful--" + +"Hush! Have you no prudence? Quit the room, or be quiet." + +Dr. Grey lifted his haggard face from the pillow, and the light showed +it pallid and worn by acute suffering, while a strip of plaster +pressed together the edges of a deep cut on his cheek. His clothes +glistened with sleet, and bore stains that in daylight were crimson, +though now they were only ominously dark. + +The stern tones of his voice, suppressed though it was, stung the +girl's heart; and she answered, in a pleading whisper,-- + +"Only tell me that you are not severely injured. Speak one kind word +to me!" + +"I am not dangerously hurt. Hush! Remember life hangs in the +balance." + +"Oh, Dr. Grey! will you not even shake hands with me, after all these +dreary months of absence? This is hard, indeed." + +She had stood at his side, with her hands extended imploringly; and +now he moved cautiously, and, silently holding up one hand swathed in +linen bands, pointed to his left arm, which was tightly splintered and +bandaged. + +The mute gesture explained all, and, sinking to the carpet, she +pressed her lips to the linen folds, and to the coat-sleeve, where +sleet and blood-spots mingled. + +He could not have prevented her, even had he desired to do so; but at +that instant his sister moaned faintly, and, bending forward to +examine her countenance, he seemed for some minutes unconscious of the +presence of the form crouching close by his side. + +After a little while he looked down, sighed, and whispered,-- + +"My child, do go to bed. You can do no good here, and too much +watching has already unstrung your nerves. Go to your room, and pray +that God will spare our dear Janet to us." + +Was this the welcome for which she had waited and longed--of which she +had dreamed by day and by night? Not a touch, barely a brief, +impatient glance, and a few reproving, indifferent words. She had +rashly dared fate to cheat her out of this long-anticipated greeting, +and the grim, grinning crone had accepted the challenge, and now +triumphantly snapped her withered fingers in the face of the +vanquished. + +When coveted fruit that has been hungrily watched through the slow, +tedious process of ripening finally falls rosy and mellow into +eagerly uplifted fingers, and breaks in a shower of bitter dust on the +sharpened and fastidious palate, it rarely happens that the +half-famished dupe relishes the taste; and Salome rose, feeling +stunned and mocked. + +In one corner of the room stood a chintz-covered lounge, and, creeping +to it, she laid herself down; and, shading her features with her hand, +looked through her fingers at the pale, grieved face of the anxious +brother. Sometimes he stood up, studying the placid countenance of the +sufferer, and now and then he walked softly to the fire-place, and +held whispered conferences with Hester relative to the course of +treatment that had been pursued. + +But everywhere Salome's eyes followed him; and finally, when he +chanced to glance at the couch, and noticed its occupant, whom he +imagined fast asleep, he pointed to a blanket lying on a chair, and +directed Hester to spread it over the girlish figure. The thoughtful +act warmed the orphan's heart more effectually than the thick woollen +cover; and when he sat down in an easy-chair close to the bed, and +within range of Salome's vision, she yielded to the comforting +consciousness of his presence. And, while her lips were moving in +thanks for his preservation and return, exhausted nature seized her +dues, and the girl fell asleep and dreamed that Dr. Grey stood by the +lounge, and whispered,-- + + "No star goes down, but climbs in other skies; + The rose of sunset folds its glory up + To burst again from out the heart of dawn, + And love is never lost, though hearts run waste, + And sorrow makes the chastened heart a seer; + The deepest dark reveals the starriest hope, + And Faith can trust her heaven behind the veil." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +"Yes, Hester, the danger is past; and, if the weather continues +favorable, my sister will soon be able to sit up. My gratitude +prompts me to erect an altar here, where the mercy of God stayed +the Destroying Angel, as in ancient days David consecrated the +threshing-floor of Araunah." + +"Dr. Grey, if you can possibly spare me, I should like to go back to +town to-day as Dr. Sheldon has sent for me to take charge of a patient +at his Infirmary." + +"You ought not to desert me while I am so comparatively helpless; and +I should be glad to have you remain, at least until I recover the use +of my hands." + +"Miss Salome can take my place, and do all that is really necessary." + +"The child is so inexperienced I am almost afraid to trust her; +still--" + +"Don't speak so loud. She is standing behind the window-curtain." + +"Indeed! I thought she left the room when I entered it. Of course, +Hester, I will not detain you if it is necessary that you should be at +the Infirmary; but I give you up very reluctantly. Salome, if you are +at leisure, please come and see how Hester dresses my hand and arm, +for I must rely upon your kind services when she leaves us. Notice the +manner in which she winds the bandages. There, Hester,--not quite so +tight." + +"Dr. Grey, I never had an education, and am at best an ignorant, +poor soul: therefore, not knowing what to think about many curious +things that happen in sick-rooms, I should be glad to hear what you +have to say concerning that vision of your sister. Remember, she +saw it at the very minute that the accident happened. I don't +believe in spirit-rapping, and such stuff as dancing tables, and +spinning chairs, and pianos that play tunes when no human being is +near them; but I have heard and seen things that made the hair rise +and stand on my head." + +"The circumstance that occurred three days since is certainly rather +singular and remarkable, but by no means inexplicable. My sister knew +that I was then travelling by railroad,--that I would, without some +unusual delay, reach the dépot at a certain hour, and, being in a +delirious condition, her mind reverted to the probability of some +occurrence that might detain me. Having always evinced a peculiar +aversion to railroads, which she deems the most unsafe method of +travelling, she had a feverish dream that took its coloring from her +excited apprehension of danger to me; and this vision, born of delirium, +was so vivid that she could not distinguish phantom from reality. In +ninety-nine cases out of every hundred similar ones, the dream +passes without fulfilment, and is rarely recollected or mentioned; +but the hundredth--which may chance by some surprising coincidence to +seem verified--is noised abroad as supernatural, and carefully preserved +among 'well-authenticated spiritual manifestations.' If I had escaped +injury, the freaks of my sister's delirium would have made no more +impression on your mind than the ravings of a lunatic; and, since I was +so unfortunate as to be bruised and burned, you must not allow +yourself to grow superstitious, and attach undue importance to a +circumstance which was entirely accidental, and only startling because +so exceedingly rare. Presentiments, especially when occurring in cases +of fever, are merely Will-o-the-wisps floating about in excited, +diseased brains. While at sea, and constantly associated with sailors, +whose minds constitute the most favorable and fruitful soil for the +production of phantasmagoria and _diablerie_, I had frequent +opportunities of testing the fallacy and absurdity of so-called +'presentiments and forebodings.' I am afraid it is the absence of +spirituality in the hearts of the people, that drives this generation +to seek supernaturalism in the realm of merely normal physics. The only +true spiritualism is that which emanates from the Holy Ghost,--conquers +sinful impulses, and makes a Christian heart the temple of God." + +Here Miss Jane called Hester into the adjoining room; and turning to +Salome, Dr. Grey added,-- + +"Notwithstanding the vaunted destruction of the ancient Hydra of +superstition by the darts and javelins of modern rationalism, and the +ponderous hot irons of empirics, it is undeniably true that the habit +of 'seeking after a sign' survived the generation of Scribes and +Pharisees whom Christ rebuked; and manifests itself in the middle of +the nineteenth century by the voracity with which merely material +phenomena are seized as unmistakable indications of preternatural +agencies. The innate leaven of superstition triumphs over common sense +and scientific realism, and men and women are awed by coincidences +that reason scouts, but credulity receives with open arms. Salome, I +regret exceedingly that I am forced to trouble you, but there are some +important letters which I wish to mail to-day, and you will greatly +oblige me by acting as amanuensis while I dictate. My present disabled +condition must apologize for the heavy tax which I am imposing upon +your patience and industry. Will you come to the library?" + +She made no protestations of willingness to serve him, and confessed +no delight at the prospect of being useful, but merely bowed and +smiled, with an expression in her eyes that puzzled him. + +Seated at the library-table, and writing down the sentences that he +dictated while pacing the floor, Salome passed one of the happiest +hours of her life; for it brought the blessed assurance that, for the +present at least, he acknowledged his need of her. + +One of the letters was addressed to Mr. Gerard Granville, an _attaché_ +of the American legation at Paris, and referred principally to +financial affairs; and the other, directed to Muriel Manton, contained +an urgent request that she and her governess would leave New York as +speedily as possible and become inmates of his sister's house. + +When she had folded the letters and sealed them with his favorite +emerald signet,--bearing the words, "_Frangas non Flectes_,"--Salome +looked up, and asked,-- + +"How old is your ward, Miss Manton?" + +"About your age,--though she looks much more childish." + +"Pretty, of course?" + +"Why 'of course'?" + +"Simply because in novels they are always painted as pretty as +Persephone; and the only wards I ever knew happen to be fictitious +characters." + +"Novels are by no means infallible mirrors of nature, and few wards +are as attractive as my black-eyed pet. Muriel will be very handsome, +I hope, when she is grown; but now she impresses me as merely sweet, +piquant, and pretty." + +"Did you know her prior to your recent visit?" + +"Yes; her father's house was my home whenever I chanced to be in New +York, and I have seen her, occasionally, since she was a little girl. +For your sake, as well as mine, I am glad she will reside here, +because I hope she will prove in every respect a pleasant companion +for you." + +"Thank you; but, unfortunately, that is one luxury of which I never +felt the need, and with which, permit me to tell you, I can readily +dispense. I have little respect for women, and no desire to be wearied +with their inane garrulity." + +She leaned back in her chair, and tapped restlessly with the end of +the pen-staff on the morocco-covered table. + +Dr. Grey looked down steadily and gravely into her provokingly defiant +face, and replied very coldly,-- + +"Were I in your place, I think I should jealously guard my lips from +the hasty utterance of sentiments that, if unfeigned, ought to bring a +blush to every true woman's cheek; for I fear that she who has no +respect for her own sex bids fair to disgrace it." + +A scarlet wave rolled up from throat to temples, and the lurking +yellow gleamed in her eyes, but the bend of her nostril and curve of +her lips did not relax. + +"Which is preferable, hypocrisy or irreverence?" + +"Both are unpardonable, in a woman." + +"Where is your vast charity, Dr. Grey?" + +"Busy in sheltering that lofty ideal of genuine female perfection +which you seem so pertinaciously ambitious to sully and degrade." + +"You are harsh, and scarcely courteous." + +"You will never find me less so when you vauntingly exhibit such +mournful blemishes of character." + +"At least, sir, I am honest, and show myself just what God saw fit to +allow misfortune to make me." + +"Hush, Salome! Do not add impiousness to the long catalogue of your +sinful follies. I hoped that there was a favorable change in you +before I left home, but I very much fear that, instead of exorcising +the one evil spirit that possessed you, you have swept, and garnished, +and settled yourself comfortably with seven new ones." + +"And, like R. Chaim Vital, you come to pronounce _Nidui!_ and banish +my diabolical guests. If cauterization cures moral ulcers as +effectually as those that afflict the flesh, then, verily, you intend +I shall be clean and whole. You are losing patience with your +graceless neophyte." + +"Yes, Salome; because forced to lose faith in her inclination and +capacity to sublimate her erring nature. Once for all, let me say that +habitual depreciation of your own sex will not elevate you in the +estimation of mine; for, however fallen you may find mankind, they +nevertheless realize amid their degradation that,-- + + ''Tis somewhat to have known, albeit in vain, + One woman in this sorrowful, bad earth, + Whose very loss can yet bequeath to pain + New faith in worth.'" + +There was no taunt, no bitterness, in his voice; but grievous +disappointment, too deep for utterance; and the girl winced under it, +though only the flush burning on cheek and brow attested her +vulnerability. + +"Remember, sir, that humanity was not moulded entirely from one +stratum of pipe-clay. Only a few wear paint, enamelling, and gold as +delicate costly Sèvres; and, while the majority are only coarse +pottery, it is scarcely kind--certainly not generous--in dainty, +transparent china, belonging to king's palaces, to pity or denounce +the humble Delft or Wedgewoodware doing duty in laborer's cottages." + +"Very true, my poor little warped, blotched bit of perverse pottery; +but of one vital truth permit me to assure you: the purity and +elevation of our race depend upon preserving inviolate in the hearts +of men a belief that women's natures are crystalline as that +celebrated glass once made at Murano, which was so exceedingly fine +and delicate that it burst into fragments if poison was poured into +it." + +"Then, obviously, I am no Venetian goblet; else long ago I should have +shattered under the bitter, black juices poured by fate. It seems I am +not worthy to touch the lips of doges and grand dukes; but let them +look to it that some day, when spent and thirsty, they stretch not +their regal hands for the common clay that holds what all their +costly, dainty fragments can never yield. _Nous verrons!_ 'The stone +which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.'" + +Dr. Grey had resumed his walk, but the half-suppressed, passionate +protest, whose underswell began to agitate her voice, arrested his +attention, and he came to the table and stood close to the orphan. + +"What is the matter with my headstrong young friend?" + +She made no answer; but her elfish eyes sought his, and braved their +quiet rebuke. + +"This is the last opportunity I shall offer you to tell me frankly +what troubles you. Can I help you in any way? If so, command me." + +"Once you could have helped me, but that time has passed." + +"Perhaps not. Try me." + +"It is too late. You have lost faith in me." + +"No; you have lost all faith in yourself, if you ever indulged +any,--which I very much doubt. It is you who are faithless concerning +your own defective character." + +"Not I, indeed! I know it rather too well, either to set it aloft for +adoration or to trample it in the mire. When your faith in me expired, +mine was born. Do you recollect that beautiful painted window in +Lincoln Cathedral which the untutored fingers of an apprentice +fashioned out of the despised bits of glass rejected by the +fastidious master-builder? It is so vastly superior to every other in +the church that the vanquished artist could not survive the chagrin +and mortification, and killed himself. My faith is very strong, that, +please God, I shall some day show you similar handiwork." + +"You grow enigmatical, and I do not fully understand you." + +"No; you do not in the least comprehend me. The girl whom you left six +months ago has changed in many respects." + +"For better, or for worse?" + +"Perhaps neither one nor yet the other; but, at least, sir, 'my future +will not copy fair my past.'" + +"Since my return, I have noticed an alteration in your deportment, +which, I regret to say, I cannot consider an improvement; and I should +feel inclined to attribute your restless impatience to nervous disease +were I not assured by your appearance that you are in perfect health. +Remember, that quietude of manner constitutes a woman's greatest +charm; and, unfortunately, you seem almost a mimic mælstrom. But, +pardon me, I did not intend to lecture you; and, hoping all things, I +will patiently wait for the future that you seem to have dedicated to +some special object. I will try to have faith in my perverse little +friend, though she sometimes renders it a difficult task. May I +trouble you to stamp those letters?" + +He could not analyze the change that passed swiftly across her face, +nor the emotion that made her suddenly clinch her hands till the rosy +nails grew purple. + +"Dr. Grey, don't you believe that if Judas Iscariot had only resisted +the temptation of the thirty pieces of silver, and stood by his master +instead of betraying him, that his position in heaven would have been +far more exalted than that of Peter, or even of John?" + +"That is a question which I have never pondered, and am not prepared +to discuss. Why do you propound it?" + +She did not answer immediately; and, when she spoke, her glittering +eyes softened in their expression, and resembled stars rising through +the golden mist of lingering sunset splendor. + +"God gave you a nobler heart than mine, and left it an easy, pleasant +matter for you to be good; while, struggle as I may, I am constantly +in danger of tumbling into some slough of iniquity, or setting up +false gods for my soul to bow down to. Because it is so much more +difficult for me to do right than for you, it is only just that my +reward should be correspondingly greater." + +"I am neither John nor Peter, nor are you Judas; and only He who knows +our mutual faults and follies, our triumphs and defeats in the +life-long campaign with sin, can judge us equitably. I am too +painfully conscious of my own imperfections not to sympathize +earnestly with the temptations that may assail you; and, moreover, we +should never lose sight of the fact,-- + + 'What's done we partly may compute, + But know not what's resisted.'" + +"Dr. Grey, you have great confidence in the efficacy of prayer?" + +"Yes; for without it human lives are rudderless, drifting to speedy +wreck and ruin." + +"If I ask a favor, will you grant it?" + +"Have I ever denied you anything that you asked?" + +"Yes, sir,--your good opinion." + +"I knew that had you really desired that, you would long since have +rendered it impossible for me to withhold it. But to the point,--what +is your petition?" + +"I want you to pray for me." + +"Salome, are you serious? Are you really in earnest?" + +"Mournfully in earnest." + +"Then rest satisfied that henceforth you will always have a place in +my prayer; but do not forget the greater necessity of praying for +yourself. Now, tell me how you have been employed during my long +absence. Where are the accumulated exercises which I promised to +examine and correct when I returned?" + +"Promised whom?" + +"You." + +"You forget that I did not see you the day you left, and that you did +not even bid me good-by." + +"I referred to your French exercises in a brief and hurried note that +I left for you." + +"Left where? I never received--never heard of it." + +"I laid it upon your plate, where I supposed you would certainty +notice it when you came home to dinner." + +"Why did not you give it to Miss Jane?" + +"Simply because she was not in the room when I wrote it. It is rather +surprising that it escaped your observation, as I laid it in a +conspicuous place." + +She did not deem it necessary to inform him that on that unlucky day +she had suddenly lost her appetite, and failed to go to the table; and +now she put her fingers over her eyes to conceal the blaze of joyful +light that irradiated them, as he mentioned the circumstance, +comparatively trivial, but precious in her estimation, since it was +freighted with the assurance that at least he had thought of her on +the eve of his unexpected departure. What inexpressible comfort that +note might have contributed during all those tedious months of silence +and separation! While she sat there thinking of the dreary afternoon +when, down in the orchard-grass she lay upon her face, Dr. Grey came +nearer to her, and said,-- + +"I hope you have not abandoned your French?" + +"No, sir; but I devote less time than formerly to it." + +"If agreeable to you, we will resume the exercises as soon as I can +wield my pen." + +"If you can teach me Italian, I should prefer it; especially since I +have learned to pronounce French tolerably well?" + +"What use do you expect to have for Italian,--at least, at present? +French is much more essential." + +"I have a good reason for desiring to make the change, though just now +I do not choose to be driven into any explanations." + +"Pardon me. I had no intention of forcing your confidence. When in +Italy, I always contrive to understand and make myself understood; +but my knowledge and use of the language is rather too slip-shod to +justify my attempting to teach you idioms, hallowed as the medium +through which Dante and Ariosto charmed the world. Miss Dexter, +Muriel's governess, is a very thorough and accomplished linguist, and +speaks Italian not only gracefully but correctly. I have already +engaged her to teach you whatever she may deem advisable when she +comes here to live." + +"You are very kind. Is she a young person?" + +"She is a very highly cultivated and elegant woman, probably +twenty-five or six years old, and has been in Florence with Muriel." + +Involuntarily and unconsciously the orphan sighed, and the muscles in +her broad forehead tangled terribly. + +"Salome, please put your hand in the right pocket of my vest, and take +out a key that ought to be there. No,--not that; a larger steel one. +Now you have it. Will you be so good as to open that trunk which came +by express yesterday (it is in the upper hall), and bring me a box +wrapped in pink tissue-paper? I would not trouble you with so many +commissions if I could use my hands." + +Unable longer to repress her feelings, the girl exclaimed eagerly,-- + +"If you could imagine what pleasure it affords me to render you the +slightest service, I am very sure you would not annoy me with +apologies for making me happy." + +In a few moments she returned to the library, bearing in her hand a +small but heavy package, which she placed on the table before him. + +"Please open it, and examine the contents." + +She obeyed him; and, after removing the wrapping, found a blue velvet +case that opened with a spring and revealed a parcel enclosed in +silver paper. Dr. Grey turned and walked to the window; and, as Salome +took off the last covering, a watch and chain met her curious gaze. +One side of the former was richly and elaborately chased, and +represented Kronos leaning on his scythe; the other was studded with +diamonds that flashed out the name "Salome." Astonishment and delight +sealed the orphan's lips, and, in silence, far more eloquent than +words, she bowed her head upon the table. After a few moments had +elapsed, Dr. Grey attempted to steal out of the room; but, being +obliged to pass close by her chair, she put out her hand and arrested +his movement. + +"It is the most beautiful watch I have ever seen; but, oh, sir! how +shall I sufficiently thank you? How can I express all that is +throbbing here in my proud, grateful heart? Although the costly gift +is elegant and tasteful, I hold still more precious the fact which it +attests,--that during your absence you thought of me. How shall I +begin to prove my gratitude for your kindness and generosity?" + +"Do not thank me, my little friend; for, indeed I require no verbal +assurances that my _souvenir_ is kindly received and appreciated. Wear +the watch; and let it continually remind you not only of the sincerity +of my friendship, but of the far more important fact that every idle +or injudiciously employed hour will cry out in accusation against us +in the final assize, when we are called upon to render an account of +the distribution of that invaluable time which God allows us solely +for the accomplishment of His work on earth. It is so exceedingly +difficult for young persons to realize how marvellously rapid is the +flight of time, that you will, I trust, forgive me if I endeavor to +impress upon you the vital importance of making each day fragrant with +the burden of some good deed, the resistance of some sore temptation, +some service rendered to God or to suffering humanity which shall make +your years mellow with the fruitage that will entitle you to a +glorious record in the golden book of Abou Ben Adhem's angel. Let this +little jewelled monitress of the fleeting, mocking nature of time, +this ingenious toy, whose ticking is but the mournful, endless knell +of dead seconds, remind you that,-- + + "This life of ours, what is it? A very few + Soon ended years, and then--the ceaseless psalm, + And the eternal Sabbath of the soul." + +As Salome looked up into his tranquil, happy face, two tears glided +across her cheeks, and fell upon the pretty bauble. + +"You will find a key in the case, and can wind it up, and set it by +the clock in the parlor." + +"Dr. Grey, are you willing that my watch shall bear daily testimony of +something which I hold far above its diamonds,--that you have faith in +Salome Owen?" + +"Perfectly willing that you should make it eloquent with all friendly +utterances and sympathy. Hester has bound my arm so tightly that it +impedes the circulation, and is very painful. Please loosen the +bandage." + +She complied as carefully as possible, though her hands trembled; and, +when the ligature had been comfortably adjusted and the arm restored +to its sling, she stooped and pressed her lips softly and reverently +to the cold, white fingers, that protruded from the linen bands. He +endeavored ineffectually to prevent the caress, which evidently +embarrassed him; but she left two kisses on the bruised hand, and, +snatching her watch and chain from the table, hastily quitted the +room. + +In after years, when loneliness and disappointment pressed heavily +upon her heart, she looked back to the three weeks that succeeded Dr. +Grey's return as the halcyon days, as the cloudless June morning of +her life; and, in blissful retrospection, temporarily found Elysium. + +She wrote his letters, read aloud from his favorite books, dressed and +bandaged his blistered hand and fractured arm, and surrendered her +heart to an intense and perfect happiness such as she had scarcely +dared to hope would ever be her portion. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +"Bring her into my office. Steady, men! There may be broken bones, and +jarring would be torture. Don't stumble over that book on the floor. +Lay her here on the sofa, and throw open the blinds." + +"Dr. Grey, is she dead?" + +"No, only badly stunned; and the contusion on the head seems to be +very severe. Stand back, all of you, and give her air. When did it +happen?" + +"About twenty minutes ago. She is a stout, heavy woman, and we could +not walk very fast with such a burden. Ah! you intend to bleed her?" + +"Yes, I fear nothing else will relieve her. Mitchell, hold the arm for +me." + +"How did she receive this injury?" asked Dr. Mitchell, who had been +holding a consultation with Dr. Grey relative to some perplexing +case. + +"Those gray ponies which we were admiring a half-hour since, as they +trotted by the door, took fright at a menagerie procession coming up +from the dépot to the Hippodrome,--and ran away. In steering clear of +the elephant, who was covered from head to foot, and certainly looked +frightful, the horses ran into a mass of lumber and brick at the +corner of Fountain and Franklin streets, where a new store is being +erected, and the carriage was upset. Unfortunately the harness was +very strong, and did not give away until the carriage had been dragged +some yards among the rubbish, and one of the horses finally floundered +into a bed of mortar, and broke the traces. The driver kept his hold +upon the reins to the last, but was badly bruised, and this woman was +thrown out on a pile of bricks and granite-caps. The municipal +authorities should prohibit these menagerie parades, for the meekest +plough-horse in the State could scarcely have faced that band of +musicians, flanked by the covered elephant and giraffe, and the cages +of the beasts,--much less those fiery grays, who seem snuffing danger +even when there is no provocation." + +"Who is this woman?" + +"She is a total stranger to me," answered Dr. Grey, bending down to +put his ear to the heart of the victim. + +A bystander seemed better informed, and replied,-- + +"She is a servant or housekeeper of the lady who lives at 'Solitude.' +But here comes the driver, limping and making wry faces." + +Robert Maclean approached the sofa, and his scratched and bleeding +face paled as he leaned over the prostrate form of his mother. + +"Oh, doctors, surely two of you can save her! For God's sake, don't +let her die! Does she breathe?" + +"Yes, the bleeding has already benefitted her. She breathes regularly, +and the action of her heart is better. Sit down, my man,--you look +ghastly. Mitchell, give him some brandy, and sew up that gash in his +cheek, while I write a prescription." + +"Never mind me, doctor; only save my poor mother. She looks like death +itself. Mother, mother, it is all over now! Come, wake up, and speak +to me!" + +He seized one of her cold hands, and chafed it vigorously between both +of his, while tears and blood mingled, as they dripped from his face +to hers. + +"Doctor, tell me the truth; is there any hope?" + +"Certainly, my friend; there is every reason to believe she will +ultimately recover, though you need not be surprised if she remains +for some hours in a heavy stupor. Remember, a pile of brick is not +exactly a feather pillow, and it may be some time before the brain +recovers from the severity of the contusion. What is your name?" + +"Robert Maclean." + +"And hers?" + +"Elsie Maclean. Poor, dear creature! How she labors in her breathing. +Suppose I lift her head?" + +"No; let her rest quietly, just as she is, and I trust all will be +well. Come to the table, and allow me to put some plaster over that +cut which bleeds so freely. Trust me, Maclean, and do not look so +woe-begone. I am not deceiving you. There may be serious internal +injuries that I have not discovered, but this stupor is not alarming. +I can find no fractured bones, and hope the blow on the head is the +most troublesome thing we shall have to contend with." + +Dr. Grey proceeded to sponge the bruised and stained face and, hoping +to divert the man's anxious thoughts, said, nonchalantly,-- + +"I believe you are in Mrs. Gerome's employment?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"How long have you been at 'Solitude'?" + +"I came here, sir, and bought the place, while she was in Europe. Ah, +doctor, if my mother should die, I believe it would kill my +mistress." + +"You are old family servants?" + +"My mother took her when she was twelve hours old, and has never left +her since. She loves Mrs. Gerome even better than she loves me--her +own flesh and blood. I can't go home and tell my mistress I have +nearly killed my mother. She would never endure the sight of me again. +Her own mother died the day after she was born, and she has always +looked on that poor dear soul yonder as her foster-mother." + +Robert limped back to the sofa, and, seating himself on a chair, +looked wistfully into his mother's countenance; then hid his face in +his hands. + +"Come, be a man, Maclean; and don't give way to nervousness! Your +mother's condition is constantly improving, though of course it is not +so apparent to you as to me. What has been done with the carriage and +horses?" + +"Oh, the carriage is a sweet pudding; and the grays--curses on +'em!--are badly bruised. One of them had his flank laid open by a saw +lying on a lumber-pile; and I only wish it had sawed across the +jugular. They are vicious brutes as ever were bitted, and it makes my +blood run cold sometimes to see their devilish antics when Mrs. Gerome +insists on driving them. They will break her neck, if I don't contrive +to break theirs first." + +"I should judge from their appearance that it was exceedingly unsafe +for any lady to attempt to control them. They seem very fiery and +unmanageable. What has been done with them?" + +"The deuce knows!--knocked in the head, I trust. I asked two men, who +were in the crowd, to take them to the livery-stable. Mrs. Gerome is +not afraid of anything, and one of her few pleasures is driving those +gray imps, who know her voice as well as I do. I have seen them put up +their narrow ears and neigh when she was a hundred yards off; and +sometimes she wraps the reins around her wrists and quiets them, when +their eyes look like balls of fire. But Rarey himself could not have +stopped them a while ago, when they determined to run over that +menagerie show. My mistress will say it was my fault, and she will +stand by the gray satans through thick and thin. Hist, doctor, my +mother groans!" + +"Would it not be best for you to go home and acquaint Mrs. Gerome with +what has occurred?" + +"I would not face her without my mother for--twenty kingdoms! You have +no idea how she loves her 'old Elsie,' and I couldn't break the news +to her,--I would sooner break my head." + +"This is not a proper place for your mother, and I advise you to +remove her to the hospital, which is not very far from my office. She +can be carried on a litter." + +"Oh, my mistress would never permit that! She will let no one else +nurse my mother; and, of course, she could not go to a public place +like a hospital, for you know she is so dreadful shy of strangers." + +After many suggestions, and much desultory conversation, it was +finally decided that Elsie should be placed on a mattress, in the +bottom of an open wagon, and carried slowly home. A careful driver was +provided, and when Dr. Grey had seen his patient comfortably arranged, +and established Robert on the seat with the driver, he yielded to the +solicitations of the son, that he would precede them to "Solitude," +and acquaint Mrs. Gerome with the details of the accident. + +Although ten months had elapsed since the latter took possession of +her new home, so complete had been her seclusion that she remained an +utter stranger; and, when visitors flocked from town and neighborhood +to satisfy themselves concerning the rumors of the elegant furniture +and appointments of the house, they were invariably denied admittance, +and informed that since her widowhood Mrs. Gerome had not re-entered +society. + +Curiosity was piqued, and gossip wagged her hundred busy tongues over +the tormenting fact that Mrs. Gerome had never darkened the +church-door since her arrival; and, occasionally, when she rode into +town, wore a thick veil that thoroughly screened her features; and, +instead of shopping like other people, made Elsie Maclean bring the +articles to the carriage for her inspection. + +The servants seemed to hold themselves as much aloof as their +mistress, and though Robert and his mother attended service regularly +every Sabbath, they appeared as gravely silent and ungregarious as +Sphinxes. The ministers of various denominations called to pay their +respects to the stranger, but only the clerical cards succeeded in +crossing the threshold; and, while rumors of her boundless wealth +crept teasingly through Newsmongerdom, no one except Salome Owen had +yet seen the new-comer. + +Cases of books and pictures occasionally arrived from Europe, and +never failed to stir the pool of gossip to its dregs; for the wife of +the express-agent was an intimate friend of Mrs. Spiewell, whose +husband was pastor of the church which Elsie and Robert attended, and +who felt personally aggrieved that the Rev. Charles Spiewell was not +welcomed as the spiritual guide of the mistress of "Solitude." + +Finally, a morbid, meddling inquisitiveness goaded the chatty little +woman beyond the bounds of ministerial decorum, and, having rashly +wagered a pair of gloves that she would gain an entrance to the +parlors (whereof the upholsterer's wife told marvellous tales), she +armed herself with a pathetic petition for aid to build a "Widow's +Row," and, with a subscription-list for a "Dorcas Society," and +confident of ingress, boldly rang the bell. Unfortunately, Elsie +chanced that day to be on post as sentinel, and, though she +immediately recognized the visitor as the mother of the small colony +of Spiewells who crowded every Sunday morning into the pew of the +pastor, she courtesied, and gave the stereotyped rebuff,-- + +"Mrs. Gerome begs to be excused." + +"Ah, indeed! But she does not know who has called, or she would make +an exception in my favor. I am your minister's wife, and must really +see her, if only for two minutes. Take my card to her, and say I call +on important business, which cannot fail to interest her." + +Not a muscle of Elsie's grave face moved, as she received the card, +and answered,-- + +"I am very sorry, madam, but Mrs. Gerome sees no visitors, and my +orders are positive." + +Mrs. Spiewell bit her lip, and reddened. + +"Then take these papers to her, and ask if she will please be so good +as to examine their claims to her charity. In the meantime I will wait +in the parlor, and must trouble you for a glass of water." + +She thrust the petitions into Elsie's hand, and attempted to slip into +the hall, through the partial opening of the door which the servant +held during the parley; but, planting her massive frame directly in +the way, the resolute woman effectually barred entrance, and, pointing +to an iron _tête-à-tête_ on the portico, said, decisively,-- + +"I beg pardon, madam, but you will find a seat there; and I will bring +the water while Mrs. Gerome reads your letters. If you are fatigued, I +will hand you luncheon and some wine." + +Mortified and enraged, Mrs. Spiewell grew scarlet, but threw herself +into the seat designated, resolved to snatch a glimpse of the interior +the instant the servant had disappeared. + +Very softly Elsie closed and securely latched the door on the inside, +knowing that at that moment her mistress was sitting in the oriel +window of the front parlor. + +In vain the visitor tried and twisted the bolt, and, completely +baffled, tears of chagrin moistened her eyes. She had scarcely time to +regain her seat, when Elsie reappeared, bearing on a handsome salver a +wine-glass, silver goblet, and an elegant basket filled with cake. + +"Mrs. Gerome presents her compliments, and sends you this fifty dollar +bill for whatever society you represent." + +Too thoroughly discomfited to conceal her pique and indignation, Mrs. +Spiewell snatched letters and donation, and, without lingering an +instant, swept haughtily down the steps, "shaking off the dust of her +feet" against "Solitude" and its incorrigible owner. + +An innocent impertinence once coldly frustrated soon takes unto itself +a sting and branding-irons, and thus, what was originally merely idle +curiosity, becomes bitter malice; and henceforth the worthy minister's +gossiping wife lost no opportunity of inveighing against the +superciliousness of the stranger, and of insinuating that some very +extraordinary circumstances led her "to fear that something was +radically wrong about that poor Mrs. Gerome, for troubles that could +not be poured into the sympathetic ears of pastors and of pastors' +wives must be very dark, indeed." + +Whenever the name of the new-comer was mentioned, Mrs. Spiewell +compressed her lips, shook her head, and shrugged her round shoulders; +and, of course, persons present surmised that the "minister's lady" +was acquainted with melancholy facts which charity prevented her from +divulging. + +Many of the grievances and ills that afflict society spring not from +sinful, envenomed hearts, but from weak souls and empty heads; and +Mrs. Spiewell, who sat up with all the measle-stricken, teething, sick +children in her husband's charge, and would have felt disgraced had +she missed a meeting of the "Dorcas Society," or of the "Barefeet +Relief Club," would have been duly shocked if any one had boldly +charged her with slandering a woman whom she had never seen, and of +whose antecedents she knew absolutely nothing. Verily, it is +difficult, indeed, even for "the elect" to keep themselves "unspotted +from the world;" and Zimmerman was a seer when he declared, "Who lives +with wolves must join in their howls." + +Absorbed by professional engagements, or fiscal cares, the gentlemen +of a community are rarely interested in or informed of the last wreck +of character which the whirlpool of scandal strews on the strand of +society; but vague rumors relative to Mrs. Gerome's isolation had +penetrated even into the quiet precincts of Dr. Grey's sanctum, and +consequently invested his present mission with extraneous interest. + +For the first time since her arrival he approached the confines of +her residence, and, as he threw the reins over the dashboard of his +buggy and stood under the lofty old trees that surrounded the house, +he paused to admire the beauty of the grounds, the grouping of some +statues and pot plants on a neighboring mound, and the far-stretching +sheen of the rippling sea. + +No living thing was visible except a golden pheasant and scarlet +flamingo strutting along the stone terrace at the foot of the lawn, +and silence and repose seemed brooding over house and yard; when +suddenly a rapid, passionate, piano-prelude smote the stillness till +the air appeared to throb and quiver, and a thrillingly sweet yet +intensely mournful voice sang the wailing strains of _Addio del +Passato_. + +The indescribable yet almost overwhelming pathos of the tones affected +Dr. Grey much as the tremolo-stop in some organ-overture in a +dimly-lighted cathedral; and, as the singer seemed to pour her whole +aching heart and wearied soul into the concluding "_Ah! tutto-tutto +fini!_" he turned, and involuntarily followed the sound, like one in a +dream. + +The front door was closed; but the sash of the oriel window had been +raised, and through the delicate lace curtains that were swaying in +the salt breath of ocean he could see what passed in the parlor. A +woman sat before the piano, running her snowy fingers idly across the +keys, now striking _fortissimo_ a wild stormy _fugue_ theme, and then +softly evoking a subtle minor chord that seemed the utterance of some +despairing spirit breathing its last prayer for peace. + +Her Marie-Louise blue dress was girded at the waist by a belt and +buckle of silver, and the loose sleeve of the right arm was looped and +pinned up, showing the dimpled elbow and daintily rounded wrist +encircled by the jet serpent. Around her throat she had carelessly +thrown a lace handkerchief, and from the mass of hair that seemed +tiny, snow-capped waves, a cluster of blue nemophila leaned down to +touch the white forehead beneath, and peep at the answering blue +gleams in the large, shining, steely eyes. Her fingers strayed +listlessly into a _Nocturne_; but from the dreamy expression of the +face, upraised to gaze at the busts on the brackets above, it was +evident that her thoughts had wandered far away from _Addio del +Passato_, and were treading the drift-strewn strands of melancholy +memory. + +Presently she rose, walked twice across the room, and came back to an +_étagére_ where stood an azure Bohemian glass vase, supported by +silver Tritons, and filled with late blue hyacinths and early +pancratiums. + +Bending her regal head, she inhaled the mingled perfumes, worthy of +Sicilian or Cyprian meadows; and, while her slight fingers toyed with +the fragile petals, a proud smile lent its sad light to the chill +face, and she said aloud, as if striving to comfort herself,-- + + "'Not the ineffable stars that interlace + The azure canopy of Zeus himself + Have surer sweetness than my hyacinths + When they grow blue, in gazing on blue heaven, + Than the white lilies of my rivers, when + In leafy spring Selene's silver horn + Spills paleness, peace, and fragrance.'" + +With a heavy sigh she turned away, and sat down in the rear room, near +the arch, where an easel now stood, containing a large, unfinished +picture; and, taking her ivory palette and brushes, she began to +retouch the violet robe of one of the figures. + +Dr. Grey had seen more beautiful women among the gilded pillars and +frescoes of palaces, and amid the olives and vineyards of Parthenope; +but in Mrs. Gerome he found a fascinating mystery that baffled +analysis and riveted his attention. Neither young nor old, she had +crowned herself with the glories of both seasons, and seemed some +sweet, dewy spring, wrapped in the snows and frozen in the icy garb of +winter. + +He had expected to meet a middle-aged person, habited in widow's +weeds, and meek from the severe scourging of a recent and terrible +bereavement; but that anomalous white face and proud, queenly form +were unlike all other flesh that his keen eyes had hitherto scanned; +and he regarded her as curiously as he would have examined some +abnormal-looking specimen of nerves and muscles laid upon the marble +slab of a dissecting-table. + +Recollecting suddenly that, if he did not present himself, the wagon +would arrive before he had accomplished the object of his visit, he +drew a card from his pocket, and, stepping over the low sill of the +oriel window, advanced to the arch. + +The mistress of the house sat with her back turned towards him, and +was apparently absorbed in putting purple shadows into the folds of a +mantle that hung from the shoulders of a kneeling figure on the +canvas. + +Face-downward on an ottoman near, lay a beautiful copy of Owen +Meredith's poems; and, after a few seconds, she paused, brush in hand, +and, taking up the book, slowly read aloud--glancing, as she did so, +from page to picture,-- + + ... "'Then I could perceive + A glory pouring through an open door, + And in the light five women. I believe + They wore white vestments, all of them. They were + Quite calm; and each still face unearthly fair, + Unearthly quiet. So like statues all, + Waiting they stood without that lighted hall; + And in their hands, like a blue star, they held + Each one a silver lamp.'" + +Standing immediately behind her, Dr. Grey saw that she had seized the +weird "_Vision of Virgins_," and was putting into pigment that solemn +phantasm of the poet's imagination where five radiant women were +passing to their reward,--and five wailing over flickering, dying +lamps, were huddled helplessly and hopelessly under a black and +starless midnight sky. Although unfinished, there was marvellous power +in the picture, and the sickly gleam from the expiring wicks made the +surrounding gloom more supernatural, like the deep shadows skulking +behind the lurid glare in some old Flemish painting. + +He saw also that she had followed the general outline of the poem; but +one of the faces was so supreme in its mute anguish that he thought of +Reni's "Cenci," and of a wan "Alcestis," and a desperate "Cassandra," +he had seen at Rome; and, in comparison, the description of the poet +seemed almost vapid,-- + + ... "One as still as death + Hollowed her hands about her lamp, for fear + Some motion of the midnight, or her breath, + Should fan out the last flicker. Rosy clear + The light oozed through her fingers o'er her face. + There was a ruined beauty hovering there + Over deep pain, and dashed with lurid grace + A waning bloom." + +The room with its costly, quaint, and tasteful furniture,--the +solitary and singularly beautiful woman; the wonderful picture, +growing beneath her hand; the solemn silence, broken only by the deep, +hollow murmur of the dimpling sea that sent its shimmer in at the +window to meet the painted shimmer in a marine view framed on the +wall,--all these wove a spell about the intruder that temporarily held +him a mute captive. + +The artist laid a delicate green on the stripped and scattered leaves +from a wreath of Syrian lilies lying on the marble steps of the +bridegroom's mansion, and once more she read a passage from the open +book,-- + + ... "'Then I beheld + A shadow in the doorway. And One came + Crown'd for a feast. I could not see the Face. + The Form was not all human. As the Flame + Streamed over it, a presence took the place + With awe. He, turning, took them by the hand + And led them each up the wide stairway, and + The door closed.'" + +The sound of her voice, low but clear, and burdened with a sadness +that no language could exhaust or interpret, thrilled Dr. Grey's +steady nerves as no music had ever done, and, stepping forward, he +held out his card, and said,-- + +"Mrs. Gerome, a painful necessity has compelled me to intrude upon +your seclusion, and I trust you will acquit me of impertinence." + +Rising, she fronted him with a frown severe as that which clouded +Artemis' brow when profane eyes peered through myrtle boughs into her +sacred retreat, and the changed voice seemed thick with bristling +icicles. + +"Your business must be imperative, indeed, if it warrants this +intrusion. What servant admitted you?" + +"None. I came in haste, and, seeing the window open, entered without +ringing. Madam, my card will explain my errand." + +"Has Dr. Grey an unpaid bill? I was not aware the servants had needed +your services; but if so, present your claim to Robert Maclean, my +agent." + +"Mrs. Gerome owes me nothing, and I came here reluctantly and in +compliance with Robert Maclean's request, to inform her of an accident +which happened this afternoon while--" + +He paused, awed by the change that swept over her countenance, filling +it with horrible dread. + +"Those gray horses?" + +"Yes, madam." + +"Not Elsie? Oh! don't tell me that my dear old Elsie was mangled! +Hush! I will not hear it!" + +Palette and brushes fell upon the carpet, and she wrung her fingers +until the diamond-eyed asp set its blue fangs in her cold flesh. + +"Robert was merely bruised, but his mother was very badly injured, and +is still insensible. Every precaution has been taken to counteract the +effect of the severe blow on her head, and I hope that after an hour +or two she will recover her consciousness. Robert is bringing her home +as carefully as possible, and you may expect them momentarily. Only +his urgent entreaties that I would precede him and prepare you for the +reception of his mother could have induced me to waive ceremony and +thrust myself into the presence of a lady who seems little disposed to +pardon the apparent presumption of my visit." + +She evidently did not heed his words, and, suddenly clasping her hands +across her forehead, she said, bitterly,-- + +"Coward! why can't you speak out, and tell me that the corpse will +soon be here, and a coffin must be ordered? This is the last blow! +Surely, God will let me alone, now; for there is nothing more that He +can send to afflict me. Oh, Elsie,--my sole comfort! The only one who +ever loved me!" + +A bluish pallor settled about her mouth, and Dr. Grey shuddered as he +looked into the dry, defiant eyes, so beautiful in form and color but +so mournfully desperate in their expression. + +"Mrs. Gerome, your servant is neither dead nor dying, and I have told +you the worst. Down the road I can see the wagon coming slowly, and I +would advise you to call the household together, in order to assist in +lifting Elsie, who is very stout and heavy. Calm yourself, madam, and +trust your favorite servant to my care." + +"Servant! Sir, she is mother, father, husband, friends,--all,--everything +to me! She is the only human being who cares for, or understands, or +sympathizes with me,--and I could not live without her. Oh, sir, do not +ask me to trust you! The time has gone by when I could trust anybody +but Elsie. You are a physician,--you ought to know what should be done +for her; and, Dr. Grey, if you have any pity in your soul, and any +skill in your profession, save my old Elsie's life! Dr. Grey--" + +She paused a few seconds, and added, in a whisper,-- + +"If she dies, I am afraid I might grow desperate, and commit what you +happy people call a crime." + +He felt an unwonted moisture dim his eyes, as he watched the delicate +face, white as the hair that crowned it, and wondered if the wide, +populous world could match her regal form and perfect features. + +"Mrs. Gerome, I think I can promise that Elsie will recover from her +injuries; but a prayer for her safety would bring you more comfort +than my feeble words of assurance and encouragement. The mercy of God +is surer than the combined medical skill of the universe." + +"The mercy of God!" she repeated, with a gesture of scorn and +impatience. "No, no! God set his face like a flint against me, long, +long ago, and I do not mock myself by offering prayers that only call +down smitings upon me. Seven years since I prayed my last prayer, +which was for speedy death; and, from that hour, I seem to have taken +a new lease on life. Now I stand still and keep silent, and I hoped +that God had forgotten me." + +She covered her face with her hands and Dr. Grey drew a chair close to +her and endeavored to make her sit down, but she resisted and shrank +from his touch on her arm. + +"Madam, the wagon has stopped at the door. Will you direct your +servants, or shall I?" + +"If she is not dead, tell Robert to carry her into my room. Oh, Dr. +Grey, you will not let her die!" + +As she looked up imploringly into his calm, noble face, she met his +earnest gaze, brimming with compassion and sympathy, and her lips and +chin quivered. + +"Trust your God, and have faith in me." + +He went out to assist in removing his patient, and when they had +carried the mattress and its occupant into the room opposite the +parlor and laid it on the carpet near the window, he had the +satisfaction of observing a favorable change in Elsie's condition. +While he stood by a table preparing some medicine, Robert stole up, +and asked: + +"Do you notice any improvement? She groaned twice on the road, and +once I am sure she opened her eyes." + +"Yes; I think that very soon she will be able to speak, for her pulse +is gaining strength every hour." + +"How did my mistress take it?" + +"She was much shocked and grieved. Maclean, where are her friends and +relatives?" + +There was no reply, and, glancing over his shoulder to repeat the +inquiry, Dr. Grey saw Mrs. Gerome leaning against the door. + +"Robert, have you killed her?" + +"Oh, no, ma'am! She is doing very well, the doctor says." + +She crossed the room, and sat down on the edge of the mattress, taking +one of the large brown hands in both of hers and bending her face over +the pillow. + +"Elsie! mother! Elsie, speak to your poor child!" + +That wailing voice pierced the stupor, and Dr. Grey was surprised to +see the woman's eyes unclose and rest wonderingly upon the countenance +hovering over her. + +"My dear Elsie, don't you know me?" + +"Yes, my bairn. What ails you?" + +She spoke indistinctly, and shut her eyes once more, as if exhausted. + +"If she was in her coffin, I verily believe she would rise, if she +heard your voice calling her," said Robert, wiping away the tears of +joy that trickled across his sunburnt cheeks. + +Dr. Grey stooped to put his finger on Elsie's pulse, and Mrs. Gerome +threw herself down on the carpet, and buried her face in the pillow, +where her silver hair mingled with the grizzled locks that straggled +from beneath the old woman's torn lace cap. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +"Well, Ulpian, are you convinced that 'Solitude' is an unlucky place, +and that misfortune dogs the steps of all who make it a home? Once you +laughed at my 'superstition.' What think you now, my wiseacre?" + +"My opinion has not changed, except that each time I see the place I +admire it more and more; and, were it for sale, I should certainly +purchase it." + +"Not with the expectation of living there?" + +"Most assuredly." + +Miss Jane had suspended for a moment the swift clicking of her +knitting-needles in order to hear her brother's reply, and now she +rejoined, almost sharply,-- + +"You will do no such silly thing while there is breath left in my body +to protest, or to persuade. Pooh! you only talk to tease me; for five +grains of observation and common sense will teach you that there is a +curse hanging over that old piratical nest." + +"Dear Janet, when headstrong drivers persist in carrying a pair of +fiery, vicious horses into the midst of a procession of wild beasts +that would have scared even your sober dull Dapples out of their lazy +jog-trot, it is not at all surprising that snapped harness, broken +carriage, torn flesh, and strained joints should attest the folly of +the experiment. The accident occurred not far from my office, which is +haunted by nothing worse than your harmless sailor-boy." + +"All very fine, my blue-eyed oracle, but I notice that the horses +belonging to 'Solitude' were the only ones that made mischief and came +to grief; and I promise you that all the hawsers in Gosport Navy-Yard +will never drag me inside the doomed place. How is your patient? If +you expect her to get well, you had better take a 'superstitious' old +woman's counsel, and send her away from that valley of Jehoshaphat." + +"I am very sorry to tell you that she was more seriously hurt than I +was at first inclined to believe. Her spine was so badly injured that +although there is no danger of immediate death, she will never be +able to sit up or walk again. She may linger many months, possibly +years; but must, as long as life lasts, remain a bed-ridden cripple. +It is one of the saddest cases I have had to deal with during my +professional career; and Elsie Maclean bears her sufferings with +such noble fortitude, such genuine Christian patience, coupled with +stern Scotch heroism, that I cannot withhold my admiration and +earnest sympathy. Yesterday I held a consultation with four +physicians, and, when we told her the hopelessness of her condition, +she received the announcement without even a sigh, and seemed only +to dread that instead of an assistant she might prove a burden to her +mistress." + +"She appears to be a very important personage in the household." + +"Yes; she is Mrs. Gerome's nurse, housekeeper, and counsellor,--and I +have rarely seen such warm affection as exists between them. I wish, +Janet, that you were strong enough to call at 'Solitude,' for its +mistress leads a lonely, secluded life, and must require some +society." + +"But, Ulpian, I hear strange things about her, and it is hinted that +she is deranged." + +"Your knowledge of human nature should teach you how little truth is +generally found in the floating _on dits_ of social circles." + +"How long has she been widowed?" + +"I do not know, but presume that her affliction has not been very +recent, as she wears no mourning." + +"If she has discarded widow's weeds, and dresses in colors, why should +she taboo society, and make herself the town-talk by refusing to +receive even the clergy and their wives? She has lived here ten +months, and I understand from Dolly Spiewell that not a soul has ever +seen her. Of course such eccentricities provoke gossip and tickle the +tongue of scandal, and if the world can't find out the real cause of +such conduct, it very industriously sets to work and manufactures +one." + +"Which, in my humble opinion, constitutes a piece of unwarrantable +impertinence on the part of meddling Mrs. Grundy. The world might be +more profitably engaged in mending its own tortuous and mendacious +ways, and allowing poor solitary wretches to fondle their whims and +caprices. If Mrs. Gerome does not choose to receive visitors, what +right has the public to grumble, or even discuss the matter?" + +As Salome spoke, she plunged her stiletto vigorously into a piece of +cambric, and her thin lip curled contemptuously. + +"Abstractly true, my dear child; but, from the beginning of time, +people have meddled; and, since gossip she must, even Eve chatted too +freely with serpents. Besides, since we are in the world, we should +not turn eremites, and bristle at the sight of one of our own race; +for society has a few laws that are inexorable,--that cannot be +violated without subjecting the offender to being stung to death by +venomous tongues; and one of these statutes is, that all shall see and +be seen, shall talk and be talked about, and shall visit and be +visited. When a woman unaccountably turns recluse, she is at the mercy +of public imagination, stimulated by disappointed curiosity; and very +soon the verdict goes forth that she is either deformed or deranged." + +"I dispute the prerogative of the public to dictate in such matters, +and I shall rebel whenever it presumes to lay even a little finger +across my path. What, pray tell me, is the world, but an aggregation +of persons like you and me, and what possible concern can you or I +have with the fact that Mrs. Gerome burrows like a mole, beyond our +sight? If she sees fit to found a modern sect of Troglodytes, I can't +understand that the wheels of society are thereby scotched, or that +the public has a shadow of right to raise a hue-and-cry and strive to +unearth her, as if she were a fox, a catamount, or a gopher. It is +useless for society to constitute itself a turning-lathe for rounding +off all individual angularities, and grinding people down to dull +uniformity until they are as indistinguishable as a bag of unpainted +marbles or of black-eyed peas; and, if God had intended that we should +all invariably think, feel, and act after one pattern, He would have +populated the world with Siamese twins; whereas, the first couple that +were born on earth were so dissimilar that all the universe was not +wide enough to hold them both, and manslaughter began when the race +only numbered a quartette. If mankind had not arrogated the privilege +of being its 'brother's keeper,' it would never have been forced to +deny the fact. I admire the honesty and truth with which Alexander +Smith bravely confessed, 'I love a little eccentricity; I respect +honest prejudices. It is high time, it seems to me, that a moral +game-law were passed for the preservation of the wild and vagrant +feelings of human nature.'" + +"That is a dangerous doctrine, my dear child, especially for a woman +to entertain; because custom rules us with an iron rod, and flays us +alive if we contravene her decrees." + +"I should be exceedingly glad to learn by what authority or process +Truth is provided with sex? Are some orthodox doctrines female and +others male? Why have not we women as clear a right to any given set +of principles as men? Truth is as much my property as that of the Czar +of Russia, and, if I choose to lay hold of any special province of it, +why must I perforce be dragged to the whipping-post of custom, simply +because by an accident I am called Susan or Hepzibah instead of Peter +or Lazarus? So long as my convictions of truth (which custom brands as +vagaries) are innocuous, I have a perfect and inalienable right to +indulge them; but the instant I become pestiferous to society, let me +be consigned to the tender mercies of strait-jacket and insane-asylum +regimen. If I creep quietly along my own intellectual and ethical +trail, taking heed not to touch the sensitive toes of custom, why +should it ungenerously insist upon bruising mine? My seer was right +when he boldly declared, 'The world has stood long enough under the +drill of Adjutant Fashion.' It is hard work, the posture is wearisome, +and Fashion is an awful martinet, and has a quick eye, and comes down +mercilessly on the unfortunate wight who can not square his toes to +the approved pattern. It is killing work. Suppose we try 'standing at +ease' for a little while? Wherefore, custom to the contrary +notwithstanding, I contend that Mrs. Gerome has as indisputable a +right to refuse admittance to Rev. Mrs. Spiewell as any anchorite of +the Nitrian Sands to decline receiving a bevy of inquisitive European +belles. If society rules like Russia or Turkey, then am I a candidate +for knout and bastinado. I do not wish to be unwomanly, and honesty +and candor are not necessarily unfeminine, because some coarse, +rough-handed, bold-eyed woman has possibly rendered them unpopular." + +Miss Jane laid down her knitting, folded her hands, and, as she +watched the girl, her emotions were probably similar to those that +agitate some meek and staid hen, who, leading a young brood of ducks +from her nest, suddenly beholds them displaying their aquatic +proclivities by plunging into the horse-pond, and performing all the +evolutions of a regatta. + +"Ah, child, I fear you think too little of what you wish or intend to +make yourself!" + +"Only have patience, Miss Jane, and some day I will show you all the +graces of Griselda and Gudrun the second. Dr. Grey, have you seen Mrs. +Gerome?" + +"Yes,--on two occasions." + +"Is she not the most extraordinary and puzzling person you ever looked +at?" + +"When and where could you have met her?" + +"For a few minutes only, last winter, I saw her on the beach, near +'Solitude.' We exchanged a half-dozen words, and she left an +impression on my mind which all time will not efface. Since that +evening I have frequently endeavored to surprise her on the same spot, +but only once I succeeded in catching a glimpse of a blue shawl that +fluttered in the distance. She seemed to me a beautiful, pale +priestess, consecrated to the ministry of the shrine of sorrow; and, +when I hear snubbed-dom sneering at her, and remember the hopeless +expression with which her wonderful, homeless eyes looked out across +that grey, silent sea,--I cannot avoid thinking that she is very wise +in barring her doors, and heeding the advice of Montenebi, '_Complain +not of thy woes to the public: they will no more pity thee than birds +of prey pity the wounded deer_.'" + +"My acquaintance with Mrs. Gerome is too slight to warrant the +utterance of an opinion relative to her idiosyncrasies, but I am +afraid cynicism rather than grief immures her from society. Her +prematurely white hair and the remarkable pallor of her smooth +complexion combine to render her appearance piquant and unnatural; +and, certainly, there is something in her face strangely suggestive of +old Norse myths, mystery, and magic. Her features, when analyzed, +prove faultlessly regular, but her life is out of tune, and the +expression of her countenance mars what would otherwise be perfect +beauty. I can, in some degree, describe the impression she produced +upon me by quoting the lines that were suggested when I saw her this +morning, standing by Elsie Maclean's bed,-- + + 'I saw a vision of a woman, where + Night and new morning strive for domination; + Incomparably pale, and almost fair, + And sad beyond expression. + Her eyes were like some fire-enshrining gem, + Were stately, like the stars, and yet were tender; + Her figure charmed me, like a windy stem, + Quivering, and drooped, and slender. + She measured measureless sorrow toward its length + And breadth, and depth, and height.'" + +Salome looked up from the eyelet she was working, but Dr. Grey had +turned his head towards his sister who had fallen asleep in her chair, +and the orphan could not see his face. + +"Mrs. Gerome must have been very young when she married, and--" + +"Hush! Janet looks so weary that I want her to have a long nap, and +our voices might disturb her." + +He took his hat and gloves and left the room, and Salome forgot her +embroidery and fell into a reverie that proved neither pleasant nor +profitable, and lasted until Miss Jane awoke. + +In the afternoon of the following day, when the orphan returned +from her clandestine visit to the Italian musician, she saw an +unusual number of persons on the front gallery, and found that the +long-expected party from New York had arrived during her absence. Miss +Jane was talking to the governess--a meek-looking, but exceedingly +handsome woman, of twenty-seven or eight years, with fair hair and +quiet brown eyes; and every detail of her dress, speech, and bearing +averred that Edith Dexter was no humble scion of proletariat. Her +polished yet reserved manners bespoke high birth and aristocratic +associations; but something in the composed, sad countenance, in the +listless drooping of the pretty head, hinted that she had long since +spilt the rosy sparkling foam of her cup of life, and was patiently +drinking its muddy lees. + +On the upper step sat Dr. Grey, with his arm encircling the form of +his ward, whose head rested very confidingly against his shoulder. +Muriel Manton was dressed in deep mourning, and had evidently been +weeping, for her guardian was tenderly wiping the tears from her cheek +when Salome came up the avenue; and, with a keen, jealous pang that +she had never felt before, the latter scanned the stranger's claims to +beauty. + +Very black eyes, brilliant complexion, and fine teeth, she certainly +possessed; but her features were rather coarse; her mouth was much too +large for classic requirements; and Salome was rejoiced to find her +nose indisputably _retroussé_. + +Years hence she would doubtless be a large, well-formed, commanding +woman, who could exhibit Lyons silk or Genoese velvet to the best +advantage, and would be considered a fine-looking, rosy, robust +personage; but at present the face, which from under a small straw hat +anxiously watched hers, was infinitely handsomer, more attractive, +more delicate, and intellectual; and the miller's child felt that she +had little to apprehend from the merely personal charms of the wealthy +ward. + +Salome felt injured as she eyed the doctor's arm, which had never +touched even her shoulder; and it was painful and humiliating to +notice the affectionate manner in which his hand stroked one of +Muriel's that lay on his knee,--and to remember that his fingers had +not met hers in a friendly grasp since long before his visit to +Europe,--had only clasped hers twice during their acquaintance. + +"Come in, Salome, and let me introduce you to my ward Muriel, and to +Miss Dexter, who is prepared to receive you as a pupil." + +Muriel silently held out her hand; but Salome only bowed and ran +lightly up the steps, as if she did not perceive the outstretched +fingers. Miss Dexter rose and advanced to meet her, saying, in a tone +that indexed great kindness of heart,-- + +"I am exceedingly glad to meet you, Miss Salome; for Dr. Grey has +promised that I shall find in you a most exemplary and agreeable +pupil." + +"Thank you. I am indeed glad to hear that he has changed his opinion +of me; and I must endeavor not to lose my newly acquired amiable +character,--but he was rather rash to stand security for my good +behavior." + +She saw that Dr. Grey was surprised at her cold reception of his pet +and _protegé_, and perversity took possession of her. Going to the +back of Miss Jane's old-fashioned rocking-chair she put her arms +around her, and, leaning over, kissed her cheek several times. It was +not her habit to caress any one or any thing,--not even her little +brother,--and this unusual demonstrativeness puzzled and surprised the +old lady who said, fondly,-- + +"I presume Ulpian is brave enough to encounter all the risks of +standing security for your obedience and docility." + +"Certainly I appreciate his chivalry, since none knows better than he +the danger--nay, probability, of a forfeiture of the contract on my +part." + +Dr. Grey rose, and, looking steadily at her, said, in a tone which she +well understood,-- + +"Promises are, in my estimation, peculiarly sacred things; and that +which I made to Miss Dexter in your behalf was based upon one that I +gave you some time since, namely, that I would have faith in you. Come +with me, Muriel; I want to show you and Miss Dexter the finest cow +this side of Ayrshire, and some sheep that are handsome enough to +compare favorably with the best that ever browsed in the 'Court of +Lions.'" + +He took his ward's hand and led her away to the cattle-yard, whither +Miss Dexter accompanied them. + +As Salome looked after the trio her eyes flashed and scarlet spots +burned on her cheeks, while a feeling of suffocation oppressed her +heart. + +"Why will you vex him, when you know that he tries so hard to like +you?" asked Miss Jane in a distressed tone, stroking the girl's hot +face, as she spoke. + +The head was instantly lifted beyond her reach, and the answer came +swiftly, sharp and defiant,-- + +"Do you mean to say that it is so extremely difficult for him to +tolerate me?" + +"You are obliged to know that you are not one of his favorites, like +that sweet-tempered Muriel, to whom he seems so warmly attached; and +it is all your own fault, for he was disposed to like you when he +first came home. Ulpian loves quiet and amiable people, who are never +rude and snappish; and it appears to me that you are trying to see how +hateful and spiteful you can be. Why upon earth did you not shake +hands with those strangers, and treat them politely?" + +"Because I don't choose to be hypocritical,--and I don't like Miss +Muriel Manton." + +"Nonsense! Stuff! I only wish you were half as well-bred and +courteous, and lady-like." + +"Do you, really? Then, to be obedient and, oblige you, when they come +back, I will imitate her example, and throw myself into Dr. Grey's +arms, and rub my cheek against his shoulder, and fondle his hands. If +this be 'lady-like,' then, indeed, I penitently cry '_peccavi!_' and +promise that in future you shall not have cause to complain of me." + +"Pooh, pooh, child! What ails you? Muriel has known Ulpian all her +life, and looks upon him now as her father. He has petted her since +she was a little girl, and loves her almost as well as if she were his +child, instead of his ward. You know she is an orphan; and it is very +natural for her to cling to her guardian, who was for a great many +years her father's most intimate friend." + +"We are both orphans, and she is certainly not my junior, yet your +propriety would be shocked if I behaved as she does. Where is +Stanley?" + +"Studying his geography lesson, with the assistance of the globe, in +the library. What do you want with him?" + +"I am going to the beach, and wish him to walk with me." + +"It is too late for you to start for the seaside, and, moreover, it +would appear very discourteous in you to absent yourself the first +evening that these strangers spend here. Ulpian would be displeased." + +"According to your statement a few minutes since, that is his chronic +condition, as far as I am concerned; and, as I do not belong to the +mimosa species, I think I may brave his frowns." + +"That is not the worst you have to apprehend. Child, I think it would +be bitter indeed, to bear Ulpian Grey's contempt." + +"I shall take care not to deserve it; and Dr. Grey never forgets to be +just." + +"My dear little girl, what right have you to be jealous of his love +for his young ward?" + +The flame that was slowly dying out of her face leaped up fiercer than +before, and she crimsoned to the edges of her hair. + +"Jealous! Good heavens, Miss Jane, you must be dreaming! I merely +question the taste that allows his 'lady-like' favorite to caress him +so openly, and should not have expressed my disapprobation so +strongly if you had not rated me soundly, and held her up as a model +for my humble imitation. If she and her governess are to stir up +strife between you and me, I shall heartily wish them a speedy passage +to Halifax or heaven. Beyond all peradventure I shall get murderously +jealous if you dare to give this sloe-eyed, peony-faced girl, my place +in your dear old heart. She, of course, will fondle her guardian as +much as she pleases, or as often as he sees fit to allow; but woe unto +her if I catch her hands and lips about you, my dearest and best +friend! Don't scold me and praise her, or some fine day I shall jump +at and strangle her, which you know would not be 'well-bred' or +'lady-like,' much less moral and Christian." + +She almost smothered the old lady in her arms, and kissed her several +times. + +"What has stirred up the evil spirit in you? You look as wicked as +your mother Herodias, thirsting for the blood of John the Baptist; or +as Jezebel plotting against the prophet--" + +"And telling me that like her I am 'going to the dogs' is not the +surest way to reform me. Stanley! Stanley! get your hat and come +here." + +"Your awful temper will be your ruin if you don't put a curb-bit on +it. See here, Salome, don't be so utterly silly and childish! I do not +wish you to go to the sea-shore this evening." + +"Please, Miss Jane, don't order me to stay at home, because, then of +course, I should feel bound to obey you, and I should not behave +prettily, and you would wish me at the bottom of the sea, instead of +on its brink. Let me go, and I will come back cool as a cucumber, and +well-behaved as Miss Muriel Manton. Please don't prohibit me; and I +promise I will lose my evil spirit in the sea, like that Gergesene +wretch that haunted the tombs. Here comes Stanley. Don't shake your +head. I am off." + +Miss Jane would not receive the proffered farewell kiss, but tears +gathered and dimmed her eyes as she looked after the graceful, girlish +figure, swiftly crossing the lawn; and sad forebodings filled her +affectionate heart when she thought of the unknown future that +stretched before that impetuous, jealous, imperious nature. + +Anxious that the strangers should feel thoroughly welcome and at home, +she joined them as soon as possible after their return from the +sheepfold, and exerted herself to keep the shuttlecock of conversation +in constant motion; but her brother's watchful eyes discerned the +perturbed feeling she sought to hide; and, when she insisted, for the +first time in two years, upon taking her seat and presiding at the +tea-table, he busied himself in arranging her cushions comfortably, +and whispered,-- + +"How good and considerate you are, my precious sister. A thousand +thanks for this generous effort, which I trust will not fatigue you." + +He placed himself opposite, and was about to ask a blessing on the +meal, but paused to inquire,-- + +"Where are the children, Salome and Stanley?" + +"They have gone down to the beach, and we will not wait for them." + +Soon after, Muriel said,-- + +"I think Salome is almost beautiful. She has splendid eyes and hair. +Miss Edith, does she not remind you of a piece of sculpture at +Naples?" + +"Yes; I noticed a resemblance to the _Julia-Agrippina_, and the +likeness must be remarkable, since it impressed us simultaneously. +Salome's brow is fuller, and her chin more prominent than that of the +Roman woman we admired so ardently; and, besides, I should judge that +she had quite as much or more will than the daughter of Germanicus, +for her lips are thinner." + +Dr. Grey changed the topic of conversation, and Miss Dexter +courteously followed the cue. + +The moon was high in heaven when Salome and her brother came up the +avenue; and, observing that the lights were extinguished in the front +rooms, she surmised that the new-comers had retired very early, in +consequence of fatigue from their long journey. Sending Stanley to +bed, she sat down on the steps to rest a few moments before going +upstairs, and began to fan herself with her straw hat. + +She had grown very calm, and almost ashamed of her passionate +ebullition in the presence of strangers; and numerous good resolutions +were sending out fibrous roots in her heart. How long she rested there +she knew not, and started when Dr. Grey said, in a subdued voice,-- + +"Salome, I am waiting to lock the door, and should be glad if you will +come in now, or be careful to secure the inner bolt whenever you do. +As I always shut up the house, I was afraid you might not think of it; +and burglaries are becoming alarmingly frequent." + +She rose instantly, and entered the hall. + +"What time is it?" + +"Eleven o'clock." + +"Is it possible? You know, sir, that the evenings are very short +now." + +"Yes." + +He was removing a chair from the gallery and closing the Venetian +blinds, and she could not see his face. Hoping to receive some +friendly look, which she was painfully aware she did not deserve, she +loitered till he turned around. + +"Salome, have you a light in your room?" + +"I do not know, but suppose so." + +"There are two candles in the library, and you had better take one, +rather than stumble along in the dark and wake everybody." + +He brought out one, and handed it to her. + +"Thank you. Good-night, Dr. Grey." + +"Good-night, Salome." + +The candle-light showed no displeasure in his countenance, which was +calm as usual, and there was not a hint of harshness in his unwontedly +low voice; but she read disappointment in his grave, kind eyes. She +knew that she could not sleep until she had made her peace with him; +and, though it cost her a great effort to conquer her pride, she said, +humbly,-- + +"'And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven +times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent,--thou shalt +forgive him.'" + +"Yes; but the frequency of the offence renders it difficult to believe +the repentance genuine." + +"Christ, your master, did not doubt it." + +"I am less than the disciples whom he addressed; and they answered, +'Increase our faith.'" + +"You did not pray for me this morning." + +"I never neglect my promises. Why do you doubt that I fulfilled them +this morning?" + +"This has been one of my sinful days, when Satan runs rough-shod over +all my good intentions, and drags me through the mire that I was +trying to hold my soul far above. I tell you, sir, that the 'unclean +spirit' that vexed the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman was mild, +and harmless, and well-mannered, in comparison with the demon that +takes bodily possession of me, and whose name is not '_Suset_'! but a +fearful _Ruach_ demanding the ban _Cherem_. I once thought all that +part of Scripture which referred to the casting out of devils was +metaphorical; but I know better now; for the one that Luther assaulted +with his inkstand was not more palpable than that which enters into my +heart every now and then, and overturns the altars of the 'true, good, +and beautiful,' and sets up instead a small hall of Eblis, as full of +horrible, mis-shapen things as that hideous 'Last Judgment' of +Orcagna, in the Campo Santo at Pisa, which you once showed me in a +portfolio of engravings. Oh, Dr. Grey! you ought to be merciful to me; +for indeed God gave me a fearfully wicked and cunning spirit for a +perpetual companion and tempter. Even Christ had Lucifer and +Quarantina." + +"Yes, and conquered both, and promised assistance to all who earnestly +desire and resolve to follow his example." + +"You cannot forgive my rudeness?" + +"The act of incivility was very slight; but, my young friend, the +unaccountable perversity of your character certainly fills my mind +with serious apprehension concerning your future. Of course, I can +very readily forgive the occasion that displayed it, but I cannot +entirely forget the spirit that distresses me when I least expect +it." + +"If you will dismiss this afternoon from your mind, I will never--" + +"Stop! Make me no more promises till you are strong enough to keep +them inviolate. Promise less and pray more; I am not angry, but I am +disappointed." + +She drooped her head to avoid his grave, sad gaze, and for a moment +there was silence. + +"Dr. Grey, will you shake hands with me, in token of pardon?" + +"Certainly, if you wish it." + +He took her hand in both of his, pressed it kindly, and said, in a +low, solemn tone,-- + +"Good-night, Salome. May God guide, and strengthen, and help you to be +the noble woman, the consistent Christian, which only His grace and +blessing can ever enable you to become. Remember the cheering words of +Jean Paul Richter, 'Evil is like the nightmare, the instant you bestir +yourself it has already ended.