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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34181-8.txt b/34181-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d480a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/34181-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4163 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Irene Iddesleigh, by Amanda McKittrick Ros + +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: Irene Iddesleigh + +Author: Amanda McKittrick Ros + +Release Date: October 31, 2010 [EBook #34181] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IRENE IDDESLEIGH *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Meredith Bach and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Typographical errors and some unusual forms are listed at the +end of the e-text.] + + + * * * * * + + IRENE IDDESLEIGH. + + * * * * * + + + IRENE IDDESLEIGH. + + by + + MRS. AMANDA M'KITTRICK ROS. + + + Belfast: + + PRINTED BY W. & G. BAIRD, Limited, + 124 Royal Avenue; + and at London and Dublin. + 1897. + + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS. + + Page. + + CHAPTER I. 9 + + CHAPTER II. 13 + + CHAPTER III. 20 + + CHAPTER IV. 25 + + CHAPTER V. 32 + + CHAPTER VI. 40 + + CHAPTER VII. 49 + + CHAPTER VIII. 60 + + CHAPTER IX. 73 + + CHAPTER X. 79 + + CHAPTER XI. 92 + + CHAPTER XII. 102 + + CHAPTER XIII. 116 + + CHAPTER XIV. 126 + + CHAPTER XV. 138 + + CHAPTER XVI. 150 + + CHAPTER XVII. 163 + + CHAPTER XVIII. 174 + + CHAPTER XIX. 186 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Sympathise with me, indeed! Ah, no! Cast your sympathy on the chill +waves of troubled waters; fling it on the oases of futurity; dash it +against the rock of gossip; or, better still, allow it to remain within +the false and faithless bosom of buried scorn. + +Such were a few remarks of Irene as she paced the beach of limited +freedom, alone and unprotected. Sympathy can wound the breast of trodden +patience,--it hath no rival to insure the feelings we possess, save that +of sorrow. + +The gloomy mansion stands firmly within the ivy-covered, stoutly-built +walls of Dunfern, vast in proportion and magnificent in display. It has +been built over three hundred years, and its structure stands +respectably distant from modern advancement, and in some degrees it +could boast of architectural designs rarely, if ever, attempted since +its construction. + +The entrance to this beautiful home of Sir Hugh Dunfern, the present +owner, is planned on most antique principles; nothing save an enormous +iron gate meets the gaze of the visitor, who at first is inclined to +think that all public rumours relative to its magnificence are only the +utterances of the boastful and idle; nor until within its winding paths +of finest pebble, studded here and there with huge stones of unpolished +granite, could the mind for a moment conceive or entertain the faintest +idea of its quaint grandeur. + +Beautiful, however, as Dunfern mansion may seem to the anxious eye of +the beholder, yet it is not altogether free from mystery. Whilst many of +its rooms, with walls of crystal, are gorgeously and profusely +furnished, others are locked incessantly against the foot of the +cautious intruder, having in them only a few traditional relics of no +material consequence whatever, or even interest, to any outside the +ancestral line of its occupants. + +It has often been the chief subject of comment amongst the few +distinguished visitors welcomed within its spacious apartments, why +seemingly the finest rooms the mansion owned were always shut against +their eager and scrutinizing gaze; or why, when referred to by any of +them, the matter was always treated with silence. + +All that can now be done is merely to allow the thought to dwindle into +bleak oblivion, until aroused to that standard of disclosure which +defies hindrance. + +Within the venerable walls surrounding this erection of amazement and +wonder may be seen species of trees rarely, if ever, met with; yea, +within the beaded borders of this grand old mansion the eye of the +privileged beholds the magnificent lake, studded on every side with +stone of costliest cut and finish; the richest vineries, the most +elegant ferns, the daintiest conservatories, the flowers and plants of +almost every clime in abundance, the most fashionable walks, the most +intricate windings that imagination could possibly conceive or genius +contrive. In fact, it has well been named "The Eden of Luxury." + +Dunfern mansion was handed down as an heirloom since its purchase by +Walter, third Earl of Dunfern, in 1674; and since then has been tenderly +cared for internally, and carefully guarded externally, by the skilful +hands of noted artisans. The present owner is only son of Sir John +Dunfern, by Irene, adopted daughter of Lord and Lady Dilworth, of +Dilworth Castle, County Kent. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The December sun had hidden its dull rays behind the huge rocks that +rose monstrously high west of Dunfern mansion, and ceased to gladden the +superb apartment Sir John occupied most part of the day. They had +withdrawn their faint reflection from within the mirrored walls of this +solitary chamber to brighten other homes with their never-dying sheen. + +As the dull, grey evening advanced to such a degree as to render a look +of brightness imperative to the surroundings of its sole occupant, Sir +John requested that his favourite apartment should be made bright as +possible by adding more fuel to the smouldering ashes within the +glistening bars which guarded their remains. This being done, three huge +lamps were lighted, and placed at respectable distances from each other, +when Sir John, with his accustomed grace, began to peruse some of his +evening papers. + +Though a man of forty summers, he never yet had entertained the thought +of yielding up his bacheloric ideas to supplace them with others which +eventually should coincide with those of a different sex; in fact, +he never had bestowed a thought on changing his habits and manner of +living, nor until fully realising his position of birthright, that had +been treasured by his ancestors for such a lengthened period, and which, +sooner or later, must pass into strangers' hands, did the thought ever +occur to him of entering into the league of the blessed. + +The clock had just chimed nine when a maid entered with a note, neatly +laid on a trim little tray, which she placed on the table close beside +her master, and then retired. It was rather unusual for him to receive +letters so late in the evening, nor until he was in full possession of +its contents he could not form the faintest imagination of its worth. + +Not far from Dunfern Mansion may be seen situated on a rising hill the +beautiful Castle of Lord and Lady Dilworth, a prominent building +commanding the finest view in the county. It had been remodelled by the +present owner, after inheriting it from his late maternal uncle--Lord +Leyburn; and, although equipped with all modern improvements and +inventions necessary, yet there dwelt a lack of design and beauty about +it possessed by Dunfern Mansion. + +The bountiful owner of Dilworth Castle differed much in many respects +from Sir John Dunfern. He was a nobleman of rare tact and capacities; +a keen sportsman; a Turf frequenter; an ardent politician; and, in fact, +a lover of everything which served to promote the interests of his +extended and varied social circle in particular, and entire community in +general. + +Lady Dilworth, it may here be mentioned, was never of a very robust +nature, and often had she felt the great strain of society press rather +heavily on her weak frame, so much so, as to render the adoption of the +subject of this book indispensable. Drawing his chair closer to the +table, on which one of the great lamps stood, Sir John proceeded to +peruse the contents of the note. It was an invitation from Lord and Lady +Dilworth to attend a ball at Dilworth Castle on 22nd prox., given by +them in honour of the marriage of Henry, fifth Marquis of Hill-Hall, +with Ethel, Countess of Maidstone. + +Lord Dilworth and the Marquis were personal friends of Sir John, and to +accept this kind and courteous invitation would mean a step towards the +summit of the matrimonial ladder, by meeting the majority of the +fully-fledged belles in and around Canterbury, and especially Irene +Iddesleigh, Lord Dilworth's adopted daughter, more generally known as +"The Southern Beauty." He slept over the matter that night, with the +result that next morning he wrote accepting the kind invitation, more +through curiosity than desire. + +Although he led a quiet and retired life, generally speaking, still he +did not absent himself totally from a few social meetings occasionally, +and if imagination painted his future in the manner so artfully designed +by Lady Dilworth, no doubt this visit to Dilworth Castle might convert +it into reality. + +Arriving at the elegant castle, with its tower of modern fame, and +spires of Gothic structure, Sir John was met in its great hall by the +genial hostess, who conducted him to the brilliant reception-room, +superbly laid out for the comfort of its guests; and being the first to +arrive, was thus afforded a good opportunity of inspecting the many +valuable relics and works of art that adorned its huge and velvety +walls. + +On the centre wall right opposite where he sat hung a painted portrait, +life-size, an admirable production of the well-known artist, "Peto," and +not knowing where such an original of perfection and beauty could be +found, he resolved to inquire, when opportunity offered, whose portrait +it might be. + +At this stage the numerous guests began to assemble, including the +majority of the leading gentry in and around Canterbury, as it was +looked upon as the chief social event of the season. Mothers were most +fidgetty that their daughters should don their costliest gowns and +brilliants, as rumour had it that the noble heir to Dunfern estate +should honour the assembly with his august presence. + +Report gained ground that Sir John, having quietly crept out of boyhood +for a lengthened period, would end his days harnessed singly, but idle +gossip, flying at all times kite-high, soon gave place in the wavering +minds of society belles to that of more serious consideration and +welcome expectancy. + +On being introduced to all those outside his present circle of +acquaintance on this evening, and viewing the dazzling glow of splendour +which shone, through spectacles of wonder, in all its glory, Sir John +felt his past life but a dismal dream, brightened here and there with a +crystal speck of sunshine that had partly hidden its gladdening rays of +bright futurity until compelled to glitter with the daring effect they +soon should produce. But there awaited his view another beam of life's +bright rays, who, on entering, last of all, commanded the minute +attention of every one present--this was the beautiful Irene Iddesleigh. + +How the look of jealousy, combined with sarcasm, substituted those of +love and bashfulness! How the titter of tainted mockery rang throughout +the entire apartment, and could hardly fail to catch the ear of her +whose queenly appearance occasioned it! These looks and taunts serving +to convince Sir John of Nature's fragile cloak which covers too often +the image of indignation and false show, and seals within the breasts of +honour and equality resolutions of an iron mould. On being introduced to +Irene, Sir John concluded instantly, without instituting further +inquiry, that this must be the original of the portrait so warmly +admired by him. There she stood, an image of perfection and divine +beauty, attired in a robe of richest snowy tint, relieved here and there +by a few tiny sprigs of the most dainty maidenhair fern, without any +ornaments whatever, save a diamond necklet of famous sparkling lustre +and priceless value. + +As the evening rolled into the small hours of the morning, the numerous +guests began to repair to their respective homes, none of the weaker sex +having had the slightest advancement in the direction of their coveted +intentions, save Irene, who was fortunate in securing the attention of +Sir John Dunfern during the happy hours that fled so quickly. + +Immediately before taking his departure he pressed firmly her snowy +hand, and left the pretty-gilded area which surrounded his first hopes +of matrimony to enter what he was beginning to believe the weary +apartments of Dunfern Mansion, that previously had held him bound to +them in hermit-like fashion. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Arouse the seeming deadly creature to that standard of joy and gladness +which should mark his noble path! Endow him with the dewdrops of +affection; cast from him the pangs of the dull past, and stamp them for +ever beneath the waves of troubled waters; brighten his life as thou +wouldst that of a faded flower; and when the hottest ray of that +heavenly orb shall shoot its cheerful charge against the window panes of +Dunfern Mansion, the worthy owner can receive it with true and profound +thankfulness. Three weeks had scarcely passed ere Sir John was made the +recipient of another invitation to Dilworth Castle. This second effusion +of cordiality required neither anxious thought nor prolonged decision +how to act, knowing as he did that it would again serve to bring his +present thoughts into practice by affording him another opportunity of +sharing in the loving looks of one for whom he feared there dwelt a +strong inclination on his part to advance his affection. + +Irene stood looking out on the lake beyond the richly draped window, +ruminating on the days of her childhood, which lent a look of dullness +to the beautiful face that beamed with delight as Sir John Dunfern +entered. The evening was very pleasantly and quietly spent, Irene +commanding the greater part of his time and attention, on account of +Lady Dilworth being slightly ailing, whose health, generally speaking, +at this period was not so robust as formerly, and consequently failed to +warrant too many callers. As the clock struck eleven Sir John began to +think of returning home, feeling quite happy, fancying his great +affection was returned in full by Irene. + +Being very domesticated, and having the stiff ideas of a bachelor of +long standing so firmly imprinted in his nature, he felt very diffident +in asking the object of his visit when next they should meet. But Lady +Dilworth entering before taking his departure, saved him putting the shy +question by placing herself in his position and demanding the required +reply. Sir John promised without further ceremony to visit them more +frequently in future, and left their midst with hasty step, lingering in +the hall to cast another look at the lovely form which stood not far +distant. Leisurely leaning back in his carriage, and burying himself in +his great and costly cloak demanded by the night's icy aspect, he rolled +along towards his home drowned in sweet thought of the beautiful girl +whom he only recently knew, but whose regard for her raged with such +rambling anxiety as to convince him of the propriety of making her aware +how he meant to play the part of lover. + +Until now he was inclined to be prejudiced against the snares and +allurements of women, but he strongly resolved to try gradually and +abandon every unkind thought harboured in his mind against them, fearing +lest all his conjured imaginations were both unjust and selfish; and +determined to drown them for ever in the clashing gulf of fate, felt a +prouder and happier mortal than before. + +But time would solve the problem and heal the wound which penetrated so +deeply his bosom. Yea, a short time he hoped would bring his creeping +fever of endearment under the binding stay of appointed authority, and +heal its weakening effects with the sacred salve of truth. + +Not until the horses dashed up the winding avenue with increased +alacrity was he shaken from his meditating attitude, to be ushered once +more into his home of boundless wealth. The lonely stare of grave +bewilderment took the place of happiness that formerly seemed built in +abundance for him within its walls, as he entered the palatial and +gorgeously equipped abode he principally inhabited, feeling the tinge of +the dull past filling him with entire despair, whilst meditating on the +happy future which presented itself to him. How in a trivial period this +lonely spot, he thought, should prove the beacon of never-dying bliss, +when once furnished with the most precious treasure on earth--a virtuous +woman! Ah! the very thought of his embosomed and anticipated alliance +made him nervously happy; and believing a bright and noble future lay in +store for the lonely owner of Dunfern Estate, he resolved to indulge +nature in a few hours of calm repose. + +The days moved along more quickly Sir John believed than formerly; and +possibly he may have imagined this was so, as he felt no longer fettered +with fear of fighting with his inward friend--obstinacy, whose hand of +drowsy bachelorism seemed for ever closed to his changing charity; he +had at last thrown aside the garb of female dislike, and patronised that +of a warm-hearted lover. + +Irene did not lead Lady Dilworth to believe that she really cared for +Sir John, and, when his name cropped up occasionally, she allowed +herself always to keep the coast of conversation clear that would likely +convict her views most, and managed cleverly thereby to deceive the +friend who came not a day too soon to her rescue. Perhaps had Lady +Dilworth proved less concerned about the orphan charge she freed from a +life of toil, apparently, and instructed her more on the branches of +integrity, then the lovely youthful Irene could have decided more +honorably in all cases of questioning, and would have done justice, not +alone to herself, but to all concerned; but, like many others similarly +surrounded with lovers, battling in the war of extremes, and encompassed +on all sides with apparent luxuries, she was confident she would some +day come off victorious by acting the clever Corinthian. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +When on the eve of glory, whilst brooding over the prospects of a bright +and happy future, whilst meditating upon the risky right of justice, +there we remain, wanderers on the cloudy surface of mental woe, +disappointment and danger, inhabitants of the grim sphere of anticipated +imagery, partakers of the poisonous dregs of concocted injustice. Yet +such is life. + +Sir John's visits began now to be numerous at Dilworth Castle, each +visit serving further to strengthen the link of relationship, and bury, +in the heaving breast of seeking solace, the dull delight of the weary +past. As the weeks wore on, he reckoned them only as days, when +comparing their loving length with those of the bleak years he tried to +enjoy alone, before taking such steps--yes, serious steps--as those +fancied by the would-be bachelor. + +At first he was careless and indifferent to the flowery harangues of +mothers who paid him periodical visits, with their daughters, of +apology, and firmly retained the obstinate qualities of an autocratic +ruler, until softened in the presence of one he found he was learning to +steadily love. He believed now that the chief stripes, +viz.--observation, inclination, advancement and accomplishment, in the +well-spun web of matrimony, must harmonise with the groundwork of +happiness, without which our lives are not worth an unstamped coin. + +Love's path, on which Sir John was known now to tread with the step of +intensity, seemed smooth as the ice of Inglewood. There were no +obstacles in his way of which he was yet aware, save imagination; this, +also, was chased from his mind by the evident and ample return of +Irene's polished affection, the foul gloss of which he failed to notice, +and whose pretentions were so cleverly carried out as to defy detection. + +Irene was an accomplished and clever girl, and well able to sustain her +hidden regard throughout for one who for years previous had been +endeavouring to remove the great barrier of position which blocked his +path of approach towards her affection. As yet her parentage was totally +unknown to Sir John; still, he felt it must not have belonged to the +rude and ridiculous, since she possessed all the qualities, outwardly, +and features, of a highly refined race. And when only a girl of eleven +summers, when the worthy hand of benevolence, friendship, and love +clutched the tiny fingers of absolute want, there visibly seemed nothing +lacking in appearance, manner, or education to solicit the pity or +suspicion of her charitable guardian and protector. + +Sir John Dunfern's many visits of late to Dilworth Castle had been +creating quite a sensation throughout the quiet corners of costly +curiosity, until an announcement appeared in _Mack's Society Journal_ to +the following effect:-- + +"A marriage is arranged to take place in August between Sir John +Dunfern, of Dunfern Mansion, County Kent, and Irene Iddesleigh, adopted +daughter of Lord and Lady Dilworth, of Dilworth Castle, in same county." + +This notice, no doubt, caused the partakers in drawing-room +_tetè-a-tetès_ to share in the pangs of jealousy, with silent +resentment. Perplexity, a little, would find refuge within the homes of +many who led Society by the string of superficial show and pompous +importance; and during the interval that elapsed between such an +announcement and its important celebration, many and infamous were the +charges poured forth against Irene Iddesleigh. + +The month preceding Irene's wedding was one of merriment at Dilworth +Castle, Lord and Lady Dilworth extending the social hand of fashionable +folly on four different occasions. They seemed drunk with delight that +Irene, whom they looked upon as their own daughter, should carry off the +palm of purity, whilst affluence, position, and title were for years +waiting with restless pride to triumph at its grasp. + +It was at the second of these social gatherings that the first seed of +jealousy was sown within the breast of Sir John Dunfern, and which had a +tendency to remain until it gradually grew to such a rapid state of +maturity as to be rooted, if possible, for ever from its dusty bed of +ambush. + +Yes, when the merriment was at its height, and the heat too oppressive +to allow much comfort to the corpulent, the espoused of Irene dropped +unexpectedly out of the midst of the aristocratic throng, and being +passionately an ardent admirer of the fairy-like fruits of the efforts +of the horticulturist, directed his footsteps towards the well-filled +conservatory at the south wing of the building. + +The different-shaded lights which dangled from its roof bestowed a look +of Indian exquisiteness on the many quaint and delicate productions of +nature that rested daintily in their beds of terra-cotta tint. + +But before leaving the room he vaguely scanned the throng to catch a +glimpse of Irene, and failed to notice her amongst the many who danced +so gaily to the well-timed tunes of the celebrated pianist, Charles +Wohden, whose musical touch was always capable of melting the most +hardened sinner into moods of mellow softness, or cheering the most +downcast and raising their drooping look of sadness to that of +high-strung hilarity. + +Sir John wandered in and out through the numerous windings of sweetest +fragrance, until arriving at the farthest corner, of rather darkened +shade, and on a wire couch beheld the object of his pursuit, in closest +conversation with her tutor, whose name he had altogether failed to +remember, only having had the pleasure of his acquaintance a few hours +before. + +"Can it be possible?" exclaimed Sir John, in profound astonishment. +"Why, I have been searching for you for some time past, and have +accidentally found you at last!" Irene, rising to her feet in a second, +was utterly dazed, and had the dim lights shewed her proud face to +advantage, the ruddy glow of deepest crimson guilt would have manifested +itself to a much greater degree. Making multitudinous apologies, etc., +she at once joined Sir John, who led her back, in apparent triumph, to +share the next waltz. + +How the true heart beat with growing passion during the remainder of the +merry festivity, and as the final announcement of separation was +whispered from ear to ear, the gradual wane of Love's lofty right would +fain have dwindled into pompous nothing as the thought kept tickling his +warm enthusiasm with the nimble fingers of jealousy. That she whom he +had ardently hoped should share his future with sheer and loving +caresses of constant companionship and wife-like wisdom should be +trapped in probably vowing to another her great devotion for him! + +But better allow the sickening thought to die on the eve of insult +rather than live in the breast of him who, at no distant date, would +hear the merry peals of wedding bells ring with gladness, and naturally +rejoice at the object of their origin. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Our hopes when elevated to that standard of ambition which demands +unison may fall asunder like an ancient ruin. They are no longer fit for +construction unless on an approved principle. They smoulder away like +the ashes of burnt embers, and are cast outwardly from their confined +abode, never more to be found where once they existed only as +smouldering serpents of scorned pride. + +The little chat that Irene apparently enjoyed in the conservatory would +gladly have become an act of forgetfulness on her part had not Sir John +reminded her of its existence a few days afterwards. The spark of +jealous passion had not fully died out after the incident referred to, +and awaiting silently its decease, Sir John almost had grown a mourner +to its imagined demise, following its undying remains so far as the +village of Opportunity, when it was again to revive and shine as +luminously as before. + +It happened about three weeks preceding the day set apart for their holy +union, on Sir John arriving at the castle, he was informed of Irene's +recent exit, and gently turning away, he resolved to have a stroll in +the tastefully laid-out gardens with the sole object of meeting her. + +Walking leisurely along, and stooping to pick up some fallen fruit, +he suddenly heard a faint sound issue amongst the trees. Remaining +breathless for a few seconds, lest he might be deceived by the rippling +sounds of the adjacent waves, he again heard the same sweet strain, but +of much longer duration than before, and quietly moving towards the spot +whence it issued, another sound met his ear in the distance, which +seemed to be the hasty tread of some one making good an escape, before +he got time to view the object he would eagerly have pursued, but +checking his desire somewhat, he allowed the matter to sink into +silence. Boldly moving towards the spot whence the sound of music +issued, how delightfully surprised was he to find a +magnificently-constructed little summer-house, a charming pyramidal +Gothic structure, robed internally with mossy mantles of nature, and +brightened beyond conception with the instrument of humanity which gave +origin to such pathetic and sweetened strains. + +Politely offering an apology for intruding on the private little palace +of Irene, who failed completely to hide her gross confusion from the +keen gaze of her espoused, who never seemed to notice in the least the +sudden change that swept so swiftly over her pallid cheeks at his +unexpected visit, Sir John sat down. + +Irene held in her snowy palms a roll of Italian music, which she +earnestly endeavoured to conceal from his penetrating stare, probably on +account of the words contained therein, which for ever would be unknown +to his varied sphere of knowledge, and which would undoubtedly have +betrayed her feelings, never dreaming that they should strike other ears +than those for whom they practically were intended. + +Perceiving her great excitement at the unexpected appearance of him, +who ever afterwards kept his jealous thoughts in silent motion, he +absolutely evaded making any inquiry whatever, or slightest allusion to +the name and nature of the parchment she so firmly retained. Sir John +chatted gaily until he gained good ground for delivering to her the +message that instinct had so prompted him to utter. + +"Irene, my beloved one," he began; "it is now only about a score of days +until I hoped for ever to call you mine; a hope which unmercifully has +haunted me since I fortunately gazed on your lovely face; a hope which I +trusted should be fully appreciated by both you and me, and which, I now +must own, can never be realised until the clearance of the barrier that +since our engagement has been but too apparent. + +"The sole object of my visit, my dear Irene"--here Sir John clasped her +tender hand in his--"tonight is to elicit from you a matter that lately +has cast a shadowy gloom over my anticipated bright and cheerful future. +I am not one of those mortals who takes offence at trifles, neither am I +a man of hasty temper or words--quite the contrary, I assure you; but it +has, fortunately or unfortunately, been probably a failing amongst my +ancestors to court sensitiveness in its minutest detail, and, I must +acknowledge, I stray not from any of them in this particular point. + +"I must acquaint you, though it pains me deeply to do so, that lately +you have not treated me with such respect or attention as you certainly +lavished upon me before the announcement of our engagement, and for what +reason or reasons I now wish to be apprised. You seem when in company +with others to ignore my remarks to you entirely, and treat them with +proud disdain, as if shame took the place of pride at my wordy approach! +I felt and do feel quite hurt, and am resolved that no such repetition +shall take place in future. I promised to be at the castle last night, +but unfortunately I felt indisposed, and only that I wished to have a +thorough understanding relative to your recent conduct, and which has +pained me acutely, I should not have ventured out of doors this evening +either. I was, in consequence, obliged to write you last night, asking a +written reply, which you failed to give! And this evening, instead of +being doubly rejoiced at my presence, you, on the contrary, seem doubly +annoyed! I therefore pray, my dearest Irene, that you will, and I am +persuaded honestly, not hesitate to satisfy me regarding this +unpleasantness, that should anything of which you are now aware cause +your conduct to be changed towards me, do not allow it a lair within +your breast, but confide in me as thou wouldst in a dearly-trusted and +faithful lover." + +At this stage Irene began to consider seriously the earnestness that +accompanied the words of Sir John, knowing well she had been guilty, +grossly guilty, of the charges with which he impeached her, and which +were mixed with child-like simplicity, descriptive only of a world-famed +bachelor. She pondered whether or not honesty should take the place of +deceit--too often practised in women--and concluded to adopt the latter +weapon of defence. Raising her hazel eyes to his, and clearing the weft +of truth that had been mixing with the warp of falsehood to form an +answer of plausible texture, fringed with different shades of love, +she thus began: + +"My dearest and much beloved, I assure you your remarks have astounded +me not a little! Your words sting like a wasp, though, I am quite +convinced, unintentionally. You are well aware that within a short +period I will be marked out publicly as mistress of Dunfern mansion--an +honour revered in every respect by me; an honour to which I at one time +dare never aspire; an honour coveted by many much more worthy than I, +whose parentage is as yet bathed in the ocean of oblivious ostentation, +until some future day, when I trust it shall stand out boldly upon the +brink of disclosure to dry its saturated form and watery wear with the +heat of equality. You are about to place me in a position which cannot +fail to wring from jealousy and covetousness their flaming torch of +abuse. Yes, Sir John, on me you have not ceased to lavish every +available treasure and token of your unbounded love. You have been to me +not only a loyal admirer, but a thoroughly upright and estimable example +of life's purest treasures. You have resolved to place me by your side +as your equal, whilst wealth in boundless store is thirsting for your +touch. You have elevated my unknown position to such a pitch as to defy +taunt or jeer, and at any time if I may have, seemingly, ignored your +advances, it was purely want of thought, and not through any underhand +motive or scheme whatever. + +"I assure you your allusion to my verbal answer last night is very +pronounced, and may be overlooked on the ground of pure disappointment. +Our time of singleness is now short, and begging your forgiveness for my +seeming neglect or indifference, I hope the tide, which until now has +flown so gently, may not be stayed on the eve of entering the harbour of +harmony, peace, and love." + +At the commencement of Irene's answer of lavishing praises and flimsy +apologies, her affianced moved to the opposite corner of the rustic +building to scan the features of her he wholly worshipped and +reluctantly doubted. Every sentence the able and beautiful girl uttered +caused Sir John to shift his apparently uncomfortable person nearer and +nearer, watching at the same time minutely the divine picture of +innocence, until at last, when her reply was ended, he found himself, +altogether unconsciously, clasping her to his bosom, whilst the ruby +rims which so recently proclaimed accusations and innocence met with +unearthly sweetness, chasing every fault over the hills of doubt, until +hidden in the hollow of immediate hate. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The silvery touch of fortune is too often gilt with betrayal: the +meddling mouth of extravagance swallows every desire, and eats the heart +of honesty with pickled pride: the impostury of position is petty, and +ends, as it should commence, with stirring strife. But conversion of +feminine opinions tries the touchy temper of opposition, and too seldom +terminates victoriously. + +"Great mercy! Only another week and I shall almost cease to be a free +thinker! Just seven days more and what!--I shall openly have to confess +to the world an untruth! Would there be any means of flight from the +dangerous dragon that haunts me night and day? Could anything possible +be done to save myself from false alliance? Too late!--too late! + +"Only seven days and this beautiful boudoir shall own me no more, with +its walls of purest white and gilded borders! + +"Just seven days and I shall be fettered with chains of dragging dislike +and disappointment! Only seven days and thus shall end my cherished +hopes, my girlish pride, my most ardent wish, but, alas! not my love! +Seven days more shall see my own darling Os"---- Suddenly Irene was +aroused by the ringing of the breakfast bell, before she got time to +finish the sentence that troubled her weary brain for months before. +Dressing herself with frantic expertness, she dashed down the winding +staircase with an alacrity better imagined than described, and rushing +into the breakfast room where Lord and Lady Dilworth eagerly awaited +her, presented the outward mocking appearance of being the happiest of +mortals. Her beloved benefactors, who had been the prime movers in the +matter of matrimony, saw plainly a saddened look about the lovely face, +which Irene tried hard to suppress, and asking why it appeared at this +gay time, was answered evasively. Indeed, Lord and Lady Dilworth were +wholly ignorant of the present state of affairs, nor did Irene reveal at +any time to Lady Dilworth her great hatred for Sir John, or her maddened +desire to become the wife of a poor tutor. + +Had she only taken into her confidence her whose wise counsel and +motherly example were at all times a prompt step to decision; or had she +only hinted to Lady Dilworth her manifest inability to return Sir John's +great affection, matters would probably have reached another climax. But +owing to the present precarious position in which Lord and Lady Dilworth +stood, and as yet unknown to both Irene and other most intimate +acquaintances, great was Lady Dilworth's desire to see Irene permanently +settled, knowing as she did that ere the sun of another August day would +flash its shimmering rays against the crystal stays of Dilworth Castle +she would be beyond easy access to Irene either in time of rejoicing or +sorrowing. + +Preparations were at last almost completed for such an auspicious event. +Invitations were issued numerously for the reception to be held at +Dilworth Castle after Irene's marriage, but sparingly during the +ceremony; all of which were mostly accepted. Costly, multiplying, and +varied were the gifts received by Irene; enough to make a princess stare +with startling bewilderment. + +Amongst the many, none came from Irene's tutor, Oscar Otwell! And +although he was the first to whom Lady Dilworth addressed an invitation, +still there was no reply, much to the annoyance and astonishment of +hostess on the one hand and knowledge of Irene on the other; as, verily, +it was not unknown to Irene that absolute indifference to facts, +seemingly of domestic importance, was a positive point in Oscar, and +never better exemplified than in the present existing state of affairs, +which, sickly as it proved to Irene, was deadly so to Oscar. + +But future facts had to be solved, which undoubtedly would be treated +with more comparative reverence than heretofore, by him who suffered +severely--yea, acutely--from the blow struck him on the eve of +aspiration and achievement. Love, alas! when smitten with the sword of +indifference, dieth soon, but once struck on the tunnelled cheek of +secrecy with the hand of pity there leaves a scar of indelible +intolerance, until wiped out for ever with the curative balsam of +battled freedom. + +Sir John and Irene met in Dilworth Castle for the last time on the +morning of the third day of August, being the day set apart for the +celebration of their marriage. It commenced with the ringing of the +village bells; the sun shone forth in all his universal glory; emblems +of the approaching festivity did not fail to appear on the housetops of +the humblest village peasant; gladness reigned throughout the household, +and all hearts, save two, rejoiced with unabated activity. + +It was a morning never to be forgotten by Lord and Lady Dilworth, who, +on that day, would be robbed of the treasure held firm and fast by them +for the lengthened period of nine years, and which they yielded up with +hearts of sorrow, not because of the change in which Irene should have +taken deep interest, but on account of the burthen of trouble which +loaded them with leaden weights of which they could not possibly free +themselves. The intense excitement that for weeks before had found such +refuge within their cherished and much-loved home had not long now to +live: it would die on the doorstep of apparent bereavement never more to +appear within Dilworth Castle under similar circumstances. They knew +well that the gnawing jaws of poverty, which for years had failed to +expose their grinding power, had reached the last and only bite of +sudden termination, and thereby stamped their marks of melancholy so +impressively upon the noble brows of the worthy owners of Dilworth +Castle, that time could never blot them from observation. As before +stated few were those invited to be present at the wedding ceremony, +which was to take place about twelve o'clock noon. + +Sir John arrived at the Castle shortly before that time, looking +charming indeed, whilst Irene, though departing from the rules laid down +by Lady Dilworth, demanded from all present remarks bordering on +similarity. She looked nervously pale, but queenly, and mastered +thoroughly the exposure of the painful agony through which she was +passing, knowing as she did and fully believed that "all is not gold +that glitters." + +It may interest some to know that Irene silently and secretly resolved +not to array herself in white; she was reconciled that neither the +marriage robe of purity nor the too beaming wedding face was to appear +before such devout and reverential Church dignitaries as the Bishop of +Barelegs and Canon Foot, with highly impressed and open falsehood, as +that practised by her in the absence of labouring under such a solemn +vow. + +What must have been the breathless surprise of Lady Dilworth chiefly, +and those present also, who, only the evening previous, had been pouring +such praises over the magnificent duchesse satin gown, which eligible +Parisian dressmakers pronounced their chief production of the season, +when Irene appeared arrayed in an Irish poplin of the darkest visible +shade of green, without either train or flower of distinction, not even +a speck of ribbon or border of lace, and no ornament only the valued +necklet which graced her pearly throat when first Sir John was tempted +with her enhancing beauty to bestow upon her his choice collection of +love's purest fragrance, which should cast the sweetest scent of mutual +relationship throughout the dazzling apartments of the mansion she was +about to grace. + +So thunderstruck and grievously horrified did Lady Dilworth seem at the +vague departure of Irene from her orders, that she dare not trust +herself to offer her the first motherly embrace! Irene, perceiving the +great embarrassment of her beloved Lady Dilworth, glided across the +room, and sitting down to the right of her upon whom she had that day +flung, in the face of devotion, the last dregs of defiance, "begged to +offer an apology for such unruly conduct," and added "that all would be +revealed at a future date when least expected." + +In the very room where Sir John was first puzzled concerning the +beautiful portrait, was he now made the recipient of the original. After +the important ceremony was performed, and the register signed, Sir John +and Lady Dunfern, when the usual congratulations were ended, left by the +one o'clock train _en route_ for the Continent. Thus were joined two +hearts of widely different beat--one of intense love, which hearsay +never could shake; the other of dire dislike, which reason could never +alter. + +"Born under a lucky star," was the whispered echo throughout the +distinguished guests who sat down to breakfast after the junction of +opposites. Yea, this was a remark of truth visibly, and might have kept +good during the remainder of their lives had not the tuitional click of +bygone attachment kept moving with measured pace, until stopped after +months, or it may be, small years of constant swinging. + +Did Lady Dunfern ever dream that her apology for disobedience to Lady +Dilworth's orders, in not arraying herself in the garb of glistening +glory, could ever be accepted, even by the kind and loving Lady +Dilworth? + +Did she imagine for a moment that she, to whom she owed anything but +disobedience, even in its simplest form, should be wrested from her arms +of companionship ere her return to Dunfern Mansion? Did the thought ever +flash through her mind that never again would she be able to pour into +the ear of her trusted helper the secrets of the heart of deception, +which, for the past seven months, had raged so furiously within her? + +Better leave her to the freedom of a will that ere long would sink the +ship of opulence in the sea of penury, and wring from her the +words:--"Leave me now, deceptive demon of deluded mockery; lurk no more +around the vale of vanity, like a vindictive viper; strike the lyre of +living deception to the strains of dull deadness, despair and doubt; and +bury on the brink of benevolence every false vow, every unkind thought, +every trifle of selfishness and scathing dislike, occasioned by +treachery in its mildest form!