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +"Ulpian, have you had any conversation with Salome?" + +"Upon what subject?" + +"Have you talked with her concerning her studies?" + +"Not recently. Soon after Muriel and Miss Dexter came, I mentioned to +her the fact that I should be glad to see her enter a class with +Muriel and pursue the same studies, and that such an arrangement +would be entirely agreeable to Miss Dexter; but she declined the +proposition, saying she would only trouble the latter to teach her +Italian. Do you know why she is so anxious to acquire that language?" + +"No; to tell you the truth, I know less and less every day about her +actions, for the child has suddenly grown very reserved. This morning +she was walking up and down the library with her hands behind her and +her eyes looking as if they were travelling to Jericho or Jeddo, and +when I asked her why she was so unusually silent, she snapped like a +toy-torpedo, 'I am silent because this is one of my wicked days, and I +am fighting the devil; and if I open my lips I shall say something +that will give him the victory.' I held out my hand to her and begged +her to come and sit by me and tell me what troubled or tempted +her,--and what do you suppose she said?" + +"Something, I am afraid, that I shall be sorry to hear you repeat." + +"She laid her hand on her heart and answered, 'You are very good, Miss +Jane, but you can no more help me than the disciples could relieve +that wretch whom only Christ healed.' '_This kind goeth not out but by +prayer and fasting._' Whereupon, she snatched a book from the table +and left the room. I did not see her for several hours, and when I met +her in the hall, a few moments since, I said, 'Well, dear, which won +the victory, sin or my little girl?' She put her hands on my +shoulders, laughed bitterly, and answered, 'It was a drawn battle. +Neither has much to boast of, and we lie on our arms watching--nay, +glaring at each other. Let me be quiet a little while, and don't ask +me about it.'" + +"Can you conjecture the cause of the present trouble?" + +"I have a suspicion." + +Miss Jane paused, sighed, and frowned. + +"I should think you might persuade her to confide in you." + +"Pooh! Persuade her? I would quite as soon undertake to persuade the +Andes to dance a jig as attempt to discover what she has determined +not to divulge. If you knew her as well as I do, you would appreciate +the uselessness of trying to persuade her to do anything. But you men +never see what lies right under your noses, and I believe if you lived +in the same house with that child for five years longer you would +understand her as little as you do to-day. Ulpian, shut the door, and +sit down here close to me." + +Dr. Grey complied; and, laying her shrunken hand on her brother's +knee, Miss Jane said, hesitatingly,-- + +"My dear boy, I don't know whether I ought to tell you, and, indeed, I +do not see my way clearly; but you seem so unsuspecting that I think +it is my duty to talk to you." + +"Pray come to the point, dear Janet. Your exordium is very tantalizing. +Tell me frankly what disturbs you." + +"It pains me to call your attention to a fact that I know cannot fail +to produce annoyance." + +He put his arm around her, and, drawing her head to his shoulder, +answered, tenderly,-- + +"My precious sister, I have seen for some days that you were perplexed +and anxious, but I abstained from questioning you because I felt +assured whenever you deemed it best to confide in me, you would +voluntarily unburden your heart. Now lay all your troubles upon me, +and keep back nothing. Has Salome grieved you?" + +"Oh, the child does not intend to grieve me! Ulpian, can't you imagine +what makes her unhappy, and restless, and contrary?" + +"She is very wayward, passionate, and obstinate, and any restraint +upon her whims is peculiarly irksome and intolerable to her; but I +believe she is really striving to correct the unfortunate defects in +her character. She evidently dislikes our guests, and this proves a +continual source of disquiet to her; for, while she endeavors to treat +them courteously, I can see that she would be excessively rude if she +dared to indulge her antipathies." + +"Do you know why she dislikes Muriel so intensely?" + +"No; I cannot even conjecture. Muriel is very amiable and affectionate, +and seems disposed to become very fond of Salome, if she would only +encourage her advances. Can you explain the mystery?" + +"If you were not as blind as a mole, or the fish in Mammoth Cave, you +would see that Salome is insanely jealous of your affection for your +ward, and that is the cause of all the trouble." + +"It is unreasonable and absurd in her to entertain such feelings; and, +moreover, she has no right to cherish any jealousy towards my ward." + +"Unreasonable! Yes, quite true; but did you ever know a woman to be +very reasonable concerning the man she loves?" + +Dr. Grey's quiet face flushed, and he rose instantly, looking +incredulous and embarrassed. + +"Surely, my dear sister, you do not intend to insinuate, or desire me +to infer, that Salome has any--" + +He paused, bit his lip, and walked to the window. + +"I mean to say, in plain Anglo-Saxon, and I desire you to understand, +that Salome is no longer a child; and that she loves you, my dear boy, +better than she will ever love any other human being. These things are +very strange, indeed, and girls' whims baffle all rules and disappoint +all reasonable expectations; but, nevertheless, it does no good to +shut your eyes to facts that are as clear as daylight. It is not a +sudden freak that has seized the poor child; it has grown upon her, +almost without her understanding herself; but I discovered it the day +that you left home so unexpectedly for New York. Her distress betrayed +her real feelings; and, since then, I have watched her, and can see +how completely her thoughts centre in you." + +"Oh, Janet, I hope you mistake her! I cannot believe it possible, for +I recall nothing in her conduct that justifies your supposition; and I +do not think I lack penetration. If she were really interested in me, +as you imagine, she certainly would not thrust so prominently and +constantly before me faults of character which she well knows I cannot +tolerate. Moreover, my dear sister, consider the disparity in our +years, the incompatibility of our tastes and habits, and the +improbability that a handsome young girl should cherish any feeling +stronger than esteem or friendship for a staid man of my age! No, no; +it is too incredible to be entertained, and I am sorry you ever +suggested such an annoying chimera to me. Salome is rather a singular +compound, I willingly admit, but I acquit her of the folly you seem +inclined to impute to her." + +Dr. Grey walked up and down the library floor, and, as his sister +watched him, a sad smile trembled over her thin, wrinkled face. + +"Ulpian, you are considerably younger than our poor father was when +he married a beautiful creature not one month older than Salome is +to-day. Will you sit in judgment on your own young mother?" + +"Nay, Janet; the parallelism is not as apparent as you imagine, for my +manner toward Salome has been calculated to check and chill any +sentiment analogous to that which my father sought to win from my +mother. Pray, do not press upon me a surmise which is indescribably +painful to me." + +He resumed his seat, and, thrusting his fingers through his hair, +leaned his head on his open hand. + +"My dear boy, if true, why should it prove indescribably painful to +you?" + +"Cannot your womanly intuitions spare me an explicit reply?" + +"No; speak frankly to me." + +"No man of honor--no man who has any delicacy or refinement of +feeling--can fail to be distressed and annoyed by the thought that he +has unintentionally and unconsciously aroused in a woman's heart an +interest which he cannot possibly reciprocate." + +"But, if you have never considered the subject until now, how do you +know that you may not be able to return the affection?" + +"Because, when I examine my own heart, I find not even the germ of a +feeling which years might possibly ripen into love." + +"Will you candidly answer the question I am about to ask you?" + +"Yes, I think I can safely promise that much, simply because I wish to +conceal nothing from you; and I cannot conjecture any inquiry on your +part from which I should shrink. What would you ask?" + +"Is it because you are interested in some other woman, that you speak +so positively of the hopelessness of my poor Salome's case?" + +"No, my sister; no woman has any claim or hold on my heart stronger +than that of mere friendship. I have never loved any one as I must +love the woman I make my wife; and since I have seen and merely +admired so many who were attractive, lovely, and lovable, I often +think that I shall probably never marry. + + ... 'For several virtues + I have liked several women; never any + With so full a soul, but some defect in her + Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owned, + And put it to a foil.' + +Of course this is a matter with reference to which I shall not +dogmatize, for we are all more or less the victims of caprice; and, +like other men, I may some day set the imperious feet of fancy upon +the neck of judgment and sound reason. As yet, I have not met the +perfect character whom I could ask to bear my name; still, I may be so +fortunate as either to find my ideal, or imagine that I do; or else +become so earnestly attached to some beautiful woman, that, for her +sake, I will willingly lower my lofty standard. These are the merest +possible contingencies, and I have little inclination to discuss them; +but I wish at all times to be entirely frank with you. Salome would +never suit me as a life-long companion. She meets none of the +requirements of my intellectual nature, and her perverse disposition, +and what might almost be termed _diablerie_, repel instead of +attracting me. I pity the child, and can sympathize cordially with her +efforts to redeem herself from the luckless associations of earlier +years that wofully distorted her character; and I can truly say that I +am interested in her welfare and improvement, and have a faint +brotherly affection for her; but I thoroughly comprehend my own +feelings when I assure you, Janet, that were Salome and I left alone +in the world I could never for a moment entertain the idea of calling +such a wayward child my wife. Are you satisfied?" + +"Convinced, at least, that you are not deceiving me. But, Ulpian, the +girl is growing very beautiful--don't you think so?--or, is it my love +that makes me see her through flattering lenses?" + +"Her lips are too thin, and her eyes too keen and restless for perfect +beauty, which claims repose as one of its essential elements; but, +notwithstanding these flaws, she has undoubtedly one of the handsomest +faces I have ever seen, and certainly a graceful, fine figure." + +"And you are such an admirer of beauty," said Miss Jane, slipping her +fingers caressingly into her brother's hand. + +"Yes; I shall not deny that I yield to no one in appreciation of +lovely faces; but, if I am aware that, like some rich crimson June +rose whose calyx cradles a worm, the heart beneath the perfect form is +gnawed by some evil tendency, or shelters vindictive passion and +sinful impulses, I should certainly not select it in making up the +precious bouquet that is to shed perfume and beauty in my home, and +call my thoughts from the din and strife of the outer world to +holiness and peace." + +"You have no mercy on the child." + +"I ought to have no mercy on glaring faults which she should ere this +have corrected." + +"But she is so young--only seventeen! Think of it!" + +Dr. Grey frowned, and partially withdrew his hand from his sister's +clasp. + +"Janet, you grieve me. Surely you are not pleading with me in behalf +of Salome?" + +Tears trickled over Miss Jane's sallow cheeks and dripped on the +doctor's hand, as she replied,-- + +"Bear with me, Ulpian. The girl is very dear to me; and, loving you as +she unquestionably does, I know that you could make her a noble, +admirable woman,--for she has some fine traits, and your influence +would perfect her character. Believe me, my dear boy, you, and you +only, can remould her heart." + +"Possibly,--if I loved her; for then I would be patient and forbearing +towards her faults. But I cannot even respect that handsome, fiery, +impulsive, unreasonable child, much less love her; and, if I ever +marry, my wife must be worthy to remould my own defective life and +erring nature. I am surprised, my dear sister, that you, whose sincere +affection I can not doubt, should be willing to see me link my life +with that of one so much younger, and, I grieve to say it, so far +inferior in all respects. What congenial companionship could I +promise myself? What confidence could I repose--what esteem could I +entertain--for a silly girl, who, without warrant and utterly +unsought, bestows her love (if, indeed, what you say be true) upon a +man who never even dreamed of such folly, and is old enough to be her +father?" + +"I can not comprehend the logic that condemns Salome, and justifies +your own mother; for, if there be any difference in their lines of +conduct, I am too stupid to see it." + +Miss Jane lifted her head from her brother's shoulder, resolutely +dried her eyes, and settled her cap. + +"My mother's tombstone should shelter her from all animadversion, +especially from the lips that owe their existence to her. Do not, my +sister, disturb the mouldering ashes of the long-buried past. The +unfortunate fact you have mentioned, and which I should gladly doubt +if you would only permit me to do so, renders it necessary for me to +be perfectly candid with you, and you will, I trust, pardon what I +feel compelled to say to you. I have remarked that you watch me quite +closely whenever I am engaged in conversation with my ward or her +governess, and yesterday, when Muriel came, stood by me, and leaned +her arm on my shoulder, you frowned and looked harshly at the child. +Once for all, let me tell you that there is no more possibility of my +loving Muriel or Edith, than Salome. Of the three, I care most for +Muriel, who looks upon me as her second father, and to whom I am +deeply attached. If I caress the poor, stricken child, and allow her +to approach me familiarly, you ought to understand your brother +sufficiently well not to ascribe his conduct to any feeling which he +would blush to confess to his sister. The day before Horace died, he +said, 'Be a father to my daughter; take my place when I am gone.' If I +were at liberty to divulge some matters confided to me, I could easily +assure you that there is not a shadow of possibility that Muriel will +ever grieve and mortify me as Salome has done. Now look at me, dear +Janet, and kiss me, and trust your brother; for he will never deceive +you, and can not endure a moment's estrangement from you." + +Miss Jane put up her lips for the caress, and, after a short silence, +Dr. Grey continued,-- + +"Tell me now what you think best under the circumstances, and I will +endeavor to coöperate with you. Does Salome know you are cognizant of +her weakness--her misfortune--" + +He stammered, and again his face flushed. + +"Upon my word, Ulpian, you are positively blushing! Don't worry +yourself, dear, over what can not be helped, or at least is +attributable to no fault of yours. No; you may be sure Salome would be +drawn, quartered, and broiled, before she would confess to me the +feeling which she does not suspect I have discovered. Poor thing! I +can't avoid pitying her whenever you take Muriel's hand or caress her +in any way. This morning you smoothed the hair back from her forehead +while she was stooping over her drawing, and poor Salome's eyes +flashed and looked like a leopard's. She clenched her fingers as if +she were strangling something, and an expression came over her face +that was dangerous, and made me shiver a little. Something must be +done; but I am sure I do not know what to advise." + +"How futile and mocking are merely human schemes! My principal object +in bringing Muriel and Miss Dexter here, was to provide agreeable and +improving companions for your pet and to afford her the privilege of +sharing the educational advantages which Muriel enjoyed. _L'homme +propose, et Dieu dispose_, if, indeed, an occurrence so earnestly to +be deplored can be deemed providential. What are her plans relative to +Jessie?" + +"If she has matured any, she keeps them shut up in her own heart. Once +she talked freely to me on all subjects, but recently she seems to +avoid acquainting me with her intentions or schemes. Of course, +Ulpian, you know I have always expected to leave her a portion of my +property." + +"Certainly, dear Janet; you ought to provide comfortably for the girl +whom you have taught to rely upon your bounty. It would be cruel and +unpardonable to foster hopes that you could not fully realize." + +"It was my intention to put into your hands the share I intended for +her, and to leave her also to your care, when I die; but now I know +not what is best. If she could be separated from you, she might divert +her thoughts and become interested in other things or persons; but so +long as you are in the same house I know there will be nothing but +wretchedness and disappointment for her." + +After a long pause, during which Dr. Grey looked seriously pained and +perplexed, he said, sorrowfully,-- + +"You are right in thinking separation would be best; and I will go +away at once--" + +"Go where?" exclaimed his sister, grasping his coat-sleeve. + +"I will furnish the rooms over my office, and live there. It will be +more convenient for my business; but I dislike to leave you and the +dear old homestead." + +"Stuff! You will churn the Atlantic, with the North Pole for a dasher! +Ulpian Grey! come weal come woe, I don't intend to give you up. Here, +right here, you will live while there is breath in my body,--unless +you wish to make me sob it out and die the sooner. Pooh! Salome's +shining eyes can not recompense me for the loss of my boy's blue ones, +and I will not hear of such nonsense as the move you propose. You +know, dear, I can't be here very long at the best, and while God +spares me I want you near me. Besides, the separation of a few miles +would not be worth a thimbleful of chaff; for, of course, Salome would +hear of or see you daily, and the change would amount to nothing but +anxiety and grief on my part. We will think the matter over, and do +nothing rashly. But try to be patient with my little girl; and, for my +sake, Ulpian, do not allow her to suspect that you dream of her +feeling towards you. It is pitiable,--it is distressing beyond +expression; and God knows, if I had thought for an instant that such a +state of things would ever have come to pass, I would have left her in +the poor-house sooner than have been instrumental in bringing such +misery upon her young life. Last night I was suffering so much with my +shoulder that I could not sleep, and I heard the child pacing her room +until after three o'clock. It was useless to question her; for, of +course, she would not confess the real cause, and I did not wish her +to know that I noticed what I could not cure. But, my dearest boy, we +are not to be blamed; so don't look so mortified and grieved. I would +not have opened your unsuspecting eyes if I had not feared that your +ignorance of the truth might increase the trouble, and I knew I could +safely appeal to my sailor-boy's honor. Now you know all, and must be +guided by your own good sense and delicacy in your future course +toward the poor, proud young thing. Be guarded, Ulpian, and don't +torment her by petting Muriel in her presence; for sometimes I am +afraid there is bad blood in her veins, that brings that wicked glow +to her eyes, and I dread that she might suddenly say or do some +desperate thing that would plunge us all in sorrow. You know she is +not a meek creature, and we must pity her weakness." + +Dr. Grey had grown very pale, and the profound regret printed on his +countenance found expression also in the deepened and saddened tones +of his voice. + +"Trust me, Janet! I will do all a man can to rectify the mischief, of +which, God knows, I have been an innocent and entirely unintentional +cause. Salome's course is unwomanly, and lowers her in my estimation; +but she is so young I shall hope and pray that her preference for me +is not sufficiently strong to prove more than an idle, fleeting, +girlish fancy." + +He took his gloves from the table and left the room; and, for some +time after his departure, his sister sat rocking herself to and fro, +pondering all that had passed. Finally, she struck her hand decisively +upon the cushioned top of her crutch, and muttered,-- + +"Yes, he certainly is as nearly perfect as humanity can be; but, +after all, Ulpian Grey is only flesh and blood, and despite his +efforts to crush it, there must be some vanity hidden under his proud +humility,--for certainly he is both humble in one sense, and +inordinately proud in another; and I do not believe there lives a +man of his age who would not be flattered by the love of a fresh young +beauty like Salome. He thinks now that he is distressed and +mortified; and, of course, he is honest in what he tells me; but I +have studied human nature to very little purpose for the last fifty +years, if, before long, he does not find himself more interested in +Salome than he will be willing to confess. Her love for him will +invest her with a charm she never possessed before, for men are +vulnerable as women to the cunning advances of flattery. One thing +is as sure and clear as that two and two make four,--if he is proof +against Salome's devotion it will be attributable to the fact that he +gives his heart to some one else; and I thought his blue eyes rather +shied away from mine when he said he had yet to meet the woman he +could marry. You don't intend to deceive me, my precious boy, I +know you don't; but I should not be astounded if you had hoodwinked +yourself,--a very little. But 'sufficient unto the day is the evil +thereof,' and I will wait,--and we shall see what we shall see." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +"Elsie, it is worse than useless to talk to me. Once I could listen to +you,--once I felt as you do now; but that time has gone by forever. I +will read to you as often as you desire it, provided you do not make +every chapter a text for a sermon. What do you wish to hear this +morning?" + +"The fortieth Psalm." + +Mrs. Gerome opened the Bible, and, when she had finished the psalm +designated, shut the book and laid it back close to Elsie's pillow. + +The old woman placed her hand on the round, white arm of her mistress, +who rested carelessly against the bed. + +"You know, my child, that David's afflictions were sore indeed; but he +declares, 'I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, +and heard my cry.' You will not be patient, and God can't help you +till you are. We are like children punished for bad conduct,--as long +as we rebel and struggle, of course we must be still further +chastised; but the moment we show real penitence, our parents notice +that we are bearing correction patiently, and then they throw away the +rod and stretch out their arms, and snatch us close to their loving +hearts. Even so God holds one hand to draw us tenderly to Him; and, if +we are obstinately sinful, with the other He scourges us into the +right path,--determined to help us, even against our own wills. Ah, if +I could see you waiting patiently for the Lord!" + +"You will never see it. Patience was 'scourged' out of me, and now I +stand still because I am worn out with struggling, waiting--not +patiently, but wearily and helplessly--to see the end of my +punishment. What have I done that I should feign a penitence I shall +never feel? I was a happy, trusting, unoffending woman, when God smote +me fiercely; and, because I was so innocent, I could not kiss my +stinging rod, I grappled desperately with it. Elsie, don't stir up the +bitter dregs in my soul, and mix them with every thought. Let them +settle." + +"My darling, I don't want them to settle. I pray either that they may +be stirred up and taken out, or sweetened by the grace of God. Do you +ever think of the day when you will face your sainted mother?" + +"No. I think only of enduring this present life until death, my +deliverer, comes to my rescue." + +"But, my bairn, you are not fit to die." + +"Fit to die as to live," answered her mistress, morosely. + +"For God's sake, don't flout the Almighty in that wicked manner! If +you would only be baptized and take refuge in prayer, as every +Christian should, you would find peace for your poor, miserable +soul." + +"No; peace can't be poured out of a pitcher with the baptismal water; +and all the waves tossing and glittering out there in the ocean could +not wash one painful memory from my heart. I have had one baptism, and +it was ample and thorough. I went down into the waters of woe, and all +their black billows broke over me. Instead of the Jordan, I was +immersed in the Dead Sea, and the asphaltum cleaves to me." + +"Oh, dearie, you will break my heart! I wish now that you had died +when you were only fourteen months old, for then there would have been +one more precious lamb in the flock of the Good Shepherd, safe in +heavenly pastures--one more dear little golden head nestling on +Jesus' bosom,--instead of--of--" + +Elsie's emotion mastered her voice, and she sobbed convulsively. + +"Why did not you finish? 'Instead of a gray head waiting to go down +into the pit of perdition.' Yes, it was a terrible blunder that I was +not allowed to die in my infancy; but it can't be helped now, and I +wish you would not fret yourself into a fever over the irremediable. +Why will you persist in tormenting yourself and me about my want of +resignation and faith, when you know that exhortation and persuasion +have no more effect upon me than the whistle of the plover down yonder +in the sedge and seaweed,--where I heartily wish I were lying, ten +feet under the shells? Rather a damp pillow for my fastidious, proud +head, but, at least, cool and quiet. Calm yourself, my dear Elsie, for +God will not hold you responsible if I miss my place among the saints, +when He divides the sheep from the goats, in the last day,--_Dies iræ +dies illa_. Let me straighten your pillow and smooth your cap-border, +for I see your doctor coming up the walk. There,--dry your eyes. When +you want me, send Robert or Katie to call me." + +Mrs. Gerome leaned over the helpless, prostrate form on the bed, +pressed her cheek against that of her nurse, where tears still +glistened, and glided swiftly out of the room just before Dr. Grey +entered. + +Never had he seen his patient so completely unnerved; but, observing +her efforts to compose herself, he forbore any allusion to an +agitation which he suspected was referable to mental rather than +physical causes. Bravely the stubborn woman struggled to steady her +voice, and still the twitching tell-tale muscles about her mouth; but +the burden of anxiety finally bore down all resolves, and, covering +her face with her broad hand, she wept unrestrainedly. + +In profound silence Dr. Grey sat beside her for nearly five minutes; +then, fearful that the excitement might prove injurious, he said, +gently,-- + +"I hope you are not suffering so severely from bodily pain? What +distresses you, my good woman? Perhaps, if I knew the cause, I might +be able to render you some service." + +"It is not my body,--that, you know, is numb, and gives me no +pain,--but my mind! Doctor, I am suffering in mind, and you have no +medicine that can ease that." + +"Possibly I may accomplish more than you imagine is within reach of my +remedies. Of one thing you may rest assured,--you will never have +reason to regret any confidence you may repose in me." + +"Dr. Grey, I believe you are a Christian; at least, I have heard so; +and, since my affliction, I have been watching you very closely, and +begin to think I can trust you. Are you a member of the church?" + +"I am; although that fact alone should not entitle me to your +confidence. We are all erring, and full of faults, but I endeavor to +live in such a manner that I shall not bring disgrace upon the holy +faith I profess." + +"Shut the door, and come back to me." + +He bolted the door, which stood ajar, and resumed his seat. + +"Dr. Grey, I know as well as you do that I can't last a great while, +and I ought to prepare for what may overtake me any day. I have tried +to live in accordance with the law of God, and I am not afraid to die; +but I am afraid to leave my mistress behind me. When I am gone there +will be no one to watch over and plead with her, and I dread lest her +precious soul may be lost. She won't go to God for herself, or by +herself, and who will pray for her salvation when I am in my shroud? +Oh, I can not die in peace, leaving her alone in the world she hates +and despises! What will become of my poor, bonnie bairn?" + +Elsie sobbed aloud, and Dr. Grey asked,-- + +"Has Mrs. Gerome no living relatives?" + +"None, sir, in America. There are some cousins in Scotland, but she +has never seen them, and never will." + +"Where are the members of her husband's family?" + +A visible shudder crept over that portion of the woman's body which +was not paralyzed, and her face grew dark and stern. + +"He was an orphan." + +"His loss seems to have had a terrible effect upon Mrs. Gerome, and +rendered her bitter and hopeless." + +"How hopeless, none but she and I and the God above us know. Once she +was the meekest, sweetest spirit, that ever gladdened a nurse's heart, +and I thought the world was blessed by her coming into it; but now she +is sacrilegious and scoffing, and almost dares the Lord's judgments. +Dr. Grey, it would nearly freeze your blood to hear her sometimes. +Poor thing! she will have no companions, and so has a habit of talking +to herself, and I often hear her arguing with the Almighty about her +life, and the trouble He allowed to fall into it. Last night she was +walking there under my window, begging God to take her out of the +world before I die. Begging, did I say? Nay,--demanding. My precious, +pretty bairn!" + +"Elsie, be candid with me. Is not Mrs. Gerome partially deranged?" + +She struggled violently to raise herself, but failing, her head fell +back, and she lifted her finger angrily. + +"No more deranged than you or I. That is a vile slander of busybodies +whom she will not receive, and who take it for granted that no lady in +her sound senses would refuse the privilege of gossiping with them. +She is as sane as any one, though there is an unnatural appearance +about her, and if her heart was only as sound as her head I could die +easily. They started the report of craziness long, long ago, in order +to get hold of her fortune; but it was too infamous a scheme to +succeed." + +Elsie's strong white teeth were firmly set, and her clenched fingers +did not relax. + +"Who started the report of her insanity?" + +"One who injured her, and made her what you see her." + +"She had no children?" + +"Oh, no! Once I begged her to adopt a pretty little orphan girl we saw +in Athens, but she ridiculed me for an old fool, and asked me if I +wished to see her warm a viper to sting what was left of her heart." + +"Mrs. Gerome has indulged her grief for her husband's loss, until she +has become morbidly sensitive. She should go into the world, and +interest herself in benevolent schemes; and, ultimately, her diseased +thoughts would flow into new and healthful channels. The secluded life +she leads is a hotbed for the growth of noxious fungi in heart and +mind. If you possess any influence over her, persuade her to re-enter +society. She is still young enough to find not only a cure for her +grief, but an ample share of even earthly happiness." + +Elsie sighed, and waved her hand impatiently. + +"You do not know all, or you would understand that in this world she +can not expect much happiness. Besides, she is peculiarly sensitive +about her appearance; and, of course, when she is seen, people stare, +and wonder how such a young thing got that pile of white hair. That is +the reason she quit travelling and shut herself up here." + +"Was it grief that prematurely silvered her hair?" + +"Yes, sir; it was as black as your coat, until her trouble came; and +then in a fortnight it turned as gray as you see it now. Doctor, I +said she was not deranged, and I spoke truly; but sometimes I have +feared that, when I am gone, she might get desperate, and, in her +loneliness, destroy herself. You are a sensible man, and can hold your +tongue, and I feel that I can trust you. Now, I know that Robert loves +her, and while he lives will serve her faithfully; but you are wiser +than my son, and I should be better satisfied if I left her in your +charge, when I go home. Will you promise me to take care of her, and +to try to comfort her in the day when she sees me buried?" + +"Elsie, you impose upon me a duty which I am afraid Mrs. Gerome will +not allow me to discharge; and, since she is so exceedingly averse to +meeting strangers, I should not feel justified in thrusting myself +into her presence." + +"Not even to prevent a crime?" + +"I hope that your excited imagination and anxious heart exaggerate the +possibility of the danger to which you allude." + +"No; exaggeration is not one of my habits, and I know my mistress +better than she knows herself. She thinks that suicide is not a sin, +but says it is cowardly; and she utterly detests and loathes +cowardice. Dr. Grey, I could not rest quietly in my coffin if she is +left alone in this dreary house, after I am carried to my long home. +Will you stay here awhile, or take her to your house,--at least for a +short time?" + +"I will, at all events, promise to comply with your wishes as fully as +she will permit. But recollect that I am comparatively a stranger to +her, and her haughty reception of me the day I was compelled to come +here on your account, does not encourage me to presume in future. +Respect for her wishes, however unreasonable, and respect for myself, +would forbid an intrusion on my part." + +"If you saw an utter stranger drowning, would fear of being considered +presumptuous or impertinent prevent your trying to save him? Your +self-love should not hold you back from a Christian duty." + +"And you may rest assured that it never shall, when I feel that +interference--no matter how unwelcome or ungraciously received--will +prove beneficial. But remember that your mistress is eccentric and +shrinking, and all efforts to befriend her must be made very +cautiously." + +"True, doctor; yet sometimes, instead of consulting her, it is best +to treat her as a wilful child. I believe you could obtain some +influence over her if you would only try to break the ice, because +she has spoken kindly of you several times since I have been so +helpless, and asked what she could do to show her gratitude for +your goodness to me. Yesterday she said she intended to direct +Robert to take some fine fruit to your house, and she remarked +that your eyes were, in comparison with other folks', what Sabbath is +to working week-days,--were so full of rest, that tired anxious +people might be refreshed by looking at them. Sir, that is more than I +have heard her utter for seven years about anybody; and, therefore, I +think you might do her some good." + +Dr. Grey shook his head, but remained silent; and presently Elsie +touched his arm, and continued,-- + +"There is something I wish to say to you before I die, but not now. I +want you to promise me that when you see my end is indeed at hand, +you will tell me in time to let me talk a little to you. Will you?" + +"You may linger for months, and it is possible that you may die quite +suddenly; consequently, it might be impracticable for me to fulfil the +promise you require. Still, if I can do so, I will certainly comply +with your wishes. Would it not be better to tell me at once what you +desire me to know?" + +"While I live it is not necessary that any one should know, and it is +only when I am about to die that I shall speak to you. For my sake, +for humanity's sake, try to become acquainted with my mistress and +make her like you, as she certainly will, if she only knows you." + +A tap at the door interrupted the conversation, and soon after, Dr. +Grey quitted the sick-room. + +He paused in the hall to examine a fine copy of Landseer's "Old +Shepherd's Chief Mourner," and, while he stood before it, a large +greyhound started up from the mat at the front door, and bounded +towards him. Simultaneously Mrs. Gerome appeared at the threshold of +the parlor. + +"Come here, sir! Poor fellow, come here!" + +The dog obeyed her instantly; and, pressing close to her, looked up +wistfully in her face. + +"Good morning, Mrs. Gerome. I must thank you for coming so promptly to +my assistance. I have never seen this dog until to-day, and, +consequently, was not on my guard." + +"He arrived only yesterday, and is so overjoyed to be with me once +more that he allows no one else to approach." + +"He is by far the handsomest dog I have ever seen in America." + +"Yes, I had great difficulty in obtaining him. My agent assures me +that he belongs to the best that are reared in the tribe of Beni Lam; +and that he is a genuine Arab, there can be no doubt." + +"How long have you owned him?" + +"Two years. Unfortunately he was bitten by a snake one day while +wandering with me among the ruins at Pæstum, and was so singularly +affected that I was forced to leave him at Naples. Various causes +combined to delay his restoration to me until last week, when he +crossed the Atlantic; and yesterday he went into ecstasies when I +received him from the express agent. Hush! no growling! Down, sir! +Take care, Dr. Grey; he will bear no hand but mine, and it is rather +dangerous to caress him, as you may judge from the fangs he is showing +you." + +The dog was remarkably tall, silky, beautifully formed, and of a soft +mole-color; and around his neck a collar formed of four small silver +chains, bore an oval silver plate on which was engraved in German +text, "_Ich Dien--Agla Gerome_." + +"I congratulate you upon the possession of such a treasure," said +the visitor, with unfeigned admiration,--as, with the eye of a +_connoisseur_, he noted the fine points about the sleek, slim +animal, who eyed him suspiciously. + +"Thank you. How is Elsie to-day?" + +"More nervous than I have seen her since the accident, and some of her +symptoms are rather discouraging, though there is no immediate danger. +Do not look so hopeless; she may be spared to you for many months." + +"Why will you not let me hope that she may ultimately recover?" + +"Because it is utterly futile, and I have no desire to deceive you, +even for an instant. Good morning, Robert." + +The gardener approached with a large basket filled with peaches and +nectarines, and, taking off his hat, bowed profoundly. + +"My mistress ordered these placed in your buggy, as I believe our +nectarines ripen earlier than any others in the neighborhood." + +"Thank you, Maclean. Mrs. Gerome is exceedingly kind, and I have an +invalid sister who will enjoy this beautiful fruit. Those nectarines +would not disgrace Smyrna or Damascus, and are the first of the +season." + +Robert passed through the hall, bearing the basket to the buggy; and +at that instant there was a startling crash, as of some heavy article +falling in the parlor. The dog sprang up with a howl, and Dr. Grey +followed Mrs. Gerome into the room to ascertain the cause of the +noise. A glance sufficed to explain that a picture in a heavy frame +had fallen from a hook above the mantelpiece, and in its descent +overturned some tall vases, which now lay shattered on the hearth. Dr. +Grey lifted the painting from the rubbish, and, as he turned the +canvas towards the light, Mrs. Gerome said,-- + +"'_Une tristesse implacable, une effroyable fatalité pèse sui l'oeuvre +de l'artiste. Cela ressemble à une malediction amère, lancée sur le +sort de l'humanité._' There is, indeed, some fatality about that copy +of Durer's 'Knight, Death, and the Devil,' which seems really +ill-omened, for this is the second time it has fallen. Thank you, sir. +The frame only is injured, and I will not trouble you to remove it. +Let it lean against the grate, until I have it rehung more securely." + +"It is too grim a picture for these walls, and stares at its +companions like the mummy at Egyptian banquets." + +"On the contrary, it impresses me as grotesque in comparison with +Durer's 'Melancholy,' yonder, or with Holbein's 'Les Simulachres de la +mort.'" + +"Durer's figure of 'Melancholy' has never satisfied me, and there is +more ferocity than sadness in the countenance, which would serve quite +as well for one of the Erinney hunting Orestes, even in the adytum at +Delphi. The face is more sinister than sorrowful." + +"Since your opinion of that picture coincides so entirely with mine, +tell me whether I have successfully grasped Coleridge's dim ideal." + +Mrs. Gerome drew from a corner of the rear room an easel containing a +finished but unframed picture; and, gathering up the lace curtain +drooping before the arch, she held the folds aside, to allow the light +to fall full on the canvas. + +"Before you examine it, recall the description that suggested it." + +"I am sorry to say that my recollection of the passage is exceedingly +vague and unsatisfactory. Will you oblige me by repeating it?" + +"Excuse me; your hand is resting upon the book, which is open at the +fragment." + +Dr. Grey bowed, and, lifting the volume from the table glanced +rapidly over the lines designated, then turned to the picture, where, +indeed, + + "Stretched on a mouldering abbey's broadest wall, + Where ruining ivies propped the ruins steep, + Her folded arms wrapping her tattered pall, + Had Melancholy mused herself to sleep. + The fern was pressed beneath her hair, + The dark green adder's tongue was there; + And still as past the flagging sea-gale weak, + The long, lank leaf bowed fluttering o'er her cheek. + That pallid cheek was flushed; her eager look + Beamed eloquent in slumber! Inly wrought, + Imperfect sounds her moving lips forsook, + And her bent forehead worked with troubled thought." + +The beautiful face of the reclining figure was dreamily hopeless and +dejected, yet pathetically patient; and, in the strange amber light +reflected from a sunset sea, the fringy shadow of a cluster of +fern-leaves seemed to quiver over the pale brow and still mouth, and +floating raven hair, where the green snake glided with crest erect and +forked tongue within an inch of one delicate, pearly ear. The gray +stones of the lichen-spotted wall, the graceful sweep of the shrouding +drab drapery, whose folds clung to the form and thence swung down from +the edge of the rocky battlement, the mouldering ruins leaning against +the quiet sky in the rear, and the glassy stretch of topaz-tinted sea +in the foreground, were all painted with pre-Raphaelite exactness and +verisimilitude, and every detail attested the careful, tender study, +with which the picture had been elaborated. + +Was it by accident or design that the woman on the painted wall bore a +vague, mournful resemblance to the owner and creator? Dr. Grey glanced +from Durer's "Melancholy" to the canvas on the easel; then his +fascinated eyes dwelt on the dainty features of the artist, and he +thought involuntarily of another Coleridgean image,--of the "pilgrim +in whom the spring and the autumn, and the melancholy of both, seemed +to have combined." + +"Mrs. Gerome, in this wonderful embodiment of Coleridge's fragmentary +ideal you have painted your own portrait." + +"No, sir. Look again. My 'Melancholia' has a patient face, hinting of +possible peace. When I design its companion, 'Desolation,' I may be +pardoned if my canvas reflects what always fronts it." + +"May I ask when you wrought out this extraordinary conception?" + +"During the past month. The last touch was given this morning, and the +paint is not yet dry on that cluster of purplish seaweed clinging to +the base of the battlement. Last night I dreamed that Coleridge stood +looking over my shoulder and while I worked he touched the sea, and it +flushed a ruby red brighter than laudanum; and then he leaned down, +and with a pencil wrote _Dele_ across the fragment in his Sibylline +Leaves.' To-day I tried the effect of the hint, but the amber water +mellows the woman's features, and the ruby light rendered them sullen +and rigid." + +"Were I to judge from the _bizarre_ themes that you select, I should +be tempted to fear that the wizard spell of opium evoked some of these +strangely beautiful creations of your brush. What suggested this +picture?" + +"You merely wish to complete your diagnosis of my psychological +condition? If so, there is no reason why I should hesitate to tell you +that while I was playing one of Chopin's _Nocturnes_ the significance +of the Polish '_Zäl_' perplexed me. In striving to analyze it, +Coleridge's 'Melancholy' occurred to my mind, and teased and haunted +me until I wrought it out palpably. My work there means more than his +fragment, and includes something which I suppose Chopin meant by that +insynonymous word '_Zäl_.'" + +Standing under the arch, with one hand holding back the lace drapery, +the other hanging nerveless at her side, she looked as weird as any of +her ideal creations; and, in the greenish seashine breaking through +the dense foliage of the trees about the house, her wan face, snowy +muslin dress, and floating white ribbons, seemed unsubstantial as the +figures on the wall. To-day there was no spot of color in face or +dress, save the azure gleam of the large, brilliant ring, on her +uplifted hand; and, as Dr. Grey scrutinized her appearance, he found +it difficult to realize that blood pulsed in that marble flesh, and +warm breath fluttered in that firm, frigid mouth. Glancing around the +rooms, he said,-- + +"Solitude is indeed a misnomer for a home peopled with such creations +as adorn these walls." + +"No. Have you forgotten the definition of Epictetus? '_To be +friendless is solitude._'" + +"I hope, madam, that you may never find yourself in that unfortunate +category, and certainly there are--" + +"Sir, I know what Michael Angelo felt when he wrote from Rome, 'I have +no friends; I need none.'" + +She interrupted him with an indescribably haughty gesture, and an +anomalous spasm of the lips that belonged to no known class of +smiles. + +"On the contrary, Mrs. Gerome, the hunger for true friends has +rendered you morose and cynical." + +He did not shrink from the wide eyes that flashed like blue steel in +moonshine; and as his own, calm, steady, and magnetic, dwelt gravely +on her face, he fancied she winced, slightly. + +"No, sir. When I hunt or recognize friends, I shall borrow Diogenes' +lantern. Good morning, Dr. Grey." + +"Pardon me if I detain you for a moment to inquire who taught you to +paint." + +"The absolute necessity of self-forgetfulness." + +"But you surely had some tuition in the art?" + +"Yes; I had the usual boarding-school privilege of a master for +perspective, and pastel. Dr. Grey, have you been to Europe?" + +"Yes, madam; on several occasions." + +"You visited Dresden?" + +"I did." + +"Step forward a little,--there. Now, sir, do you know that painting +hanging over my _escritoire_?" + +"It is Ruysdael's 'Churchyard,' and, from this distance, seems a +remarkably fine copy of that sombre, desolate, ghoul-haunted +picture." + +"Thank you. That is the only piece of work of which I feel really +proud. Some day, when the light is pure and strong, come in and +examine it. Now there is a greenish tinge over all things in the room +thrown by sea-shimmer through the clustering leaves. Ah, what a long, +low, presageful moan that was, which broke from foaming lips, on +yonder strand!" + +"Good morning, Mrs. Gerome. The inspection of your pictures has +yielded me so much pleasure that I must tender you my very sincere +thanks for your courtesy." + +She bowed distantly; and, when he reached his buggy, he glanced back +and saw that perfect, pallid face, pressed against the cedar facing of +the oriel, looking seaward. He lifted his hat, but she did not observe +the salute; and, as he drove away, she kept her eyes upon the +murmuring waves, and repeated, as was her habit, the lines that +chanced to present themselves,-- + + "Listen! you hear the solemn roar + Begin, and cease, and then again begin, + With tremulous cadence, slow, and bring + The eternal note of sadness in. + Sophocles, long ago, + Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought + Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow + Of human misery." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +"Miss Dexter, where is Muriel?" asked Dr. Grey, glancing around the +library, where the governess sat sewing, while Salome read aloud a +passage in Ariosto. + +"She is not very well, and went up stairs, two hours ago, to rest. Do +you wish to see her immediately?" + +"Yes. Call her down." + +When the teacher left the room, Dr. Grey approached the table where +Salome sat, and looked over her shoulder. + +"I went to the Asylum to-day, and found little Jessie very well, but +quite dissatisfied because you visit her so rarely. You should see her +as often as possible, since she is so dependent upon you for sympathy +and affection." + +"I do." + +"Miss Dexter gives a flattering report of your aptitude for acquiring +languages, and assures me that you will soon speak Italian fluently." + +"Miss Dexter doubtless believes that praise of a pupil reflects credit +on the skill of the teacher. Unfortunately for her flattering estimate +of me, I must disclaim all polyglot proclivities, and have no +intention of eclipsing Mezzofanti, Max Muller, or Giovanni Pico +Mirandola. I needed, for a special purpose, a limited acquaintance +with Italian; and, as I have attained what I desired, I shall not +trouble myself much longer with dictionaries and grammars." + +"And that special purpose--" + +"Concerns nobody else, consequently I keep it to myself." + +He turned from her and advanced to meet his ward, who came rapidly +forward, holding out both hands. + +"Doctor, where have you been all day? I did not see you at breakfast +or dinner, and it seems quite an age since yesterday afternoon. You +see I am moping, horribly." + +"My dear child, I see you are looking pale and weary, which is overt +and unpardonable treason. I sent for you to ask if it would be +agreeable to you to walk, or drive with me." + +"Certainly,--either or both." + +She had placed her hands in his, and stood looking up joyfully into +his quiet countenance. + +"Get your hat, while I order my buggy brought to the door." + +"Thank you, my dear doctor. The very thing I longed for, as I noticed +you riding up the avenue. I never saw you on horseback until to-day. +It is a delightful evening for a drive." + +She gaily swung his hands, like a gratified child, and started off +for her hat, but, ere she crossed the threshold, turned back, and, +walking up to her guardian, laid her arm on his shoulder and whispered +something. + +He laughed, and put his hand under her chin, saying, as he did so,-- + +"Little witch! How did you know it?" + +Her reply was audible only to the ears for which it was framed, and +she darted away, evidently much happier than she had seemed for many +days. + +While awaiting her return, Dr. Grey picked up her sketch-book, and was +examining the contents, when Salome rose and hurried towards the door. +As she passed him, his back was turned, and her muslin dress swept +within reach of his spur, which caught the delicate fabric. She +impatiently jerked the dress to disengage it, but it clung to the +steel points, and a long rent was made in the muslin. With a +half-smothered ejaculation, she tried to wrench herself free, but the +dress only tore across the breadth from seam to seam. Dr. Grey turned, +and stooped to assist her. + +"Wait an instant, Salome; you have almost ruined your dress." + +He was endeavoring to disentangle the shreds from the jagged edge of +the spur, but she bent down, and, seizing the skirt in both hands, +tore it away, leaving a large fragment trailing from the boot-heel. + +"'More haste, less speed.' Patience is better than petulance, my young +friend." + +His grave, reproving voice, rendered her defiant; and, with a forced, +unnatural laugh, she bowed, and hurried away, saying, as she looked +over her shoulder,-- + +"And spurs than persuasion? You mistake my nature." + +Dr. Grey had been riding, all the morning, across a broken stretch of +country, where the roads were exceedingly insecure, and, as he removed +the troublesome spur and laid it on the mantelpiece, he folded up the +strip of muslin and put it into his pocket. + +"I am waiting for you," cried Muriel, from the hall door. + +He sighed, and went to his buggy; but the cloud did not melt from his +brow, for, as he drove off, he noticed Salome's gleaming eyes peering +from the window of her room; and pity and pain mingled in the emotions +with which he recalled his sister's warning words. + +"Muriel, here is your letter, and, better still, Gerard will be with +us to-morrow. Diplomatic affairs brought him temporarily to +Washington, and he will spend next week with us. I cordially +congratulate you, my dear child, and hastened home to bring you the +good news, which I felt assured you would prefer to receive without +witnesses." + +Muriel's blushing face was bent over her letter; but she put her hand +on her guardian's, and pressed it vigorously. + +"A thousand thanks for all your goodness! Gerard writes that it was +through your influence he was enabled to visit Washington; and, +indeed, dear Dr. Grey, we are both very grateful for your kind +interest in our happiness. Even poor papa could not be more +considerate." + +"For several days past I have observed that you were unusually +depressed, and that Miss Dexter looked constrained. Are you not +pleasantly situated in my sister's house. Do not hesitate to speak +frankly." + +Muriel's eyes filled with tears, and she answered, evasively,-- + +"Miss Jane is very kind and affectionate." + +"Which means that Salome is not." + +"Dr. Grey, why does she dislike me so seriously? I have tried to be +friendly and cordial towards her; but she constantly repels me. I +really admire her very much; but I am afraid she positively hates +me." + +"No, that is impossible; but she is a very peculiar, and, I am sorry +to be forced to say, an unamiable girl, and is governed by every idle +caprice. I hope that you will not allow yourself to be annoyed by any +want of courtesy which she may unfortunately have displayed. Although +a member of the household, Salome has no right to dispense or to +withhold the hospitalities of my sister's home, or to insult her +guests; and I trust that her individual whims will have no effect +whatever upon you, unless they create a feeling of compassion and +toleration in your kind heart. She has some good traits hidden under +her _brusquerie_, and when you know her better you will excuse her +rudeness." + +"Why is she so moody? I have not seen a pleasant smile on her face +since I came here." + +"My dear child, let us select some more agreeable topic for +discussion. Gerard will probably arrive on the early train, which will +enable him to breakfast with us to-morrow. He will endeavor to +persuade you to return at once to Europe; but I must tell you, in +advance of his proposal, that I hope you will not yield to his wishes, +since it would grieve me to part with you so soon." + +Muriel turned aside her head to avoid her guardian's penetrating gaze, +and silently listened to his counsel concerning the course she should +pursue towards her betrothed. + +For a year they had been affianced without the knowledge of her +father, from whom she had been separated; but the frankness with which +both had discussed the matter with Dr. Grey forbade the possibility of +his withholding his approbation of the engagement; though he assured +them he could not consent to its speedy consummation, as Muriel was +too young and childish to appreciate the grave responsibility of such +a step. Gerard Granville was several years older than his betrothed, +and Dr. Grey had been astonished at his choice; but a long and +intimate acquaintance led him to esteem the young man so highly, that, +while he felt that Muriel was far inferior, he strove to stimulate her +ambition, and hoped she would one day be fully worthy of him. + +To-day Dr. Grey drove for an hour through quiet, unfrequented country +roads; and finally, when Muriel expressed herself anxious to catch a +glimpse of the sea and a breath of its brine, he turned into a narrow +track that led down to some fishermen's huts on the beach. + +While they paused on the edge of the low, yellow strand, and inhaled +the fresh ocean air, Dr. Grey grew silent, and his companion fell +into a blissful reverie relative to to-morrow's events. Suddenly he +placed his hand on her arm, and said, "Listen! What a wonderfully +sweet, flexible voice! Surely, fishermen's wives are not singing +Mendelssohn's compositions? Did you hear that gush of melody? It +comes not from that house, but seems floating from the opposite +direction. Such strains almost revive one's faith in the Hindoo +_Gandharvas_,--musical genii, filling the air with ravishing sounds. +There! is it not exquisite? Hold these reins while I ascertain who +owns that marvellous voice." + +Eager and curious as a boy, he sprang from the buggy, and, following +the bend of the beach, passed two small deserted huts, and plunged +into a grove of stunted trees, whence issued the sound that attracted +his attention. Ere he had proceeded many yards he saw a woman sitting +on a bank of sand and oyster-shells, and singing from an open sheet of +music, while she made rapid gestures with one hand. Her face was +turned from him, but, as he cautiously approached, the _pose_ of the +figure, the noble contour of the head and neck, and a certain muslin +dress which matched the strip in his pocket, made his heart beat +violently. Intent only on solving the mystery, he stepped softly +towards her; but just then a brace of plover started up at his feet, +and, as they whirred away, the woman turned her head, and he found +himself face to face with his musician. + +"Salome!" + +"Well, Dr. Grey." + +She had risen, and a beautiful glow overspread her cheeks, as she met +his eyes. + +"What brings you to this lonely spot, three miles from home, when the +sun has already gone down?" + +"Have I not as unquestionable a right to walk alone to the seaside as +you to drive your ward whithersoever you list? Poverty, as well as +wealth, sometimes makes people strangely independent. What have you +done with Miss Muriel Manton?" + +There was such a sparkle in her eyes, such a bright flush on her +polished cheeks and parted lips, that Dr. Grey wondered at her beauty, +which had never before impressed him as so extraordinary. + +"Salome, why have you concealed your musical gift from me? Who taught +you to sing?" + +"I am teaching myself, with such poor aid as I can obtain from that +miserable vagabond, Barilli, who is generally intoxicated three days +out of every six. Did you expect to find Heine's yellow-haired +Loreley, or a treacherous Ligeia, sitting on a rock, wooing passers-by +to speedy destruction?" + +"I certainly did not expect to meet my friend Salome alone at this +hour and place. Child, do not trifle with me,--be truthful. Did you +come here to meet any one?" + +"One never knows what may or may not happen. I came here to practise +my music lesson, _sans_ auditors, and I meet Dr. Grey,--the last +person I expected or desired to see." + +He came a step nearer, and put his hand on her shoulder. + +"Salome, you distress and perplex me. My child, are you better or +worse than I think you?" + +She lifted her slender hand and laid it lightly on his, which still +rested upon her shoulder. + +"I am both,--better and worse. Better in aim than you believe; worse +in execution than you could realize, even if I confessed all, which I +have not the slightest intention of doing. Ah, Dr. Grey, if you read +me thoroughly, you would not be surprised, or consider it presumptuous +that I sometimes think I am that anomalous creature, whom Balzac +defined as 'Angel through love, demon through fantasy, child through +faith, sage through experience, man through the brain, woman through +the heart, giant through hope, and poet through dreams.'" + +As Dr. Grey looked down into the splendid eyes, softened and magnified +by a crystal veil of unshed tears, he sighed, and answered,-- + +"You are, indeed, a bundle of contradictions. Why have you so +sedulously concealed the existence of your fine voice, which the +majority of girls would have been eager to exhibit?" + +"It was not lack of vanity, but excess, that prompted me to keep you +in ignorance, until I could astonish you by its perfection. You have +anticipated me only by a few days, and I intended singing for you next +week." + +"It is not prudent for you to venture so far from home, especially at +this hour." + +"We paupers are not so fastidious as our lucky superiors, and cannot +afford timid airs, and affectation of extreme nervousness. Having no +escort, and expecting none, I walk alone in any direction I choose, +with what fearlessness and contentment I find myself able to +command." + +"It will be dark before you can reach the public road." + +"No, sir; there is a young moon swinging above the tree-tops, to light +me on my lonesome ramble; and I come here so often that even the +rabbits and whippoorwills know me. Where is Miss Muriel?" + +"Waiting in the buggy, on the beach. I must go back to her." + +"Yes. Pray do not delay an instant, or she will imagine that some dire +calamity has befallen her knight, who, in hunting a siren, encountered +Scylla or Charybdis. Good evening, Dr. Grey." + +"I am unwilling to leave you here so unprotected. Come and ride with +Muriel, and I will walk beside the buggy. My horse is so gentle that a +child can guide him." + +"Thank you. Not for a ten-acre lot in Mohammed's Paradise would I mar +Miss Muriel's happiness, or punish myself by a _tête-à-tête_ with her. +It would be positively 'discourteous' in me to accept your proposal; +and, moreover, I abhor division,--_tout ou rien_." + +"Wilful, silly child! It is not proper for you to wander along that +dreary road in the dark. Come with me." + +"Not I. Make yourself easy by recollecting that 'naught is never in +danger.' See yonder in the west,-- + + 'Where, lo! above the sandy sunset rose + The silver sickle of the green-gowned witch.'" + +She laughed lightly, derisively, and collected the sheets of music +scattered on the bank. + +Silently Dr. Grey returned to his ward, who exclaimed, at sight of +him,-- + +"I am glad to see you again, for you stayed so long I was growing +frightened. Did you find the singer?" + +"Yes." + +"What is the matter? You look troubled and solemn." + +"I am merely annoyed by circumstances beyond my control." + +"Dr. Grey, who was that sweet singer?" + +"Salome Owen." + +"How can such a thing be possible, when I have never heard a note from +her lips? You told me she had no musical talent." + +"I was not aware that she sang at all, until this afternoon, and your +surprise does not equal mine." + +"Where did you find her?" + +"Sitting on a mound of sand, singing to the sea." + +"Who is with her?" + +"No one. I requested her to come with us, and offered to walk beside +my buggy; but she declined. Please be so considerate as to say nothing +about this occurrence, when you reach home; because animadversion only +hardens that poor girl in her whimsical ways. Now we will dismiss the +matter." + +Muriel endeavored to render herself an agreeable companion during the +remainder of the drive; but her guardian, despite his efforts to +become interested in her conversation, was evidently _distrait_, and +both felt relieved when they reached Grassmere, where Miss Jane and +the governess welcomed their return. + +Dr. Grey dismissed his buggy and entered the hall; but passed through +the house, and, crossing the orchard, followed the road leading +seaward. + +Only a few summer stars were sprinkling their silvery rays over the +gray gloom of twilight, and the shining crescent in the violet west +had slipped down behind the silent hills that girded the rough, +winding road. + +When Salome put her fingers on the gloved hand which, in the surprise +of their unexpected meeting, Dr. Grey had involuntarily placed on her +shoulder, she had felt that he shrank instantly from her touch, and +withdrew his hand hastily, as if displeased with the familiarity of +the action. All the turbid elements in her nature boiled up. Could it +be possible that he really loved his rosy-faced, bright-eyed, +prattling ward? She set this conjecture squarely before her, and +forced herself to contemplate it. If he desired to marry Muriel, of +course he would do so whenever he chose, and the thought that he might +call her his wife, and give her his name, his caresses, wrung a cry of +agony from Salome's lips. She threw herself on the sand-bank, and, +resting her chin on her folded arms, gazed vacantly across the yellow +strand at the glassy, leaden sea that stared back mockingly at her. + +She was too miserable to feel afraid of anything but Dr. Grey's +marriage; and, moreover, she had so often, during the early years of +her life, gone to and fro in the darkness, that she was a stranger to +that timidity which girls usually indulge under similar circumstances. +The fishermen had abandoned the neighboring huts some months before, +and "Solitude," one mile distant, was the nearest spot occupied by +human beings. + +She neither realized nor cared that it was growing darker, and, after +awhile, when the sea was no longer visible through the dun haze that +brooded over it, she shut her eyes and moaned. + +Dr. Grey had walked on, hoping every moment to meet her returning +home; and, more than once, he was tempted to retrace his steps, +thinking that she might have taken some direct path across the hills, +instead of the circuitous one bending around their base. Quickening +his pace till it matched his pulse, which an indefinable anxiety +accelerated, he finally saw the huts dimly outlined against the starry +sky and quiet sea. + +Pausing, he took off his hat to listen to + + "The water lapping on the crag, + And the long ripple washing in the reeds," + +and, while he stood wiping his brow, there came across the beach,-- + + "A cry that shivered to the tingling stars, + And, as it were one voice, an agony + Of lamentation, like a wind that shrills + All night in a waste land, where no one comes, + Or hath come since the making of the world." + +In the uncertain light he ran towards the clump of trees where he had +left Salome, and strained his eyes to discover some moving thing. He +knew that he must be very near the spot, but neither the expected +sound nor object greeted him, and, while he stopped and held his +breath to listen, the silence was profound and death-like. He was +opening his lips to call the girl's name, when he fancied he saw +something move slightly, and simultaneously a human voice smote the +oppressive stillness. She was very near him, and he heard her saying +to herself, with mournful emphasis,-- + + "Have I brought Joy, and slain her at his feet? + Have I brought Peace, for his cold kiss to kill? + Have I brought youth, crowned with wild-flowers sweet, + With sandals dewy from a morning hill, + For his gray, solemn eyes, to fright and chill? + Have I brought Scorn the pale, and Hope the fleet, + And First Love, in her lily winding-sheet,-- + And is he pitiless still?" + +Dr. Grey knew now that she was not crying. Her hard, ringing, bitter +tone, forbade all thought of sobs or tears; but his heart ached as he +listened, and surmised the application she was making of the +melancholy lines. + +Unwilling that she should know he had overheard her, he waited a +moment, then raised his voice and shouted,-- + +"Salome! Salome! Where are you?" + +There was no answer, and, fearing that she might elude him, he +stretched out his arms, and advanced to the spot, which he felt +assured was only a few yards distant. + +She had risen, and, standing in the gloom of the coming night, +deepened by the interlacing boughs above her, she felt Dr. Grey's hand +on her dress, then on her head, where the moisture hung heavily in her +thick hair. + +"Salome, why do you not answer me?" + +Shame kept her silent. + +He passed his hand over her hot face, then groped for her fingers, +which he grasped firmly in his. + +"Come home with your best friend." + +He knew that she was in no mood to submit to reprimand, to appreciate +argument, or even to listen to entreaty, and that he might as +profitably undertake to knead pig-iron as expostulate with her at this +juncture. + +For a mile they walked on without uttering a word; then he felt the +fingers relax, twitch, and twine closely around his own. + +"Dr. Grey, where is Muriel? Where is your buggy?" + +"Both are at home, where others should have been, long ago." + +"You walked back to meet me?" + +"I did." + +"How did you find me, in the dark?" + +"I heard your voice." + +"But not the words?" + +"Why? Are you ashamed for me to hear what any strolling stranger, any +unscrupulous vagabond, might have listened to?" + +"It is such a desolate, lonely place, I thought no one would stumble +upon me, and I have been there so often without meeting a living thing +except the crabs and plover." + +"You are no longer a child, and such rashness is altogether +unpardonable. What do you suppose my sister would think of your +imprudent obstinacy?" + +They walked another mile, and again Salome convulsively pressed the +cool, steady, strong hand, in which hers lay hot and quivering. + +"Dr. Grey, tell me the truth,--don't torture me." + +"What shall I tell you? You torture yourself." + +"Did you hear what I was saying to my own heart?" + +"I heard you repeating some lines which certainly should possess no +relevancy for the real feeling of my young friend." + +She snatched her fingers from his, and he knew she covered her face +with them. + +They reached the gate at the end of the avenue, and Salome stopped +suddenly, as the lights from the front windows flashed out on the +lawn. + +"Go in, and leave me." + +She threw herself on the sward, under one of the elm-trees, and leaned +her head against its trunk. + +"I shall do no such thing, unless you desire the entire household to +comment upon your reckless conduct." + +"Oh, Dr. Grey, I care little now what the whole world thinks or says! +Let me be quiet, or I shall go mad." + +"No; come into the house, and sing something to compensate me for the +anxiety and fatigue you have cost me. I do not often ask a favor of +you, and certainly in this instance you will not refuse to grant my +request." + +She did not reply, and he bent down and softly stroked the hair that +was damp with dew and sea-fog. + +The long-pent storm broke in convulsive sobs, and she trembled from +head to foot, while tears poured over her burning cheeks. + +"Poor child! Can you not confide in me?" + +"Dr. Grey, will you forget all that has passed to-day? Will you try +never to think of it again?" + +"On condition that you never repeat the offence." + +"You do not despise me?" + +"No." + +"You pity me?" + +"I pity any human being who is so unfortunate as to possess your +wilful, perverse, passionate disposition. Unless you overcome this +dangerous tendency of character, you may expect only wretchedness and +humiliation in coming years. I am sincerely sorry for you, but I tell +you unhesitatingly, that I find it difficult to tolerate your grave +and obtrusive faults." + +She raised her clasped hands, and said, brokenly,-- + +"This is the last time I shall ever ask you to forgive me. Will you?" + +"As freely and fully as a grieved brother ever forgave a wayward +sister." + +He took the folded hands, lifted her from the grass, and led her to a +side door opening upon the east gallery. + +"Dr. Grey, give me one kind word before I go." + +The lamp-light from the hall shone full on his pale face, which was +sterner than she had ever seen it, as he forcibly withdrew his hands +from her tight clasp, and, putting her away from him, said, very +coldly,-- + +"I exhausted my store of kind thoughts and words when I called you my +sister." + +He saw that she understood him, for she tried to hide her face, but a +spasm passed over it, and she would have fallen had he not caught her +in his arms and carried her up to her own room. + +Stanley was asleep with his head pillowed on his open geography, but +the candle burned beside him, and Dr. Grey placed Salome on a lounge +near the window, and sprinkled her face with water. + +Kneeling by the low couch, he rubbed her hands vigorously with some +cologne he found on her bureau; and, watching her pale, beautiful +features, his heart swelled with compassion, and his calm eyes grew +misty. Consciousness very soon returned, and when she saw the noble, +sorrowful countenance, bent anxiously over her, she covered her face +with her hands and moaned rather than spoke,-- + +"I can't endure your pity. Leave me with my self-contempt and +degradation." + +"My little sister, I leave you in God's merciful hands, and trust you +to the guidance of your womanly pride and self-respect. Good-night. We +will not engrave this unfortunate day on our tablets, but forget its +record, save one fact, that for all time it makes me your brother; +and, Salome,-- + + "'So we'll not dream, nor look back, dear, + But march right on, content and bold, + To where our life sets heavenly clear,-- + Westward, behind the hills of gold.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +"Dr. Grey, who is that beautiful girl to whom Muriel introduced me +this morning? I was so absorbed in admiration of her face that I lost +her name." + +As he spoke, Mr. Gerard Granville struck the ashes from his cigar, and +walked up to the table where Dr. Grey was sealing some letters. + +"Her name is Salome Owen, and she is my sister's adopted child." + +"What is her age, if I may be pardoned such impertinent queries?" + +"I believe she has entered her eighteenth year." + +"She is a regal beauty, and shows proud blood as plainly as any +princess." + +"Take care, Granville; imagination has cantered away with your +penetration. Salome's family were coarse and common, though doubtless +honest people. Her father was a drunken miller, who died in an attack +of delirium tremens, and left his children as a legacy to the county. +I merely mention these deplorable facts to show you that your boasted +penetration is not entirely infallible." + +"Miller or millionaire,--the girl would grace any court in Europe, and +only lacks a dash of _aplomb_ to make her irresistible. I have seen +few faces that attracted and interested me so powerfully." + +"Yes, she certainly is very handsome; but I do not agree with you in +thinking that she lacks _aplomb_. Granville, if you have finished your +cigar, we will adjourn to the parlor, where the ladies are taking +their tea." + +Dr. Grey collected his letters and walked away, followed by his guest; +and, a moment after, a low, scornful laugh, floated in through the +window which opened on the little flower-garden. + +Miss Jane had requested Salome to gather the seeds of some apple and +nutmeg geraniums that were arranged on a shelf near the western window +of the library; and, while stooping over the china jars, and screened +from observation by a spreading lilac-bush, the girl had heard the +conversation relative to herself. + +Excessive vanity had never been numbered among the faults that marred +her character, but Dr. Grey's indifference to personal attractions, +which strangers admitted so readily, piqued, and thoroughly aroused a +feeling that was destined to bring countless errors and misfortunes in +its train; and, henceforth,-- + + "There was not a high thing out of heaven, + Her pride o'ermastereth not." + +Hitherto the love of one man had been the only boon she craved of +heaven; but now, conscious that the darling hope of her life was +crushed and withering under Dr. Grey's relentless feet, she resolved +that the admiration of the world should feed her insatiable hunger,--a +maddening hunger which one tender word from his true lips would have +assuaged,--but which she began to realize he would never utter. + +During the last eighteen hours, a mournful change had taken place in +her heart, where womanly tenderness was rapidly retreating before +unwomanly hate, bitterness, and blasphemous defiance; and she laughed +scornfully at the "idiocy" that led her to weary heaven with prayers +for the preservation of a life that must ever run as an asymptote to +her own. How earnestly she now lamented an escape, for which she had +formerly exhausted language in expressing her gratitude; and how much +better it would have been if she could mourn him as dead, instead of +jealously watching him,--living without a thought of her. + +All the girlish sweetness and freshness of her nature passed away, and +an intolerable weariness and disappointment usurped its place. Since +her acquaintance with Dr. Grey, he had been her sole _Melek Taous_, +adored with Yezidi fervor; but to-day she overturned, and strove to +revile and desecrate the idol, to whose vacant pedestal she lifted a +colossal vanity. Her bruised, numb heart, seemed incapable of loving +any one, or anything, and a hatred and contempt of her race took +possession of her. + +The changing hues of Muriel's tell-tale face when Mr. Granville +arrived, and the excessive happiness that could not be masked, had not +escaped Salome's lynx vision; and very accurately she conjectured the +real condition of affairs, relative to which Dr. Grey had never +uttered a syllable. Bent upon mischief, she had, malice prepense, +dressed herself with unusual care, and arranged her hair in a new +style of coiffure, which proved very becoming. + +Now, as the hum of conversation mingled with the sound of Muriel's +low, soft laugh, reached her from the parlor, her chatoyant eyes +kindled, and she hastily went in to join the merry circle. + +"Come here, child, and sit by me," said Miss Jane, making room on the +sofa, as her _protégée_ entered. + +"Thank you, I prefer a seat near the window." + +Dr. Grey sat in a large chair in the centre of the floor, with Muriel +on an ottoman close to him, and Mr. Granville leaned over the back of +the chair, while Miss Dexter shared Miss Jane's old-fashioned ample +sofa. In full view of the whole party, Salome seated herself at a +little distance, and, with admirably assumed nonchalance, began to +enclose and sew up the geranium-seeds, in some pretty, colored paper +bags, prepared for the purpose. + +After a few minutes Mr. Granville sauntered across the room, looked at +the cuckoo clock, and finally went over to the window, where he leaned +against the facing and watched Salome's slender white fingers. + +She was dressed in a delicate muslin, striped with narrow pink lines, +and flounced at the bottom of the skirt, and wore a ribbon sash of the +same color; while in the broad braids of hair raised high on her head, +she had fastened a superb half-blown Baron Provost rose, just where +two long glossy curls crept down. The puffed sleeves, scarcely +reaching the elbows, displayed the finely rounded white arms, and the +exactness with which the airy muslin fitted her form, showed its +symmetrical outline to the greatest advantage. + +Muriel touched her guardian, and whispered,-- + +"Did you ever see Salome look so beautiful? Her coiffure to-night is +almost Parisian, and how very becoming!" + +Dr. Grey was studying the innocent, happy countenance of his +unsuspecting ward, and he could not repress a sigh, when, turning his +eyes towards Salome, he noticed the undisguised admiration in Mr. +Granville's earnest gaze. + +A nameless dread made him take Muriel's hand and lead her to the +piano. + +"Play something for me. I am music-hungry." + +"Is Saul sad to-night?" she asked, smiling up at him. + +"A little fatigued and perplexed, and anxious to have his cares +exorcised by the magic of your fingers." + +With womanly tact she selected a _fantasia_ which Mr. Granville had +often pronounced the gem of her _repertoire_, and momentarily expected +to hear his whispered thanks; but page after page was turned, and +still her lover did not approach the piano, where Dr. Grey stood with +folded arms and slightly contracted brows. Muriel played brilliantly, +and was pardonably proud of her proficiency, which Mr. Granville had +confessed first attracted his attention; and to-night, when the piece +was concluded and she commenced a _Polonaise_, she looked over her +shoulder hoping to meet a grateful, fond glance. But his eyes were +riveted on the fair rosy face at his side, and his betrothed bit her +pouting lip and made sundry blunders. + +As she rose from the piano-stool, Mr. Granville exclaimed,-- + +"Miss Muriel, you love music so well that I trust you will add your +persuasions to mine, and induce Miss Owen to sing for us, as she +declares she is comparatively a tyro in instrumental music, and would +not venture to perform in your presence." + +"She has never sung for me, but I hope she will not refuse your +request. Salome, will you not oblige us?" + +Muriel's eyes were dim with tears, but her sweet voice did not +falter. + +"I was not aware that you sang at all," said Miss Dexter, looking up +from a mat which she was crocheting. + +"She has a fine voice, but is very obstinate in declining to use it. +Come, Salome, don't be childish, dear. Sing something," coaxed Miss +Jane. + +The girl waited a few seconds, hoping that another voice would swell +the general request, but the lips she loved best were mute; and, +suddenly tossing the paper bags from her lap, she rose and moved +proudly to the piano. + +"Miss Manton, will you or Miss Dexter be so kind as to play my +accompaniment for me? I am neither Liszt, nor Thalberg, and the vocal +gymnastics are all that I can venture to undertake." + +Muriel promptly resumed her seat before the instrument, and played the +symphony of an aria from "Favorite," which Salome placed on the +piano-board. Barilli had assured her that she rendered this fiery +burst of rage and hatred as well as he had ever heard it; and, folding +her fingers tightly around each other she drew herself up to her full +height, and sang it. + +Mr. Granville leaned against the piano, and Dr. Grey was standing in +the recess of the window when the song began, but ere long he moved +forward unconsciously and paused, with his hand on his ward's shoulder +and his eyes riveted in astonishment on Salome's countenance. She knew +that the approbation and delight of this small audience was worth all +the _encore_ shouts of the millions who might possibly applaud her in +future years; and if ever a woman's soul poured itself out through her +lips, all that was surging in Salome's heart became visible to the man +who listened as if spell-bound. + +Miss Jane grasped her crutches, and rose, leaning upon them, while a +look of mingled joy and wonder made her sallow face eloquent; and Miss +Dexter dropped her ivory needle, and gazed in amazement at the singer. +Muriel forgot her chords,--turned partially around, and watched in +breathless surprise the marvelous execution of several difficult +passages, where the rich voice seemed to linger while improvising +sparkling turns and trills that were strangely intricate, and +indescribably sweet. + +As she approached the close of her song, Salome became temporarily +oblivious of pride, wounded vanity, and murdered hopes,--forgot all +but the man at her side, for whose commendation she had toiled so +patiently, and turning her flushed, radiant face, toward him, her +magnificent eyes aflame with triumph looked appealingly up at his, and +her hands were extended till they rested on his arm. + +So the song ended, and for a moment the parlor was still as a tomb. +Dr. Grey silently enclosed the girl's two hands in his, and, for the +first time since she had known him, Salome saw tears swimming in his +grave, beautiful eyes, and noticed a slight tremor on his usually +steady lips. + +"There is nothing in the old world or the new comparable to that +voice, and I flatter myself I speak _ex cathedra_. Miss Owen, you will +soon have the public at your feet." + +She did not heed Mr. Granville's enthusiastic eulogy. She saw nothing +but Dr. Grey's admiring eyes,--felt nothing but the close warm clasp, +in which her folded fingers lay,--and her ears ached for the sound of +his deep voice. + +"Salome, I shall not soon forgive you for keeping me in ignorance of +the existence of the finest voice it has ever been my good fortune to +hear. Knowing your adopted brother's fondness for music, how could you +hoard your treasure so parsimoniously, denying him such happiness as +you might have conferred?" + +He untwined her fingers, which clung tenaciously to his, and saw that +the blood ebbed out of cheeks and lips as she listened to his +carefully guarded language. Silently she obeyed Miss Jane's summons to +the sofa. + +"You perverse witch! Where have you been practising all these months, +that have made you such a wonderful cantatrice? Child, answer me." + +"I did not wish to annoy the household by thrumming on the piano and +afflicting their ears with false flat scales, consequently I followed +the birds, and rehearsed with them, under the trees, and down on the +edge of the sea. If you like my voice I am glad, because I have +studied to perfect it." + +"Like it, indeed! As if I could avoid liking it! But you must have had +good training. Who taught you?" + +"I took lessons from Barilli." + +"Aha,--Ulpian! Now you can understand how he contrives to feed his +family. Salome's sewing-money explains it all. Kiss me, dear. I always +believed there was more in you than came to the surface." + +"Miss Owen ought to go upon the stage. Such gifts as hers belong to +the public, who would soon crown her queen of song." + +Salome glanced at the handsome stranger, and bowed. + +"It is my purpose, sir, to dedicate myself and future to the Opera, +where I trust I shall not utterly fail, as I have been for a year +studying with reference to this step." + +A bomb-shell falling in that quiet circle, would scarcely have +startled its members more effectually; and, anxious to avoid comment, +Salome quitted the parlor and ran out on the lawn. + +After awhile she heard Muriel's skilful touch on the piano, and, when +an hour had elapsed, the echo of voices died away, and soon a profound +silence seemed to reign over the house. + +The hot blood was coursing thick and fast in her veins, and evil +purposes brooded darkly over her oppressed and throbbing heart. She +was thoroughly cognizant of the intense admiration with which Mr. +Granville regarded her, and to-night she had compared his handsome +face with the older, graver, and less regular features of Dr. Grey, +and wondered why the latter was so much more fascinating. Her beauty +transcended Muriel's, and it would prove an easy task to supplant her +in the affections of her not very ardent lover. Life in Paris, spiced +with the political intrigues incident to diplomatic circles, would +divert her thoughts, and might possibly make the coming years +endurable. Was the game worth the candle? No thought of Muriel's +misery entered for an instant into this entirely sordid calculation, +or would have deterred her even momentarily, had it presented itself +in expostulation. The girl's heart had suddenly grown callous, and her +hand would have ruthlessly smitten down any object that dared to cross +her path, or retard the accomplishment of her schemes. Weary at last +of pacing the dim starlit avenue, and yet too wretched to think of +sleeping, she re-entered the house, and cautiously locking the door, +threw herself into a corner of the parlor sofa, which stood just +beneath the portrait she so often studied. + +If she had not at this juncture been completely absorbed in gazing +upon it, she might have seen the original, who soon rose and came +forward from the shadow of the curtains. + +"Salome, I wish to make you my confidante,--to tell you something +which I have not yet mentioned even to Janet. Can I trust you, little +sister?" + +Resting against the arm of the sofa, he looked intently into her face, +reading its perturbed lines. + +"I presume you are amusing yourself by tantalizing my curiosity, as +your experiments appear to have thoroughly satisfied you that I am +utterly unworthy of trust. I follow the flattering advice you were so +kind as to give me some time since, and make no promises, which +shatter like crystal under the hammer of the first temptation. You +see, sir, you are teaching me to be cautious." + +"You are teaching yourself lessons in dissimulation and maliciousness, +that you will heartily rue some day, but your repentance will come too +tardily to mend the mischief." + +She tried to screen her countenance, but he was in no mood for +trifling, and putting his palm under her chin, forced her to submit to +his scrutiny. + +"Salome, if I did not cherish a strong faith in the latent generosity +of your soul, I would not come to you as I do now to offer confidence, +and demand it in return." + +She guessed his meaning, and her eyes glowed with all the baleful +light that he had hoped was extinguished forever. + +"Dr. Grey makes a grace of necessity, and a pretence of confiding that +which has ceased to be a secret. Is such his boasted candor and +honesty?" + +"If I believed that you were already acquainted with what I propose +to divulge, I would not fritter away my time in appealing to a +nobility of feeling which that fact alone would prove the hopelessness +of my ever finding in you." + +He felt her face grow hot, and for an instant her eyes drooped before +his, stern and almost threatening. + +"Well, sir; I wait for your confidential disclosures. Is there a Guy +Fawkes, or Titus Oates, plotting against the peace and prosperity of +the house of Grey?" + +"Verily I am disposed to apprehend that there may be." + +She endeavored to wrench her face from his hand, but he held it +firmly, and continued,-- + +"I wish to say to you that Muriel is very sensitive, and I hope that +during Mr. Granville's visit, you will try to be as considerate and +courteous as possible, to both. Salome, Gerard Granville has asked +Muriel to be his wife, and she has promised to marry him at the +expiration of a year." + +The girl laughed derisively, and exclaimed,-- + +"Pray, Dr. Grey, be so good as to indulge me with your motive in +furnishing this piece of information?" + +"Your astuteness forbids the possibility of any doubt with reference +to my motives,--which are, explicitly, anxiety for Muriel's happiness, +and for the preservation of your integrity and self-respect." + +"What jeopardizes either?" + +"Your heartless, contemptible vanity, which tempts you to demand a +homage and incense that should be offered only where it is due,--at +another, and I grieve to add, a purer shrine." + +"Ah! My unpardonable sin consists in having braided my black locks, +and made myself comely! If you will procure an authentic portrait of +the Witch of Endor, I will do proper penance by likening my appearance +thereunto. Poor little rose! Can't you open your pink lips and cry +_peccavi_? Come down, sole ally and accomplice of my heinous vanity, +and plead for me, and make the _amende honorable_ to this grim +guardian of Miss Muriel's peace!" + +She snatched the drooping rose from her hair, and tossed it at his +feet. + +"Salome, you forget yourself!" + +His stern displeasure rendered her reckless, and she continued,-- + +"True, sir. I did forget that the poor miller's child had no right to +obtrude her comeliness in the presence of the banker's daughter. I +confess my 'high crime and misdemeanor' against the pet of fortune, +and await my condign punishment. Is it your sovereign will that I +shear my shining locks like royal Berenice, and offer them in +propitiation? Or, does it seem 'good, meet, and your bounden duty,' to +have me promptly inoculated with small-pox, for the destruction of my +skin, which is unjustifiably smoother and clearer than--" + +"Hush, hush!" + +He laid his hand over her lips, and, for a while, there was an awkward +pause. + +"If it were only possible to inoculate your heart with a little +genuine womanly charity,--if it were possible to persuade you to adopt +as your rule of conduct that golden one which Christ gave as a patent +of peace to all who followed it. But it is futile, hopeless. You will +not, you will not,--and my fluttering dove is at the mercy of a +famished eagle, already poised to swoop. I 'reckoned without my host' +when I so confidently appealed to your magnanimity, to your feminine +integrity of soul. You are a 'deaf adder that stoppeth her ear.'" + +"Which will not 'hearken to the voice of the charmer, charm he +never so wisely.' Dr. Grey, what has the pampered heiress, the +happy _fiancée_ of that handsome man upstairs, to fear from the +poverty-stricken daughter of a miller, who you conscientiously +inform your guest passed from time to eternity through the gate +opened by delirium tremens. Mark you, my 'adder ears' have not been +sealed all the evening." + +She had taken his hand from her lips, and thrown it from her. + +"People who condescend to listen to conversations that are not +intended for them, generally deserve the punishment of hearing +unpleasant truths discussed. Salome, our interview is at an end." + +"Not yet. Do you sincerely desire to see Muriel Mr. Granville's +wife?" + +"I do, because I know that she is strongly attached to him." + +"And you are sufficiently generous to sacrifice your happiness, in +order to promote hers? Oh, marvellous magnanimity!" + +"Your insinuation is beneath my notice." + +"How long have you known of her engagement?" + +"Since the first interview I had with her, after her father's death." + +"Let me see your face, Dr. Grey. If truth has not been hunted out of +the earth, it took refuge in your eyes. There, I am satisfied. You +never loved her. I think I must have been insane, or I would not have +imagined it possible. No, no; she never touched your heart, save with +a feeling of compassion. Don't go, I want to say something to you. Sit +down, and let me think." + +She walked up and down the room for ten minutes, and, with his face +bowed on his hand, Dr. Grey watched and waited. + +Finally he stooped to pick up the crushed rose on the floor, and then +she came back and stood before him. + +"I promise you I will not lay a straw in the path of Muriel's +happiness, and it shall not be my fault if Mr. Granville fails in a +lover's _devoir_. I was tempted to entice him from his sworn +allegiance. Why should I deny what you know so well? But I will not, +and when I give my word, it shall go hard with me but I keep it; +especially when you hold the pledge. Are you satisfied? I know that +you have little cause to trust me, but I tell you, sir, when I deceive +you, then all heaven with its hierarchies of archangels can not save +me." + +After all, Ulpian Grey was only a man of flesh and blood, and his +heart was touched by the beauty of the young face, and the mournful +sweetness of the softened voice. + +"Thank you, Salome. I accept your promise, and rely upon it. As a +pledge of your sincerity I shall retain this rose, and return it to +you when little Muriel is a happy wife." + +She clasped her hands, and looked at him with a mournful, wistful +expression, that puzzled him. + +"My friend, my little sister, what is it? Tell me, and let me help you +to do your duty, for I see that you are wrestling desperately with +some great temptation." + +"Dr. Grey, be merciful to me. Send me away. Oh, for God's sake, send +me away!" + +She had grown ghastly pale, and her whole face indexed a depth of +anguish and despair that baffled utterance. + +"My dear child, where do you desire to go? If your wishes are +reasonable they shall be granted." + +"Will you persuade Miss Jane to take Jessie in my place, and send me +to France or Italy?" + +"To study music with the intention of becoming a _prima donna_?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"My young friend, I cannot conscientiously advise a compliance with +wishes so fraught with danger to yourself." + +"You fear that my voice does not justify so expensive an experiment?" + +"On the contrary, I have not a doubt that your extraordinary voice +will lift you to the highest pinnacle of musical celebrity; and, +because your career on the stage promises to prove so brilliant, I +shudder in anticipating the temptations that will unavoidably assail +you." + +"You are afraid to trust me?" + +"Yes, my little sister; you are so impulsive, so prone to hearken to +evil dictates rather than good ones, that I dread the thought of +seeing you launched into the dangerous career you contemplate, without +some surer, safer, more infallible pilot than your proud, passionate +heart. If you were homely, and a dullard, I should entertain less +apprehension about your future." + +Her broad brow blackened with a frown that became a terrible scowl, +and her eyes gleamed like lightning under the edge of a thunderous +summer cloud. + +"What is it to you whether I live or die? The immaculate soul of +Ulpian Grey, M.D., will serenely wing its way up through the stars, on +and on to the great Gates of Pearl,--oblivious of the beggar who, from +the lowest Hades, where she has fallen, eagerly watches his flight." + +"The anxious soul of Ulpian Grey will pray for yours, as long as we +remain on earth. Salome, I am the truest friend you will ever find +this side of the City of God; and, when I see you plunging madly into +ruin, I shall snatch you back, cost me what it may. Your jeers and +struggle have not deterred me hitherto, nor shall they henceforth. You +are as incapable of guiding yourself aright, as a rudderless bark is +of stemming the gulf-stream in a south-west gale; and I am afraid to +trust you out of my sight." + +"Yes, I understand you; the good angel in your nature pities the demon +in mine. But your pity stifles me; I could not endure it; and, +besides, I cannot stay here any longer. I must go out into the world, +and seize the fortune that people tell me my voice will certainly +yield me." + +Flush and sparkle had died out of her face, which, in its worn, +haggard pallor, looked five years older than when she entered the +parlor, three hours before. + +"Pecuniary considerations must not influence you, because, while Janet +and I live, you shall want nothing; and when either dies, you will be +liberally provided for. Dismiss from your mind a matter that has long +been decided, and which no wish of yours can annul or alter." + +With an impatient wave of the hand, she answered,-- + +"Give to poor little Jessie and Stanley what was intended for me. They +are helpless, but I can take care of myself; and, moreover, I am not +contented here. I want to see something of the world in which--_bon +gré mal gré_--I find myself. Let me go. Rousseau was a sage. '_Le +monde est le livre des femmes_.'" + +He shook his head, and said, sorrowfully,-- + +"No, your instincts are unreliable; and if you roam away from Jane +and from me, you will sip more poison than honey. Be wise, and remain +where Providence has placed you. I will bring Jessie here, and you +shall teach her what you choose, and Stanley can command all the +educational advantages he will improve. After a while, you shall, if +you prefer it, have a pleasant home of your own, and dwell there with +the two little ones. Such has long been my scheme and purpose; but, +during my sister's life, she will never consent to give you up; and +you owe it to her not to desert her in the closing years, when she +most urgently requires the solace of your love and society." + +Salome covered her face with her hands, and something like a heavy dry +sob shook her frame; but the spring of bitterness seemed exhaustless, +and her voice was indescribably scornful in its defiant ring. + +"You are very charitable, Dr. Grey, and I thank you for all your +embryonic benevolent plans for me and my pauper relatives; but I have +drawn a very different map for my future years. You seem to regard +this house as a second '_La Tour sans venin_,' which, like its +prototype near Grenoble, possesses an atmosphere fatal to all +poisonous, noxious things; but surely you forget that it has long +sheltered me." + +"No, it has never arrogated the prerogative of '_La Tour sans venin_,' +but of one thing, my poor wilful child, you shall never have reason to +be skeptical,--that dear Jane and I will indefatigably strive to serve +you as faithfully and successfully, as did in ancient days, the Psylli +whom Plutarch immortalized." + +While he spoke Dr. Grey had been turning over the leaves of the old +family Bible, which happened to lie within his reach; and now, without +premonition, he read aloud the fifty-fifth Psalm. + +She listened, not willingly, but _ex necessitate rei_, and rebelliously; +and, when he finished the Psalm, and knelt, with his face on his arms, +which were crossed upon the back of a chair, she stood haughtily erect +and motionless beside him. + +His prayer was brief and fervent, that God would aid her in her +efforts to curb her passionate temper, and to walk in accordance with +the teachings of Jesus; and that he would especially overrule all +things, and guide her decision in the important step she contemplated. +He rose, and turned towards her, but her countenance was hidden. + +"Good night, Salome. God bless you and direct you." + +She raised her face, and her eyes sought his with a long, questioning, +pleading gaze, so full of anguish that he could scarcely endure it. +Then he saw the last spark of hope expire; and she bent her queenly +head an instant, and silently passed from the parlor. + + "I have watched my first and holiest hopes depart, + One after one; + I have held the hand of Death upon my heart, + And made no moan." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +"Pardon my intrusion, Mrs. Gerome, and ascribe it to Elsie's anxiety +concerning your health. In compliance with her request, I have come to +ascertain whether you really require my attention." + +Dr. Grey placed his hat and gloves on the piano, and established +himself comfortably in a large chair near the arch, where Mrs. Gerome, +palette in hand, sat before her easel. + +"Elsie's nerves have run away with her sound common sense, and filled +her mind with vagaries. She imagines that I need medicine, whereas I +only require quiet and peace, which neither she nor you will permit me +to enjoy." + +She did not even glance at the visitor, but mixed some colors rapidly, +and deepened the rose-tints in a cluster of apple-blossoms she was +scattering in the foreground of a picture. + +"If it is not of vital importance that those pearly petals should be +finished immediately, I should be glad to have you turn your face +towards me for a few moments. There,--thank you. Mrs. Gerome, do I +look like a nervous, whimsical man, whose fancy mastered his +professional judgment, or blunted his acumen?" + +"You certainly appear as phlegmatic, as utterly unimaginative, as any +lager-loving German, whom Teniers or Ostade ever painted '_Unter den +linden_.'" + +"Then my words should possess some influence when they corroborate +Elsie's statement, that you are far from well. Do not be childishly +incredulous, and impatiently shake your head; from a woman of your age +and sense one expects more dignity and prudence." + +"Sir, your rudeness has at least a flavor of stern honesty that makes +it almost palatable. Do you propose to take my case into your skilful +hands?" + +"I merely propose to expostulate with you upon the unfortunate and +ruinous course of life you have decided to pursue. No eremite of the +Thebaid, or the Nitroon, is more completely immured than I find you; +and the seclusion from society is quite as deleterious as the want of +out-door air and sunshine. Your mind, debarred from communion with +your race and denied novel and refreshing themes, centres in its own +operations and creations, broods over threadbare topics until it has +grown morbid; and, instead of deriving healthful nourishment from the +world that surrounds it, exhausts and consumes itself, like fabled +Araline, spinning its substance into filmy nothings." + +"Filmy nothings! Thank you. I flatter myself, when I am safely housed +under marble, the world will place a different estimate upon some +things I shall leave behind to challenge criticism." + +"How much value will public plaudits possess for ears sealed by death? +Mrs. Gerome, you are too lonely; you must have companionship that will +divert your thoughts." + +"Not I, indeed! All that I require, I have in abundance,--music, +books, and my art. Here I am independent, for remember that he was a +petted son of fame, who said, 'Books are the true Elysian fields, +where the spirits of the dead converse, and into these fields a +mortal may venture unappalled. What king's court can boast such +company,--what school of philosophy such wisdom?' Verily if you +had ever examined my library you would not imagine I lacked +companionship. Why sir, yonder,-- + + 'The old, dead authors throng me round about, + And Elzevir's gray ghosts from leathern graves look out.' + +Count Oxenstiern spoke truly, when he declared, 'Occupied with the +great minds of antiquity, we are no longer annoyed by contemporaneous +fools.'" + +She rose and pointed to the handsome cases in the rear room, filled +with choice volumes; and, while she stood with one arm resting on the +easel, Dr. Grey looked searchingly at her. + +To-day there was a _spirituelle_ beauty in the white face that he had +never seen before; and the large eloquent eyes were full of dreamy +sunset radiance, unlike their wonted steely glitter. A change, vague +and indefinable, but unmistakable, had certainly passed over that +countenance since its owner came to reside at "Solitude," and, instead +of marring, had heightened its loveliness. The features were thinner, +the cheeks had lost something of their pure oval moulding, and the +delicate nostrils were almost transparent in their waxen curves; but +the arch of the lip was softened and lowered, and the face was like +that of some marble goddess on which mid-summer moonshine sleeps. + +Her white mull robe was edged at the skirt and up the front with a +rich border of blue morning-glories, and a blue cord and tassel girded +it at her waist, while the broad braids of hair at the back of her +head were looped and fastened with a ribbon of the same color. Her +sleeves were gathered up to keep them clear of the paint on the +palette, and the dimples were no longer visible in her arms. The ivory +flesh was shrinking closer to the small bones, and the diaphanous +hands were so thin that the sapphire asp glided almost off the slender +finger around which it was coiled. + +"Mrs. Gerome, you have lost twenty pounds of flesh within the last two +months, and your extreme pallor alarms me." + +"All things look pallid in these rooms, for the light is bluish, +reflected from carpet, furniture, and curtains." + +"I have noticed that you invariably wear blue, to the exclusion of all +other colors." + +"Yes. Throughout the Levant it is considered a mortuary color; and, +moreover, I like its symbolism. The _Mater dolorosa_ often wears blue +vestments; also the priests during Lent; and even the images of Christ +are veiled in blue, as holy week approaches. Azure, in its absolute +significance, represents truth, and is the symbol of the soul after +death; so, as I walk the earth,--a fleshy 'death in life,'--I clothe +myself symbolically. In pagan cosmogonies the Creator is always +colored blue. Jupiter Ammon, Vischnou, Cneph, Krischna,--all are +azure. And because it is a solemn, consecrated color, mystic and +mournful, I wear it." + +"My dear madam, this is a morbid whimsicality that trenches closely +upon monomania, and would be more tolerable in a lackadaisical +school-girl, than in a mature, intelligent, and gifted woman. Some of +your fantasies would be positively respectable in a Bedlamite, and you +seem an anomalous compound of eccentricities peculiar to extreme youth +and to advanced age." + +"I believe, sir, that you are entirely correct in your analysis. I +stand before you, young in years, but forsaken by that 'blue-eyed +Hope' who frolics hand in hand with youth; and yet utterly devoid of +that philosophy and wisdom which justly belong to the old age of my +heart." + +Her tone was indescribably weary, and, as she laid aside her brush and +folded her hands together on the cross-beam of the easel, the +transient light died out of her countenance, and the worn, tired look, +came back and settled on every feature. + + ... "The soft, sad eyes, + Set like twilight planets in the rainy skies,-- + With the brow all patience, and the lips all pain," + +wove a strange spell over the visitor, whose gaze was riveted on the +only woman who had ever aroused even temporary interest in his heart. + +She was always beautiful, but to-day there was a helpless, hopeless +abandonment in her listless demeanor, that appealed successfully to +the manly tenderness and chivalry of his nature; and into his strong, +true, noble soul, came a longing to cheer, and guide, and redeem this +strange, desolate woman, whose personal loveliness would have made her +regnant over the gay circles of fashionable life, yet whose existence +was more lonely than that of an eaglet in some mountain eyrie. + +Rising, he leaned against the easel and looked down into the colorless +face that possessed such a wondrous charm for him. + +"Mrs. Gerome, for natures diseased like yours, the only remedy, the +only cure, is earnest, vigorous labor; and the regimen you really +require is mournfully at variance with your present habits and modes +of thought." + +"I do labor incessantly; more indefatigably than any plowman, or +mason, or carpenter. Your prescription has been thoroughly tested, and +found worthless, as an antidote to my malady,--hopelessness." + +"Unfortunately the labor has all been mental; heart and soul have +stood aloof, while the brain almost wore itself out. This canvas is +destroying you; your creations are too rapid, too exhausting." + +"Dr. Grey, you grievously misapprehend the whole matter, for my work +reminds me of what Canova once said of West's pictures, 'He groups; he +does not compose.'" + +Dr. Grey put his hand on her wrist, and counted the rapid, feeble, +irregular pulse. + +She made an effort to throw off his fingers, but they clung +tenaciously to the polished arm. + +"How many hours do you sleep, during the twenty-four?" + +"Sometimes three, occasionally one, frequently none." + +"How much longer do you suppose your constitution will endure such +merciless taxation?" + +"I know very little about these things, and care still less, but as +Horne Tooke said, when a foreigner inquired how much treason an +Englishman might venture to write without being hanged, 'I cannot +inform you just yet, but I am trying.'" + +"Has life become such an intolerable burden that you are impatient to +shake it off?" + +"Even so, Dr. Grey. When Elsie dies the last link will have snapped, +and I trust I shall not long survive her. If I prayed at all, it would +be for speedy death." + +"If you prayed at all, existence would not prove so wearisome; for +resignation would cure half your woes." + +"Confine your prescriptions to the body,--that is tangible, and may be +handled and scrutinized; but venture no nostrums for a heart and soul +of which you know nothing. Once I was almost a Moslem in the frequency +and fervor of my prayers; but now, the only petition I could force +myself to offer would be that prayer of Epictetus, '_Lead me, Zeus and +Destiny, whithersoever I am appointed to go; I will follow without +wavering; even though I turn coward and shrink, I shall have to +follow, all the same._'" + +Dr. Grey sighed heavily, and answered,-- + +"It is painful to hear from feminine lips a fatalism so grim as to +make all prayer a mockery; and it would seem that the loss of those +dear to you, would have insensibly and unavoidably drawn your heart +heavenward, in search of its transplanted idols." + +He knew from the sudden spasm that seized her calm features, and +shuddered through her tall figure, that he had touched, perhaps too +rudely, some chord in her nature which-- + + "Made the coiled memory numb and cold, + That slept in her heart like a dreaming snake, + Drowsily lift itself, fold by fold, + And gnaw, and gnaw hungrily, half-awake." + +"Ah, indeed, my heart was drawn after them,--but not heavenward! No, no, +no! My idols were not transplanted,--they were shattered!--shattered!" + +She leaned forward, looking up into his face; and, raising her hand +impressively, she continued in a voice so mournful, so hopelessly +bitter, that Dr. Grey shivered as he listened. + +"Oh, sir, you who stand gazing down in sorrowful reproach upon what +you regard as my unpardonable impiety, little dream of the fiery +ordeal that consumed my childlike, beautiful faith, as flames crisp +and blacken chaff. I am alone, and must ever be, while in the flesh; +and I hoard my pain, sparing the world my moans and tears, my wry +faces and desperate struggles. I tell you, Dr. Grey,-- + + 'None know the choice I made; I make it still. + None know the choice I made, and broke my heart, + Breaking mine idol; I have braced my will + Once, chosen for once my part. + I broke it at a blow, I laid it cold, + Crushed in my deep heart where it used to live. + My heart dies inch by inch; the time grows old, + Grows old in which I grieve.'" + +He did not comprehend her, but felt that her past must have been +melancholy indeed, of which the bare memory was so torturing. + +"At least, Mrs. Gerome, let us thank God, that beyond the grave there +remains an eternal reunion with your idol, and--" + +"God forbid! You talk at random, and your suggestion would drive me +mad, if I believed it. Let me be quiet." + +She walked away, and seemed intently watching the sea, of whose +protean face she never wearied; and, puzzled and tantalized, Dr. Grey +turned to examine the unfinished picture. + +It represented an almost colossal woman, kneeling under an apple-tree, +with her folded hands lifted towards a setting sun that glared from +purple hills, across waving fields of green and golden grain. The +azure mantle that enveloped the rounded form, floated on the wind and +seemed to melt in air, so dim were its graceful outlines; and on one +shoulder perched a dove with head under its wing, nestling to +sleep,--while a rabbit nibbled the grass at her feet, and a squirrel +curled himself comfortably on the border of her robe. In the +foreground were scattered sheaves of yellow wheat, full ears of corn, +bunches of blue, bloom-covered grapes, clusters of olives, and +various delicate flowers whose brilliant hues seemed drippings from +some wrung and broken rainbow. + +The face was unlike flesh and blood,--was dim, elfish, wan, with +large, mild eyes, as blue and misty as the _nebulæ_ that Herschel +found in Southern skies,--eyes that looked at nothing, but seemed to +penetrate the universe and shed soft solemn light over all things. +Back from the broad, low brow, floated a cloud of silky yellow hair, +that glittered in the slanting rays of sunshine as if powdered with +gold dust; and over its streaming strands fluttered two mottled +butterflies, and a honey-laden bee. On distant hill-slopes cattle +browsed, and at the right of the kneeling woman a young lamb nibbled a +cluster of snowy lilies, while a dappled fawn watched the gambols of a +dun kid; and on the left, in a tuft of bearded grass, a brown snake +arched its neck to peer at a brood of half-fledged partridges. + +"Mrs. Gerome, will you be so kind as to explain this mythologic +design?" + +She came back to the easel, and took up her palette. + +"If it requires an explanation it is an egregious failure, and shall +find a vacant corner in some rubbish garret." + +"It is exceedingly beautiful, but I do not fully comprehend the +symbolism." + +"If it does not clearly mean the one thing for which it was intended, +it means nothing, and is worthless. Look, sir, she-- + + 'Forgets, remembers, grieves, and is not sad; + The quiet lands and skies leave light upon her eyes; + None knows her weak, or wise, or tired, or glad.'" + +Dr. Grey bit his lip, but shook his head. + +"You must read me your painted riddle more explicitly. Is it Ceres?" + +"No, sir; a few sheaves do not make a harvest. I am a stupid bungler, +spoiling canvas and wasting paint, or else you are as obtuse as the +critics who may one day hover hungrily over it. Try the aid of one +more clew, and if you fail to catch my purpose, I will dash my brush +all loaded with ochre, right into those mystic, prescient eyes, and +blur them forever. Listen, and guess,-- + + 'This is my lady's praise; + God after many days + Wrought her in unknown ways, + In sunset lands; + This was my lady's birth, + God gave her might and mirth + And laid his whole sweet earth + Between her hands.'" + +"Pray do not visit the sin of my stupidity upon that fascinating +picture. I am not familiar with the lines you quote, but know that you +have represented Nature, have embodied an ideal Isis, or Hertha, or +Cybele; though I can not positively name the phase of the Universal +Mother, which you have seized and perpetuated." + +He caught her arm, and removed from her fingers the palette and +brushes. + +"Dr. Grey, it is more than either or all of the three you mention; for +Persian mythology, like Persian wines and Persian roses, is richer, +more subtle, more fragrant, more glowing than any other. That woman is +'_Espendérmad_.'" + +"Thank you; now I comprehend the whole. God has endowed you with +wonderful talent. The fruit and flowers in that foreground must have +cost you much labor, for indeed you seem to have faithfully followed +the injunction of Titian, 'Study the effect of light and shade on a +bunch of grapes.' That luscious amber cluster lying near the poppies +is tantalizingly suggestive of Rhineland, and of the vines that +garland the hills of Crete and Cyprus." + +A shade of annoyance and disappointment crossed the artist's face. + +"Now, I quite realize what Cespedes felt, when, finding that visitors +were absorbed by the admirable finish of some jars and vases in the +foreground of the 'Last Supper,' upon which he had expended so much +time and thought, he called his servant and exclaimed in great +chagrin, 'Andres, rub me out these things, since, after all my care +and study, people choose to see nothing but these impertinences.'" + +"If Zeuxis' grandest triumph consisted in painting grapes, you +assuredly should not take umbrage at my praise of that fruit on your +canvas, which hints of Tokay and Lachrima Christi. I am not an artist, +but I have studied the best pictures in Europe and America, and you +must acquit me of any desire to flatter when I tell you that +background yonder is one of the most extraordinary successes I have +ever seen, from either amateur or professional painters." + +Mrs. Gerome arched her black brows slightly, and replied,-- + +"Then the success was accidental, and I stumbled upon it, for I bestow +little study on the backgrounds of my work. They are mere dim +distances of bluish haze, and do not interest me, and, since I paint +for amusement, I give most thought to my central figure." + +"Have you forgotten the anecdote of Rubens, who, when offered a pupil +with the recommendation that he was sufficiently advanced in his +studies to assist him at once in his backgrounds, laughed, and +answered, 'If the youth was capable of painting backgrounds he did not +need his instruction; because the regulation and management of them +required the most comprehensive knowledge of the art.'" + +"Yes, I am aware that is one of the _dogmata_ of the craft, but Rubens +was no more infallible than you or I, and his pictures give me less +pleasure than those of any other artist of equal celebrity. Dr. Grey, +if I am even a tolerable judge of my own work, the best thing I have +yet achieved is the drapery of that form. Perhaps I am inclined to +plume myself upon this point, from the fact that it was the opinion of +Carlo Maratti that 'The arrangement of drapery is more difficult than +drawing the human figure; because the right effect depends more upon +the taste of the artist than upon any given rules.' That sweep of blue +gauze has cost me more toil than everything else on the canvas." + +"Pardon the expression of my curiosity concerning your modes of +composition in these singular and quaint creations, for which you +have no models; and tell me how this ideal presented itself to your +imagination." + +"Dr. Grey, I am not a great genius like Goethe, and unfortunately can +not candidly echo his declaration, that, 'Nothing ever came to me in +my sleep.' I can scarcely tell you when this idea was first born in my +busy, tireless brain, but it took form one evening after I had read +Charlotte Bronté's 'Woman Titan,' in 'Shirley,' and compared it with +that glowing description of Jean Paul Richter, 'And so the Sun stands +at the border of the Earth, and looks back on his stately Spring, +whose robe-folds are valleys, whose breast-bouquet is gardens, whose +blush is a vernal evening, and who, when she rises, will be Summer.' +Still it was vague, and eluded me, until I found somewhere in my most +desultory reading, an account of '_Espendérmad_,' one of the six +angels of Ormuzd, to whom was entrusted the guardianship of the earth. +That night I dreamed that I stood under a vine at Schiraz, gathering +golden-tinted grapes, when a voice arrested me, and, looking over my +shoulder, I saw that face peeping at me across a hedge of crimson +roses. Next day I sketched the features as they had appeared in my +dream, but I was not fully satisfied, and waited and pondered. +Finally, I read 'Madonna Mia,' and then all was as you see it now, +startlingly distinct and palpable." + +"Why did you not select some dusky-haired, dusky-eyed, olive-tinted +oriental type, instead of a blonde who might safely venture into +Valhalla as a genuine Celtic Iduna?" + +"With the exception of the yellow locks, I suspect the face of my +'_Espendérmad_' might easily be matched among the maidens of the +Caucasus, who furnish the most perfect types of Circassian beauty. You +know there is a tradition that when Leonardo da Vinci chanced to meet +a man with an expression of character that he wished to make use of in +his work, he followed him until he was able to delineate the face on +canvas; but, on the contrary, the countenances I paint present +themselves to my imagination, and pursue me inexorably until I put +them into pigment. I do not possess ideals,--they seize and possess +me, teasing me for form and color, and forcing me to object them on +canvas. Such is the _modus operandi_ of whims that give me my +'_Espendérmad_' praying to the Sun for benisons on the Earth, which +she is appointed to guard. Ah, if like the lambkins and birds, I, too, +could creep to the starry border of her azure robe, and lay my weary +head down and find repose. Some day, if my mind ever grows calm +enough, I want to paint a picture of Rest, that I can hang on my wall +and look upon when I am worn out in body and soul, when, indeed,-- + + 'My feet are wearied, and my hands are tired, + My heart oppressed, + And I desire, what I long desired, + Rest,--only Rest.'" + +"My dear madam, unless you speedily change your present mode of life, +you will not paint that contemplated picture, for a long rest will +soon overtake you." + +A gleam that was nearer akin to joy than any expression he had yet +seen, passed from eye to lip, and she answered, almost eagerly,-- + +"If that be true, it offers a premium for the continuance of habits +you condemn so strenuously; but I dare not hope it, and I beg of you +not to tantalize me with vain expectations of a release that may yet +be far, far distant." + +Dr. Grey's heart stirred with earnest sympathy for this lonely +hopeless soul, who, standing almost upon the threshold of life, +stretched her arms so yearningly to woo the advance of death. + +The room was slowly filling with shadows, and, leaning there against +her easel, she looked as unearthly as the pearly forms that summer +clouds sometimes assume, when a harvest-moon springs up from sea foam +and fog, and stares at them. When she spoke again, her voice was chill +and crisp. + +"My malady is beyond your reach, and baffles human skill. You mean +only kindness, and I suppose I ought to thank you, but alas! the +sentiment of gratitude is such a stranger in my heart, that it has yet +to learn an adequate language. Dr. Grey, the only help you can +possibly render me is to prolong Elsie's life. As for me, and my +uncertain future, give yourself no charitable solicitude. Do you +recollect what Lessing wrote to Claudius? 'I am too proud to own that +I am unhappy. I shut my teeth, and let the bark drift. Enough that I +do not turn it over with my own hands.' Elsie is signalling for me. Do +you hear that bell? Good-night, Dr. Grey." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +"I have had a long conversation with Ulpian, and find him violently +opposed to the scheme you mentioned to me several days since. He +declares he will gladly share his last dollar with you sooner than see +you embark in a career so fraught with difficulties, trials, and--" + +Miss Jane paused to find an appropriate word, and Salome very promptly +supplied her. + +"Temptations. That is exactly what you both mean. Go on." + +"Well, yes, dear. I am afraid the profession you have selected is +beset with dangerous allurements for one so inexperienced and +unsophisticated as yourself." + +"Bah! Speak out. I am sick of circumlocution. What do you understand +by unsophisticated?" + +"Why, I mean,--well, what can I mean but just what the word +expresses,--unsophisticated? That is, young, thoughtless, ignorant of +the ways of the world, and the excessive cunning and deceit of human +nature." + +"Begging your pardon, it has another significance, which you will find +if you look into your dictionary,--that blessed Magna Charta of +linguistic rights and privileges. I do not claim the prerogatives of +Ruskin's class of the 'well educated, who are learned in the peerage +of words; know the words of true descent and ancient blood at a +glance, from words of modern _canaille_;' but I venture the assertion +that I am sufficiently sophisticated to plunge into the vortex of +public life, and yet keep my head above water." + +"I don't want to see my little girl an actress, or a _prima donna_, +bold, forward, and eager to face a noisy, clamorous crowd, who feel +privileged to say just what they please about her. It would break my +heart; and, if you are bent on such a step, I hope you will wait, at +least, till I am dead." + +"You ought to be willing to see me do anything honest, that will +secure my dependent brother and sister from want." + +"The necessity of laboring for them is not especially imperative at +this juncture, and why should you be more sensitive now than formerly? +Do not deceive yourself, dear child, but face the truth, no matter how +ugly it may possibly be. It is not a sense of duty to the younger +children, but an inflated vanity, that prompts you to parade your +beauty and your wonderful voice on the stage, where they will elicit +applause and flattering adulation. My little girl, that is the most +dangerous, the most unhealthy atmosphere, a woman can possibly +breathe." + +"Pray tell me how you learned all this? You, who have spent your life +in this quiet old house, who have been almost as secluded as some +Cambrian Culdee, can really know nothing of that public life you +condemn so bitterly." + +"The history of those who have walked in the path you are now +preparing to follow, proves the deleterious influences and ruinous +associations that surround that class of women." + +"Jenny Lind and Sarah Siddons redeem any class, no matter how much +maligned." + +"But what assurance have I, that, unlike the ninety-nine, you will +resemble the one-hundredth?" + +"Only try me, Miss Jane." + +"Ah, child! A rash boy said the same thing when he tried to drive +the sun, and not only consumed himself but nearly burned up the +world. There is rather too much at stake to warrant such reckless +experiments." + +"Quit mythology,--it is not in your line,--and come back to stern +facts and serious realities. Because I wish to dance a quadrille or +cotillion, and acquit myself creditably, does it ensue as an +inexorable consequence, that I shall join some strolling ballet +troupe, and out-Bayadère the Bayadères?" + +"That depends altogether upon your agility and grace. If you could +reasonably hope to rival your Hebrew namesake, I am afraid my little +girl would think it 'her duty' to dance instead of to sing, for the +acquisition of a fortune; and insist upon executing wonderful things +with her heels and toes, instead of her voice." + +"You and Dr. Grey seem to have simultaneously arrived at the +charitable conclusion that my heart is pretty much in the same +condition that the Hebrew temple was, when Christ undertook to drive +out the profane. Thongs in hand you two have overturned my motives, +and, by a very summary court-martial, condemned them to be scourged +out. Now, mark you, I am neither making change nor selling doves, and +still less are you and your brother--Jesus. Dr. Grey does me the honor +to indulge a chronic skepticism concerning the possibility of any good +and unselfish impulse in my nature, and I am sorry to see that you +have caught the contagious doubt of me, and of my motives." + +She began the sentence in a challenging, sneering voice, but it was +ended in a lower and faltering tone. + + "While in the light of her large angry eyes, + Uprose and rose a slow imperious sorrow." + +"My dear, don't attempt to whip Ulpian over my shoulders. You know +very well that I have invested in you an amount of faith that the +united censure of the world cannot shake; and if Ulpian does not +follow my example, whose fault is it, I should be glad to know? +Evidently not his,--certainly not mine,--but undoubtedly yours. I have +noticed that you took extraordinary care and a very peculiar pleasure +in making him believe you much worse in all respects than you really +are; and since you have labored so industriously to lower yourself in +his estimation, it would be a poor compliment to your skill and energy +if I told you that you had not entirely succeeded in your rather +remarkable aim. Before he came home you were as contented, and +amiable, and happy, as my old cat there on the rug; but Ulpian's +appearance affected you as the entrance of a dog does my maltese, who +arches her back, and growls, and claws, as long as he is in sight. I +am truly sorry you two could never agree, but I feel bound to tell you +that you have only yourself to blame. I do not claim that my +sailor-boy is a saint, but he is assuredly some inches nearer +sanctification than my poor little Salome. Don't you think so? Be +honest, dear." + +Miss Jane's hand tenderly caressed the beautiful head; and, as Salome +was too sullen or too much mortified to reply, the old lady +continued,-- + +"Nevertheless, Ulpian is a true and devoted friend, and can not bear +the thought of your leaving us, for any purpose, much less the one you +contemplate. Last night he said, 'Janet, I am her brother, and think +you I shall allow my sister to go out from the sacred precincts of +home, and become a target for the envy and malice of the better +classes who will criticise her, and for the coarse plaudits of the +pit? Do you suppose I can willingly see her bare feet turned towards a +path paved with glowing ploughshares? Tell her, for me, that if ever +she should carry her unfortunate freak into execution, I shall never +wish to touch her hand again, for I shall feel that it has lost its +purity in the clasp of many to whom she can not refuse it during a +professional career.'" + +The orphan lifted her head from the arm of Miss Jane's chair, where it +had rested for some minutes, and striking her palms forcibly together, +she exclaimed, proudly,-- + +"Tell Dr. Grey I humbly thank him, but the threat has lost its sting; +and if I should chance to meet him years hence, though my hands shall +be pure and clean as Una's, and as unsullied as his own,--so help me +heaven! I will never thrust my touch on his, nor so far forget myself +as to suffer his fingers to approach mine. When I pass from this +threshold, we will have shaken hands forever." + +"Dr. Grey's ears are not proof against such elevated, ringing tones of +voice, and he could not avoid hearing, as he came up the steps, the +childish words which he assures you he has no intention of believing +or remembering." + +He had tapped twice at the half-open door, and now came forward with +a firm, quick step, to the ottoman where Salome sat. Taking her +hands, he patted the palms softly against each other, and smiling +good-humoredly, continued,-- + +"They are very white, and shapely, and pure, and I am not afraid that +my little sister will soil them. Her brother looks forward to the day +when they will gently and gracefully help him in his work among God's +suffering poor. I have not forgotten how dexterous and docile I found +your fingers, when I had temporarily lost the use of my own, and I +shall not fail to levy contributions of labor in the coming years." + +She had snatched her fingers from his, and no sooner had he ceased +speaking, than she bowed haughtily, and answered,-- + +"Our reconciliations all belong to the Norman family, and are quite as +lasting as Lamourette's. Ceaseless war is preferable to a violated +truce, and since I have not swerved from my purpose, I shall not +falter in its enunciation. If I live it shall not be my fault if I +fail to go upon the stage. I am not so fastidious as Dr. Grey, and one +who sprang from _canaille_ must be pardoned if she betrays a longing +for the 'flesh-pots of Egypt.'" + +She would have given her right hand to recall her words,--when, a +moment later, she met the gaze of profound pity and disappointment +with which Dr. Grey's eyes dwelt upon her countenance, hardened now by +its expression of insolent haughtiness; but he allowed her no +opportunity for retraction, even had she mastered her overweening +pride, and stooping to whisper a brief sentence in his sister's ear, +he took a medical book from the table, and left the room. + +The silence that ensued seemed interminable to Salome, and at last she +turned, bowed her head in Miss Jane's lap, and muttered through set +teeth,-- + +"You see it is best that I should go. Even you must be weary of this +strife." + +The old lady's trembling hands were laid lovingly on the girl's hot +brow and scorched cheeks. + +"Not half so weary as your own oppressed heart. My dear child, why do +you persist in tormenting yourself so unmercifully? Why will you say +things that you do not mean?--that are absolute libels on your actual +feelings? I have often seen and deplored affectations of generosity +and refinement, but you are the first person I ever met who delighted +in a pretence of meanness, which her genuine nature abhorred. Salome, +I have tried to prove myself a mother to you since the day that I took +you under my roof; and now, when I am passing away from the +world,--when a few short months will probably end my feeble life, I +think you owe it to me to give me no sorrow that your hands can easily +ward off. Don't leave me. When I am gone there will be time and to +spare, for all your schemes. Stay here, and let me have peace and +sunshine about me, in my last fading hours. Ah, dear, you can't be +cruel to the old woman who has long loved you so tenderly." + +The orphan pressed the withered hands to her lips, and, covering her +face with the folds of Miss Jane's black silk apron, exclaimed +passionately,-- + +"Do not think me ungrateful,--do not think me insensible to your love +and kindness; but, indeed I am very miserable here. Oh, Miss Jane! if +you knew how I have suffered, you would not chide, you would only pity +and sympathize with me; for your heart will never steel itself against +your poor wretched Salome!" + +She lost control of herself, and sobbed violently. + +"My dear little girl, tell me all your sorrows. To whom can you reveal +your trials and griefs, if not to me? For some weeks past I have +observed that you shunned my gaze, and seemed restless when I +endeavored to discover how you were employing your time; and I have +realized that you were sorely distressed, but I disliked to force your +confidence, or appear suspicious. Now, I have a right to ask what +makes you miserable in my house? Is the little girl ashamed to show me +her heart?" + +"One month since, I would have gone to the stake rather than have +shown it to you, or have had any one dream of the wretchedness locked +in its chambers; but a week ago I was overwhelmed with humiliation, +and now I am not ashamed to tell you. Now that Dr. Grey knows it, I +would not care if the whole world were hissing and jeering at my +heels, and shouting my shame with a thousand trumpets. I tried to keep +it from him, and failing, the world is welcome to roll it as a sweet +morsel under its busy, stinging, slanderous tongue. Miss Jane, I have +intended to be sincere in every respect, but it appears that, after +all, I have probably been an arrant hypocrite if you believe that I +dislike your brother. I want to go away, because I can no longer +endure to live in the same house with Dr. Grey, who shows me more +plainly every hour that he can never return the affection I have been +idiotic and presumptuous enough to cherish for him. There! I have said +it,--and my lips are not blistered by the unwomanly confession, and +you still permit my head to rest in your lap. I expected you would be +indignant and insulted, and gladly send such a lunatic from your +family circle,--or that you would dismiss me coolly, with lofty +contempt; but only a woman can properly pity a woman's weakness, and +you are crying over me. Ah, if your tears were falling on my grave, +instead of my face!" + +Miss Jane was weeping bitterly, but now and then she stooped and +kissed the quivering lips of her unhappy charge, who found some balm +in the earnest sympathy with which her appeal was received. + +"My precious child, why should you be ashamed of your love for the +noblest man who ever unconsciously became a woman's idol? I do not +much wonder at your feelings, because you have seen no one else in any +respect comparable to him, and it is difficult for you to realize the +disparity in your ages. Poor thing! It must be terrible, indeed, to +one who loves him as you do, to have no hope of possessing his +affection in return. But I suppose it can't be helped,--and one half +the world seem to pour out their love on the wrong persons, and find +misery where they should have only joy and peace. Thank God, all this +mischief is shut out of heaven! Dear, don't hide your face, as if you +had stolen half of my sheep; whereas my poor innocent sailor-boy has +unintentionally stolen my little girl's heart." + +"Miss Jane, you are too good,--too kind. Do not help me to excuse +myself,--do not teach me to palliate my pitiable weakness. It is a +grievous, a shameful, a disgraceful thing, for a woman to allow +herself to love any man who gives her no evidence of affection, and +shows her beyond all doubt that he is utterly indifferent to her. This +is a sin against womanly pride and delicacy that demands sackcloth and +ashes, and penance and long years of humiliation and self-abasement; +and I tell you this is the one sin which my proud soul will never +pardon in my poor weak, despised heart." + +"If you feel this so keenly, you will soon succeed in conquering and +casting out of your heart an affection, which, having nothing to feed +upon, will speedily exhaust itself. You are young, and your elastic +nature will rebound from the pressure that you now find so painful. My +dear, a few months or years will bring comparative oblivion of this +period of your life." + +"No; they will engrave more deeply the consciousness that I have +missed my sole chance of earthly happiness, for Dr. Grey is the only +man I shall ever love,--is the only man who can lift me to his own +noble height of excellence. I know it is customary to laugh at a +girl's protestations of undying devotion, and that the theory of +feminine constancy is as entirely effete as the worship of the Cabiri, +or the belief in Blokula and its witches; but, unfortunately, the +world has not sneered it entirely out of existence, and I am destined +to furnish a mournful exemplification of its reality. Whether my +nature is unlike that of the majority of women, I shall not undertake +to decide; but this I know,--God gave me only so much love to spend, +and I poured it all out, I deluged my idol with it, instead of doling +it carefully through the future years. Like the woman of Bethany, I +have broken my box of alabaster, and spilled all my precious ointment, +which might have served for a lifetime of anointing, and I cannot +renew the shattered receptacle, nor gather back the wasted fragrance; +and so my heart must remain without spikenard or balm during its +earthly sojourn. I have been prodigal,--have beggared my womanly +nature,--and henceforth shall feast on husks. But this piece of folly +can be laid on no shoulders but my own, and I must not wince if they +are galled by burdens which only I have imposed. Some women, under +similar circumstances, console themselves by fostering a tender and +excessive gratitude, which they pet and fondle and call second love; +but the feeling belongs to a different species, and is to strong, +earnest, genuine love, what the stunted pines of second growth are to +the noble, stalwart, unapproachable oaks, that spring from the +primitive virgin soil." + +Miss Jane lifted the bowed face, and rested the head against her +bosom. + +"If you are so thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of mastering +this affection, why talk of going away? You will be happier here, +under any circumstances, than among strangers." + +"Do not misapprehend me. I do not intend to cherish my weakness,--to +caress and pamper it. I mean to strangle, and mangle, and bury it, if +possible. I meant, not that I should always love Dr. Grey, but that I +should never be able to regard any one else as I once loved him. I can +not stay here, seeing him daily trample my alabaster and ointment +under his feet. I can not endure the humiliation that has for some +days past made this house more intolerable than I may one day find +Phlegethon. I want to go into the whirl and din of life, where my +thoughts can dwell on some more comforting theme than the peerless +preëminence of the man who is master here, where I can spend hours in +elaborating _toilettes_ and _coiffures_ that will show to the greatest +advantage my small stock of personal charms; where the admiration and +love of other men will at least amuse and soothe the heart that has no +more love for anybody, or anything. Miss Jane, if I had never become +so deeply attached to Dr. Grey, it might perhaps be unsafe for me to +venture into the career which now lies before me; but when a woman's +heart is cold and dead in her bosom, there is no peril she need fear; +for only her warm, pleading heart, can ever silence the iron clang of +conscience and the silvery accents of reason. Worshipping some clay +god, my loving, yearning heart, might possibly have led me astray; but +now, pride and ambition stand as sentinels over its corpse, and a +heartless woman, desirous only of amassing a fortune and making +herself a celebrity in musical circles, is as safe from harm as the +bones of her grandmother, twenty years buried." + +The agony that convulsed the orphan's features, and shivered the +smoothness of her usually sweet voice, touched the old lady's +sympathy, and she wept silently; straining her imagination for some +argument that would make an impression on the adamantine will with +which she found her own in conflict. + +"My child, tell me how long you have had this trouble. When did you +first feel an interest in Ulpian?" + +Unhesitatingly Salome related all that had occurred in her intercourse +with Dr. Grey, and her companion was surprised at the frankness and +mercilessness with which she analyzed her own feelings at each stage +of the acquaintance that proved so disastrous to her peace of mind; +and not only held her weakness up for scorn, but exonerated Dr. Grey +from all censure. + +The minuteness of the confession was exceedingly painful; and, at its +conclusion, she pressed her palms to her cheeks, and moaned,-- + +"There, Miss Jane, I have not winced; I have kept back nothing. I have +been as patient and inexorable in laying open my nature, in treating +you to a _post-mortem_ examination of my heart, as a dentist in +scraping and chiselling a sensitive tooth, or a surgeon in cutting out +a cancer that baffled cauterization. Now you know all that I can tell +you, and I here lay the past in a sepulchre, and roll the stone upon +it, and henceforth I trust you will respect the dead; at least, let +silence rest upon its ashes. _Hic jacet cor cordium._" + +Salome extricated herself from the arms of her best friend, and +smoothed the hair that constant strokes had somewhat disordered. + +"Salome, I can not live much longer." + +"I know that, dear Miss Jane, and it pains me even to think of leaving +the only person who ever really loved me." + +"For my sake, dear child, bear the trial of remaining here a little +longer; at least, until I die. Do not desert me in my last hours. I do +not want the hands of strangers about me, when I am cold and stiff." + +Salome rose and walked several times up and down the room; then paused +beside the easy-chair, and laid her clasped hands in Miss Jane's. + +"You alone have a right to control me. Do with me as you think best. I +will not forsake the true, tender friend, who has done more for me +than all else on earth, or in heaven. For the present I remain here; +but allow me to say that I do not abandon my scheme. I relinquish none +of its details,--I only bide my time." + +"'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' Thank you, my precious +little girl, for yielding to my wishes when they conflict with yours. +Some day you will rejoice that you made what seemed a sacrifice of +inclination on the altar of duty. Now, listen to me. Ulpian is so +enraptured with your voice, that, while he will never consent to this +stage-struck madness, he is exceedingly anxious that you should enjoy +every musical advantage, and is curious to ascertain to what degree of +perfection your voice can be trained. After consulting me, he wrote +two days ago to a celebrated professor of music in Philadelphia or New +York (I really forget where the man is now residing), and offered him +a handsome salary if he would come and teach you for at least six +months, or as much longer as he deems requisite. I believe the +gentleman is delicate and threatened with consumption, which obliges +him to spend the winters in a warm climate, and Ulpian first met him +in Italy. My boy thinks that the opinion of this Professor Von +Somebody is oracular in musical matters; and, as he has trained some +of the best singers in Europe, Ulpian wishes him to have charge of +your voice. Say nothing about it until we hear whether he can accept +our offer. Kiss me." + +Salome's face crimsoned, and she said, hesitatingly,-- + +"Miss Jane, I can not consent that Dr. Grey should contribute one cent +toward my musical tuition. I can humbly and gratefully accept your +charitable aid, but not his. You love me, and therefore your bounty +is not oppressive or humiliating, but he only pities and tolerates +me, and I would starve in some gutter rather than live as the +recipient of his charity. If you can conveniently spare the money +necessary to give me additional cultivation, I shall thankfully +receive it, for Barilli has taught me all of which he is master, +and there is no one else in town in whom I have more confidence. +It was my desire and determination that the work of my hands should +pay for polishing my voice, but embroidery-fees would not suffice +to defray the expenses of the professor to whom you allude; and, if +Dr. Grey pays for his services, I must in advance assure you and +him that I shall decline them, and rely upon Barilli and myself." + +"Pooh! pooh! It is poor philosophy to quarrel with your bread and +butter, no matter who happens to hand it to you. Don't be so savage on +Ulpian, who really cares more for you than you deserve. But if it +comforts your proud, fierce spirit, you are welcome to know that +I--Jane Grey--pay Professor Von--whatever his name may be; and +Ulpian's pocket, about which you seem so fastidious, will not be +damaged one dollar by the transaction. Are you satisfied,--you pretty +piece of beggarly pride?" + +"I am more grateful to you, dear Miss Jane, than I shall ever be able +to express. God only knows what would have become of me if you had not +mercifully snatched me, soul and body, from the purlieus of ruin." + +She stooped to receive the fond kiss of her benefactress, and went +into her own room. + +Nearly an hour later she slowly descended the stairs, and took her hat +from the stand in the hall. As she adjusted it on her head, and tied +the ribbons behind her knot of hair, Mr. Granville came out of the +parlor and seized her hand. + +"Why will you torment me so cruelly? I have been waiting and watching +for you, at least half an hour." + +She haughtily took her fingers from his, and indignantly drew herself +up,-- + +"Mr. Granville presumes on his position as guest, to intrude upon some +who do not desire his society. I was not aware, sir, that I had any +engagement with you." + +"Forgive me, Salome! How have I offended you? If you could realize how +much pleasure your presence affords me, you would not punish me by +absenting yourself as you have persistently done for three days +past." + +He bent his handsome face closer to hers, looking appealingly into her +beautiful flashing eyes; but she put up her hands to push him aside, +and answered,-- + +"I shall be happy to entertain you in the evenings, when the remainder +of the household assemble in the parlor; and will, with great +pleasure, sing for you whenever Miss Muriel will kindly oblige me by +playing my accompaniments; but I prefer to confine our acquaintance to +such occasions." + +"Will you not allow me the privilege of accompanying you in the walk +for which you seem prepared?" + +"No, sir; I respectfully decline your attendance." + +She saw his cheek flush, and he said, hastily,-- + +"Salome, I shall begin to hope that you fear to trust your own +heart." + +"Do not forget yourself, sir. If you knew where my heart is housed, +you would spare yourself the fruitless trouble, and me the annoyance, +of attentions and expressions of admiration which I avail myself of +this opportunity to assure you are particularly disagreeable to me. I +wish to treat you courteously, as the guest of those under whose roof +I am permitted to reside, but 'thus far, and no farther,' must you +venture. Moreover, Mr. Granville, since we are merely comparative +strangers, I should be gratified if you will in future do me the honor +to recollect that it is one of my peculiarities,--one of my +idiosyncrasies,--to prefer that only those I respect and love should +call me Salome. Good afternoon, sir." + +She took her music-book, bowed coolly, and made her exit through the +front door, which she closed after her. + +In the hammock that was suspended on the eastern side of the piazza, +Dr. Grey had thrown himself to rest; and meanwhile, to search for some +surgical operation recorded in one of his books. + +Just behind him a window opened from the hall, and to-day, though a +rose-colored shade was lowered, the sash had been raised, and every +word that was uttered in the passage floated distinctly to him. + +The whole conversation occurred so rapidly that he had no opportunity +of discovering his presence to the persons within, and though he +cleared his throat and coughed rather spasmodically, his warning was +unheeded by those for whom it was intended. + +He knew that Salome could not possibly have guessed his proximity, as +he was not accustomed to use this hammock, and was completely shielded +from observation; and, while pained and surprised by Mr. Granville's +dishonorable course, which threatened life-long wretchedness for poor +Muriel, Dr. Grey's heart throbbed with joy at the assurance that +Salome was not so ungenerous as he had feared. Probably no other human +being would have so highly appreciated her conduct on this occasion; +and, as he mused, with his thumb and forefinger thrust between the +leaves of the book, a glad smile broke over his grave face. + +"God bless the girl! Her prayers and mine have not been in vain, and +she is putting under her feet the baser impulses that mar her +character. Granville is considered by the world exceedingly handsome +and agreeable, and many,--yes, the majority of women, would have +yielded, and indulged in a 'harmless flirtation,' where Salome stood +firm. There was something akin to the scornful ring of Rachel's voice +in that child's tones, when she told Gerard he presumed on his +position as guest; and I will wager my hand that her large eyes did +not exactly resemble a dove's when she informed him it was not his +privilege to call her Salome. She has a fierce, imperious, passionate +temper, that goads her into mischief; but, after all, she is--she +must be--nobler than I have sometimes thought her. God grant it! God +bless her!" + + "But blame us women not,--if some appear + Too cold at times; and some too gay and light. + Some griefs gnaw deep. Some woes are hard to bear. + Who knows the Past? And who can judge us right?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +"Doctor Grey, are you awake? Dr. Grey, here is a note from 'Solitude,' +and the messenger begs that you will lose no time, as one of the +servants is supposed to be dying." + +Salome had knocked twice at Dr. Grey's door, without arousing him, and +the third time she beat a tattoo that would have broken even heavier +slumbers than his. + +"I am awake, and will strike a light in a moment." + +She heard him stumbling about the room, and finally there was a crash, +as of a broken vase or goblet. + +"What is the matter? Can't you find your matches?" + +"No; some one has removed the box from its usual place, and I am +fumbling about at random, and smashing things indiscriminately. Will +you be so good as to bring me a match?" + +"I have a candle in my hand, which you can take, while I order Elbert +to get your buggy ready." + +"Thank you, Salome." + +She placed the candle on the mat before his door, laid the note beside +it, and went down to the servants' rooms to call the driver. + +It was two o'clock, and Dr. Grey had come home only an hour before, +from a patient who resided at some distance. + +Dressing himself as expeditiously as possible, he read the blurred and +crumpled note. + + "Dr. Grey: For God's sake come as quick as possible. I am afraid + my mother is dying. + + "ROBERT MACLEAN." + +Three days before, when he visited Elsie, he found her more composed +and comfortable than she had been for several weeks, and Mrs. Gerome +had seemed almost cheerful, as she sat beside the bed, crimping the +borders of the invalid's muslin caps which the laundress had sent in, +stiff and spotless. + +Recollecting Elsie's desire to confide something to him before her +death, and dreading the effect which this sudden termination of her +life might have upon her mistress, in whom he was daily becoming more +deeply interested, Dr. Grey hurried down stairs and met the orphan. + +"Elbert is not quite ready, but will be at the door directly. I told +him the case was urgent." + +"You are very considerate, Salome, and I am much obliged for your +thoughtfulness; though I regret that the messenger waked you, instead +of Rachel or me. I have never before known Rachel fail to hear the +bell, and I was so weary that I think a ten-inch columbiad would +scarcely have aroused me." + +"I was not asleep,--was sitting at my window; and hearing some one +slam the gate and gallop up the avenue, I went to the door and opened +it, to prevent the ringing of the bell and waking of the entire +household." + +"You should have been asleep four hours ago, and I had no idea you +were still up, when I came home. There was no light in your room. Are +you quite well?" + +"Thank you, I am quite well." + +She was dressed as he had seen her at dinner, and now, as she stood +resting one hand on the balustrade of the stairway, he thought she +looked paler and more weary than he had ever observed her. + +The scarlet spray of pelargonium had withered from the heat of her +head, where it had rested all the evening, and the large creamy Grand +Duke jasmine fastened at her throat by a sprig of coral, was drooping +and fading, but still exhaled its strong delicious perfume. + +"Your appearance contradicts your assertion. Is your wakefulness +attributable to any anxiety or trouble which I can remove?" + +"No, sir. I hear Elbert opening the gate. Who is sick at 'Solitude'?" + +"The servant who was so severely injured many months ago, by a fall +from a carriage, has grown suddenly worse." + +Salome accompanied him to the front door, in order to lock it after +his departure; and, as he descended the steps, he turned and said, in +a subdued voice,-- + +"You have probably heard that Mrs. Gerome is a very peculiar,--indeed, +a decidedly eccentric person?" + +"Yes, sir; it is reported that she is almost a lunatic." + +"Which is totally false. She is very sensitive, and shrinks from +strangers, and consequently has no friends here. If I should find +Elsie dying, or if I need you, I wish you to come promptly. It may be +necessary to have some one beside the household, and you are the only +person I can trust. Try to go to sleep immediately, for I may send for +you very early in the morning." + +"I shall be ready to come when I am needed." + +The buggy rolled up to the steps, and Dr. Grey sprang into it and +drove swiftly down the avenue. + +Salome crept softly back up stairs, but Miss Jane called out,-- + +"Who is there, in the hall? What is the matter?" + +The girl opened the door, and put her head inside. + +"Dr. Grey has been called to see a sick woman at 'Solitude,' and I +have just locked the door after him." + +"Why could not Rachel do that, and save you from coming down stairs? +What time of night is it?" + +"About half-past two. Rachel is asleep. Good-night." + +"'Solitude,' did you say?" + +"Yes, madam." + +"Well, if people will persist in burrowing in that unlucky den, they +must take the consequences. Ulpian, poor fellow, will be completely +worn out. Good-night, dear; don't get up to breakfast, if you feel +sleepy." + +Salome went to her own room, changed her dress, laid gloves, hat, and +shawl in readiness upon the bed, and threw herself down on the lounge +to rest, and if possible to sleep. + +When Dr. Grey reached "Solitude," he found Robert Maclean pacing the +paved walk that led to the gate. + +"Oh, doctor! Have you come at last? It seems to me I could have +crawled twice to your house, since Jerry came back." + +"What change has taken place in your mother's condition? She was +better than usual, when I saw her last." + +"We thought she was getting along very well, till all of a sudden she +became speechless. Go in, sir; don't stop to knock." + +Mrs. Gerome sat at the bedside, mechanically chafing one of the hands +that lay on the coverlet, and the face of the dying woman was not more +ghastly than the one which bent over her. As Dr. Grey approached, the +mistress of the house rose, and put out her hands towards him, with a +wistful, pleading, childish manner, that touched him inexpressibly. + +"Do not let her die." + +He leaned over the pillow, and put his finger on the scarcely palpable +pulse. + +"Elsie, tell me where or how you suffer." + +A ray of recognition leaped up in her sunken eyes, and she looked at +him with a yearning, imploring expression, that was pitiable and +distressing indeed. + +He saw that she was struggling to articulate, but failing in the +effort, a groan escaped her, and tears gathered and trickled down her +pinched face. He smoothed her contracted forehead, and said, +soothingly,-- + +"Elsie, you feel that I will do all that I can to relieve you. You can +not talk to me, but you know me?" + +She inclined her head slightly, and in examining her he discovered +that only one side was completely paralyzed, and that she could still +partially control her left arm. When he had done all that medical +skill could suggest, he stood at her side, and she suddenly grasped +his fingers. + +He put his face close to hers, and observing her tears start afresh, +whispered,-- + +"You wish to tell me something before you die?" + +A gurgling sound, and a faint motion of her lips was the only reply of +which she was capable. + +He placed a pencil between her fingers, but she could not use it +intelligibly, and he noticed that her eyes moved from his to those of +her mistress, as if to indicate that she was the subject of the +desired conversation. + +It was distressing to witness her efforts to communicate her wishes, +while the tears dripped on her pillow; and unable to endure the sight +of her anguish, Mrs. Gerome sank on her knees and hid her face in the +coverlet. + +Dr. Grey gently lifted Elsie's arm and placed her hand on the head of +her mistress, and the expression of her face assured him he had +correctly interpreted her feelings. Something still disturbed her, and +he suggested,-- + +"Mrs. Gerome, put your hand in hers." + +She silently obeyed him, and then the old woman's eyes looked once +more intently into his. He could not conjecture her meaning, until, in +feeling her pulse, he found that she was trying to touch his fingers +with hers. + +He slipped his own into the palm where Mrs. Gerome's lay, and, by a +last great effort, she pressed them feebly together. + +Even then, the touch of those white, soft fingers, thrilled his heart +as no other hand had ever done, and he said,-- + +"Elsie, you mean that you leave her in my care? That you put her in my +hands? That you trust her to me?" + +It was impossible to mistake the satisfied expression that flashed +over her countenance. + +"I accept the trust. Elsie, I promise you that while I live she shall +never want a true and faithful friend. I will try to take care of her +body, and pray for her soul. I will do all that you would have done." + +Once more, but very faintly, she pressed the two hands she had +clasped, and closed her eyes. + +"Oh, doctor, can't you save her?" sobbed Robert. + +In the solemn silence that ensued Mrs. Gerome lifted her face, and Dr. +Grey never forgot the wild, imploring gaze, that met his. He +understood its import, and shook his head. She rose instantly, moved +away from the bed, and left the room. + +For nearly an hour Dr. Grey hung over the prostrate form, which lay +with closed eyes, and gradually sank into the heavy lethargic sleep, +from which he knew she could never awake. + +Leaving her to the care of Robert and two female servants, he went in +search of the mistress of the silent and dreary house. + +Taking a lamp from the escritoire in the back parlor, he went from +room to room, finding nowhere the object he sought, and at length +became alarmed. As he stood in the front door, perplexed and +anxious, the thought presented itself that she might have gone down +to the beach. He went back to the apartment occupied by the dying +woman,--felt once more the sinking pulse, and took a last look at +the altered and almost rigid face. + +"Robert, I can do her no good. Her soul will very soon be with her +God." + +"Oh, sir, don't leave her! Don't give her up, while there is life in +her body!" cried the son, grasping the doctor's sleeve. + +Dr. Grey put his hand on the Scotchman's shoulder, and whispered,-- + +"I am going to hunt for Mrs. Gerome. She is not in the house. I may be +able to render her some service, but your mother is beyond all human +aid." + +"Is there any pulse?" + +"It is so feeble now, I can scarcely count it." + +"Please, doctor, stay here by her while she breathes. Don't desert the +dear soul. My poor mother!" + +Robert lost all control of himself, and wept like a child. + +Loth to forsake him in this hour of direst trial, Dr. Grey leaned +against the bed, and for some moments watched the irregular convulsive +heaving of the woman's chest. + +"Oh, sir, if my mistress hadn't a heart of stone, she would have let +her die peacefully. She might at least have granted her dying +prayer." + +"What was it?" + +"All of yesterday afternoon she pleaded with her to be baptized. My +mother--God bless her dear soul!--my mother told her that she could +not consent to die until she saw her baptized; and, with the tears +pouring down her poor face, she begged and prayed that I might fetch +the minister from town, and that she might see the ceremony performed. +But my mistress walked up and down the floor, and said, 'Never! never! +I have done with mockeries. I have washed my hands of all that,--long, +long ago.' And now--it is too late; and my poor mother can never--God +be merciful to us! is it all over?" + +Dr. Grey raised the head, but the breathing was imperceptible and, +after a little while, he softly pressed down the lids that were +partially lifted from the glazed eyes, and quitted the room. + +His buggy stood at the rear gate, and the driver was asleep, but his +master's voice aroused him. + +"Elbert, go home, and ask Miss Salome please to come over as soon as +you can drive her here." + +The east was purple and gold, the sea a purling mass of molten amber, +and only two stars were visible low in the west, where a waning moon +swung on the edge of the distant misty hills. The air was chill, and a +silvery haze hung above the moaning waves, and partially veiled the +windings of the beach. Under the trees that clustered so closely +around the house, the gloom of night still lingered like a pall, but +as Dr. Grey approached the terrace, he felt the pure fresh presence of +the new day. Up and down the sands his eyes wandered, hoping to +discern a woman's figure, but no living thing was visible, except the +flamingo and yellow pheasant still perched where they had spent the +night, on the stone balustrade that bordered the terrace. He took off +his hat to enjoy the crystalline atmosphere, and while he faced the +brightening east, the sharp peculiar bark of the Arab greyhound broke +the solemn silence that brooded over sea and land. + +The sound proceeded from the boat-house, and he hastened towards it, +startling a mimic army of crabs and fiddlers that had not yet ended +their nightly marauding. The tide was higher than usual at this early +hour, and the waves were breaking sullenly against the stone piers. + +As Dr. Grey ascended the iron steps leading to the pavilion, the dog +growled and showed his teeth, but the visitor succeeded in partially +winning him over, and now passed unmolested into the circular room. A +cushioned seat extended around the wall, where windows opened at the +four points of the compass; and on the round table in the centre of +the marble-tiled floor lay a telescope. + +At the eastern window sat Mrs. Gerome, with her head resting on her +crossed arms. Although Dr. Grey's steps echoed heavily, as he trod the +damp mosaic where the mist had condensed, she gave no evidence of +having discovered his presence until he stood close beside her. Then +she raised one hand, with a quick gesture of caution and silence. He +sat down near her, and watched the countenance that was fully exposed +to his scrutiny. + +No tears had dimmed the wide, mournful, almost despairing eyes, that +gazed with strange intentness over the amber sea, at the golden +radiance that heralded the coming sun; and every line and moulding of +her delicate features seemed cold and rigid enough for a cenotaph. +Even the lips were still and compressed, and a bluish shadow lay about +their dimpled corners, and under the heavy jet eyelashes. Her silver +comb had become loosened, and was finally dragged down by the coil of +hair that slipped slowly until it fell upon the morocco cushion of the +seat, and the glistening waves of gray hair rolled around her +shoulders, and rippled low on her brow. Sea fog had dampened and sea +wind tossed this mass of white locks, till it made a singular +burnished frame for the wan face that looked out hopeless and +painfully quiet. + +Her silk _robe de chambre_ of leaden gray, bordered with blue, was +unbuttoned at the throat, and showed its faultless curve and contour; +while the full, open sleeves, blown back by the strong breeze, bared +the snowy arms, where one of the jet serpents that formed her +bracelets, pressed so heavily on the white flesh that a purple band +was visible when the hand was raised and the bracelet slipped back. + +Watching her intently, Dr. Grey could not detect the slightest quiver +of nerve or muscle; and she breathed so low and softly that he might +have doubted whether she was really conscious, if he had not correctly +interpreted the strained expression of the unwinking gray eyes whose +pupils contracted as the sky flushed and kindled. + +On the floor lay a dainty handkerchief, and stooping to pick it up, he +inhaled the delicate, tenacious perfume of tube-rose, which, blended +with orange-flowers, he had frequently discovered when standing near +her. + +Placing it within reach of her fingers, he said, very gently and more +tenderly than he was aware of,-- + +"Mrs. Gerome,--" + +"Hush! I know what you have come to tell me. I knew it when I came +away. Let me alone, now." + +She raised her head, and turned her eyes to meet his, and he shuddered +at the hard, bitter look, that came swiftly over the blanched +features. For some seconds they gazed full at each other, and Dr. +Grey's eyes filled with a mist that made hers seem large and radiant +as wintry stars. + +He knew then that his heart was no longer his own,--that this +wretched, solitary woman, had installed herself in its most sacred +penetralia; that she had not suddenly, but gradually, become the +dearest object that earth possessed. + +He did not ask himself whether she filled all his fastidious and +lofty requirements,--whether she rose full-statured to his noble +standard,--whether reverence, perfect confidence, and unqualified +admiration would follow in the footsteps of mere affection. He +neither argued, nor trifled, nor deceived himself, but bravely +confessed to his own true soul, that, for the first time in his +life, he loved warmly and tenderly the only woman whose touch had +power to stir his quiet, steady pulses. + +He had not intended to surrender his affections to the custody of any +one until reason and judgment had analyzed, weighed, and cordially +endorsed the wisdom of his choice; and now, although surprised at the +rashness with which his heart, hitherto so tractable and docile, +vehemently declared allegiance to a new sovereign, he did not attempt +to mask or varnish the truth. Thoroughly comprehending the fact that +it was neither friendship nor compassion, he gravely looked the new +feeling in the face, and acknowledged it,--the tyrant which sooner or +later wields the sceptre in every human heart. + +Had he faithfully kept his compact with himself, and followed the +injunction of Joubert, "Choose for a wife only the woman, whom, were +she a man, you would choose for your friend"? + +Because he found a fascination in her society, should he conclude that +it was a healthful atmosphere for his sturdy, exacting, uncompromising +nature? + +To-day he swept aside all these protests and questions, postponing the +arraignment of his heart before the tribunal of slighted and indignant +reason, and allowed the newly mitred pontiff to lead him whither she +chose. + +Unconscious of the emotions that brought an unusual glow to his +face and light to his eyes, Mrs. Gerome had dropped her head once +more on her arms, and the weary, despairing expression of her +countenance, as she looked at the gilded horizon, where sea and sky +seemed divided only by a belt of liquid gold,--might have served for +the face of some careless Vestal, who, having allowed the fire to +expire on the altar she had sworn to guard sleeplessly, sat hopeless, +desolate, and doomed,--watching from the dim, cheerless temple of +Hestia, the advent of that sun whose rays alone could rekindle the +sacred flame, and which, ere its setting, would witness the +execution of her punishment. + +Dr. Grey bent over her, and said,-- + +"I came here in quest of you, hoping to persuade you to return to the +house." + +"No. You came to tell me that Elsie is dead. You came to break the +news as gently as possible,--and to pity and try to comfort me. You +are very good, I dare say; but I wish to be alone." + +"You have been too long alone, and I can not consent to leave you +here." + +At the sound of his subdued voice, she turned her face towards him, +and, for a moment,-- + + "A strange slow smile grew into her eyes, + As though from a great way off it came + And was weary ere down to her lips it fluttered, + And turned into a sigh, or some soft name + Whose syllables sounded likest sighs + Half-smothered in sorrow before they were uttered." + +"Dr. Grey, my loneliness transcends all parallels, and is beyond +remedy. Why should I not stay here? All places are alike to me, now. +That cold, silent corpse at the house, is not Elsie; and, since she +has been taken, I shall be utterly alone, go where I may." + +She shivered, and he picked up a crape shawl lying in a heap under the +table, and wrapped it around her. The soft folds were damp, and, as he +lifted the veil of hair, to draw the shawl closer about her shoulders +and throat, he felt that it was moist from the humid atmosphere. + +"Sir, I am not cold,--I wish I were. It is useless to wrap up my body +so warmly, and leave my heart shivering until death freezes it +utterly." + +Dr. Grey took her beautiful white hands in his warm palms, and held +them firmly. + +"Mrs. Gerome, you do not know what is best for you, and must be guided +by one who will prove himself your truest friend." + +"Don't mock my misery! I never had but one friend, and henceforth must +live friendless. I knew what was before me, and therefore I dreaded +this dark, dark day, and begged you to save her. She was the world to +me. She supplied the place of father, mother, husband, society, and +because God saw that her loving sympathy and care made my existence a +trifle less purgatorial than He saw fit to render it, He took her +away. My poor Elsie would quit the highest throne in heaven to come +back to her desolate, dependent child; for only she knew how and why I +trusted and leaned upon her. Ah, God! it is hard that I who have so +long shunned strangers should be at their mercy, in the last hour of +trial that can be devised by fiends, or allowed by heaven to afflict +me." + +She struggled to free her hands and hide her face, but her companion +clasped them in one of his, and attempted to draw her head down to his +shoulder. + +"No, sir! The grave is the only resting-place for my poor, accursed +head. Do not touch me." + +She shrank as far as possible from him, and her voice, hitherto so +firm and dry, trembled. + +"Mrs. Gerome, I intend to take Elsie's place. You had confidence in +her sagacity and penetration, and know that she was cautious in all +things. During her long illness she studied my character and +antecedents, and finally begged me to take you under my guardianship +when she could no longer watch over you. She was importunate in her +appeal, and to comfort and compose her I gave her a solemn promise +that at her death I would take her place. You may deem me intrusive, +and perhaps presumptuously impertinent, but time proves all +things, and, after a little while, you will cling to me as you so long +clung to her. I shall wait patiently for your confidence; shall +deserve,--and then exact it. You need a strong arm to curb and guide +you,--you need a true, honest heart, to sympathize with your sorrows +and difficulties,--you need a fearless friend to defend you from the +assaults of gossip and malice; and all these, if God spares my life, +I am resolved to be to you. You can not repulse, or offend, or +chill, or wound me, for my word is sacredly pledged to the dead; and, +by the grace of God, I will strictly and fully redeem it, when we +meet at the last day." + +The earnestness of his manner, the grave resolution of his tone, and +the invincible fearlessness with which his clear, calm, penetrating +eyes, looked into hers, seemed momentarily to overawe her; and she sat +quite still, pondering his unexpected words. Pressing her cold fingers +very gently, he continued,-- + +"Elsie had such confidence in my discretion, and friendly interest in +your welfare, that she requested me to warn her of her approaching +dissolution in order that she might communicate something, which she +assured me she desired to confide to me before her death. The +paralysis of her tongue prevented the fulfilment of her wish, but you +saw how keenly she suffered from her inability to utter what was +pressing on her heart. You can not have forgotten that her last act +was to put your hand in mine, and you heard my solemn acceptance of +the charge committed to me." + +An expression of dread that bordered on horror, came over her ghastly +face, and her hands grasped his, almost spasmodically. + +"Did she hint what she wished to tell you? Did you guess it all?" + +"No. Whatever her secret may have been, it passed unuttered into that +realm where all mysteries are solved. I neither know nor surmise the +nature of her desired revelation, but some day when you fully +understand me, I shall ask you to tell me that which she believed I +ought to know. My dear madam, when I come to you and demand your +confidence, I have no fear that you will withhold it." + +She closed her eyes as if to shut out some painful vision, and drooped +her head lower, till it rested on her chest. + +The sun flashed up from his ocean bed, and, as the first beams fell on +the woman's hair, Dr. Grey softly passed his broad white hand over its +perfumed masses, redolent of orange flowers. + +"The air is too damp for you. Come with me to the house." + +She did not heed his words, and perhaps his touch on her head +recalled some exquisitely painful memory, for she shook it off, and +exclaimed,-- + +"Doubtless, like the remainder of the curious herd, you are wondering +at my 'crown of glory,'--and conjecturing what dire tragedy bequeathed +it to me. Sir,-- + + 'My hair was black, but white my life: + The colors in exchange are cast! + The white upon my hair is rife, + The black upon my life has passed.' + +Dr. Grey, I understand you; but you need not stay here to keep guard +over me, as if I were an imbecile or a refugee from an insane asylum. +That I am not the one or the other, is attributable to the fact that +my powers of endurance are almost fabulous. You fear that in my +loneliness and complete isolation I may turn coward, at the last +ordeal I am put through,--and, like Zeno cry out, and in a fit of +desperation strangle myself? Dr. Grey, make yourself easy. I do not +love my Creator so devotedly that I must needs hurry into his presence +before He sees proper to send me a summons.'" + +"I am afraid to leave you here, for any woman who does not love and +reverence her Maker, requires a guardian. Of course you will do as you +like, but I shall remain here as long as you do." + +He rose, and crossing his arms on his chest, began to walk about the +pavilion. She caught up her hair, twisted it hastily into a knot, and +secured it with her comb. As she did so, a small cluster of double +violets dropped into her lap. She had gathered them the preceding +afternoon, had carried them as an offering to Elsie, who insisted that +she should wear them in her hair, "they looked so bonnie just behind +the little roguish ear." At her request Mrs. Gerome had placed them at +the side of her head, and the old woman made her lean down that she +might smell them, and leave a kiss on their blue petals. Now the sight +of the withered flowers melted her icy composure, and, as she lifted +the little crushed, faded bouquet, and pressed it against her wan +cheek, a moan broke from her colorless lips. + +"Oh, Elsie,--Elsie! How could you desert me? You knew you were all +I had to love and trust,--and how could you die and leave me +alone,--utterly alone, in this miserable world that has so cruelly +injured me!" + +She clasped her hands passionately over the flowers, and the motion +caused the sapphire ring, which was now much too large, to slip from +the thin finger, and roll ringing across the marble floor. + +Dr. Grey picked it up, and as he replaced it, drew her hand under his +arm, and led her out of the boat-house. They walked slowly, and as +they ascended the steps, he saw his buggy approaching the side gate. + +Opening the parlor door, he drew his companion into the room, where +the Psyche lamp still burned brightly. + +"Mrs. Gerome, will you trust me?" + +He had hoped that a return to the house would touch her heart and make +her weep, but the cold, dry glitter of her eyes disappointed him. + +"Dr. Grey, I trust neither men nor women, nor even the angels in +heaven; for one of them turned serpent, and if tradition be true, made +earth the dismal 'Bochin' I have found it." + +She turned from him, and threw herself wearily upon the divan that +filled the recess of the oriel window. + +Securing the door of the library, he extinguished the lamp, and +closing the parlor went out to meet Salome. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +"Doctor Grey, you look weary and anxious." + +"I feel so, for this has been a memorable night." + +"The servant who opened the gate for us said that the poor old woman +died about day-break." + +"Yes; when I arrived I found her speechless, and of course could do +nothing but watch her die. Come down this walk, I wish to talk to you +before you go into the house." + +He pointed to a serpentine walk, overarched by laurustinus, and they +had proceeded some yards before he spoke again. + +"Salome, I believe you told me that you had met Mrs. Gerome?" + +"Yes, sir; once upon the cliffs, a mile below, I saw her for a few +moments." + +"She is a very eccentric woman." + +"I should judge so, from her appearance." + +"Her life seems to have been blighted by early griefs, and she has +grown cynical and misanthropic. Loving no one but her faithful and +devoted nurse, she has completely isolated herself, and consequently +the death of this servant--companion--nay, foster-mother--is a +terrible blow to her. I want your promise that what you may hear or +witness in this house shall not travel beyond its walls to feed the +worse-than-Ugolino hunger of never-satiated scandal and gossip." + +Salome's brow contracted and darkened. + +"Do you class me among newsmongers and character-cannibals?" + +"If I did, you certainly would not be here at this instant. I sent for +you to come and take my place temporarily, as I am compelled to see a +patient many miles distant, who is dangerously ill. The majority of +women might go away, and comment upon the occurrences of this +melancholy day, but I wish to keep sacred all that Mrs. Gerome desires +to screen from public gaze and animadversion. Because she is not fond +of society, it revenges itself by circulating reports detrimental to +the owner of a house which is elegantly furnished, not for popular +praise, but solely for her own comfort and gratification. While I +regard her course as very deplorable, and particularly impolitic for +one so young and unprotected, I am totally unacquainted with the +reasons that control her; and, in this hour of grief and bitterness, I +earnestly desire to shield her from intrusion and impertinent +scrutiny." + +"In other words, you wish me to have eyes and yet see not,--and having +ears to hear not? You must indeed have little confidence in my good +sense, and still less in my feminine sympathy for the afflicted, if +you suppose that under existing circumstances I could come to the +house of mourning to collect materials to be rolled as sweet morsels +under the slanderous tongues, that already wag so industriously +concerning 'Solitude' and its solitary mistress. Verily, I occupy a +lofty niche in your estimation, and it would doubtless be pardonably +prudent in you to reconsider, and bid Elbert take me home with all +possible dispatch, before I see Fatima or Bluebeard." + +"When will you cease to be childish, and remember that a woman's work +lies before you?" + +"You may date that desirable transmogrification from the hour when you +cease to stir up the mud and dregs in my nature, by doubting the +possibility that they will ever settle, and leave a pure medium +between your soul and mine. Just so soon,--and no sooner." + +"My young friend, you are too sensitive. I now offer you the strongest +proof of confidence that I can ever hope to command. Will you take +charge of this stricken household in my absence, and not only +superintend the arrangements necessary for the funeral, but watch over +Mrs. Gerome and see that no one disturbs her?" + +"You may trust me to execute her wishes and your orders." + +"Thank you. There certainly is no one except you whom I would trust in +this emergency. One thing more; if Mrs. Gerome leaves the house, do +not lose sight of her. It may be necessary to keep a very strict +surveillance over her, and I will return as soon as possible, and +relieve you." + +As they entered the house, Salome said,-- + +"You will stop at home and get your breakfast?" + +"No, I shall not have time." + +"Let me make you a cup of coffee before you start." + +"Thank you, it is not necessary; and besides, the house is in such +confusion that it would be difficult to obtain anything. Come with +me." + +She followed him into the dim room, where the tall but emaciated form +of Elsie Maclean had been dressed for its last long sleep. The +housemaid sat at the bedside, and Robert stood at one of the windows. + +The first passionate burst of grief had spent itself, and the son was +very calm. + +At a sign from Dr. Grey he came forward, and bowed to the stranger. + +"Robert, I am obliged to be absent for several hours, and Miss Owen +will remain until I return. If you need advice or assistance come to +her, and do not disturb Mrs. Gerome, who is lying on a sofa in the +parlor. I will drive through town, and send your minister out +immediately." + +"You are very good, sir. Do you think the funeral should take place +before to-morrow? I want to speak to my mistress about it." + +"For her sake, it is advisable that it should not be delayed beyond +this afternoon. It is very harrowing to know that the body is lying +here, and I think she would prefer to leave all these matters to you. +It would be better for all parties to have the funeral ceremonies +ended this evening." + +"I suppose, sir, you know that my poor mother will be buried here, in +the grounds." + +"For what reason? The cemetery is certainly the best place." + +Robert handed a slip of paper to Dr. Grey, who read, in a remarkably +beautiful chirograph, the following words,-- + +"Robert, it was your mother's desire and is my wish that she should be +buried near that cluster of deodar cedars, just beyond the mound. Send +for an undertaker, and for the minister who visited her during her +illness; and let everything be done as if it were my funeral instead +of hers. Put some geranium leaves and violets in her dear hands, and +upon her breast." + +"When did you receive this?" asked Dr. Grey. + +"A moment ago, Phoebe, the cook, brought it to me from my mistress." + +"Of course you have no choice, but must comply with her wishes and +those of the dead. Still, I regret this decision." + +"Yes, sir; it is ill luck to keep a grave near the eaves of a house, +and it will be bad for my mistress to have it always in sight; for she +mopes enough at best, and does not sleep o' nights, and the Lord only +knows what will become of her with my poor mother's corpse and coffin +within ten yards of her window. Sir, how does she take this awful +blow? It comforted me to know you were with her." + +"She bears this affliction as she seems to have endured all others +that have overtaken her, in a spirit of rebellious bitterness and +defiance. I am afraid that the excitement will seriously injure her. +Salome, I will return as early as the safety of a patient will +permit." + +Robert followed the doctor to his buggy, to consult him with reference +to some of the sad details of the impending funeral, and after a hasty +glance at the placid countenance of the dead, Salome went back to the +hall, and sat down opposite to the parlor door, which had been pointed +out to her. Her nerves were strong, healthy, and firm, but the +presence of death, the profound silence that reigned, the chill +atmosphere, and dreary aspect of the house,--all conspired to oppress +her heart. + +Through the open door she could see the ever restless sea, and hear +its endless murmuring monotone, and imagination seizing the ill-omened +legends she had heard recounted concerning this spot, peopled the +corners of the hall with phantoms, and every flitting shadow on the +lawn became a spectre. + +Now and then the servants--two middle-aged women--passed softly to and +fro, and twice Robert crossed the passage, but not a sound issued from +the parlor; and once, when Phoebe came with her mistress's breakfast +on a waiter, and tried the bolt, she found the door locked. She +knocked several times, but receiving no answer went quietly back to +the kitchen. + +Weary of sitting on one of the hard, uncomfortable walnut chairs, that +stood with its high carved back close to the wall, Salome rose, and +amused herself by studying the engravings that surrounded her. In the +midst of her investigations she was startled by a loud, doleful, +blood-curdling sound, that seemed to proceed from some spot +immediately beneath the floor of the hall. It was different from +anything she had ever heard before, but resembled the prolonged howl +of a dog, and rose and fell on the air like a cry from some doomed +spirit. + +Robert came out of the room which his mother had always occupied, and, +as he passed Salome, she asked,-- + +"What is the matter? What is the meaning of that horrible noise?" + +"Only the greyhound howling at the dead that he knows is lying over +his head. Ah, ma'am! The poor brute sees what we can't see, and his +death-baying is awful." + +"Where is he? The sound seems to come through the floor." + +"He is so savage that I was afraid he would hurt some of the strangers +who will come here to-day, so I chained him in the basement. Hist, +ma'am! Did you ever hear anything so dreadful? It raises the hair off +my head." + +He went down stairs, and the howling, which was caused by the fact +that the dog was hungry and unaccustomed to being chained, ceased as +soon as he was set free. Ere long Robert came back, followed by the +greyhound, whose collar he grasped firmly. At sight of Salome he +growled and plunged towards her, but Robert was on the alert, and held +him down. Leading him to the parlor door, the gardener knocked, and +put his mouth to the key-hole. + +"If you please, ma'am, will you let Greyhound in? It won't do to leave +him at large, and when I chain him he almost lifts the roof with his +howls." + +No reply reached Salome's strained ears, but the door was opened +sufficiently to admit the dog, who eagerly bounded in, and then the +click of the lock once more barred intrusion; and when the joyful +barking had ceased, all grew silent once more. + +From a basket of fresh flowers brought in by the boy who assisted +Robert, Salome selected the white ones and made a wreath, which she +laid aside and sprinkled; then gathering some rose and nutmeg +geranium-leaves, and a few violets blooming in jars that stood on the +gallery, she cautiously glided into the chamber of death, and arranged +them in Elsie's rigid hands. + +Soon after, the undertaker and minister arrived, and while they +conferred with Robert concerning the burial service, the girl went +back to her vigil before the parlor door, and endeavored to divert her +thoughts by looking into a volume of poems that lay on the hall table. +The book opened at "Macromicros," where a brilliant verbena was +crushed between the leaves, and delicate undulating pencil-lines +enclosed the passage beginning,-- + + "O woman, woman, with face so pale! + Pale woman, weaving away + A frustrate life at a lifeless loom." + +Slowly the hours wore away, and at noon Elsie's body was placed in +the coffin and left on a table in the room opposite the parlor. + +It was two o'clock when Dr. Grey came up the steps, looking more +fatigued than Salome had ever seen him. He sat down beside her on the +gallery, and sighed as he caught a glimpse of the men who were +bricking up the grave that yawned on the right hand side of the lawn. + +"Where is Mrs. Gerome?" + +"In the parlor. Once I heard her pacing the floor very rapidly, and +saying something to her dog. Since then--two hours ago--not a sound +has reached me." + +"She has taken no food?" + +"No, sir. The servant who prepared her breakfast knocked twice at the +door, but was refused admittance." + +Dr. Grey went into the hall, and rapped vigorously on the door, but +there was no movement within. + +"Mrs. Gerome, please permit me to speak to you for a few minutes. If +it were not necessary, I would not disturb you." + +The appeal produced no effect; and, without hesitating, he walked to +the door of the library or rear parlor,--took the key from his pocket, +opened it, and entered. + +The dog was asleep on the velvet rug before the hearth, and his +mistress sat at her escritoire, with her arms resting on the blue +desk, and her face hidden upon them. A number of letters and papers +were scattered about, and, in an open drawer a silver casket was +visible, with a pearl key in its lock. + +Before the marble Harpocrates stood two slender violet-colored +Venetian glasses, representing tulips, and filled with fuchsias and +clematis that were dropping their faded velvet petals, and the +atmosphere was sweet with the breath of carnations and mignonette +blooming in the south window. + +Dr. Grey hoped that Mrs. Gerome had fallen asleep; but when he bent +over her, he saw in the mirror above her that the large, bright eyes +were gazing vacantly into the recess of the desk. + +She noticed his image reflected in the glass, and instantly sat +upright, spreading her hands over her papers as if to screen them. He +drew a chair near hers, and put his finger on her pulse, which +throbbed so rapidly he could scarcely count it. + +"Have you slept at all, since I left you this morning?" + +"No." + +"You promised that you would not attempt to destroy yourself." + +"I have kept my word." + +"Yes; you 'keep it to our ear, and break it to our hope,' for you must +know that unless you take some rest and refreshment, you will be +seriously ill." + +He saw a spark leap up in her eyes, like a bubble tossed into sunshine +by a sudden ripple, and she shook back the hair that seemed to oppress +her. + +"Do not tease and torment me, now. I want to be quiet." + +"My task is an unpleasant one, therefore I shall not postpone it. In a +short time--within the next hour--Elsie will be buried, and you owe a +last tribute of gratitude and respect to her remains. Will you refuse +it to the faithful friend to whom you are indebted for so much +affection and considerate care?" + +"She would not wish me to do anything that is so repugnant, so painful +to me." + +"Have you no desire to look at her kind, placid face once more?" + +"I wish to remember it as in life,--not rigid and repulsive in +death." + +"She looks so tranquil you would think she was sleeping." + +"No,--no! Don't ask me. I never saw but one corpse, and that was of +a sailor drowned in mid ocean, and I shall never be able to forget +its ghastliness and distortion as it lay on deck, under sickly +moonshine." + +"Mrs. Gerome, you must follow Elsie's body to the grave. Believe that +I have good reasons for this request, and grant it." + +She shook her head. + +"Your habits of seclusion have subjected you to uncharitable remarks, +and your absence from the funeral would create more gossip than any +woman can afford to give grounds for. There is a rumor that you are +deranged, and the best refutation will be your quiet presence at the +grave of your faithful nurse." + +She straightened herself, haughtily. + +"Seven years ago I turned my back upon the world, and scorned its +verdict." + +"The men or women who defy public opinion invite social impalement, +and rarely fail to merit the branding and opprobrium they invariably +receive. Madam, I should imagine that to a nature so refined and +shrinking as yours, almost any trial would seem slight in comparison +with the certainty of becoming a target for sarcasm, pity, and malice, +in every kitchen in the neighborhood. Permit my prudence to prevail +over your reluctance to the step I have advised, and some day you will +thank me for my persistency. You have time to make the proper changes +in your dress, and, when the hour arrives, I will knock at your own +door. My dear madam, do not delay." + +She rose, and began to replace the papers in the drawers of her desk, +which she closed and locked. + +"Dr. Grey, why should you care if I am slandered?" + +"Because I am now your best friend, and must tell you frankly your +foibles and dangers, and endeavor to guard you from the faintest +breath of detraction." + +"I am very suspicious concerning the motives of all who come about me; +and, at times, I have been so unjust as to ascribe even my poor +Elsie's devotion to a desire to control my fortune for the benefit of +herself and child. Do you expect me to trust you more implicitly than +I ever trusted her?" + +"I shall make it impossible for you to doubt me. Come to your room. +Elsie's few acquaintances will soon be here." + +Mrs. Gerome thrust the key of her desk into her pocket, but a moment +after, when she drew out her handkerchief, it fell on the carpet, and +without observing it, she passed swiftly across the hall, and into her +own apartment. + +As Dr. Grey lingered to secure the door, his eye fell upon the silver +key on the floor; and, placing it in his vest pocket, he rejoined +Salome. + +At four o'clock several of Robert's friends came and seated themselves +in the room where the coffin sat wreathed with flowers; and +immediately after, Mr. and Mrs. Spiewell made their appearance, +accompanied by two ladies whose features were concealed by thick +veils. Robert and the servants soon joined them, and Salome stole into +the room and sat down in one corner. + +Dr. Grey tapped softly at the door of Mrs. Gerome's apartment, and she +came out instantly, and walked firmly forward till she stood in the +presence of the dead. She was dressed in black silk, and wore two +heavy lace veils over her bonnet, which effectually screened her +countenance. Crossing the floor, she stood at Robert's side, and the +minister rose and began the burial service. + +When a prayer was offered, all the other persons present bowed their +heads, but the mistress of the mansion remained erect and motionless; +and, as the pall-bearers took up the coffin and proceeded to the +grave, she followed Robert. + +Dr. Grey stepped to her side and offered his arm, but she took no +notice of the act, and walked on as if she were an automaton. + +The service was concluded, the coffin lowered, and, amid Robert's +half-smothered sobs, the mound was raised under the deodars, whose +long shadows slanted athwart it, in the dying sunlight. + +The little group dispersed, and Mr. Spiewell led his wife to the owner +of "Solitude." + +"Mrs. Gerome, Mrs. Spiewell and I have long desired the pleasure of +your acquaintance, and hope, if you need friends, you will permit +us--" + +"Thank you for your kindness in visiting my faithful old Elsie." + +The tall, veiled figure had cut short his speech by a quick, +imperative gesture of her hand; and, turning instantly away, +disappeared in one of the densely shaded walks that wound through the +grounds. + +Dr. Grey escorted the party to their carriages, and as he handed Mrs. +Spiewell in, she said, in her sharp nasal tones,-- + +"I heard that Mrs. Gerome was devotedly attached to the poor old +creature who had nursed her, but she certainly seems to me very +indifferent and heartless." + +"She is more deeply afflicted by her loss than you can possibly +realize, and I am exceedingly apprehensive that she will be ill in +consequence of her inability to sleep or eat. My dear madam, we must +not judge too hastily from appearances, else we shall deserve similar +treatment. Who are those two ladies veiled so closely?" + +"Friends, I presume, or they would not be here." + +But the little woman seemed uneasy, and flushed under the doctor's +searching gaze. + +"I hope dear Miss Jane is as well as one can ever expect her to be in +this life. Come, Charles; you forget, my dear, that we have a visit to +make before tea-time. I notice, doctor, that you have a new carpet on +the floor of your pew, and a new cushion-cover to match; and, indeed, +you are so fine that the remainder of the church seems quite faded and +shabby. Good evening, doctor; my love to all at home." + +The clergyman's gray pony trotted off with his master and mistress, +and Dr. Grey returned to Salome, who waited for him at the steps of +the terrace. + +"What do you suppose brought Mrs. Channing and Adelaide to the poor +old woman's funeral?" asked the orphan. + +"How did you discover them?" + +"I found this handkerchief, whose initials I embroidered two months +ago, and recognize as belonging to Mrs. Channing. As for Miss +Adelaide, when she moved her veil a little aside to peep at Mrs. +Gerome, I caught a glimpse of her pretty face. Do they visit here?" + +"Certainly not; nobody visits here but the butcher, baker, and doctor. +Those ladies came solely on a tour of inspection, and to gratify a +curiosity that is not flattering to their characters. My dear child, +you look tired." + +"Dr. Grey, what is there so mysterious about this house and its owner +that all the town is agog and agape when the subject is mentioned? +What is Mrs. Gerome's history?" + +"I am totally unacquainted with its details, and only know that since +she became a widow, she has been a complete recluse. She is very +unhappy, and we must exert ourselves to cheer her. This has been a +lonely, dreary day to you, I fear, and I trust it will not be +necessary for me to ask you to remain here to-night." + +The sun had set, leaving magnificent cloud-pictures on sky and sea, +and while the orphan turned to enjoy the glorious prospect above and +around her, Dr. Grey went in search of the lonely women who now +continually occupied his thoughts. + +She was standing under the pyramidal cedars, looking down at the +new grave, where Salome's wreath hung on the head-board, and +hearing approaching footsteps would have moved away, but he said, +pleadingly,-- + +"Do not avoid me." + +She paused, and suddenly held out her hands to him. + +"Ah,--is it you? Dr. Grey, what shall I do? How can I bear to live +here,--alone,--alone." + +He took her hands and looked down into her white, chill face. + +"My dear friend, take your suffering heart to God, and He will +heal, and comfort, and strengthen you. If He has sorely afflicted you, +try to believe that Infinite love and mercy directed all things, and +that ultimately every sorrow of earth will be overruled for your +eternal repose and happiness. Remember that this world is but a +threshing-floor, where angels use afflictions as flails, to beat +the chaff and dust from our hearts, and present them as perfect +grain for the garners of God. I know that you are desolate, but you +can never be utterly alone, since the precious promise, 'Lo! I am +with you alway, even unto the end of the world.'" + +Despairingly she shook her head. + +"All that might comfort some people, but it falls on my ears and heart +like the sound of the clods on Elsie's coffin. I have no religion,--no +faith,--no hope,--in time or eternity. My miserable past entombs all +things." + +"Do not unearth your woes,--let the grave seal them. Your life stands +waiting to be sanctified,--dedicated to Him who gave it. My dear +friend,-- + + 'Cleanse it and make it pure, and fashion it + After His image: heal thyself; from grief + Comes glory, like a rainbow from a cloud.'" + +The sound of his voice, more than the import of his words, seemed to +soothe her, for her eyes softened; but the effect was transitory, and +presently she exclaimed,-- + +"Mere 'sounding brass, and a tinkling cymbal!' Pretty words, and +musical; but empty as those polished shells yonder that echo only +hollow strains of the never silent sea. Once, Dr. Grey,--" + +She paused, and a shiver crept through her stately form; then she +slowly continued, in a tone of indescribable pathos,-- + +"Once I could have listened to your counsel, for once my soul was full +of holy aims, and my heart as redolent of pure Christian purposes as a +June rose is of perfume; but now,-- + + 'They are past as a slumber that passes, + As the dew of a dawn of old time; + More frail than the shadows on glasses, + More fleet than a wave or a rhyme.'" + +Dr. Grey drew her arm through his, and silently led her to the house, +and into the parlor. He noticed that her breathing was quick and +short, and that she sank wearily upon the sofa, as if her strength had +well-nigh failed her. + +He untied her bonnet-strings and removed it, and she threw her head +down on the silken cushion, as a spent child might have done. + +Taking a vial from his pocket, he dropped a portion of the contents +into a wine-glass, and filled it with sherry wine. + +"Mrs. Gerome, drink this for me. It will benefit you." + +She swallowed the mixture, and remained quiet for some seconds; then a +singularly scornful smile curved her mouth as she said,-- + +"You drugged the wine. Well, so be it. Nepenthe or poison are alike +welcome, if they bring me death, or even temporary oblivion." + +Katie came in and lighted the lamp, and Dr. Grey sat beside the sofa +and watched the effect of his prescription. + +Tired at length of the sober sea and dark gloomy grounds, Salome came +back to the house and stood on the threshold of the parlor door, +looking curiously at the quiet, silent group, and at the pictures on +the walls. + +She could see very distinctly the beautiful white face of the mistress +pressed against the blue damask cushion, and clear in outline as she +had once observed it on the background of ocean; and she noticed that +the features were sharper and that the figure was thinner. From the +silvery lamp-light the gray hair seemed to have caught a metallic +lustre on the ripples that ebbed back from the blue-veined temples, +and the woman looked like a marble snow-crowned image, draped in +black. + +With one elbow on his knee, and his cheek resting in his hand, Dr. +Grey leaned forward, studying the features turned towards him, and +watching her with almost breathless interest. He was not aware of +Salome's presence, and was unconscious of the strained, troubled gaze, +that she fixed upon him. + +The tender love that filled his heart looked out of his grave deep +eyes, which never wandered from the face so dear to him, and moved his +lips in an inaudible prayer for the peace and welfare of the lonely +waif whom Providence or fate had brought into his path, to evoke all +the tenderness latent in his sturdy, manly nature. + +In the twinkling of an eye, Salome had learned the whole truth and +standing there, she staggered and grasped the doorway for support, +wishing that the heavens and earth would pass away--that death might +smite her, and end the agony that never could be patiently endured. + +Recently she had tutored herself to bear the loss of his love and the +deprivation of his caresses,--she had mapped out a future in which her +lot was one of loneliness,--but through all the network of coming +years there ran like a golden cord binding their destinies the +precious hope that at least Dr. Grey would die as he had lived +hitherto,--without giving to any woman the coveted place in his heart, +where the orphan would sooner have reigned than upon the proudest +throne in Europe. + +She had prayed that, with this assurance, God would help her to be +contented--would enable her to make her life useful and pure, and, +like Dr. Grey's, a blessing to those about her. + +It had never occurred to her that the man whom she reverenced above +all things human or divine, and whose exalted ideal of feminine +perfection soared as far above her as the angels in Lebrun's "Stoning +of St. Stephen" soared above the sinning multitude below them--that +the man whose fastidiousness concerning womanly character and +deportment seemed exaggerated and almost morbid, could admire or +defend, much less love that gray-haired widow, whom the world +pronounced either a lunatic, or a scoffing, misanthropic infidel. + +The discovery was so unexpected, so startling, that it partially +stunned her; and, like one addicted to somnambulism, she softly +crossed the room and stood behind Dr. Grey's chair. + +He had taken Mrs. Gerome's hand to examine her pulse, and retained it +in his, looking fondly at the dainty moulding of the fingers and the +exquisite whiteness of the smooth skin. How long she stood there +Salome never knew, for paralysis seemed creeping, numb and cold, over +her heart and brain. + +Dr. Grey saw that his exhausted patient was asleep, and knew that the +opiate he had administered in the wine would not relinquish its hold +until morning; and when her breathing became more quiet and regular he +bent his head and softly kissed the hand that lay heavily in his. + +Salome covered her face and groaned; and rising, he was for the first +time cognizant of her presence. His face flushed deeply. + +"How long have you been here?" + +"Long enough to discover why you visit 'Solitude' so often." + +He could not see her countenance, but her unnaturally hollow tone +pained and shocked him. + +"You are very much fatigued, my dear child, and as soon as I have +given some directions to Robert, I will take you home. Get your +bonnet, and meet me at the door." + +He took a shawl that was lying on the piano and laid it carefully over +the sleeper, then bent one knee beside the sofa, and mutely prayed +that God would comfort and protect the woman who was becoming so dear +to him. + +With one long, anxious, tender look into her hopeless yet beautiful +face, he left the room and went in search of Robert and Katie. When he +had given the requisite directions, and descended the steps, he found +Salome waiting, with her fingers grasping the side of the buggy. +Silently he handed her in; and, as she sank back in one corner and +muffled her face, they drove swiftly through the sombre grounds, where +the aged trees seemed murmuring in response to the ceaseless mutter of +the sullen sea. + + "Whom first we love, you know, we seldom wed. + Time rules us all. And Life indeed is not + The thing we planned it out ere hope was dead. + And then we women cannot choose our lot." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +"Ulpian, you certainly do not intend to sit up again to-night? Even +brass or whitleather would not stand the wear and tear that your +constitution is subjected to. You really make me unhappy." + +"My dear Jane, it would make you still more unhappy if from mere +desire to promote my personal ease and comfort, I could forget the +solemn responsibility imposed by my profession. Moreover, my physical +strength is quite equal to the tax I exact from it." + +"I doubt it, for we have all remarked how pale and worn you look." + +"My jaded appearance is attributable to mental anxiety, rather than +bodily exhaustion." + +"If Mrs. Gerome is so ill as to require such unremitting care and +vigilance, she should have a nurse, instead of expecting a physician +to devote all his time and attention to her. Where is Hester +Denison?" + +"I have placed her at the steam-mill above town, where there is a bad +case of small-pox, and even if she were not thus engaged, I should not +take her to 'Solitude.'" + +"Pray, why not? She took first-rate care of me when I was so sick last +year." + +"Mrs. Gerome is morbidly sensitive at all times, and at this juncture +I should be afraid to introduce a stranger into her sick room." + +"When people are so excessively nervous about being seen, I can't help +feeling a little suspicious. Do you suppose that Mrs. Gerome loved her +husband so much better than the majority of widows love theirs, that +seven years after his death she can't bear to be looked at? I like to +see a woman show due respect to her husband's memory, but I tell you +my experience--or rather my observation--leads me to believe that +these young widows who make the greatest parade of their grief, and +load themselves with crape and bombazine till they can scarcely +stagger under their flutings, flounces, and jet-fringes, are the most +anxious to marry again." + +"Stop, my darling sister! Who has been filling your tongue and +curdling all the 'milk of human kindness' in your generous heart? If +women refuse to each other due sympathy in sorrow, to what quarter can +they turn for that balm which their natures require? I never before +heard you utter sentiments that trenched so closely upon harsh +uncharitableness. Your lips generally employ only the silvery language +of leniency, which I so much love to hear, but to-day they adopt the +dialect of Libeldom. Recollect, my dear sister, that even the pagan +Athenians would never build a temple to Clemency, which they +contended found her most appropriate altars in human hearts." + +"Pooh, Ulpian! You need not preach me such a sermon, as if I were a +heathen. Facts, when they happen to be real facts, are the best +umpires in the world, and to their arbitrament I leave my character +for charity. When Reuben Chalmers died, his wife was so overwhelmed +with grief that she shut herself up like a nun; and when she drove out +for fresh air wore two heavy crape veils, and never allowed any one to +catch a glimpse of her countenance. Not even to church did she +venture, until one morning, at the end of two years, she laid aside +her weeds, clad herself in bridal array, was married in her own +parlor, and the next Sunday made her first appearance in public after +the death of her husband, leaning on the arm of her second spouse. +Now, that is true,--is no libel,--pity it is not! Though 'one swallow +does not make a summer,' I can't help feeling suspicious of very young +and hopelessly inconsolable widows, and am always reminded of +Anastasia Chalmers. So you see, my blue-eyed preacher, when your old +Janet talks of these things, she is not caught 'reckoning without her +host.'" + +"One deplorable instance should not bias you against an entire class, +and the beautiful constancy of Panthea ought to neutralize the example +of a hundred Anastasia Chalmers. Is it not unfortunate that poor human +nature so tenaciously recollects all the evil records, and is so +oblivious of the noble acts furnished by history? Do cut the +acquaintance of the huge family of _on dits_, who serve the community +in much the same capacity as did the cook of Tantalus, when he dressed +and garnished Pelops for the banquet table. Unluckily, devouring +malice can not furnish the 'ivory shoulder' requisite to mend its +mischief. We are all prone to forget the injunction, 'Judge not, that +ye be not judged,' and instead of remembering that we are directed to +bear one another's burdens, we gall the shoulders of many, by +increasing the weights we should lighten. Janet, don't flay all the +poor young widows; leave them to such measures of peace as they may +find among their weeds." + +Miss Jane listened to her brother's homily with a half-smile lurking +about the puckered corners of her eyes and mouth, and putting her +finger in the button-hole of his coat, drew him closer to her, as they +sat together on the sofa. + +"How long since you took the tribe of widows under your special +protection?" + +"Since the moment, that, owing to some inexplicable freak, my dear +Janet suffered 'evil communications to corrupt' her 'good manners,' +and absolutely forgot to be just and generous." + +He kissed his sister and rose, but the troubled look that settled once +more on his countenance did not escape her observation. + +"Ulpian, is Mrs. Gerome very ill?" + +"Yes, I am exceedingly unhappy about her. She is dangerously ill with +a low, nervous, fever that baffles all my remedies." + +Dr. Grey walked up and down the room, and Miss Jane pressed her +spectacles closer to her nose, and watched him. + +"If the poor woman leads such a lonely, miserable life, I should think +that death would prove a blessed release to her. Of course it is +natural and reasonable that you should desire to save all your +patients, but why are you so very unhappy about her?" + +He did not answer immediately, and when he spoke his deep tone was +tremulous with fervent feeling. + +"Because I find that she is dearer to me than all the other women in +the world, except my sister; and her death would grieve me more than +any trial that has yet overtaken me--more than you can realize, or +than I can express." + +He took Miss Jane's face in his hands, kissed her, and left the room. + +Meeting Muriel and Salome in the hall, the former seized his arm, and +exclaimed,-- + +"You shall not leave home again! Let me tell Elbert to put up your +buggy. If you continue to work yourself down, as you are now doing, +you will be prematurely old, and gray, and decrepit. Come into the +parlor, and let me play you to sleep." + +"I heartily wish I could follow your pleasant prescription, but duty +is inexorable, and knows no law but that of obedience." + +"Must you sit up to-night? Is that poor lady no better?" + +"I can see no improvement, and must remain until I do." + +"You are afraid that she will die?" + +"I hope that God will spare her life." + +His serious tone awed Muriel, who raised his hand to her lips, and +murmured,-- + +"My dear doctor, I wish I could help you. I wish I could do something +to make you look less troubled." + +"You can help me, little one, by being happy yourself, and by aiding +Salome in cheering my sister, while I am forced to spend so much time +away from her. Good evening. Take care of yourselves till I come +home." + +Humming a bar of a Genoese barcarole, Muriel ran up stairs to join her +governess; but Salome turned and followed the master of the house to +the front door. + +"Dr. Grey, can I render you any assistance at 'Solitude'?" + +"Thank you,--the time has passed when you might have aided me. Two +weeks ago, when I requested you to go with me, Mrs. Gerome was +rational and would have yielded to your influence, but now she is +delirious and you could accomplish nothing. The servants are faithful +and attentive, and can be trusted during my absence to execute my +orders." + +A bright flush rose to Salome's temples, and her eyes drooped beneath +his, so anxious and yet so calmly sad. + +"At the time you spoke to me I could not go, but now I really should +be glad to accompany you. Will you take me?" + +"No, Salome." + +"Your reason, Dr. Grey?" + +"Is one whose utterance would pain you, consequently I trust you will +pardon me for withholding it." + +"At my own peril, I demand it." + +"The motive which prompts your offer precludes the possibility of my +acceptance." + +"How dare you sit in judgment on my motives? You who prate and +homilize of charity! charity! and who quote the 'golden rule' solely +for the edification and guidance of those around you. Example is more +potent than precept, and we are creatures of imitation. Suppose I +should question the disinterestedness of your motives in allowing one +patient to monopolize your attention to the detriment of the +remainder? Of course you would be shocked and think me presumptuous, +for one's sins and follies often play hide and seek, and sometimes we +insult our own pet fault when we find it housed in some other piece of +flesh." + +"Good night, Salome. I shall endeavor to forget all this, since I am +too sincerely your friend to desire to set your hasty words in the +storehouse of memory." + +He looked down pityingly, sorrowfully, into her angry imperious eyes, +and sudden shame smote her, making her cheeks glow and tingle as if +from the stroke of an open hand. + +"Dr. Grey, wait one moment! Let me say something, that will +show,--that will--" + +"Only make matters worse. No, Salome, I have little time for trifling, +still less for recrimination, none at all for dissimulation; and, in +your present mood, the least we can say will prove the most powerful +for good." + +He went down to his buggy, but stopped and reflected; and fearing that +he might have been too harsh, he turned and approached her, as she +stood leaning against one of the columns of the gallery. + +"Do not think me rude. I am not less your friend than formerly, though +I am anxious, and doubtless appear preoccupied. Let us shake hands in +peace." + +He extended his own, but the girl stood motionless, and the remorseful +anguish and humiliation of her uplifted face touched his heart. + +"Dr. Grey, if you really forgive and forget, prove it by taking me to +'Solitude.'" + +"Do not ask what you well know I have quite determined it is best that +I should not grant." + +The spark leaped up lurid as ever, in her dilating eyes. + +"You take this method to punish me for my refusal to comply with your +wishes a fortnight since?" + +"I have neither the right nor inclination to punish you in any +respect, and you must pardon my inability to accede to a request which +my judgment does not approve. Good-by." + +He put his hand into his pocket, and left her; and while she stood +irresolute and disappointed, a servant summoned her to Miss Jane's +presence. + +"Can I do anything for you?" asked the orphan, observing the cloud on +the old lady's brow. + +"Yes, dear; sit down here and talk to me. I feel lonely, now that +Ulpian is away so constantly. He seems very uneasy about that woman at +'Solitude,' and I never saw him manifest so much anxiety about any +one. By the by, Salome, tell me something concerning her." + +"I have already told you all I know of her." + +"Wherein consists her attractiveness?" + +"Who said she was attractive? She is handsome, and there is something +peculiar and startling about her, but she is by no means a beauty. I +have heard Dr. Grey say that she possessed remarkable talent, but I +have been favored with no exhibition of it. Why do you not question +your brother? Doubtless it would afford him much pleasure to furnish +an inventory of her charms and accomplishments, and dilate upon them +_ad libitum_." + +"What makes you so savage?" + +"Simply because there happens to be a touch of the wild beast in my +nature, and I have not a doubt that if the doctrine of metempsychosis +be true, I was a tawny dappled leopardess or a green-eyed cougar in the +last stage of my existence. Miss Jane, sometimes I feel as if it +would be a luxury--a relief--to crunch and strangle something or +somebody,--which is not an approved trait of orthodox Christian +character, to say nothing of meek gentility and lady-like refinement." + +She laughed with a degree of indescribable scorn and bitterness that +was pitiable indeed in one so young. + +"There is an evil fit on Saul." + +"Yes; and you are neither my harp nor my David." + +"Does my little girl expect to find a 'cunning player,' who will charm +away all the barbarous notions that occasionally lead her astray, and +tempt her to wickedness?" + +"Verily,--no. The son of Jesse has forsaken his own household, and +made unto himself an idol elsewhere; and I--Saul--surrender to +Asmodeus." + +Miss Jane laid her hand on the girl's arm, and said, in a hesitating, +troubled manner,-- + +"Has Ulpian told you?" + +"Why should he tell me? My eyes sometimes take pity on my ears,--and +seeing very distinctly, save the necessity of hearing. My vision is +quite as keen now as when in my anterior existence, I crouched in +jungles, watching for my prey. Oh, Miss Jane! if you could look here, +and know all that I have suffered during the past three weeks, you +would not wonder that the tiger element within me swallows up every +other feeling." + +She struck her hand heavily upon her heart, and the old lady was +frightened and distressed by the glitter of the eyes and the dilation +of the slender nostrils. + +"When I came in, I knew from your countenance that you had heard +something which you desired to prepare me for,--which you intended to +break gently to me. But your kindness is unavailing. The truth crashed +in on my heart without premonition; and I saw, and understood, and +accepted the inevitable; and since then,--ah, my God! since then--" + +Her head drooped upon her bosom, and a groan concluded the sentence. + +"Perhaps Ulpian only pities the poor woman's desolation, and will lose +his interest in her when she recovers her health. You know how +tenderly he sympathizes with all who suffer, and I dare say it is more +compassion than love." + +"What hypocrites we often are, in our desire to comfort those whom we +see in agony! Miss Jane, your kind heart is holding a hand over the +mouth of conscience, to smother its cries and protests while you utter +things in which you know there is no truth. You mean well; but you +ought to know better than to expect to deceive me. I understand the +difference between love and compassion, and so do you; and Dr. Grey +has not kept the truth from you. He has given his heart to that +gray-haired, gray-eyed woman,--and if she lives, he will marry her; +and then, if there were twenty oceans, I should want them all to roll +between us. I tell you now, I can not and will not stay here to see +the day that makes that pale gray phantom his wife. I should go mad, +and do something that might add new horrors to that doomed and +abhorred 'Solitude,' that has become Dr. Grey's Mecca. I could live +without his love, but I can not stand tamely by and see him lavish it +on another. Some women,--such, for instance, as we read of in novels, +would meekly endure this trial, as one appointed by Heaven to wean +them from earth; would fold their hands, and grow devout, and +romantically thin and wan,--and get sweet, patient, martyr expressions +about their unkissed lips; but I am in no respect a model heroine, and +it will prove safer for us all if I am far away when Dr. Grey brings +his bride to receive your sisterly embrace. If you are lonely, send +for Muriel and Miss Dexter, and let them entertain you. Just now, I am +not fit company for any but the dwellers in Padalon; so let me go away +where I can be quiet." + +"Stay, Salome! Where are you going?" + +"To walk." + +The orphan disengaged her dress from Miss Jane's fingers, which had +clutched its folds to detain her, and made her escape just as Muriel +tapped at the door. + +During the three weeks that had elapsed since Elsie's death Mrs. +Gerome had not left the house, and the third day after the funeral she +laid her head down on the pillow from which it seemed probable she +would never again lift it. + +A low steady fever seized her, and at length her brain became so +seriously affected that all hope of recovery appeared futile and +delusive. In the early stages of her illness, Dr. Grey requested +Salome to assist him in nursing her, but the girl dared not trust +herself to witness the manifestations of an affection that nearly +maddened her, and had almost rudely refused compliance. + +As the days wore drearily on, and Dr. Grey's haggard, anxious +countenance, told her that her rival was indeed upon the brink of +dissolution, a wild hope whispered that perhaps she might be spared +the fierce ordeal she so much dreaded; that if Mrs. Gerome died, the +future might brighten,--life would be endurable. In her wonted +impulsive manner, the girl had thrown herself on her knees, and +passionately prayed the Almighty to remove from earth the one woman +who proved an obstacle to all her hopes of peace and contentment. + +She did not pause to inquire whether her petition was not an insult to +Him who alone could grant it; she neither analyzed, nor felt +self-rebuked for her sinful emotions and intense hatred of the sick +woman,--but vowed repeatedly that she would lead a purer, holier life, +if God would only interpose and prevent Dr. Grey from becoming the +husband of any one. + +She had no faith in the superior wisdom of her Maker, and would not +wait patiently for the developments of His divine will toward her; but +chose her own destiny, and demanded that Omnipotence should become an +ally for its accomplishment. Like many who are less honest in +confessing their faith, this girl professed allegiance to her Creator +only so long as He appeared a coadjutor in her schemes; and, when +thwarted and disappointed, fierce rebellion broke out in her heart, +and annulled her oaths of fealty and obedience. + +Dr. Grey was not ignorant of the emotions that swayed and controlled +her conduct, and when she declared herself ready to attend the +invalid, he was thoroughly cognizant of the fact that she longed to +witness the death which she deemed impending; and he could not consent +to see her eager eyes watching the feeble breathing of the woman whom +he now loved so fervently. + +While he believed that in most matters Salome would not deceive him, +he realized that in one of her passionate moods of jealous hate, +irremediable mischief might result, and prudently resolved to keep her +beyond the pale of temptation. + +It was almost dark when he reached the secluded house where he had +passed so many days and nights of anxiety, and went into the quiet +room in which only a dim light was permitted to burn. Katie was +sitting near the bed, but rose at his approach, and softly withdrew. + +Emaciated and ghastly, save where two scarlet spots burned on the +hollow cheeks, Mrs. Gerome lay, with her wasted arms thrown over her +head, and her eyes fixed on vacancy. Even when delirium was at its +height she yielded to the physician's voice and touch, like some wild +creature who recognizes no control save that of its keeper; and from +his hand alone would she take the medicines administered. + +Whether the influence was merely magnetic, he did not inquire, but +felt comforted by the assurance that his presence had power to +tranquillize her. + +Now, as he drew her arms down from the pillow, and took her thin hot +hand in his cool palms, a shadowy smile stole over her features, and +she fixed her eyes intently on his. + +"I knew you would protect me from him." + +"Protect you from whom?" + +"From Maurice. He is hiding yonder,--behind the window-curtain." + +She pointed across the room, and a scowl darkened her countenance. + +"You have only been dreaming." + +"No, I am awake; and if you look behind the curtain you will find him. +His eyes are burning my face." + +Willing to dispel this fantasy, Dr. Grey went to the window, and, +drawing aside the lace drapery, showed her the vacant recess. + +"Ah, he has escaped! Well, perhaps it is better so, and there will be +no blood shed. Let him go back to Edith,--'golden-haired Edith +Dexter,'--and live out the remnant of his days. He came hoping to find +me dead, but I am not as accommodating now as formerly. Where are +those violets? Tell Elsie to bring the jars in, where I can smell +them." + +He took a bunch of the fragrant flowers from his coat pocket, and put +them in her hand, for during her illness she was never satisfied +unless there was a bouquet near her; and now, having feebly smelled +them, her eyes closed. + +More than once she had mentioned the name of Edith Dexter, always +coupling it with that of Maurice, who she evidently believed was +lurking with evil purposes around her home; and Dr. Grey was sorely +perplexed to follow the thread that now and then appeared, but failed +to guide him to any satisfactory solution of the mystery. He knew that +since she made "Solitude" her place of residence, Mrs. Gerome had +never met Muriel's governess, and he conjectured that she had either +known her in earlier years or now alluded to another person bearing +the same name. Miss Dexter was very fair, with a profusion of light +yellow hair, and suited in all respects the incoherent description +that fell from the sick woman's lips. + +While at home for a short time that afternoon, Dr. Grey had spoken of +the dangerous condition of his patient, and asked the governess if she +had ever seen or known Mrs. Gerome. Without hesitation, Edith Dexter +quietly replied in the negative. + +Formerly he had indulged little curiosity with reference to the +widow's history, but since she had become endeared to him, he was +conscious of an earnest desire to possess himself of a record of all +that had so darkened and chilled the life of the only woman he had +ever loved. + +Once she had been merely an interesting psychological puzzle, and in +some degree a physiological anomaly: but from the day of Elsie's +death, his heart had yielded more and more to the strange fascination +she exerted over him; and now, as he sat looking into her face, so +mournfully sharpened and blanched by disease, he acknowledged to his +own soul that if she should die the brightest and dearest hopes that +ever gladdened his life would be buried in her grave. + +Thoroughly convinced that his happiness depended on her recovery, he +prayed continually that if consistent with God's will, He would spare +her to him, and save him from the anguish of a lonely life, which her +love might bless and brighten. + +But above the petition,--above all the strife of human love, and hope, +and fear,--rose silvery clear, "Nevertheless, Father, not my will, but +Thine." + +During his long vigils he had allowed imagination to paint beautiful +pictures of the To-Come, wherein shone the figure of a lovely wife +whose heart was divided only between God and her husband,--whose life +was consecrated first to Christ, secondly to promoting the happiness +of the man who loved her so truly. + +The apprehension of losing her was rendered still more acute by the +reflection that her soul was not prepared for its exit from the realm +of probation, and the thought of a separation that would extend +through endless æons, was well-nigh intolerable. + +If she survived this attack, he believed that his influence would +redeem and sanctify her life; if she died, would God have mercy on her +wretched soul? + +His faith in Providence was no jagged, quivering reed, but a strong, +staunch, firm staff that had never yet failed him, and in this hour of +severe trial he leaned his aching heart confidently and calmly upon +it. + +That some mysterious circumstances veiled the earlier portion of Mrs. +Gerome's life, he had inferred from Elsie's promise of confidence, and +since death denied her the desired revelation, he had put imagination +upon the rack, in order to solve the riddle. + +What could the old nurse wish to tell him, that she was unwilling to +divulge until her latest breath? Could the stain of crime cling to +that pale face on the pillow, or to those white hands that rested so +helplessly in his? Had she soiled her life by any deed that would +bring a blush to those thin sunken cheeks, or a flush of shame to the +brow of the man who loved her? Now bending fondly over her, the +language of his heart was,-- + +"Let her dead past bury its dead! Let the bygone be what it may,--come +sorrow, come humiliation, but I will dauntlessly shield her with my +name, defend her with my strong arm, uphold her by my honor, save her +soul by my prayers, comfort and gladden her heart with my deathless +love." + +He was well aware that this night must decide her fate,--that her +feeble frame could not much longer struggle with the disease that had +almost vanquished it,--and leaning his forehead against her hand, he +silently prayed that God would speedily restore her to health, or give +him additional grace to bear the bitter bereavement. + +She slept more quietly than she had been able to do for some days, and +Dr. Grey sent for Robert, who was pacing the walk that led to the +stables. They sat down together on the steps at the rear of the house, +and the gardener asked in a frightened, husky tone,-- + +"Is there bad news?" + +"I see little change since noon, except that she is more quiet, which +is certainly favorable; but she is so very ill that I thought it best +to consult you about several matters. Do you know whether she has made +a will?" + +"No, sir. How should I know it, even if she had?" + +"Who is her agent?" + +Robert hesitated, and pretended to be busy filling and lighting his +pipe. + +"Maclean, I have no desire to pry into Mrs. Gerome's affairs, but it +is necessary that those who direct or control her estate should be +appraised of her condition. It is supposed that her fortune is ample, +and her heirs should be informed of her illness." + +"She has no heirs, except--" + +He paused, and after a few seconds exclaimed,-- + +"Don't ask me! All I know is that I heard her say she intended to +leave her fortune to poor painters." + +"To whom shall I write, or rather telegraph? Where did she live before +she came to 'Solitude'? Who were her friends?" + +"Mr. Simonton, of New York, is her lawyer and agent. Two letters have +come from him since she has been sick. Of course I did not open them, +but I know his handwriting. They are behind the clock in the back +parlor." + +"Would it not be better to telegraph him at once?" + +"What good could he do? Better send for the minister, and have her +baptized. Oh! but this is truly a world of trouble, and I almost wish +I was safely out of it." + +"If she were conscious, she would not submit to baptism; and it would +not be right to take advantage of her delirium and force a ceremony to +which she is opposed." + +"Not even, sir, to save her soul?" + +"Her soul can not be affected by the actions of others, unless her +will coöperates, which is impossible in her present condition. Robert, +after your mother was partially paralyzed, she said that she desired +to confide something to me just before her death, and intimated that +it referred to Mrs. Gerome. She wished me to befriend her mistress, +and felt that I ought to know the particulars of her early history. +Unfortunately, Elsie was speechless when I arrived, and could not tell +me what she had intended to acquaint me with. I mention this fact to +assure you that if your mother could trust me, you need not regard me +so suspiciously." + +"Dr. Grey, as far as I am concerned, you are very welcome to every +thought in my head and feeling in my heart; but where it touches my +mistress I have nothing to say. I will not deny that I know more than +you do, but when my poor mother told me, she held my hand on the Bible +and made me swear a solemn oath that what she told me should never +pass my lips to any man, woman, or child. So you must not blame me, +sir." + +"Certainly not, Robert. But if she has any friends it is your duty to +send for them at once." + +Dr. Grey rose and went into the library, where for some moments he +walked to and fro, perplexed and grieved. As his eye rested on the +escritoire, he recollected the key which he had kept in his pocket +since the hour that he picked it up from the carpet. + +Doubtless a few minutes' search in its drawers and casket would place +him in possession of the facts which Elsie wished to confide; but +notwithstanding the circumstances that might almost have justified an +investigation, his delicate sense of honor forbade the thought. Taking +the letters from the mantelpiece, he turned them to the lamp-light. + + _Mrs. Agla Gerome, + Care of Robert Maclean, + Box 20._ + ---- ----. + +They were post-marked New York, and from the size and appearance of +the envelopes he suspected that they contained legal documents. +Perhaps one of them might prove a will, awaiting signature and +witnesses. Dr. Grey carried them into the room where his patient still +slept, and placed them on the dressing-table. Accidentally his glance +fell on a large worn Bible that lay contiguous, and brightening the +light, he opened the volume, and turned to the record of births. + +"Vashti Evelyn, born June 10th, 18--. + +"Henderson Flewellyn, born April 17th, 18--. + +"Vashti Flewellyn, born January 30th, 18--." + +On the marriage record he found, + +"Married, July 1st, 18--, Vashti Evelyn to Henderson Flewellyn. + +"Married, September 8th, 18--, Evelyn Flewellyn to Maurice Carlyle." + +The only deaths recorded were those of Henderson and Vashti +Flewellyn. + +Whatever the mystery might be, Dr. Grey resolved to pursue the subject +no further; but wait patiently and learn all from the beautiful lips +of the white-faced sphinx, who alone possessed the right to unseal the +record of her blighted life. + + "Who might have been--ah, what, I dare not think! + We all are changed. God judges for us best. + God help us do our duty, and not shrink, + And trust in heaven humbly for the rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +The profound stillness that pervades a room where life and death +grapple for mastery, invites and aids that calm, inexorable +introspection, which Gotama Buddha prescribes as an almost unerring +path to the attainment of peace; and, in the solemn silence of +his last and memorable vigil, Dr. Grey brought his heart into +complete unmurmuring subjection to the Divine will. A _soi-disant_ +"resignation" that draws honied lips to the throne of grace, +leaving a heart of gall in the camp of sedition, could find no +harbor in his uncompromisingly honest nature; and though the +struggle was severe, he felt that faith in Eternal wisdom and mercy +had triumphed over merely human affection and earthly hopes, and +his strong soul chanted to itself the comforting strains of +Lampert's "Trust Song." + +No mere gala barge, gay with paint and gaudy with pennons, was his +religion; no fair summer-day toy bearing him lightly across the +sun-kissed, breeze-dimpled sea of prosperity and happiness, and frail +as the foam that draped its prow with lace; but a staunch, trim, +steady, unpretending bark, that with unfaltering faith at the helm, +rode firmly all the billows of adversity, and steered unerringly +harborward through howling tempests and impenetrable gloom. Human +friendships and sympathy he considered unstable and treacherous as +Peter, when he shrank from his Lord; but Christian trust was one of +the silver-tongued angels of God, ringing chimes of patience and +peace, far above the din of wailing, bleeding hearts, and the fierce +flames of flesh martyrdom. + +One o'clock found Dr. Grey sitting near the pillow, where for five +hours Mrs. Gerome had slept as quietly as a tired child. The +fever-glow had burned itself out, and left an ashen hue on the lips +and cheeks. + +Wishing to arouse her, he spoke to her several times and raised her +head, but though she drank the powerful stimulant he held to her +mouth, her heavy eyelids were not lifted, and when he smoothed the +pillow and laid her comfortably upon it, she slumbered once more. + +At the foot of the bed, with his keen yellow eyes fastened on his +mistress, crouched the greyhound, his silky head on his paws; and on a +pallet in one corner of the room slept Katie, ready to render any +assistance that might be required. + +The apartment was elegantly furnished, and green and gold tinted all +its appointments. On an Egyptian marble table stood a work-box +curiously inlaid with malachite and richly gilded, and there lay some +withered flowers, a small thimble, and a pair of scissors with +mother-of-pearl handles. Around the walls hung a number of paintings, +which, with one exception, were landscapes or ocean-views; and as Dr. +Grey sat watching the shimmer of lamp-light on their carved frames and +varnished surfaces, they seemed to furnish images of + + "Green glaring glaciers, purple clouds of pine, + White walls of ever-roaring cataracts; + Blue thunder drifting over thirsty tracts, + Rose-latticed casements, lone in summer lands,-- + Some witch's bower; pale sailors on the marge + Of magic seas, in an enchanted barge + Stranded at sunset, upon jewelled sands. + Some cup of dim hills, where a white moon lies, + Dropt out of weary skies without a breath + In a great pool; a slumb'rous vale beneath, + And blue damps prickling into white fire-flies." + +No sweet-lipped, low-browed Madonnas, no rapt Cecilias, no holy Johns +nor meek Stephens, no reeling Satyrs nor vine-clad _Bacchantés_ +relieved the eye, weary of mountain ghylls, red-ribbed deserts, and +stormy surfage. + +One long narrow picture baffled interpretation, and excited +speculations that served in some degree to divert the sad current of +the physician's thoughts. + +It was a dreary plain, dotted with the "fallen cromlechs of +Stonehenge," and in front of the desecrated stone altars stood a +veiled woman, with her hands clasped over a silver crescent-curved +knife, and her bare feet resting on oaken chaplets and mistletoe +boughs, starred and fringed with snowy flowers. Under the dexterously +painted gauze that shrouded the face, the outline of the features was +distinctly traceable, end behind the film,--large, oracular, yet +mournful eyes, burned like setting stars, seen through magnifying +vapors that wreathe the horizon. + +It was a solemn, desolate, melancholy picture, relieved by no flush of +color,--gray plain, gray distance, gray sky, gray temple tumuli, and +that ghostly white woman, gazing grimly down at the gray-haired +sufferer on the low bed beneath her. + +Under some circumstances, certain pictures seem basilisk-eyed, +riveting a gaze that would gladly seek more agreeable subjects, and it +chanced that Dr. Grey found a painful fascination in this piece of +canvas that hung immediately in front of him. Wherein consisted the +magnetism that so powerfully attracted him, he could not decide, but +several times when the wind blew the scalloped edge of the lace +curtain between the lamp and the picture, and threw a dim wavering +shadow over the figure on the wall, he almost expected to see the veil +float away from the stony face, and reveal what the artist had +adroitly shrouded. Now it looked a doomed "Norma," and anon the +Nemesis of a dishonored faneless faith, that was born among Magi, and +had tutored Pythagoras; and finally Dr. Grey rose and turned away to +escape its spectral spell. + +Waking Katie, he charged her to call him if any change occurred in his +patient, and went to the front of the house for a breath of fresh +air. + +Narcissus-like, a three-quarter moon was staring down at her own +image, rocked on the bosom of the sea, while dim stars printed silver +photographs on the deep blue beneath them,-- + + "And the hush of earth and air + Seemed the pause before a prayer." + +The wind that had blown steadily for two days past from the +south-east, had gone down into some ocean lair; but the sullen +element refused to forget its late scourging, and occasionally a long +swelling billow dashed itself into froth against the stone piers of +the boat-house, and the cliffs which stood like a phantom fleet along +the southern bend of the beach, were fringed with a white girdle of +incessant breakers. + +Far out from shore the rolling mass of water was darkly blue, but now +and then a wave broke over its neighbor, and in the distance the foam +flashed under moonshine like some reconnoitring Siren-face, peeping +landward for fresh victims; or as the samite-clad arm that Arthur and +Sir Bedivere saw rise above the mere to receive Excalibar. + +Following the beckoning of those snowy hands, and listening to the low +musical monologue that sea uttered to shore, Dr. Grey started in the +direction of the terrace, whence he could see the whole trend of the +beetling coast, but some unaccountable impulse induced him to pause +and look back. + +The dense shadow of the trees shut out from the spot where he stood +the golden radiance of the moon, but over the lawn it streamed in +almost unearthly splendor,--and there he saw some white object glide +swiftly towards the group of deodars. The first solution that occurred +to his mind was that Katie had fallen asleep, and Mrs. Gerome in her +delirium making her way out of the house, was seeking her favorite +walk; but a moment's reflection convinced him that she was too utterly +prostrated to cross the room, still less the grounds, and, resolved to +satisfy himself, he followed the moving object that retreated before +him. + +Walking rapidly but stealthily in the shadow of the trees and +shrubbery, he soon ascertained that it was a woman's figure, and saw +that it stopped at Elsie's grave, and bent down to touch the +head-board. Creeping forward, he had approached within ten yards of +her, when his hat struck the lower limbs of a large acacia, and +startled a bird that uttered a cry of terror and darted out. The sound +caused the figure to turn her head, and catching a glimpse of Dr. +Grey, she ran under the dense boughs of the deodars, and disappeared. + +He followed, and groped through the gloom, but when he emerged, no +living thing was visible; and, perplexed and curious, he stood still. + +After some moments he heard a faint sound, as of some one smothering a +cough, and pursuing it, found himself at the boundary of the grounds. +Here a thick hedge of osage orange barred egress, and he saw the woman +disentangling her drapery from the thorns that had seized it. + +Springing forward, he exclaimed,-- + +"Stand still! You can not escape me. Who are you?" + +A feigned and lugubrious voice answered,-- + +"I am the restless spirit of Elsie Maclean, come back to guard her +grave." + +In another instant he was at her side, and laying his hand on the +white netted shawl with which she was veiling her features, he tore it +away, and Salome's fair face looked defiantly at him. + +"If I had known that my pursuer was Dr. Grey, I would not have +troubled myself to play the ghost farce, for of course I could not +expect to frighten you off; but I hoped you were one of the servants, +who would not very diligently chase a spectre. I did not suppose that +you could be coaxed or driven thus far from your arm-chair beside the +bed where Mrs. Gerome is asleep." + +Astonishment kept him silent for some seconds, and, in the awkward +pause, the girl laughed constrainedly--nervously. + +"After all your show of bravery in pursuing a woman, I verily believe +you are too much frightened to arrest me if I chose to escape." + +"Salome, has something terrible happened at home, that you have come +here at midnight to break to me?" + +"Nothing has happened at home." + +"Then why are you here? Are you, too, delirious?" + +Her scornful laugh rang startlingly on the still night air. + +"Oh, Salome! You grieve, you shock me!" + +"Yes, Dr. Grey, you have assured me of that fact too frequently--too +feelingly--to permit me to doubt your sincerity. You need not repeat +it; I accept the assertion that you are shocked at my indiscretions." + +Compassion predominated over displeasure, as he observed the utter +recklessness that pervaded her tone and manner. + +"I am unwilling to believe that you would, without some very cogent +reason, violate all decorum by coming alone at dead of night two miles +through a dreary stretch of hills and woods. Necessity sometimes +sanctions an infraction of the rules of rigid propriety, and I am +impatient to hear your defence of this most extraordinary caprice." + +She was endeavoring to disengage the fringe of her shawl from the +hedge, but finding it a tedious operation, she caught her drapery in +both hands and tore it away from the thorns, leaving several shreds +hanging on the prickly boughs. + +"Dr. Grey, I have no defence to offer." + +"Tell me what induced you to come here." + +"An eminently charitable and commendable interest in your fair +patient. I came here simply and solely to ascertain whether Mrs. +Gerome would die, or whether she could possibly recover." + +Unflinchingly she looked up into his eyes, and he thought he had never +seen a fairer, prouder, or lovelier face. + +"How did you expect to accomplish your errand by wandering about these +grounds, exposing yourself to insult and to injury?" + +"I have been on the gallery since twilight, looking through the lace +curtains at Mrs. Gerome lying on her bed, and at you sitting in the +arm-chair. Her eyes are keener than yours, for she saw me peeping +through the window, and told you so. When you left the room I came out +among the trees to escape observation. I scorn all equivocation, and +have no desire to conceal the truth, for if I am not dowered + + 'With blood trained up along nine centuries, + To hound and hate a lie,' + +at least I hold my pauper soul high above the mire of falsehood; and + + ... 'The things we do, + We do: we'll wear no mask, as if we blushed.'" + +They had walked away from the hedge, and Dr. Grey paused at the mound, +where the Ariadne gleamed cold and white in the moonbeams that slanted +across it like silver lances. + +Revolving in his mind the best method of extricating the orphan from +the unfortunate predicament in which her rashness had plunged her, he +did not answer immediately, and Salome continued, impatiently,-- + +"If you imagine that I came here to act as spy upon your actions, you +most egregiously mistake me, for I know all that the most rigid +surveillance could possibly teach me. I heard you say that this night +would prove a crisis in Mrs. Gerome's case, and I was so anxious to +learn the result that I could not wait quietly at home until morning. +I begged you to bring me, and you refused; consequently, I came alone. +Deal frankly with me,--tell me, will that woman die?" + +The breathless eagerness with which she bent towards him, the +strained, almost ferocious expression of her keen eyes, sickened his +soul, and he put his hand over his face to shut out the sight of +hers. + +"Tell me the truth. I must and will know it." + +Her sweet clear voice had become a low hoarse pant, and the knotted +lines were growing harder and tighter on her beautiful brow. + +"I pray ceaselessly that God will spare her to me, and I hope all +things from His mercy. Another hour will probably end my suspense, and +decide the awful question of life or death. Salome, if she should die, +my future will be very lonely,--and my heart bereft of the brightest, +dearest hopes, that have ever cheered it." + +A half-smothered cry struggled across the orphan's trembling lips that +had suddenly grown colorless, and he saw her clutch her fingers. + +"And if she lives?" + +"If she lives, and will accept the affection I shall offer her, the +remainder of my years will be devoted to the work of making her forget +the sorrows that have darkened the early portion of her life. I do +not wish to conceal the fact that she is inexpressibly dear to me." + +During the long silence that ensued, a lifetime of agony seemed +compressed into the compass of a few moments, but Salome stood +motionless, with her arms pressed over her aching heart, and her head +thrown haughtily back, while the moonlight streamed down on her face +where pride and pain were struggling for right to reign. + +When all expectation of earthly happiness is smothered in a proud, +passionate soul, and the future robes itself in those dun hues that +only the day-star of eternity can gild, nerves and muscles shrink and +shiver at the massacre of hopes which despair hews down, in the hour +that it "storms the citadel of the heart, and puts the whole garrison +to the sword." + +Dr. Grey could not endure the sight of that fixed, hardened face, and +sorely distressed by the consciousness of the suffering which he had +unintentionally inflicted on one so young, he moved away, and for some +time walked slowly under the arching laurestines. Although his stern +integrity of purpose acquitted him of all blame, and he could accuse +himself of no word or deed that might be held amenable to conscience +for the mischief and misery that had resulted from his acquaintance +with this unfortunate girl, he regretted that he had remained in the +same house, and, by constant association, fed the flame that absence +might have extinguished. + +While he pitied the weakness that had induced her to yield so entirely +to the preference she indulged for him, he felt humiliated at the +thought that he, who had intended to guide and elevate this wayward +child of nature, had been instrumental in darkening and embittering +her young life. + +When he came back to the spot, whence she had not moved, and laid his +hand gently on her shoulder, she smiled strangely, and + + "Unbent the grieving beauty of her brows. + But held her heart's proud pain superbly still." + +"My little sister, you must not stay here any longer. Would you prefer +to go home at once in my buggy, or remain in the parlor until +daylight?" + +"Neither. Let me sit down on the stone terrace till the end comes. I +will disturb no one. It will be three hours before day breaks, and +when you know whether your idol will live or die, come and tell me. +Take your hand from my shoulder." + +He had endeavored to detain her, but she shrank away from his grasp, +and glided down the smooth sward to the terrace which divided it from +the ripple-barred and ringed sands of the shelving beach. + +As he returned to the house, the wind sprang up and moaned through the +dense foliage above him, and an owl, perched in some clustering bough +that overhung the portico, screamed and hooted dismally. The sound was +so startling that the greyhound leaped to his feet and set up an +answering howl, which almost froze Katie with fright, and caused even +Mrs. Gerome's heavy eyelids to unclose. + +Salome sat down on the paved terrace, crossed her arms over the low +stone balustrade, and resting her chin upon them, looked out at the +burnished bosom of the ocean. Just beneath her, and near enough to +moisten the granite with the silvery spray,-- + + "Its waves are kneeling on the strand, + As kneels the human knee, + Their white locks bowing to the sand, + The priesthood of the sea." + +If the old Rabbinical legend of Sandalphon be grounded in some solemn +vision granted to the saints of eld, who walked in Syria, then +peradventure on this night, the angel must have been puzzled indeed +concerning the petitions that floated up, and demanded admission to +the Eternal ear. + +From the anxious heart of the sincere and humble Christian who knelt +at the bedside of the invalid, rose a fervent prayer that if +consistent with the Father's will, He would lay His healing hand upon +the sufferer, and restore her to health and strength; while the +wretched girl on the terrace prayed vehemently that God would crush +the feeble flicker of life in Mrs. Gerome's wasted frame, would take +from the world a woman whose existence was a burden to herself and +threatened to prove a curse to others. + +The passionate cry of Salome's soul was,-- + +"Punish me in any way, and all other ways! Send sickness, destitution, +humiliation,--let every other affliction smite me; but save me from +the intolerable anguish of seeing that woman his wife! O my God! the +world is not wide enough to hold us both. Take her, or else call me +speedily hence. I am not fit to die, but I shall never be better, if I +am doomed to witness this marriage. I would sooner go down to +perdition now, than live to see that thing of horror. Of two hells, I +choose that which takes me farthest from her." + +For the first time in her life she felt that the hours were flying, +that the day of doom was rushing to meet her, and she shuddered when +one after another the constellations slipped softly and solemnly down +the sky, and vanished behind the dim shadowy outline of the western +hills. Gradually the moon sank so low that the sea could no longer +reflect her beams, and as the mighty waste of waters slowly darkened, +and the wind stiffened, and the song of the surf swelled like a rising +requiem, the girl felt that all nature was preparing to mourn with her +over the burial of her only hope of earthly peace. + +If Mrs. Gerome died, a quiet future stretched before the orphan, and +she could bear to live without the love which she had the grim +satisfaction of knowing brightened no other woman's life. + +The happiness of the man for whom she almost impiously prayed, was a +matter of little importance compared with the ease of her own heart; +and she had yet to learn that the welfare and peace of the object she +loved so selfishly would one day become paramount to all other aims +and considerations. That pure and sublime spirit of self-abnegation +which immolates every hope and wish that is at variance with the +happiness of the beloved had not yet been born in Salome's fiery +nature; and she cared little for the anguish that might be Dr. Grey's +portion, provided her own heart could be spared the pang of witnessing +his wedded bliss. + +Through the trees, she could see the steady light of the lamp that +burned in the room where the sick woman lay, and so she watched and +waited, shivering in the shadow that fell over earth and ocean just +before the breaking of the new day. + +Along the eastern horizon, the white fires of rising constellations +paled and flickered and seemed to die, as a gray light stole up behind +them; and the gray grew pearly, and the pearly opaline, and ere long +the sky crimsoned, and the sea reddened until its waves were like ruby +wine or human gore. + +In the radiant dawn of that day which would decide the earthly +destinies of three beings, Salome saw Dr. Grey coming across the lawn. +His step was quiet,--neither slow nor hasty, and she could not +conjecture the result; but as he approached, she rose, wrapped her +shawl about her, and advanced to meet him. He paused, took off his +hat, and she knew all before a syllable passed his lips. + +"Salome, God has heard my prayers,--has mercifully taken my darling +from the arms of death, and given her to me. I do not think I am too +sanguine in saying that she will ultimately recover, and my heart can +not find language that will interpret its gratitude and joy." + +Never before had such a light shone in his clear, calm blue eyes, and +illumined his usually grave countenance; and though continued vigils +and keen anxiety had left their signet on his pale face, his great +happiness was printed legibly on every feature, and found expression +even in the deepened and softened tones of his voice. + +The girl did not move or speak, but looked steadily into his +bright eyes, and the calmness with which she listened, comforted +and encouraged him to hope that ere long she would conquer her +preference. + +How could he know that at that instant she was impiously vowing that +heaven had heard her last prayer?--that never again should a petition +cross her lips? God had granted one prayer,--had decided against +hers,--had denied her utterly; and henceforth she would not weary +Him,--she would not mock herself and her misery. + +Dr. Grey saw that there was no quiver on the still, pale lips, no +contraction of the polished forehead; but the rigidity of her face +broke up suddenly in a smile of indescribable mournfulness,--a smile +where self-contempt and pity and hopeless bitterness all lent their +saddest phases. + +"Dr. Grey, in your present happy mood, you certainly can not be so +ungracious as to deny me a favor?" + +"Have I ever refused my little sister anything she asked?" + +"The only favor you can ever grant me will be to persuade Miss Jane to +consent to my departure. Look to it, sir, that I am allowed to go, and +that right speedily; for go I certainly shall, at all hazards. +Convince your sister that it is best, and let me go away forever, +without incurring the displeasure of the only friend I ever had or +ever shall have." + +She moved away as if to leave the grounds, but he caught her arm. + +"Wait five minutes, Salome, and I will take you home in my buggy. It +is not right for you to walk alone at this early hour, and I will not +allow it." + +She shook off his hand as if it had been an infant's; and, as she +walked away, he heard her laugh with a degree of savage bitterness +that stabbed his generous heart like a dagger; while behind her +trailed the hissing echo,-- + + ... "Oh, alone, alone,-- + Not troubling any in heaven, nor any on earth." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +In the pure, clear light of early morning, "Grassmere," with its wide, +smooth lawn, and old-fashioned brick house, weather-stained and +moss-mantled, looked singularly peaceful and attractive. Against the +sombre mass of tree-foliage, white and purple altheas raised their +circular censers, as if to greet the sun that was throwing level beams +from the eastern hill-top, and delicate pink, and deep azure, and +pearl-pale convolvulus held up their velvet trumpets all beaded with +dew, to be drained by the first kiss of the great Day-God. Up and down +the comb of the steep roof, beautiful pigeons with necklaces that +rivalled the trappings of Solomon, strutted and cooed; on the eaves, +busy brown wrens peeped into the gutters,-- + + "And of the news delivered their small souls,"-- + +gossiping industriously; while from a distant nook some vagrant +partridge whistled for its mate, and shy doves swinging in the highest +elm limbs, moaned plaintively of the last hunting-season, that had +proved a St. Barthlomew's day to the innocent feathered folk. + +On the lawn a flock of turkeys were foraging among the clover-blossoms, +and over the dewy grass a large brood of young guineas raced after +their mother, or played hide-and-seek, like nut-brown elves, under +the white and purple tufts of flowers. Save the bird-world--always +abroad early--no living thing seemed astir, and the silence that +reigned was broken only by the distance-softened bleating of +Stanley's pet lamb. + +As Salome walked slowly and wearily up the avenue, she saw that the +housemaid had opened the front door, and when the orphan ascended the +steps, all within was still as a tomb, except the canary that sprang +into its ring and began to warble a _reveille_ as she approached the +cage. Miss Jane was usually an early riser, and often aroused her +servants, but to-day the household seemed to have overslept +themselves, and when Salome had rearranged her dress, and waked her +little brother, she rang the bell for Rachel, who soon obeyed the +summons. + +"Is Miss Jane up?" + +"No, ma'am, I suppose not, as she has not rung for me. You know I +always wait for her bell." + +"Perhaps she is not very well this morning. I will go and see whether +she intends to get up." + +Salome went down stairs and knocked at the door of Miss Jane's room, +but no sound was audible within, and she softly turned the bolt and +entered. + +The lamp was burning very dimly on a table close to the bed, and upon +the open Bible lay the spectacles which the old lady had placed there +twelve hours before, when she finished reading the nightly chapter +that generally composed her mind and put her to sleep. + +Salome conjectured that she had forgotten to extinguish the lamp, and +as she cautiously turned the wick down, her eyes rested on the open +page where pencil-lines marked the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, +and enclosed the sixth and seventh verses, "Or ever the silver cord be +loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the +fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust +return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God +who gave it." + +Removing the glasses, the girl closed the book, and leaned over the +pillow to look at the sleeper. She had turned her face towards the +wall, and one hand lay under her head, pressed against her cheek, +while the other held her handkerchief on the outside of the +counterpane. + +Very softly she slumbered, with a placid smile half breaking over her +aged, wrinkled features; and unwilling to shorten the morning nap in +which she so rarely indulged, Salome sat down at the foot of the bed, +and leaning her head on her hands, fell into a painful and profound +reverie. + +Nearly an hour passed, unheeded by the unhappy girl, whose anguish +rendered her indifferent to all that surrounded her; and after a while +a keen pang thrilled her heart, as she heard Dr. Grey's pleasant voice +jesting with Stanley on the lawn. His happiness seemed an insult to +her misery, and she stopped her ears to exclude the sound of his quiet +laugh. + +A half hour elapsed, and then his well-known rap was heard at the +door. Miss Jane did not answer, and Salome was in no mood to welcome +him home; but he waited for neither, and came in, gently closing the +door behind him. + +At sight of the orphan, he started slightly, and said,-- + +"Is my sister sick?" + +"I don't know, but she is sleeping unusually late. I thought it best +not to disturb her." + +The look of dread that swept over his countenance frightened her, and +she rose as he moved hastily to the bedside. + +"Salome, open the blinds. Quick! quick!" + +She sprang to the window, threw the shutters wide open, and hastened +back. Dr. Grey's hand was on his sister's wrist, and his ear pressed +against her heart,--strained to catch some faint pulsation. His head +went down on her pillow, and Salome held her breath. + +"Oh, Janet! My dear, patient, good sister! This is indeed hard to +bear. To die alone--unsoothed--unnoticed; with no kind hands about +you! To die--without one farewell word!" + +He hid his face in his hands, and Salome staggered to the bed, and +grasped Miss Jane's rigid, icy fingers. + +In the silence of midnight, Death stole her spirit from its clay +garments, and while she slept peacefully had borne her beyond the +confines of Time, and left her resting forever in the City Celestial. + +A life dedicated to pure aims and charitable deeds had been rewarded +with a death as painless as the slumber of a tired child on its +mother's bosom, and, without struggle or premonition, the soul had +slipped from the bondage of flesh into the Everlasting Peace that +remaineth for the children of God. + +It was impossible to decide at what hour she had died; and when the +members of the appalled household were questioned, Muriel and Miss +Dexter stated that she had kissed them good night and appeared as well +as usual at her customary time of retiring; and Rachel testified that +after she was in bed, she rang her bell and directed her to tell the +cook that as Dr. Grey would probably come home about daylight, she +must get up early and have a cup of coffee ready when he arrived. +Sobbing passionately, Rachel added,-- + +"When I asked her if I should put out the lamp, she said, 'No; Ulpian +may lose his patient, and come home sad, and then he will come in and +talk to me awhile.' And just as I was leaving the room, she called to +me, 'Rachel, what coat did Ulpian wear? It turns so cool now before +daylight that he will take cold if he has on that linen one.' I told +her I did not know, and she would not be satisfied till I went to his +room and found that the linen coat was hanging in the closet, and the +gray flannel one was missing. Then she opened her Bible and said, 'Ah, +that is all right. The flannel one will do very well, and my boy will +be comfortable.'" + +Dr. Grey's grief was deep, but silent; and, during the dreary day and +night that succeeded, he would allow no one to approach him except +Muriel, whose soft little hands, and tearful, tender caresses, seemed +in some degree to comfort him. + +One month before, Salome would have wept and mourned with him, but the +fountain of her tears was exhausted and scorched by the intense +bitterness and despairing hate that had taken possession of her since +the day of Elsie's burial; and stunned and dry-eyed, she watched the +preparations for the obsequies of her benefactress. + +Her love for Miss Jane had never been sufficiently fervent to render +her distress very poignant; but in the death of this devoted friend +she was fully aware that at last she was set once more adrift in the +world, without chart or rudder save that furnished by her will. + +Life to-day was not the beautiful web, all aglow with the tangling of +gold and silver threads, that had once charmed and dazzled her, for +the mildew of hopelessness had tarnished the gilding, and the mesh was +only a mass of dark knots, and subtle crossings, and inextricable +confusion. + +Like that lost star that once burned so luridly in Cassiopeia, and +flickered out, leaving a gulf of gloom where stellar glory was, the +one most precious hope that lights and sanctifies a woman's heart had +waned and grown sickly, and finally had gone out utterly, and dust +and ashes and darkness filled the void. In natures such as hers, this +hope is not allied to the phoenix, and, once crushed, knows no +resurrection; consequently she cheated herself with no vain +expectation that the mighty wizard, Time, could evoke from corpse or +funeral-pyre even a spark to cheer the years that were thundering +before her. + +A few months ago the future had glistened as peaceful and silvery as +the Dead Sea at midnight, when a full-orbed Syrian moon glares down, +searching for the palms and palaces that once marked Gomorrah's proud +places; and, like some thirsty traveller smitten with surface sheen, +she had laid her fevered lips to the treacherous margin, and, drinking +eagerly, had been repaid with brine and bitumen. + +Disappointment was with her no meek, mute affair, but a savage fiend +that browbeat and anathematized fate, accusing her of rendering +existence a mere Nitocris banquet, where, while every sense is +sharpened and pampered, and fruition almost touches the outstretched +hands of eager trust, the flood-gates of the mighty Nile of despair +are lifted, and its chill, dusky waves make irremediable wreck of +all. + +With the quiet thoughtfulness and good sense that characterized her +unobtrusive conduct, Miss Dexter had prepared from Muriel's wardrobe +an entire suit of mourning, which she prevailed upon Salome to accept +and wear; and, on the morning of the funeral, the latter went down +early into the draped and darkened parlor, where the coffin and its +cold tenant awaited the last offices that dust can perform for dust. + +She had not spoken to Dr. Grey for twenty-four hours, and, finding him +beside the table where his sister's body lay, the orphan would have +retreated, but he caught the rustling sound of her crape and +bombazine, and held out his hand. + +"Come in, Salome." + +She took no notice of the offered fingers, but passed him, and went +around the table to the opposite side. + +The wrinkled, sallow face, still wore its tranquil half-smile, and, +under the cap-border of fine lace, the grizzled hair lay smooth and +glossy on the sunken temples. + +In accordance with a wish which she had often expressed, the ghostly +shroud was abandoned, and Miss Jane was dressed in her favorite black +silk. Salome had gathered a small bouquet of the fragile white +blossoms of apple-geranium, of which the old lady was particularly +fond, and, bending over the coffin, she laid them between the fingers +that were interlaced on the pulseless heart. + +With a quiet mournfulness, more eloquent than passionate grief, the +girl stood looking for the last time at the placid countenance that +had always beamed kindly and lovingly upon her since that dreary day, +when, under the flickering shadow of the mulberry-tree, she had called +her from the poor-house and given her a happy home. + +She stooped to kiss the livid lips, that had never spoken harshly to +her; and, for some seconds, her face was hidden on the bosom of the +dead. When she raised it, the dry, glittering eyes and firm mouth, +betokened the bitterness of soul that no invectives could exhaust, no +language adequately express. + +"Dr. Grey, if the exchange could be made, I would not only willingly, +but gladly, thankfully, lie down here in this coffin, and give your +sister back to your arms. The Reaper, Death, has cut down the perfect, +golden grain, and left the tares to shiver in the coming winter. Some +who are useless and life-weary bend forward, hoping to meet the +sickle, but it sweeps above them, and they wither slowly among the +stubble." + +He looked at her, and found it difficult to realize that the pale, +quiet, stern woman, standing there in sombre weeds, was the same fair +young face that he had seen thirty-six hours before in the moonlight +that brightened Elsie's grave. He thought that only the slow, heavy +rolling of years could have worn those lines about her faded lips, and +those dark purplish hollows under the steady, undimmed eyes. That +composed, frigid Salome, watching him from across the corpse and +coffin, seemed a mere chill shadow of the fiery, impetuous, radiant +girl, whose passionate waywardness had so often annoyed and grieved +him. The alabaster vase was still perfect in form, but the lamp that +had hitherto burned within, lending a rosy glow to clay, had fluttered +and expired, and the change was painful indeed. + +His attention was so riveted upon the extraordinary alteration in her +appearance, that her words fell on his ear, as empty, as meaningless, +as the echoes heard in dreams, and when she ceased speaking, he looked +perplexed, and sighed heavily. + +"What did you say? I do not think I understand you; my mind was +abstracted when you spoke." + +"True; you never will understand me. Only the dead sleeping here +between us fully comprehended me, and even unto the end of my +life-chapter I must walk on misapprehended. When the coffin-lid is +screwed down over that dear, kind face, I shall have bidden adieu to +my sole and last friend; for in the Hereafter she will not know me. +Ah, Miss Jane! you tried hard to teach me Christianity, but it was +like geometry, I had no talent for it,--could not take hold of +it,--and it all slipped through my fingers. If there is indeed an +inexorable and incorruptible Justice reigning behind the stars, you +will be so happy that I and my sins, and my desolation will not +trouble you. Good-by, dear Miss Jane; it is not your fault that I +missed my chance of being coaxed into the celestial fold with the +elect sheep, and find myself scourged out with the despised goats. God +grant you His everlasting rest." + +She turned, but Dr. Grey stretched his arm across his sister's body, +and caught the orphan's dress. + +"Salome, God has called my own sister to her blessed rest in Christ, +but my adopted sister He has left to comfort, to sympathize with me. +Here, in the sacred presence of my dear dead, I ask you to take her +place, and be to me throughout life the true, loving, faithful friend +whom nothing can alienate, and of whom only death can deprive me. My +little sister, let the future ripen and sanctify our confidence, +affection, and friendship." + +"No, sir; sinners can not fill the niches of the saints; and to-day we +are more completely divided than if the ocean roared between us. Once +I struggled hard to cure myself of my faults,--to purify and fashion +my nature anew, but the incentive has died, and I have no longer the +proud aspirations that lifted me like eagle's wings high above the +dust into which I have now fallen,--and where I expect to remain. You +need not fear that I shall commit some capital sin, and go down in +disgrace to my grave; for there must be some darling hope, some +precious aim, that goads people to crime,--and neither of these have +I. I do not want your friendship, and I will not allow your dictation; +and, if you are as generous as I have believed you, I think you will +spare me the manifestation of your pity. Miss Jane was the only link +that united us in any degree, and now we are asunder and adrift. You +see at least I am honest, and since I have not your confidence, I +decline your compassion and espionage, and refuse to accept a sham +friendship,--to trust myself upon a gossamer web that stretches across +a dismal gulf of gloom, and wretchedness, and endless altercation. +When I am in one continent, and you are in another, we shall be better +friends than now." + +Her cold, slow, measured accents, and the calm pallor of her features +told how complete was the change that had set its stern seal on body +and soul; and Dr. Grey's heart ached, as he realized how withering was +the blight that had fallen on her once buoyant, sanguine nature. + +"My dear Salome, for Janet's sake, and in memory of all her love and +counsel, let me beg you not to indulge feelings that can only result +in utter--" + +"Dr. Grey, let there be silence and peace between us, at least in the +presence of the dead. Expostulation from your lips only exasperates +and hardens me; so pray be quiet. No! do not touch me! Our hands have +not clasped each other so often nor so closely that they must needs +miss the warmth and pressure in the coming years of separation, and I +will not soil your palm with mine." + +She coldly put aside the hand that endeavored to take hers, and, after +one long, sad gaze at the marble face in the coffin, turned away, and +went back to her own room. + +Miss Jane's charities had carried her name even to the secluded nooks +of the county, and, when her death was announced, many humble +beneficiaries of her bounty came to offer the last testimonial of +respect and gratitude, by following the remains to their final +resting-place. As the hour approached for the solemn rites, the house +was filled with friends and acquaintances; and the members of the +profession to which Dr. Grey belonged came to attend the funeral, and +officiate as pall-bearers. + +Seated beside Dr. Grey, on one of the sofas, Salome's dry eyes noted +all that passed while the services were performed; and, when the +hearse moved down the avenue, she took his offered arm, and was placed +in the same carriage. + +It was a long, dreary drive to the distant cemetery, and she was +relieved to some extent when they found themselves at the family +vault. Miss Jane had always desired to be buried under the slab that +covered her brother, and had directed a space left for that purpose. +Now the marble was removed, and the coffins of Jane and Enoch Grey +rested side by side. The voice of the minister ceased, and only little +Stanley's sobs broke that mournful silence which always ensues while +spade or trowel does its sad work. Then the sculptured slab was +replaced, and brother and sister were left to that blessed repose +which is granted only to the faithful when "He giveth His beloved +sleep." + + "Write, 'Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, + Because they rest,' ... because their toil is o'er. + The voice of weeping shall be heard no more + In the Eternal City. Neither dying + Nor sickness, pain nor sorrow, neither crying, + For God shall wipe away all tears. Rest,--rest." + +In the death of his sister, Dr. Grey mourned the loss of the only +mother he had ever known, for his earliest recollections were of Miss +Jane's tender care and love, and his affection was rather that of a +devoted son than brother; consequently, the blow was doubly painful: +but he bore it with a silent fortitude, a grave and truly Christian +resignation, that left an indelible impression upon the minds of Miss +Dexter and Muriel, and taught them the value of a faith that could +bring repose and trust in the midst of a trial so severe. + +His continued vigils at "Solitude," and the profound grief that could +not find vent in tears or words, had printed characters on his pale, +wearied face, that should have commanded the sympathy of all who +shared his friendship; but the sight of his worn features and the +sound of his slow step only embittered the heart of the orphan, who +saw in these evidences of fatigue and anxiety new manifestations of +affection for the patient who was not yet entirely beyond danger. + +Four days after the funeral, Dr. Grey came in to breakfast later than +usual, having driven over very early to "Solitude;" and, as he seated +himself at the table and received from Muriel's hand a cup of coffee, +he leaned forward and kissed her rosy cheek. + +"Thank you, my child. You are very kind to wait for me." + +"How is that poor Mrs. Gerome? Will she never be well enough to +dispense with your services?" + +Once, Salome would have answered, "He hopes not;" but now she merely +turned her head a little, to catch his reply. + +"She is better to-day than I feared I should find her, as some +alarming symptoms threatened her yesterday; but now I think I can +safely say the danger has entirely passed." + +Muriel hung over the back of his chair, pressing him to try several +dishes that she pronounced excellent, but he gently refused all except +the coffee; and, when he had pushed aside the empty cup, he drew the +face of his ward close to his own, and murmured a few words that +deepened the glow on her fair cheeks, while she hastily left the room +to read a letter. + +For some moments he sat with his head resting on his hand, thinking of +the dear old face that usually watched him from the corner of the +fire-place, and of the kind words that were showered on him while he +breakfasted; but to-day the faded lips were frozen forever, and the +dim eyes would never again brighten at his approach. + +He sighed, brushed back the hair that clustered in glossy brown rings +on his forehead, and rose. + +"Salome, if you are not particularly engaged this morning, I should be +glad to see you in the library." + +"At what hour?" + +"Immediately, if you are at leisure." + +The orphan put aside the fold of crape which she was converting into a +collar, and inclined her head slightly. + +Since that brief and painful interview held beside Miss Jane's coffin, +not a syllable had passed between them, and the girl shrank with a +vague, shivering dread from the impending _tête-à-tête_. + +Silently she followed the master of the house into the library, where +Dr. Grey drew two chairs to the table, and, when she had seated +herself in one, he took possession of the other. + +Opening a drawer, he selected several papers from a mass of what +appeared to be legal documents, and spread them before her. + +"I wish to acquaint you with the contents of my sister's will, which I +examined last night. Will you read it, or shall I briefly state her +wishes?" + +"Tell me what you wish me to know." + +She swept the papers into a pile, and pushed them away. + +"Have you ever read a will?" + +"No, sir." + +She leaned her elbows on the table, and rested her face in her hands. + +"All these pages amount simply to this,--dear Jane made her will +immediately after my return from Europe, and its provisions are: that +this place, with house, land, furniture, and stock, shall be given to +and settled upon you; and moreover that, for the ensuing five years, +you shall receive every January the sum of one thousand dollars. Until +the expiration of that period, she desired that I should act as your +guardian. By reference to the date and signature of these papers, you +will find that this will was made as soon as she was able to sit up, +after her illness produced by pneumonia; but appended to the original +is a codicil stating that the validity of the distribution of her +estate, contained in the former instrument, is contingent upon your +conduct. Feeling most earnestly opposed to your contemplated scheme of +going upon the stage as a _prima donna_, she solemnly declares, that, +if you persist in carrying your decision into execution, the foregoing +provisions shall be cancelled, and the house, land, and furniture +shall be given to Jessie and Stanley; while only one thousand dollars +is set apart as your portion. This codicil was signed one month ago." + +Dr. Grey glanced over the sheets of paper, and refolded them, allowing +his companion time for reflection and comment, but she remained +silent, and he added,-- + +"However your views may differ from those entertained by my sister, I +hope you will not permit yourself to doubt that a sincere desire to +promote your life-long happiness prompted the course she has +pursued." + +Five minutes elapsed, and the orphan sat mute and still. + +"Salome, are you disappointed? My dear friend, deal frankly with me." + +She lifted her pale, quiet face, and, for the first time in many +weeks, he saw unshed tears shining in her eyes, and glittering on her +lashes. + +"I should be glad to know whether Miss Jane consulted you, in the +preparation of her will?" + +"She conferred with me concerning the will, and I cordially approved +it; but of the codicil I knew nothing, until her lawyer--Mr. +Lindsay--called my attention to it yesterday afternoon." + +"You are very generous, Dr. Grey, and no one but you would willingly +divide your sister's estate with paupers, who have so long imposed +upon her bounty. I had no expectation that Miss Jane would so +munificently remember me, and I have not deserved the kindness which +she has lavished on me, for Jessie and Stanley I gratefully accept her +noble gift, and it will place them far beyond the possibility of want; +while the only regret of which I am conscious, is, that I feel +compelled to pursue a career, which my best, my only friend +disapproved. In the name of poor little Jessie and Stanley, I thank +you, sir, for consenting to such a generous bequest of property that +is justly yours. You, who--" + +"Pray do not mention the matter, for independent of the large legacy +left me by my sister, my own fortune is so ample that I deserve no +thanks for willingly sharing that which I do not need. My little +sister, you must not rashly decide a question which involves your +future welfare, and I can not and will not hear your views at present. +Take one week for calm deliberation, weigh the matter prayerfully and +thoughtfully, and at the expiration of that time, meet me here, and I +will accept your decision." + +She shook her head, and a dreary smile passed swiftly over her +passionless face. + +"Twenty years of reflection would not alter, or in any degree bend my +determination, which is as firmly fixed as the base of the Blue-Ridge; +and--" + +"Pardon me, Salome, but, until the week has elapsed, I do not wish or +intend to receive your verdict. Before this day week, recollect all +the reasons which dear Janet urged against your scheme; recall the +pain she suffered from the bare contemplation of such a possibility, +and her tender pleadings and wise counsel. Ah, Salome, you are young +and impulsive, but I trust you will not close your ears against your +brother's earnest protest and appeal. If I were not sincerely attached +to you, I should not so persistently oppose your favorite plan, which +is fraught with perils and annoyances that you can not now realize. +Hush! I will not listen to you to-day." + +He rose, and laying his hands softly on her head, added, in a solemn +but tremulously tender tone,-- + +"And may God in His infinite wisdom and mercy overrule all things for +your temporal and eternal welfare, and so guide your decision, that +peace and usefulness will be your portion, now and forever." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +"Yes, Dr. Grey, I am better than I ever expected or desired to be in +this world." + +"Mrs. Gerome, this is scarcely the recompense that my anxious +vigilance and ceaseless exertions merit at your hands." + +The invalid leaned far back in her cushioned easy-chair, and, as the +physician rested his arm on the mantelpiece and looked down at her, he +thought of the lines that had more than once recurred to his mind, +since the commencement of their acquaintance,-- + + "What finely carven features! Yes, but carved + From some clear stuff, not like a woman's flesh, + And colored like half-faded, white-rose leaves. + 'Tis all too thin, and wan, and wanting blood, + To take my taste. No fulness, and no flush! + A watery half-moon in a wintry sky + Looks less uncomfortably cold. And ... well, + I never in the eyes of a sane woman + Saw such a strange, unsatisfied regard." + +"I suppose I ought to be grateful to you, Dr. Grey, for Katie and +Robert have told me how patiently and carefully you nursed and watched +over me, during my illness; but instead of gratitude, I find it +difficult to forgive you for what you have done. You fanned into a +flame the spark of life that was smouldering and expiring, and baffled +the disease that came to me as the handmaid of Mercy. Death, +transformed into an angel of pity, kindly opened the door of escape +from the woe and weariness of this sin-cursed world, into the calmness +and dreamless rest of the vast shoreless Beyond; and just when I was +passing through, you snatched me back to my burdens and my bitter lot. +I know, of course, that you intended only kindness, but you must not +blame me if I fail to thank you." + +"You forget that life is intended as a season of fiery probation, and +that without suffering there is no purification, and no reward. +Remember, 'Calm is not life's crown, though calm is well;' and those +who forego the pain must forego the palm." + +"I would gladly forego all things for a rest,--a sleep that could know +no end. Katie tells me I have been ill a month, and from this brief +season of oblivion you have dragged me back to the existence that I +abhor. Dr. Grey, I feel to-day as poor Maurice de Guérin felt, when he +wrote from Le Val, 'My fate has knocked at the door to recall me; for +she had not gone on her way, but had seated herself upon the +threshold, waiting until I had recovered sufficient strength to resume +my journey. "Thou hast tarried long enough," said she to me; "come +forward!" And she has taken me by the hand, and behold her again on +the march, like those poor women one meets on the road, leading a +child who follows with a sorrowful air.'" + +"There is a better guide provided, if you would only accept and yield +to his ministrations. For the flint-faced fate that you accuse so +virulently, substitute that tender and loving guardian the Angel of +Patience. + + 'To weary hearts, to mourning homes, + God's meekest Angel gently comes. + . . . . . . . . . . + There's quiet in that Angel's glance, + There's rest in his still countenance! + . . . . . . . . . . + The ills and woes he may not cure + He kindly trains us to endure. + . . . . . . . . . . + He walks with thee, that Angel kind, + And gently whispers, 'Be resigned.' + +A moment since, you quoted De Guérin, and perhaps you may recollect +one of his declarations, 'I have no shelter but resignation, and I run +to it in great haste, all trembling and distracted. Resignation! It is +the burrow hollowed in the cleft of some rock, which gives shelter to +the flying and long-hunted prey.' You will never find peace for your +heart and soul until you bring your will into complete subjection to +that of Him 'who doeth all things well.' Defiance and rebellious +struggles only aggravate your sorrows and trials." + +She listened to the deep, quiet voice, as some unlettered savage might +hearken to the rhythmic music of Homer, soothed by the tones, yet +incapable of comprehending their import; and as she looked up at the +grave, kingly face, her eyes fell upon the broad band of crape that +encircled his straw hat, which had been hastily placed on the +mantelpiece. + +"Dr. Grey, you ought to speak advisedly, for Robert told me that you +had recently lost your sister, and that you are now alone in the +world. You, who have severe afflictions, should know how far +resignation lightens them. I was much pained to learn that your sister +died while you were absent,--while you were sitting up with me. Ah, +sir! you ought to have watched her, and left me to my release. You +have been very kind and considerate toward one who has no claim upon +aught but your pity; and I would gladly lie down in your sister's +grave, and give her back to your heart and home." + +Her countenance softened for an instant, and she held out her hand. He +took the delicate fingers in his, and pressed them gently. + +"God grant that your life may be spared, until all doubt and +bitterness is removed from your heart, and that when you go down into +the grave it may be as bright with the blessed faith of a Christian as +that which now contains my sister Janet. Do not allow the gloom of +earthly disappointment to cloud your trust, but bear always in mind +those cheering words of Saadi,-- + + 'Says God, "Who comes towards me an inch through doubtings dim, + In blazing light I do approach a yard towards him."'" + +"If I am to be kept in this world until all the bitterness is scourged +out of me, I might as well resign myself to a career as endless as +that of Ahasuerus. I tell you, sir, I have been forced to drink out of +quassia-cups until my whole being has imbibed the bitter; and I am +like that tree to which Firdousi compared Mahmoud, 'Whose nature is so +bitter, that were you to plant it in the garden of Eden, and water it +with the ambrosial stream of Paradise, and were you to enrich its +roots with virgin honey, it would, after all, discover its innate +disposition, and only yield the acrid fruit it had ever borne.'" + +"What right have you to expect that existence should prove one +continued gala-season? When Christ went down meekly into Gethsemane, +that such as you and I might win a place in the Eternal City, how +dare you demand exemption from grief and pain, that Jesus, your +God, did not spare Himself? Are you purer than Christ, and wiser +than the Almighty, that you impiously deride and question their +code for the government of the Universe, in which individual lives +seem trivial as the sands of the desert, or the leaves of the +forest? Oh! it is pitiable, indeed, to see some worm writhing in +the dust, and blasphemously dictating laws to Him who swung suns and +asterisms in space, and breathed into its own feeble fragment of clay +the spark that enabled it to insult its God. Put away such unwomanly +scoffing,--such irreverent puerilities; sweep your soul clean of all +such wretched rubbish, and when you feel tempted to repine at your +lot, recollect the noble admonition of Dschelaleddin, 'If this +world were our abiding-place, we might complain that it makes our +bed so hard; but it is only our night-quarters on a journey, and +who can expect home comforts?'" + +"I can not feel resigned to my lot. It is too hard,--too unjust." + +"Mrs. Gerome, are you more just and prescient than Jehovah?" + +She passed her thin hand across her face, and was silent, for his +voice and manner awed her. After a little while, she sat erect in her +chair, and tried to rise. + +"Doctor, if you could look down into the gray ruins of my heart, you +would not reprove me so harshly. My whole being seems in some cold +eclipse, and my soul is like the Sistine Chapel in Passion-week, +where all is shrouded in shadow, and no sounds are heard but Misereres +and Tenebræ." + +"Promise me that in future you will try to keep it like that Christian +temple, pure and inviolate from all imprecations and rebellious words. +If gloom there must be, see to it that resignation seals your lips. +What are you trying to do? You are not strong enough to walk alone." + +"I want to go into the parlor,--I want my piano. Yesterday I attempted +to cross the room, and only Katie's presence saved me from a severe +fall." + +She stood by her chair, grasping the carved back, and Dr. Grey stepped +forward, and drew her arm under his. + +In her great weakness she leaned upon him, and when they reached the +parlor door, she paused and almost panted. + +"You must not attempt to play,--you are too feeble even to sit up +longer. Let me take you back to your room." + +"No,--no! Let me alone. I know best what is good for me; and I tell +you my piano is my only Paraclete." + +Holding his arm for support, she drew a chair instead of the +piano-stool to the instrument, and seated herself. + +Dr. Grey raised the lid, and waited some seconds, expecting her to +play, but she sat still and mute, and presently he stooped to catch a +glimpse of her countenance. + +"I want to see Elsie's grave. Open the blinds." + +He threw open the shutters, and came back to the piano. + +Through the window, the group of deodars was visible, and there, +bathed in the mild yellow sunshine was the mound, and the faded wreath +swinging in the breeze. + +For many minutes Mrs. Gerome gazed at the quiet spot where her nurse +rested, and with her eyes still on the grave, her fingers struck into +Chopin's Funeral March. + +After a while, Dr. Grey noticed a slight quiver cross her pale lips, +and when the mournful music reached its saddest chords, a mist veiled +the steely eyes, and very soon tears rolled slowly down her cheeks. + +The march ended, she did not pause, but began Mozart's Requiem, and +all the while that slow rain of tears dripped down on her white +fingers, and splashed upon the ivory keys. + +Dr. Grey was so rejoiced at the breaking up of the ice that had long +frozen the fountain of her tears, that he made no attempt to interrupt +her, until he saw that she tottered in her chair. Taking her hands +from the piano, he said gently,-- + +"You are quite exhausted, and I can not permit this to continue. Come +back to your room." + +"No; let me stay here. Put me on the sofa in the oriel, and leave the +blinds open." + +He lifted her from the chair and led her to the sofa, where she sank +heavily down upon the cushions. + +Without comment or resistance, she drank a glass of strong cordial +which he held to her lips, and lay with her eyes closed, while tears +still trickled through the long jet lashes. + +She wore a robe of white merino, and a rich blue shawl of the same +soft material which was folded across her shoulders, made the wan face +look like some marble seraph's, hovering over an altar where violet +light streams through stained glass. + +For some time Dr. Grey walked up and down the long room, glancing +now and then at his patient, and when he saw that the tears had +ceased, he brought from a basket in the hall an exquisitely +beautiful and fragrant bouquet of the flowers which he knew she +loved best,--heliotrope, violets, tube-rose, and Grand-Duke +jessamine, fringed daintily with spicy geranium leaves, and scarlet +fuchsias. + +Silently he placed it on her folded hands, and the expression of +surprise and pleasure that suddenly lighted her countenance, amply +repaid him. + +"Dr. Grey, it has been my wish to except services from no one,--to owe +no human being thanks; but your unvarying kindness to my poor Elsie +and to me, imposes a debt of gratitude that I can not easily +liquidate. I fear you are destined to bankrupt me, for how can I hope +to repay all your thoughtful, delicate care, and generous interest in +a stranger? Tell me in what way I can adequately requite you." + +Dr. Grey drew a chair close to the sofa, and answered,-- + +"Take care lest your zeal prove the contrary, for you know a +distinguished philosopher asserts that, 'Too great eagerness to +requite an obligation is a species of ingratitude;' and such an +accusation would be unflattering to you, and unpleasant to me." + +Turning the bouquet around in order to examine and admire each flower, +Mrs. Gerome toyed with the velvet bells, and said, sorrowfully,-- + +"Their delicious perfume always reminds me of my beautiful home near +Funchal, where heliotrope and geraniums grew so tall that they looked +in at my window, and hedges of fuchsias bordered my garden walks. +Never have I seen elsewhere such profusion and perfection of +flowers." + +"When were you in Madeira?" + +"Two years ago. The villa I occupied was situated on the side of a +mountain, whose base was covered with vineyards; and from a grove of +lemon and oleanders that stood in front of the house I could see the +surging Atlantic at my feet, and the crest of the mountain clothed +with chestnuts, high above and behind me. In one corner of my vineyard +stood a solitary palm, which tradition asserted was planted when Zarco +discovered the island; and the groves of orange, citron, and +pomegranate trees were always peopled with humming-birds, and flocks +of green canaries. There, surrounded by grand and picturesque scenery +of which I never wearied, I resolved to live and die; but Elsie's +desire to return to America, which held the ashes of her husband and +child, overruled my inclination and the dictates of judgment, and +reluctantly I left my mountain Eden and came here. Now, when I smell +violets and heliotrope, regret mingles with their aroma; and, after +all, the sacrifice was in vain, and Elsie would have slept as calmly +there, under palm and chestnut, as yonder, where the deodar-shadows +fall." + +"Is your life here a faithful transcript of that portion of it passed +at Funchal?" + +"Yes; except that there I saw no human being but the servants, who +transacted any business that demanded interviews with the consul." + +"It was fortunate that Elsie's wise counsel prevailed over your +caprice, for many of your griefs proceed from the complete isolation +to which you so strangely doom yourself; and until you become a useful +member of that society you are so fully fitted to adorn and elevate, +you need not hope or expect the peace of mind that results only from +the consciousness of having nobly discharged the sacred obligations to +God, and to your race. 'Bear ye one another's burdens,' was the solemn +admonition of Him who sublimely bore the burdens of an entire world. +Now tell me, have you ever stretched out a finger to aid the toiling +multitudes whose cry for help wails over even the most prosperous +lands? What have you done to strengthen trembling hands, or comfort +and gladden oppressed hearts? How dare you hoard within your own home +the treasure of fortune, talent, and sympathy, which were temporarily +entrusted to your hands, to be sown broadcast in noble charities,--to +be judiciously invested in promoting the cause of Truth in the fierce +war Evil wages against it? Hitherto you have lived solely for +yourself, which is a sin against humanity; and have pampered a morbid +and rebellious spirit, that is a grevious sin against your God. Shake +off your lethargy and cynicism, and let a busy future redeem a vagrant +and worthless past. '_He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing +precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his +sheaves with him._'" + +The flowers dropped on her bosom, and, clasping her hands across her +forehead, she turned her face towards the sea, and seemed pondering +his words. + +"Dr. Grey, my purse has always been open to the needy, and Elsie was +my almoner. Whenever you find a destitute family, or hear an appeal +for help, I shall gladly respond, and constitute you the agent for the +distribution of my charity-fund. As for bearing the sorrows of others, +pray excuse me. I am so weighed down with my own burdens that I have +no strength or leisure to spare to my neighbors, and since I ask no +aid, must not be censured for rendering none. It is utterly useless to +urge me to enter society, for like that sad pilgrim in Brittany, 'In +losing solitude I lose the half of my soul. I go out into the world +with a secret horror. When I withdraw, I gather together and lock up +my scattered treasure, but I put away my ideas sorely handled, like +fruits fallen from the tree upon stones.' No, no; in seclusion I find +the only modicum of peace that earth can ever yield me, and can +readily understand why Chateaubriand avoided those crowds which he +denominated, 'The vast desert of men.'" + +"You must not be offended, if, in reply, I remind you of the rude but +vigorous words of that prince of cynics, Schopenhauer, 'Society is a +fire at which the wise man from a prudent distance warms himself; not +plunging into it, like the fool who after getting well blistered, +rushes into the coldness of solitude, and complains that the fire +burns.' Of the two evils, reckless dissipation and gloomy isolation, +the latter is probably an economy of sin; but since neither is +inevitable, we should all endeavor to render ourselves useful members +of society, and unfurl over our circle the banner of St. Paul, 'Use +this world as not abusing it.' Mrs. Gerome, do not obstinately mar the +present and future, by brooding bitterly over the trials of the past; +but try to believe that, indeed,-- + + ... 'Sorrows humanize our race; + Tears are the showers that fertilize this world. + And memory of things precious keepeth warm + The heart that once did hold them.'" + +He watched her eagerly yet gravely, hoping that her face would soften; +but she raised her hand with a proud, impatient motion. + +"You talk at random, concerning matters of which you know nothing. I +hate the world and have abjured it, and you might as well go down +yonder and harangue the ocean on the sin of its ceaseless muttering, +as expect to remodel my aimless, blank life." + +Pained and disappointed, he remained silent, and, as if conscious of a +want of courtesy, she added,-- + +"Do not allow your generous heart to be disquieted on my account, but +leave me to a fate which can not be changed,--which I have endured +seven years, and must bear to my grave. Now that you see how desolate +I am, pity me, and be silent." + +"It will be difficult for you to regain your strength here, where so +many mournful associations surround you, and I came to-day to beg you +to take a trip somewhere, by sea or land. Almost any change of scene +and air will materially benefit you, and you need not be absent more +than a few weeks. Will you take the matter under consideration?" + +"No, sir; why should I? Can hills or waves, dells or lakes, cure a +mind which you assure me is diseased? Can sea breeze or mountain air +fan out recollections that have jaundiced the heart, or furnish an +opiate that will effectually deaden and quiet regret? I long ago tried +your remedy--travelling, and for four years I wandered up and down, +and over the face of the old world; but amid the crumbling columns of +Persepolis, I was still Agla Gerome, the wretched; and when I stood on +the margin of the Lake of Wan, I saw in its waves the reflection of +the same hopeless woman who now lies before you. Change of external +surroundings is futile, and no more affects the soul than the roar of +surface-surf changes the hollow of an ocean bed where the dead sleep; +and, verily,-- + + 'My heart is a drear Golgotha, where all the ground is white + With the wrecks of joys that have perished,--the skeletons of + delight.'" + +He saw that in her present mood expostulation would only aggravate the +evil he longed to correct, and hoping to divert the current of her +thoughts, he said,-- + +"I trust you will not deem me impertinently curious if I ask what +singular freak bestowed upon you the name of 'Agla'?" + +A startling change swept over her features, and her tone was haughtily +challenging. + +"What interest can Dr. Grey find in a matter so trivial? If I were +named Hecate or Persephone, would the world have a right to demur, to +complain, or to criticise?" + +"When a lady bears the mystic name, which, in past ages, was given to +the Deity, by a race who, if superstitious, were at least devout and +reverent, she should not be surprised if it excites wonder and +comment. Forgive me, however, if my inquiry annoyed you." + +He rose and took his hat, but her hand caught his arm. + +"Do you know the import of the word?" + +"Yes; I understand the significance of the letters, and the wonderful +power attributed to them when arranged in the triangles and called the +'Shield of David.' Knowing that it was considered talismanic, I could +not imagine why you were christened with so mystical a name." + +"I was never christened." + +He could not explain the confusion and displeasure which the question +excited, and anxious to relieve her of any feeling of annoyance, he +added,-- + +"Have you ever looked into the nature of the _Aglaophotis_?" + +She struggled up from her cushions, and exclaimed, with a vehemence +that startled him,-- + +"What induced you to examine it? I know that it is a strange plant, +growing out of solid marble, and accounted a charm by Arab magicians. +Well, Dr. Grey, do not I belong to that species? You see before you a +human specimen of _Aglaophotis_, growing out of a marble heart." + +Sometimes an exaggerated whimsicality trenches so closely upon +insanity, that it is difficult to discriminate between them; and, as +Dr. Grey noted the peculiarly cold glitter of her large eyes, and the +restless movement of her usually quiet hands, he dreaded that the +crushing weight on her heart would ultimately impair her mind. Now he +abruptly changed the topic. + +"Mrs. Gerome, whenever it is agreeable to you to drive down the beach +or across the woods and among the hills, it will afford me much +pleasure to place my horse, buggy, and myself at your disposal; and, +in fine weather like this, a drive of a few miles would invigorate +you." + +"Thank you. I shall not trouble you, for I have my low-swung easy +carriage, and my grays--my fatal grays. Ah if they would only serve me +as they did my poor Elsie! When I am strong enough to take the reins, +I will allow them an opportunity. Dr. Grey, if I seem rude, forgive +me. You are very kind and singularly patient, and sometimes when you +have left me, I feel ashamed of my inability to prove my sincere +appreciation of your goodness. For these beautiful flowers, I thank +you cordially." + +She held out her hand, and, as he accepted it, he drew from his pocket +the silver key which he had so carefully preserved. + +"Accident made me the custodian of this key, which I found on the +floor the day of Elsie's burial. Knowing that it belonged to your +escritoire, whence I saw you take it, I thought it best not to commit +it to a servant's care, and have kept it in my pocket until I thought +you might need it." + +Although the room was growing dim, he detected the expression of dread +that crossed her countenance, and saw her bite her thin lip with +vexation. + +"You have worn for one month the key of my desk, where lie all my +papers and records; and when I was so desperately ill, I presume you +looked into the drawers, merely to ascertain whether I had prepared my +will?" + +The mockery of her tone stung him keenly, but he allowed no evidence +of the wound to escape him. Bending over her as she sat partially +erect, supported by cushions, he took her white face tenderly in his +hands, and said, very calmly and gently,-- + +"When you know me better, you will realize how groundless is your +apprehension that I have penetrated into the recesses of your +writing-desk. Knowing that it contained valuable papers, I guarded it +as jealously as you could have done; and, upon the honor of a +gentleman, I assure you I am as ignorant of its contents as if I had +never entered the house. When I consider it essential to my peace of +mind to become acquainted with your antecedents, I shall come to you +and ask what I desire to learn. While you were so ill, I told Robert +that your friends should be notified of your imminent danger, and +inquired of him whether you had made a will, as I deemed it my duty to +inform your agent of your alarming condition. He either could not or +would not give me any satisfactory reply, and there the matter ended. +When I am gone, do not reproach yourself for having so unjustly +impugned my motives, for I shall not allow myself to believe that you +really entertain so contemptible an opinion of me; and shall ascribe +your hasty accusation to mere momentary chagrin and pique." + +"Ah, sir! you ought not to wonder that I am so suspicious; you--but +how can you understand the grounds of my distrust, unless--" + +"Hush! We will not discuss a matter which can only excite and annoy +you. Mrs. Gerome, under all circumstances you may unhesitatingly trust +me, and I beg to assure you I shall never divulge anything confided to +me. You need a friend, and perhaps some day you may consider me worthy +to serve you in that capacity; meantime, as your physician, I shall +continue to watch over and control you. To-day you have cruelly +overtasked your exhausted system, and I can not permit you to remain +here any longer. Come immediately to your own room." + +His manner was so quietly authoritative that she obeyed instantly, and +when he lifted her from the sofa, she took his arm, and walked towards +the door. Before they had crossed the hall, he felt her reel and lean +more heavily against him, and silently he took the thin form in his +arms, and carried her to her room. + +The gray head was on his shoulder, and the cold marble cheek touched +his, as he laid her softly down on her bed and arranged her pillows. +He rang for Katie, and, in crossing the floor, stepped on something +hard. It was too dusky in the closely curtained apartment to see any +object so small, but he swept his hand across the carpet and picked up +the key that had slipped from her nerveless fingers. Placing it beside +her, he smiled and said,-- + +"You are incorrigibly careless. Are you not afraid to tax my curiosity +so severely, and tempt me so pertinaciously, by strewing your keys in +my path? The next time I pick up this one, which belongs to your +escritoire, I shall engage some one to act as your guardian. Katie, be +sure she takes that tonic mixture three times a day. Good-night." + +When the sound of his retreating footsteps died away, Mrs. Gerome +thrust the key under her pillow, and murmured,-- + +"I wonder whether this Ulpian can be as true, as trusty, as nobly +fearless as his grand old Roman namesake, whom not even the purple of +Severus could save from martyrdom? Ah! if Ulpian Grey is really all +that he appears. But how dare I hope, much less believe it? Verily, he +reminds me of Madame de Chatenay's description of Joubert, 'He seems +to be a soul that by accident had met with a body, and tried to make +the best of it.'" + +"Did you speak to me, ma'am?" asked Katie, who was bustling about, +preparing to light the lamp. + +"No. The room is like a tomb. Open the blinds and loop back all the +curtains, so that I can look out." + + "And the sunset paled, and warmed once more + With a softer, tenderer after-glow; + In the east was moon-rise, with boats off-shore + And sails in the distance drifting slow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +"Doctor Grey, sister says she wants to see you, before you go to +town." + +Jessie Owen came softly up to the table where Dr. Grey sat writing, +and stood with her hand on his knee. + +"Very well. Tell sister I will come to her as soon as I finish this +letter. Where is she?" + +"In the library." + +"In ten minutes I shall be at leisure." + +He found Salome with a piece of sewing in her hand, and her young +sister leaning on her lap, chattering merrily about a nest full of +eggs which she and Stanley had found that morning in a corner of the +orchard; while the latter swung on the back of her chair, winding over +his finger a short curl that lay on her neck. It was a pleasant, +peaceful, homelike picture, worthy of Eastman Johnson's brush, and for +thirty years such a group had not been seen in that quiet old +library. + +Dr. Grey paused at the threshold, to admire the graceful pose of +Jessie's fairy figure,--the lazy nonchalance of Stanley's posture,--and +the finely shaped head that rose above both, like some stately lily, +surrounded by clustering croci; but Salome was listening for his +footsteps, and turned her head at his entrance. + +"Stanley, take Jessie up to my room, and show her your Chinese puzzle. +When I want either or both of you, I will call you. Close the door +after you, and mind that you do not get to romping, and shake the +house down." + +"How very pretty Jessie has grown during the last year. Her complexion +has lost its muddy tinge, and is almost waxen," said the doctor, when +the children had left the room and scampered up stairs. + +"She is a very sweet-tempered and affectionate little thing, but I +never considered her pretty. She is too much like her father." + +"Salome, death veils all blemishes." + +"That depends very much on the character of the survivors; but we will +not discuss abstract propositions,--especially since I have resolved +to follow the old oriental maxim,-- + + 'Leave ancestry behind, despise heraldic art, + Thy father be thy mind, thy mother be thy heart. + Dead names concern not thee, bid foreign titles wait; + Thy deeds thy pedigree, thy hopes thy rich estate!' + +Dr. Grey, the week has ended, and I took the liberty of reminding you +of the fact, as I am anxious to acquaint you with my purposes for the +future." + +He drew a chair near hers, and seated himself. + +"Well, Salome, I hope that reflection has changed your views, and +taught you the wisdom of my sister's course with reference to +yourself." + +"On the contrary, the season of deliberation you forced upon me has +only strengthened and intensified my desire to carry into execution +the project I have so long dreamed of; and to-day I am more than ever +firmly resolved to follow, at all hazards, the dictates of my own +judgment, no matter with whose opinions or wishes they may conflict." + +She expected that he would expostulate, and plead against her +decision, but he merely bowed, and remained silent. + +"My object in asking this interview was to ascertain how soon it would +be convenient for you to place in my hands the legacy of one thousand +dollars which was bequeathed to me on condition that I went upon the +stage; and also to inquire what you intend to do with the children, of +whom Miss Jane's will constitutes you the guardian?" + +"You wish me to understand that you are determined to defy the wishes +of your best friend, and take a step which distressed her beyond +expression?" + +"I shall certainly go upon the stage." + +"I have no alternative but to accept your decision, which you are well +aware I regard as exceedingly deplorable. The money can be paid to you +to-morrow, if you desire it. Hoping that you would abandon this freak, +I had intended to keep the children here, under your supervision, +while I removed to my house in town, and left their tuition to Miss +Dexter; but since you have decided otherwise, I shall remain here for +the present, keeping them with me, at least until after Muriel's +marriage. The income from this farm averages two thousand dollars a +year, and will not only amply provide for their wants and education, +but will enable me to lay aside annually a portion of that amount. +When Muriel marries, Miss Dexter may not be willing to remain here, +and if she leaves us I shall endeavor to find as worthy and reliable a +substitute. Have you any objection to this arrangement?" + +"I have no right to utter any, since you are the legal guardian of the +children. But contingencies might arise for which it seems you have +not provided." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that I can trust Jessie and Stanley to you, but when you are +married I prefer that they should find another home; or, if need be, +Jessie can come to me." + +An angry flush dyed Dr. Grey's olive face, and kindled a fiery gleam +in his usually mild, clear, blue eyes, but looking at the girl's +compressed and trembling lips, and noting the underlying misery which +her defiant expression could not cover, his displeasure gave place to +profound compassion. + +"Salome, dismiss that cause of anxiety from your mind, and trust the +assurance I offer you now,--that when I marry, my wife will be worthy +to assist me in guiding and governing my wards." + +She was prepared to hear him retort that the career she had chosen +would render her an unsuitable counsellor for little Jessie; and +conscious that she had deeply wounded him, his calm reply was the +sharpest rebuke he could possibly have administered. + +"Dr. Grey, I have no extraordinary amount of tenderness for the +children, because they are indissolubly associated with that period of +my life to which I never recur without pain and humiliation that you +can not possibly realize or comprehend; still, I am not exactly a +brute, and I do not wish them to be trained to regard me as a Pariah, +or to be told that I have forfeited their respect and affection. When +I am gone, let them think kindly of me." + +"Your request is a reflection upon my friendship, and is so +exceedingly unjust that I am surprised and pained; but let that pass. +I am sure I need not tell you that your wishes shall be complied with. +I have often thought that after Stanley completed his studies, I would +take him into my office, and teach him my own profession. Have you any +objection to this scheme?" + +"No, sir. I am willing to trust him implicitly to you. He has one +terrible fault which I have been trying to correct, and which I hope +you will not lose sight of. The boy seems constitutionally addicted to +telling stories, and prefers falsehood to truth. I have punished him +repeatedly for this habit, and you must, if possible, save him from +the pauper vice of lying, which is peculiarly detestable to me. I know +less of the little one's character, but believe that she is not +afflicted with this evil tendency." + +"Stanley's fault has not escaped me, and two days ago I was obliged to +punish him for a gross violation of the truth; but as he grows older, +I trust he will correct this defect, and I shall faithfully endeavor +to show him its enormity. Is there anything else you wish to say to me +about the children? I will very gladly hear any suggestions you can +offer." + +"No, sir. I have governed myself so badly, that it ill becomes me to +dictate to you how they should be trained. God knows, I am heartily +glad they were mercifully thrown into your hands; and if you can only +make Stanley Owen such a man as you are, the old blot on the name may +be effaced. From Mark and Joel I have not heard for several months, +and presume they will be sturdy but unlettered mechanics. If I +succeed, I shall interfere and send them to school; otherwise, they +must take the chances for letters and a livelihood." + +"Salome, you are bartering life-long peace and happiness for the +momentary gratification of a whim, prompted solely by vanity. How +worthless are the brief hollow plaudits of the world (which will +regard you merely as the toy of an hour), in comparison with the +affection and society of your own family? Here, in your home, how +useful, how contented you might be!" + +Her only reply was a hasty, imperious wave of the hand, and a long +silence followed. + +In the bright morning light that streamed in through the tendrils of +honeysuckle clambering around the window, Dr. Grey looked searchingly +at the orphan, and could scarcely realize that this pale, proud, +pain-stricken face, was the same rosy round one, fair and fearless, +that had first met his gaze under the pearly apple-blossoms. + +Then, pink flesh, hazel eyes, vermillioned lips, and glossy hair had +preferred incontestable claims to beauty; now, an artist would have +curiously traced the fine lines and curves daintily drawn about eyes, +brow and mouth, by the stylus of care, of hopelessness, of wild bursts +of passion. Her figure retained its rounded symmetry, but the +countenance traitorously revealed the struggles, the bitter +disappointments, the vindictive jealousy, and rudely-smitten and +blasted hopes, that had robbed her days of peace and her nights of +sleep. + +Until this moment, Dr. Grey had not fully appreciated the change +that had been wrought by two tedious years, and as he scrutinized +the sadly sharpened and shadowed features, a painful feeling of +humiliation and almost of self-reproach sprang from the consciousness +that his inability to reciprocate her devoted love had brought down +this premature blight upon a young and whilom happy, careless +girl,--transforming her into a reckless, hardened, hopeless woman. + +While his inexorable conscience fully exonerated him from censure, his +generous heart ached in sympathy for hers, and his chivalric +tenderness for all things weaker than himself, bled at the reflection +that he had been unintentionally instrumental in darkening a woman's +life. + +But hope,--beautiful, blue-eyed, sunny-browed hope,--whispered that +this was a fleeting youthful fancy; and that absence and time would +dispel the temporary gloom that now lay on her heart, like some dense +cold vapor which would grow silvery, and melt in morning sunshine. + +Under his steady gaze the blood rose slowly to its old signal-station +on her cheeks, and she put up one hand to shield its scarlet banners. + +"Salome, will you tell me when and where you intend to go? Since you +have resolved to leave us, I desire to know in what way I can aid you, +or contribute to the comfort of the journey you contemplate." + +"From the last letter of Professor V----, declining your proposal that +he should come here and instruct me, I learn that within the ensuing +ten days he will sail for Havre, _en route_ to Italy, where he intends +spending the winter. If possible, I wish to reach New York before his +departure, and to accompany him. The thousand dollars will defray my +expenses until I have completed my musical training, which will fit me +for the stage, and insure an early engagement in some operatic +company. Knowing your high estimate of Professor V----, both as a +gentleman and as a musician, I am exceedingly anxious to place myself +under his protection; especially since his wife and children will meet +him at Paris, and go on to Naples. Are you willing to give me a letter +of introduction, commending me to his favorable consideration?" + +The hesitating timidity with which this request was uttered, touched +him more painfully than aught that had ever passed between them. + +"My dear child, did you suppose that I would permit you to travel +alone to New York, and thrust yourself upon the notice of strangers? I +will accompany you whenever you go, and not only present you to the +professor, but request him to receive you into his family as a member +of his home-circle." + +A quiver shook out the hard lines around her lips, and she turned her +eyes full on his. + +"You are very kind, sir, but that is not necessary; and a letter of +introduction will have the same effect, and save you from a +disagreeable trip. Your time is too valuable to be wasted on such +journeys, and I have no right to expect that solely on my account you +should tear yourself away--from--those dear to you." + +"I think my time could not be more profitably employed than in +promoting the happiness and welfare of my adopted sister, who was so +inexpressibly dear to my noble Janet. It is neither pleasant nor +proper for a young lady to travel without an escort." + +He had risen, and laid his hand lightly on the back of her chair. + + "She smiled; but he could see arise + Her soul from far adown her eyes, + Prepared as if for sacrifice." + +"Is it a mercy, think you, Dr. Grey, to foster a fastidiousness +that can only barb the shafts of penury? What right have toiling +paupers to harbor in their thoughts those dainty scruples that +belong appropriately to princesses and palaces? Why tell me that +this, that, or the other step is not 'proper,' when you know that +necessity goads me? Sir, I feel now like that isolated Florentine, +and echo her words,-- + + ... 'And since help + Must come to me from those who love me not, + Farewell, all helpers. I must help myself, + And am alone from henceforth.'" + +"You prefer that I should not accompany you to New York?" + +"Yes, sir; but I gratefully accept a letter to Professor V----." + +"Very well; it shall be in readiness when you wish it. Have you fixed +any time for your departure?" + +"This is Friday,--and I shall go on the six o'clock train, Monday +morning." + +"Is there any service that I can render you in the interim?" + +"No, thank you." + +"As you have no likeness of the children, would it be agreeable to you +to have their photographs taken to-day,--and, at the same time, a +picture of yourself to be left with them? If you desire it I will meet +you in town, at the gallery, at any hour you may designate." + +Standing before him, she answered, almost scornfully,-- + +"I shall not have time. Some day--if I succeed--I will send them my +photograph, taken in gorgeous robes as _prima donna_; provided you +promise that said robes shall not constitute a _San Benito_, and doom +the picture to the flames. I will detain you no longer, Dr. Grey, as +the sole object of the interview has been accomplished." + +"Pardon me; but I have a word to say. Your career will probably be +brilliantly successful, in which event you will feel no want of +admirers and friends,--and will doubtless ignore me for those who +flatter you more, and really love you less. But, Salome, failure may +overtake you, bringing in its train countless evils that at present +you can not realize,--poverty, disease, desolation, in the midst of +strangers,--and all the woes that, like hungry wolves, attack +homeless, isolated women. I earnestly hope that the leprous hand of +disaster and defeat may never be laid upon your future, but the most +cautious human schemes are fallible--often futile--and if you should +be unsuccessful in your programme, and find yourself unable to +consummate your plans, I ask you now, by the memory of our friendship, +by the sacred memory of the dead, to promise me that you will +immediately write and acquaint me with all your needs, your wishes, +your real condition. Promise me, dear Salome, that you will turn +instantly to me, as you would to Stanley, were he in my place,--that +you will let me prove myself your elder brother,--your truest, best +friend." + +He put his hand on her head, but she recoiled haughtily from his +touch. + +"Dr. Grey, I promise you, + + 'I will not soil thy purple with my dust, + Nor breathe my poison on thy Venice-glass.' + +I promise you that if misfortune, failure, and penury lay hold of me, +you shall be the last human being who will learn it; for I will cloak +myself under a name that will not betray me, and crawl into some +lazaretto, and be buried in some potter's field, among other +mendicants,--unknown, 'unwept, unhonored, and unsung.'" + +If some motherless young chamois, rescued from destruction, and +pampered and caressed, had suddenly turned, and savagely bitten and +lacerated the hand that fondled and fed it, Dr. Grey would not have +been more painfully startled; but experience had taught him the +uselessness of expostulation during her moods of perversity, and he +took his hat and turned away, saying, almost sternly,-- + +"Bear in mind that neither palace nor potter's field can screen you +from the scrutiny of your Maker, or mask and shelter your shivering +soul in the solemn hour when He demands its last reckoning." + +"Which 'reckoning,' your eminently Christian charity assures you will +prove more terrible for me than the Bloody Assizes. 'By the memory of +our friendship!' Oh, shallow sham! Pinning my faith to the _dictum_, +'The tide of friendship does not rise high on the bank of perfection,' +my fatuity led me to expect that your friendship was wide as the +universe, and lasting as eternity. Wise Helvetius told me that, 'To be +loved, we should merit but little esteem; all superiority attracts awe +and aversion;' _ergo_, since my credentials of unworthiness were +indisputable, I laid claim to a vast share of your favor. But, alas! +the logic of the seers is well-nigh as hollow as my hopes." + +He looked over his shoulder at her, with an expression of pity as +profound as that which must have filled the eyes of the angel, who, +standing in the blaze of the sword of wrath, watched Adam and Eve go +mournfully forth into the blistering heats of unknown lands. Before he +could reply, she laughed contemptuously, and continued,-- + +"_Nil desperandum_, Dr. Grey. Remember that, 'Faith and persistency +are life's architects; while doubt and despair bury all under the +ruins of any endeavor.' When I have trilled a fortune into that +abhorred vacuum, my pocket, I shall go down to the Tigris, and catch +the mate to Tobias' fish, and by the cremation thereof, fumigate my +pestiferous soul, and smoke out the Asmodeus that has so long and +comfortably dwelt there." + +"God grant you a Raphael, as guide on your journey," was his calm, +earnest reply, as he disappeared, closing the door after him. + +When the sound of his buggy-wheels on the gravelled avenue told her he +had gone, she threw herself on the floor, and crossing her arms on a +chair, hid her face in them. + +During Saturday, no opportunity presented itself for renewing the +conversation, and early on Sunday morning Dr. Grey sent to her room a +package marked $1,000.00--though really containing $1,500.00--and a +letter addressed to Professor V----. Without examining either, she +threw them into her trunk, which was already packed, and went down to +breakfast. + +She declined accompanying Miss Dexter and Muriel to church, alleging, +as an excuse, that it was the last day she could spend with the +children. + +Dr. Grey approached her when the remainder of the family had left the +table, where she sat abstractedly jingling her fork and spoon. + +He noticed that her breakfast was untasted, and said, very gently,-- + +"I suppose that you wish to visit our dear Jane's grave, before you +leave us, and, if agreeable to you, I shall be glad to have you +accompany me there to-day." + +"Thank you; but if I go, it will be alone." + +He stooped to kiss Jessie, who leaned against her sister's chair, and, +when he left the room, Salome caught the child in her arms, and +pressed her lips twice to the spot where his had rested. + +Late in the afternoon she eluded the children's watchful eyes, and +stole away from the house, taking the road that led towards +"Solitude." In one portion of the osage hedge that surrounded the +place, the lower branches had died, leaving a small opening, and here +Salome gained access to the grounds. Walking cautiously under the +thick and dark masses of shrubbery and trees, she reached the arched +path near the clump of pyramidal deodars, whose long, drooping plumes +were fluttering in the evening wind. + +Thence she could command a view of the house and grounds in front, and +thence she saw that concerning which she had come to satisfy +herself,--believing that the evidence of her own eyes would fortify +her for the approaching trial of separation. Dr. Grey's horse and +buggy stood near the side gate, and Dr. Grey was walking very slowly +up and down the avenue leading to the beach, while Mrs. Gerome's tall +form leaned on his arm, and the greyhound followed sulkily. + +Salome had barely time to look upon the spectacle that fired her heart +and well-nigh maddened her, ere the dog lifted his head, gave one +quick, savage bark, and darted in the direction of the cedars. + +Dread of detection and of Dr. Grey's pitying gaze was more potent than +fear of the brute, and she ran swiftly towards the gap in the hedge, +by which she had effected an entrance into the secluded grounds. Just +as she reached it, the greyhound bounded up, and they met in front of +the opening. He set his teeth in her clothes, tearing away a streamer +of her black dress, and, as she silently struggled, he bit her arm +badly, mangling the flesh, from which the blood spouted. Disengaging a +shawl which she wore around her shoulders, she threw it over his head, +and, as the meshes caught in his collar, and temporarily entangled +him, she sprang through the gap, and seized a heavy stick which lay +within reach. He followed, snarling and pawing at the shawl that +ultimately dropped at Salome's feet; but finding himself beyond the +boundary he was expected to guard, and probably satisfied with the +punishment already inflicted, he retreated before a well-aimed blow +that drove him back into the enclosure. + +The instant he started towards the cedars Dr. Grey suspected mischief, +and, placing Mrs. Gerome on a bench that surrounded an elm, he hurried +in the same direction. + +When he reached the spot, the dog was snuffing at a patch of bombazine +that lay on the grass; and, confirmed in his sad suspicion, the doctor +passed through the opening in the hedge and looked about for the +figure which he dreaded, yet expected to see. + +Bushy undergrowth covered the ground for some distance, and, hoping +that nothing more serious than fright had resulted from the escapade, +he stowed away the bombazine fragment in his coat pocket, and slowly +retraced his steps. + +Secreted by two friendly oaks that spread their low boughs over her, +Salome had seen his anxious face peering around for the intruder, and +when he abandoned the search and disappeared, she smothered a bitter +laugh, and strove to stanch the blood that trickled from the gash by +binding her handkerchief over it. Torn muscles and tendons ached and +smarted; but the great agony that seemed devouring her heart rendered +her almost oblivious of physical pain. In the dusk of coming night she +crossed the gloomy forest, where a whippoorwill was drearily +lamenting, and, walking over an unfrequented portion of the lawn, went +up to her own room. + +She bathed and bound up the wound as securely as the use of only one +hand would permit, and put on a dress whose sleeves fastened closely +at the wrist. + +Ere long, Dr. Grey's clear voice echoed through the hall, and the +sound made her wince, like the touch of some glowing brand. + +"Jessie, where is sister Salome? Tell her tea is ready." + +The orphan went down and took her seat, but did not even glance at +the master of the house, who looked anxiously at her as she entered. + +During the meal Jessie asked for some sweetmeats that were placed in +front of her sister, and, as the latter drew the glass dish nearer, +and proceeded to help her, the child exclaimed,-- + +"Oh, look there! What is that dripping from your sleeve? Ugh! it is +blood." + +"Nonsense, Jessie! don't be silly. Hush! and eat your supper." + +Two drops of blood had fallen on the table-cloth, and the girl +instantly set her cup and saucer over them. + +She felt the slow stream trickling down to her wrist, and put her arm +in her lap. + +"Is anything the matter?" asked Dr. Grey, who had observed the quick +movement. + +"I hurt my arm a little, that is all." + +Her tone forbade a renewal of inquiry, and, as soon as possible, she +withdrew to her room, to adjust the bandage. + +The children were playing in the library, and Muriel was walking with +her governess on the wide piazza. + +While Salome was trying by the aid of fingers and teeth to draw a +strip of linen tightly over her wound, a tap at the door startled +her. + +"I am engaged, and can see no one just now." + +"Salome, I want to speak to you, and shall wait here until I do." + +"Excuse me, Dr. Grey. I will come down in ten minutes." + +"Pardon me, but I insist upon seeing you here, and hope you will not +compel me to force the door open." + +She wrapped a towel around her arm, drew down her sleeve, and opened +the door. + +"To what am I indebted for the honor of this interview?" + +"To my interest in your welfare, which cannot be baffled. Salome, what +is the matter? You looked so pale that I noticed you particularly, and +saw the blood on the table-cloth. My dear child, I will not be trifled +with. Tell me where you are hurt." + +"Pray give yourself no uneasiness. I merely scraped and bruised my +arm. It is a matter of no consequence." + +"Of that I beg to be considered the best judge. Show me your arm." + +"I prefer not to trouble you." + +He gently but firmly took hold of it, unwound the towel, and she saw +him start and shudder at sight of the mangled flesh. + +"An ugly gash! Tell me how you hurt yourself so severely." + +"It is a matter that I do not choose to discuss; but since you have +seen it, I wish you would be so good as to dress and bandage the +wound." + +"Oh, my little sister! Will you never learn to trust your brother?" + +"Oh, Dr. Grey! will you never learn to let me alone, when I am +indulging the 'Imp of the Perverse' in an audience, and do not wish to +be interrupted?" + +She mimicked his pleading tone so admirably that his face flushed. + +"Come to the sitting-room. No one can disturb us there, and I will +attend to your injury, which is really serious." + +She followed him, and stood without flinching one iota, while he +clipped away the jagged pieces of flesh, covered the long gash with +adhesive plaster, and carefully bandaged the whole. + +"Salome, you must dismiss all idea of starting to-morrow, for indeed +it would not be safe for you to travel alone, with your arm in this +condition. It may give you much trouble and suffering." + +"Which, of course, _nolens volens_, I must bear as best I may; but, so +surely as I live to see daylight, I shall start, even if I knew I +should have to stop _en route_ and bury my pretty arm, and be forced +to buy a cork one, wherewith to gesticulate gracefully when I die as +'Azucena.' There! thank you, Dr. Grey; of course you are very +good,--you always are. Shall I bid you all good-by now, or wait till +morning? Better make my adieu to-night, so that I may not disturb the +matutinal slumbers of the household." + +There was a dangerous, starry sparkle in her eyes, that he would not +venture to defy, and, sighing heavily, he answered,-- + +"I shall accompany you to the depôt, and place you under the +protection of the conductor." + +"I do not desire to give you that trouble, and--" + +"Hush! Do not grieve me any more than you have already done, by your +hasty, unkind, unfriendly speeches. I shall see you in the morning." + +He left the room abruptly, to conceal the distress which he did not +desire her to discover; and having found Muriel and Miss Dexter, +Salome bade them good-by, requested them not to disturb themselves +next morning on her account, and called the children to her room. + +For two hours they sat beside her on the lounge, crying over her +impending departure, but when she had promised to take them as far as +the depôt, their thoughts followed other currents, and very soon +after, both slumbered soundly in their trundle-bed. + +With her cheek resting on her hand, Salome sat looking at them, noting +the glossiness of their curling hair, the flush on their round faces, +the regular breathing of peaceful childhood's sleep. Once she could +have wept, and would have knelt and prayed over them; but now her own +overmastering misery had withered all the tenderness in her heart, +and, while her eyes of flesh rested on the orphans, her mental vision +was filled with the figure of that gray-haired woman hanging on Dr. +Grey's arm. In a dull, cold, abstract way, she hoped that the little +ones would be happy,--how could they be otherwise when fortune had +committed them to Dr. Grey's guardianship? But a numb, desperate +feeling had seized her, and she cared for nothing, loved nothing, +prayed for nothing. + +How the hours of that night of wretchedness passed she never knew; but +when the little bird in the parlor clock "cuckooed" three times, she +was aroused from her reverie by the tramp of horses' hoofs on the +gravel, and then the sharp clang of the bell echoed through the silent +house. + +It was not unusual for messengers to summon Dr. Grey during the night, +and she was not surprised when, some moments later, she heard his +voice in the hall. After the lapse of a quarter of an hour, his firm, +well-known step approached and paused at her threshold. + +"Salome, are you up?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Come into the passage." + +She opened the door, and stood with the candle in her hand. + +"I regret exceedingly that I am compelled to leave here immediately, +as I must hasten to see a man and child who have been horribly burned +and injured by the falling in of a roof. The parties live some +distance in the country, and I fear I shall not be able to get back in +time to go with you to the cars. I shall drive as rapidly as possible, +and hope to accompany you, but if I should be detained, here is a note +which I hastily scribbled to Mr. Miller, the conductor, whom you will +find a very kind and courteous gentleman. I sincerely deplore this +summons, but the sufferers are old friends of my sister, and I hope +you will believe that nothing but a case of life and death would +prevent me from seeing you aboard the train." + +"I am sorry, sir, that you thought it necessary to apologize." + +She was not yet prepared to part from him forever,--she had been +nerving herself for the final interview at the depôt; but now it came +with a shock that utterly stunned her, and she reeled against the +door-facing, as if recoiling from some fearful blow. + +The livid pallor of her lips, and the spasm of agony that contracted +her features, frightened him, and, as he sprang closer to her, the +candle fell from her fingers. He caught it, ere it reached the mat, +and placed it on a chair. + +"My dear child, your arm pains you, and I beg you to defer your +journey at least until Tuesday. I shall be anxious and miserable +about you, if you go this morning, and, for my sake, Salome, if not +for your own, remain here one day longer. I have not asked many things +of you, and I trust you will not refuse this last request I may ever +be allowed to make." + +She attempted to speak, but there came only a quiver across her mouth, +and a sickly smile that flickered over the ghastly proud face, like +the lying sunshine of Indian summer on marble cenotaphs. + +"Salome, you will, to oblige me, wait until Tuesday?" + +She shook her head, and mastered her weakness. + +"No, Dr. Grey; I must go at once. I take all the hazard." + +"Then you will find on the mantelpiece in my room, a paper containing +directions for the treatment of your arm, which demands care and +attention. I am sorry you are so obstinate, and, if I possessed the +authority, I would forbid your departure." + +He could not endure the despairing expression of her eyes, which +seemed supernaturally large and brilliant, and his own quailed, for +the first time within his recollection. She knew that she was going +away forever, to avoid the sight of his happiness with Mrs. Gerome; +that, in comparison with that torture, all other trials, even +separation, would be endurable, but the least evil was more severe +than she had dreaded. Now, as she looked up at his noble face, +overshadowed with anxiety and regret, and paler than she had ever seen +it, the one prayer of her heart was, that, ere a wife's lips touched +his, death might claim him for its prey. + +"Salome, I am deeply pained by the course you persist in following, +but I will not provoke and annoy you by renewed expression of a +disapprobation that has proved so ineffectual in influencing your +decision. God grant that the results may sanction your confidence in +your own judgment,--your distrust of mine. I promised you once that I +would pray for you, and I wish to assure you, that, while I live, I +shall never lay my head upon my pillow without having first committed +you to the mercy and loving care of that Guardian who never 'slumbers, +nor sleeps.' May God bless and guide you, my dear young friend, and if +not again in this world, grant that we may meet in the Everlasting +City of Peace. Little sister, be sure to meet me in the Kingdom of +Rest, where dear Janet waits for us both." + +His calm eyes filled with tears, and his voice grew tremulous, as he +took Salome's cold, passive hand, and kissed it. + +"Good-by, Dr. Grey; if I find my way to heaven, it will be because you +are there. When I am gone, let my name and memory be like that of the +dead." + +She stood erect, with her fingers lying in his palm, and the ring of +her voice was like the clashing of steel against steel. + +He bent down, and, for the first time, pressed his lips to her +forehead; then turned quickly and walked away. When he reached the +head of the stairs, he looked back and saw her standing in the door, +with the candle-light flaring over her face; and in after years, he +could never recall, without a keen pang, that vision of a girlish form +draped in mourning, and of fair, rigid features, which hope and +happiness could never again soften and brighten. + +Her splendid eyes followed him, as if the sole light of her life were +passing away forever; and, with a heavy sigh, he hurried down the +steps, realizing all the mournful burden of that Portuguese sonnet,-- + + "Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand + Henceforward in thy shadow. Nevermore + Alone upon the threshold of my door + Of individual life, I shall command + The uses of my soul, nor lift my hand + Serenely in the sunshine as before, + Without the sense of that which I forbore-- + Thy touch upon the palm. The widest land + Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine, + With pulses that beat double. What I do + And what I dream include thee, as the wine + Must taste of its own grapes. And when I sue + God for myself, He hears that name of thine, + And sees within my eyes the tears of two." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +"I hope nothing has gone wrong, Robert? You look unusually forlorn and +doleful." + +Dr. Grey stepped out of his buggy, and accosted the gardener, who was +leaning idly on the gate, holding a trowel in his hand, and lazily +puffing the smoke from his pipe. + +"I thank you, sir; with us the world wags on pretty much the same, +but when a man has been planting violets on his mother's grave he does +not feel like whistling and making merry. Besides, to tell the +truth,--which I do not like to shirk,--I am getting very tired of +this dismal, unlucky place. If I had known as much before I bought +it as I do now, all the locomotives in America could not have +dragged me here. I was a stranger, and of course nobody thought it +their special duty to warn me; so I was bitten badly enough by the +agent who sold me this den of misfortune. Now, when it is too +late, there is no lack of busy tongues to tell me the place is +haunted, and has been for, lo! these many years." + +"Nonsense, Robert! I gave you credit for too much good sense to listen +to the gossip of silly old wives. Put all these ridiculous tales of +ghosts and hobgoblins out of your mind, man, and do not make me laugh +at you, as if you were a child who had been so frightened by stories +of 'raw-head and bloody-bones,' that you were afraid to blow out your +candle and creep into bed." + +"I am neither a fool nor a coward, and I will fight anything that I +can feel has bone and muscle; but I am satisfied that if all the water +in Siloam were poured over this place, it would not wash out the curse +that people tell me has always rested on it since the time the pirates +first located here. I can't admit I believe in witches, but +undoubtedly I do believe in Satan, who seems to have a fee-simple to +the place. It is not enough that my poor mother is buried yonder, but +my wheat and oats took the rust; the mildew spoiled my grape crop; the +rains ruined my melons; the worms ate up every blade of my grass; the +cows have got the black-tongue; the gale blew down my pigeon-house and +mashed all my squabs; and my splendid carnations and fuchsias are +devoured by red spider. Nothing thrives, and I am sick at heart." + +The dogged discontent written so legibly on his countenance, did not +encourage the visitor to enter into a discussion of the abstract +causes of blight, gales, and black-tongue, and he merely answered,-- + +"The evils you have enumerated are not peculiar to any locality; and +all the farmers in this neighborhood are echoing your complaints. How +is Mrs. Gerome?" + +"Neither better nor worse. You know what miserable weather we have had +for a week. This morning she ordered the small carriage and horses +brought to the door, and when I took the reins, she dismissed me and +said she preferred driving herself. I told her the grays had not been +used, and were badly pampered standing so long in their stalls, and +that I was really afraid they would break her neck, as she was not +strong enough to manage them; but she laughed, and answered that if +they did, it would be the best day's work they had ever accomplished, +and she would give them a chance. Down the beach they went like a +flash, and when she came home their flanks smoked like a lime-kiln. +What is ever to be done with my mistress, I am sure I don't know. She +makes the house so doleful, that nobody wants to stay here, and only +yesterday Katie and Phoebe, the cook, gave notice that they wished to +leave when the month was out. She has no idea what she will do, or +where she will go. We have wanted a hot-house, and she ordered me to +get the builder's estimate of the cost of two plans which she drew; +but when I carried them to her, she pushed them aside, and said she +would think of the matter, but thought she might leave this place, and +therefore would not need the building. She is as notionate as a child; +and no one but my poor mother could ever manage her. Hist! sir! Don't +you hear her? You may be sure there is mischief brewing when she sings +like that." + +Dr. Grey walked towards the house, and paused on the portico to +listen,-- + + "Quis est homo, qui non fleret + Christi matrem si videret, + In tanto supplicio." + +The voice was not so strong as when he had heard it in _Addio del +Passata_, but the solemn mournfulness of its cadences was better +suited to the _Stabat Mater_, and indexed much that no other method of +expression would have reached. After some moments she forsook Rossini, +and began the _Agnus Dei_ from Haydn's Third Mass,-- + + "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere." + +Surely she could not render this grand strain if her soul was in +fierce rebellion; and, with strained ears and hushed breath, Dr. Grey +listened to the closing + + "Dona nobis pacem,--pacem,--pacem." + +It was a passionate, wailing prayer, and the only one that ever +crossed her lips, yet his heart throbbed with pleasure, as he noted +the tremor that seemed to shiver her voice into silvery fragments; and +as she ended, he knew that tears were not far from her eyes. + +When he entered the room, she had left the piano, and wheeled a sofa +in front of the grate, where she sat gazing, vacantly into the fiery +fretwork of glowing coals. + +A copy of Turner's "Liber Studiorum," superbly bound in purple velvet, +lay on her knee, and into a corner of the sofa she had tossed a square +of canvas almost filled with silken Parmese violets. + +"Good-evening, Mrs. Gerome; I hope I do not interrupt you." + +Dr. Grey removed the embroidery to the table, and seated himself in +the sofa corner. + +"Good evening. Interruption argues occupation and absorbed attention, +and the term is not applicable to me. I who live as vainly, as +uselessly, as fruitlessly, as some fakir twirling his thumbs and +staring at his beard, have little right to call anything an +interruption. My existence here is as still, as stagnant, as some pool +down yonder in the sedge which last week's waves left among the sand +hillocks, and your visits are like pebbles thrown into it, creating +transient ripples and circles." + +"You have gone back to the God of your æsthetic idolatry," said he, +touching the "Liber Studiorum." + +"Yes, because 'Beauty pitches her tents before him,' and his pencil is +more potent in conjuring visions that enchant my wearied mind, than +Jemschid's goblet or Iskander's mirror." + +"But why stand afar off, trusting to human and fallible interpreters, +when it is your privilege to draw near and dwell in the essence of the +only real and divine beauty?" + +"Better reverence it behind a veil, than suffer like Semele. I know my +needs, and satisfy them fully. Once my heart was as bare of adoration +as Egypt's tawny sands of crystal rain-pools; but looking into the +realm of nature and of art, I chose the religion of the beautiful, and +said to my famished soul, + + 'From every channel thro' which Beauty runs, + To fertilize the world with lovely things, + I will draw freely, and be satisfied.'" + +"This morbid sentimentality, this sickly gasping system of æsthetics, +_soi-disant_ 'Religion of the Beautiful,' is the curse of the +age,--is a vast, universal vampire sucking the life from humanity. +Like other idolatries it may arrogate the name of 'Religion,' but it +is simply downright pagan materialism, and its votaries of the +nineteenth century should look back two thousand years, and renew the +_Panathenoea_. The ancient Greek worship of æsthetics was a proud and +pardonable system, replete with sublime images; but the idols of +your emasculated creed are yellow-haired women with straight +noses,--are purple clouds and moon-silvered seas,--and physical +beauty constitutes their sole excellence. Lovely landscapes and +perfect faces are certainly entitled to a liberal quota of earnest +admiration; but a religion that contents itself with merely +material beauty, differs in nothing but nomenclature from the +pagan worship of Cybele, Venus, and Astarte." + +A chill smile momentarily brightened Mrs. Gerome's features, and +turning towards her visitor, she answered slowly,-- + +"Be thankful, sir, that even the worship of beauty lingers in this +world of sin and hate; and instead of defiling and demolishing its +altars, go to work zealously and erect new ones at every cross-roads. +Lessing spoke for me when he said, 'Only a misapprehended religion can +remove us from the beautiful, and it is proof that a religion is true +and rightly understood when it everywhere brings us back to the +Beautiful.'" + +"Pardon me. I accept Lessing's words, but cavil at your interpretation +of them. His reverence for Beauty embraced not merely physical and +material types, but that nobler, grander beauty which centres in pure +ethics and ontology; and a religion that seeks no higher forms than +those of clay,--whether Himalayas or 'Greek Slave,'--whether emerald +icebergs, flashing under polar auroras, or the myosotis that nods +there on the mantelpiece,--a religion that substitutes beauty for +duty, and Nature for Nature's God, is a shameful sham, and a curse to +its devotees. There is a beauty worthy of all adoration, a beauty far +above Antinous, or Gula or Greek æsthetics,--a beauty that is not the +_disjecta membra_ that modern maudlin sentimentality has left it,--but +that perfect and immortal 'Beauty of Holiness,' that outlives marble +and silver, pigment, stylus, and pagan poems that deify dust." + +He leaned towards her, watching eagerly for some symptom of interest +in the face before him, and bent his head until he inhaled the +fragrance of the violets which clustered on one side of the coil of +hair. + +"'Beauty of Holiness.' Show it to me, Dr. Grey. Is it at La Trappe, or +the Hospice of St. Bernard? Where are its temples? Where are its +worshippers? Who is its Hierophant?" + +"Jesus Christ." + +She closed her eyes for a moment, as if to shut out some painful +vision evoked by his words. + +"Sir, do you recollect the reply of Laplace, when Napoleon asked him +why there was no mention of God in his '_Mécanique Celeste_?' '_Sire, +je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothèse._' I was not sufficiently +insane to base my religion of beauty upon a holiness that was buried +in the tomb supplied by Joseph of Arimathea,--that was long ago hunted +out of the world it might have purified. Once I believed in, and +revered what I supposed was its existence, but I was speedily +disenchanted of my faith, for,-- + + 'I have seen those that wore Heaven's armor, worsted: + I have heard Truth lie: + Seen Life, beside the founts for which it thirsted, + Curse God and die.' + +Dr. Grey, I do not desire to sneer at your Christian trust, and God +knows I would give all my earthly possessions and hopes for a religion +that would insure me your calm resignation and contentment; but the +resurrection of my faith would only resemble that beautiful floral +_Palingenesis_ (asserted by Gaffarel and Kircher), which was but 'the +pale spectre of a flower coming slowly forth from its own ashes,' and +speedily dropping back into dust. Leave me in the enjoyment of the +only pleasure earth can afford me, the contemplation of the +beautiful." + +"Unless you blend with it the true and good, your love of beauty will +degenerate into the merely sensuous æsthetics, which, at the present +day, renders its votaries fastidious, etiolated voluptuaries. The +deification of humanity, so successfully inaugurated by Feuerbach and +Strauss, is now no longer confined to realms of abstract speculation; +but cultivated sensualism has sunk so low that popular poets chant the +praises of Phryne and Cleopatra, and painters and sculptors seek to +immortalize types that degrade the taste of all lovers of Art. The +true mission of Art, whether through the medium of books, statues, or +pictures, is to purify and exalt; but the curse of our age is, that +the fashionable pantheistic raving about Nature, and the apotheosizing +of physical loveliness,--is rapidly sinking into a worship of the +vilest elements of humanity and materialism. Pagan æsthetics were +purer and nobler than the system, which, under that name, finds favor +with our generation." + +She listened, not assentingly, but without any manifestation of +impatience, and while he talked, her eyes rested dreamily upon the +yellow beach, where,-- + + "Trampling up the sloping sand, + In lines outreaching far and wide, + The white-maned billows swept to land." + +Whether she pondered his words, or was too entirely absorbed by her +own thoughts to heed their import, he had no means of ascertaining. + +"Mrs. Gerome, what have you painted recently?" + +"Nothing, since my illness; and perhaps I shall never touch my brush +again. Sometimes I have thought I would paint a picture of Handel +standing up to listen to that sad song from his own 'Samson,'--'_Total +eclipse, no sun, no moon_!' But I doubt whether I could put on +canvas that grand, mournful, blind face, turned eagerly towards the +stage, while tears ran swiftly from his sightless eyes. Again, I have +vague visions of a dead Schopenhauer, seated in the corner of the sofa, +with his pet poodle, Putz, howling at his master's ghastly white +features,--with his Indian Oupnekhat lying on his rigid knee, and +his gilded statuette of Gotama Buddha grinning at him from the +mantelpiece, welcoming him to Nirwána. There stands my easel, empty +and shrouded; and here, from day to day, I sit idle, not lacking +ideas, but the will to clothe them. Unlike poor Maurice de Guérin, who +said that his 'head was parching; that, like a tree which had lived +its life, he felt as though every passing wind were blowing through +dead branches in his top,' I feel that my brain is as vigorous and +restless as ever, while my will alone is paralyzed, and my heart +withered and cold within me." + +"Your brush and palette will never yield you any permanent happiness, +nor promote a spirit of contentment, until you select a different +class of subjects. Your themes are all too sombre, too dismal, and the +sole _motif_ that runs through your music and painting seems to be _in +memoriam_. Open the windows of your gloomy soul, and let God's +sunshine stream into its cold recesses, and warm and gild and gladden +it. Throw aside your morbid proclivities for the melancholy and +abnormal, and paint peaceful _genre_ pictures,--a group of sunburnt, +laughing harvesters, or merry children, or tulip-beds with butterflies +swinging over them. You need more warmth in your heart, and more light +in your pictures." + +"Eminently correct,--most incontestably true; but how do you propose +to remedy the imperfect _chiaro-oscuro_ of my character? Show me +the market where that light of peace and joy is bartered, and I +will constitute you my broker, with unlimited orders. No, no. I see +the fact as plainly as you do, but I know better than you how +irremediable it is. My soul is a doleful _morgue_, and my pictures +are dim photographs of its corpse-tenants. Shut in forever from the +sunshine, I dip my brush in the shadows that surround me, for, +like Empedocles,-- + + ... 'I alone + Am dead to life and joy; therefore I read + In all things my own deadness.'" + +"If you would free yourself from the coils of an intense and selfish +egoism that fetter you to the petty cares and trials of your +individual existence,--if you would endeavor to forget for a season +the woes of Mrs. Gerome, and expend a little more sympathy on the +sorrows of others,--if you would resolve to lose sight of the caprices +that render you so unpopular, and make some human being happy by your +aid and kind words,--in fine, if, instead of selecting as your model +some cynical, half-insane woman like Lady Hester Stanhope, you chose +for imitation the example of noble Christian usefulness and +self-abnegation, analogous to that of Florence Nightingale, or Mrs. +Fry, you would soon find that your conscience--" + +"Enough! You weary me. Dr. Grey, I thoroughly understand your motives, +and honor their purity, but I beg that you will give yourself no +further anxiety on my account. You cannot, from your religious +standpoint, avoid regarding me as worse than a heathen, and have +constituted yourself a missionary to reclaim and consecrate me. I am +not quite a cannibal, ready to devour you, by way of recompense for +your charitable efforts in my behalf, but I must assure you your +interest and sympathy are sadly wasted. Do you remember that +celebrated 'vase of Soissons,' which was plundered by rude soldiery in +Rheims, and which Clovis so eagerly coveted at the distribution of the +spoils? A soldier broke it before the king's hungry eyes, and forced +him to take the worthless mocking fragments. Even so flint-faced fate +shattered my happiness, and tauntingly offers me the ruins; but I will +none of it!" + +"Trust God's overruling mercy, and those fragments, fused in the +furnace of affliction, may be remoulded and restored to you in +pristine perfection." + +"Impossible! Moreover, I trust nothing but the brevity of human life, +which one day cannot fail to release me from an existence that has +proved an almost intolerable burden. You know Vogt says, 'The natural +laws are rude, unbending powers,' and I comfort myself by hoping that +they can neither be bribed nor browbeaten out of the discharge of +their duty, which points to death as 'the surest calculation that can +be made,--as the unavoidable keystone of every individual life.' A +grim consolation, you think? True; but all I shall ever receive. Dr. +Grey, in your estimation I am sinfully inert and self-indulgent; and +you conscientiously commend my idle hands to the benevolent work of +knitting socks for indigent ditchers, and making jackets for pauper +children. Now, although it is considered neither orthodox nor modest +to furnish left-hand with a trumpet for sounding the praises of +almsgiving right-hand, still I must be allowed to assert that I +appropriate an ample share of my fortune for charitable purposes. +Perhaps you will tell me that I do not give in a proper spirit of +loving sympathy,--that I hurl my donations at my conscience, as 'a sop +to Cerberus.' I have never injured any one, and if I have no tender +love in my heart to expend on others, it is the fault of that world +which taught me how hollow and deceitful it is. God knows I have never +intentionally wounded any living thing; and if negatively good, at +least my career has no stain of positive evil upon it. I am one of +those concerning whom Richter said, 'There are souls for whom life has +no summer. These should enjoy the advantages of the inhabitants of +Spitzbergen, where, through the winter's day, the stars shine clear as +through the winter's night.' I have neither summer nor polar stars, +but I wait for that long night wherein I shall sleep peacefully." + +"Mrs. Gerome, defiant pride bars your heart from the white-handed +peace that even now seeks entrance. Some great sorrow or sin has +darkened your past, and, instead of ejecting its memory, you hug it to +your soul; you make it a mental Juggernaut, crushing the hopes and +aims that might otherwise brighten the path along which you drag this +murderous idol. Cast it away forever, and let Peace and Hope clasp +hands over its empty throne." + +From that peculiar far-off expression of the human eye that generally +indicates abstraction of mind, he feared that she had not heard his +earnest appeal; but after some seconds, she smiled drearily, and +repeated with singular and touching pathos, lines which proved that +his words were not lost upon her,-- + + "'Ah, could the memory cast her spots, as do + The snake's brood theirs in spring! and be once more + Wholly renewed, to dwell in the time that's new,-- + With no reiterance of those pangs of yore. + Peace, peace! Ah, forgotten things + Stumble back strangely! and the ghost of June + Stands by December's fire, cold, cold! and puts + The last spark out.'" + +The mournful sweetness and calmness of her low voice made Dr. Grey's +heart throb fiercely, and he leaned a little farther forward to study +her countenance. She had rested her elbow on the carved side of the +sofa, and now her cheek nestled for support in one hand, while the +other toyed unconsciously with the velvet edges of the _Liber +Studiorum_. Her dress was of some soft, shining fabric, neither satin +nor silk, and its pale blue lustre shed a chill, pure light over the +wan, delicate face, that was white as a bending lily. + +The faint yet almost mesmeric fragrance of orange flowers and violets +floated in the folds of her garments, and seemed lurking in the waves +of gray hair that glistened in the bright steady glow of the red +grate; and moved by one of those unaccountable impulses that sometimes +decide a man's destiny, Dr. Grey took the exquisitely beautiful hand +from the book and enclosed it in both of his. + +"Mrs. Gerome, you seem strangely unsuspicious of the real nature of +the interest with which you have inspired me; and I owe it to you, +as well as to myself, to avow the feelings that prompt me to seek +your society so frequently. For some months after I met you, my +professional visits afforded me only rare and tantalizing glimpses of +you, but from the day of Elsie's death, I have been conscious that my +happiness is indissolubly linked with yours,--that my heart, which +never before acknowledged allegiance to any woman, is--" + +"For God's sake, stop! I cannot listen to you." + +She had wrung her hand violently from his clinging fingers, and, +springing to her feet, stood waving him from her, while an expression +of horror came swiftly into her eyes and over her whole countenance. + +Dr. Grey rose also, and though a sudden pallor spread from his lips to +his temples, his calm voice did not falter. + +"Is it because you can never return my love, that you so vehemently +refuse to hear its avowal? Is it because your own heart--" + +"It is because your love is an insult, and must not be uttered!" + +She shivered as if rudely buffeted by some freezing blast, and the +steely glitter leaped up, like the flash of a poniard, in her large, +dilating eyes. + +Shocked and perplexed, he looked for a moment at her writhing +features, and put out his hand. + +"Can it be possible that you so utterly misapprehend me? You surely +can not doubt the earnestness of an affection which impels me to offer +my hand and heart to you,--the first woman I have ever loved. Will you +refuse--" + +"Stand back! Do not touch me! Ah,--God help me! Take your hand from +mine. Are you blind? If you were an archangel I could not listen to +you, for--for--oh, Dr. Grey!" + +She covered her face with her hands, and staggered towards a chair. + +A horrible, sickening suspicion made his brain whirl and his heart +stand still. He followed her, and said, pleadingly,-- + +"Do not keep me in painful suspense. Why is my declaration of devoted +affection so revolting to you? Why can you not at least permit me to +express the love--" + +"Because that love dishonors me! Dr. Grey, I--am--a--wife!" + +The words fell slowly from her white lips, as if her heart's blood +were dripping with them, and a deep, purplish spot burned on each +cheek, to attest her utter humiliation. + +Dr. Grey gazed at her, with a bewildered, incredulous expression. + +"You mean that your heart is buried in your husband's grave?" + +"Oh, if that were true, you and I might be spared this shame and +agony." + +A low wail escaped her, and she hid her face in her arms. + +"Mrs. Gerome, is not your husband dead?" + +"Dead to me,--but not yet in his grave. The man I married is still +alive." + +She heard a half-stifled groan, and buried her face deeper in her arms +to avoid the sight of the suffering she had caused. + +For some time the stillness of death reigned around them, and when at +last the wretched woman raised her eyes, she saw Dr. Grey standing +beside her, with one hand on the back of her chair, the other clasped +over his eyes. Reverently she turned and pressed her lips to his cold +fingers, and he felt her hot tears falling upon them, as she said, +falteringly,-- + +"Forgive me the pain that I have innocently inflicted on you. God is +my witness, I did not imagine you cared for me. I supposed you pitied +me, and were only interested in saving my miserable soul. The servants +told me you were very soon to be married to a young girl who lived +with your sister; and I never dreamed that your noble, generous heart +felt any interest in me, save that of genuine Christian compassion for +my loneliness and desolation. If I had suspected your feelings, I +would have gone away immediately, or told you all. Oh, that I had +never come here!--that I had never left my safe retreat, near Funchal! +Then I would not have stabbed the heart of the only man whom I +respect, revere, and trust." + +Some moments elapsed ere he could fully command himself, and when he +spoke he had entirely regained composure. + +"Do not reproach yourself. The fault has been mine, rather than +yours. Knowing that some mystery enveloped your early life, I should +not have allowed my affections to centre so completely in one +concerning whose antecedents I knew absolutely nothing. I have been +almost culpably rash and blind,--but I could not look into your +beautiful, sad eyes, and doubt that you were worthy of the love that +sprang up unbidden in my heart. I knew that you were irreligious, but +I believed I could win you back to Christ; and when I tell you that, +after living thirty-eight years, you are the only woman I ever met +whom I wished to call my wife, you can in some degree realize my +confidence in the innate purity of your character. God only knows how +severely I am punished by my rashness, how profoundly I deplore the +strange infatuation that so utterly blinded me. At least, I am +grateful that my brief madness has not involved you in sin and +additional suffering." + +The burning spots faded from her cheeks as she listened to his low, +solemn words, and when he ended, she clasped her hands passionately, +and exclaimed,-- + +"Do not judge me, until you know all. I am not as unworthy as you +fear. Do not withdraw your confidence from me." + +He shook his head, and answered, sadly,-- + +"A wife, yet bereft of your husband's protection! A wife, wandering +among strangers, and a deserter from the home you vowed to cheer! Your +own admission cries out in judgment against you." + +He walked to the table and picked up his gloves, and Mrs. Gerome rose +and advanced a few steps. + +"Dr. Grey, you will come now and then to see me?" + +"No; for the present I do not wish to see you." + +"Ah! how brittle are men's promises! Did you not assure Elsie that you +would never forsake her wretched child?" + +"Our painful relations invalidate that promise,--cancel that pledge. I +can not visit you as formerly; still, I shall at all times be glad to +serve you; and you have only to acquaint me with your wishes to insure +their execution." + +"Remember how solitary, how desolate, I am." + +"A wife should be neither, while her husband lives." + +The cold severity of his tone wounded her inexpressibly, and she +haughtily drew herself up. + +"Dr. Grey will at least allow me an opportunity of explaining the +circumstances that he seems to regard as so heinous?" + +He looked at the proud but quivering mouth,--into the great, shadowy, +gray eyes, and a heavy sigh escaped him. + +"Perhaps it is better that I should know your history, for it will +diminish my own unhappiness to feel assured that you are worthy of the +estimate I placed upon you one hour ago. Shall I come to-morrow, or +will you tell me now what you desire me to know?" + +"I can not sleep until I have exonerated myself in your clear, +truthful, holy eyes: I can not endure that you should think harshly of +me, even for a day. This room is suffocating! I will meet you on the +portico; and yonder, by the sea, I will show you my life." + +She went to the escritoire, opened one of the drawers, and took out a +package. Wrapping a cloak around her, she quitted the parlor, and +found Dr. Grey leaning against one of the columns. + +He did not offer her his arm as formerly, but slowly and silently they +walked down towards the beach, where the surf was rolling heavily in +with a steady roar, and tossing sheets of foam around the stone +piers. + + ... "While far across the hill, + A dark and brazen sunset ribbed with black, + Glared, like the sullen eyeballs of the plague." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +"Doctor Grey, had you possessed a tithe of the ingenuity of +Peiresc, you might long ago have interpreted the deep, dark +incisions in my character, which, like the indentations on his +celebrated amethyst, show where the _laminæ_ of luckless events +inscribed my history with mournful ciphers. Elsie's hints would have +furnished any woman with a clew; but, since you have not availed +yourself of their aid, I must lift the shroud that hides the corpse of +my youth, my happiness, my faith in man, my hope in God. Ah! unto what +shall I liken it? This ruined, wretched thing I call my life? To the +_Tauk e Kerra_,--standing in a dreary waste, lifting its vast, +keyless arch helplessly to heaven? Even such a crumbling arch, +beautiful and grand in its glorious promise, is the incomplete, +crownless life of Agla Gerome,--a lonely and melancholy monument of a +gigantic failure. Two months before my birth, my father, Henderson +Flewellyn, died, and when I was three hours old, my poor young mother +followed him, leaving me to the care of her nurse, Elsie Maclean, +and of an old uncle who was at that time residing in Copenhagen. +Having no relatives to dictate, Elsie named me Vashti, for my +mother; but my great-uncle wrote that my baptism must be deferred +until he could be present, and instructed her to call me Evelyn, +after himself. But the stubborn Scotch will would not bend, and my +name was written in the family Bible, Vashti Flewellyn. Before the +expiration of three years, Mr. Mitchell Evelyn died, bequeathing his +fortune to me, as Evelyn Flewellyn, and consigning me to the +guardianship of Mr. Lucian Wright, a widowed minister of New York. I +was a feeble, sickly child, hovering continually upon the confines of +death, and, as city air was deemed injurious to me, Elsie kept me +at a farm-house on the Hudson, belonging to the estate that I was +destined to inherit. Here I remained until my tenth year, when Mr. +Wright removed me to the vicinity of Albany, and placed me under +the care of his maiden sister, who had a small class of girls to +educate. Elsie accompanied and watched over me, and here I spent four +quiet, happy years; but the death of my teacher set me once more +afloat, and I was carried to New York, and left at a large and +fashionable boarding-school. I was fond of study, and boundlessly +ambitious, and soon formed a warm, close friendship with a teacher who +entered the institution after I became one of its inmates. I had no +one to love but Elsie, who never left me, and consequently, I gave +to Edith Dexter, the young teacher, all the affection that I would +have lavished on parents, brothers, and sisters, had they been granted +to me. She was several years my senior, and the loveliest woman I ever +saw. Reared in affluence, her family had become impoverished, and +Edith was thrown upon her own resources for a support. My father's +fortune was very large, and the property left me by Mr. Evelyn swelled +my estate to very unusual proportions. Mr. Wright had carefully +attended to the investment of the income, and I was regarded as the +heiress of enormous wealth. Tenderly attached to Edith, whose +beauty, intelligence, and varied accomplishments rendered her +peculiarly attractive, I loaded her with presents, and determined +that as soon as my educational career ended, I would establish +myself in an elegant residence on Fifth Avenue, take Edith to live +under my roof, treat her always as my sister, and share my ample +fortune with her. Dr. Grey, you can form no adequate conception of +the depth of the love I entertained for her. Day and night my busy +brain devised schemes for lightening her labors, for promoting her +happiness; and I spared no exertion to shield her from the petty +vexations and humiliating annoyances incident to her situation. +Waking, I prayed for her; sleeping in her arms, I dreamed of the +future we should spend together. At the close of the session, she +went into Vermont to visit her invalid mother, and I to Mr. Wright's +quiet home, to remain until the end of vacation. The minister was a +kind-hearted but weak old man, who treated me tenderly, and humored +every caprice that attacked my brain. I had never before been his +guest, and here, at his house, on the second day of my sojourn, I +met his favorite nephew, Maurice Carlyle." + +Mrs. Gerome uttered the name through firmly set teeth, and the blue +cords on her forehead tangled terribly. + +Clenching her fingers, she drew a long breath, and continued,-- + +"At that time, he was by far the most fascinating, and certainly the +handsomest man I have ever met, and when I recall the beauty of his +face, the grace of his manner, the noble symmetry of his figure, and +the sparkling vivacity of his conversation, I do not wonder that from +the first hour of our acquaintance he charmed me. I was but a child, a +proud, impulsive young thing, full of romance, full of wild dreams of +manly chivalry and feminine constancy and devotion; and Maurice +Carlyle seemed the perfect incarnation of all my glowing ideals of +knightly excellence and heroism. He was thirty,--I not yet sixteen; he +poor and fastidious,--I generous and trusting, and possessed of one of +the largest estates on the continent. He had spent much of his life +abroad, and was as polished as any courtier who ever graced St. Cloud +or St. James; I an impetuous young simpleton, who knew nothing of the +world, save those tantalizing glimpses snatched from behind the bars +of a boarding-school. Here, examine these portraits, while the light +still lingers, and you will see the woful disparity that existed +between us at that period. They were painted a fortnight after I met +him." + +She opened a velvet case, and laid before her companion two oval ivory +miniatures, richly set with large pearls. + +Dr. Grey took them both in his hand, and, by the dull, lurid glow that +tipped a ridge of clouds lying along the western horizon, he saw two +pictures. + +One, a remarkably handsome man, with brilliant black eyes and regular +features, and a cast of countenance that forcibly reminded him of the +likenesses of Edgar A. Poe, while the expression denoted more of +chicane than chivalry in his character. The other, a fresh, sweet, +girlish face, eloquent with innocence and purity, with clear, gray +eyes, overhung by jetty lashes, and overarched by black brows, while a +mass of dark hair was heaped in short curls on her forehead and +temples, and fell in long ringlets over her neck. + +Dr. Grey looked at Mrs. Gerome, and now at the portrait, but the +resemblance could nowhere be traced, save in the delicate yet haughty +arch of the eyebrows, and the dainty moulding of the faultless nose. + +While he glanced from one to the other, she placed a third miniature +beside those in his hand, and he started at sight of a surpassingly +lovely countenance, which recalled the outlines of one that he had +left in his library three hours before, where Miss Dexter sat reading +to Muriel. + +"There you have the gods of my old worship,--Edith and Maurice. Can +you wonder at my infatuation?" + +She took the pictures, and a derisive smile distorted her lips, as she +looked shiveringly at them, and hastily replaced them on their velvet +cushions. Closing the spring with a convulsive snap, she tossed the +case on the terrace, whence it fell to the grass below; and drew her +blue velvet drapery closer around her. + +"Dr. Grey, you know quite enough of human nature to anticipate what +followed. Three days after I met Maurice Carlyle, he swore deathless +devotion to his 'gray-eyed angel,' and offered me his hand. Ah! when +I recall that evening, and think of the words uttered so tenderly, so +passionately, when I summon before me that radiant face, and +listen again to the voice that so utterly bewitched me, the +remembrance maddens me, and I feel a murderous hate of my race +stirring my blood into fierce throbs. With my hands folded in his, +we planned our future, painted visions that made my brain reel, +and when his lips touched my forehead, as sacred seal of our +betrothal, I felt that earth could add nothing to my blessed lot. Of +course Mr. Wright warmly sanctioned my choice, drugging his +conscience with the reflection that if Maurice was extravagant and +inert, my fortune would obviate the necessity of his attending to his +nominal profession, that of the law. The old man insisted, however, +that as I was a mere child, we must defer our marriage two years. Mr. +Carlyle frowned, and vowed he could not live more than twelve months +without his 'peerless prize,' and like any other silly girl, I +believed it as unhesitatingly as I did the lessons from the gospels +that were read to us night and morning. What cloudless days flew +over my young head, during the ensuing month; days wherein I never +tired of kneeling and thanking God for the marvellous blessing of +Maurice Carlyle's love. Life was mantling in a crystal goblet, like +_eau de vie de Dantzic_, and I could not even taste it without +watching the gold sparkles rise and fall and flash; and how could +I dream, then, that the draught was not brightened with gilt leaves, +but really flavored with _curare_? The only drawback to my happiness +was Elsie's opposition to my engagement, and Mr. Carlyle's refusal to +allow me to acquaint Edith with my betrothal. He was so 'furiously +jealous of that yellow-haired woman whom his darling loved too well.' +It would be quite time enough to inform her of my happiness when I +returned to school. From the beginning, Elsie distrusted, disliked, +and eyed him suspiciously, but her expostulations and arguments only +strengthened his influence, and partially overthrew hers. One day Mr. +Carlyle sought me in great haste, and with considerable agitation +informed me that he had been unexpectedly summoned abroad. Business, +with the details of which he tenderly forbore to weary me, would +detain him many months in Europe, and he implored me to consent to +a private marriage before his departure. Mr. Wright was in very +feeble health, had been threatened with paralysis, and my ardent +lover would be too unendurably miserable separated from me, when +death might at any moment rob me of my guardian. I consented, and +hastened to obtain Mr. Wright's sanction. That day chanced to be one +of his despondent, hypochondriacal seasons, and after some persuasion +on my part, and much sophistry from his nephew, the weak old man +yielded. Then my lover pressed his advantage, and vowed he could +never leave me, that his young bride must accompany him to London, +that my mind would be too much engrossed by thoughts of him to permit +the possibility of my studying advantageously in his absence, and +that he would assume the responsibility of superintending and +perfecting his wife's education. Mr. Wright demurred; Mr. Carlyle +raved; I wept. Maurice clasped me in his arms, and in the midst of +my tears and pleadings, my guardian succumbed. It was arranged that +our marriage should take place within a fortnight, and that we +should immediately start to Europe. Poor Elsie!--truest, wisest, +best friend God ever gave me,--was enraged and distressed beyond +expression. She wept, wrung her hands, and falling on her knees +entreated me not to execute my insane purpose,--assured me I was a +lamb led to sacrifice, was the victim of an infamous scheme between +uncle and nephew to possess themselves of my estate, and she +exhausted argument and persuasion in attempting to recall my +wandering common sense. Much as I loved her, this bitter vituperation +of my idol incensed and estranged me, and I temporarily forbade her +to enter my presence. Poor, dear, devoted Elsie! When my heart +relented, and I sought her to assure her of my forgiveness, tears +and groans greeted me, and I found her sitting at the foot of her bed, +with her face hidden in her apron." + +Stretching her arms towards the grave, Mrs. Gerome paused; her lips +quivered, and two tears rolled down her cheeks. + +"Ah! dear old heart! Brave, true, tender soul! How different my lot +would have been had I heeded her prayers and counsel! Not until I lie +down yonder, and mingle my dust with hers, can I, even for an instant, +forget her faithful, sleepless care and love. I believe she is the +only human being who was ever tenderly and truly attached to me, and +God knows I learned before I lost her how much her affection was +worth." + +The cold, ringing voice grew tremulous, wavering, and some moments +passed before Mrs. Gerome continued,-- + +"Mr. Carlyle preferred a private wedding, but I insisted upon a +ceremony at the church where Mr. Wright officiated, and immediately +telegraphed to Edith, requesting her presence as bridesmaid, and +offering to provide her outfit and defray all expenses, if she would +accompany us to Europe. My betrothed bit his lip, and objected; but on +this point, at least, I was firm, and assured him I would not be +married unless Edith could be with me. She wrote, declining my +invitation to Europe, but came to New York, the day of my wedding. +When I look back at what followed, I have a vague, confused feeling, +similar to that which results from taking opium. Mr. Carlyle had +positively interdicted my taking Elsie to Europe, assuring me that his +wife should not be in leading-strings to a spoiled and presumptuous +nurse, and promising me that, when we returned to America, she might +occupy the position of housekeeper in our establishment. Absorbed by +my own supreme happiness, I scarcely saw Edith until we were dressed +for the ceremony, and when she came and leaned against the table where +the bridal presents were arranged, I noticed that she was pale and +much agitated, but ascribed her emotion to grief at my approaching +departure. Several of my schoolmates officiated as bridesmaids, and a +large party assembled at the church to witness the marriage. Mr. +Carlyle was a great favorite in society, and his friends were invited +to the wedding breakfast at the parsonage. It was on the bright +morning of my sixteenth birthday, when I stood before the altar and +listened to and uttered the words that made me a wife. Every syllable, +every intonation, of the minister's voice is branded on my memory as +with a red-hot iron: 'Wilt thou have this man to thy wedded husband, +to live together after God's ordinance, in the holy estate of +matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, serve him, love, honor, and keep him, +in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others, keep thee only +unto him, so long as ye both shall live?' And there, before the altar, +with the stained glass making a rainbow behind the pulpit, I answered, +'_I will_.' Oh, Dr. Grey, pity me! pity me!" + +A cry of anguish escaped her, and she extended her arms until her +hands rested on her companion's shoulder. + +In silence he bent his head, and put his lips to the tightly clasped +fingers. + +"Tell me, sir,--if that vow means that man may make a plaything of +God's statutes? If it binds for one hour, does it not bind while life +lasts?" + +"'_So long as ye both shall live_,'" answered Dr. Grey, solemnly; and +he gently removed her hand, and drew himself a little farther from +her. + +She was too painfully engrossed by sad reminiscences to notice the +action, and resumed her narrative. + +"There was a gay party at the breakfast, and I could not remove my +fascinated eyes from the radiant face of my husband, who had never +seemed half so princely as now, when he was wholly my own. Once he +bent his handsome head to mine, and whispered, '_La Peregrina_,' the +pet name he had given me, because he averred that, in his estimation, +my love was worth as many ducats as that celebrated pearl of Philip. +'_La Peregrina_,' indeed! Ah! he melted it in gall and hemlock, and +drained it at his wedding feast. My heart was so overflowing with +happiness that I slipped my fingers into his, and, in answer to his +fond epithet, whispered, 'Maurice, my king.'" + +The speaker was silent for a moment, and an expression of disgust and +scorn usurped the place of mournfulness. + +"Dr. Grey, I deserved my punishment, for no Aztec ever worshipped his +stone God more devoutly than I did my black-eyed, smooth-lipped idol. +'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' Ah! my 'graven image' +seemed so marvellously godlike that I bowed down before it; and there, +in the midst of my adoration, the curse of idolatry smote me. Half +bewildered by the rapture that made my heart throb almost to +suffocation, I stole away from the guests and hid myself in the small +hot-house attached to Mr. Wright's study, longing for a little quiet +that would enable me to realize all the blessedness of my lot. With +childish glee I toyed with my title,--with my new name,--Maurice +Carlyle's wife--Evelyn Carlyle! How pretty it sounded,--how holy it +seemed! My future was as brilliant as that vast enchanted hall into +which poor Nouronihar was enticed through her insane love for Vathek, +and, like hers, my illusion was dispelled by a decree that strangled +hope in my heart, and enveloped it in flames." + +Here the flood of melancholy memories drowned her words, and, crossing +her arms on the stone balustrade, she sat silent and moody. + +In the dusky, crepuscular light, Dr. Grey could no longer discern the +emotions that printed themselves so legibly on her countenance; but +the outline of her face, and the listless, hopeless droop of her +figure, curved between him and the dun waste of waters. + +Overhead a few dim, hazy stars shivered on the ragged skirts of +trailing gray clouds, and the ceaseless rustle of the shuddering +poplars formed a mournful accompaniment to the muttering of the ocean, +whose weary waves were sobbing themselves to rest, like scourged but +unconquered children. + +"I thank you for your patience, Dr. Grey. You forbear to hurry me, +even as you would shrink from rudely jostling or pushing forward the +mattock which slowly digs into a grave,--removing human mould and +crumbling coffin, searching for the skeleton beneath. Exhuming human +bones is melancholy work, but sadder still is the mission of one who +disinters the ashes of a woman's love, hope, and faith. Across the +centre of Mr. Wright's hot-house ran a light trellis of fine +lattice-work cut into an arch and covered with the dense luxuriant +foliage of the bignonia trained over it. Behind this screen I had +ensconced my happy self, and sat idly bruising the leaves of a rose +geranium that chanced to be near me, when my blissful reverie was +interrupted by the sound of that voice which had stolen my heart, my +reason, my common sense. Believing that he had missed and was +searching for his bride, I rose and peeped through the glossy leaves +of the clambering vine that divided us. Not four feet distant stood my +husband of an hour, with his arms clasped fondly around Edith, who, in +a broken, passionate voice, denounced his perfidy and heartlessness. +Vehemently he pleaded for an opportunity to exculpate himself, and +there, tearful and sobbing, with her head on his bosom, my friend +listened to an explanation that was destined to enlighten more than +one person. From his lips I learned that he had become entangled in +certain financial difficulties that involved his honor as a gentleman; +he had used money to enable him to embark in a speculation which, if +successful, would have afforded him the means of marrying in +accordance with the dictates of his heart; but, like the majority of +nefarious schemes, it failed signally, and fear of detection, and the +absolute necessity of obtaining a large amount of money, had goaded +him to the desperate step of sacrificing his happiness and offering +his hand to me. He strained her to his breast, kissed her repeatedly, +and impiously called God to witness that he loved her, and her only, +truly, tenderly; that never for an instant had his affection wandered +from her, 'his beautiful, idolized darling.' He bitterly denounced his +folly, cursed the hour that had thrown me and my fortune in his path, +and swore that he utterly loathed and despised the silly child whose +wealth alone had made her his dupe; and, as he flatteringly expressed +it, his 'hated and intolerable incubus.' He had intended to spare her +and himself the agony of this hour,--had determined to remain always +in Europe, where he could escape the mocking contrast of his bride and +his beloved. With indescribable scorn, and a wonderful fertility of +derisive epithets, he held me up, as on the point of a scalpel, and +proved the utter impossibility of his having been influenced by any +other than the most grossly mercenary motives; while, between the +bursts of invective against me, he lavished upon her a hundred fond, +tender, passionate phrases of endearment that had never been applied +to me. Pressing one hand on her head, he raised the other, and called +Heaven to witness, that, although the world might regard him as the +husband of 'that sallow, gray-eyed, silly girl,' whose gold alone had +bought his name, the only woman he could ever love was his own +beautiful Edith; and, should death come to his aid and free him from +the detested bond that linked him to the heiress, he swore he would +not lose a day in claiming the lovely wife that fate had denied him. +All this, and much more, which I have not now the requisite patience +to recapitulate, fell on my ears, startling me more painfully than the +trumpet-blast of the Last Judgment will ever do. Standing there, in my +costly bridal robe, I listened to the revelation that blotted out all +sun and moon and stars from my life,--that made earth a dismal Sheol +and the future a howling desolation,--a dreary wilderness of woe. In +my agony and shame I clenched my hands so savagely, one upon the +other, that my diamond betrothal-ring cut sharply into the quivering +flesh, and blood-drops oozed and dripped on my shining gossamer veil +and white velvet dress. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, my +whole nature was metamorphosed; and my coming years swept in panoramic +vision before me, beckoning me to the prompt performance of a stern +and humiliating duty. The blood in my veins seemed to hiss and bubble +like a seething cauldron, and my heart fired with a hate for which +language has no name, no garb, no provision; but my brain kept +faithful guard, and reason calmly pointed out my future path. When Mr. +Carlyle ended his tirade against me and his curses on his own folly, I +moved forward into the arch and confronted my dethroned and defiled +gods. If the tedious years of the primitive patriarchs could be +allotted to me they would never suffice to efface the picture that +lingers in deep, hot lines on my memory, and pursues me as ruthlessly +as the avenging cross followed and tortured the miserable fugitive in +Gustave Doré's '_Le Juif errant_,' or the Eyeless Christ that proved a +haunting Nemesis to the Empress Irene. Edith's lovely face was on his +bosom, and his false, handsome lips were pressed to hers. So, I met my +husband and my dearest friend, one hour after the utterance of vows +that were perhaps still echoing in the courts of heaven. Such +spectacles of human perfidy are the real Medusas that Gorgonize +trusting, tender, throbbing hearts, and in view of this one I laughed +aloud,--laughed so unnaturally that it was no marvel I was called a +maniac. At sight of my desperate white face Edith shrieked and +fainted, and Maurice blanched and stammered and cowered. Without a +word of comment or recrimination I silently passed on to my own room, +where Elsie was waiting to clothe me in my travelling-suit. In three +hours the steamer would sail, and I had little leisure for resolution +and execution. Summoning the lawyer to whose care my estate was +entrusted, I requested him to call Mr. Wright and Mr. Carlyle into the +dressing-room that adjoined my apartment, and there I held an audience +with the three who were most interested in my career. Briefly I +explained what had occurred, and announced my determination, then and +there, to separate forever from the man who could never be more than +my nominal husband. I told them I held marriage, next to the Lord's +Supper, the holiest sacrament instituted by God, but mine had been an +infamous mockery, an unpardonable sin against me, and an insult to +Heaven, whose blessing could never rest upon it. Marriage, without +sanctifying love, was unhallowed, was a transgression of divine law, +and a crime against my womanhood which neither God nor man should +forgive. Maurice Carlyle had perjured himself,--had never loved the +woman who went with him to the altar,--and the affection that had +stirred my heart one hour before, was now as dead as the Pharaohs +hidden for centuries under the pyramids. We two, who had sworn to +love, honor, and cherish one another, now hated and despised each +other beyond all possibility of expression; and I considered it a +heinous sin to perpetuate the awful mockery, to cling to the letter of +a contract that bade defiance to every impulse of heart and soul,--to +every dictate of reason and decree of conscience. Wedded lives and +divided hearts I believed a crime, and while I admitted that man could +not put asunder those whom God's statutes joined together, I contended +that Mr. Carlyle's perjury rendered it sinful for him and me to reside +under the same roof. I could not recognize the validity of divorces, +for human hands could not unlink God's fetters, and man's law had no +power to free either of us from the bonds we had voluntarily assumed +in the invoked presence of Jehovah. I would neither accept nor permit +a divorce, for, in my estimation, it was not worth the paper that +framed it, and was a species of sacrilegious trifling; but I would +never live as the wife of a man who had repeatedly declared he had not +an atom of affection for me. _Under some circumstances I deemed +separation a woman's duty_, and while I fully comprehended the awful +import of the vow '_Till death us do part_,' and denied that human +legislators could free us, or annul the marriage, I was resolved, +while life lasted, to consider myself a duped, an unloved, but a +lawful wife,--a woman consecrated by solemn oaths that no human action +could cancel. Since money was the bait, I was willing to divide my +fortune as the price of a quiet separation; and though from that hour +I intended to quit his presence forever, and regard the tie that +linked us as merely nominal, I would allow him a liberal income until +I attained my majority and would liquidate all his present debts. To +your imagination, Dr. Grey, I leave the details of what ensued,--my +guardian's remorseful grief, my lawyer's wonder and expostulation, Mr. +Carlyle's confusion, chagrin, and rage. He pleaded, argued, +threatened; but he might as well have attempted to catch and restrain +in the hollow of his hand the steady sweep of Niagara, as hope to +change my purpose. My terms were fixed, and I gave him permission to +tell the world what he chose concerning this strange _denouement_ of +the wedding feast. If I could only go away at once, I cared not what +the public thought or said; and finally, finding me no longer a +yielding child, but a desperate, stern, relentless woman, my terms +were acceded to. Briefly we discussed the legal provisions, and I +signed some hastily prepared papers that settled a bountiful annuity +upon Mr. Carlyle. My trunks were sent to the steamer, the carriage was +brought to the door, and in the presence of my guardian and the +lawyer, I announced my desire never to look again upon the man who +had so completely blighted my life. In silence I laid upon the table +my betrothal and wedding rings, and the sparkling diamond cross that +had constituted my bridal present. No word of reproach passed my lips, +for women love when they upbraid, and only aching, fond hearts furnish +stinging rebukes; but I hated and scorned the author of my ruin too +utterly to indulge in crimination and reproach. So we two, who had +just been pronounced man and wife, who had clasped hands and linked +hearts and lives until we should stumble into the tomb,--we, Maurice +Carlyle and Evelyn, his bride, four hours married, stood up and looked +at each other for the last time. During the interview I had addressed +no remark to him, and the last words I ever uttered to him were +contained in that sentence fondly whispered when he bent over me at +the table, 'Maurice, my king.' As I bade adieu to my guardian, and +paused before the princely figure whom the world called my husband, +our eyes met, and he flushed, and muttered, 'You will rue your +rashness.' Silently I looked on the handsome features that had so +suddenly grown loathsome to me, and he snatched my wedding ring from +the table and held it appealingly towards me, saying remorsefully, +'Evelyn, my wife, forgive your wretched husband!' Without a word, or a +touch of his outstretched hands, I turned and went down to the +carriage, where my faithful nurse sat weeping and waiting. One hour +later, the vessel swung from her moorings, and Elsie and I were soon +at sea. A girl only sixteen, four hours married, separated forever +from husband and friends,--without hope or faith in either human or +heavenly things,--hating, with most intolerable intensity, the man +whose name she had just assumed, and to whom she felt indissolubly +bound, in accordance with the vow '_So long as ye both shall live_.'" + +Out of the tossing, moaning sea, the moon had risen slowly, breaking +through a rent scarf of cloud that barred her solemn, white disc, +and silvering the foam of the racing waves that seemed to reflect +the glittering fringe of the scudding vapor in the chill vault above +them. There was no mellow radiance, no golden lustre such as +southern moons are wont to shed, but a weird, fitful glitter on +sea and land, that now shone with startling vividness, and anon +waned, until sombre shadows seemed stalking in spectral ranks from +some distant, gloomy ocean lair. It was one of those melancholy +nights when the supernatural realm threatened to impinge upon the +physical, that shuddered and shrank from the contact,--when the +atmosphere gave vague hints of ghostly denizens, and every passing +breeze seemed laden with sepulchral damps and vibrating with +sepulchral sounds. + +Mrs. Gerome sat erect, with her hands resting on the balustrade, and +under that mysteriously white moon her pearl-pale face looked as +hopelessly cold and rigid as any Persepolitan sphinx, that nightly +fronts the immemorial stars which watch the ruined tombs of +Chilminar. + +Raising her fingers to her forehead, she lifted and shook a band of +the shining white hair, and resumed her narration, in the same steady, +passionless tone. + +"These gray locks were the fruit of that bridal day, for, on the +afternoon that we sailed, I was taken very ill with what was called +congestion of the brain,--was unconscious throughout the voyage, and +when we reached Liverpool, my hair, once so black and glossy, was as +you see it now. Ah! how often, since that time, have I heard poor +Elsie mourning over my mother's untimely death, and quoting that +ancient superstition, 'You should never wean a child while trees are +in blossom; otherwise it will have gray hair.' Mr. Wright was so +prostrated by grief at what had occurred, that he survived my departure +only a few weeks; and at his death, Mr. Carlyle attempted to seize and +control my estate. Urging the plea of my minority, he insisted upon +assuming the charge of my property, and in order to consummate his +avaricious designs, and screen his name from opprobrium, he told the +world that I was hopelessly insane; and that the discovery of this +fact, one hour after his marriage, had induced him to send me abroad +under the care of a faithful and judicious nurse. To give plausibility +to this statement, a paragraph was inserted in the New York papers +announcing that I was a raving maniac and an inmate of an English +asylum for lunatics. Mr. Clayton, my lawyer, was the sole surviving +witness of my final interview, and of its financial provisions; and, +had he yielded to bribes and threats which were unsparingly offered, +God only knows what would have been my fate, since the tender mercies +of my husband destined me to the cheerful and attractive precincts of +a mad-house. To Mr. Clayton's stern integrity and brave defence, I am +indebted for the preservation of my fortune and the defeat of a +daring and iniquitous scheme to arrest me in London and commit me to the +custody of an asylum-warden. Fortunately for me, he lived long enough +to transfer to my own guardianship, when I attained my majority, the +estate which had cost me every earthly hope. Six months after my +departure from America I bade farewell to Europe, and plunged into +the most remote and unfrequented portions of the East, where I wished to +remain unknown and unnoticed. In a half-defiant and half-superstitious +mood, I had assumed the talismanic and mystical name of Alga Gerome, +with the faint hope that it might shield me from the intrigues and +persecutions which I felt assured would always dog the steps of +Evelyn Carlyle. Having appointed a cautious and confidential agent in +New York and Paris, I destroyed all traces of my whereabouts, and +became as utterly lost to the world as though the portals of the +grave had closed upon me. Without friends, and accompanied only by +Elsie and her son Robert, I lived year after year in wandering through +strange lands. Books and pictures were my solace, and to strangle time +I first devoted myself to drawing and painting. After a while I came +back to Rome, and frequented the studios and galleries, perfecting +myself in the mechanical department of Art. But fear of encountering +some familiar face drove me from the Eternal City, and a sudden whim +took me to Madeira, where I spent the only portion of my life to +which I recur with any degree of satisfaction. There, surrounded by +magnificent scenery, and safe from intrusion, I intended to drag out +the remainder of my dreary years; but poor Elsie grew so restless, so +homesick, so impatient to visit the graves of her household band, that I +finally allowed myself to be persuaded into returning to my native land. +Robert preceded us, and purchased this secluded spot, which I had +stipulated must be upon the sea-shore and secure from all intrusion. +Avoiding New York, I came reluctantly to Boston, thence to 'Solitude,' +without seeing or hearing of any whom I had once known. When I was +twenty-one, I transferred to Mr. Carlyle the sum of thirty thousand +dollars, as a final settlement; but my agent scrupulously obeyed my +instructions, and no human being, save himself, is aware of my place +of residence or the name under which I am sheltered. Strenuous +efforts have been made by Mr. Carlyle to unearth his wretched dupe, +but since I left England, nearly eight years ago, he has been unable +to discover any trace of my location. From time to time I received +bills, contracted by him, and paid by my lawyer after I left New York; +and in my escritoire are two accounts of jewellers, where I find +charged the flashing ring and costly diamond cross, which I refused +to retain but for which I paid, after my separation. Prone to +dissipation, Mr. Carlyle plunged into excesses that would have +squandered royal portions, and my agent writes that his eagerness to +ascertain where I am residing has recently increased, in consequence of +his pecuniary necessities, although the terms of our separation deprive +him of every shadow of claim upon me or my purse. Such, Dr. Grey, is +the shattered idol of my girlish adoration,--such the divinity of dust +upon which I spent the treasures of my love and trust. Gray-haired, +gray-hearted, mocked, and maddened in the dawn of my confiding +womanhood, nominally a wife, but in reality a nameless waif, shut +out from happiness, and pitied as a maniac,--such, is that most +desolate and isolated woman, whom, as Agla Gerome, you have known as +the mistress of this lonely place. As for my name, I sometimes wonder +whether in the last great gathering in the court of Heaven, my own +mother will know what to call her unbaptized child,--whether the sins +charged against me will be read out as those of Vashti, or Evelyn, +or Agla. Elsie persistently clung to Vashti, and verily there seems +a grim fitness in her selection,--a dismal analogy between my +blasted life and that of the discrowned Persian Queen. Be that as it +may, if I miss a name I surely shall not miss the equity that man +denies me. '_So long as ye both shall live_.' When I look out in +springtime, over the blossoming earth, daisies, and violets, and +primroses range themselves into lines that spell out these hated words +of an ever-echoing vow, and if, in midnight hours, I raise my weary +eyes, the sleepless stars revengefully group themselves, and flash back +to me, in burning characters, '_Till death us do part_.' Up yonder, +behind sun, and planet, and nebulæ, I shall look God in the face, and +pointing to my withered heart and blighted life, can say truly, 'At +least I kept the ruins free from perjury; there, at your feet, is the +oath unsullied, that I called you to accept on the awful day when I +knelt at your altar.' Love, honor, and obedience, Maurice Carlyle's +unworthiness rendered impossible; but the vow which consecrated and +set me apart, which forbade the thought that other men might offer +homage and affection, or even ordinary tributes of admiration, I +have kept sacredly and faithfully. I might have plunged into the +whirlpool of fashionable life, and found temporary oblivion of my +humiliation and disappointment; but from such a career my whole +being revolted, and in seclusion I have dragged out a dreary series of +years that can scarcely be termed life. Recently I have been honored by +several proposals for a divorce, on condition of an additional +settlement of money upon my eminently chivalric and devoted husband; +but my invariable reply has been, _human legislation is impotent to +cancel the statutes of Almighty God, which declare that only death +can free what Jehovah has joined together_, and the legal provisions +of man crumble and shrivel before the divine command, '_For the woman +which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he +liveth_.' With what impatience, what ceaseless yearning, I await the +cold touch of that deliverer who alone can sever my galling, +detested fetters, none but the God above us can understand and +realize. The eagerness with which I once anticipated my bridal hour +does not approximate the intensity of my longing for the day of my +death. O merciful God! surely, surely, I have been sufficiently +tortured, and the tardy release can not be far distant." + +She raised her face skyward, as if invoking Divine aid, but her wan +lips were voiceless; and only the song of the surf mingled with the +whisper of trembling poplars, whose fading leaves gleamed ghostly and +chill under the silver sheen of that broad white moon. + + "There heavily, across the troubled night, + A warning comet trails her hideous hair, + And underneath, the wroth sea-waves are white." + +During the hour in which Dr. Grey listened to the recital of this +woman's hapless career, she became as utterly dead to him as though +shroud and sepulchre had already claimed her; and when she ceased +speaking, he looked as sorrowfully down at her fair, frozen face, as +if the coffin-lid were shutting it forever from his view. + +Henceforth she was as sacred in his sad eyes as some beloved corpse, +and bowing his head upon his hands, he prayed long but silently that +God would strengthen him for the duties of a desolate future,--would +sanctify this grievous disappointment to his eternal welfare, and +grant him power to lead heavenward the heart of the only woman whom he +had ever desired to call his own. + +Putting away the beautiful dreams wherein this regal form had moved to +and fro as crown and queen of his home and heart, he calmly resigned +the cherished scheme that linked this woman's life with his; and felt +that he would gladly barter all his earthly hopes for the assurance, +that, throughout eternity, he might be allowed the companionship which +time denied him. + +Mrs. Gerome rose, and folding her mantle around her, said proudly,-- + +"Married life, unhallowed by love, is more acceptable in your +righteous eyes than my isolated existence; and you have passed +sentence against me. So be it. Strange code of morality you Christians +hug to your hearts, squeezing the form that holds no spirit; but some +day I shall be acquitted by that incorruptible tribunal where God +alone has the right to judge us. Till then, farewell." + +She turned to leave the terrace, but he arrested the movement, and +placed himself before her. + +"You misinterpret my silence, if you suppose it was employed in +censuring your course. Pondering all that you have recapitulated, I +can conjecture no line of conduct towards your husband less deplorable +than that which you have pursued; and I honor the stern honesty and +integrity of purpose from which you have never swerved. Mrs. Carlyle, +I acquit you of all guilt, save that of impious defiance, of rebellion +against your God, whose grace could sweeten even the bitter dregs of +the cup you have well-nigh drained." + +At the sound of her name, so long unuttered, she winced and writhed as +if some sensitive nerve had been suddenly pierced and torn; but +without heeding her emotion, Dr. Grey continued,-- + +"If your earthly lot has been stinted of sunshine, can you not bear a +little temporary gloom,--must you needs people it with adverse +witnesses, must you thicken the darkness with imprecations? You forget +that life is only the racecourse, not the goal,--that this world is +for human souls what the plain of Dura proved for the Hebrew trio who +braved its flames. Suppose you are lonely and bereft of the love that +might have cheered you? Was not Christ far more isolated and loveless? +In His fearful ordeal He was forsaken by God,--but to you remains the +everlasting promise, 'I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to +you.' O wretched woman! give your aching heart to Him who emptied it +of earthly idols in order to fit it up for His own temple. + + 'Is God less God, that thou art left undone? + Rise, worship, bless Him, in this sackcloth spun, + As in that purple.'" + +Silently she listened, looking steadily up at his noble face, where +intense mental anguish had left unwonted pallor, and printed new +ciphers on brow and lips; and when his adjuration ended, she put out +her hand. + +"That you do not condemn me is the most precious consolation you could +offer, for your good opinion is worth much to my proud, sensitive +soul. If all men were like you there would be no mutilated, ruined +lives, such as mine,--no nominal wives roaming up and down the world +in search of an obscure corner wherein to hide dishonored heads and +crushed hearts. God grant you some day a wife worthy of the noblest +man it has ever been my good fortune to meet. Good-by." + +He did not accept the offered hand, and stood for a moment as if +struggling to master some impulse to which he could not yield. Perhaps +he dared not trust the touch of those gleaming, slender fingers that +had clasped a living husband's; or perchance he was so absorbed by +painful thoughts that he failed to observe them. + +Laying his palm softly on her snowy head, he said tenderly,-- + +"Mrs. Carlyle, you have innocently, and I believe unconsciously, +caused me the keenest suffering I have ever endured; and I feel +assured you will not withhold the only reparation which you could +render, or I accept. Will you promise to consecrate the remainder of +your life to the service of Christ? Will you humble your defiant soul, +and so spend your future, that when this brief earthly pilgrimage ends +you can pass joyfully to the city of Rest? Girded with this hope, I +can brave all trials,--can be content to look upon your face no more +in this world,--can patiently wait for a reunion in that Eternal Home +where they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and +the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in +marriage." + +"Oh, Dr. Grey, if it were possible!" + +She clasped her hands and bowed her chin upon them, awed by his tones, +and unable to met his grave, pleading eyes. + +"Faith and prayer are the talismans that render all things possible to +an earnest Christian; and it has been truly said 'We mount to heaven +mostly on the ruins of our cherished schemes, finding our failures +were successes.' Recollect,-- + + 'There is a pleasure which is born of pain: + The grave of all things hath its violet,' + +and do not indulge a corroding bitterness that has almost destroyed +the nobler elements of your nature. I will exact no promise, but when +I am gone, do not forget the request that my soul makes of yours. May +God point out your work and help you to perform it faithfully. May His +hand guide and uphold, and His merciful arms enfold you, now and +forever, is and shall be my prayer." + +For a moment his hand lingered as if in benediction upon the drooping +gray head, then he quietly turned and walked away, knowing full well +that he was bidding adieu to the most precious of all earthly +objects,--that he too was shattering a lovely "graven image," before +which his heart had fondly bowed. + +As the sound of his firm step died away, the lonely woman lifted her +face and looked after the form, vanishing in the gloom of the +overarching trees. When he had disappeared, and she turned seaward, +where the moon, as if inviting her to heaven, had laid a broad shining +band of beaten silver from wave to sky,--the miserable wife raised her +hands appealingly, and made a new covenant with her pitying God. + + ... "Wherefore thy life + Shall purify itself, and heal itself, + In the long toil of love made meek by tears." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +"Merton, you are not conscious of the extent of your infatuation, which +has already excited comment in our limited circle of acquaintances." + +"Indeed! The members of 'our limited circle of acquaintances' are +heartily welcome to whatever edification or amusement they may be able +to derive from the discussion of my individual affairs, or the +analysis of my peculiar tastes. You forget, my dear Constance, that to +devour and in turn be devoured is an inexorable law of this world; and +if my eccentricities furnish a _ragout_ for omnivorous society, I +should be philanthropically glad that tittle-tattledom owes me +thanks." + +The speaker did not lay aside the newspaper that partially concealed +his countenance; and when he ceased speaking, his eyes reverted to the +statistical table of Egyptian and Algerine cotton, which for some +moments he had been attentively examining. + +"My dear brother, you are spasmodically and provokingly philosophical! +Pray do me the honor to discard that stupid _Times_, which you pore +over as if it were the last sensation novel, and be so courteous as to +look at me while you are talking," replied the invalid sister, beating +a tattoo on the side of her couch. + +"I believe I have nothing to communicate just now," was the quiet and +unsatisfactory answer, as he drew a pencil from his pocket and made +some numeral annotations on the margin of the statistics. + +"Surely, Merton, you are not angry with your poor Constance?" + +Merton Minge lowered his paper, restored the pencil to his vest +pocket, and wheeling his chair forward, brought himself closer to the +couch. + +"I wish you were as far removed from fever as I certainly am from +anger. Your eyes are too bright, my pretty one." + +He put his fingers on her pulse, and when he removed them, compressed +his lips to stifle a sigh. + +"Why will you so persistently evade me?--why will you always change +the subject when I allude to that young lady?" + +"Because, when a man attains the sober and discreet age of forty +years, he naturally and logically thinks he has earned, and is +entitled to, an exemption from the petty teasing to which sophomores +and sentimentalists are subjected. While I gratefully appreciate the +compliment implied in your forgetfulness, permit to remind you of the +disagreeable fact that I am no longer a boy." + +"You lose sight of that same ugly and ill-mannered fact, much more +frequently than I am in danger of doing; and I affectionately suggest +that you stimulate your own torpid memory. Ah, brother! why will you +not be frank, and confide in me? Women are not easily hoodwinked, +except by their lovers,--and you can not deceive me in this matter." + +"What pleasure do you suppose it would afford me to practice deceit of +any kind towards my only sister? To what class of motives could you +credit such conduct?" + +"I think you shrink from acknowledging your real feelings, because you +very well know that I could never sanction or consent to them." + +Mr. Minge arched his heavy brows, and the sternly drawn lines of his +large mouth relaxed, and threatened to run into curves that belonged +to the ludicrous, as he turned his twinkling eyes upon his sister's +face. + +"What extraordinary hallucinations attack even sage, sedate, +middle-aged men? Ten minutes ago I would have sworn I was your +guardian; whereas, it seems your apron-strings are the reins that rule +me. Don't pout, my Czarina, if I demand your credentials before I bow +submissively to your _ukase_." + +"Irony is not your forte; and, Merton, I beg you to recollect that I +detest bantering,--it is so excessively ungenteel. No wonder you look +nervous and ashamed, after your recent very surprising manifestation +of--well, I might as well say what I mean--of _mauvais goût_." + +Constance Minge impatiently threw off the light worsted shawl that +rested on her shoulders, and propped her cheek on her jewelled hand. + +Her brother's countenance clouded, and his lips hardened, but after +one keen look at her flushed features, he once more resumed the +perusal of the paper. Some moments elapsed, and his sister sobbed, but +he took no notice of the sound. + +"Merton, I never expected you would treat me so cruelly." + +"Make out your charges in detail, and when you are sure you have +included all the petty deeds of tyranny as well as the heinous acts of +brutality, I will examine the indictment, and hear myself arraigned. +Shall I bring you some legal cap, and loan you my pencil?" + +For five minutes she held her handkerchief to her eyes, and then Mr. +Minge rose and looked at his watch. + +"You will not be so unkind as to leave me again this afternoon, and +spend your time with that--" + +"Constance, you transcend your privileges, and this is a most +_apropos_ and convenient occasion to remind you that presumption is +one fault I find it particularly difficult to forgive. Since my +forbearance only invites aggression, let me hear say (as an economy of +trouble), that you are rashly invading a realm where I permit none to +enter, much less to dictate. I hope you understand me." + +"I knew it,--I felt it! I dreaded that artful girl would make mischief +between us,--would alienate the only heart I had left to care for me. +Oh, how I wish she had been forty fathoms under the sea before you +ever saw her!--before you ceased to love me!" + +A flood of tears emphasized the sentence, which seemed lost upon Mr. +Minge, as he lighted a cigar, tried its flavor, threw it away, and +puffed the smoke from a second. + +"I am sorry you can't smoke and compose your nerves, as I am preparing +to do,--though I confess I prefer to kiss your lips untainted by such +odors. Shall I?" + +He held his cigar aside to prevent the wind from wafting the curling +column of smoke in her face, and bent his head close to hers; but she +put up her hand to prevent the caress, and averted her face. + +"As you like. But mark you, Constance, the next time our lips touch, +you will find yourself in the nominative case, while I meekly fill an +objective position. You are a poor, wilful, spoiled child, and I must +begin to undo my own ruinous work." + +He picked up his hat and walked off, followed by a pretty Italian +mouse-colored greyhound, whose silver bell tinkled as she ran down the +steps. + +"Merton, come back! Do not leave me here alone, or I shall die. +Brother!--" + +On strode the stalwart figure, looking neither to right nor left, +and behind him trailed the vaporous aroma of the fine cigar. +Raising herself on her couch, the invalid elevated her voice, and +exclaimed,-- + +"Please, dear Merton, come back,--at least long enough to let me kiss +you. Please, brother!" + +He paused,--wavered,--drew geometrical figures on the ground with the +tip of his boot, and finally took off his hat, turned and bowed, +saying,-- + +"Show some flag of truce, if you really want me to return." + +She raised her hands and gracefully tossed him several kisses. + +Slowly Mr. Minge retraced his steps, and, as he sat down once more +close to his sister and pushed back his hat, she saw that he intended +her to realize that her reign was at an end; and she trembled and +turned pale at the expression with which he regarded her. + +"Merton, don't you know--don't you believe--that I love you above +everything else?" + +She sat erect, and stole one arm around the neck that did not bend +toward her, as was its habit. + +"If you really loved me, you would desire to see me happy." + +"I do desire it, earnestly and sincerely; and there is no sacrifice I +would not make to see you really happy." + +"Provided I selected your mode of obtaining the boon, and moreover +consulted your caprices and antipathies; otherwise, my happiness would +annoy and insult you." + +"Don't scold,--kiss me." She put up her lips, but he did not respond +to the motion, and she pettishly drew his head down and kissed him +several times. "How obstinate you have grown!--how harsh towards me! +It is all the result of that--" + +She bit her lip, and her brother frowned. + +"Take care! You seem continually disposed to stumble very awkwardly +into forbidden realms." + +The petted invalid nestled her pretty head on his bosom, and patted +his cheek with one hot hand. + +"Brother, Kate Sutherland was here this morning, and left--besides +numerous kind messages for you--a three-cornered note that I ordered +Adèle to place in your dressing-case, where I felt sure you would see +it." + +"Yes, I saw it." + +"An invitation to ascend Monte Pellegrini?" + +"Which I respectfully decline." + +"O Merton! Why not go?" + +"Simply because I never premeditatedly, and with _malice prepense_, +bore myself by joining parties composed of persons in whom I have not +an atom of interest." + +"But Kate is so lovely?" + +"Not to me." + +"Nonsense! She was the handsomest young girl in Paris, and was the +acknowledged belle of the season." + +"Possibly. Henna-dyed nails are considered irresistible in Turkey, but +your opalescent ones attract me infinitely more pleasantly." + +"Pray what have my nails to do with Kate's beauty?" + +"Nothing destructive, I hope,--as I am disposed to think she has +little to spare." + +"Good heavens! You surely would not insinuate that you believe +or consider,--or would admit, that she is not vastly superior +to--to--there, Beauty, down! She is actually dining on the fringe +of my pelerine!" + +To cover her confusion, Constance addressed herself to the diminutive +dog at her feet, and taking her flushed face in his hands, the brother +looked steadily down, and answered,-- + +"I never insinuate. It impresses me as a cowardly and contemptible bit +of plebeian practice that found favor after the royal purple was +trailed in agrarian democratic dust; and lest you should unjustly +impute abhorred innuendoes to me, I will say perspicuously, that the +most attractive and beautiful woman I have ever seen is not your fair +friend Miss Sutherland, nor any other darling of diamond and satin +sheen, but a young lady whom I admire beyond expression, Miss Salome +Owen." + +An angry flush burned on the invalid's face, and her mouth curled +scornfully. + +"She is rather handsome sometimes,--so are gypsies and other waifs; +but it is a wild sort of beauty,--if beauty you persist in terming it; +and low birth and blood are visible in everything that appertains to +her. I never expected to see my brother condescend to the level of +opera-singers, and I am astonished at your infatuation. There! you +need not expect to blast me with that fiery look, and besides, you +know you mentioned her name, which I had scrupulously avoided. I +confess I am very proud of my family, and of you, its sole male +representative, and I wish it preserved from all taint." + +"Untainted it shall remain, while a drop of the blood throbs in my +veins, and I, who am jealous of my honor, have carefully pondered the +matter, and maturely decided that he who entrusts his happiness to +Salome Owen will be indeed an enviable man, and pardonably proud of +his prize. Once I bartered myself away at the altar, and gave my name +and hand for wealth, for aristocratic antecedents, for fashionable +status, and five years of purgatorial misery was the richly merited +penalty for the insult I offered my heart. Death freed me, and for ten +years I have lived at least in peace, indulging no thought of a second +alliance, and merely amused, or disgusted by the matrimonial snares +that have lined my path. I no longer belong to that pitiable class who +feel constrained to marry for position, and who convert the +altar-steps into so many rounds of the social ladder; and I have +earned the right to indulge my outraged heart in any caprice that +promises to mellow, to gild the evening of my life with that +home-sunshine that was denied its gloomy tempestuous morning. My +future, my fortune, my social standing, my unblemished name, are all +my own,--and I shall exercise my privilege of bestowing them where and +when I please, heedless of the sneers and howls of disappointed +mercenary schemers. Come weal, come woe, I here announce that neither +you nor the world need hope to influence me one 'jot or tittle' in an +affair where I allow no impertinent interference. I warn you this is +the last time I shall permit even an indirect allusion to matters with +which you have no legitimate concern; and provided you do not obtrude +them upon me, it is a question of indifference to me what your opinion +and that of your 'circle' may chance to be. Constance, you here have +your ultimatum. Defy me, if you please, but prompt separation will +ensue; and you will unexpectedly find yourself _en route_ for America. +Peace or war? Before you decide, recollect that all your future will +be irretrievably colored by it." + +"In my state of health it is positively cruel for you to threaten me; +and some day when you follow my coffin to Mount Auburn, you will +repent your harshness. I wish to heaven I had never left home!" + +A passionate fit of weeping curtailed the sentence, and, while the +face was covered with the lace handkerchief, the brother rose and made +his escape. + +Despite the fact that forty years had left their whitening touches on +his head and luxuriant beard, Merton Minge, who had never been +handsome, even in youth, was sufficiently agreeable in appearance to +render him an object of deep interest in the circle where he moved. +Medium-statured, and very robust, a healthful ruddy tinge robbed his +complexion of that sallow hue which mercantile pursuits are apt to +induce, and brightened the deep-set black eyes which his debtors +considered mercilessly keen, cold, and incisive. + +The square face, with its broad, full forehead, and deep curved furrow +dividing the thick straight brows,--its well-shaped but prominent +nose, and massive jaws and chin partially veiled by a grizzled beard +that swept over his deep chest,--was suggestive of ledgers rent-roll, +and stock-boards, rather than æsthetics, chivalry, or sentimentality. +The only son of a proud but impoverished family, who were eager to +retrieve their fortune, he had early in life married the imperious +spoiled daughter of a Boston millionaire, whose dower consisted of +five hundred thousand dollars, and a temper that eclipsed the +unamiable exploits of ancient and modern shrews. + +Hopeless of domestic happiness in a union to which affection had not +prompted him, Mr. Minge devoted himself to the rapid accumulation of +wealth, and by judicious and successful speculations had doubled his +fortune, ere, at the comparatively early age of thirty, he was left a +childless widower. Whether he really thanked fate for his timely +release, his most intimate friends were never able to ascertain, for +he wore mourning, badges for three years, and conducted himself in all +respects with exemplary dignity and scrupulous propriety. But the +frigid indifference with which he received all matrimonial overtures +indicated that his conjugal experience was not so rosy as to tempt him +to repeat the experiment. + +His mother was a haughty, frivolous woman, jealously tenacious of her +position as one of the oligarchs of _le beau monde_, and his fragile +sister had from childhood been the victim of rheumatism that +frequently rendered her entirely helpless. To these two and their +fashionable friends, he abandoned his elegant home, costly equipages, +and opera-box, reserving only a suite of rooms, his handsome +riding-horse, and yacht. + +Grave and unostentatious, yet not moody,--neither impulsively liberal +and generous nor habitually penurious and uncharitable,--he led a +quiet and monotonously easy life, varied by occasional trips to +foreign lands, and comforted by the assurance that his income-tax was +one of the heaviest in the state. Two years after the death of his +mother, he took his sister a second time to Europe, hoping that the +climate of the Levant might relieve her suffering; and upon the +steamer in which he crossed the Atlantic he met Salome Owen. + +Extravagantly fond of music, though unable to extract it from any +instrument, his attention had first been attracted by her exquisite +voice, which invested the voyage with a novel charm and rendered her a +great favorite with the passengers. + +Human nature is wofully inflexible and obstinate, and not all the +Menus, Zoroasters, Solomons, and Platos have taught it wisdom; +wherefore it is not surprising that a caustic wit and savage cynic +asserts, "The vices, it may be said, await us in the journey of life +like hosts with whom we must successively lodge; and I doubt whether +experience would make us avoid them if we were to travel the same road +a second time." + +Habit may be second nature, but it is the Gurth, the thrall of the +first,--the vassal of inherent impulses; and even the most ossified +natures contain some soft palpitating spot that will throb against +the hand that is sufficiently dexterous to find it. In every man and +woman there lurks a vein of sentiment, which, no matter how heavily +crushed by the super-incumbent mass of utilitarian, practical +commonplaceisms, will one day trickle through the dusty _débris_, +and creep like a silver thread over the dun waste of selfishness; or, +Arethusa-like, burst forth suddenly after long subterranean +wandering. + +For forty years it had crawled silently and sluggishly under the +indurated and coldly egoistic nature of Merton Minge,--had been dammed +up at times by avarice and at others by grim recollections of his +domestic infelicity; but finally, after tedious meandering in the +Desert of Heartlessness, it struggled triumphantly to the surface one +glorious autumn night, when a golden moon illumined the Atlantic waves +and kindled a bewitching beauty in the face of Salome, who sat on +deck, singing an impassioned strain from _La Favorite_. + +Her silvery voice was the miraculous rod that smote his petrified +affections, and a wellspring of tenderness gushed forth, freshening, +softening, and clothing with verdure and bloom his arid, sterile, +stony temperament. Long-buried dreams of his boyhood stirred in their +chilly graves and flitted dimly before him, and a hope that had +slumbered so soundly he had utterly ignored its memory, started up, +eager and starry-eyed, as in the college days of eld,--the precious +hope, underlying all other emotions in a man's heart, that one day he +too would be loved and prayed for by a pure womanly heart, and pure, +sweet, womanly lips. + +Fifteen years before, he had vowed "to cherish," not the haughty girl +whose hand he clasped, but the five hundred thousand dollars that +gilded it; and faithfully he had kept his oath to the god of his +idolatry, sacrificing the best half of his life to insatiate +_Kuvera_. + +On that cloudless October night, as he watched the shimmer of the moon +on Salome's silky hair, and noted the purely oval outline of her +daintily carved face, and the childish grace of her fine form,--as he +listened to flute-like tones, as irresistible as Parthenope's, his +cold, formal, non-committal mouth stirred, his hand involuntarily +opened and closed firmly, as if grasping some "pearl of great price," +and his slow, almost stagnant pulses, leaped into feverish activity, +and soon ran riot. Perhaps more regular features, and deeper, richer +carnation bloom had confronted him, but love makes sad havoc of +ideals and abstract standards, and he who defined beauty, "the woman I +love," was wiser than Burke and more analytical than Cousin. + +The freshness, the _brusquerie_, the outspoken honesty, that +characterized Salome, strangely fascinated this grave, selfish, +_blasé_ aristocrat, who was weary of hollow, polished conventionalities +and stereotyped society phrases; and, as he sat on deck watching her +countenance, he would have counted out his fortune at her feet for +the privilege of claiming her fair, slender hand, and her tremulous, +scarlet lips, instinct with melody that entranced him. + +Henceforth life had a different goal, a nobler aim, a tenderer and +more precious hope; and all the energy of his vigorous character was +bent to the fulfilment of the beautiful dream that one day that young +girl would bear his name, grace his princely home, and nestle in his +heart. + +He did not ask, Can that fair, graceful, gifted young thing ever love +a gray-haired man, old enough to call her his daughter? Nay, nay! +Common sense was utterly dethroned and expelled,--romance usurped the +realm, and draped the future with rainbows; and he only set his teeth +firmly against each other, and said to his bounding heart and blinded +soul, "Patience, ye shall soon possess her!" + +To Paris, Lyons, Naples, he had followed her, and finally secured a +villa at Palermo, where Prof. V---- had established himself and his +household in a comfortable suite of rooms. + +To-day, as he left his sister and approached the house where the +professor dwelt, his countenance was moody and forbidding, but its +expression changed rapidly, as he caught a glimpse of the white muslin +dress that fluttered in the evening wind. + +Salome was swiftly pacing the wide terrace that commanded a view of +the Mediterranean, and her hands were clasped behind her, as was her +habit when immersed in thought. + +Over her head she had thrown a white gauze scarf of fringed silk, +which, slipping back, displayed the elaborate braids of hair wound +around the head, where a crescent of snowy hyacinths partially +encircled the glossy coil, and drooped upon her neck. + +Her face wore a haggard, anxious, restless expression, and the thin +lips had lost their bright coral tint,--the smooth, clear cheeks +something of their rounded perfection. + +As Mr. Minge came forward, she paused in her walk and leaned against +the marble railing of the terrace, where a lemon tree, white with +bloom, overhung the mosaiced floor and powdered it with velvety +petals. + +He held out his hand. + +"I hope I find you better?" + +"Do I look so, think you?" said she, eyeing him impatiently, and +keeping her hands folded behind her. + +"Unfortunately, no; and if I possessed the right I have more than once +solicited, other physicians should be consulted. Why will you tamper +with so serious a matter, and unnecessarily augment the anxiety of +those who love you?" + +"I beg you to believe that my self-love is infinitely stronger than +any other with which I am honored, and prompts me to all possible +prudential precautions. Three doctors have already annoyed me with +worthless prescriptions, and this morning I paid their bills and +dismissed them; whereupon, one of them revenged himself by maliciously +informing me that I should not be able to sing a note for one year at +least." + +"To what do they attribute the disease?" + +"To that attack of scarlet fever, and also to the too frequent and +severe cauterization of my throat. Time was when like other fond +fools, I fancied Fate was not the hideous hag that wiser heads had +painted her, but an affable old dame, easily cajoled and propitiated. +With Carthaginian gratitude she repays my complimentary opinion by +trampling my hopes and aims as I crush these petals, which yield +perfume to their spoiler, while I could--" + +She put her foot upon the drifting lemon blossoms, and bit her lip to +keep back the bitter words that trembled on her tongue. + +"Come and sit here on the steps, and confide your plans to one whose +every scheme shall be subordinated to your wishes, your happiness." + +Mr. Minge attempted to take her hand, but she drew back and repulsed +him. + +"Excuse me. I prefer to remain where I am; and when I am so fortunate +and sagacious as to mature any plans, I shall be sure to lock them in +my own heart beyond the tender mercies of meddling, marplot fortune." + +Her whole face grew dark, sinister, almost dangerous in its sudden +transformation, and, leaning against the railing, she impatiently +swept off the snowy lemon leaves. Mr. Minge took the end of her scarf, +and as he toyed with the fringe, sighed heavily. + +"Of course you are forced to abandon your contemplated _début_ in +Paris?" + +"Yes. A _début_ minus a voice, does not tempt me. Ah! how bright the +future looked when I sang for the agent of the Opera-House, and found +myself engaged for the season. How changed, how cheerless all things +seem now." + +"Salome, fate is Janus-faced, and while frowning on you smiles +benignantly on me. I joyfully hail every obstacle that bars your path, +hoping that, weary of useless resistance, you will consent to walk in +the flowery one I have offered you. My beautiful darling, why will you +refuse the--" + +"Silence! I am in no mood to listen to a repetition of sentiments +which, however flattering to my vanity, have no power to touch my +heart. Mr. Minge, I have twice declined the offer you have done me the +honor to make; and while proud of your preference, my Saxon is not so +ambiguous or redundant as to leave any margin for misconception of my +meaning." + +"My dear Salome, I fear your decision has been influenced by the +consciousness that my poor, petted Constance has occasionally +neglected the courtesies which you had a right to claim from the +sister of the man who seeks to make you his wife." + +"No, sir; your sister's sneers, and the petty slights and persecutions +for which I am indebted to her friend, Miss Sutherland, have not +sufficient importance to affect me in any degree. My decision is +based upon the unfortunate fact that I do not love you." + +"No woman can withstand such devotion as I bring you, and time would +soon soften and deepen your feelings." + +"Sir, you unduly flatter yourself. Neither time nor eternity would +change me, and you would do well to remember that it is my voice, +sir,--not my hand and heart,--that I offer for sale." + +"Your stubborn rejection is explicable only by the supposition that +you have deceived me,--that you have already bartered away the heart I +long to call my own." + +"I am a miller's child,--you a millionaire, but permit me to remind +you that I allow no imputation on my veracity. Why should I condescend +to deceive you?" + +She petulantly snatched her scarf from the fingers that still stroked +it caressingly; but an instant later a singular change swept over her +countenance, and pressing her hands to her heart, she said in a proud, +almost exultant tone,-- + +"Although I deny your right to question me upon this subject, you are +thoroughly welcome to know that I love one man so entirely, so +deathlessly, that the bare thought of marrying any one else sickens my +soul." + +Mr. Minge turned pale, and grasped the carved balustrade against which +he rested. + +"O Salome! you have trifled." + +"No, sir. Take that back. I never stoop to trifling; and the curse of +my life has been my almost fatal earnestness of purpose. If I ever +deliberated one moment concerning the expediency of clothing myself +first with your aristocratic name, afterwards with satin, velvet, and +diamonds,--if I ever silenced the outcry of my heart long enough to +ask myself whether _gilded misery_ was not the least torturing type of +the epidemic wretchedness,--at least I kept my parley with Mammon to +myself; and if you obstinately cherished hopes of final success, they +sprang from your vanity, not my dissimulation. Mark you, I here set up +no claim to sanctity,--for indeed my sins are 'thick as leaves in +Vallombrosa'; but my pedigree does not happen to link me with +Sapphira, and deceit is not charged to me in the real Doomsday Book. +Theft would be more possible for me than falsehood, for while both are +labelled 'wicked,' I could never dwarf and shrivel my soul by the +cowardly process of mendacity. Mr. Minge, had I been a trifle less +honest and true than I find myself, I might have impaired my +self-respect by trifling." + +"Forgive me, Salome, if the pain I endure rendered me harsh or unjust. +My dearest, I did not intend to wound you, but indeed you are cruel +sometimes." + +"Yes; truth is the most savagely cruel of all rude, jagged weapons, +and leaves ugly gashes and quivering nerves exposed, and these are the +hurts that never cicatrize--that gape and bleed while the heart throbs +to feed them." + +"Tell me candidly whether the heart I covet belongs to that Mr. +Granville, who paid you such devoted attention in Paris." + +A short, scornful, mirthless laugh rang sharply on the air, and +turning quickly, Salome exclaimed contemptuously,-- + +"I said I loved a man,--a true, honest, brave, noble man,--not that +perfumed, unprincipled, vain, foppish automaton, who adorns a corner +of the diplomatic apartment where _attachés_ of the American embassy +'most do congregate'! Gerard Granville is unworthy of any woman's +affection, for maugre the indisputable fact that he is betrothed to a +fond, trusting girl, now in the United States, he had the effrontery +to attempt to offer his addresses to me. If an honest man be the +noblest work of God, then, beyond all peradventure, the disgrace of +creation is centred in an unscrupulous one, such as I have the honor +to pronounce Mr. Granville." + +Seizing her hands, Mr. Minge carried them forcibly to his lips, and +said, in a voice that faltered from intensity of feeling,-- + +"Is it the hope that your love is reciprocated which bars your heart +so sternly against my pleadings? Spare me no pangs,--tell me all." + +She freed her fingers from his grasp, and retreating a few steps, +answered with a passionate mournfulness which he never forgot,-- + +"If I were dowered with that precious hope, not all the crown jewels +in Christendom and Heathendom could purchase it. Not the proudest +throne on that continent of empires that lies yonder to the north, +could woo me one hour from the only kingdom where I could happily +reign,--the heart of the man I love. No--no--no! That hope is as +distant as the first star up there above us, which has rent the blue +veil of heaven to gaze pityingly at me; and I would as soon expect to +catch that silver sparkle and fold it in my arms as dream that my +affection could ever be returned. The only man I shall ever love could +not bend his noble, regal nature to the level of mine, and towers +beyond me, a pinnacle of unapproachable purity and perfection. Ah, +indeed, he is one of those concerning whom it has been grandly said: +'_The truly great stand upright as columns of the temple whose dome +covers all,--against whose pillared sides multitudes lean, at whose +base they kneel in times of trouble._' Mr. Minge, it is despair that +crouches at my heart, not hope that shuts its portals against your +earnest petition; for a barrier wider, deeper than a hundred oceans +divides me from my idol, who loves, and ere this, is the husband of +another." + +She did not observe the glow that once more mantled his cheek, and +fired his eyes, until he exclaimed with unusual fervor,-- + +"Thank God! That fact is freighted with priceless comfort." + +Compassion and contempt seemed struggling for mastery, as she waved +him from her, and answered, impatiently,-- + +"Think you that any other need hope to usurp my monarch's place,--that +one inferior dare expect to wield his sceptre over my heart? Pardon +me,-- + + 'If there were not an eagle in the realm of birds, + Must then the owl be king among the feathered herds?' + +Some day a gentler spirit than mine will fill your home with music, +and your heart with peace and sunshine; and, in that hour, thank +honest Salome Owen for the blessings you owe to her candor. I must bid +you good-night." + +She drew the scarf closer about her head and throat, and turned to +leave the terrace. + +"Will you not allow me to drive you to-morrow afternoon on the Marino? +Do not refuse me this innocent and inexpressibly valued privilege. I +will not be denied! Good-night, my--Heaven shield you, my worshipped +one! Hush!--I will hear no refusal." + +He stooped, kissed the folds of the scarf that covered her head, and +hurried down the steps of the terrace. + +The glory of a Sicilian sunset bathed the face and figure that stood a +moment under the lemon-boughs, watching the retreating form which soon +disappeared behind clustering pomegranate, olive, and palm; and a +tender compassion looked out of the large hazel eyes, and sat on the +sad lips that murmured,-- + +"God help you, Merton Minge, to strangle the viper that coils in your +heart, and gnaws its core. My own is a serpent's lair, and I pity the +pangs that rend yours also. But after a little while, your viper will +find a file,--mine, alas! not until death arrests the slow torture. +To-morrow afternoon I shall be--where? Only God knows." + +She shivered slightly, and raised her beautiful eyes towards the west, +where golden gleams and violet shadows were battling for possession of +a reef of cloud islets, which dotted the azure upper sea of air, and +were reflected in the watery one beneath. + +"Courage! courage! + + 'Those who have nothing left to hope, + Have nothing left to dread.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +"Muriel, where can I find Miss Dexter?" + +"She went out on the lawn an hour ago, to regale herself with what she +calls, 'atmospheric hippocrene,' and I have not heard her come in, +though she may have gone to her room. Pray tell me, doctor, why you +wish to see my governess?--to inquire concerning my numerous +peccadilloes?" + +Muriel adroitly folded her embroidered silk apron over a package of +letters that lay in her lap, and affected an air of gayety at variance +with her dim eyes and wet lashes. + +"I shall believe that conscience accuses you of many juvenile +improprieties, since you so suspiciously attack my motives and +intentions. Indeed, little one, you flatter yourself unduly, in +imagining that my interview with Miss Dexter necessarily involves the +discussion of her pupil. I merely wish to enlist her sympathy in +behalf of one of my patients. Muriel, I would have been much more +gratified if I had found you walking with her, instead of moping here +alone." + +"I am not moping." + +The girl bit her full red lip, and strove to force back the rapidly +gathering tears. + +"At least you are not cheerful, and it pains me to see that anxious, +dissatisfied expression on a face that should reflect only sunshine. +What disturbs you?--the scarcity of Gerard's letters?" + +Dr. Grey sat down beside his ward, and throwing her arms around his +neck, she burst into a passionate flood of tears. The sudden movement +uncovered the letters, which slipped down and strewed the carpet. + +"Oh, doctor! I am very miserable!" + +"Why, my dear child?" + +"Because Gerard does not love me as formerly." + +"What reason have you for doubting his affection?" + +"He scarcely writes to me once a month, and then his letters are short +and cold as icicles, and full of court gossip and fashion items, for +which he knows I do not care a straw. Yesterday I received one,--the +first I have had for three weeks,--and he requests me to defer our +marriage at least six months longer, as he cannot possibly come over +in May, the time appointed when he was here." + +She hid her face on her guardian's shoulder, and sobbed. + +An expression of painful surprise and stern displeasure clouded Dr. +Grey's countenance, as he smoothed the hair away from the girl's +throbbing temples. + +"Calm yourself, Muriel. If Gerard has forfeited your confidence, he is +unworthy of your tears. Do you apprehend that his indifference is +merely the result of separation, or have you any cause to attribute it +to interest in some other person?" + +"That is a question I cannot answer." + +"Cannot, or will not?" + +"I know nothing positively; but I fear something, which perhaps I +ought not to mention." + +"Throw aside all hesitancy, and talk freely to me. If Granville is +either fickle or dishonorable, you should rejoice that the discovery +has been made in time to save you from life-long wretchedness." + +"If we were only married, I am sure I could win him back to me." + +"That is a fatal fallacy, that has wrecked the happiness of many +women. If a lover grows indifferent, as a husband he will be cold, +unkind, unendurable. If as a devoted fiancée you can not retain and +strengthen his affection,--as a wife you would weary and repel him. +Have you answered the last letter?" + +"No, sir." + +"My dear child, do you not consider me your best friend?" + +"Certainly I do." + +"Then yield to my guidance, and follow my advice. Lose no time in +writing to Mr. Granville, and cancel your engagement. Tell him he is +free." + +"Oh, then I should lose him,--and happiness, forever!" wailed Muriel, +clasping her hands almost despairingly. + +"You have already lost his heart, and should be unwilling to retain +him in fetters that must be galling." + +"Ah, Dr. Grey! it is very easy for you who never loved any one, to +tell me, in that cold, business-like way, that I ought to set Gerard +free; but you cannot realize what it costs to follow your counsel. Of +course I know that in everything else you are much wiser than I, but +persons who have no love affairs of their own are not the best judges +of other people's. He is so dear to me, I believe it would kill me to +give him up, and see him no more." + +"On the contrary, you would survive much greater misfortune than +separation from a man who is unworthy of you. I cannot coerce, but +simply counsel you in this matter, and should be glad to learn what +your own decision is. Do you intend to wait until Gerard Granville +explicitly requests you to release him from his engagement?" + +She winced, and the tears gushed anew. + +"Oh, you are cruel! You are heartless!" + +"No, my dear Muriel; I am actuated by the truest affection for my +little ward, and desire to snatch her from future humiliation. My +knowledge of human nature is more extended, more profound than yours, +but since you seem unwilling to avail yourself of my experience, it +only remains for you to acquaint me with your determination. Are you +willing to tell me the nature of your answer?" + +"I intend to accede to Gerard's wish, and will defer the marriage +until November; but in the meantime, I shall endeavor to win back his +heart, which I believe has been artfully enticed from me." + +"By whom?" + +She made no reply, and lifting her head from his shoulder, Dr. Grey +looked keenly into her face, and repeated his question. + +"Do not urge me to express suspicions that may possibly be unjust." + +"That are entirely unjust, you may rest assured," said he, almost +vehemently. + +"By what means did you so positively ascertain that fact?" + +"The result will prove. Now, my dear child, you must acquit me of +heartlessness and cruelty when I tell you, that, under existing +circumstances, I cannot and will not consent to the solemnization of +your marriage until you are of age. Once the conviction that an +earlier consummation of your engagement was essential to the happiness +of both parties, overruled the dictates of my judgment, and induced me +to acquiesce in your wishes; but subsequent events have illustrated +the wisdom of my former opposition, and now I am resolved that no +argument or persuasion shall prevail upon me to sanction or permit +your marriage until you are twenty-one." + +With a sharp cry of chagrin and amazement, Muriel sprang to her feet. + +"You surely do not mean to keep me in this torture, for nearly three +years? I will not submit to such tyranny, even from Dr. Grey." + +"As a faithful guardian, I can see no alternative, and fear of +incurring your displeasure shall not deter me from the performance of +a stern duty to the child of my best and dearest friend. I must and +will do what your father certainly would, were he alive. My dear +Muriel, control yourself, and do not, by harsh epithets and unjust +accusations, wound the heart that sincerely loves you. To-day, as your +guardian, I hearken to the imperative dictates of my conscience, and +turn a deaf ear to the pleadings of my tender affection, which would +save you from even momentary sorrow and disappointment. Since my +decision is irrevocable, do not render the execution of my purpose +more painful than necessity demands." + +Seizing his hand, Muriel pressed it against her flushed cheek, and +pleaded falteringly,-- + +"Do not doom your poor little Muriel to such misery. Oh, Dr. Grey! +dear Dr. Grey, remember you promised my dying father to take his +place,--and he would never inflict such suffering on his child. You +have forgotten your promise!" + +"No, dear child. It is because I hold it so sacred that I cannot yield +to your entreaties; and I must faithfully adhere to my obligations, +even though I forfeit your affection. I shall write to Mr. Granville +by the next mail, and it is my wish that henceforth the subject should +not be referred to. Cheer up, my child; three years will soon glide +away, and at the expiration of that time you will thank me for the +firmness which you now denounce as cruelty. Good-morning. Be sure to +think kindly of your guardian, whose heart is quite as sad as your +own." + +She struggled and resisted, but he kissed her lightly on the +forehead, and as he left the room heard her bitter invectives against +his tyranny and hard-heartedness. + +Crossing the elm-studded lawn, he approached a secluded walk, bordered +with lilacs and myrtle, and saw the figure of the governess pacing to +and fro. + +During the four months that had elapsed since his last visit to +"Solitude," he scrutinized and studied her character more closely than +formerly, and the investigation only heightened and intensified his +esteem. + +No hint of her history had ever passed the calm, patient lips, which +had forgotten how to laugh, and now, as he watched her pale, +melancholy face, which bore traces of extraordinary beauty, he +exonerated her from all blame in the ruinous deception that had +blasted more lives than one; and honored the silent heroism which so +securely locked her disappointment in her own heart. He knew that +consumption was the hereditary scourge of her family, that she bore in +her constitution the seeds of slowly but surely developing disease, +and did not marvel at the quiet indifference with which she treated +symptoms which he had several times pointed out as serious and +dangerous. + +To-day her manner was excited, and her step betrayed very unusual +impatience. + +"Miss Dexter, from the frequency of your cough I am afraid you are +imprudent in selecting this walk, which is so densely shaded that the +sun does not reach it until nearly noon. Are not your feet damp?" + +"No, sir; my shoes are thick, and thoroughly protect them." + +She paused before him, and, in her soft, brown eyes, he saw a strange, +unwonted restlessness,--an eager expectancy that surprised and +disturbed him. + +"Are you at leisure this morning?" + +"Do you need my services immediately?" + +She answered evasively; and he noticed that she glanced anxiously +toward the road leading into town. + +"You will greatly oblige me, if some time during the day, you will be +so good as to superintend the preparation of some calves'-feet jelly, +for one of my poor patients. I would not trouble you, but Rachel is +quite sick, and the new cook does not understand the process. May I +depend upon you?" + +"Certainly, sir; it will afford me pleasure to prepare the jelly." + +Looking more closely at her face, he saw undeniable traces of recent +tears, and drew her arm through his. + +"I hope you will not deem me impertinently curious if I beg you to +honor me with your confidence, and explain the anxiety which is +evidently preying upon your mind." + +Embarrassment flushed her transparent cheek, and her shy eyes glanced +up uneasily. + +"At least, Miss Dexter, permit me to ask whether Muriel is connected +with the cause of your disquiet?" + +"My pupil is, I fear, very unhappy; but she withholds much from me +since she learned my disapproval of her approaching marriage." + +"Will you acquaint me with your objections to Mr. Granville?" + +"Against Mr. Granville, the gentleman, I have nothing to urge; but I +could not consent to see Muriel wed a man, who, I am convinced, has no +affection for her." + +"Have you told her this?" + +"Repeatedly; and, of course, my frankness has offended and alienated +her. Oh, Dr. Grey! the child totters on the brink of a flower-veiled +precipice, and will heed no warning. Perhaps I should libel Mr. +Granville were I to impute mercenary motives to him,--perhaps he +fancied he loved Muriel when he addressed her,--I hope so, for the +honor of manhood; but the glamour was brief, and certainly he must be +aware that he has not proper affection for her now." + +"And yet, she is very lovable and winning." + +"Yes,--to you and to me; but her good qualities are not those which +gentlemen find most attractive. What is Christian purity and noble +generosity of soul, in comparison with physical perfection? Muriel +often reminds me of one whom I loved devotedly, whose unselfish and +unsuspicious nature wrought the ruin of her happiness; and from her +miserable fate I would fain save my pupil." + +He knew from the tremor of her lips and hands, and the momentary +contraction of her fair brow, to whom she alluded; and both sighed +audibly. + +"My convictions coincide so entirely with yours, that I have had an +interview with my ward, and withdrawn my consent to her marriage until +she is of age." + +"Thank God! In the interim she may grow wiser, or some fortuitous +occurrence may avert the danger we dread." + +In the brief silence that ensued, the governess seemed debating the +expediency of making some revelation; and, encountering one of her +perplexed and scrutinizing glances, the doctor smiled and said, +gravely,-- + +"I believe I understand your hesitancy; but I assure you I should +never forfeit any trust you might repose in me. You have some cause of +serious annoyance, entirely irrespective of my ward, and I may be +instrumental in removing it." + +"Thank you, Dr. Grey. For some days I have been canvassing the +propriety of asking your advice and assistance; and my reluctance +arose not from want of confidence in you, but from dread of the pain +it would necessarily inflict upon me, to recur to events long buried. +It is not essential, however, that I should weary you with the minutiæ +of circumstances which many years ago smothered the sunshine in my +life, and left me in darkness, a lonely and joyless woman. I have +resided here long enough to learn the noble generosity of your +character, and to you, as a true Christian gentleman, I come for +aid,--premising only that what I am about to say is strictly +confidential." + +"As such, I shall ever regard it; but if I am to become your coajutor +in any matter, let me request that nothing be kept secret, for only +entire frankness should exist between those who have a common aim." + +A painful flush tinged her cheek, and the fair, thin face, grew +indescribably mournful, as she clasped her hands firmly over his arm. + +"Dr. Grey, when unscrupulous men or women deliberately stab the +happiness of a fellow-creature, they have no wounded sensibilities, no +haunting compunction,--and if remorse finally overtakes, it finds them +well-nigh callous and indurated; but woe to that innocent being who is +the unintentional and unconscious agent for the ruin of those she +loves. I cannot remember the time when I did not love the only man for +whom I ever entertained any affection. He was the playmate of my +earliest years,--the betrothed of my young maidenhood,--and just +before my poor father died, he joined our hands and left his blessing +on my choice. Poverty was the only barrier to our union, but I took a +situation as teacher, and hoarded my small gains in the hope of aiding +my lover, who went abroad with a wealthy uncle, and completed his +education in Germany. I knew that Maurice had contracted very +extravagant and self-indulgent habits,--but in the court of love is +there any 'high crime' or misdemeanor for which a woman's heart will +condemn her idol? Nay, nay; she will plead his defence against the +stern evidence of her own incorruptible reason; and, if need be, share +his punishment,--die in his stead. I denied myself every luxury, and +jealously husbanded my small salary, anticipating the happy hour when +we might invest it in furniture for our little home; and, indeed, in +those blessed days of hope, it seemed no hardship,-- + + 'And joy was duty, and love was law.' + +From time to time our marriage was deferred, but I well knew I was +beloved, and so I waited patiently, until fortune should smile upon +me. In the interim I became warmly attached to a young girl in the +school where I taught, and whose affection for me was enthusiastic and +ardent. Evelyn was an orphan, and the heiress of enormous wealth, +which she seemed resolved to share with me; and, more than once, I was +tempted to acquaint her with the obstacle that debarred me from +happiness. Ah! if I had only confided in her, and trusted her faithful +love, how much wretchedness would have been averted! But she appeared +to me such an impulsive child that I shrank from unburdening my heart +to her, while she acquainted me with every thought and aim of her +pure, guileless life. She was singularly, almost idolatrously fond of +me, and I loved her very sincerely, for her character was certainly +the most admirable I have ever met. + +"At vacation we parted for three months, and I hurried to meet my +lover, who had promised to join me in Vermont, where my mother had +gone to recruit her failing health. For the first time Maurice proved +recreant, and wrote that imperative business detained him in New York. +Did I doubt him, even then? Not in the least; but endeavored by +cheerful letters to show him how patiently I could bear the separation +that might result in pecuniary advantage to him. My mother looked +anxious, and foreboded ill; but I laughed at her misgivings, and +proudly silenced her warning voice. In the midst of my blissful dream +came a lengthy telegraphic dispatch from my young girl-friend Evelyn, +inviting me to hasten to New York, and accompany her on a bridal tour +through Europe. In a brief and almost incoherent note, subsequently +received, she accidentally omitted the name of her future husband, and +designated him as 'my prince,' 'my king,' 'my liege lover.' The same +mail brought me a long and exceedingly tender letter from my own +betrothed, informing me that at the expiration of ten days he would +certainly be with me to arrange for an immediate consummation of our +engagement. A railroad accident delayed me twenty-four hours, and I +did not reach New York until the morning of the day on which my friend +was married. The ceremony took place at ten o'clock, and when I +arrived, Evelyn was already in the hands of the hair-dresser. I was +hurried into the room prepared for me, and while waiting for my trunk, +noticed a basket containing some of the wedding cards. I picked up +one, and you can perhaps imagine my emotions, when I saw that my own +lover was the betrothed of my friend. Dr. Grey, eight miserable years +have gone wearily over my head since then, but now, in the dead of +night, if I shut my eyes, I see staring at me, like the rayless, +glazed orbs of the dead, that silver-edged wedding card, bearing in +silver letters--Maurice Carlyle, Evelyn Flewellyn. Oh, blacker than +ten thousand death-warrants! for all the hopes of a lifetime went down +before it. Every ray of earthly light was extinguished in a night of +woe that can have no dawn, until the day-star of eternity shimmers on +its gloom." + +She shuddered convulsively, and the agonized expression of her face +was so painful to behold that her companion averted his head. + +"I was alone with my misery, and so overwhelming was the shock that I +fainted. When the hair-dresser came to offer her services, she found +me lying insensible on the carpet. How bitterly, how unavailingly, +have I reproached myself for my failure to hasten to Evelyn, even +then, and divulge all. But with returning consciousness came womanly +pride, and I resolved to hide the anguish for which I knew there was +no cure. As soon as I was dressed, we were summoned down stairs to +meet the remainder of the bridal party, and there I saw the man whom I +expected to call my husband talking gayly with his attendants. + +"Evelyn impetuously presented me as her 'dearest friend,' and, +without raising his eyes, he bowed profoundly and turned away. How I +endured all I was called to witness that morning, I know not; but +my strength seemed superhuman. The ceremony was performed in +church, and after our return to the house, Mr. Carlyle asserted and +claimed the right to kiss the bridesmaids. There were four, and I was +the last whom he approached. I was standing in the shadow of the +window-curtain, which I had clutched for support, and, as he came +close to me, our eyes met for the first time that day, and I can +never, never forget the pleading mournfulness, the passionate +tenderness, the despair, that filled his. I waved him from me, but +he seized my hand, and pressed his hot lips lingeringly to mine. +Then he whispered, 'My only love, my own Edith, do not judge till you +hear your wretched Maurice. Meet me in the hot-house when Evelyn +goes to change her dress, and I will explain this awful, this +accursed necessity.' A few moments later he stood with his bride at +the head of the table in the breakfast-room, while I was placed +close to Evelyn, and the mirror opposite reflected the group. I know +now it was sinful, but, oh! how could I help it? As I looked at +the reflection in the glass, and compared my face with that of the +bride, I felt my poor wicked heart throb with triumph at the +thought that my superior beauty could not soon be forgotten,--that, +though her husband, he was still my lover. Dr. Grey, do not despise me +for my weakness, as I should have despised him for his perfidy; and +remember that a woman cannot in a moment renounce allegiance to a man +who is the one love of her life. They forced me to drink some wine +that fired my brain and made me reckless, and an hour after, when +Maurice came up and offered his arm, inviting me to promenade for a +few minutes in the hot-house, I yielded and accompanied him. He told +me a tale of dishonorable financial transactions, into which he had +been betrayed solely by the hope of obtaining money that would enable +him to hasten our union; but the utter failure of the scheme +threatened him with disgrace, possibly with imprisonment, and the +only mode of preserving his name from infamy, was to possess +himself of Evelyn's large fortune. Just as he clasped me in his +arms, and vehemently declared his deathless affection for me,--his +contempt and hatred of his poor childish bride,--I heard a strange +sound that was neither a wail nor a laugh, a sound unlike any other +that ever smote my ears, and looking up, I saw Evelyn standing before +us." + +Miss Dexter groaned aloud, and covered her eyes with her hand. + +"Oh, my God! help me to shut out that horrible vision! If I could +forget that distorted, death-like face, with livid lips writhing away +from the gleaming teeth, and desperate, wide eyes, glaring like globes +of flame! She looked twenty years older, and from her clenched +hands,--her beautiful, exquisite hands,--that were wont to caress me +so tenderly, the blood was dripping down on her lace veil and her +white velvet bridal dress. How much she heard I know not, for I never +saw her again. I swooned in Maurice's arms, and was carried to my own +room; and when I finally groped my way to Evelyn's apartment, they +told me she had been gone two hours,--had sailed for Europe, leaving +her husband in New York. What passed in her farewell interview with +him none but he and her lawyer knew; but they separated there on +condition that his debts were cancelled. She went abroad with a +faithful old Scotch woman who had been her nurse, and her husband told +the world she was a maniac." + +"Did he tell you so? Did you believe it?" exclaimed Dr. Grey, with a +degree of vehemence that startled the governess. + +"I have never seen Maurice Carlyle since that awful hour in the +hot-house. He came repeatedly to my home, but I refused to meet him, +and dozens of his letters have been returned unopened. Once, while I +was absent, he obtained an interview with my mother, and besought her +intercession in his behalf, pleading for my pardon, and assuring her +that, as his wife was hopelessly insane, he would apply for a divorce, +and then claim the hand of the only woman he had ever loved. I dreaded +the effect upon Evelyn, and had no means of ascertaining her real +condition. Soon after, I lost my mother, whose death was hastened by +grief and humiliation; and, when I had laid her down beside my father, +I went in search of Evelyn. Several times I had attempted to +communicate with her, and with Elsie, the nurse, but my letters always +came back unopened, and bearing the London stamp. Having been informed +that she was in an insane asylum in England, I took the money that had +been so carefully hoarded for a different purpose and went to London. +One by one, I searched all the asylums in the United Kingdom, and +finding no trace of her, came back to America. Finally, on the +death-bed of Mr. Clayton, her lawyer, who understood my great anxiety +to discover her, I was told in strict confidence that she was +perfectly sane,--had never been otherwise,--but preferred that the +false report in circulation should not be corrected, since her husband +had set it in motion. I learned that she was well and pleasantly +located somewhere in the East, but would never see the faces of either +friends or foes, and absolutely refused all intercourse with her race. +From one of her letters (which, a moment after, he burned in the +grate) Mr. Clayton read me a paragraph: '_The greatest mercy you can +show me is to allow me to forget. Henceforth mention no more the names +of any I ever knew; and let silence, like a pall, shroud all the past +of Vashti._' He died next day, and since then--" + +The sad, sweet voice, which for some moments had been growing more and +more unsteady, here sank into a sob, and the governess wept freely, +while her whole frame shook with the violence of long-pent anguish, +that now defied control. + +"Oh, if I could find her! If I could go to her and tell her all, and +exonerate myself! If I could show her that he was mine always,--mine +long before she ever saw him,--then she would not think so harshly of +me. I know not what explanation Maurice gave her, nor how much of our +conversation she overheard; and I cannot live contentedly,--oh! I +cannot die in peace till I see my poor crushed darling, and hear from +her lips the assurance that she does not hold me responsible for her +wretchedness. Dr. Grey, I love her with a pitying tenderness that +transcends all power of expression. Perhaps if Maurice had ever loved +her, I could not feel as I do towards her; for a woman's nature +tolerates no rival in the affection of her lover, and, unprincipled as +mine proved in other respects, I know that his heart was always +unswervingly my own. My dear, noble Evelyn! My pure, loving little +darling! Ah! I have wearied heaven with prayers that God would give +her back to my arms." + +Unable to conceal the emotion he was unwilling she should witness, Dr. +Grey disengaged his arm and walked away, striving to regain his usual +composure. + +Did the governess suspect the proximity of her long-lost friend? If +she claimed his assistance in prosecuting her search, what course +would duty dictate? + +Retracing his steps, he found that she had seated herself on a bench +near one of the tallest lilacs, and having thrown aside her quilted +hood of scarlet silk, her care-worn countenance was fully exposed. + +She was gazing very intently at some object in her hand, which she +bent over and kissed several times, and did not perceive his approach +until he stood beside her. + +"Dr. Grey, I believe my prayer has been heard, and that at last I have +discovered a clew to the retreat of my lost Evelyn. Last week I went +to a jewelry store in town, to buy a locket which I intended as a +birthday gift for Muriel. Several customers had preceded me, and while +waiting, my attention was attracted towards one of the workmen who +uttered an impatient ejaculation and dashed down some article upon +which he was at work. As it fell, I saw that it was an oval ivory +miniature, originally surrounded with very large handsome pearls, the +greater portion of which the jeweller had removed and placed in a +small glass bowl that stood near him. I leaned down to examine the +miniature, and though the paint was blurred and faded, it was +impossible to mistake the likeness, and you cannot realize the thrill +that ran along my nerves as I recognized the portrait of Evelyn. So +great was my astonishment and delight that I must have cried out, for +the people in the store all turned and stared at me, and when I +snatched the piece of ivory from the work-table, the man looked at me +in amazement. Very incoherently I demanded where and how he obtained +it, and, beckoning to the proprietor, he said, 'Just as I told you; +this has turned out stolen property.' Then he opened a drawer and took +from it a similar oval slab of ivory, and when I looked at it and saw +Maurice's handsome face, my brain reeled, and I grew so dizzy I almost +fell. 'Madam, do you know these portraits?' asked the proprietor. + +"I told him that I did,--that I had seen these jewelled miniatures +eight years before on the dressing-table of a bride, and I implored +him to tell me how they came into his possession. He fitted them into +a dingy, worn case, which seemed to have been composed of purple +velvet, and informed me that he purchased the whole from an Irish lad, +who asserted that he picked it up on the beach, where it had evidently +drifted in a high tide. On examination, he found that the case had +indeed been saturated with sea-water, but the pearls were in such a +remarkable state of preservation that he doubted the lad's statement. +He had bought the miniatures in order to secure the pearls, which he +assured me were unusually fine, and to satisfy himself concerning the +affair had advertised two ivory miniatures, and invited the owners to +come forward and prove property. After the expiration of a week, he +discontinued the notice, and finally ordered the pearls removed from +their gold frames. When I had given him the names of the originals, he +consented that I should take the portraits which were now worthless to +him, and gave me also the name of the boy. It was not until two days +afterward that I succeeded in finding Thomas Donovan, a lad about +fourteen years old, whose mother Phoebe is a laundress, and does up +laces and fine muslins. When I called and stated the object of my +visit he seemed much confused, but sullenly repeated the assertion +made to the jeweller. Yesterday I went again and had a long +conversation with his mother, who must be an honest soul, for she +assured me she knew nothing of the matter, and would investigate it +immediately. The boy was absent, but she promised either to send him +here this morning or come in person, to acquaint me with the result. I +offered a reward if he would confess where he obtained them; and if he +proved obstinate, threatened to have him arrested. Now, Dr. Grey, you +can understand why I have so tediously made a full revelation of my +past, for I wish to enlist your sympathy and claim your aid in my +search for my long-lost friend. These portraits inadequately represent +the fascinating beauty of one of the originals, and the sweetness and +almost angelic purity of the other." + +She held up the somewhat defaced and faded miniatures for the +inspection of her companion, but scarcely glancing at them, he said, +abstractedly,-- + +"You are sure they belong to Mrs. Carlyle?" + +"Yes. As she put on her diamonds just before going down stairs she +showed me the portraits in her jewelry casket, where she had also +placed a similar one of myself. Ah! at this instant I seem to see her +beaming face, as she bent down, and sweeping her veil aside, kissed my +picture and Maurice's." + +"Do you imagine that she is in America?" + +"No; I fear she is dead, and that these were stolen from the old +nurse. Who is that yonder? Ah, yes,--Phoebe Donovan. Now I shall hear +the truth." + +Forgetting her shawl, and unmindful of the fact that the sun was +streaming full on her head and face, she hurried to meet the woman who +was ascending the avenue, and very soon they entered the house. + +A quarter of an hour elapsed ere Phoebe came out, and walked rapidly +away; and, unwilling to prolong his suspense, Dr. Grey went in search +of the governess. + +He met her in the hall, and saw that she was equipped for a walk. Her +cheeks were scarlet, her brown eyes all aglow with eager expectation, +and her lips twitched, as she exclaimed,-- + +"Oh, doctor, I hope everything; for I learn that the pictures were +found on the lawn at 'Solitude,' where Phoebe was once hired as cook; +and she recognized the case as the same she had one day seen on a +writing-desk in the parlor. The boy confessed that he picked it up +from the grass, and, after taking out the contents, soaked the case in +a bucket of salt-water. Phoebe says the pictures belong to Mrs. +Gerome, the gray-headed woman who owns that place on the beach, and I +am almost tempted to believe she is Elsie, who may have married again. +At all events, I shall soon know where she obtained the portraits." + +"You are not going to 'Solitude'?" + +"Yes, immediately. I cannot rest till I have learned all. God grant I +may not be mocked in my hopes." + +The unwonted excitement had kindled a strange beauty in the whilom +passive face, and Dr. Grey could for the first time realize how lovely +she must have been in the happy days of eld. + +"Miss Dexter, Mrs. Gerome will not receive you. She sees no visitors, +not even ministers of the gospel." + +"She must--she shall--admit me; for I will assure her that life and +death hang upon it." + +"How so?" + +"If Evelyn is alive, and I can discover her retreat, I will urge her +to go to her husband, who needs her care. You know Mrs. Gerome,--she +is one of your patients. Come with me, and prevail upon her to receive +me." + +In her eagerness she laid her hand on his arm, and even then noticed +and wondered at the crimson that suddenly leaped into his olive face. + +"Some day I will give you good reasons for refusing your request, +which it is impossible for me to grant. If you are resolved to hazard +the visit, I will take you in my buggy as far as the gate at +'Solitude,' and when you return will confer with you concerning the +result. Just now, I can promise no more." + +An expression of disappointment clouded her brow. + +"I had hoped that you would sympathize with and be more interested in +my great sorrow." + +"Miss Dexter, my interest is more profound, more intense, than you can +imagine, but at this juncture circumstances forbid its expression. My +buggy is at the door." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +Even at mid-day the grounds around "Solitude" were sombre and chill, +for across the sky the winds had woven a thin, vapory veil, whose +cloud-meshes seemed fine as lacework; and through this gilded netting +the sun looked hazy, the light wan and yellow, and rifled of its +customary noon glitter. + +Following one of the serpentine walks, the governess was approaching +the house, when her attention was attracted by the gleaming surface of +a tomb, and she turned towards the pyramidal deodars that were swaying +slowly in the breeze,-- + + "Warming their heads in the sun, + Checkering the grass with their shade," + +and photographing fringy images on the shining marble. + +A broad circle of violets, blue with bloom, surrounded a sexangular +temple, whose dome was terminated by a mural crown and surmounted by a +cross. The beautifully polished pillars were fluted, and wreathed +with carved ivy that wound up to the richly-sculptured cornices, where +poppies clustered and tossed their leaves along the architrave; and, +in the centre, visible through all the arches, rose an altar, bearing +two angels with fingers on their lips, who guarded an exquisite urn +that was inscribed "_cor cordium_." + +Beneath the eastern arch, that directly fronted the sea, were two +steps leading into the mausoleum, and, as Miss Dexter stood within, +she saw that the floor was arranged with slabs for only two tombs +close to the altar, one side of which bore in golden tracery,-- + + "_Elsie Maclean, 68. Amicus Amicorum._" + +Around the base of the urn were scattered some fresh geranium-leaves, +and very near it stood a tall, slender, Venetian glass vase filled +with odorous flowers, which had evidently been gathered and arranged +that day. + +For whom had the remaining slab and opposite side of the altar been +reserved? + +The heart of the governess seemed for a moment to forget its +functions, then a vague hope made it throb fiercely; and rapidly the +anxious woman directed her steps towards the house, that seemed as +silent as the grave behind her. + +The hall door had swung partially open, and, dreading that she might +be refused admittance if she rang the bell, she availed herself of the +lucky accident (which in Elsie's lifetime never happened), and entered +unchallenged and unobserved. + +From the parlor issued a rather monotonous and suppressed sound, as of +some one reading aloud, and, advancing a few steps, the governess +stood inside the threshold. + +The curtains of the south window were looped back, the blinds thrown +open, and the sickly sunshine poured in, lighting the easel, before +which the mistress of the house had drawn an ottoman and seated +herself. + +To-day, an air of unwonted negligence marked her appearance, usually +distinguished by extraordinary care and taste. + +Her white merino _robe de chambre_ was partially ungirded, and the +blue tassels trailed on the carpet; her luxuriant hair instead of +being braided and classically coiled, was gathered in three or four +large heavy loops, and fastened rather loosely by the massive silver +comb that allowed one long tress to straggle across her shoulder, +while the folds in front slipped low on her temples and forehead. + +Intently contemplating her work, she leaned her cheek on her hand, and +only the profile was visible from the door, as she repeated, in a +subdued tone,-- + + "I stanch with ice my burning breast, + With silence balm my whirling brain, + O Brandan! to this hour of rest, + That Joppan leper's ease was pain." + +The easel held the largest of many pictures, upon which she had +lavished time and study, and her present work was a wide stretch of +mid-ocean, lighted by innumerable stars, and a round glittering polar +moon that swung mid-heaven like a globe of silver, and shed a ghostly +lustre on the raging, ragged waves, above which an Aurora Borealis +lifted its gleaming arch of mysterious white fires. + +On the flowery shore of a tropic isle, under clustering boughs of lime +and citron, knelt the venerable figure of Saint Brandan,--and upon a +towering, jagged iceberg, whose crystal cliffs and diamond peaks +glittered with the ghastly radiance reflected from arctic moon and +boreal flames, lay Judas, pressing his hot palms and burning breast to +the frigid bosom of his sailing sapphire berg. + +No hideous, scowling, red-haired arch-apostate was this painted +Iscariot,--but a handsome man, whose features were startlingly like +those in the ivory miniature. + +It was a wild, dreary, mournful picture, suggestive of melancholy +mediæval myths, and most abnormal phantasms; and would more +appropriately have draped the walls of some flagellating ascetic's +cell, than the luxuriously furnished room that now contained it. + +Bending forward to deepen the dark circles which suffering and +remorse had worn beneath the brilliant eyes of the apostle, the lonely +artist added another verse to her quotation,-- + + "Once every year, when carols wake + On earth the Christmas night's repose, + Arising from the sinner's lake + I journey to these healing snows." + +The motion loosened a delicate white lily pinned at her throat, and it +fell upon the palette, sullying its purity with the dark paint to +which its petals clung. She removed it, looked at its defaced +loveliness, and tossed it aside, saying moodily,-- + +"Typical of our souls, originally dowered with a stainless and +well-nigh perfect holiness, but drooping dust-ward continually, and +once tainted by the fall,--hugging the corruption that ruined it." + +As the governess looked and listened, a half-perplexed, half-frightened +expression passed over her countenance, and at length she advanced to +the arch, and said, tremblingly,-- + +"Can I have a few moments' conversation with Mrs. Gerome, on important +business?" + +"My God! am I verily mad at last? Because I called up Judas, must I +also evoke the partner of his crime?" + +With a thrilling, almost blood-curdling cry Mrs. Gerome had leaped to +her feet at the sound of Miss Dexter's voice, and, dropping palette +and brush, confronted her with a look of horror and hate. The quick +and violent movement shook out her comb, and down came the folds of +hair, falling like a silver cataract to her knees. + +Bewildered by memories which the face and form recalled, the governess +looked at the shining white locks, and her lips blanched, as she +stammered,-- + +"Are you Mrs. Gerome?" + +Her scarlet hood had fallen back, disclosing her wealth of golden +hair; and gazing at her thin but still lovely features, rouged by a +hectic glow that lent strange beauty to the wide, brown eyes, Mrs. +Gerome answered, huskily,-- + +"I am the mistress of this house. Who is the woman who has the +audacity to intrude upon my seclusion, and vividly remind me of one +whose hated lineaments have cursed my memory for years? Woman, if I +believed _she_ had the effrontery to thrust herself into my presence, +I should fear that at this instant I am afflicted with the abhorred +sight of Edith Dexter, than whom a legion of devils would be more +welcome!" + +The name fell hissingly from her stern mouth, and when she shook back +the hair that drooped over her brow, the gray globe-like eyes +glittered as polished blue steel under some fitful light. + +A low, half-stifled cry escaped the governess, and springing forward +she fell on her knees and grasped the white hands that had clutched +each other. + +"Evelyn! It must be Evelyn! despite this gray hair and wan, +changed face! and I could never mistake these beautiful, beautiful +hands--unlike any others in the world! Evelyn, my lost darling! oh, +I thank God I have found you before I die!" + +She covered the cold fingers with kisses, and pressed her face to a +band of the floating hair; but with a gesture of loathing Mrs. Gerome +broke away, and retreated a few steps. + +"How dare you come into my presence? Goaded by a desire to witness the +ruin you helped to accomplish? Your audacity at least astounds me; but +fate decrees you the enjoyment of its reward. Lo! here I am! Behold +the gray shadow of what was once a happy, confiding girl! Behold in +the desolate, lonely woman, who hides her disgrace under the name of +Agla Gerome, that bride of an hour, that Evelyn whose heart you +stabbed! Does the wreck entirely satisfy you? What more could even +fiendish malevolence desire?" + +"Evelyn, you wrong me. For mercy's sake do not upbraid and taunt me so +unjustly!" + +In vain she held out her hands imploringly, while tears rolled over +her crimsoned cheeks, and sobs impeded her utterance. Mrs. Gerome +laughed bitterly. + +"What! I wrong you? Have _you_ gone mad, instead of your victim? Miss +Dexter, you and I can scarcely afford to deal in mock tragedy, and +though you make a pretty picture kneeling there, I have no mind to +paint you yonder, where I put your colleague, Judas. Is it not a good +likeness of your lover, as he looked that memorable day when the broad +banana-leaves overshadowed his handsome head?" + +She rapped the canvas with her clenched hand, and continued, in +accents of indescribable scorn,-- + +"Do you kneel as penitent or petitioner? You come to crave my pardon, +or my husband?" + +The governess had bowed her face almost to the carpet, like some +fragile flower borne down by a sudden flood; but now she rose, and, +throwing her head back proudly, answered with firm yet gentle +dignity,-- + +"Of Mrs. Gerome I crave nothing. Of Evelyn Carlyle I demand justice; +simply bare justice." + +"Justice! You are rash, Miss Dexter, to challenge fate; for, were +justice meted out, the burden would prove more intolerable to you than +that King Stork whom Zeus sent down as a Nemesis to quiet clamorous +frogs. Justice, let me tell you, long ago fled from this hostile and +inhospitable earth and took refuge beyond the stars, where, please +God, you and I shall one day confront her and get our long-defrauded +dues. Justice? Nay, nay! the thing I recognize as justice would crush +you utterly, and you should flee to the _Ultima Thule_ to avoid it. I +divine your mission. You come as envoy-extraordinary from my honorable +and chivalric husband, to demand release from the bonds that doom me +to wear his name and you to live without that spotless ægis? Since my +fortune no longer percolates through the sieve of his pocket, and +legal quibbles can not now avail to wring thousands from my purse, he +desires a divorce, in order to remove to your fair wrists the fetters +which have proved more galling to mine than those of iron." + +"Evelyn, insult must not be heaped upon injury. As God hears me, I +tell you solemnly that you have seen your husband since I have. Upon +Maurice Carlyle's face I have never looked since that fatal hour when +I last saw yours, ghastly and rigid, against the background of +guava-boughs. From that day until this, I have neither seen, nor +spoken, nor written to him." + +"Then why are you here, to torment me with the sight of your face, +which would darken the precincts of heaven, if I met it inside of the +gates of pearl?" + +"I have come to exonerate myself from the aspersions that in your +frenzy you have cast upon me. Evelyn, I am here to prove that my +wrongs are greater than yours,--and if either should crave pardon, it +would best become you to sue for it at my hands. But for you, I should +have been a happy wife,--blessed with a devoted husband and fond +mother; and now in my loneliness I stand for vindication before her +who robbed me of every earthly hope, and blotted all light, all +verdure, all beauty from my life. You had known Maurice Carlyle six +weeks, when you gave him your hand. I had grown up at his side,--had +loved, trusted, prayed, and labored for him,--had been his promised +wife for seven dreary years of toil and separation, and was counting +the hours until the moment when he would lead me to the altar. Ah, +Evelyn,--" + +A violent spell of coughing interrupted the governess, and when it +ended she did not complete the sentence. + +Impatiently Mrs. Gerome motioned to her to continue, and, turning her +head which had been averted, the hostess saw that her guest was +endeavoring to stanch a stream of blood that trickled across her lips. +Involuntarily the former started forward and drew an easy-chair close +to the slender figure which leaned for support against the corner of +the piano. + +"Are you ill? Pray sit down." + +"It is only a hemorrhage from my lungs, which I have long had reason +to expect." + +Wearily she sank into the chair, and hastily pouring a glass of water +from a gilt-starred crystal _carafe_, standing on the centre-table, +Mrs. Gerome silently offered it. As the governess drained and returned +the goblet, a drop of blood that stained the rim fell on the hand of +the mistress of the house. + +Miss Dexter attempted to remove it with the end of her plaid shawl, +but her companion drew back, and taking a dainty, perfumed +handkerchief from her pocket, shook out its folds and said, +hastily,-- + +"It is of no consequence. I see your handkerchief is already +saturated; will you accept mine?" + +Without waiting for a reply, she laid it on the lap of the visitor, +and left the room. + +Soon after, a servant brought in a basin of water and towels, which +she placed on the table, and then, without question or comment, +withdrew. + +Some time elapsed before Mrs. Gerome re-entered the parlor, bearing a +glass of wine in her hand. Miss Dexter had bathed her face, and, +looking up, she saw that the gray hair had been carefully coiled and +fastened, and the flowing merino belted at the waist; but the brow +wore its heavy cloud, and the arch of the lip had not unbent. + +"I hope you are better. Permit me to insist upon your taking this +wine." + +She proffered it, but the governess shook her head, and tears ran down +her cheeks, as she said,-- + +"Thank you,--but I do not require it; indeed I could not swallow it." + +The hostess bowed, and, placing the glass within her reach, walked to +the window which looked out on the marble mausoleum, and stood leaning +against the cedarn facing. + +Five, ten minutes passed, and the silence was only broken by the +ticking of the bronze clock on the mantelpiece. + +"Evelyn." + +The voice was so sweet, so thrilling, so mournfully pleading, that it +might have wooed even stone to pity; but Mrs. Gerome merely glanced +over her shoulder, and said, frigidly,-- + +"Can I in any way contribute to Miss Dexter's comfort? The servants +tell me there is no conveyance waiting for you; but, since you seem +too feeble to walk away, my carriage is at your service whenever you +wish to return. Shall I order it?" + +"No, I will not trouble you. I can walk; and, after a little while, I +will go away forever. Evelyn, do you think me utterly unprincipled?" + +A moment passed before she was answered. + +"While you are in my house, courtesy forbids the expression of my +opinion of your character." + +"Oh, Evelyn, my darling! God knows I have not merited this harshness, +this cruelty from your dear hands. Eight tedious, miserable years I +have searched and prayed for you,--have clung to the hope of finding +you, of telling you all,--of hearing your precious lips utter those +words for which my ears have so long ached, 'Edith, I hold you +guiltless of my wretchedness.' But at last, when my search is +successful, to be browbeaten, derided, denounced, insulted,--oh, this +is bitter indeed! This is too hard to be borne!" + +Her anguish was uncontrollable, and she sobbed aloud. + +Across Mrs. Gerome's white lips crept a quiver, and over her frozen +features rose an unwonted flush; but she did not move a muscle, or +suffer her eyes to wander from the cross and crown on Elsie's tomb. + +"Evelyn, I believe, I hope (and may God forgive me if I sin in +hoping), that I have not many years, or perhaps even months to live; +and it would comfort me in my dying hour to feel that I had laid +before you some facts, of which I know you must be ignorant. You have +harshly and unjustly prejudged me,--have steeled yourself against me; +still I wish to tell you some things that weigh heavily upon my +aching, desolate heart. Will you allow me to do so now? Will you hear +me?" + +There was evidently a struggle in the mind of the motionless woman +beside the window, but it was brief, and left no trace in the cold, +ringing voice. + +"I will hear you." + +Slowly and impressively the governess began the narrative, of which +she had given Dr. Grey a hasty _résumé_, and when she mentioned the +midnight labors in which she had engaged, the copying of legal +documents, the sale of her drawings, the hoarding of her salary in +order to aid her mother and her betrothed, and to remove the obstacles +to her marriage, Mrs. Gerome sat down, and, crossing her arms on the +window-sill, hid her face upon them. + +Unflinchingly Miss Dexter detailed all that occurred after her +arrival in New York; and finally, approaching the window, she insisted +that her listener should peruse the last letter received from her +lover, and containing the promise that within ten days he would come +to claim his bride. But the lovely hand waved it aside, and the proud +voice exclaimed impatiently,-- + +"I need no additional proof of his perfidy, which, beyond controversy, +was long ago established. Go on! go on!" + +Upon all that followed the ceremony,--the departure of the wife,--and +her own despairing grief, the governess dwelt with touching eloquence +and pathos; and, at last, as she spoke of her fruitless journey to +England,--her sad search through the insane asylums,--Mrs. Gerome +lifted her queenly head, and bent a piercing glance upon the speaker. + +Ah! what a hungry, eager expression looked out shyly from her whilom +hopeless eyes, when, with an imperious gesture, she silenced her +visitor, and asked,-- + +"You spent your hard earnings, not in _trousseau_, or preparations for +housekeeping; but hunting for me in lunatic asylums? Suppose you had +found me in a mad-house?" + +"Then I should have become an inmate of the same gloomy walls; and, +while you lived, should have shared with faithful Elsie the care and +charge of you. God is my witness, I had resolved to dedicate my +remaining years to the task of cheering and guarding yours. Oh, +Evelyn! not until we stand in the great Court of Heaven can you +realize how sincerely, how tenderly, and unwaveringly, I love you. My +darling, how can you distrust my faithful heart?" + +She sank on her knees, and, throwing her arms around the tall, slender +form, looked with mournful, beseeching tenderness at the haughty +features above her. + +For a moment the proud, pale face glowed,--the great shadowy eyes +kindled and shone like wintry planets in some crystalline sky; but +doubt, murderous, cynical doubt, grappled with hope, and strangled +it. + +"Edith, I wish I could believe you. I am struggling desperately to lay +hold of the fluttering garments of faith, but I cannot! Suspicion has +walked hand in hand with me so long that I cannot shake off her +numbing touch, and I distrust all human things, save the dusty heart +that moulders yonder in my old Elsie's grave." + +She pointed to the white columns of the temple, and then the uplifted +fingers fell heavily on Edith's shoulder. + +"Go on. I wish to learn whose treachery betrayed the secret of my +retreat." + +Pressing her feverish lips to the hand she admired so enthusiastically, +Miss Dexter resumed her recital of what had occurred since her journey +to London, and finally ended it with an account of her removal to +'Grassmere,' and of the discovery of the miniatures that guided her to +'Solitude.' + +A long pause followed, and a heavy sigh, only partially smothered, +indexed the contest that raged under Mrs. Gerome's calm exterior. + +"Edith, would you have inferred from Dr. Grey's manner that he was not +only acquainted with my history, but yours, at least, so far as it +intersected mine? Did he furnish no hint, no clew, that aided you in +your search?" + +"None whatever. On the contrary, he appeared so preoccupied, so +abstracted, that I reproached him with indifference to my troubles. It +is not possible that he knew all, while I briefly summed up a portion +of the past." + +"At that moment he was thoroughly cognizant of everything that I could +tell him. But, at least, one honorable, trustworthy man yet graces the +race; one pure, incorruptible, and consistent Christian remains to +shed lustre upon a church that can nowhere boast his peer. I confided +all to Dr. Grey, and he has kept the trust. Ah, Edith, if you had only +reposed the same confidence in me, during those halcyon days of our +early friendship,--days that seem to me now as far off, as dim and +unreal, as those starry nights when I lay in my little crib, dreaming +of that mother whose face I never saw, whose smile is one of the +surprises and blessings reserved for eternity,--how different my lot +and yours might have been! Why did you not trust me with your happy +hopes, your lover's name and difficulties? How differently I would +have invested that fortune, which proved our common ruin, and doomed +three lives to uselessness and woe. To-day you might have proudly worn +the name that I utterly detest; and I, the outcast, the wanderer, the +tireless, friendless waif, drifting despairingly down the tide of +time,--even I, the unloved, might have been, not a solitary cumberer, +not a household upas,--but why taunt the hideous Actual with a blessed +and beautiful Impossible? Ah, truly, truly,-- + + "'What might have been, I know, is not: + What must be, must be borne; + But ah! what hath been will not be forgot, + Never, oh! never, in the years to follow!'" + +She closed her eyes and seemed pondering the past, and mutely the +governess prayed that hallowed memories of their former affection +might soften her apparently petrified heart. + +Edith saw a great change overspread the countenance, but could not +accurately interpret its import; and her own heart began to beat the +long-roll. + +The heavy black eyelashes lying on Mrs. Gerome's marble cheeks +glistened, trembled, and tears stole slowly across her face. She +raised her hand, but dropped it in her lap, and frowned slightly and +sighed. Then she lifted it once more, and looking through the shining +mist that magnified her splendid eyes, she laid her fingers on the +golden head of the kneeling woman. + +"You and I have innocently wronged and ruined each other; you with +your beauty, I with my accursed gold. Time was when at your bidding I +would have laid my throbbing heart at your feet, provided I could +thereby save you one pang; for I loved you as women very rarely love +one another. But now, lonely and hopeless, I have lost the power, the +capacity to love anything, and I have no heart left in my bosom. I +acquit you of much for which I formerly held you responsible, and I +honor the purity of purpose that forbade your receiving the visits or +letters of him who must one day answer for our worthless lives. I +fully forgive you the suffering that made me prematurely old; but my +affection is as dead as all my girlish hopes, and buried under the +crushing years that have dragged themselves over my poor, proud, +pain-bleached head. You are more fortunate, more enviable than I, for +you have the comforting anticipation of a speedy release, the precious +assurance that your torture will ere long be ended; while I must front +the prospect of perhaps fourscore and ten years: for, despite my ivory +skin and fever-blanched locks, I am maddeningly healthy. Friend of my +childhood, friend of my happy, sunny, sinless days, I cordially +congratulate you on your approaching deliverance. God knows I would +pay you my fortune, if I could innocently and successfully inject into +my veins and lungs the poison that will soon rob you of care and +regret. If I was harsh to-day, forgive and forget it, for nothing +rankles in the grave; and now, Edith, go away quickly, before I repent +and recant the words I here utter. God comfort you, Edith Dexter, and +remember that I hold you guiltless of my wrecked destiny." + +"Oh, Evelyn! add one thing more. Say, 'Edith, I love you.'" + +A strangely mournful smile parted Mrs. Gerome's perfect lips over her +dazzling teeth, as she pushed the kneeling figure from her, and said +coldly,-- + +"Rise, and leave me. I love no living thing, brute or human, for even +my faithful dog lies buried a few yards hence. Maurice treated my +warm, loving nature, as Tofana did her unsuspecting victims, and for +that slow poison there is no antidote. The sole interest I have in +life centres in my art, and when death mercifully remembers me, some +pictures I have patiently wrought out will be given to the public; and +the next generation will, perhaps,-- + + 'Hear the world applaud the hollow ghost, + Which blamed the living woman,' + +and, smiling grimly in my coffin, I shall echo,-- + + 'Hither to come, and to sleep, + Under the wings of renown.'" + +Both rose, and the two so long divided faced each other sorrowfully. + +"Dear Evelyn, do not hug despair so stubbornly to your bosom. You +might brighten your solitary existence if you would, and be +comparatively happy in this lovely seaside home." + +"You think 'Solitude' a very desirable and beautiful retreat? Do you +remember the gay raiment and glittering jewels that covered the +radiant bride of Giacopone di Todi? One day an accident at a public +festival mangled her mortally, and when her gorgeous garments were +torn off, lo! + + 'A robe of sackcloth next the smooth, white skin.'" + +A sudden pallor crept over the delicate face of the governess, and, +folding her hands, she exclaimed with passionate vehemence,-- + +"I cannot, I must not shrink from the chief object of my visit here. I +came not only to exonerate myself, but to plead for poor Maurice." + +Mrs. Gerome started back, and the pitiless gleam came instantly into +her softened eyes. + +"Do not mention his name again. I thought you had neither seen nor +heard from him." + +"I must plead his wretched cause, since he is denied the privilege +of appealing to your mercy. Evelyn, my friends write me that he is +almost in a state of destitution. Only last night I received this +letter, which I leave for your perusal, and which assures me he is in +want, and, moreover, is dangerously ill. Who has the right, the +privilege,--whose is the duty, imperative and stern, to hasten to his +bedside, to alleviate his suffering, to provide for his needs? +Yours, Evelyn Carlyle, and yours alone. Where are the marriage-vows +that you snatched from my lips eight years ago, and eagerly took +upon your own? Did you not solemnly swear in the presence of heaven +and earth to serve him and keep him in sickness, and, forsaking all +others, to hold him from that day forward, for better, for worse, +until death did part ye? Oh, Evelyn! do not scowl, and turn away. +However unworthy, he is your husband in the sight of God and man, +and your wedding oath calls you to him in this hour of his terrible +need. Can you sleep peacefully, knowing that he is tossing with +paroxysms of pain, and perhaps hungering and thirsting for that which +you could readily supply? If it were right,--if I dared, I would +hasten to him; but my conscience inexorably forbids the thought, +and consigns my heart to torture, for which there is no name. You +will tell me that you provided once, twice, for all reasonable +wants,--that he has recklessly squandered liberal allowances. But +will that satisfy your conscience, while you still possess ample +means to aid him? Will you permit the man whose name you bear to +live on other charity than your own,--and finally, to fill a +pauper's grave? Oh, Evelyn! was it for this that you took my darling, +my idol, from my clinging, loving arms? Will you see his body +writhing in the agony of disease, and his precious, immortal soul +in fearful jeopardy, while you stand afar off, surrounded by every +luxury that ingenuity can suggest, and gold purchase? Oh, Evelyn! +be merciful; do your duty. Like a brave, true, though injured woman, +go to Maurice, and strive to make him comfortable; to lighten, by +your pardon, his sad, heavily laden heart. By your past, your +memories of your betrothal, your hopes of heaven, and above all, by +your marriage vows, I implore you to discharge your sacred duties." + +A bitter smile twisted the muscles about Mrs. Gerome's mouth, as she +gazed into the quivering, eloquent face of her companion, and listened +to the impetuous appeal that poured so pathetically over her burning +lips. + +"Edith, you amaze me. Is it possible that after all your injuries you +can cling so fondly, so madly, to the man who slighted, and +humiliated, and blighted you?" + +"Ah! you are his wife, and I am the ridiculed and pitied victim of his +flirtation, so says the world; but my affection outlives yours. +Evelyn, I have loved him from the time when I can first recollect; I +loved him with a deathless devotion that neither his unworthiness, nor +time, nor eternity can conquer; and to-day, I tell you that he is dear +to me,--dear to me as some precious corpse, over which a gravestone +has gathered moss for eight weary, dreary years. The angels in heaven +would not blush for the feeling in my heart towards Maurice Carlyle; +and the God who must soon judge me will not condemn the pure and +sacred love I cherish for the only man who could ever have been my +husband, but whom I have resolutely refused to see, even when the +world believed you dead. I cannot go to him, and comfort, and provide +for him now; but, in the name of God, and your oath, and if not for +your own sake, at least for his and for mine, I ask you once more, +Evelyn Carlyle, will you hasten to your erring but unhappy husband?" + +Her scarlet cheeks and lips, her glowing brown eyes, and waving yellow +hair, formed a singular contrast to the colorless, cold face of her +listener; whose steely gaze was fixed on the distant sea, that lay +like a beryl mirror beneath the hazy sky. + +When the sound of the sweet but strained voice had died away, Mrs. +Gerome turned her eyes towards the governess, and answered,-- + +"I will do my duty, no matter how revolting." + +"Thank God! When will you go?" + +"If at all, at once." + +"Evelyn, when you come home, will you not let me see you, now and +then, and win my way back to my old place in your dear heart? Oh! my +pale, peerless darling, do not deny me this." + +"Home? I have no home. My heart is grayer than my head,--and your old +niche is full of dust, and skeletons, and murdered hopes. Let me see +you no more in this world; and perhaps in the Everlasting Rest I shall +forget my hideous past, which your face recalls." + +"Oh, my poor bruised darling! do not banish me," wailed the governess, +endeavoring to fold her arms about the queenly form, which silently +but effectually held her back. + +"At least, dear Evelyn, let me kiss you once more, in token that you +cherish no bitterness against me." + +"Good-by, Edith. I hold you innocent of my injuries. May God help you, +and call us both speedily to our dreamless sleep under moss and +marble." + +She bent down, and with firm, icy lips, lightly touched the forehead +of the governess, and walked away, unheeding the burst of tears with +which the frigid caress was welcomed. + + "And I think, in the lives of most women and men, + There's a moment when all would go smooth and even, + If only the dead could find out when + To come back, and be forgiven." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +"Madam, are you aware that you breathe an infected atmosphere?--that +this building is assigned to small-pox cases? Pray do not cross the +threshold." + +The superintendent of the hospital laid aside his pipe, and +advanced to meet the stranger whose knock had startled him from a +_post-prandial_ doze. + +"I am not afraid of contagion, and came to see the patient who was +brought here yesterday from No. 139 Elm Street." + +"Have you a permit to visit here?" + +"Yes; you will find it on this paper, given me by the proper +authorities." + +"What is the name of the person you desire to see?" + +The superintendent opened a book that lay on the table beside him, and +drew his finger up and down the page. + +"Maurice Carlyle." + +"Ah, yes,--I have it now. Maurice Carlyle, Ward 3,--cot No. 7. Madam, +may I ask,--" + +"No, sir; I have no inclination to answer idle questions. Will you +show me the way, or shall I find it?" + +"Certainly, I will conduct you; but I was about to remark that a death +has just occurred in Ward No. 3, and I am under the impression that it +was the Elm Street case. Madam, you look faint; shall I bring you a +glass of water?" + +"No. Show me the body of the dead." + +"This way, if you please." + +He walked down a dim, low-vaulted passage, and paused at the entrance +of a room lined with cots, where the nurse was slowly passing from +patient to patient. + +"Nurse, show this lady to cot No. 7." + +Swiftly the tall figure of the visitor glided down the room, and +placing her hand on the arm of the nurse, she said huskily,-- + +"Where is the man who has just died? Quick! do not keep me in +suspense." + +"There, to the right; shall I uncover the face?" + +Under the blue check coverlet that was spread smoothly over the cot, +the stiff outlines of a human form were clearly defined; and, when the +nurse stooped, the stranger put out one arm and held him back, while +her whole frame trembled violently. + +"Stop! be good enough to leave me." + +The attendant withdrew a few yards, and curiously watched the queenly +woman, who stood motionless, with her fingers tightly interlaced. + +She was dressed in a gray suit of some shining fabric, and a long +gossamer veil of the same hue hung over her features. After a few +seconds she swept back the veil, and, as she bent forward, a stray +sunbeam dipped through the closed shutters, and flashed across a white +horror-stricken face, crowned with clustering braids of silver hair. + +She shut her eyes an instant, grasped the coverlet, and drew it down; +then caught her breath, and looked at the dead. + +It was a young, boyish face, horribly swollen and distorted, and +coarse red locks were matted around his brow and temples. + +"Thank God, Maurice Carlyle still lives." + +She involuntarily raised her hands towards heaven, and the expression +of dread melted from her countenance. + +Slowly and reverently she re-covered the corpse, and approached the +nurse. + +"I am searching for my husband. Which cot is No. 7?" + +"That on your left,--next to the dead." + +Mrs. Carlyle turned, and gazed at the bloated crimson mass of disease +that writhed on the narrow bed, and a long shudder crept over her, as +she endeavored to discover in that loathsome hideous visage some +familiar feature--some trace of the manly beauty that once rendered it +so fascinating. + +The swollen blood-shot eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling, and, while +delirious muttering fell upon the ears of the visitor, she saw that +his cheeks were somewhat lacerated, and his hands, partially confined, +were tearing at the inflamed flesh. + +She shivered with horror, and a groan broke from her pitying heart. + +"What an awful retribution! My God, have mercy upon him! He is +sufficiently punished." + +Drawing her perfumed lace handkerchief from her pocket, she leaned +over and wiped away the bloody foam that oozed across his lips, and +lifting his hot head turned it sufficiently to expose the right ear, +where a large mole was hidden by the thick hair. + +"Maurice Carlyle! But what a fearful wreck?" + +She covered her eyes with her hand, and moaned. + +The nurse came nearer, and said hesitatingly,-- + +"Madam, surely he is not your husband? His clothes are almost in +tatters, while yours are--ahem!--" + +"Spare me all comments on the comparison. Can I obtain a comfortable, +quiet room, in this building, and have him removed to it at once? You +hesitate? I will compensate you liberally, will pay almost any price +for an apartment where he can at least have silence and seclusion." + +"We can accommodate you, but of course if the patient is carried from +this ward to a private room, we shall be compelled to charge extra." + +"Charge what you choose, only arrange the matter as promptly as +possible. How soon can you make the change?" + +"In twenty minutes, madam." + +The nurse rang for an assistant, to whom the necessary instructions +were given, and in the _interim_ Mrs. Carlyle leaned against the cot, +and brushed away the flies that buzzed about the pitiable victims. + +Two men carried the sufferer up a flight of steps, and ere long he was +transferred to a large comfortable bed in an airy, well-furnished +apartment. + +The removal had not been completed more than an hour, when the surgeon +made his evening round, and followed the patient to his new quarters. + +He paused at sight of the elegantly dressed woman who sat beside the +bed, and said, stammeringly,-- + +"I am informed that No. 7 is your husband, and that you have taken +charge of his case, and intend to nurse him. Have you had small-pox?" + +"No, sir." + +"Madam, you run a fearful risk." + +"I fully appreciate the hazard, and am prepared to incur it. Do you +regard this case as hopeless?" + +"Not altogether, though the probabilities are that it will terminate +fatally." + +"I have had too little experience to warrant my undertaking the +management of the case, and, while I intend to remain here, I wish you +to engage the services of some trustworthy nurse who understands the +treatment of this disease. Can you recommend such a person?" + +"Yes, madam; I can send you a man in whom I have entire confidence, +and fortunately he is not at present employed. If you desire it, I +will see him within the next hour, and give him all requisite +instructions about the patient." + +"Promptness in this matter will greatly oblige me, and I wish to spare +no expense in contributing to the comfort and restoration of the +sufferer. As I am utterly unknown to you, I prefer to place in your +hands a sufficient amount to defray all incidental expenditures." + +She laid a roll of bills upon the table, and as Dr. Clingman counted +them, she added,-- + +"It is possible that I may be attacked by this disease, though I have +been repeatedly vaccinated; and if I should die, please recollect that +you will find in my purse a memorandum of the disposition I wish made +of my body,--also the address of my agent and banker in New York +City." + +With mingled curiosity and admiration the physician looked at the +pale, handsome woman, who spoke of death as coldly and unconcernedly +as of to-morrow's sun, or next month's moon. + +"Madam, allow me to ask if you have no friends in this city,--no +relatives nearer than New York?" + +"None, sir. It is my wish that our conversation should be confined to +the symptoms and treatment of your patient." + +Dr. Clingman bowed, and, after writing minute instructions upon a +sheet of paper left on the mantelpiece, took his departure. + +Securing the door on the inside, Mrs. Carlyle threw aside her bonnet +and wrappings, and came back to the sufferer on the bed. + +Eight years of reckless excess and dissipation had obliterated every +vestige of manly beauty from features that disease now rendered +loathsome, and the curling hair and long beard were unkempt and +grizzled. + +Leaning against the pillow, the lonely woman bent over to scrutinize +the distorted, burning face, and softly took into her cool palms one +hot and swollen hand, which in other days she had admiringly stroked, +and tenderly pressed against her cheek and lips. How totally unlike +that countenance, which, handsome as Apollyon, had looked down at her +on her bridal day, and fondly whispered--"my wife." + +Memory mercilessly broke open sealed chambers in that wretched woman's +heart, and out of one leaped a wail that made her tremble and +moan,--"Oh, Evelyn, my wife, forgive your husband." + +Slowly compassion began to bridge the dark gulf of separation and +hate, and as the wife gazed at the writhing form of her husband, her +stony face softened, and tears gathered in the large, mournful eyes. + +"Ah, Maurice! This world has proved a huge cheat to you and to +me,--and well-nigh cost us all peace in the next one. My husband, yet +my bitterest foe,--my first, my last, my only love! If I could recall +one throb of the old affection, one atom of the old worshipping +tenderness and devotion,--but it has withered; my heart is scorched +and ashen,--and neither love nor hope haunts its desolate ruins. Poor, +polluted, down-trodden idol! Maurice--Maurice--my husband, I have +come. Evelyn, your wife, forgives you, as she hopes for pardon at the +hands of her God." + +Kneeling beside the bed, with her snowy fingers clasped around his, +she bowed her head, and humbly prayed for his soul, and for her own; +and, when the petition ended, that peace which this world can never +give,--which had so long been exiled, fluttered back and brooded once +more in her storm-riven heart. + +Softly she lifted and smoothed the long tangled hair that clung to his +forehead, and tears dripped upon his scarlet face, as she said; +brokenly,-- + +"_Till death us do part!_ Poor Maurice! Deserted and despised by your +former parasites. After long years, my vows bring me back in the hour +of your need. God grant you life, to redeem your past,--to save your +sinful soul from eternal ruin." + +Suns rose and set, weary days and solemn nights of vigil succeeded +each other, and tirelessly the wife and hired nurse watched the +progress of the dreadful disease. Occasionally Mr. Carlyle talked +deliriously, and more than once the name of Edith Dexter hung on his +lips, and was coupled with tenderer terms than were ever bestowed on +the woman who wore his own. Bending over his pillow, the pale watcher +heard and noted all, and a sad pitying smile curved her mouth now and +then, as she realized that the one holy love of this man's life +triumphed over the wreck of fortune, health, and hope, and kept its +hold upon the heart that long years before had sold itself to +Lucifer. + +Sleeplessly, faithfully, she went to and fro in that darkened room, +whose atmosphere was tainted by infection, and at last she found her +reward. The crisis was safely passed, and she was assured the patient +would recover. + +The apartment was so dimly lighted that Mr. Carlyle took little notice +of his attendants, but one afternoon when the nurse had gone to +procure some refreshments, the sick man turned on his pillow, and +looked earnestly at the woman who was engaged in writing at a table +near the bed. + +"Mrs. Smith." + +Mrs. Carlyle rose and approached him. + +"Are you Mrs. Smith,--my landlady?" + +"No, sir. I am merely your nurse." + +"My nurse? What is the matter with me?" + +"Small-pox,--but the danger is now over." + +"Small-pox! Where did I catch it? Am I still in Elm Street?" + +"No, sir; you are in the hospital." + +Shading his inflamed eyes with his hand, he mused for some moments, +and she saw a perplexed and sorrowful expression cross his features. + +"Is there any danger of my dying?" + +"That danger is past." + +"What is your name?" + +"Mrs. Gerome." + +"Stand a little closer to me. I find I am almost blind. Mrs. Gerome? +Your voice is strangely like one that I have not heard for many +years,--and it carries me back,--back--to--" He sighed, and pressed +his fingers over his eyes. + +After a few seconds, he said,-- + +"Do give me some water. I am as parched as Dives." + +She lifted his head and put the glass to his lips,--and while he +drank, his eyes searched her face, and lingered admiringly on her +beautiful hand. + +"Are you a regular nurse at this hospital?" + +"I am engaged for your case." + +"I see no pock-marks on your skin; it is as smooth as ivory. Shall I +escape as lightly?" + +"It is impossible to tell. Here comes your dinner." + +He caught her arm, and gazed earnestly at her. + +"Is your hair really so white, or is it merely an illusion of my +inflamed eyes?" + +"There is not a dark hair in my head; it is as white as snow." + +While the nurse prepared the food and arranged it on the table, Mrs. +Carlyle hastily collected several articles scattered about the +apartment, and softly opened the door. + +Standing there a moment, she looked back at the figure comfortably +elevated on pillows, and a long sigh of relief crossed her lips. + +"Thank God! I have done my duty, and now he needs me no longer. Next +time I see your face, Maurice Carlyle, I hope it will be at the last +bar, in the final judgment; and then may the Lord have mercy upon us +both." + +The words were breathed inaudibly, and, closing the door gently, she +hurried down the steps and in the direction of a small room which Dr. +Clingman had converted into an office. + +As she entered, he looked up and pushed back his spectacles. + +"What can I do for you?" + +"A little thing, which will cost you no trouble, but will greatly +oblige me. Doctor, I have found you a kind and sympathizing gentleman, +and am grateful for the delicate consideration with which you have +treated me. Mr. Carlyle is beyond danger, and I shall leave him in +your care. When he is sufficiently strong to be removed, I desire that +you will give him this letter, which contains a check payable to his +order. There, examine it, and be so good as to write me a receipt." + +Silently he complied, and when she had re-enclosed the check and +sealed the envelope she placed it in his hand. + +"Dr. Clingman, is there any other place to which small-pox cases can +be carried? To-day I have discovered some symptoms of the disease in +my own system, and I feel assured I shall be ill before this time +to-morrow." + +"My dear madam, why not remain here?" + +"Because I do not wish to be discovered by Mr. Carlyle, and forced to +meet him again. I prefer to suffer, and, if need be, die, alone and +unknown." + +"If you will trust yourself to me, and to a faithful female nurse whom +I can secure, I promise you, upon my honor as a gentleman, that I will +allow no one else to see you, living or dead. My dear madam, I beg you +to reconsider, and remain where I can watch over, and perhaps preserve +your life. I dreaded this. You are feverish now." + +Wearily she swept her hand across her forehead, and a dreary smile +flitted over her wan features. + +"My life is a worthless, melancholy thing, useless to others, and a +crushing burden to me; and I might as well lay it down here as +elsewhere. I accept your promise, Dr. Clingman, and hope you will +obtain a room in the quiet and secluded portion of the building. If I +should be so fortunate as to die, do not forget the memorandum in this +purse. I leave my body in your care, my soul in the hands of Him who +alone can give it rest." + + "The burden of my days is hard to bear, + But God knows best; + And I have prayed,--but vain has been my prayer,-- + For rest--for rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +"Miss Dexter, have you succeeded in seeing Mrs. Gerome since her +return?" + +"No, sir; she obstinately refuses to admit me, though I have called +twice at the house. Yesterday I received a letter in answer to several +that I have addressed to her, all of which she returned unopened. +Since you have already learned so much of our melancholy history, why +should I hesitate to acquaint you with the contents of her letter? You +know the object of her journey north, and I will read you the +result." + +The governess drew a letter from her pocket, and Dr. Grey leaned his +face on his hand and listened. + + "SOLITUDE, _May 10th, 18--_. + + "_Edith_,--No lingering vestige of affection, no remorseful + tenderness, prompted that mission from which I have recently + returned, and only the savage scourgings of implacable duty could + have driven me, like a galley-slave, to my hated task. The victim + of a horrible and disfiguring disease which so completely changed + his countenance that his own mother would scarcely have recognized + him,--and the tenant of a charity hospital in the town of ----, I + found that man who has proved the Upas of your life and of mine. + During his delirium I watched and nursed him--not lovingly (how + could I?) but faithfully, kindly, pityingly. When all danger was + safely passed, and his clouded intellect began to clear itself, I + left him in careful hands, and provided an ample amount for his + comfortable maintenance in coming years. I spared him the + humiliation of recognizing in his nurse his injured and despised + wife; and, as night after night I watched beside the pitiable + wreck of a once handsome, fascinating, and idolized man, I fully + and freely forgave Maurice Carlyle all the wrongs that so + completely stranded my life. To-day he is well, and probably + happy, while he finds himself possessed of means by which to + gratify his extravagant tastes; but how long his naturally fine + constitution can hold at bay the legion of ills that hunt like + hungry wolves along the track of reckless dissipation, God only + knows. + + "For some natures it is exceedingly difficult to forgive,--to + forget, impossible; and while my husband's abject wretchedness and + degradation disarmed the hate that has for so many years rankled + in my heart, I could never again look willingly upon his face. + Edith, you and I have nothing in common but miserable memories, + which, I beg you to believe, are sufficiently vivid, without the + torturing adjunct of your countenance; therefore, pardon me if I + decline to receive your visits, and return the letters that are + quite as welcome and cheering to my eyes as the little shoes and + garments of the long-buried dead to the mother, who would fain + look no more upon the harrowing relics. I do not wish to be harsh, + but I must be honest, and our intercourse can never be renewed in + this world. + + "In bygone days, when I loved you so fondly and trusted you so + fully, it was my intention to share my fortune with you; and, + since I find that you have not forfeited my confidence in the + purity of your purposes, such is still my wish. I enclose a draft + on my banker, which I hope you will deem sufficient to enable you + to abandon the arduous profession in which you have worn out your + life. If I can feel assured that I have been instrumental in + contributing to the peace and ease of the years that may yet be in + store for you, it will serve as one honeyed drop to sweeten the + dregs of the cup of woe I am draining. Edith, do not refuse the + only aid I can offer you in your loneliness; and accept the + earnest assurance that I shall be grateful for the privilege of + promoting your comfort. Affection and trust I have not, and a few + paltry thousands are all I am now able to bestow. By the love you + once professed, and in the name of that compassion you should feel + for me, I beg of you, despise not the gift; and let the + consciousness that I have saved you from toil and fatigue quiet + the soul and ease the heart of a lonely woman, who has shaken + hands with every earthly hope. I have done my duty, my conscience + is calm and contented, and I sit wearily on the stormy shore of + time, waiting for the tide that will drift into eternity the + desolate, proud soul of + + "VASHTI CARLYLE." + +Tears rolled over the governess' cheeks, and, refolding the letter, +she said, sorrowfully,-- + +"My poor, heart-broken Vashti! She has resumed the name which old +Elsie gave her because it was her mother's; and how mournfully +appropriate it has proved. I could be happy if permitted to spend the +residue of my days with her; but she decrees otherwise, and I have no +alternative but submission to her imperious will." + +Dr. Grey did not lift his face where the shadow of a great, voiceless +grief hung heavily, and his low tone indexed deep and painful emotion, +when he answered,-- + +"I sincerely deplore her unfortunate decision, for isolation only +augments the ills from which she suffers. Many months have elapsed +since I saw her last, but Robert Maclean told me to-day that she was +sadly changed in appearance, and seemed in feeble health. She did not +tell you that she had been dangerously ill with varioloid, contracted +while nursing her husband. Although not in the least marked or +disfigured, the attack must have seriously impaired her constitution, +if all that Robert tells me be true. Since her return, one month ago, +she has not left her room." + +"Dr. Grey, exert your influence in my behalf, and prevail upon her to +admit me." + +"Miss Dexter, you ascribe to me powers of persuasion which, +unfortunately, I do not possess; and Mrs. Carlyle's decree is +beyond the reach of human agency. To the few who are earnestly +interested in her welfare, there remains but one avenue of aid and +comfort,--faithful, fervent prayer." + +"Perhaps you are not aware of the exalted estimate she places on your +character, nor of the value she attaches to your opinions. Of all +living beings, she told me she reverenced and trusted you most; and +you, at least, would not be denied access to her presence." + +She could not see the tremor on his usually firm lips, nor the pallor +that overspread his face, and when he spoke his grave voice did not +betray the tumult in his aching heart. + +"I am no longer a visitor at 'Solitude,' and shall not see its +mistress unless she requires my professional aid. While I am very +deeply interested in her happiness, I could never consent to intrude +upon her seclusion." + +"I know my days are numbered, and after a little while I shall sleep +well under the ancient cedars that shade the head-stones of my father +and mother; but I could die more cheerfully, more joyfully, if Evelyn +would only be comforted, and accept some human friendship." + +"For some weeks you have seemed so much better that I hoped warm +weather would quite relieve and invigorate you. Spend next winter in +Cuba or Mexico, and it will probably add many months, possibly years, +to your life." + +She smiled, and shook her head. + +"This beautiful springtime has temporarily baffled the disease, but +for me there can be no restoration. Day by day I feel the ebbing of +strength and energy, and the approach of my deliverer, death; but I +realize also, what the Centaur uttered to Melampus, 'I decline unto my +last days calm as the setting of the constellations; but I feel +myself perishing and passing quickly away, like a snow-wreath floating +on the stream.'" + +As he looked at the thin, pure face where May sunshine streamed warm +and bright, and marked the perfect peace that brooded over the changed +features, Dr. Grey was reminded of the lines that might have been +written for her, so fully were they suited to her case,-- + + "I saw that one who lost her love in pain, + Who trod on thorns, who drank the loathsome cup; + The lost in night, in day was found again; + The fallen was lifted up. + They stood together in the blessed noon, + They sang together through the length of days; + Each loving face bent sunwards, like a moon + New-lit with love and praise." + +"My friend, the shadows are passing swiftly from your life, and, in +the mild radiance of its close, you can well afford to forget the +storms that clouded its dawn." + +"Forget? No, Dr. Grey, I neither endeavor nor desire to forget the +sorrows that first taught me the emptiness of earthly things, the +futility of human schemes,--that snapped the frail reed of flesh to +which I clung, and gave me, instead, the blessed support, the +immovable arm of an everlasting God. Ah! that woman was deeply versed +in the heart-lore of her own sex, who wrote,-- + + 'When I remember something which I had, + But which is gone, and I must do without, + + * * * * * + + When I remember something promised me, + But which I never had, nor can have now, + Because the promiser we no more see + In countries that accord with mortal vow; + When I remember this, I mourn,--but yet + My happier days are not the days when I forget.'" + +"If Mrs. Carlyle possessed a tithe of your faith and philosophy, how +serene, how tranquilly useful her future years might prove." + +"In God's own good time her trials will be sanctified to her eternal +peace, and she will one day glide from grief to glory, for she can +claim the promise of our Lord, 'The pure in heart shall see God.' No +purer heart than Vashti Carlyle's throbs this side of the throne where +seraphim and cherubim hover." + +In the brief silence that succeeded, the governess observed the +unusually grave and melancholy expression of her companion's +countenance, and asked, timidly,-- + +"Has anything occurred recently to distress or annoy you? You look +depressed." + +"I feel inexpressibly anxious about Salome, concerning whose fate I +can learn nothing that is comforting. In reply to my letter, urging +him to make every effort to ascertain her locality and condition, +Professor V---- writes, that he is now a confirmed invalid, confined +to his room, and unable to conduct the search for his missing pupil. +She left Palermo on a small vessel bound for Monaco, and her farewell +note stated that all attempts to discover her retreat would prove +futile, as she was resolved to preserve her incognito, and wished her +friends in America to remain in ignorance of her mode of life. +Professor V---- surmises that she is in Paris, but gives no good +reason for the conjecture, except that she possibly sought the best +medical advice for the treatment of her throat and recovery of her +voice. His last letter, received yesterday, informed me that one of +Salome's most devoted admirers, a Bostonian of immense wealth, was so +deeply grieved by her inexplicable disappearance that he was +diligently searching for her in Leghorn and Monaco. She left Palermo +alone, and with a comparatively empty purse." + +"Dr. Grey, are you aware of the suspicions which Muriel has long +entertained with reference to Mr. Granville's admiration of Salome, +and the efforts of the latter to encourage his attentions?" + +"I have very cogent reasons for believing that however amenable +to censure Mr. Granville doubtless is, Muriel's distrust of Salome +is totally unjust. If she were capable of the despicable course my +ward is disposed to impute to her, I should cease to feel any +interest in her career or fate; but I cherish the conviction that +she would scorn to be guilty of conduct so ignoble. Her defects of +character I shall neither deny nor attempt to palliate, but I trust +her true womanly heart as I trust my own manly honor; and a stern +sense of justice to the absent constrains me to vindicate her from +Muriel's hasty and unfounded aspersions. So strong is my faith in +Salome's conscientiousness, so earnest my friendship for her, that +since the receipt of Professor V----'s letter I have determined to +go immediately to Europe, and if possible discover her retreat. My +sister's adopted child must not and shall not suffer and struggle +among strangers, while I live to aid and protect her." + +Miss Dexter rose and laid her thin, feverish hand on his arm, while +embarrassment made her voice tremble slightly,-- + +"I am rejoiced to learn your decision, and God grant you speedy +success in your quest. Do not deem me presumptuous or impertinent if, +prompted by a sincere desire to see you happy, I venture to say, that +he who lightly values the pure, tender, devoted love of such a woman +as Salome Owen,--tramples on treasures that would make his life +affluent and blessed--that neither gold can purchase nor royalty +compel. Under your guidance, moulded by your influence, she would +become a noble woman,--of whom any man might justly be proud." + +Fearful that she had already incurred his displeasure, and unwilling +to meet his eye, she turned quickly and made her escape through the +open door. + +In the bright glow of that lovely spring day, the calm face of Ulpian +Grey seemed scarcely older than on the afternoon when he came to make +the farm his home; and though paler, and ciphered over by the leaden +finger of anxiety, it indexed little of the long, fierce strife, that +conscience had waged with heart. + +Lighter and more impulsive natures expend themselves in spasmodic and +violent ebullitions, but the great deep of this man's serene character +had never stirred, until the one mighty love of his life had lashed it +into a tempest that tossed his hopes like sea-froth, and finally +engulfed the only rosy dream of wedded happiness that had ever flushed +his quiet, solitary, sedate existence. + +Having kept his heart in holy subjection to the law of Christ, he did +not quail and surrender when the great temptation rose, bearing the +banner of insurrection; but sternly and dauntlessly fronted the shock, +and kept inviolate the citadel, garrisoned by an invincible and +consecrated will. + +The yearning tenderness of his strong, tranquil soul, had enfolded +Mrs. Carlyle, drawing her more and more into the penetralia of his +affection; but from the hour in which he learned her history he had +torn away the clinging tendrils of love,--had endeavored to expel her +from his heart, and to stifle its wail for the lost idol. + +Week after week, month after month, he had driven every day within +sight of the blue smoke that curled above the trees at "Solitude," but +never even for an instant checked his horse to gaze longingly towards +the Eden whence he had voluntarily exiled himself. + +There were hours when his heart ached for the sight of that white face +he had loved so madly, and the sound of the mournfully sweet +voice,--and his hand trembled at the recollection of the soft, cold, +snowy fingers, that once thrilled his palms; but he treated these +utterances of his heart as mercilessly as the hunter who cheers his +dogs in the chase where the death-cry of the victim rings above bark +and halloo. + +No wall of division, no sea of separation, would have proved so +effectual, so insurmountable, as his own firm resolve that his earthly +path should never cross that of one whom God's statutes had set apart +until death annulled the decree. In this torturing ordeal he was +strengthened by the conviction that he alone suffered for his +folly,--that Mrs. Carlyle was a stranger to feelings that robbed him +of sleep, and clouded his days,--that the heaving tide of his devoted +love had broken against her frozen heart as idly as the surges of the +sea that die in foam upon the dreary, mysterious ruins of the Serapeon +at Pozzuoli. + +In the silent watches of the night, as he pondered the brief, +beautiful vision that had so completely fascinated him, he reverently +thanked God that the woman he loved had never reciprocated his +affection, and was not sitting in the ashes of desolation, mourning +his absence. Striving to interest himself more and more in Stanley and +Jessie, who had become inordinately fond of him, his thoughts +continually reverted to Salome, and that subtle sympathy which springs +from the "fellow-being," that makes us "wondrous kind" to those whose +pangs are fierce as ours, began faintly and shyly, but surely, to +assert itself. A shadowy, intangible self-reproach brooded like a +phantom over his generous heart, when, amidst the uncertainty that +seemed to overhang the orphan's fate, he remembered the numberless +manifestations of almost idolatrous affection which he had coldly +repulsed. + +In the earnest interest that day by day deepened in the absent girl, +there was no pitiable vanity, no inflated self-love, but a stern +realization of the anguish and humiliation that must now be her +portion, and a magnanimous eagerness to endeavor to cheer a heart +whose severest woes had sprung from his indifference. + +More than a year had elapsed, and no letter had ever reached him,--not +even a message in her two brief epistles to Stanley, and Dr. Grey +missed the bright, perverse element that no longer thwarted him at +every turn. + +He longed to see the proud, girlish face, with its flashing eyes, and +red lips, and the haughty toss of the large, handsome head; and the +angry tones of her voice would have been welcome sounds in the house +where she had so long tyrannized. To-day, as Ulpian Grey sat in his +own little sitting-room, his eyes were fixed on a copy of Rembrandt's +_Nicholas Tulp_, which hung over the mantelpiece; but the mysteries of +anatomy no longer riveted his attention, and his thoughts were busy +with memories of a fond though wayward girl, whom his indifference +had driven to foreign lands,--to unknown and fearful perils. + +Through the windows stole the breath of Salome's violets, and the +sweet, spicy odor of the Belgian honeysuckle that she had planted and +twined around the mossy columns that supported the gallery; and with a +sigh he closed his eyes, shut out the anatomy of flesh, and began the +dissection of emotions. + +Could Salome's radiant face brighten his home, and win his heart from +its devouring regret? Would it be possible for him to give her the +place whence he had ejected Mrs. Carlyle? Could he ever persuade +himself to call that fair, passionate young thing, that capricious, +obstinate, maliciously perverse girl,--his wife? + +Involuntarily he frowned, for while pity pleaded for the refugee from +home and happiness, the man's honest nature scouted all shams, and he +acknowledged to himself that he could never feel the need of her lips +or hands,--could never insult her womanhood, or degrade his own +nature, by folding to his heart one whose touch possessed no +magnetism, whose presence exerted no spell over his home. + +Salome, his friend, his adopted sister, he wished to discover, to +claim, and restore to the household; but Salome, his wife,--was a +monstrous imaginary incubus that appalled and repelled him. + +The difficulties that presented themselves at the outset of his search +would have discouraged a less resolute temperament, but it was part of +his wise philosophy, that-- + + "We overstate the ills of life. We walk upon + The shadow of hills across a level thrown, + And pant like climbers." + +As a pitying older brother, he thought of Salome's many foibles,--of +her noble intentions and ignoble executions,--of her few feeble +triumphs, her numerous egregious failures in the line of duty; and +loving Christian charity pleaded eloquently for her, whispering to his +generous soul, "We know the ships that come with streaming pennons +into the immortal ports; but we know little of the ships that have +taken fire on the way thither,--that have gone down at sea." + +What pure friendship could accomplish he would not withhold, and life +at the farm was not so attractive now that he felt regret at the +prospect of temporary absence. + +The disappointment that had so rudely smitten to the earth the one +precious hope born of his acquaintance with "Solitude," had no power +to embitter his nature,--to drape the world in drab, or to shroud the +future with gloom; and though his noble face was sadder and paler, +Christian faith and resignation rang blessed chimes of peace in heart +and soul, and made his life a hallowed labor of love for the needy and +grief-stricken. To-day, as he sat alone at the south window, he could +overlook the fields of "Grassmere," where the rich promise of golden +harvest "filled in all beauty and fulness the emerald cup of the +hills," and the waving grain rippled in light and shade like the +billows of some distant sunset sea. Basking in the balmy sunshine, and +contemplating his approaching departure for Europe, a sudden longing +seized him to look once more on the face of Vashti Carlyle, before he +bade farewell to his home. + +She was in feeble health, and might not survive his absence, +and, moreover, what harm could result from one final visit to +"Solitude,"--from a few parting words to its desolate mistress? She +had sent a message through Robert, that she would be glad to see +Dr. Grey whenever he could find leisure to call, and now hungry +heart and soul cried out savagely,-- + +"Why not? Why not?" + +His heavy brows knitted a little, and his mouth grew rigid as iron, +but after some moments the lips relaxed, and with a sad, patient +smile, he repeated those stirring words of Richter to Herman,--"Suffer +like a man the Alp-pressure of fate. Trust yourself upon the broad, +shining wings of your _faith_, and make them bear you over the Dead +Sea, so as not to fall spiritually dead within." + +"No, no, Ulpian Grey,--keep yourself 'unspotted from the world.' +Strangle that one temptation which borrows the garments of an angel +of light and mercy, and dogs you, sleeping and waking. I will see her +no more till death snaps her fetters, and I can meet her in the +presence of God, who alone can know what separation costs me. May He +grant her strength to bear her lonely lot, and give me grace to be +patient even unto the end, bringing no reproach on the sacred faith I +profess." + +It was the final struggle between love and duty, and though the +vanquished heart wailed piteously, exultant conscience, like Jupiter +of old, triumphantly applauded, "Evan, evoe!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +"Wanted!--Information of Salome Owen, who will confer a favor on her +friends, and secure a handsome legacy by calling at No. -- ----." + +"Dr. Grey, for six months this advertisement has appeared every +morning in two of the most popular journals in Paris, and as it has +elicited no clew to her whereabouts, I am reluctantly compelled to +believe that she is no longer in France." + +Mr. Granville refolded the newspaper, and busied himself in filling +and lighting his meerschaum. + +"By whom was that notice inserted?" + +"By M. de Baillu, the agent and banker of Mr. Minge of Boston, who was +warmly and sincerely attached to your _protégée_, and earnestly +endeavored to marry her. When she left Palermo, Mr. Minge came to this +city and solicited my aid in discovering her retreat." + +"Pardon me, but why did he apply to you?" + +"Simply because he knew that I was an old acquaintance, and he had +seen me with her, when she first came from America." + +"How did you ascertain her presence in Paris?" + +"Accidentally; one night, at the opera, whither she accompanied +Professor V----, I recognized her, and of course made myself known. +To what shall I ascribe the honor of this rigid cross-questioning?" + +"To reasons which I shall very freely give you. But first, permit me +to beg that you will resume your narrative at the point where I +interrupted you. I wish to learn all that can be told concerning Mr. +Minge." + +"He was an elderly man of ordinary appearance, but extraordinary +fortune, and seemed completely fascinated by Salome's beauty. He +offered a large reward to the police for any clew that would enable +him to discover her, and finally found the physician whom she had +consulted with reference to some disease of the throat, which +occasioned the loss of her voice. He had prescribed for her several +times, but knew nothing of her lodging-place, as she always called at +his office; and finally, without assigning any reason, her visits +ceased. Mr. Minge redoubled his exertions, and at last found her in +one of the hospitals connected with a convent. The Sisters of Charity +informed him that one bleak day when the rain was falling drearily, +they chanced to see a woman stagger and drop on the pavement before +their door, and, hurrying to her assistance, discovered that she had +swooned from exhaustion. A bundle of unfinished needlework was hidden +under her shawl, and they soon ascertained that she was delirious from +some low typhus fever that had utterly prostrated her. For several +weeks she was dangerously ill, and was just able to sit up when Mr. +Minge discovered her. He told me that it was distressing and painful +beyond expression to witness her humiliation, her wounded pride, her +defiant rejection of his renewed offer of marriage. One day he took +his sister Constance and a minister of the gospel to the hospital, and +implored Salome to become his wife, then and there. He said she wept +bitterly, and thanked him, thanked his sister also, but solemnly +assured him she could never marry any one,--she would sooner starve in +the--" + +Dr. Grey raised his hand, signalling for silence, and for some moments +he leaned his forehead against the chair directly in front of him. + +Mr. Granville cleared his throat several times, and loosened his +neck-tie, which seemed to impede his breathing. + +"Shall I go on? There is little more to tell." + +"If you please, Granville." + +"Mr. Minge would not abandon the hope of finally persuading her to +accept his hand, but next day when he called to inquire about her +health, and to request the sisters to watch her movements, and +prevent her escape, he was shocked to learn that she had disappeared +the previous night, leaving a few lines written in pencil on a +handkerchief, in which she had wrapped her superb suit of hair. They +were addressed to the Sisters of Charity, and briefly expressed her +gratitude for their kindness in providing for her wants, while she +assured them that as soon as possible she would return and compensate +them for their services in her behalf. Meantime, knowing the high +price of hair, she had carefully cut off her own, which was +unusually long and thick, and tendered it in part payment. When she +was taken into the building, her nurse found concealed in her dress a +very elegant watch, bearing her name in diamond letters, and she +requested that the sisters would hold it in pawn, until she was able +to redeem it. During her illness, it had been locked up, and they +supposed she left it, fearing that an application for it would arouse +suspicions of her intended flight. Mr. Minge bought the hair and +handkerchief, and, after a liberal remuneration for their care of +the invalid, he took charge of the watch, and left his address to be +given her when she called for her property. That her mind had become +seriously impaired, there can be little doubt, since nothing but +insanity can explain her refusal to accept one of the handsomest +estates in America. Unfortunately, a few days subsequent to her +departure from the hospital, Mr. Minge was taken very violently ill +with pneumonia, and died. Conscious of his condition, he prepared a +codicil to his will, and bequeathed to Salome twenty-five thousand +dollars, and an elegant house and lot in New York City. He exacted +from his sister a solemn promise that she would leave no means +untried to ferret out the wanderer, to whom he was so devotedly +attached; and, should all efforts fail, at the expiration of five +years the legacy should revert to the hospital which had sheltered +her in the hour of her destitution. The watch he left with his sister +Constance; the hair, he ordered buried with him. Three months have +elapsed, and no tidings have reached Miss Minge, who remains in +Paris for the purpose of complying with her brother's dying request." + +"My poor, perverse Salome! To what desperate extremities has she been +reduced by her unfortunate wilfulness. Gerard, will you tell me +frankly your own conjecture concerning her fate?" + +"If alive, I believe she has left Europe." + +"Upon what do you base your supposition?" + +"Mr. Minge was convinced that her attachment to some one in America +was the insurmountable barrier to his success as a suitor; and, if +so, she probably returned to her native land. Dr. Grey, I will speak +candidly to you of a matter which has doubtless given you some +disquiet. Muriel informs me that you have no confidence in the +sincerity of my attachment to her, and that upon that fact is founded +your refusal to allow the consummation of our engagement, so long as +she continues your ward. I confess I am not free from censure, but, +while I have acted weakly, I am not devoid of principle. Sir, I was +strangely and powerfully attracted to Salome Owen, and she exerted +a species of fascination over me which I scarcely endeavored to +resist. In an evil hour, infatuated by her face and her marvellous +voice, I was wild enough to offer her my hand, and resolved to ask +Muriel to release me. Dr. Grey, even at my own expense, I wish to +exonerate Salome, who never for an instant, by word or look, +encouraged my madness. She repulsed my advances, refused every +attention, and when I rashly uttered words, which, I admit, were +treasonable to Muriel, she almost overwhelmed me with her fiery +contempt and indignation,--threatening to acquaint Muriel with my +inconstancy, and appealing to my honor as a gentleman to keep +inviolate my betrothal vows. Dr. Grey, if my heart temporarily +wandered from its allegiance to your ward, it was not Salome's +fault, for in every respect her conduct towards me was that of a +noble, unselfish woman, who scorned to gratify her vanity at the +expense of another's happiness. She shamed me out of my folly, and +her stern honesty and nobility saved me from a brief and humiliating +career of dishonorable duplicity. Whether living or dead, I owe this +tribute to the pure character of Salome Owen." + +"Thank Heaven! I had faith in her. I believed her too generous to +stoop to a flirtation with the lover of her friend; and, deplorable as +was your own weakness, I am rejoiced, Gerard, to find that you have +conquered it. Tell Muriel all that you have confided to me, and in her +hands we will leave the decision." + +"Do you intend to prosecute the search which has proved so fruitless?" + +"I do. She has not returned to America,--she is here somewhere; and, +living or dead, I must and will find her." + +Dr. Grey seemed lost in perplexing thought for some time, then drew a +sheet of paper before him, and wrote, "Ulpian Grey wishes to see +Salome Owen, in order to communicate some facts which will induce her +return to her family; and he hopes she will call immediately at No. +Rue ----." + +"Gerard, please be so good as to have this inserted in all the leading +journals in the city; and give me the address of Mr. Minge's agent." + +At the expiration of a month, spent in the most diligent yet +unsuccessful efforts to obtain some information of the wanderer, Dr. +Grey began to feel discouraged,--to yield to melancholy forebodings +that an untimely death had ended her struggles and suffering. + +Once, while pacing the walks in the Champs-Elysées, he caught a +glimpse of a face that recalled Salome's, and started eagerly forward; +but it proved that of a Parisian _bonne_, who was romping with her +juvenile charge. + +Again, one afternoon, as he came out of the Church of St. Sulpice, his +heart bounded at sight of a woman who leaned against the railing, and +watched the play of the fountain. When he approached her and peered +eagerly into her countenance, blue eyes and yellow curls mocked his +hopes. One morning, while he walked slowly along the _Rue du Faubourg +St. Honoré_, his attention was attracted by the glitter of pretty +baubles in the _Maison de la Pensée_, and he entered the establishment +to purchase something for Jessie. + +While waiting for his parcel, a woman came out of a rear apartment and +passed into the street, and, almost snatching his package from the +counter, he followed. + +A few yards in advance was a graceful but thin figure, clad in a +violet-colored muslin, with a rather dingy silk scarf wound around her +shoulders. A straw hat, with a wreath of faded pink roses, drooped +over her face, and streamers of black lace hung behind, while over the +whole she had thrown a thin gray veil. + +Dr. Grey had not seen a feature, but the _pose_ of the shoulders, the +haughty poise of the head, the quick, nervous, elastic step, and, +above all, the peculiar, free, childish swinging of the left arm, made +his despondent heart throb with renewed hope. + +Keeping sufficiently near not to lose sight of her, he walked on and +on, down cross streets, up narrow alleys, towards a quarter of the +city with which he was unacquainted. The woman never looked back, +rarely turned her head, even to glance at those who passed her, and +only once she paused before a flower-stall, and seemed to price a +bunch of carnations, which she smelled, laid down again, and then +hurried on. + +Dr. Grey quickly paid for the cluster, and hastened after her. + +In turning a corner, she dropped a small parcel that she had carried +under her scarf, and as she stooped to pick it up, her veil floated +off. She caught it ere it reached the ground, and when she raised her +hands to spread it over her hat, the loose open sleeves of her dress +slipped back, and there, on the left arm, was a long, zigzag scar, +like a serpentine bracelet. + +With great difficulty Dr. Grey stifled a cry of joy, and waited until +she had gained some yards in advance. + +The woman was so absorbed in reverie that she did not notice the +steady tramp of her pursuer, but as the number of persons on the +street gradually diminished, he prudently fell back, fearing lest her +suspicion should be excited. + +At a sudden bend in the crooked alley which she rapidly threaded, he +lost sight of her, and, running a few yards, he turned the angle just +in time to see the flutter of her dress and scarf, as she disappeared +through a postern, that opened in a crumbling brick wall. + +Above the gate a battered tin sign swung in the wind, and dim letters, +almost effaced by elemental warfare, announced, "_Adèle Aubin, +Blanchisseuse_." + +Dr. Grey passed through the postern, and found himself in a narrow, +dark court, near a tall, dingy, dilapidated house, where a girl ten +years of age sat playing with two ragged, untidy children. + +It was a dreary, comfortless, uninviting place, and a greenish slime +overspread the lower portions of the wall, and coated the uneven +pavement. + +From the girl, who chatted with genuine French volubility and freedom, +Dr. Grey learned that her father was an attaché of a barber-shop, and +her mother a washer and renovater of laces and embroideries. The +latter was absent, and, in answer to his inquiries, the child informed +him that an upper room in this cheerless building was occupied by a +young female lodger, who held no intercourse with its other inmates. + +Placing a five-franc piece in her hand, the visitor asked the name of +the lodger, but the girl replied that she was known to them only as +"_La Dentellière_," and lived quite alone in the right-hand room at +the top of the third flight of stairs. + +The parley had already occupied twenty minutes, when Dr. Grey cut it +short by mounting the narrow, winding steps. The atmosphere was close, +and redolent of the fumes of dishes not so popular in America as in +France, and he saw that the different doors of this old tenement were +rented to lodgers who cooked, ate, and slept in the same apartment. At +the top of the last dim flight of steps, Dr. Grey paused, almost out +of breath; and found himself on a narrow landing-place, fronting two +attic rooms. The one on the right was closed, but as he softly took +the bolt in his hand and turned it, there floated through the key-hole +the low subdued sound of a sweet voice, humming "_Infelice_." + +It was not the deep, rich, melting voice, that had arrested his drive +when first he heard it on the beach, but a plaintive, thrilling echo, +full of pathos, yet lacking power; like the notes of birds when +moulting-season ends, and the warblers essay their old strains. +Cautiously he opened the door wide enough to permit him to observe +what passed within. + +The room was large, low, and irregularly shaped, with neither +fire-place nor stove, and only one dormer window opening to the south, +and upon a wide waste of tiled roofs and smoking chimneys. The floor +was bare, except a strip of faded carpet stretched in front of a small +single bedstead; and the additional furniture consisted of two chairs, +a tall table where hung a mirror, and a washstand that held beside +bowl and pitcher a candlestick and china cup. On the table were +several books, a plate and knife, and a partially opened package +disclosed a loaf of bread, some cheese, and an apple. + +In front of the window a piece of plank had been rudely fastened, and +here stood two wooden boxes containing a few violets, mignonette, and +one very luxuriant rose-geranium. + +The faded blue cambric curtain was twisted into a knot, and as it was +now nearly noon, the sun shone in and made a patch of gold on the +stained and dusky floor. + +On the bed lay the straw hat, garlanded with roses that had lost their +primitive tints, and before the window in a low chair sat the lonely +lodger. + +On her knees rested a cushion, across which was stretched a parchment +pattern bristling with pins, and with bobbins she was swiftly knitting +a piece of gossamer lace, by throwing the fine threads around the +pins. + +Over the floor floated her delicate lilac dress, and the sleeves were +looped back to escape the forest of pins. + +Dr. Grey had only a three-quarter view of the face that bent over the +cushion, and though it was sadly altered in every lineament,--was +whiter and thinner than he had ever seen it,--yet it was impossible to +mistake the emaciated features of Salome Owen. + +The large, handsome head, had been shorn of its crown of glossy braids +that once encircled it like a jet tiara, and the short locks clustered +with childlike grace and beauty around the gleaming white brow and +temples. + +There was not a vestige of color in the whilom scarlet mouth, whose +thin lines were now scarcely perceptible; and, in the finer oval of +her cheeks, and along the polished chin, the purplish veins showed +their delicate tracery. The hands were waxen and almost transparent, +and the figure was wasted beyond the boundaries of symmetry. + +In the knot of ribbon that fastened her narrow linen collar, she had +arranged a sprig of mignonette, that now dropped upon the cushion as +she bent over it. She paused, brushed it off, and for a few seconds +her beautiful hazel eyes were fixed on the blue sky that bordered her +window. + +The whole expression of her countenance had changed, and the +passionate defiance of other days had given place to a sad, patient +hopelessness, touching indeed, when seen on her proud features. Slowly +she threw her bobbins, and a fragment of "_Infelice_" seemed to drift +across her trembling lips, that showed some lines of bitterness in +their time-chiselling. + +As Dr. Grey watched her, tears which he could not restrain trickled +down his face, and he was starting forward, when she said, as if +communing with her own desolate soul,-- + +"I wonder if I am growing superstitious. Last night I dreamed +incessantly of Jessie and home, and to-day I cannot help thinking that +something has happened there. Home! When people no longer have a home, +how hard it is to forget that blessed home which sheltered them in the +early years. Homeless! that is the dreariest word that human misery +ever conjectured or human language clothed. Never mind, Salome Owen, +when God snatched your voice from you, He became responsible; and your +claims are like the ravens and sparrows, and He must provide. After +all, it matters little where we are housed here in the clay, and +Hobbs was astute when he selected for the epitaph on his tombstone, +'This is the true philosopher's stone.' Home! Ah, if I sadly missed my +heart's home, here in the flesh, I shall surely find it up yonder in +the blessed land of blue." + +A tear glided down her cheek, glistened an instant on her chin, and +fell on her pattern. She brushed it away, and smiled sorrowfully,-- + +"It is ill-omened to sprinkle bridal lace with tears. Some day this +fine web will droop around a bride's white shoulders and after a time +it may serve to deck the cold limbs of some dead child. If I could +only have my shroud now, I would not make lace a _desideratum_; serge +or sackcloth would be welcome. Patience,-- + + ... 'What if the bread + Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod + To meet the flints? At least it may be said, + Because the way is _short_, I thank thee, God!'" + +She partially rose in her chair, and took from the table a volume of +poems. After some search, she found the desired passage, and, rocking +herself to and fro, she read it aloud in a low, measured tone,-- + + "O dreary life! we cry, 'O dreary life!' + And still the generations of the birds + Sing through our sighing, and the flocks and herds + Serenely live, while we are keeping strife + With heaven's true purpose in us, as a knife + Against which we may struggle! Ocean girds + Unslackened the dry land, savannah-swards + Unweary sweep,--hills watch unworn; and rife + Meek leaves drop yearly from the forest-trees, + To show above the unwasted stars that pass + In their old glory. '_O thou God of old, + Grant me some smaller grace than comes to these! + But even so much patience, as a blade of grass + Grows by, contented through the heat and cold._'" + +The book slipped from her fingers and fell upon the floor, and with a +sob the girl bowed her head in her hands. + +Quickly the intruder glided unseen into the room, and stood at the +back of her chair. + +He knew she was praying, and almost breathlessly waited several +minutes. + +At last she raised her face, and while tears trembled on her lashes, +she said meekly,-- + +"I ought not to complain and repine. I will be patient and trust God; +for I can afford to suffer all through time, provided I may spend +eternity with Christ and Dr. Grey." + +"Oh, Salome! Thank God, we shall be separated neither in time nor in +eternity! Dear wanderer, come back to your brother!" + +He stepped before her, and involuntarily held out his arms. + +She neither screamed nor fainted, but sprang to her feet, and a +rapture that beggars all description irradiated her worn, weary, +pallid face. + +"Is it really you? Oh! a thousand times I have dreamed that I saw +you,--stood by you; but when I tried to touch you, there was nothing +but empty air! Oh, Dr. Grey!--my Dr. Grey! Am I only dreaming, here in +the sunshine, or is it you bodily? Did you care for me a _little_? Did +you come to find _me_?" + +She grasped his arm, swept her hands up and down his sleeve, and then +he saw her reel, and shut her eyes, and shudder. + +"My poor child, I came to Paris solely to hunt for my wayward Salome, +and, thank God! I have found her." + +He put his arm around her, and placed her head against his shoulder. + +Ah, how his generous heart ached, as he noted the hungry delight with +which her splendid eyes lingered on his features, and the convulsive +tenacity with which she clung to him, trembling with excess of joy +that brought back carmine to her wasted lips and carnation bloom to +her blanched cheeks. + +He heard her whispering, and knew it was a prayer of thanksgiving for +the blessing of his presence. + +But very soon a change came over her sparkling, happy face, like an +inky cloud across a noon sky, and he felt a shiver stealing through +her form. + +"Let me go! You said once, that when I came to Europe to enter on my +professional career, you wished never to touch my hands again,--you +would consider them polluted." + +"Dear Salome, I recant all those harsh, unjust words, which were +uttered when I was not fully aware of the latent strength of your +character. Since then, I have learned much from Professor V----, and +from Gerard Granville, that assures me my noble friend is all I could +desire her,--that she has grandly conquered her faults, and is worthy +of the admiration, the perfect confidence, the earnest affection, +which her adopted brother offers her. Your pure, true heart makes pure +hands, and as such I reverently salute them." + +He took her hands, raised and kissed them respectfully, tenderly. + +She hid her burning face on his bosom, and there was a short pause. + +"Salome, sit down and let me talk to you of home,--your home. Have you +no questions to ask about your pet sister and brother?" + +He attempted to release himself, but she clung to him, and clasping +her arms around his neck, said in a strained, husky tone,-- + +"Dr. Grey, did you bring your--your wife to Paris?" + +"I have no wife." + +She uttered a thrilling cry of delight, threw her head back, and gazed +steadily into his clear, calm, blue eyes. + +"Oh, sir, they told me you had married Mrs. Gerome." + +He placed her in the chair, and kneeling down beside her, took her +quivering face in his palms and touched her forehead softly with his +lips. + +"The only woman I ever wished to make my wife is bound for life to a +worthless husband. Salome, I loved her before I knew this fact; and, +since I learned (soon after your departure) that she was separated +from the man whom she had wedded, I have not seen her, although she +still resides at 'Solitude.' Salome, I shall never marry, and I ask +you now to come back to Jessie and Stanley, who will soon require your +care and guidance, for it is my intention to return to the position in +the U.S. naval service, which only Janet's feeble health induced me to +resign. God bless you, dear child! I wish you were indeed my own +sister, for I am growing very proud of my brave, honest friend,--my +patient lace-weaver." + +The girl's head sank lower and lower until it touched her knees, and +sobs rendered her words scarcely audible. + +"If you deem me worthy to be called your friend, it is because of your +example, your influence. Oh, Dr. Grey,--but for you,--but for my hope +of meeting you in the kingdom of Christ, I shudder to think what I +might have been! Under all circumstances I have been guided by what I +imagined would have been your wishes,--your advice; and my reward is +rich indeed! Your confidence, your approbation! Earth holds no +recompense half so precious." + +"Thank God! my prayers have been abundantly answered, my highest hopes +of your future fully realized. Henceforth, let us with renewed energy +labor faithfully in the vast, whitening fields of Him who declares, +'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.'" + + "O human soul! as long as thou canst so + Set up a mark of everlasting light, + Above the howling senses' ebb and flow, + To cheer thee and to right thee if thou roam, + Not with lost toil thou laborest through the night, + Thou makest the heaven thou hopest indeed thy home." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +"SAD CASE OF MANIA A POTU." + + +"Watchman McDonough reports that late last night, he picked up, on the +sidewalk, the insensible body of Maurice Carlyle, who showed some +signs of returning animation after his removal to Station House +No. ----. A physician was called in, and every effort made to save the +unfortunate victim of intemperance; but medical skill was inadequate +to arrest the work of many years of excess, and before daylight the +wretched man expired in dreadful convulsions. Coroner Boutwell held an +inquest on the body, and the verdict rendered was 'Death from _mania a +potu_.' Mr. Carlyle was well known in this city, where for many years +he was an ornament to society, and a general favorite in the +fashionable and mercantile circle in which he moved. Of numbers who +were once the recipients of his bounty and hospitality, none offered +succor in the hour of adversity, and among all his former friends none +were found to cheer or pity in the last ordeal to which flesh is +subjected. The melancholy fate of Maurice Carlyle furnishes another +illustration of the mournful truth that the wages of intemperance are +destitution and desertion." + +Such was the startling announcement, which, under the head of "Police +Report," Dr. Grey read and re-read in a prominent New York paper that +had accidentally remained for some days unopened on his desk, and was +dated nearly a month previous. Locking the door of his office, he sat +down to collect his bewildered thoughts, and to quiet the tumult in +his throbbing heart. + +During the two years that had drearily worn away since his last +interview with Mrs. Carlyle, he had sternly forbidden his mind to +dwell on its brief dream of happiness, and by a life of unusually +active benevolence endeavored to forget the one episode which alone +had power to disquiet and sadden him. + +He had philosophically schooled himself to the calm, unmurmuring +acceptance of his lonely destiny, and looked forward to a life +solitary yet not unhappy, although uncheered by the love and +companionship which every man indulges the instinctive hope will +sooner or later crown his existence. + +Now heart and conscience, so long at deadly feud, suddenly signalled a +truce, clasped hands, embraced cordially. How radiant the world +looked,--with what wondrous glory the future had in the twinkling of +an eye robed itself. The woman he had loved was stainless and free, +and how could she long resist the pleadings of his famished heart? + +He would win her from cynicism and isolation, would melt her frozen +nature in the genial atmosphere of his pure and constant affection, +and interweave her aimless, sombre life with the busy, silvery web of +his own. + +After forty years, God would grant him home, and wife, and hearthstone +peace. + +What a flush and sparkle stole to this grave man's olive cheek, and +calm, deep blue eyes! + +Ah! how hungrily he longed for the touch of her hand, the sight of her +face; and, snatching his hat, he put the paper in his pocket, and +hurried towards "Solitude." + +In the holy hush of that hazy autumnal afternoon, nature--_Magna +Mater_,-- + + "The altar-curtains of whose hills + Are sunset's purple air," + "Who dips in the dim light of setting suns + The spacious skirts of that vast robe of hers + That widens ever in the wondrous west," + +seemed slumbering and dreaming away the day. + +The forests were gaudy in their painted shrouds of scarlet and yellow +leaves, and long, feathery flakes of purple bloom nodded over crimson +berries, emerald mosses, and golden-hearted asters. + +Only a few weeks previous, Dr. Grey had driven along that road, and, +while the echo of harvest hymns rang on the hay-scented air, had asked +himself how men and women could become so completely absorbed in +temporal things, ignoring the solemn and indisputable fact of the +brevity of human life and the restricted dominion of man,-- + + "Whose part in all the pomp that fills + The circuit of the summer hills + Is, that his grave is green." + +But to-day all sober-hued reflections were exorcised by the rapturous +_Jubilate_ that hope was singing through the sunlit chambers of his +happy heart; and when he entered the grounds of "Solitude" they seemed +bathed in that soft glamour, that witching "light that never was on +sea or land." + +As he sprang from his buggy and opened the little gate leading into +the _parterre_, Robert came slowly forward, bearing a basket filled +with a portion of the crimson apples that flushed the orchard, just +beyond the low hedge. + +"You could not have chosen a better time to come, Dr. Grey; and if I +were allowed to have my way you would have been here last night. Were +you sent for at last, or was it a lucky chance that brought you?" + +"Merely an accident, as I received no summons. Robert, how is your +mistress?" + +"God only knows, sir; I am sure I never can tell how she really is. +She has not seemed well since she took that journey to the North, and +for two weeks past she appears to have been slipping down by inches +into her grave. She neither eats nor sleeps, and for the last three +nights has not lain down,--so old Ruth, the housekeeper, tells me. +Yesterday I begged my mistress to let me go for you, but she smiled +that awful freezing smile that strikes to the very marrow of my bones, +worse than December sleet,--and raised her finger so: and said, 'At +your peril, Robert. Mind your orchard, man, and I will take care of +myself. I want neither doctors nor nurses, and only desire that you, +and Ruth, and Anna, will attend to your respective duties and let me +be quiet. All will soon be well with me.' I killed a partridge, had it +nicely broiled, and carried it to her; and she thanked me, and made a +pretence of eating the wing, just to please me; but when the waiter +was taken away to the kitchen, I found all the bird on the plate. This +morning, just before daylight, I heard her playing a wild, mournful +thing on the piano, that sounded like a dirge or a wail; and Ruth says +when she went into the parlor to open the blinds, she found her +praying, and thinks she was on her knees for an hour. Please God! +sometimes I wish she was in heaven with my mother, for she will never +see any peace in this life." + +"What seems to be the disease?" + +"Heart-ache." + +"You should have come and told me this long ago." + +"And pray to what purpose, Dr. Grey? She vowed she would allow no +human being to cross her threshold, except the servants, and I would +sooner undertake to curl a steel, or make ringlets out of a pair of +tongs, than bend her will when once she takes a stand. Humph! My +mistress is no willow wand, and is about as easily moved as the +church-steeple, or the stone-tower of the lighthouse." + +"Has she recently received letters that contained tidings which +excited or distressed her?" + +"A letter came last week, but I know nothing of its contents. You need +not go into the house if you wish to find her, for about an hour and a +half ago I saw her come out into the grounds, and she never goes in +till the lamps are lighted." + +An anxious look clouded for an instant Dr. Grey's countenance, but +undaunted hope sang on of the hours of hallowed communion that the +future held, while in her invalid condition he assumed the care and +guardianship of his beloved; and, turning into the lawn, he eagerly +searched the winding walks for some trace of her, some flutter of her +garments, some faint, subtle odor of orange-flowers or tube-roses. + +Here and there clusters of purple, pink, and orange crysanthemums +flecked the lawn with color; and a flower-stand, covered with china +jars that held geraniums, seemed almost a pyramid of flame, from the +profusion of scarlet blooms. + +The sun had gone down behind a waving line of low hills, where,-- + + "Thinned to amber, rimmed with silver, + Clouds in the distance dwell, + Clouds that are cool, for all their color, + Pure as a rose-lipped shell. + Fleets of wool in the upper heavens + Gossamer wings unfurl; + Sailing so high they seem but sleeping + Over yon bar of pearl." + +Still as crystal was the sapphire sea that mirrored that quiet, +sapphire sky, and not a murmur, not a ripple, stirred the evening air +or the yellow sands that stretched for miles along the winding coast. + +When Dr. Grey had partially crossed the lawn, he glanced towards the +marble temple that gleamed against the dark background of deodars, and +saw a woman sitting on the steps of the tomb. Softly he approached and +entered the mausoleum by an arch on the opposite side, but, +notwithstanding his cautious tread, he startled a white pigeon that +had perched on the altar, where fresh violets, heliotrope, and snowy +sprigs of nutmeg-geranium were leaning over the scalloped edge of the +Venetian glasses, and distilling perfume in their delicate chalices. + +Mrs. Carlyle had brought her floral tribute to the sepulchral urn, +and, having carefully arranged her daily Arkja, had seated herself on +the steps to rest. + +From the two sentinel poplars that guarded the front, golden leaves +were sifting down on the marble floor, and three or four had drifted +upon the lap of the quiet figure, while one, bright and rich as autumn +gilding could make it, rested like a crown on the silver waves that +covered her head. + +Down the shining steps trailed the folds of the white merino robe, and +around her shoulders was wrapped the blue crape shawl, while a cluster +of violets seemed to have slipped from her fingers, and strewed +themselves at random on her dress. + +Softly Dr. Grey drew near, and his voice was tremulously tender, as he +said,-- + +"Mrs. Carlyle, no barrier divides us now." + +She did not speak, or turn her queenly head, and he laid his hand +caressingly on the glistening gray hair. + +"My darling, my first and only love--my brave, beautiful 'Agla,' may I +not tell you, at last, what conscience once forbade my uttering?" + +As motionless and silent as the sculptured poppies above her, she took +no notice of his passionate pleading, and he sprang down one step +directly in front of her. + +The white face was turned to the sea, and the large, wide, +wonderfully lovely yet mournful gray eyes were gazing fixedly across +the waste of water, at a filmy cloud as fine as lace, that like a +silver netting caught the full October moon which was lifting itself +in the pearly east. + +The long black lashes did not droop, nor the steady eyes waver, and +with a horrible foreboding Dr. Grey seized her hands. They were rigid +and icy. He stooped, caught her to his bosom, and pressed his lips to +hers, but they were colder than the marble column against which she +leaned; for, one hour before, Vashti Carlyle had fronted her God. + +Alone in the autumn evening, sitting there with the golden poplar +leaves drifting over her, the desolate woman had held her last +communion with the watching ocean that hushed its murmuring, to see +her die; and, laying down the galling burden of her sunless, dreary +life, she had joyfully and serenely "put on immortality" in that +everlasting rest, where "there was no more sea, no more death, neither +shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." + +Ah! beautiful and holy was-- + + "That peaceful face wherein all past distress + Had melted into perfect loveliness." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + +Since that October day when Ulpian Grey sat on the steps of the tomb, +holding in his arms the beautiful white form, whom in life God had +denied him the privilege of touching, six months had drifted slowly; +yet time had not softened the blow, that, while almost crushing his +tender, unselfish heart, had no power to shake the faith which was so +securely anchored in Christ. + +Among the papers found in Mrs. Carlyle's desk was one containing the +request that Dr. Grey would superintend the erection of a handsome +monument over the remains of her husband, whenever and wherever he +chanced to die; and her will provided that her fortune should be +appropriated as the nucleus of a relief fund for indigent painters. + +Her own pictures, to which she had carefully affixed in delicate +violet ciphers the name "Agla," she directed placed on exhibition in a +New York gallery, and ultimately sold for the benefit of the orphans +of artists. To Robert she bequeathed a sum sufficient to maintain him +in ease and comfort; and to Dr. Grey her escritoire, piano, books, and +the sapphire ring she had always worn. + +The latter was found in the silver casket, and had been folded in a +sheet of paper containing these words,-- + +"According to the teachings of the Buddhists, 'the sapphire produces +equanimity and peace of mind, as well as affording protection against +envy and treachery. It produces also prayer and reconciliation with +the Godhead, and brings more peace than any other gem of necromancy; +_but he who would wear it must lead a pure and holy life_.' Finding my +sapphire asp mockingly inefficacious in its traditional talismanic +powers, I conclude that my melancholy career has been a violation of +the stipulated condition, and therefore bequeath it to the only human +being whom I deem worthy to wear it with any hope of success." + +While awaiting orders from the naval department, Dr. Grey purchased +"Solitude," whither he removed, with Muriel and Miss Dexter, and +temporarily established himself, until the arrival of Mr. Granville. + +Immediately after her return from Europe, Salome invested a portion of +Mr. Minge's legacy in the site of the old mill that had fallen to +ruin. Here she built a small but tasteful cottage _orné_ on the spot +where her father had died, and here, with Jessie and Stanley, she +proposed to spend her winters; while Mark and Joel were placed at the +"Grassmere Farm," a mile distant, and entrusted with its management +until the younger children should attain their majority. + +Too proud to accept the home which Dr. Grey had tendered her, +Salome was earnestly endeavoring to imitate the noble example of +self-abnegation that lifted him so far above all others whom she had +ever known; and the most precious hope of her life was to reach +that exalted excellence which alone could compel his admiration and +respect. + +From the day of Mrs. Carlyle's death, the orphan had been a +comparatively happy woman, for jealousy could not invade or desecrate +the grave and its harmless sleeper; and Salome fervently thanked God, +that, since she was denied the blessing of Dr. Grey's love, at least +she had been spared the torture of seeing him the fond husband of +another. + +Time had deepened, but refined, purified, and consecrated her +unconquerable affection for the only man who had ever commanded her +reverence, and whose quiet influence had so happily remoulded her +wayward, fiery nature. + +There were seasons when the old element of innate perversity +re-asserted itself, but the steady reproving gaze of his clear, true +eyes, or the warning touch of his hand on her head, had sufficed to +still the rising storm. + +Conscientiously the passionate, exacting woman was striving to bring +her heart and life into subjection to the law,--into conformity with +the precepts of Christ; and though she was impulsive, proud Salome +still,--the glaring blemishes in her character were gradually +disappearing. + +One bright balmy spring morning previous to the day appointed for +Muriel's marriage, and for her guardian's departure for the fleet in +Asiatic waters, where he had been assigned to duty, Dr. Grey drove up +the avenue of elms and maples that led to Salome's pretty villa; and +as he ascended the steps, Jessie sprang into his arms, and almost +smothered him with caresses. + +"Oh, doctor! something so wonderful has happened,--you never could +guess, and I am as happy as a bee in a woodbine. Sister will tell +you." + +"Where is she?" + +"In the parlor, waiting for you." + +The child ran off to join Stanley, who was trying a new pony in the +yard, and Dr. Grey went into the cool fragrant room, which was fitted +up with more taste than in earlier years he would have ascribed to its +owner. + +Salome sat before the open piano, and at his entrance raised her face, +which had been bowed almost to the ivory keys. + +"Good morning, Dr. Grey. I am glad you have come to rejoice with me, +and I was just thanking God for the unexpected restoration of my +voice. Once when it seemed so necessary to me. He suddenly took it +from me; and now, when it is a mere luxury to own it, He as +unexpectedly gives it to me once more. Verily,--strange as it may +appear, my voice is really better than when Professor V---- pronounced +it the first contralto in Europe." + +She had risen to greet him, and as he retained her hand in his, she +stood close to him, looking earnestly into his face. + +There were tears hanging like tremulous dewdrops on the long jet +under-lashes,--and the bright red in her polished cheeks, and the +crimson curves of her parted lips made a picture pleasant to +contemplate. + +"My dear child, I do indeed cordially congratulate you. God saw that +your voice might possibly prove a snare and a curse, by ministering to +false pride and exaggerated vanity, and in mercy and wisdom He +temporarily deprived you of an instrument that threatened you with +danger. Now that you are stronger, more prudent, and patient, He +trusts you again with one of the choicest blessings that can be +conferred on a woman. You have deserved to recover it, and I joyfully +unite my thanks with yours. Let me hear your voice once more." + +Trembling with excess of happiness, she sat down and sang feelingly, +eloquently, her favorite "_O mon Fernand_;" and, as he listened, Dr. +Grey looked almost wonderingly at the beautiful flashing face, that +had never seemed half so radiant before. There was marvellous witchery +in her rich round flexible tones, that wound into the holy-of-holies +of the man's great heart, and elevated his thoughts above the dross +and dust of earth. + +When she ended, he placed his soft palm tenderly on her head, and +smoothed the glossy hair. + +"I thank you inexpressibly. Sometimes when sad memories oppress me, +how I shall long to have you charm them away by that magical spell +that bears my thoughts from this world to the next. There are some +songs which you must learn for my sake." + +Ah! at that moment, as she stood there robed in a soft stainless white +muslin, with a cluster of double pomegranate flowers glowing in her +silky hair, the girl was very lovely, very attractive, so full of +youthful grace, so winning in her beautiful enthusiasm,--yet Ulpian +Grey's heart did not wander for an instant from one who slept +dreamlessly under the sculptured urn on the marble altar of the +mausoleum. + + "Why are the dead not dead? Who can undo + What time hath done? Who can win back the wind? + Beckon lost music from a broken lute? + Renew the redness of a last year's rose? + Or dig the sunken sunset from the deep?" + +"Dr. Grey, if my voice can chase away one vexing thought, one wearying +care or melancholy memory, I shall feel that I have additional reason +to thank God for the precious gift." + +"I have not seen you look so happy for three years. Indeed, my little +sister, you have much for which to be grateful, and in the midst of +your blessings try to recollect those grand words of Marcus Aurelius +Antoninus, 'The soul is a God in exile.' My child, look to it that +your expatriation ends with the shores of time, for-- + + 'Yea, this is life; make this forenoon sublime, + This afternoon a psalm, this night a prayer, + And time is conquered, and thy crown is won.'" + +For some seconds Salome did not speak, for the shadow on his +countenance fell upon her heart, and looking reverently up at him, she +thought of Richter's mournful _dictum_,--"Great souls attract sorrows, +as mountains tempests." + +"Dr. Grey, want of patience is the cause of half my difficulties and +defeats, and plunges me continually into the slough of distrust and +rebellious questioning. I find it so hard to stand still, and let God +do his will, and work in his own way." + +"My dear Salome, patience is only practical faith, and the want of it +causes two-thirds of the world's woes. I often find it necessary to +humble my own pride, and tame my restless spirit by recurring to the +last words of Schiller, 'Calmer and calmer! many difficult things are +growing plain and clear to me. Let us be patient.' Child, sing me one +song more, and then come out and show me where you propose to place +those grape-arbors we spoke of yesterday. This is the last opportunity +I shall have to direct your workmen." + +An hour later Salome fastened a sprig of Grand Duke jasmine in the +button-hole of his coat,--shook hands with him for the day, and though +she smiled in recognition of his final bow as he drove down the +avenue, her thoughts were busy with the dreaded separation that +awaited her on the morrow and, while her lips were mute, the cry of +her heart was,-- + + ... "O Beloved, it is plain + I am not of thy worth, nor for thy place. + And yet because I love thee, I obtain + From that same love this vindicating grace, + To live on still in love,--and yet in vain,-- + To bless thee, yet renounce thee to thy face." + +Dr. Grey spent the remainder of the day in visiting his patients, and +as he rode from cottage to hovel, bidding adieu to those whose lives +had so often been committed to his professional guardianship, he was +received with tearful eyes, and trembling hands; and numerous +benedictions were invoked upon his head. + +Silver threads were beginning to weave an aureola in his chestnut +hair, and the smooth white forehead showed incipient furrows, but the +deep blue eyes were as tranquil and trusting as of yore, and full of +tenderer light for the few he loved, for all in suffering and +bereavement. + +With a sublime and increasing faith in the overruling wisdom and mercy +of God, he patiently and hopefully bore his loneliness and grievous +loss,--comforting himself with the assurance that, "the evening of +life brings with it its lamp;" and looking eagle-eyed across the +storm-drenched plain of the present to the gleaming jasper walls of +the Eternal Beyond. + + ... "My wine has run + Indeed out of my cup, and there is none + To gather up the bread of my repast + Scattered and trampled,--yet I find some good + In earth's green herbs, and streams that bubble up, + Clear from the darkling ground,--content until + I sit with angels before better food. + Dear Christ! when thy new vintage fills my cup, + This hand shall shake no more, nor that wine spill." + + + + +Popular Copyright Books AT MODERATE PRICES + +Any of the following titles can be bought of your bookseller at the +price you paid for this volume + + Alternative, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Angel of Forgiveness, The. By Rosa N. Carey. + Angel of Pain, The. By E. F. Benson. + Annals of Ann, The. By Kate Trimble Sharber. + Battle Ground, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + Beau Brocade. By Baroness Orczy. + Beechy. By Bettina Von Hutten. + Bella Donna. By Robert Hichens. + Betrayal, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + Bill Toppers, The. By Andre Castaigne. + Butterfly Man, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Cab No. 44. By R. F. Foster. + Calling of Dan Matthews, The. By Harold Bell Wright. + Cape Cod Stories. By Joseph C. Lincoln. + Challoners, The. By E. F. Benson. + City of Six, The. By C. L. Canfield. + Conspirators, The. By Robert W. Chambers. + Dan Merrithew. By Lawrence Perry. + Day of the Dog, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Depot Master, The. By Joseph C. Lincoln. + Derelicts. By William J. Locke. + Diamonds Cut Paste. By Agnes & Egerton Castle. + Early Bird, The. By George Randolph Chester. + Eleventh Hour, The. By David Potter. + Elizabeth in Rugen. By the author of Elizabeth and Her German + Garden. + Flying Mercury, The. By Eleanor M. Ingram. + Gentleman, The. By Alfred Ollivant. + Girl Who Won, The. By Beth Ellis. + Going Some. By Rex Beach. + Hidden Water. By Dane Coolidge. + Honor of the Big Snows, The. By James Oliver Curwood. + Hopalong Cassidy. By Clarence E. Mulford. + House of the Whispering Pines, The. 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By May Sinclair. + Empire Builders. By Francis Lynde. + Exploits of Brigadier Gerard. By A. Conan Doyle. + Fighting Chance, The. By Robert W. Chambers. + For a Maiden Brave. By Chauncey C. Hotchkiss. + + Fugitive Blacksmith, The. By Chas. D. Stewart. + God's Good Man. By Marie Corelli. + Heart's Highway, The. By Mary E. Wilkins. + Holladay Case, The. By Burton Egbert Stevenson. + Hurricane Island. By H. B. Marriott Watson. + In Defiance of the King. By Chauncey C. Hotchkiss. + Indifference of Juliet, The. By Grace S. Richmond. + Infelice. By Augusta Evans Wilson. + + Lady Betty Across the Water. By C. N. and A. M. Williamson. + Lady of the Mount, The. By Frederic S. Isham. + Lane That Had No Turning, The. By Gilbert Parker. + Langford of the Three Bars. By Kate and Virgil D. Boyles. + Last Trail, The. By Zane Grey. + Leavenworth Case, The. By Anna Katharine Green. + Lilac Sunbonnet, The. By S. R. Crockett. + Lin McLean. By Owen Wister. + Long Night, The. By Stanley J. 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By Louis Joseph Vance. + Prodigal Son, The. By Hall Caine. + + Quickening, The. By Francis Lynde. + Richard the Brazen. By Cyrus T. Brady and Edw. Peple. + Rose of the World. By Agnes and Egerton Castle. + Running Water. By A. E. W. Mason. + Sarita the Carlist. By Arthur W. Marchmont. + Seats of the Mighty, The. By Gilbert Parker. + Sir Nigel. By A. Conan Doyle. + Sir Richard Calmady. By Lucas Malet. + Speckled Bird, A. By Augusta Evans Wilson. + Spirit of the Border, The. By Zane Grey. + Spoilers, The. By Rex Beach. + Squire Phin. By Holman F. Day. + Stooping Lady, The. By Maurice Hewlett. + Subjection of Isabel Carnaby. By Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler. + Sunset Trail, The. By Alfred Henry Lewis. + Sword of the Old Frontier, A. By Randall Parrish. + Tales of Sherlock Holmes. By A. Conan Doyle. + That Printer of Udell's. By Harold Bell Wright. + Throwback, The. By Alfred Henry Lewis. + Trail of the Sword, The. By Gilbert Parker. + Treasure of Heaven, The. By Marie Corelli. + Two Vanrevels, The. By Booth Tarkington. + Up From Slavery. By Booker T. Washington. + Vashti. By Augusta Evans Wilson. + Viper of Milan, The (original edition). By Marjorie Bowen. + Voice of the People, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + Wheel of Life, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + + When Wilderness Was King. By Randall Parrish. + Where the Trail Divides. By Will Lillibridge. + Woman in Grey, A. By Mrs. C. N. Williamson. + Woman in the Alcove, The. By Anna Katharine Green. + Younger Set, The. By Robert W. Chambers. + The Weavers. By Gilbert Parker. + The Little Brown Jug at Kildare. By Meredith Nicholson. + The Prisoners of Chance. By Randall Parrish. + My Lady of Cleve. By Percy J. Hartley. + Loaded Dice. By Ellery H. Clark. + Get Rich Quick Wallingford. By George Randolph Chester. + The Orphan. By Clarence Mulford. + A Gentleman of France. By Stanley J. Weyman. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Vashti, by Augusta J. 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