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Distant shores have great attractions and large expectations. They +harbour around their beaches the exile and patriot, the king and +peasant, the lawyer and artisan, the rising swindler and ruined prince. +Spotted throughout the unclaimed area of bared soil may be seen the +roughly-constructed huts and lofty homes of honest industry. Yes, and +concealed therein are hearts yearning for the land of nativity and +national freedom; hearts which sorrow after bygone days, and sink low +when brooding over the future tide of fortune which already has stopped +its gentle flow. + +The reception on the evening of Irene's marriage was glorious and +brilliant, as were all those given by Lord and Lady Dilworth, and, +although attended by society's cream alone, there appeared a visible and +unhidden vacancy in the absence of her who so often lent a glow of +gaiety to the high-toned throng. + +There seemed to be no rival now of buried lineage to mar their desire, +or incur the jealousy of would-be opponents; no one to share +sympathetically with the afflicted sister of equality and worth; nor was +there any one present of such knightly and commanding dignity as he, +who, not many hours previous, had taken upon him the sad duty of +delivering up the keys of devotion to her who kept the door of ardent +adoration locked against his approach. + +It would probably be a long time ere such a scene of silly jealousy and +ire would take place as that witnessed, in which the greater majority of +those present were then partakers! And, further, it would surely be a +much longer period before these guests would again share alike in the +generosity so often extended them by Lord and Lady Dilworth. + +Next day after Irene's marriage was a busy one at Dilworth Castle; hasty +and numerous were the preparations for desolation and departure. Weeks +preceding the joyful event, or what should have been, were leisurely +devoted to the artistic arrangements in every room within the lordly +manor. But, alas! so sudden now was joy's termination, that hours alone +were the boundary of command. + +It may be stated that Lord Dilworth owned three very extensive estates, +namely--Dilworth, Ayrtown, and Howden. The first-mentioned extended +around the castle of that name, encompassing a spacious tract of soil +indeed, and might have done justice to moderation in its most expensive +form. The Ayrtown Estate, which entirely covers the southern portion of +Cheshire, owns a magnificent Hall, the residence of the Earl of +Tukesham, and, although not considered so lucrative as Dilworth, may be +estimated a handsome dowry for the son of any rising nobleman in the +realm. The Howden Estate, on which are elegantly formed two buildings of +note--namely, Blandford Castle and Lauderdale Lodge, both exquisite +constructions of architecture and skilled workmanship, and occupied +respectively by Sir Sydney Hector and Admiral Charles Depew--lies +chiefly around the south-west of Yorkshire, and is not quite so +desirable or adapted for agriculture as the two first mentioned, being +mostly rented for grazing purposes by the numerous and varied owners of +its rugged plots. These estates became so heavily mortgaged that prompt +sale was indispensable, and, the matter being quietly arranged six +months beforehand, the sixth day of August was the day set apart for the +disposal of same. + +Bidders were numerous and offers low. Eventually the purchasers were as +follow:--The Marquis of Orland bought Dilworth Estate; Lord Henry Headen +purchased Ayrtown Estate, whilst the lot of Howden fell upon Sir Rowland +Joyce, the famous historian and national bard. + +Thus were wrested from Lord and Lady Dilworth their luxurious living. +They were driven from their nursery of rich and complicated comforts, +their castle of indolence and ease. They were now thrown upon the +shivering waters of want, without a word of sympathy in the dreadful +hour of their great affliction, without home or friend to extend shelter +or sustenance, and cast afloat upon the ocean of oscillating chance to +speed across it as best they could. + +Was Lord Dilworth therefore to be pitied? Were the torrents of gold +which were bound to trickle from these enormous lands and dwellings, +manufactories and villages, too trifling for his use? Not a morsel of +pity was offered either him or Lady Dilworth as their circumstances +became known in the homes of their associates, who so often fed on the +fat of their folly and graced their well-lined tables always covered +with dainties of deserving censure. + +Could human mind contemplate that she who reigned supreme amongst +society, she who gave the ball in honor of Irene Iddesleigh's marriage, +should ere four days be a penniless pauper? Yet such was fact, not +fiction. + +The seventh day of August saw Lord and Lady Dilworth titled beggars, +steering their course along the blue and slippery waves of the Atlantic, +to be participators in the loathing poverty which always exists in homes +sought after destruction, degradation, and reckless extravagance. + +So soon may the house of gladness and mirth be turned into deepest +grief! How the wealthiest, through sheer folly, are made to drink the +very essence of poverty and affliction in its purest form! How the +golden dust of luxury can be blown about with the wind of events, and is +afterwards found buried in the fields of industry and thrift! Their +names, which were as a household word, would now be heard no more, and +should sink into abject silence and drowned renown, leaving them to +battle against the raging war of ruin and hunger, and retire into +secluded remorse. + +On the return of Sir John and Lady Dunfern from their honeymoon, after +four weeks sojourn, what was her ladyship's consternation on perceiving +Dilworth Castle in darkness as she and Sir John swept past its avenue on +their way to their own brilliantly-lighted mansion? She was rather more +taciturn on the night of her return than even during her stay in +Florence, and it was only on her approaching her former place of +temporary retreat and touchy remembrances that words began to fall from +her ruby lips in torrents. + +"Tell me, I implore of you, Sir John and husband, why the once blithe +and cheerful spot of peace is now apparently a dismal dungeon on the +night of our home-coming, when all should have been a mass of dazzling +glow and splendour? + +"Can it be that she who proffered such ecstacy for months before, on the +eve of our return, is now no more? or can it be possible that we have +crossed each other on the wide waters of tossing triumph or wanton woe? + +"Speak at once, for pity's sake! and do not hide from me the answer of +truth and honest knowledge? Oh, merciful heavens!" + +Here Lady Dunfern drooped her head before Sir John got time to even +answer a word, and drawing from his pocket a silver flask, proceeded to +open its contents, when the horses suddenly stopped, and a gentle hand +politely opened the carriage door to eagerly await the exit of his +master and future mistress from its cushioned corners of costly comfort +and ease. + +"Tom," cried Sir John, in great and rending agony, "kindly wait for a +few minutes, as her ladyship has been frightfully overcome only a short +time ago by the blank appearance in and around Dilworth Castle. She +fears something dreadful must surely have happened Lady Dilworth in her +absence, since she has failed to make the occasion of our home-coming a +merry torchlight of rejoicing." Tom, who had been in Sir John's service +for the past twenty years, was about to testify to the truth of his +remarks, when he was joined by other members of the household, who +rushed to welcome their beloved master home once more, accompanied by +his beautiful bride, of whom they all had heard so much. + +Sir John saw that delay was dangerous, and helping to remove his darling +Irene from the seat on which she unconsciously reclined, succeeded in +placing her on a low couch in the very room he so often silently prayed +for her presence. Bathing her highly-heated temples with a sprinkling of +cooling liquid concealed in his flask, Sir John lost no time in +summoning the village doctor, who, on arrival, pronounced Lady Dunfern +to have slightly recovered, and giving the necessary orders left the +room. + +It was fully two hours ere she partly recovered from her ghastly swoon, +to find herself the object of numerous onlookers of the household of +which she was now future mistress. + +Pale and death-like did she appear in the eyes of her husband, who was +utterly overcome with grief at the sudden collapse of his wife under +such a stroke of anticipated sorrow; and more grieved was he still when +he found on inquiry that the removal of Lord and Lady Dilworth from +their heightened haunt of highborn socialism must sooner or later be +revealed to her, who, as yet, had only tasted partly of the bitter cup +of divided intercourse and separated companionship. + +Many, many were the questions asked by Lady Dunfern relative to Lady +Dilworth when Dr. Corbett arrived next morning to pronounce her almost +recovered, and, strange, yet true, that no one could possibly have +humoured her in such a manner to warrant recovery as the village doctor, +until she felt really strong enough to battle against the sorrowful tale +of woe with which Sir John should shortly make her cognisant. + +On learning from his lips, so soon as her ability occasioned, the real +state of affairs concerning the emigrants who were now compelled to +wander on the track of trouble, she received the truth with awe and +smothered distress. The new sphere in which Lady Dunfern was about to +move seemed to her strange; the binding duty which tied her firmly to +honour and obedience was kept prominently in vague view; the staff of +menials would probably find the rules of her husband more in accordance +with their wishes than those which she was beginning to already arrange. +She commenced her married life with falsehood, and she was fully +determined to prove this feature more and more as the weeks and months +rolled along. She was not now afraid of the censure of one whose face +she may never more behold, and who was the sole instigation of plunging +her into a union she inwardly abhorred. Perhaps, had she never been +trained under the loving guidance of Oscar Otwell, her revered tutor, +she would only have been too eager to proclaim her ecstacy at her +present position more vigorously. But all fetters of power were visibly +broken which she wished should remain united, leaving her mother of her +future premeditated movements. + +As time moved on, Sir John and Lady Dunfern seemed to differ daily in +many respects, which occasioned dislike in the breasts of both, and +caused the once handsome, cheerful face of the much-respected owner of +Dunfern to assume a look of seriousness. + +These differences arose chiefly through his great disinclination to +attend the numerous social gatherings which awaited them after their +marriage. Sir John, finding it almost impossible to stare socialism in +the face, seemed inclined rather to stick to the old rule of domestic +enjoyment, never forgetting to share fully his cheerful conversation +with his wife, when so desired, which, sorrowful to relate, was too +seldom. + +Now that Lady Dunfern was an acknowledged branch of society, her elegant +presence would have been courted by all those who so often favoured Lady +Dilworth with their distinguished patronage, but her social hopes being +nipped in the bud by her retiring husband, she dare not resent, and +determined, in consequence, to make herself an object of dislike in her +home, and cherish her imprisoned thoughts until released, for good or +evil. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +A word of warning tends to great advantage when issued reverently from +the lips of the estimable. It serves to allay the danger pending on +reticence, and substantiates in a measure the confidence which has +hitherto existed between the parties concerned. Again, a judicious +advice, extended to the stubborn and self-willed, proves futile, and +incurs the further malice and fiery indignation of the regardless, the +reckless, and the uncharitable. + +Lady Dunfern began now to grow both cross and careless, and seemed not +to interest herself so much (since her propositions were so emphatically +denounced by her husband) concerning the management of the household +staff. She grew daily more retired, and often has her conduct been so +preposterously strange as to cause alarm both to Sir John and all over +whom he had immediate control. + +Indeed, three months of married life scarcely elapsed until she cast a +glow of despair within the breast which too often heaved for her with +true piety and love. And what was meant by such strange conduct on her +part, her husband often wondered. Only the mighty cessation of +friendship caused by the flight of her beloved guardians, never +attributing such silence and stubbornness to any fault he justly +committed. + +Yes, the duped husband, when being fished for with the rod of seeming +simplicity and concealed character, and quickly caught on the hook of +ingenuity, with deception for a bait, was altogether unable to fathom +its shallowest meaning. Was he not, therefore, to be sympathised with, +who so charitably extended the hand of honour and adoration to the +offspring of unknown parents, and placed her in position equal to any +lady of title and boasted parentage within the boundary of County Kent? +Should Sir John Dunfern not have been almost worshipped by a wife whose +binding duty it was to reverence her husband in all things pertaining to +good? No doubt this would have been so had he gained the affections he +imagined he possessed, but later on he would inevitably be made aware of +matters which as yet only bordered on supposition. + +Day after day Lady Dunfern pined like a prisoner in her boudoir, and +scarcely ever shared a word with the great and good Sir John, who many +times wished in former days that she had occupied his home and all its +joys. She formed an inward resolution that if prohibited from enjoying +life, to which she was accustomed at Dilworth Castle, she would make her +husband, whom she knew too well made her his idol, feel the smart, by +keeping herself aloof from his caresses as much as possible. + +Often would he be found half asleep in deep thought, not having any +friend of immediate intimacy in whom he could confide or trust, or to +whom he could unbosom the conduct of his wife, whose actions now he was +beginning to detest. + +The thoughts of disappointment and shame were building for themselves a +home of shelter within him--disappointment on account of cherished hopes +which unmistakably were crushed to atoms beneath the feet of her who was +the sole instigation of their origin; shame, in all probability, lest +the love he sought and bought with the price of self might not be his +after all! and may still be reserved against his right and kept for +another much less worthy! The little jealous spark again revived and +prompted him to renew its lustre, which had been hidden for a length of +time behind the cloud of dread so silently awaiting the liberty of +covering the hill of happiness. + +Quietly ruminating over his wife's manner before marriage, about which +he was compelled, through observation, to demand an explanation, and +pondering carefully her strange and silent habits since it, he became +resolved to probe the wound that had swollen so enormously as to demand +immediate relief. Ringing furiously for a maid, he handed her a note, to +be delivered without delay to Lady Dunfern, the nature of which might +well be suspected. Be that as it may, its contents were instrumental in +demanding immediate attention. + +Soon after its delivery a slight tap was heard at the door of Sir John's +study, this room being always his favourite haunt, where he sat beside a +bright and glowing fire, engaged in sullen thought; and with an +imperious "Come in!" he still remained in the same thinking posture; +nor was he aware, for fully five minutes or so, that his intruder was no +other than she whom he so recently ordered into his presence! + +Gazing up in a manner which startled the cold-hearted woman not a +little, he requested her "to have a seat right opposite his," to which +she instantly complied. At this moment the snow was wafting its flaky +handfuls thickly against the barred enclosures of Dunfern Mansion, and +chilly as nature appeared outside, it was similarly so indoors for the +fond and far-famed husband of Lord Dilworth's charge. + +Matters had appeared so unpleasant and altogether bewildering of late +that Sir John formed a resolution to bring them to a crisis. Looking +fully into the face that seemed so lovely just now, with the dainty +spots of blazing ire enlivening the pale cheeks of creeping sin, Sir +John began-- + +"Irene, if I may use such familiarity, I have summoned you hither, it +may be to undergo a stricter examination than your present condition +probably permits; but knowing, as you should, my life must be miserable +under this growing cloud of unfathomed dislike, I became resolved to +end, if within my power, such contentious and unladylike conduct as that +practised by you towards me of late. It is now quite six months--yea, +weary months--since I shielded you from open penury and insult, which +were bound to follow you, as well as your much-loved protectors, who +sheltered you from the pangs of penniless orphanage; and during these +six months, which naturally should have been the pet period of nuptial +harmony, it has proved the hideous period of howling dislike! + +"I, as you see, am tinged with slightly snowy tufts, the result of +stifled sorrow and care concerning you alone; and on the memorable day +of our alliance, as you are well aware, the black and glossy locks of +glistening glory crowned my brow. There dwelt then, just six months this +day, no trace of sorrow or smothered woe--no variety of colour where it +is and shall be so long as I exist--no furrows of grief could then be +traced upon my visage. But, alas! now I feel so changed! And why? + +"Because I have dastardly and doggedly been made a tool of treason in +the hands of the traitoress and unworthy! I was enticed to believe that +an angel was always hovering around my footsteps, when moodily engaged +in resolving to acquaint you of my great love, and undying desire to +place you upon the highest pinnacle possible of praise and purity within +my power to bestow! + +"I was led to believe that your unbounded joy and happiness were never +at such a par as when sharing them with me. Was I falsely informed of +your ways and worth? Was I duped to ascend the ladder of liberty, the +hill of harmony, the tree of triumph, and the rock of regard, and when +wildly manifesting my act of ascension, was I to be informed of treading +still in the valley of defeat? + +"Am I, who for nearly forty years was idolised by a mother of untainted +and great Christian bearing, to be treated now like a slave? Why and for +what am I thus dealt with? + +"Am I to foster the opinion that you treat me thus on account of not +sharing so fully in your confidence as it may be, another? + +"Or is it, can it be, imaginative that you have reluctantly shared, only +shared, with me that which I have bought and paid for fully? + +"Can it be that your attention has ever been, or is still, attracted by +another, who, by some artifice or other, had the audacity to steal your +desire for me and hide it beneath his pillaged pillow of poverty, there +to conceal it until demanded with my ransom? + +"Speak! Irene! Wife! Woman! Do not sit in silence and allow the blood +that now boils in my veins to ooze through cavities of unrestrained +passion and trickle down to drench me with its crimson hue! + +"Speak, I implore you, for my sake, and act no more the deceitful +Duchess of Nanté, who, when taken to task by the great Napoleon for +refusing to dance with him at a State ball, replied, 'You honoured me +too highly'--acting the hypocrite to his very face. Are you doing +likewise?" Here Sir John, whose flushed face, swollen temples, and fiery +looks were the image of indignation, restlessly awaited her reply. + +Lady Dunfern began now to stare her position fully in the face. On this +interview, she thought, largely depended her future welfare, if viewed +properly. Should she make her husband cognisant of her inward feelings, +matters were sure to end very unsatisfactorily. These she kept barred +against his entrance in the past, and she was fully determined should +remain so now, until forced from their home of refuge by spirited +action. + +Let it be thoroughly understood that Lady Dunfern was forced into a +union she never honestly countenanced. She was almost compelled, through +the glittering polish Lady Dilworth put on matters, to silently resign +the hand of one whose adoration was amply returned, and enter into a +contract which she could never properly complete. All she could now do +was to plunge herself into the lake of evasion and answer him as best +she could. + +"Sir and husband," she said, with great nervousness at first, "you have +summoned me hither to lash your rebuke unmercifully upon me, provoked, +it may be, by underhand intercourse. You accordingly, in the course of +your remarks, fail not to tamper with a character which as yet defies +your scathing criticism. Only this week have I been made the recipient +of news concerning my deceased parents, of whom I never before obtained +the slightest clue, and armed with equality, I am in a position fit to +treat some of your stingy remarks with the scorn they merit. + +"You may not already be aware of the fact that I, whom you insinuate you +wrested from beggary, am the only child of the late Colonel Iddesleigh, +who fell a victim to a gunshot wound inflicted by the hand of his wife, +who had fallen into the pit of intemperance. Yes, Earl Peden's daughter +was his wife and my mother, and only that this vice so actuated her +movements, I might still have lent to Society the object it dare not now +claim, and thereby would have shunned the iron rule of being bound down +to exist for months at a time within such a small space of the world's +great bed. + +"If my manner have changed in any way since our union, of it I am not +aware, and fail to be persuaded of any existing difference, only what +might be attributed to Lady Dilworth's sudden and unexpected removal +from our midst, which occasioned me grief indeed. + +"It behoves elderly men like you to rule their wives with jealous +supervision, especially if the latter tread on the fields of youth. Such +is often fictitious and unfounded altogether, and should be treated with +marked silence. + +"I may here say I was mistress, in a measure, of my movements whilst +under the meek rule of Lady Dilworth; nor was I ever thwarted in any way +from acting throughout her entire household as I best thought fit, and +since I have taken upon me to hold the reins of similarity within these +walls, I find they are much more difficult to manage. I, more than once, +have given orders which were completely prohibited from being executed. +By whom, might I ask, and why? Taking everything into consideration, +I am quite justified in acquainting you that, instead of being the +oppressor, I feel I am the oppressed. + +"Relative to my affections, pray have those courted by me in the past +aught to do with the present existing state of affairs? I am fully +persuaded to answer, 'Nothing whatever.' + +"You speak of your snowy tufts appearing where once there dwelt locks of +glossy jet. Well, I am convinced they never originated through me, and +must surely have been threatening to appear before taking the step which +links me with their origin. + +"I now wish to retire, feeling greatly fatigued, and trusting our +relations shall remain friendly and mutual, I bid thee good-night." + +Lady Dunfern swept out of the room, and hurrying to her own apartment, +burst into an uncontrollable fit of grief. + +She had surely been awaked from her reverie by Sir John, and felt +sharply the sting of his remarks, which were truly applied, indeed. +She now resolved to let matters move along as quietly as possible until +after she should pass the most critical period of her existence. She was +prepared to manifest her innocence throughout, without detection if +possible. But amongst the household there moved a matron under whose +hawk-like eye Lady Dunfern was almost inclined to shrink. She felt when +in her presence to be facing an enemy of unbounded experience. She +abhorred her stealing tread, but not without cause. It was to this dame +she so often issued orders that never were carried out; and when +intimating to Sir John the necessity of instantly dismissing such a +tyrant, he quietly "rebelled," adding "that she had been almost twenty +years in his service, and presently could not think of parting with such +a valued and much-trusted friend." + +This woman's name was Rachel Hyde, and proved the secret channel of +intercourse between Sir John and Lady Dunfern, evidently paving the way +for her ladyship's downfall; as Rachel, being mistress for such a period +over Dunfern Mansion, could never step the fence leading to abolition of +power, which she so unwillingly tried to mount since Sir John's +marriage, and failing totally in her attempt, was lifted and thrown over +by her mistress, an act she could never forget, and consequently carried +all news, trivial or serious, concerning Lady Dunfern to her master, and +delivered it in such an exaggerated form as to incur his wrath, which +already had been slightly heated. + +A few months elapsed again, during which time matters went on much as +usual, until an event happened that should have chased the darkest cloud +of doubt and infidelity from the noble brow of the mighty and revered +master of Dunfern Mansion. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +The thickest stroke of sadness can be effaced in an instant, and +substituted with deeper traces of joy. The heart of honest ages, though +blackened at times with domestic troubles, rejoices when those troubles +are surmounted with blessings which proclaim future happiness. + +On the tenth day of June, following Lady Dunfern's interview with her +husband, she gave birth to a son and heir. This great event brought with +it entire forgiveness on the part of Sir John of his wife's recent +conduct. It served for a short time only, a trivial portion too, to +stifle the alienation which existed between them, and to heal the sore +of evident separation that marred their happiness for months before. + +The glad and happy father was only too eager now to snatch a smile from +his wife's face, and anxious was he to bury any little obstacle that may +have existed in the past, and expel it for ever from its lurking corner +of tempting repose. He saw that Lady Dunfern's life was hanging by a +flimsy hair, and who could, for an instant, depict the great despair of +her husband when told that all hope must be abandoned! + +The frantic father wrung his hands in a frenzy of momentary madness, and +in spite of authoritative advice he timidly moved in the direction of +the bed on which his beloved lay, and knelt beside it to fervently offer +up a prayer "for the speedy recovery of her who was the chief object of +his existence." Raising himself up and clasping his darling in his arms, +he whispered in her ear a word of encouragement, and gently laying her +highly-heated head on the silken pillow he again prayed, in deepest and +gravest earnestness, "that she might be spared only a little longer." + +No doubt his prayer was no sooner offered than answered, as she at this +stage slightly rallied, and appeared somewhat strengthened. Day by day +the still fond and loving husband sat by the bedside of the invalid +until strong enough to battle fully against the weakening hand of her +malady; and at the very time Sir John sat beside the bed of sickness, +inwardly "showering blame upon himself for hindering his wife's social +enjoyment, and for which he believed he acted wrongly;" she, on the +contrary, was outwardly pouring rebuke on her own head "for ever +entering into a league of life-long punishment by marrying a man she +simply abhorred, and leaving her noble and well-learned tutor, Oscar +Otwell, whom she yet loved, to wander in a world of blighted bliss!" + +Ah! to be sure! It was during these days of unremitting attention that +he was afforded an opportunity of storing up a multitude of touchy +remarks uttered by his wife when the relapse of raging fever reached its +defiant height! She never ceased to talk in a most gentle manner of +"Oscar Otwell," "her darling and much-loved tutor." She even expressed +sorrow, in the course of her broken remarks, "at the false step she had +taken to satisfy, not herself by any means, but Lady Dilworth!" She +strongly protested her "hatred for him" who sat listening, with grave +intensity, to every word that escaped her lips! She even spoke of +"a cavity in her jewel-case in which was safely deposited a ring, given +her by Oscar during her happy period of instruction under his guidance," +adding, in her painful discourse, that "she loved it as well as +himself," etc., etc. + +These rambling statements when ended, in an instant caused Sir John's +resolutions, made by him so recently, to become worthless remarks; and +if partly charged with jealousy before, he was doubly so now. + +No onlooker could fail in the least to pity the sneered husband, whose +livid countenance during the course of her remarks, rambling though they +were, was a sight never to be forgotten. How he gazed with astonished +indifference at the invalid so charged with deceit! She who acted the +emblem of innocence at all times, and attempted to attach entire blame +to her husband! She who partly promised peace in future to him who never +again could enjoy it! + +How his manner became so abrupt and his speech so scanty within such a +short period was verily a proof of the belief he fostered relative to +his wife's statements, which were yet to her unknown. + +The doctors in attendance endeavoured strongly to imprint upon Sir John +the fact that "such remarks as those uttered by his wife should be +treated with silence and downright indifference," adding that "patients +smitten with fever, of what kind soever, were no more responsible for +their sayings than the most outrageous victim to insanity." + +Sir John listened attentively to their statements, but failed to be +altogether convinced as to their truth. Wondering what sin could be +attached to an act he felt was his duty to perform, he moved softly to +the bedside of his wife, and being in a sleepy mood, he resolved to sift +some of her remarks to the very bottom. + +Entering the room she so often occupied, and taking from a chink in her +dressing-table a key of admittance to the jewel-case she spoke of, he +lost no time in viewing its valuable contents; and, in the very spot in +which she vowed dwelt her tutor's gift, there it lay! A golden band with +pearl centre, and immediately underneath it there rested a note. At +first he felt rather diffident about perusing its contents, but instinct +so prompted his curiosity that he yielded to its tempting touch. It ran +thus:-- + + "Hedley, + Berks, + July 3rd. + + "Ever beloved Irene, + + "I am after reading your gentle yet sorrowful epistle. You cannot + possibly retract the step you so publicly have taken without + incurring the malice of Lord and Lady Dilworth, who have sheltered + you from every sorrow and care with which you otherwise were bound + to come in contact. + + "They received you into their elegant home, and shielded you, + by so doing, from the tyrannical rule of Miss Lamont of 'The + Orphanage,' in which you were placed for a period of eight years. + They failed not to give you a thorough and practical education, + which in itself would enable you to achieve independence, if + necessary, or so desired. + + "This you received under one whose heart now beats with raging + jealousy and vehement hatred towards the object of Lady Dilworth's + choice, being well convinced, through your numerous letters to me + lately, it never was yours. + + "Dearest Irene, the thought of parting from you for ever is partly + sustained with the hope of yet calling you mine! Through time you + suggest an elopement, which as yet can only be viewed in the hazy + distance; but it seems quite clear to me, dearest, and surely + evident, that you abhor the very name of him who a month hence + shall place you in a position considerably more elevated and + lucrative than that which I now could bestow. But Irene, my + beloved, my all! reluctantly I yield my precious treasure to him + who, it may be this moment, is rejoicing at his capture. + + "I shall ever remain forlorn, dejected, and ruined until such time + as we suitably can accomplish the clearance of the cloud of + dissatisfaction under which you are about to live. Please write by + return. + + "Ever your own + + "OSCAR. + + "Miss Iddesleigh, + + Dilworth Castle." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +When dreading the light of day contentment hath fled; imagination +oftentimes proves a forerunner to reality; corners of horror shelter +themselves within the castles of the queenly, the palaces of the +powerful, the monuments of the mighty, and the cottages of the +caretaker; but sunshine brings universal joy wherever its beams are wont +to dazzle, and often allays the anxiety which precedes its appearance. + +"Great heaven!" murmured Sir John, as the tutor's note fell from his +nervous grasp, "Am I blind to touch or truth? Am I at last to labour +under the fact that my wife loves another! she who only some months +since protested her innocence in such strains as to cause the most +doubtful to stay alarm. Here is the ring, and there lies the note--the +note of him who claims to be not only her tutor but suitor. Why did she +accept the former or cause the latter to be written?" + +"Then, the date! Just one month exactly before our marriage; and how I +pined for it to elapse whilst another would eagerly have prolonged it. +Oh, Irene!--false and low woman! Think you that any longer I can own you +as wife or treat you with the respect a wife deserves!" Sir John, ever +open to forgiveness, tried hard to master the dreadful spirit of +jealousy which arrived at last at its highest point, if he could feel +convinced that his wife's correspondence with her tutor ceased after her +marriage, believing if still it continued that other proofs of their +dastardly plots would be forthcoming. Thrusting his hand again into the +aperture from which he took the two tributes of his wife's tutor, there +appeared nothing to arouse further suspicion, save a Christmas card, +written with the same bold hand. The lines were these:-- + + "Accept my warmest greeting, friendship, love, + Thou art my charming Irene, pet and dove; + Although another claims thee for a time, + I trust to call you some day ever mine. + Oh! pray for parting soon with fettered chains, + To live and move regardless of those reins + That bind your Christmas sprigs of worldly woe + To him, whom you have hated long ago." + +This was a second effusion of Otwell's, and must have been received by +Lady Dunfern since her marriage; and, thought he who held it clutched in +his trembling hand, Why did she deposit this card amongst her +valuables--had she not held it as a treasure of priceless worth? + +Nothing more was wanting now to convince the distracted husband of his +wife's infidelity. Depositing the note, card, and ring in the drawer +whence he had taken them, Sir John at once proceeded to Lady Dunfern's +bedroom, and found her awake. Being a nobleman of sterling worth, and +one on whose word the greatest dependence was always manifested, he +could scarcely fail to inform her of the great and trying scene he had +just come through. Struggling, however, manfully from mentioning +anything that would serve to retard her recovery, he moved towards the +bed on which she lay, and before a word was uttered by him he suddenly +staggered and fell. + +Who could then perceive the wan and haggard appearance of him who +apparently lay lifeless without being totally terror-stricken--could +she, whom he bathed in golden comfort, behold this outstretched form +with calm silence? Surely not! + +Instantly ordering a maid to send for Doctor Doherty, the false invalid +lay back on her pillow, appearing not much concerned. On the doctor's +arrival he applied restoratives, but without the desired effect. Then he +ordered his instant removal to his bed-chamber, where every care and +watchfulness was extended him by Rachel Hyde. + +It was nearly two hours ere he manifested the remotest symptoms of +animation, and on inquiry the doctor pronounced the sudden shock he had +nervously sustained to be grave indeed. Sir John lay in an unconscious +condition until next morning, when his first inquiry was relative to his +son. + +Gradually regaining strength, and venturing in the doctor's absence out +of bed, he walked slowly into his wife's room to make personal his +recovery. He looked pale, and much annoyed, and could only with +difficulty refrain from acquainting her of what he had in store to +communicate. Each day found both invalids, just and unjust, rapidly +recovering, and a few weeks found both completely restored to health and +strength. + +Lady Dunfern could not help noticing the strange and frozen manner of +her husband since the eve of his illness. At first she was inclined to +fear his approach, but gradually she felt convinced he was slightly +affected with a mild form of insanity; and making minute inquiries from +the oldest inhabitants in the neighbourhood and adjoining village as to +the accuracy of her fears, she was informed that "such never existed +amongst his ancestors, so far as they knew or heard." + +Was it strange that Sir John felt a changed man towards her who was so +fully charged with deceit? Would it have been acting in accordance with +his conscience to overlook her wily artifice? Could the once fond and +loving husband, the brave and gallant knight, still trust in her whom he +felt convinced would bring a world of disgrace, not alone upon himself, +but upon one who in after years, he trusted, would proudly sustain the +honourable reputation of his race? + +Ah! no matter in what light he viewed her conduct now he was brought to +loathe her very look, and was fully determined to shut her in from the +gaze of an outside world, or the cunning tricks of a trifling tutor. He +was resolved, so far as lay in his power, to treat her with the conduct +she merited, and never again allow himself to be persuaded to postpone +the visitation of his anger by her villainous pitiful appeals. + +After serious thought, Sir John began to act; he was inclined to think +delay would be dangerous, and on approaching his breakfast table one +morning soon after his recovery, he hinted to his housekeeper that he +"wished a private interview with her after his morning repast." This +Rachel punctually obeyed. + +Seeing her master's trembling hand twitch the tips of his beard, she +feared something dreadful must surely be disturbing his peace of mind, +and commanding her to "lock the door" lest they should be interrupted, +he informed her of all that had happened. + +Rachel, ever ready to sow doubt in the mind of her master regarding his +wife, manifested her want of surprise by relating some incidents which +occurred under her notice. Nothing, however monstrous, could astonish +Sir John at this time regarding his wife's movements, and informing +Rachel of his intention he ordered the key of one of the rooms that yet +had been shut against the entrance of Lady Dunfern. + +Hastening to fulfil her master's order, Rachel returned with the mighty +key, and handed it to Sir John, who moved to the door, and thrusting the +rusty key into its aperture, succeeded with great difficulty in +effecting an entrance. Rachel followed, and both entered, locking the +heavy-panelled oak door from within. "This," said Sir John, "is the room +of correction, the room of death. It defies escape or secretion. It has +been so long as I remember held in abhorrence by my late lamented +parents, and, so far as I can understand, by many of my ancestors. + +"First of all, the lady who shared its midst was a born imbecile, the +eldest daughter of my great great grandfather--Sir Sydney Dunfern. She +was nursed and tenderly cared for within these walls for a period of +thirty-six years, and through the instantaneous insanity of her ward, +was marked a victim for his murderous hand. Yes, it has been related +that during midnight, when she was fast asleep, he drew from that +drawer" here Sir John pointed to the wardrobe, "a weapon of warlike +design, and severed her head almost from her body, causing instant +death. + +"It was not known until next day about noon that anything extraordinary +had happened. It was first detected by Sir Sydney himself, who became +alarmed at not having seen Wade--the ward's name was Hector Wade--as +usual at ten o'clock, and tapping at the door, was surprised to hear +some noise issue from within. Being of a hasty temper, he became +indignant at the ward's indifference, and calling loudly, finally gained +admittance. + +"The murderer had her stretched on this floor, and every article capable +of being removed piled upon her corpse. Horrified at such a sight, Sir +Sydney became wild with grief, and at once handed the pitiful lunatic +over to those in authority. + +"The next inhabitant doomed to share in its dull delight was Kathleen, +wife of my beloved grandfather, a beautiful woman, whose portrait you +now see. She, I am sorry to relate, proved more an accomplice than the +honoured wife of him who added so much to the welfare of those who now +benefit by his great economy. The hand of death visited her here +likewise with its separating touch. + +"The last person inhabiting its cheerless enclosure was a distant +relative of my mother, a gentleman named Rodney Rupert, who fell from +the path of virtue and trod the field of vice, until confined within +this prison of pathetic account, and who, in a moment of passion, ended +his days with that pistol which hangs on yonder hook, and on that bed +all these lay, and which shall again be made use of by a traitoress of +no mean account either." + +Sir John then proceeded to give orders to "have the room made as +comfortable as its scanty furniture permitted," which consisted only of +one small table, one chair, and an old-fashioned wardrobe, with several +small drawers attached, one dressing-table and wash-stand, all of which +were magnificently carved oak and richly panelled. + +There was only one large window, made up of iron bars and a multitude of +small panes of glass not larger than three inches square, all of equal +dimensions, and inside this window were strong bars of iron looped on +every side and firmly fastened. + +The cocoa matting which served as a carpet, parts of which were grim +with gore, was almost worn past recognition. These were all the articles +this badly-lighted room contained, save several oil-paintings of +enormous size. On the whole, it presented the appearance of a private +prison. + +An icy atmosphere pervaded throughout the room, damped with an odour of +something inert, which Sir John believed would be rendered extinct in +the presence of a fire. + +Rachel, after receiving orders in confidence from her master, set +matters to right by lighting a fire, dusting the old and much-worn +furniture, airing the bed-clothes, etc., being strictly charged to +admit, on no pretence whatever, now or at any time, any member of the +household or visitor to the mansion. + +When everything was in perfect readiness for the reception of its guest, +Sir John directed Rachel to "bring her Ladyship into his presence." What +could have astonished Lady Dunfern more on being ushered into a room +which never before was open for her inspection? Nothing save the +information her husband eagerly awaited her to receive. On being +informed of her vast deception, which was proved beyond doubt, and to +which she felt wholly incompetent to reply, she was absolutely +dumb-stricken. + +It required no further questioning now concerning her husband's recent +strangeness of manner and rigid coolness with which he was forced to +treat her whom he scorned to call wife. + +"You, madam," said he, "have by your conduct, both before and after +marriage, forced me to keep you a prisoner within these walls so long as +you live or I exist. + +"You have not failed to act the infamous by kissing me with the lips of +a Judas! You have at last plunged me into deepest disgrace, not alone +me, but him whom you should have been liberated to succour and chastise. +Mocking wretch! your foul deeds shall have plenty of scope here for +improvement, and a prisoner you shall be during the remainder of your +life." + +Sir John, without another word, glided from before the presence of her +who once was treated as a goddess by him, and turning the great key that +locked her for ever from his view, handed it to Rachel, who was to have +sole admittance to, and full charge of, his wife. + +When left to herself in the ghostly and spacious closet of crippled +right, which until now she never dare approach, Lady Dunfern, instead of +shewing signs of grief, which Sir John felt assured must burst from its +midst, gloried in being aloof from the occasional rebukes to which she +was subject whilst occupying the rooms free to her access. She would now +have full opportunity of guiding her thoughts to self-advantage or +disadvantage. She felt free to try and act as she in any case would have +done, regarding very little the shame brought on her husband by her +intrigue with the tutor, whom she simply idolized, never once casting a +thought on her infant, knowing well it would be passionately cared for. + +Oceans of thought took hold on her as she vacantly viewed the damp and +darkened walls of her monstrous cell, now and then moving forward to +inspect the many paintings of great and historic worth which hung from +their lofty support, mostly all more or less resembling him who probably +should ere long add to their number. + +Lady Dunfern allowed the weeks and months to pass unheeded until +afforded ample opportunity of resorting to some means that might not +alone free her from such death-like surroundings, but snap the chain of +obligation in two which presently connected her with a husband she cared +not for. + +She longed for the hour of flight from the dismal shelter under which +she was doomed to dwell. She yearned for the days that had fled, and +more so for her who had shared in their pleasure. She pined for him whom +she so long lived to adore, and hesitated not to do so still. + +Could she only acquaint him of her husband's cruelty, how he might +assist her in effecting her release. What could be done, she frequently +asked herself, to brighten her future only a little? + +Could she possibly escape? She feared not. + +Every two hours that villainous woman entered during the day since first +she was snared in the net of revenge and compelled to remain within its +enclosures of shivering fear. Still, she never lost hope of flight, and +cheered with the thought of future stratagem, she tried to remain +somewhat consoled. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The trickling tide of fortune sometimes ebbs slowly. It meets with +occasional barriers of boisterous worth, and reaches its haven of intent +too often with obstruction. Its waters drip on the proud and humble, the +mighty and pitiful, the meek and unholy, and refuse to overlook even the +weary and careworn confined in the cell. It ceases not to store within +its waters of wonder intricate windings of wealth and poverty, triumph +and torture, joy and misery, and does not hesitate at any time to safely +deposit its various burthens on the numerous beaches along which it must +pass. + +When almost a year of Lady Dunfern's private imprisonment was about +drawing to a close, she was beginning to partly believe the truth of her +husband's dogmatic remarks. She had strongly been endeavouring during +this time to arrive at some possible means of communication with Marjory +Mason, her much-loved maid, whose services Sir John still retained; but +every endeavour she yet formed proved absolutely vain. She often thought +had she been attended by any of the household staff, only her on whom +she never could dream to rely, she might have made good her escape long +since; but being watched and visited so regularly by Rachel Hyde, she +felt her task much more difficult of performance than at first imagined. +Sometimes she would bring her table close to the window and mount on its +shaky leaf, then step into the great window-sill, pull out her +handkerchief and rub the puny panes to try and catch a glimpse of nature +and probably chance to see some of the servants pass. + +This heavily-barred window stood considerably high, and if viewed from a +distance, or even from the ground adjacent, seemed small in consequence. +It was, therefore, very difficult for her to recognise one menial from +another, yet she often imagined she could not be mistaken in perceiving +a form in the garden, right opposite, that surely strongly resembled her +favourite maid. + +What course was she, then, to adopt in order to discover the accuracy of +her thoughts? How could she manage to be positive regarding Marjory's +appearance? She felt it almost miraculous to identify her who trod so +far beneath her heightened gaze. Each day she resolved to mount the +window at the same hour, believing her constant watching might through +time convince her who the object of her anxiety might be. + +But the distance between them still remained the same, and ended with +the same disappointing result. A thought at last crowned her precious +efforts. She fancied if she could succeed in breaking one of the small +window panes she could, with the aid of a telescope found in one of the +drawers, define exactly who the maid might chance to be. + +The same hour each day found the eager mistress and anxious maid in +their respective places, the former mounted on the window-sill, the +latter gazing pitifully towards the window of her mistress's hateful +cell. But discernment was altogether impossible for Lady Dunfern, who +was resolved not to be baffled much longer in ascertaining who the +constant visitor was. Snapping from her finger an exquisite diamond +ring, and studying which pane of glass would be least noticed, she +arrived at the wise conclusion of extracting the lowest corner pane, +which she cleverly and effectually succeeded in doing. Wondering, first +of all, how she would hide the opening from the cute eye of her who +proved her only visitor, she placed her fleecy wrap carelessly against +it, and resuming her seat, was persuaded fully to believe she had +successfully accomplished the first step to her freedom. + +Rachel, arriving now with luncheon, failed to notice, or if noticed, to +mention the article in the window. Next day, with great confidence, Lady +Dunfern was found in her usual recess, and drawing forth the telescope, +viewed keenly the object of her constant search, and to her wild delight +she at once beheld Marjory Mason with grave face staring, she fancied, +at her. At last, her Ladyship had achieved a mighty work, indeed, which +she hoped would yet prove of more practical importance. + +It may be mentioned that Marjory Mason visited the same plot of ground +at the same hour every available morning since she was robbed of the +pleasure of waiting on her mistress, merely to get a glimpse of the +window she knew must belong to her Ladyship's haunt of hardship; and +could honest Marjory have only seen the handkerchief that every day was +pointed to its little transparent enclosures, how she would so gladly +have waved hers in return. But other means had to be resorted to, +through Lady Dunfern's great perspicacity, to try and establish a line +of communication with one she could trust. This being now arrived at +cast a world of grief from the mind of her who, under such a roof of +suspense as that beneath which she existed, felt if aid were not +forthcoming, she would shortly have to yield to the imperative command +of the King of Conquering Divines. + +Who could now recognise the "Southern Beauty" of Dilworth Castle? +Who could visit the once beautiful bride of Dunfern Mansion without +naturally betraying signs of heartfelt sorrow? She who so often graced +the assemblies of the proud and famous; she who adorned society with her +majestic presence; she who, by her charming manner and elegant bearing, +failed not to steal the affection of him who treated her so, was an +object of abject commiseration where her conduct wasn't questioned. She +was no longer the cheerful associate, the bright converser, the lively, +robust Irene Iddesleigh. She, the pride of her guardians, the once +adored of her husband, the envied object of socialism, must bear to +exist, though by any means within her power, not where she existed +presently. The next part to be enacted was to attract Marjory's +attention. This could easily be tried, and tying her cambric square +firmly round the top of a small poker, she timidly sent it through the +cavity, at the same time viewing Marjory by means of her telescope. +At first Marjory was seen to shade her eyes with her hand, and move a +little forward, then suddenly stop. She would again move slightly nearer +to the wafting emblem of despair, and quickly advancing, until she +neared the spot where best the snowy sign could be seen, instantly +concluded that she must be observed by her ladyship. + +When Lady Dunfern perceived that Marjory could by no means be closer to +her, she pulled the flag of victory back, leaving her maid in breathless +confusion, never for an instant flinching until she might again have an +opportunity of rendering her assistance whom she worshipped. + +In less than five minutes another signal appeared through the open space +in the form of a small piece of paper, the meaning of which Marjory knew +well. It appeared to be making its way with wonderful alacrity towards +her, who now was in nervous despair lest she should be detected by her +master, or some of the other members of his staff. At last the missive +reached its destination, and, wildly grasping it, Marjory loosed the +cord, that was swiftly drawn back, and plainly written by her mistress's +hand were the words, "To Marjory, my trusted maid." Shrieking with +delight, she pushed the note into her pocket, and, speedily hastening to +the mansion, entered her own room. Securing the door from within, she +instantly tore asunder the cover, and read with tearful eyes as +follows:-- + + "Room No. 10. + + "Dearest Marjory and Friend, + + "You at last have proof of the confidence reposed in you by me. + How I have thought of you since I was severed from you no one + knows. That you have been aware of my imprisonment I can no longer + doubt. However, I shall not presently give you any particulars, + but beg to say that if you could by any means you thought safe let + me hear if you have ever received any letters for me from Oscar, + I should ever feel grateful and reward you accordingly. My reason + for such inquiry I shall explain further on. Dear Marjory, keep + this dark. Might I suggest that you slip a note under my door this + evening at five o'clock precisely. This you can do I believe at + this hour with safety. Trusting you are keeping strong, and hoping + soon to thank you personally for such secret kindness, + + "Believe me, + + "Sincerely yours, + + "IRENE. + + "To Marjory." + +This note was ample explanation of the confidence Lady Dunfern had in +her maid. She well knew from previous experience how she could trust +her, and felt assured she was not a victim to misplaced confidence. +Marjory would sooner have suffered death than betray her whom she had +served so long at Dilworth Castle, and so short a time at Dunfern +Mansion, and, carefully folding the note she held in her hand, proceeded +to reply. + +Lady Dunfern, at the hour appointed, stood in agony behind the massive +door, underneath which she soon felt sure of receiving news that would +either increase or diminish her varied stock of fears. Nor was she +disappointed. At the very hour referred to, the note appeared. Who could +picture the ecstatic relief of Lady Dunfern as she paced her prison +floor, whilst carefully scanning the contents of Marjory's note. In it +she stated that her husband received all letters direct, not alone for +himself, but for all his servants, and delivered them personally to +each, this only happening since she was subject to his cruel treatment. + +Lady Dunfern was a little surprised at not receiving through Marjory +some news of Oscar. But when informed of her husband being the recipient +of all letters, she felt confident his were amongst the many for his +inspection, and would not therefore aid his aspect of matters much. +Safely depositing the prayed-for epistle of Marjory in her drawer, she +seemed to suddenly grow quite cheerful and animated, so much so that +Rachel, on entering some short time afterwards, was so struck with the +change as to acknowledge that her ladyship must surely appreciate the +book she held in her hand to an extraordinary extent, since it had +altered her demeanour so. + +Could this attendant only have known the true nature of Lady Dunfern's +much-changed manner, how, with a conquering air, she would so soon have +conveyed the tidings to Sir John. This, however, was not to be. Lady +Dunfern believed that such a line of intercourse as that which she had +so artfully managed with one on whom she could ever place implicit +confidence, must surely yet be the means of freeing her from the fetters +of a fierce and prejudiced race. + +Every morning, at the same hour, mistress and maid were at their +respective posts, the former, with brightened eye, mounted on her +favourite pedestal of triumphant account and gazing intently on the +object of rescue; the latter, casting that grave and careworn look in +the direction of the niched signboard of distress, stood firmly and +faithfully until she received the watchword of action and warning. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Torture trifleth not. It manifests in many instances the deserving +censure imposed upon its stinging touch. It acts like the poisonous +fangs of the serpent, unless extracted from its burning crypt of +chastisement by hands of wily witchcraft. So frightened did Lady Dunfern +become lest the eye of the straggler might chance more than once to +catch the meaning of Marjory's loitering about the grounds immediately +below her window, that she deemed it imperative to alter her +arrangements, and, acquainting Marjory in the usual way, appointed an +hour that would almost defy matters to be made conspicuous. This change +made both of them more free to act, and proved a decided success. + +Only some weeks elapsed since Lady Dunfern's first missive reached +Marjory until word was forthcoming from Oscar Otwell. Her heart beat +wildly with joy on reading the following, slipped to her in the usual +way:-- + + "Hedley, + + Berks. + + "Dearest Lady Dunfern, + + "You may well guess my gross astonishment on receipt of your long + looked-for note, and the dire news it contained. My heart bleeds + for you, and believe me, no stone shall be left unturned until + your release from that heathenish cell of woe shall be proclaimed. + Often have I looked for an answer to my letters from you, but, + alas! in vain. I began to be convinced that something must have + driven your love for me into hate. I am further surprised that my + uncle, who purchased Dilworth Estate, and who permanently resides + at the castle with his wife and daughters, never alluded in any + way in his letters to me to your retirement as it were from public + life. His answers to my many questions concerning you he entirely + evaded, and never having had an opportunity of a personal + interview with him since I entered Chitworth College, + I unfortunately have been debarred from rendering long since the + aid you now seek. + + "Your suggestion shall undoubtedly have my prompt attention, and + I'll now say no more, until I rejoice in your freedom. + + "Ever your loving + + "OSCAR." + +The mind of him who was in full possession of the facts regarding Lady +Dunfern's present position became perfectly distracted, and on entering +College next morning, after receiving her note, was so overcome with +grief as to cause grave alarm amongst the many students who benefitted +so much by his strenuous efforts to insure success. Doctor O'Sullivan, +the eminent President of the College, on seeing Oscar, whom he lately +observed was labouring under some weight of sorrow, in such a state of +despair, strongly advised a change of air, at the same time kindly +offering him a substitute for four weeks, at the end of which time, if +he still found himself unable to resume his tuitions, he would prolong +his vacation by two weeks. This was the very thing Oscar wanted--absence +from duty--and he gladly availed himself of the worthy president's +generous offer. + +How Oscar quitted the college on receiving the news which liberated him, +not only for four weeks, but for ever!--how he sped along to his room in +Upper Joy Street, and there wrote a few words to her who longed for his +presence and aid, wondering how the clever trick, so ably concocted by +Lady Dunfern, would be accomplished, or if attempted, would +succeed!--better leave it to her who had so well managed to even reach +the length of liberty which marked her heroism already. + +Lady Dunfern was busily engaged, during her hours of uninterruption, in +marking notes, with great caution and clearness, on paper for Marjory's +use; and well guarded and guided must the steps be that should again +lead her into the open field of freedom and health. + +The heavy rain beat furiously against the darkened window of Lady +Dunfern's confined and much-detested abode as Rachel approached her with +supper on the night of 24th December. + +As the next day brought many touching remembrances with it, Rachel, this +iron-willed attendant, spoke in rather soothing strains to her whom more +than once she tried to betray. Lady Dunfern, being so fully charged with +thoughts edging on her flight, remained in perfect indifference to all +her cunning remarks, never betraying the least outward symptom of the +excitement that then raged so terribly within her; she was resolved that +no word of any description whatever should be conveyed to him who so +eagerly awaited Rachel's retracing footsteps outside the cell. + +Prompted strongly by Sir John before entering, Rachel carried with her +messages of a rather condoling character, to be delivered to her +ladyship in such pitiful phrases as to twist from her remarks for the +use of him who feared that something dreadful was about to happen owing +to a miserable dream he had only a couple of nights before. + +But Lady Dunfern was too watchful to allow even one word to escape her +lips that might innocently convict her; and steadfastly guarding against +the tongue of the treacherous maiden, remained in silence. The +evil-intended Rachel lingered around the room fully fifteen minutes, +thus affording Lady Dunfern every opportunity of saying something, but +all of no avail; and angrily snatching up the large silver tray, bounced +out of the room, banging the great door after her, probably in order to +frighten her mistress, but not a nerve did the rude and audacious act +disturb. + +Turning the light very low, the confined woman slipped on tip-toe behind +the defiant door, and heard faint sounds proceed from the adjoining +corridor, the voices she well knew to be those of both her husband and +Rachel. Her heart sank somewhat at the discourse that followed Rachel's +recent visit, lest it might be concerning either herself or Marjory; or, +worse still, she thought, relative to her intended flight within five +hours, which she earnestly implored should not be prevented. + +The voices, however, after a lengthy conversation, suddenly ceased, and +gently moving to the fire, she sat quietly down to heat her icy limbs, +that were almost benumbed with cold. + +The thoughts which she allowed to disturb her anxious mind she found +were very numerous, the principal one being that of flight, which she +trusted strenuously should be fully accomplished within the time +specified. The first hour slipped in, the second moved round too, +likewise the third; and, gazing in wild despair in the direction of her +dainty-jewelled watch, which she kept suspended from a trivial hook +above the mantelpiece of richly carved oak, could scarcely refrain from +tears. + +The smallest hand of her little timekeeper could not fail to show that +the hour of eleven had just been reached; this was precisely the time +all the household retired, including Sir John, on whose part it was not +a case of command, but option. + +On this particular night the staff of servants was not so fully +represented as usual. Marjory Mason had not been amongst the number who +sought sleep, neither was it known by any one whether or not she was in +her own room. + +Immediately adjoining Marjory's room was Rachel Hyde's, both of which it +was Marjory's duty always to keep in perfect order, thus affording the +great friend of Lady Dunfern a daily opportunity of viewing the drawer +in which the great key of her ladyship's room was at rest. + +It was a habit with Rachel to sleep with her bedroom door ajar, by order +of her master, lest a fire might originate during the hours of repose, +or burglars enter and carry with them some valuables of no slight worth +or interest. + +About ten o'clock, an hour before Marjory's usual time to retire, she +ably feigned a very severe attack of indigestion, and, trying to look as +dejected and sick as she could in consequence, requested that she might +be permitted to go to her own room for the night; a request which Rachel +readily granted, as Marjory and she always travelled by the express +train of friendship. Rachel added that she would act in her stead by +clearing her master's supper table herself. + +No sooner had Rachel granted Marjory's request than she dashed up the +many and winding steps of ascent until she reached the object of her +premeditated scheme by boldly entering the housekeeper's room and taking +therefrom the choicest treasure it contained--namely, the key which was +so soon to prove the nature of the severe illness she so capitally +assumed. + +Rachel, on entering the room in which Sir John sat, was quickly asked +where Marjory was; and after satisfying him as to her illness, she +hastily removed the articles used at supper, and repaired to rest. When +passing Marjory's door, Rachel tapped lightly, and failing to gain +admission, called on her to admit her with a cup of hot milk. Still no +reply came from within. Then, slowly turning the handle, she tried to +admit herself without awaking Marjory, feeling sure that she must be +sound asleep. + +It was only during her third attempt to seek entrance that she found the +door locked. Moving into her own room, she muttered something that did +not distinctly reach the ear of her who was safely secreted underneath +the housekeeper's bed. Divesting herself of her clothing, Rachel soon +put herself in a position to guarantee slumber. She wrapped herself well +within the fleecy folds of nature, and in less than ten minutes was +safely sailing in the boat of dreamland. + +Marjory, for it was she who lay stretched under the bed of her who never +at any time doubted her word or actions, when fully convinced of +Rachel's safe retirement, crept along the carpeted floor on hands and +knees, carrying with her the key to victory. Proudly and much agitated +did Marjory steal her way along the many winding corridors of carpeted +comfort, until at last she came to the bottom of the ghost-like marble +steps which led to her mistress; and swiftly running up the icy heights, +until reaching the door of danger and blood-thirsty revenge, she, with +the caution of a murderess, thrust with great and exceptional care the +key into its much-used opening, and heroically succeeded in gaining +admittance. + +Behind the door lay Lady Dunfern, as if dead. With great presence of +mind Marjory locked the door from within, struck a match, and tried to +light the lamp, which had been extinguished not long before; this with +difficulty she nervously did. Then, turning to her mistress, whose +changed countenance was a sight Marjory never forgot until her dying +day, she tried every effort to arouse her who so soon was likely to +track the path of powerful pursuit. It was fully some minutes until she +saw the faintest glimpse of animation, and gently raising the shadowy +form in her strong arms, used every means in her power to quickly +prepare her for the most trying part of all. + +At last Marjory's efforts were completely baffled; and knowing it was +approaching the time at which Oscar was to be in readiness at the gate +farthest away from the mansion, that was seldom or never used, the poor +trembling girl had now enough to bear. She believed the cup of sorrow +had been drained to its last dregs; still she hoped on, never giving +place to the remotest trace of doubt, being fully assured of achieving +the topmost tier of triumph. + +Lady Dunfern had, through pure fear of being caught in her adventure, +stood an hour or so behind the door before Marjory's welcome steps were +heard, and momentarily on hearing her trusted maid's nimble tread make +such rapid strides towards her release was with overjoy so quickly +stricken down, at a time when two-fold energy was most required, that +she utterly failed to regain the slightest strength; and in this sad +state her helper found her! + +The moments were passing more quickly now than Marjory wished, and +bestowing one final look at her ladyship's watch so firmly clutched in +her fingers, was about to break down in despair, when she was suddenly +aroused by a dash of sandy pebble thrown against the window, which +unmistakably announced the arrival of him who so soon was to shield the +shaken form of her once lovely mistress from the snares of jealousy and +intrigue. + +Oscar, who stood at the gate appointed, was very uneasy, no doubt, as +the hour slowly approached that should make him the recipient of the +treasure he at first should have honestly secured, and fearing lest the +escape might be detected in time for rescue, he was unable to remain any +longer where he was. Mounting the iron gate, he soon flung himself over +its speary top, and hurriedly making his way towards Lady Dunfern's +window, where he perceived the dim light, he announced his arrival in +the manner described. + +Wringing her hands in wild despair, Marjory touchingly prayed for speedy +release from such cruel torture, and opening the door for the last time +she carried her mistress into the corridor, and there deposited her +until again locking the giant block of oak, then she lightly tripped +down the ashen steps, along the corridors, until at last she reached the +open door of Rachel's room. Pausing for a moment lest the housekeeper +might be awake, she satisfied herself this was not so. She then +courageously entered and safely deposited the key in the exact spot +whence she took it, retracing in a wonderfully quiet manner her shaking +footsteps until arriving to convey her precious charge to a place of +safety. Clasping Lady Dunfern once more in her arms, she crept down the +chilly steps of fate along the well-padded paths of tapestry, down +numerous flights of wiry-carpeted stairs, until finally reaching the +lofty hall, where she paused for an instant, being a complete example of +exhaustion, and dreading the least delay, approached the door with +safety. She then deposited her ladyship on a lounge that lay right +behind it until she secured the key which from previous observation she +noted, in case of emergency, hung on a silver hook not eight feet +distant. + +With the air of a duchess, Marjory dashed open the outer door, at the +left wing of the building, and, with her liberated load of love, swept +for ever from its touch. Blowing faintly a whistle she bought for the +purpose, she soon was released of her charge by him who instantly +appeared to shield them both from the breezy blast which bitterly swept +that night o'er hill and dale. + +Taking Lady Dunfern in his arms, Oscar paced the broad and pebbled +walks, speedily arriving at the spot where stood a vehicle in readiness +to convey them to their destiny. Not a word was spoken by Oscar, neither +did Lady Dunfern betray the slightest symptoms of recovery until safely +driven to the pretty home Oscar had previously arranged for her rescue, +some twenty miles distant from Dunfern Mansion. + +It was situated nearly in the centre of Dilworth Park, and generously +handed over to Oscar as a conditional gift from his uncle, the Marquis +of Orland, who owned its many acres. Marjory's joy at this stage fully +balanced her previous hours of sorrowful and dangerous adventure. She +could hardly refrain from tears as she viewed the weary night before +through the telescope of trickery. She seemed confident of having +performed a great and good work by liberating from the pangs of +emotional imprisonment the weak and forlorn, who so soon would have been +ordered to separate herself from a closet of chastisement to enter the +home of joy everlasting, which ever has its door of gladness open to the +ring of the repentant and contrite. + +After leaving Lady Dunfern in the careful charge of Marjory, Oscar +proceeded to handsomely reward his uncle's coachman, who drove them so +quickly from Dunfern Mansion to Audley Hall, requesting him at the same +time to treat the matter with profound silence. + +The rescued form now opened her eyes, and suddenly a convulsive twitch +shook her feeble frame. Casting her heavily-laden orbs of blinded +brilliancy around the cosy well-lighted room, had not to be informed by +any one what had happened; she gasped, "Thank Heaven, I'm safe!" + +Oscar, tenderly bidding Lady Dunfern "Good night," instructed Marjory to +carefully administer to her wants until daybreak. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +It is astounding to view the smallest article through a magnifying +glass; how large and lustrous an atom of silver appears; how fat and +fair the withered finger seems; how monstrously mighty an orange; how +immeasurably great the football of youth; but these are as nought when +the naked eye beholds the boulder of barred strength--a mountain of +mystery. + +The usual hour for arousing the inmates of Dunfern Mansion was +designated by the ringing of a bell, constructed at the back part of the +building, and connected by means of a wire with the room of the footman, +whose duty it was to ring fully three minutes every morning at the hour +of seven o'clock in winter and six in summer. + +On Christmas morning, only a short time after Lady Dunfern's escape was +effected, it rang somewhat later, arousing from sleep all the servants, +with the exception of Marjory Mason, who failed entirely to put in an +appearance, even when called thrice by Rachel. However, believing that +she was still fast asleep, Rachel ceased to further call on her until +after serving her ladyship's breakfast. + +On this festive day the breakfast served in the servants' spacious hall +was a sumptuous repast, truly, and required longer time to prepare than +was customary. This being so, evidently delayed the housekeeper a +considerable time in attending to the wants of her mistress, whose +breakfast was always punctually served at nine o'clock. This rule was +violated to the extent of about half an hour on the memorable morning of +Lady Dunfern's flight. + +Sir John breakfasted at fifteen minutes after nine, and looked both +careworn and sad, intimating to Rachel his inability to sleep the +previous night. Ordering her to prepare a dainty dish for Lady Dunfern, +he proceeded to read the daily paper, that had been so customary for +years. Rachel, hastily executing her master's orders, and having all in +readiness for her mistress, hurried to her room for the key. Sharply +telling the usual maid to follow her with the tray, she wended her way +towards the door that twice had been locked since her last visit. +Unlocking it, turning the handle and pushing it open, she took from the +servant the tray, as was her custom, by strict orders of her master, +never allowing the maid further than the door. + +Depositing it upon the table, she swiftly turned to the door, and +locking it from within, began to gaze around for Lady Dunfern, who +sometimes breakfasted in bed. Moving in its direction with tray in hand, +no Lady Dunfern appeared! The bed remained unused since she settled it +the previous day. Wildly shouting with momentary pain, Rachel let fall +the tray, smashing the china, &c., and thickly spotting the matting in +some places with its contents. In deep despair she cast one delirious +stare around the room, but all to no effect. Heaven help me! has she +fled? Oh, what!--what shall I do? Thinking that she might have hidden +under the couch of rest, she threw herself on the floor to try and catch +only a glance of her hidden form, but was disappointed once more. + +Running to the door and frantically opening it, she ran to Marjory's +room. Failing to be admitted, she hurried down to acquaint some of the +men, who attempted to open Marjory's door, but all their masculine +efforts to arouse her were futile. What was there left to be done, save +to acquaint Sir John of the matter. Agitated did Rachel enter without +signifying her approach to her master, who sat in silence. "Oh, sir," +cried she, drowned in tears, and uttered in broken accents the words, +"Your wife has escaped--she is not in her room!" "What!" gasped Sir +John. "It cannot be!" + +Following Rachel to the room of terror he found her information too +true. "How on earth has this happened?" asked the horrified husband. +"Had you the key?" he fiercely asked of Rachel. Ever ready to substitute +the truth with a lie, where the former especially would convict her, she +replied, with a stamp of her foot, "that it never was out of her drawer +of safe deposit." Thinking probably she may have trifled with the +window, Sir John moved forward, and the wrap never being removed, he +thought it had not in any way been tampered with until Rachel espied the +corner pane. "Ah!" said she, "this is the clue to her cursed craft. This +must have had something to do with her escape." Then the thought of +Marjory's room being still closed to view she fancied might have +something also to do with the mysterious and marvellous mark of +ingenious intrigue. + +Both Sir John and Rachel tottered to Marjory's door, and demanding it to +be broken open, Sir John entered to be further astonished at her +absence, to be sure. On her bed she cannot have lain the previous night, +which was proof positive that she was an announced accomplice. But the +mystery had yet to be solved as to the action of their flight. Guilt +took strong hold on Rachel. She knew the key was always kept in a drawer +in her own room, which drawer was constantly kept locked by her and the +key hidden inside the little clock that ticked so gently on the +mantel-piece in her room; but on second thought, she was so busily +engaged during the Christmas season that actually she forgot to lock the +drawer the whole week. Never dreaming that this overlook on her part was +so cleverly taken notice of by her who not alone committed the +ruffianous act, but caused all the blame to be thrown on the party in +charge. The housekeeper, who felt sadly and very much annoyed about the +affair, grasped the whole thing--first, she thought of Marjory's +professed illness the evening previous, then how she tried her door +before going to bed, and in this attempt to enter was unsuccessful, and +that very morning there was no answer, and, finally, she was missing as +well as Lady Dunfern. The well-arranged plot pictured itself in a most +vivid manner to her who in one respect, regarding the key's safety, was +entirely to blame. + +Sir John, summoning all his men, ordered them to go at once and intimate +to the officers of the law the sudden flight of the miscreants, and to +try and find out their whereabouts; but no trace of them was as yet nigh +at hand. + +The deceived husband appeared greatly crushed under such a weight of +sorrow, and wondering whether or not they could be found, or if Oscar +Otwell, he who so often wrote to his wife during her period of +imprisonment, had ought to do with her daring adventure, aided by +Marjory Mason! It is no longer an unsolved problem that Oscar Otwell was +from first to last the chief irritating item of Sir John Dunfern's +unhappiness, and whose supposed underhand communications with Lady +Dunfern were the principal features depicted in this escape. + +These letters of Otwell's Sir John still retained, never reaching her +for whom they were intended. Opening his large Davenport that stood +close by, he extracted therefrom all the letters of the vaguish tutor, +and coming to the one received lastly, found it bore the address, +"Chitworth College, Hedley, Berks." This was so much information +regarding the rascal who was the sole means of separating Sir John +Dunfern and his wife. + +The husband, paralysed with sorrow, instantly wrote to Doctor +O'Sullivan, the President of the College, who in youthful years was his +most intimate acquaintance, and whose name appeared so often in Oscar's +letters, making the necessary inquiries relative to one of the teaching +staff named "Oscar Otwell." + +This he sealed in an envelope, and walked to the village to post it +himself. After two days' rending agony and suspense, he received the +following reply:-- + + "Chitworth College, + + Berks. + + "Dear Sir John, + + "I am very sorry to inform you that, owing to a grave despondency + which of late troubled Oscar Otwell, one of my able and talented + assistants, I was compelled, though reluctantly, to allow him + either one month's leave of absence or six weeks' if he so + desired, in order to recruit him somewhat. I strongly advised him + to seek a change of air, which I believe he did. I myself, on + receipt of your note, visited his lodgings to ascertain from his + landlady when he was likely to return. She informs me she has + never heard from him since he left, and cannot give the least + clue as to his present quarters. She adds that he took all his + belongings with him.--Trusting you enjoy good health. + + "Believe me, + + "Very sincerely yours, + + "D. O'SULLIVAN, + + Pres." + +"Merciful Father!" exclaimed Sir John, as he finished reading the +President's note, which he laid on the table. "God strengthen me to bear +this un-Christian-like calamity. Oh, my son, my son! What disgrace shall +this not bring upon you, my child, my all!" + +Pacing the floor in profound agony, Sir John rang for his housekeeper to +convey the tidings he had just received. Rachel suspected this +beforehand, but dare not even hint at such a thing to him, who had +already enough to bear. Speaking in terms which shewed manifest symptoms +of sorrow, combined with rage and perplexity, he ordered her for ever +from his service. "You," said he, "are solely to blame. Of this I am +positively convinced, and through that door march, as I never wish again +to set eyes on such a worthless woman." Here Rachel, who was grievously +affected, passed for ever from the presence of him who dared to be +questioned. + +Next of all, he ordered the footman, Tom Hepworth, into his room. "You," +said he, "are well aware of my present calamity, and might I ask of you +how my wife and Marjory Mason effected their escape from below? Had you +not the hall doors locked and likewise all the others?" Replying in the +affirmative, the footman shook like a poplar, knowing well that instead +of having in his room during the hours of repose all the keys of the +various doors which led to the outside, he allowed them to remain where +they were during the day. "Had you all those keys in your own room at +night, according to my orders since Lady Dunfern was obliged to be dealt +with in the manner already described?" demanded Sir John angrily. The +honest-hearted footman, being trapped, frankly acknowledged he had not. + +"Go, then," said his master "and seek employment elsewhere. You are no +longer fit to be here. You have neglected to carry out my orders, +therefore you must go." So saying, the sturdy footman bowed and retired. + +It no doubt caused Sir John a vast amount of pain to part with two such +helps as Rachel Hyde and Tom Hepworth; but once he formed a resolution, +nothing save death itself would break it. + +Terror seized every dependent in the mansion lest Sir John would visit +his anger on each and all in like manner. However, this was not so, +as Rachel and Tom, being longer in his service than any of the others, +caused him to intrust them with the chief care of matters of importance +in preference. And when he found out that they had so carelessly +disobeyed his injunctions, they were then compelled to reap the result. + +Tom and Rachel, in less than an hour after their master issued his words +of censure and dismissal, left the beautiful home, of such lengthy +shelter, in which they had shared their help so willingly, to plough the +field of adventure on which they now might wander. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +The affections of youth never die. They live sometimes to lift the +drooping head, and help to chase sorrow from the heart of the oppressed. +If fostered unduly they generally prove to be more closely interwoven +than if retained through honesty alone, and fight the battle of union +with cannon strength until gained for good or evil. + +Awaking from the deep sleep she so much enjoyed after her troublesome +adventures in the past, Christmas Day seemed wreathed with flowers of +heavenly fragrance for the once fair bride of Dunfern Mansion. She now +felt free to act as she thought best without undergoing an examination +which demanded answers of evasive tact--free from the hovering cloud of +dislike under which she so solemnly moved since her marriage day--free +from the wild gaze of that detestable of mortals, Rachel Hyde, who +proved as false as she was foul--free from reposing on the suicidal +couch of distrust and distress--free from the surveillance of a +so-called philanthropist; and free from the traps of tyrannical power. + +She had no longer to fear the opening door of creaking custody or +crushed hopes, and well might she now enjoy her Christmas dinner with +rural relish and savoury zest. She found in Audley Hall every simple and +inexpensive comfort, and rejoiced once more to be under the gentle rule +of him whom she would have died to serve. She seemed now to have reached +joy's greatest height, and never hoped that she should again be dashed +into the dam of denounced riches, where love was an absenter to its +silvery depth; since she had aspired to and achieved the greatest aim of +her ambition. + +Oscar Otwell's happiness knew no bounds. The trusted tutor had at last +secured the only hope he ever wished realised, although gained with +daring enterprise and false advances. He believed that life at last +possessed some charms for him, viewing matters lightly. But behind the +silvery rock of fortune there lies a hollow filled with darkened traces +of fate. + +The love dream of youth had hardly time to be told until the future +dream of wonder and dread was about to be prophesied. A couple of months +or so after Lady Dunfern took up her residence at Audley Hall found her +more a dependent than a patroness. She had recently fled from a dungeon, +still it was not one of either starvation or poverty. Whilst occupying +its darkened midst she never had any cause for complaint regarding food +or attendance, both of which could not possibly have been excelled. It +was only when staring her lover's scanty table fully that thoughts of +any nature, save cruelty, haunted her and caused a sad expression to +appear which before seemed invisible. + +Oscar, who had no means whatever of a private nature, soon commenced to +feel the touch of want as well as Lady Dunfern. He had no situation, +neither had he the means to afford the homeliest fare, and although made +owner of his present habitation, yet it was only conditionally he +obtained it from his uncle. Must not the great love they naturally had +for each other have been of very superlative strength, since it bade +adieu to boundless wealth on the one hand and a comfortable allowance on +the other, to face the future with penniless pride! + +Advertisements were often seen in the leading journals for a situation, +and once the name "Oscar Otwell" appeared below. It was treated with +muffled silence, so much so that after a month's daily appealing to a +praiseworthy public, the result proved a decided failure. + +Did he imagine his conduct in robbing Sir John Dunfern of his youthful +wife would be appreciated by a public band of critics? Did he by his +various attempts to enter the minds of the needy ever think to solicit +their assistance or gain their confidence by tearing asunder the lawful +bond of superficial union and right, casting it upon the sieve of +shattered shelter to separate the corn of crowded comfort from the chaff +of crafty want? + +Oscar Otwell, whose literary abilities were proved beyond doubt, and +which were the sole source of his existence, was, by his conduct and +craving desire, driven into the pit of trifling tenure and allowed to +lie dormant until again aroused in a clime to which he soon must wend +his wasted way. + +It was now that the heated passion of youth's folly became abated as +Oscar was beginning to near his purse's wrinkled bottom, and failing in +his strenuous efforts to secure a tutorship, was smartly made to feel +that he must visit a land of strangers, where height of ability and +depth of character were alike unquestioned. It was at this stage, too, +that Lady Dunfern was made to taste of the dish of fanciful wish in +which she often dipped her slender fingers to sprinkle her body of +dishonesty. She got time now to brood over her actions of silly +execution and hatch them with heated hunger. The orphan, the pampered, +the honoured was at this period the deluded, the mocked, the hungered. + +This was only the beginning of what must follow; and where did the blame +attachable rest? But on the shoulders of her who had edged the road of +unreasonable revenge, and stripped herself of the covering of coveted +cost to array herself in linen of loose lore and lengthy wear, and die, +it may be, on the wayside of want. + +The shaft of poverty still kept striking the inmates of Audley Hall, +until forced to withdraw its clumsy blow. There was evidently now plenty +of scope for the talent of the learned Oscar to develop; he must plan +how to arrive at an idea that would bring to the occupants of his +temporary home the necessaries of which they stood immediately in need. +Failing in his efforts to gain one step towards relief, Lady Dunfern +advised the disposal of Audley Hall privately, which, she strongly +hinted to Oscar, was their only path of safety from the door of +starvation. To this suggestion she succeeded in gaining his consent. + +He accordingly, acting upon her advice, wrote to Doctor O'Sullivan, +President of Chitworth College, intimating to him his present +circumstances and intention, and begged of him to use his best efforts +in sending him a purchaser, the sale to be kept strictly private for +reasons which, presently, he felt too delicate to explain. + +In a week or so after, a gentleman was seen approach the door of Oscar's +home, and making the necessary inquiries regarding the price Oscar meant +to accept for it, offered the sum of one thousand pounds, which, +needless to say, was gladly accepted. + +The purchaser was rather an elderly gentleman, with chiselled features, +tall and straight, and seemed to have borne the melting heat of a +far-off clime to a large extent. He informed Oscar that being a retired +army pensioner, named Major Iddesleigh, he chose to leave the foreign +land in which he sojourned for upwards of thirty-five years and reside +in his native county, adding that he was a widower, having had two sons, +both of whom predeceased him, and preferred a home of his own rather +than take up quarters he could not solely claim. + +He went on to say he had an only brother, a colonel, who formerly +resided at Flixton, a quaint little town on the east coast of Kent. He +had not heard from him for many years, and was resolved on arriving in +England to lose no time in finding out his whereabouts, and, much to his +grave disappointment and vexation, he was informed, whilst staying for a +few days with President O'Sullivan, that he and his wife had long since +been dead, leaving an only daughter, of whom he was now in earnest +pursuit. Oscar's deadly countenance during the latter part of Major +Iddesleigh's remarks filled the mind of the purchaser of Audley Hall +with thoughts of wonder, and on casting a sharp and penetrating stare at +her who passed as Oscar's wife, he was similarly struck with intense awe +at the sudden change that swept over her handsome face. + +Her brain whirled with dire excitement on being at last informed of him +who for years previous she considered had been a member of the missing +majority. + +"Great and Merciful Forgiver!" thought Lady Dunfern, "am I at last face +to face with Major Iddesleigh, whose name has been so often the subject +of conversation with both Lord and Lady Dilworth?" Gathering her +thoughts and submitting them to subjection, she tried to subdue her +shattered nerves and lock them under proper restraint, until her uncle +should safely be out of sight on his way back to the home of the +kind-hearted President of Chitworth College. + +She had not, however, the slightest thought of making him cognisant of +the fact that she was the proud and lovely daughter of his brother, the +late Colonel Iddesleigh--the once-adored wife of the widely respected +and generous owner of Dunfern Estate, and now the tempted tool of +emigration. + +She prayed in her bewilderment that she might escape unknown to him, +rather than make him aware of the disgrace into which her past conduct +had unmistakably plunged her. Bidding Oscar and her "Adieu," Major +Iddesleigh left what was to be his future home, and returned to Doctor +O'Sullivan to acquaint him of his purchase. + +Before he had even reached the College on his way from Audley Hall, +Oscar Otwell, Lady Dunfern, and Marjory had booked for New York, on +board the "Delwyn," and when the worthy President was informed of the +purchase, the dashing waves of Atlantic waters were raising themselves +to a considerable height before the eyes of the fugitives, who nervously +paced the deck of danger in despair and deepest thought of their foul +transaction and Major Iddesleigh, lest before they reached their destiny +he would be made possessor of his niece's conduct, and, with the warlike +will of a soldier of strength, follow her, and bring her back to Audley +Hall to administer to his many wants and comforts, and bequeath to her +all he possessed. + +Nor did Oscar Otwell, whose nerves were reaching their shaky height, +feel free until safely ensconsed in a trim little cottage on the +outskirts of Dobbs Ferry, some miles distant from the suburbs of New +York. Oscar's first thought, after being quietly settled in his new +home, was to bind himself for life to be the husband of her who had +risked so much to bring him the joy he long sought after; and within one +month after their safe arrival in New York borders, the pretty little +church, situated at the east end of Dobbs Ferry, was the scene of a +charming group of wealthy sight-seers and warm admirers of the handsome +bride of Oscar Otwell, who had lately regained some of her former +spirits, which enlivened her to a pleasing extent, and manifested signs +of joy where lines of sorrow so lately lived. + +It was for this celebration that Lady Dunfern arrayed herself in the +gorgeous gown of purest duchesse satin, which bore such a train of past +remembrances. Why its puffs of pearly wealth surrounded her well-formed +figure on the celebration of her marriage with him who long ago should +have claimed its shining folds, may be considered mysterious. But in +this, as well as in many other instances, the busy brain of Marjory +Mason was prime mover. + +During Lady Dunfern's confinement in the mansion over which she unjustly +was appointed mistress, Sir John Dunfern, never suspecting the maid of +her on whom he was driven to lavish correction, appointed Marjory +mistress of her ladyship's wardrobe, and it was during her term of +office that she stole from its midst the box containing the beautiful +Parisian outfit which failed to put in an appearance on Lady Dunfern's +previous wedding-day. This Marjory kept, until safe in the shady cot of +comfort which encompassed within its wooden walls the trio of adventure. +Lady Dunfern resolved that this gown should be kept a prisoner until +either worn with a face of happiness and prided ambition or never worn +at all. + +On entering the church on the morning of her marriage with Oscar, how +every eye was turned towards the beautiful woman whose radiant smile +gained the hearts of each and all of its occupants. There she stood +before the holy altar with calm resolution and undaunted fear, and her +elegant bearing and manner throughout the trying ceremony were +thoroughly appreciated by the assembly. + +Oscar bore slight traces of nervousness throughout the oratorical +ordeal, and was rejoiced indeed as he turned to leave the scene of such +outbursts of praise, taking with him her who was to be his coveted +partner for life; her, whose footsteps he so often worshipped in days +gone by; her, who entered into treaty legally with a man she never could +learn to love; her, whom he now claimed as his own, and for whom he +stumbled over many an awkward and winding stile, until at last his +footsteps had reached the path of level tread, on which he hoped to +travel until his journey would be ended to that distant land where +strife is a stranger. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +The wealthy, the haughty, the noble must alike taste of disappointment. +They court ideas whilst surrounded with bountiful store to be fostered +and fed with heaven-bordered hopes which nothing save denial could +thwart. The meek, the humble, the poor share equally in its visitation, +and learn not to frown at its unwelcome intrusion while they bear the +load of blighted hopes with unshrinking modesty. + +At Dunfern Mansion matters seemed at a standstill, since that Christmas +Day which began with such sunshine and ended with such misery. Energy +had fled from the able-bodied staff of servants who occupied its rooms +of plentiful repast. Each and all of them seemed as if death had entered +their midst and snapped from amongst them their sole support. + +Was it because of Rachel Hyde's hasty departure? No! They had now no +domineering inflicter of petticoat power to check their honest actions +or words; no eyes of dreaded terror viewing through spectacles of sin +their little faults, and submitting them, in exaggerated form, to the +ear of him who now lay so dangerously ill; no false face masked in +brasen mould, nor tongue of touchy cut to divide their friendship. +Rachel Hyde, whose word, nay, look, was law, was driven from the +presence of him who too long was blind to her false approaches, and who +always treated her with more leniency and consideration than she really +deserved, never again to mount a pinnacle of trust and truth, or share +in the confidence of such a just and true specimen of humanity as Sir +John Dunfern. She had been made to reap the crops of cunning falsehood, +sown so oft in the fields of honour and true worth, and pocket the +result of their flimsy income. She, by her long service of artifice, +had scattered the seeds of scepticism so thickly around the corners of +harmony, goodwill, and peace as to almost defy their speedy removal; but +time would swamp their silent growth and supplant in their stead roots +of integrity, justice, and benevolence. She had at last been cast on the +mercy of a world of icy indifference to facts of long standing, and made +to taste of the stagnant waters of pity, which flung their muddy drops +of rancid rascality on the face of dogmatic dread, until crushed beneath +their constant clash she yielded her paltry right to Him Whose order +must never be disobeyed. + +Tom Hepworth, whose absence was partly the cause of sorrow within the +breasts of his fellow-workers in Dunfern Mansion, was much to be pitied; +he was the very soul of honour, and was highly respected by all who knew +him. In his presence every care vanished like snow in sunshine; the +pitiful look that shot from the eye of the down-trodden in Rachel Hyde's +presence was thrown aside when Tom appeared. He acted as a father and +friend on all occasions where trouble reigned supreme, and never failed +to hear the light laugh of youth proceed from its hidden bed, where it +too often reposed untouched. + +Tom Hepworth, whose race was nearly run, when leaving Dunfern Mansion +took refuge in the home of Mrs. Durand, his sister, who lived only a +short distance from where he had spent more than a third part of his +existence. A few months only elapsed whilst under her roof when he was +seized with a fit of apoplexy, terminating in a few hours a life of +usefulness and blameless bearing. The shock of his sudden demise, when +conveyed to his master, whom he revered, brought on a severe attack of +hemorrhage, under which Sir John Dunfern now lay prostrate. + +Not a week passed after Lady Dunfern took up residence at Audley Hall +until Sir John was informed of her whereabouts. Had her escape been +effected unknown to Oscar Otwell, it would scarcely have taken such hold +on the mind of him who, unfortunately, claimed her as his wife; but to +think he had again been duped by a rascally pauper tutor was a pill too +difficult to swallow without being moderately reduced. The troubles that +visit the just are many, and of these Sir John had ample share. He knew, +when too late, that he had jumped the drain of devotion with too much +intensity to gain a worthless reward. + +He was tempted to invest in the polluted stocks of magnified extension, +and when their banks seemed swollen with rotten gear, gathered too often +from the winds of wilful wrong, how the misty dust blinded his sense of +sight and drove him through the field of fashion and feeble effeminacy, +which he once never meant to tread, landing him on the slippery rock of +smutty touch, to wander into its hidden cavities of ancient fame, there +to remain a blinded son of injustice and unparallelled wrong! All these +thoughts seized the blighted protector of the late Colonel Iddesleigh's +orphan daughter; and being gradually augmented by many others of private +and public importance, rose, like a tumour of superfluous matter, and +burst asunder on receiving the last blow relative to poor old Tom +Hepworth. + +Sir John in a few weeks gradually grew stronger, until finally he +baffled his severe illness with Christian bravery, and was again able to +keep the ball of industry moving in the direction indicated during his +years of singleness, on which he now looked back, alas! not with sorrow, +but pride. + +During all this trying time, however, it must be admitted there shone +one bright star of filial attraction which seemed to shoot its reflected +lines of loving brightness towards him, whose face always beamed with +delight in return. Yes, his little son Hugh, who had been placed under +the care of Madam Fulham, since Lady Dunfern, by her conduct, could no +longer fill the post of mother, had grown to be a bright child, able to +totter around his nursery toys of cost and variety. He always seemed a +cheerful, intelligent boy, and extremely beautiful, but inclined to be +slightly self-willed, a trait which developed itself more and more as +years rolled on. + +At the age of six, Sir John, abhorring the advice of his many friends to +procure for him a tutor, had him sent to Canterbury High School, where +he remained for a period of five years as boarder, under the careful +charge of Professor Smeath, a man of the highest literary attainments, +and whose exemplary training of the many youths placed under his august +rule was so pronounced as to leave no room for doubt in the minds of the +many parents who intrusted their respective charges to him. Each week +during this period found Sir John a visitor at Canterbury; he gave every +instruction necessary to Professor Smeath that would serve to interest +his son in any way, and strictly prohibited him from allowing any +outsider whatever, male or female, an interview with his boy, always +treating with dread the wily ways of her who claimed to be once his +partner, and who had brought a shower of everlasting shame upon himself +and child. This order had only to be issued once to the stern professor +carrying out on all possible occasions any instructions received from +the parents of the pupils under his control with unflinching and +undeniable reliance. + +During these five years of Hugh Dunfern's instruction at Canterbury, Sir +John was seen to gradually grow careless and despondent. The healthy +glow of youth disappeared daily since domestic affliction entered his +home, and wrote its living lines of disgust with steady hand on the brow +which was now thickly marked with them. He got too much time to meditate +on the immediate past, which was considerably augmented by the absence +of his son. + +He was known to sit for hours at a time in deep and painful thought, and +it was only when aroused by Madam Fulham that he ever cared to stir from +his much-frequented couch of rest; she whom he appointed housekeeper in +Rachel Hyde's stead, and who acted as well mother to his little son +until removed to school--she extended him every attention, of which he +stood in great need, after his severe attack of illness and trial, +bodily and mentally. + +Time rolled along until his son's return from Canterbury, whose very +presence should have healed the gaping wounds his absence inflicted, and +chased away all gloomy cavities from the mind of Sir John. On the day of +Hugh's home-coming, after five years' training under Professor Smeath, +which should have been a day of gladness and rejoicing throughout +Dunfern Mansion, it was only one of sadness for the heart-broken father. + +Bouncing into the room with boyish pride, Hugh ran and proudly embraced +him, who, in return, stood face to face with the very image of her whom +he could never again own. + +There were the rounded forehead, the aquiline nose, the hazel eyes, the +nut-brown hair, the ruby lips, the pearly teeth, the dimpled cheeks and +tiny chin of his mother, who probably was grappling at the crumbs of +pauperism! However, Sir John manfully tried to hide from his boy the +source of his grave looks, until some day of revelation would demand +their blackened origin to be boldly announced to him who as yet was +solely ignorant of his mother being alive. + +Six weeks' holiday passed too quickly, Hugh thought, until he would +another time be compelled to quit his home of unbounded luxury and enter +Chitworth College, Berks, for a further period of instruction, the +length of which events alone would define. + +Although the very name of Chitworth College brought reminiscences of +dislike to him who suffered so much from one of its former staff, yet +those days had fled, and with them the footsteps of flaming stratagem. + +Being a personal friend of Professor O'Sullivan, Sir John preferred his +son to reside with him, and receive under his able control all the +necessary acquirements devolving upon a son of such a proud and +distinguished race. The morning at last arrived for Hugh to start on his +college career, and, accompanied by his father, was not long in +completing the journey. + +The interview between Sir John and his attached friend, Doctor +O'Sullivan, was affecting in the extreme, so much so that Hugh, being an +entire stranger to such outbursts of grief, and not being prepared for +such sudden emotional and silent greeting as that now witnessed by him, +began to feel it impossible to refrain from joining in their sorrow. + +Throwing his youthful arms around his father's neck, he sobbed +hysterically, and could only be quieted when his father again appeared +cheerful. + +Leaving his son in charge of Doctor O'Sullivan, the latter retired from +duty that day, and begged Sir John to remain over-night, adding that he +would so much like to have a chat with him over matters he had known, +and was persuaded to believe caused heartfelt pity to be secreted where +once there dwelt heartfelt pride. To this proposal Sir John consented +willingly, not caring to leave his gentle and much-loved boy so soon +after such a trying meeting as that which he not alone witnessed between +friends of old standing, but in which he modestly and sympathetically +joined. + +All the past gravity which marred Sir John Dunfern's mirth and +usefulness, and which he kept attracted to one common centre, crept from +its crazy cell on this evening. So soon as dinner was over the President +and Sir John retired to a room of seclusion, and the intense relief it +gave the trodden and blighted messenger of manhood to at last have a +friend in whom he could confide no one could half imagine! + +For fully five hours both sat talking confidentially to each other and +sympathising when necessary, and it was only during this conversation +that Sir John was first made acquaint either of his wife's marriage with +Oscar or her present abode, neither of which, in the President's +estimation, moved the husband of treachery in its most mischievous form +much. + +The news of his wife being Mrs. Otwell, instead of the honourable name +her conduct ordered her to bury, only served to cast for ever the gentle +words of practical remembrance Sir John had in his last will and +testament concerning her into an unknown chasm. Until now the forgiving +husband, the meek adviser, the patient sufferer, the wounded knight, +the once attached partner, the loving father, and the son of justice, +gratitude, and chastity was ready to share a little of his ransom with +her whom he thought he may have probably wronged by too rigorous +punishment. But President O'Sullivan, whose well-guided words and +fatherly advice had on this evening so sealed the mind of forgiveness +with the wax of disinterested intent that Sir John, on his arrival home, +at once sent for his solicitors, Messrs. Hutchinson & Harper, and +ordering his will to be produced, demanded there and then that the pen +of persuasion be dipped into the ink of revenge and spread thickly along +the paragraph of blood-related charity to blank the intolerable words +that referred to the woman he was now convinced, beyond doubt, had +braved the bridge of bigamy. Some slight alterations, in consequence, +were necessary to be made, and these being righted, the will of Sir John +Dunfern remained a prisoner until released on the day of execution, +which as yet could not possibly be named. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Hark! The bell tolled its death-like strains, faint as the far-off +fatherland, steady as the starlight, and sweet as the scent of the +blooming woodbine. The hour of departure is sure and settled, the loss +is sharply felt, the gain completed, and vigorous attempts to retain +both are oftentimes multiplying on the exertions of the benefitted. + +During all these years of revolution the wheel of action rounded its +roads of revelling, riot, and separation. Shandon Cottage, the little +house of Oscar Otwell, where he took up residence when first a visitor +to the land of laudable ingenuity, was a pretty structure, and would +doubtless have proved a little palace of peace to two such lovers had +the means been forthcoming to keep the glare of poverty within its bed +of stillness, and prohibit its visitation where least desired. + +Oscar, who, during his English career, never was possessor of aught but +a slight pittance derived from the sources of his mental labours, and +who courted the vain idea, on being made the recipient of £1,000, which +he pocketed under false pretences by the underhand sale of Audley Hall, +that he was a man of wealth for life, and when safely settled in his +trim little cottage, squandered his trifle in a very short time, leaving +himself and wife on the mercy of strangers' sympathy, which more or less +presents an icy aspect to the eye of the needy. + +Marjory Mason, who just spent twelve months under Oscar's roof, was +fortunate in securing a husband, whose calling kept her during her short +lifetime aloof from the imaginative pinches of the uncertain future. + +It was only when Oscar was forced to evade starvation that he deemed it +imperative to accept an appointment in a public school, at the yearly +income of one thousand dollars, an office he retained until compelled to +resign through courting too great love for the all-powerful monster of +mangled might--Intemperance. After a number of years the partaker of +maddened love was the imparter of maddened might. + +With beastly force did Oscar Otwell enter Shandon Cottage on the night +of his open dismissal from Waketown Public School, and arousing from +sleep his wife, with monster oaths inflicted upon her strokes of abuse +which time could never efface. + +Ah! it was now the actions of youthful frivolity stood before her +mountain high and baffled her sickly retort. It was now she pored over +her journal of events, which seemed a burthen unbearable for such a +fragile frame, and begged the credit side to be for ever closed to her +view, whilst she prayed that the debit be left open until she would +enter therein all her past debts to him whom she deceived, deluded, +denounced, and despised. + +Next morning mended matters little for Oscar Otwell's wife. Still raging +with drunken horror, he lavished upon her torrents of insinuations, +which she found impossible to overlook, and which forced her to take +refuge in the house of the Reverend Bertram Edgar, near by. This man of +true piety, at whose church she had occasionally worshipped, extended +the refuge she presently implored, and proved instrumental in securing +for her the position of governess in a nobleman's family some miles +distant. + +Disposing of all the household effects, Oscar pocketed their dainty +worth, and left Shandon Cottage in earnest pursuit of his wife, +intending to again return to their native county in England. + +His various inquiries regarding her whereabouts proved vain as the +vanishing shadow of Venus, and finally, when completely overcome with +sober thoughts of his riotous conduct towards the loving and faithful +object of his choice, who had risked so much for him, he cursed his very +existence. + +A few weeks found him in utter destitution, without either house or +chattels to illegally dispose of in case of emergency, and line his +pockets of pauperism with coin of dishonest stamp and flashing forgery. +Unsuccessful in his worthless attempts to further manifest a standing in +the literary world, and being driven almost crazy in his eager efforts +to ascertain whither his wife had bent her footsteps, he, in a moment of +madness, resolved to resign himself to that ever-anxious defender of +Satanic rights who prowls about in ambush until safely securing his prey +with the crooked claws of callous craft. + +Walking along in the moonlight in the direction of Afton Lake, which +sometimes offers its deep waters too freely to victims of sin and +suffering, Oscar Otwell resolved to bathe his body of perilous adventure +in its darkened waters of deepest death, never more to face the troubles +and trials of weak man and share them with weaker woman--never again to +approach the wife of his bosom with language of lowest type or lift to +her the hand which he so often had sworn should extend her the aid she +now must seek. + +Arriving at the water's edge, Oscar Otwell divested himself of his +scanty attire, and in another moment was struggling in the freezing +element which soon should shroud his future with robe of blackest doubt. + +Dunraven Hall was situated only a mile from Afton Lake, and was +inhabited by the Honourable Eric Eustace, a nobleman of unbounded +wealth, whose extension of charity was both wide and varied. It was in +this family that Mrs. Otwell was fortunate enough in securing the +position before referred to through the instrumentality of her spiritual +adviser. + +On the night that Oscar Otwell resigned his worldly career, there beat +one heart in Dunraven Hall with wild emotion. Mrs. Otwell, retiring to +bed as usual, found sleep had altogether fled, and rising from her +springy structure of restlessness, dressed herself and paced the bedroom +floor enveloped in dread. She was convinced something was about to +happen, and struggling in her great efforts to baffle the fear that +haunted her night and day lately, she resolved, so soon as daybreak +peeped its cheerful face through her window, to take a walk along the +road in order to cast her fears upon the highway of forgetfulness. + +Wrapping herself in her warmest cloak, she soon was found walking +rapidly along in silence on the road that swept round Afton Lake. She +had not gone far when people were seen to mount the fence that conducted +them to the nearest point of its watery expanse, which lay about fifty +perches from the main road. + +Courting her curiosity with nervous fear, she walked along, wondering +what had happened to attract such crowds. And finding it rather +difficult to refrain from making inquiry from some of the gathering, who +by this time had hurriedly been retracing their flighty footsteps from +the imaginative scene of death, Mrs. Otwell, modestly approaching a +female who swiftly hopped over the fence in tears, asked what had +happened. + +"Oh, madam," cried the woman, "the clothing of a gentleman was seen +early this morning as David Gillespie, a labourer, was engaged at a +drain hard by. It was neatly folded and deposited on the brink. Surely +some one must have been demented and drowned himself in Afton Lake. +The authorities are now on the spot and refuse to mention who the +gentleman is." + +Thanking her for kindly informing her of what she had both seen and +heard, Mrs. Otwell hurried back to Dunraven Hall in nervous +astonishment, and hastily proceeded to her bedroom to prepare herself +for what soon must follow. + +The breakfast being shortly afterwards announced, Mrs. Otwell, pale as +death, entered the room, and taking her accustomed seat to partake of +it, as best she could. She had scarcely got properly seated ere two +officers of the law were seen approach Dunraven Hall. Ringing furiously, +they demanded an interview with the Hon. Eric Eustace. + +Satisfied as to the name of his present governess, they wished to be +allowed to see her, which request was willingly granted. Being told that +morning by the gardener at Dunraven Hall, who ran to the spot on hearing +the news, that a lady named Mrs. Otwell permanently resided at the Hall +as governess, the authorities immediately grasped the fact that she +might be the unfortunate widow, and on putting the usual questions to +her concerning her husband, they were still further convinced as to her +identity. Drawing from his pocket a parcel containing Oscar's card, +photo, and a letter addressed to Mrs. Oscar Otwell, the officer in +charge asked her to read it aloud, which she did in a rather trembling +voice, without betraying such signs of grief as anticipated. The letter +ran thus:-- + + "Dobbs' Ferry, + + Friday Night, + + 11 p.m. + + "Dearest Irene and Wife,-- + + "Should ever this reach your length, I trust you will pardon me + for the rash act I am about to commit. + + "Since the morning you left me at Shandon Cottage my sorrow has + been greater than my present frame of mind can well support. I, + therefore, have decided on ending my days of starvation by hiding + for ever beneath the glassy surface of Alton Lake to shield my + wicked body from further inflicting upon you the wrongs I have + perpetrated in the past, and for which I am grievously tormented. + + "Dearest Irene, I hope you, in your past great warmth of devotion + for me (your poor tutor and husband), will forgive my late + ungentlemanly conduct in striking you so cowardly on the eve of my + downfall, and thereby breaking the confidence you reposed in me + for such a lengthened period of our existence. + + "From what I know of your noble character, I have every faith in + your forgiveness, and rest assured, I never mean to face death + without imploring you to rectify, if ever in your power, the wrong + you accomplished, partly at my request, in breaking the holy cord + of union which bound you during your natural existence to Sir John + Dunfern, and again uniting it under foul auspices. + + "Had I been so fortunate as to secure you first of all, my + conscience, certainly, would at this moment be both clear and + unclouded. But feeling persuaded I have robbed that nobleman who + now possibly is pining for separation from a world of shame and + sorrow underneath the lordly roof of Dunfern Mansion, I am + positively convinced, under such dangling dishonour, that never + more can this world of sin extend to me the comfort I in vain have + tried to seek. + + "Awake, then, my beloved, to whom I attach not the slightest + blame, to a sense of feeling and justice, and go, I implore of + you, and cast yourself at the feet of him and beg his forgiveness, + who loved you with a love unspeakable--who severed nearly all his + self-indulgence with the instrument of intensity and hesitated not + to lavish it upon the head of her to whom I offer my last advice. + Then shall you meet the messenger--death--not with shrinking fear + (like me), but daring bravery. + + "Of your present position or abode I am totally unaware, but, + dearest wife, I trust your race of penury is almost run, and that + your latter years may be crowned with Christian fortitude and + ease, and freed from the thorny dart of the wicked, in whose grave + I must soon lie unwept. + + "Good bye, for ever! + + From your affectionate + + "OSCAR. + + "Mrs. Oscar Otwell + + (Address unknown)." + +Folding the letter, and handing it to the officers, together with +Oscar's card and photograph--all of which would prove indispensable for +their future use--Mrs. Otwell quietly moved again to the breakfast room, +and, strange to say, finished her meal in silence. + +Then turning to him in whose service she was, intimated her intention to +sail for England when the missing body would be recovered, which she +meant to bury in Greenwood Cemetery. She lingered on in eager +expectation of casting one final look at her husband, but week after +week died away without any sign of it being forthcoming, and all hope +being fled, Mrs. Otwell resolved to lose no further time in returning to +her home of nativity, in order to obey the last instructions from the +hand of Oscar Otwell, from whom she was reluctantly obliged to part in +the manner described. + +Another side the picture of futurity presented for the anxious mother, +and that was to try and obtain an interview with her son, who at this +period must be a boy of some fifteen summers. Having everything in +readiness for her journey to her native land, Mrs. Otwell left Dunraven +Hall amidst torrents of sympathy and warm expressions from every member +of the family; and it was when driving past Afton Lake for the last time +on her way to the deck of the "Delwyn" that the crushed widow of Oscar +Otwell and legal wife of Sir John Dunfern was made to taste of the +unlimited sorrow of her sad career. + +There she was, a stranger in a foreign land--an outcast to the society +she shone so brilliantly amongst during years that were now no more, the +fostered orphan, the adopted daughter of heiressed nothing, the wife of +devotional distinction, the illegal partner of crutchy poverty, and the +penniless widow of undeniable woe. + +She was not even granted the ghostly pleasure of viewing her lover's +lifeless body, that would have ended her thoughts relative to him, at +least for a time, but as matters stood encircled in doubt, there was +nothing left save trouble and anxiety for her whose futurity must ever +be shaded. + +On approaching the harbour of New York, her attention was attracted by a +tall gentleman standing not many yards distant, and being so long +familiar with his appearance, she found the object of attraction to be +no other than Lord Dilworth. Ordering the cabman to a standstill, she +popped her head out in utter astonishment, and shouted in such a strain +as to instantly attract his attention. Alighting with ardent enthusiasm +in the very midst of her troubles, she soon found herself in the arms of +Lord Dilworth, who appeared utterly dazed. + +"Protector of Powers? can it be Irene? Lady Dunfern, I mean?" gasped he +in bewilderment. To which she bowed, blinded in tears, and in as few +words as possible, he related a short narrative concerning both himself +and Lady Dilworth, who had long since been dead. On hearing of the death +of the once noble mistress of Dilworth Castle, Mrs. Otwell seemed as +lifeless as a marble statue, and trying vigorously to regain strength +after such a sudden shock, she, in a few broken snatches, related her +plotted career; but misery having likewise carpeted Lord Dilworth's +floors of fate so much of late, he consequently did not seem so +astonished as imagined. + +Leaving Mrs. Otwell so far as his time permitted, he pathetically took +his final farewell, and shortly after was busy pouring over his books in +Franklin Street, office No. 715, where he was employed as a clerk at +five hundred dollars a year. + +On the other hand, the mighty ocean palace was steering firmly against +the clashing breakers with unobstructed speed, acting as protector and +friend to all those who entrusted themselves to its unsettled shelter. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +The mighty orb of gladness spreads its divine halo over many a harrowed +home--it encircles the great expanse of foreign adventure and +home-hoarded enterprise, and wields its awakening influence against the +burthened boroughs of bigotry and lightened land of liberty to a sense +of gilded surprise. + +The laurels of separation were twining their oily leaves and speedily +constructing a crown for the brow of Sir John Dunfern. After returning +from Chitworth College, and ordering the last few finishing touches to +be made in his will, he grew more drooped and heartless every year, and +seemed almost indifferent to life's ploughing changes. + +He felt acutely the information imparted to him by President O'Sullivan +regarding the wife he now for ever despised, and who unlawfully belonged +to Oscar Otwell. He even felt more severely the effect of such on +account of his beloved boy, who was steadily endeavouring to increase +his slight store of knowledge under the watchful eye of the most +scholarly personage of the day. + +He knew ere long--owing to his present state of health, brought to such +a low ebb by the mother of his son--that he would be obliged to open to +Hugh the book of nature as it stood past and present, and instruct him +in its disagreeable pages. + +The thought of opening up the past, with its stains of dissipation, +perhaps acted on the mind of Sir John more severely than the reality. +Yet he must brave himself for the trial when opportunity offered, lest +it might be too late. + +The time for Hugh Dunfern's fourth summer vacation was close at hand. +The boy's genial manner, affability, and frankness, gained for him hosts +of friends at Chitworth College, and equally numerous were the sharers +in his sorrow on receiving a telegram a very short time before his +summer holidays commenced to the effect that his father had taken +suddenly ill, and asking him to delay as little as he possibly could +during his journey to Dunfern Mansion, which must commence immediately. + +The poor, sorrow-stricken boy, who was deeply attached to his father, +was quite overcome with grief. Bidding "Good bye" to all his college +companions, and taking affectionate leave of his masters and President +O'Sullivan, he left the much-loved seat of learning, never more to +compete in its classes of clever instruction and high moral +bearing--never again to watch with craving eye the distribution of +letters, and rejoice on observing his father's crested envelope being +gently reached him by the President; and no more to share in the many +innocent games of youth, at some of which he was an unequalled expert. + +The dull hum of voices in the hall of his home met his anxious ear on +the eve of his home-coming, and told a tale without further inquiry. +Meeting the three most eminent London physicians--namely, Doctors +Killen, Crombie, and Smiley, in the library, where they held a long +consultation, Hugh was nerved somewhat before entering the chamber of +death with words of truth regarding his father's hopeless condition; +and, on moving quietly to his father's bed, how the lad of tender years +was struck with awe at the bleached resemblance of what used to be a +rosy, healthy father! + +Perceiving his son's bent and weeping form hang over him with meekest +resignation, Sir John cast aside the bedclothes, and, extending his +hand, caught firm hold of his son's. Hugh spoke not a word, by order of +the doctors, lest his father, who was now bereft of speech, would feel +the pain of not being able to reply in return. + +The suffering patient lingered on in this dumb condition for six weeks, +when suddenly he regained speech partly, but only for some hours--a +great dispensation of the Almighty, no doubt, in answer to the silent +prayers of the invalid. It was first noticed by Madam Fulham, who proved +a mighty help to Sir John since his wife's flight. + +On entering the chamber of sickness one morning with a new bottle of +medicine, sent direct from London, Sir John raised himself slightly on +his left elbow and made inquiry about his son. + +With hurried and gladdened step was Madam Fulham seen to glide from the +presence of her master, and hasten to find Hugh, who was noticed to pace +the topmost corridor in agony. + +On observing his father had regained speech after his paralytic attack +had somewhat abated, how great was his son's delight! Drawing forth a +chair to the bedside of the august patient, Hugh, quite unprepared, +received the awful intelligence of his mother's conduct and life from +the lips of the afflicted, who, in broken accents, related the tale of +trouble which for years had kept him a prisoner to its influence. + +Taking his son's hand in his, Sir John Dunfern, after audibly, yet a +little indistinctly, offering up a prayer of thanks to Him Who never +overlooks the words of the just, for His great mercy in again enabling +him to regain his sense of speech, of which he so lately had been +deprived, began:-- + +"My much-loved and faithful son, I, your father, am now stricken down in +the middle almost of manhood, and am sensitive to the fact that a short +space of time--yea, a short space too--must inevitably elapse until I +shall be ordered from this temporary abode, which now to me seems only a +floating speck of shelter in the great ocean of time. I am more than +thankful that recovery of speech has been granted me for many reasons, +which, I fear, my strength cannot permit to be fully explained. However, +my great wish to acquaint you of my miserable married career shall, +I trust, not be barred from your knowledge by any further visitation of +Kingly Power. + +"You are aware, my son, that this mansion which soon shall own me no +more has been the scene of my frolicking boyhood, my joyful manhood, +and, I must now tell you, the undying trouble of a blighted married +life. + +"Your mother's name was Irene Iddesleigh, the orphan daughter, +I understand, of one Colonel Iddesleigh, of Flixton, in this county. Her +father and mother both died about the same time, leaving their daughter +absolutely unprovided for. She was taken to an orphanage at the early +age of three years, and there remained for a period of eight more, when, +through the kindness of one Lord Dilworth, of Dilworth Castle, of whose +existence I have already acquainted you, she was brought under his +charge, and remained as his adopted daughter until, unfortunately, +I brought her here as my wife. + +"I cannot help informing you that she was the most beautiful and +prepossessing young lady I ever met, and, on making her acquaintance at +a ball given by Lord and Lady Dilworth, at Dilworth Castle, not far +distant, as you know, I became so intoxicated with her looks of +refinement and undoubted beauty that I never regained sobriety until she +promised to become my wife! + +"The beginning of our married career was bright enough, I dare say, for +some weeks only, when she grew very strange in her manner towards me. +So remarkably strange, that I was reluctantly compelled to demand an +explanation. Being satisfied with her false apologies, used as a way out +of her difficulty, I remained content. She still continued nevertheless +to maintain the same cold indifference towards me until your birth. + +"Knowing that a son was born to me, who, if spared, would still keep up +the good old name of Dunfern, I became altogether a foreigner to her +past conduct, and it was only when recovering from her illness, after +your birth, that I caught hold of the trap of deception she had laid +since long before our marriage. + +"She was found out to be the idolized of one man named Oscar Otwell, who +occupied the position of tutor to her during her years of adoption; and +not even did her love in return for him cease when I claimed her as my +lawful wife, but continued, so far as I know, until now! + +"I was therefore obliged through her mal-practices to shut her in from +the gaze of outsiders, and also from my own. I chose Room No. 10 of this +building as her confined apartment. You were only a child then of some +two months, and, since, I have never beheld her face, which was false as +it was lovely. + +"My rage was boundless on the day I ordered her into my presence in that +room, and, labouring under the passion of a jealous husband, I told her +I would confine her within its walls so long as she existed. + +"Over a year passed along, every month of which I grew more and more +repentant, until the second Christmas of her seclusion, when I fully +resolved to free her once more; at the same time, never again to share +in my society or companionship. + +"But, behold! the mischievous hand of her maid, Marjory Mason, whose +services I retained after her imprisonment, was busy working its way for +her escape, which she nimbly succeeded in effecting, exactly on the +morning of Christmas Day, by stealing from the room of Rachel Hyde, +Madam Fulham's predecessor, the key of her door, and thereby released +your mother. Ah! my son, from that hour my life has been a worthless +coin, the harp of hideous helplessness struck forth its tunes of +turmoil, trouble, and trial, and poured its mixed strains of life and +death so vividly in my ear, that since I have, in a measure, been only a +wanderer between their striking sounds of extremes. + +"I shortly afterwards learned she took refuge in Audley Hall, +a residence on the estate of its present owner--the Marquis of Orland, +and situated some twenty miles distant, and, horrifying to relate, had +been living with Oscar Otwell! + +"The dreadful news of her conduct irritated me so that I only, in my +last will and testament, bequeathed to her what would grant the ordinary +comforts of life, provided I predeceased her. This reference to her +remained until I accompanied you to Chitworth College, when President +O'Sullivan revealed to me in silent friendship the fact of which I was +wholly unaware, viz.--that she had long since sailed for America, at the +same time handing me a _New York Herald_ sent him by Otwell, and there I +beheld the announcement of her marriage with him who ruined my life, and +who has been the means of driving me into the pit of tearful tremor, out +of which I never more shall climb. + +"On returning home from Chitworth College I at once blanked the +reference to her in my will, and never more wished to behold the face +that swore to me such vows of villainy; the face that blasted my +happiness for life; the mother of you, whom I now earnestly implore +never to acknowledge, and who possesses every feature she outwardly +bore. + +"It may be yours to meet her face to face ere she leave this tabernacle +of torment; but, my child, for my sake avoid her cunning ways and works, +and never allow her shelter underneath this roof she dishonoured and +despised. And I trust God in His great mercy shall forgive her errors, +and grant you the blessing of a Father of Love." + +Sir John Dunfern now lay back exhausted on his pillow, and muttered +quietly "Thank God." + +Next morning the Angel of Death was seen to spread its snowy wings over +his wasted form, and convey the departed spirit into that region of +bliss where sorrow, sighing, sin, and suffering are cast for ever from +its rooms of glory. + +Thus passed away another link of a worthy ancestral chain, who, during +his tender years of training, had been guided by the charitable +Christian example of a mother of devotion, and who was, during the +brighter battle of her son's creeping years of care and caution, +summoned before the Invisible Throne of purity, peace, and praise +everlasting, shrouded in hopes of sunshine concerning his future +happiness, which, never after his marriage, was known to twinkle in +Dunfern Mansion. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Mocking Angel! The trials of a tortured throng are naught when weighed +in the balance of future anticipations. The living sometimes learn the +touchy tricks of the traitor, the tardy, and the tempted; the dead have +evaded the flighty earthly future, and form to swell the retinue of +retired rights, the righteous school of the invisible, and the +rebellious roar of raging nothing. + +The night was dark and tempestuous; the hill rather inclined to be +steep; the clouds were bathed in wrinkled furrows of vapoury smoke; the +traffic on the quiet and lonely roads surrounding Dunfern Mansion was +utterly stopped, and nature seemed a block of obstruction to the eye of +the foreigner who drudged so wearily up the slope that led to the home +of Mrs. Durand, who had been confined to bed for the past three years, +a sufferer from rheumatism. + +Perceiving the faint flicker of light that occasionally flung its feeble +rays against the dim fanlight of faithful Fanny's home--the aged sister +of the late Tom Hepworth--the two-fold widowed wanderer, with trembling +step, faltered to the door of uncertain refuge, and, tapping against it +with fingers cold and stiff, on such a night of howling wind and beating +rain, asked, in weakened accents, the woman who opened to her the door, +"If she could be allowed to remain for the night?"--a request that was +granted through charity alone. After relieving herself of some outer +garments, and partaking of the slight homely fare kindly ordered by Mrs. +Durand, the widow of Oscar Otwell and Sir John Dunfern warmed herself +and dried her saturated clothing before going to bed. She had just +arrived the day previous, and hastened to take up her abode as near her +former home of exquisiteness as she could, without detection. + +On extinguishing the light before retiring, and casting one glance in +the direction of the little window, the innumerable recollections of the +abundant past swept across the mind of the snowy-haired widow, and were +further augmented by the different starlike lights which shone from the +numerous windows in Dunfern Mansion, directly opposite where she lay. + +A couple of days found her almost rested after such a trying night as +that on which she arrived, and observing the sharpest reticence lest she +might be known, she nerved herself to appear next day at Dunfern +Mansion, to accomplish the last wish of her late lover and husband, for +whom she ventured so much and gained so little, and particularly to try +and see her son. + +The morning was warm and fine; numerous birds kept chirping outside the +little cottage of Mrs. Durand. The widow, with swollen eyes and face of +faded fear, prepared herself for the trying moment, which she was +certain of achieving. Partaking of a very slight breakfast, she told +Mrs. Durand not to expect her for dinner. + +Marching down the hill's face, she soon set foot on the main road that +led direct to Dunfern Mansion. Being admitted by Nancy Bennet, a prim +old dame, who had been in charge of the lodge for the last eighteen +years, the forlorn widow, whose heart sank in despair as she slowly +walked up the great and winding avenue she once claimed, reached the +huge door through which she had been unconsciously carried by Marjory +Mason a good many years ago. + +Gently ringing the bell, the door was attended by a strange face. +Reverently asking to have an interview with Sir John Dunfern, how the +death-like glare fell over the eyes of the disappointed as the footman +informed her of his demise! "Madam, if you cast your eyes thence--[here +the sturdy footman pointed to the family graveyard, lying quite +adjacent, and in which the offcast of effrontery had oftentimes +trodden]--you can with ease behold the rising symbol of death which the +young nobleman, Sir Hugh Dunfern, has lavishly and unscrupulously +erected to his fond memory." + +The crushed hopes of an interview with the man she brought with head of +bowed and battered bruises, of blasted untruths and astounding actions, +to a grave of premature solitude were further crumbled to atoms in an +instant. They were driven beyond retention, never again to be fostered +with feverish fancy. After the deplorable news of her rightful husband's +death had been conveyed to the sly and shameless questioner, who tried +hard to balance her faintish frame unobserved, she asked an interview +with Sir Hugh Dunfern. This also was denied, on the ground of absence +from home. + +Heavily laden with the garb of disappointment did the wandering woman of +wayward wrong retrace her footsteps from the door for ever, and +leisurely walked down the artistic avenue of carpeted care, never more +to face the furrowed frowns of friends who, in years gone by, bestowed +on her the praises of poetic powers. Forgetful almost of her present +movements, the dangerous signal of widowhood was seen to float along the +family graveyard of the Dunferns. + +Being beforehand acquaint with the numerous and costly tombstones +erected individually, regardless of price, the wearied and sickly woman +of former healthy tread was not long in observing the latest tablet, of +towering height, at the north-east end of the sacred plot. + +There seemed a touchy stream of gilded letters carefully cut on its +marble face, and on reading them with watery eye and stooping form, was +it anything remarkable that a flood of tears bathed the verdure that +peeped above the soil? + +The lines were these:-- + +I. + + The hand of death hath once more brought + The lifeless body here to lie, + Until aroused with angels' voice, + Which call it forth, no more to die. + +II. + + This man, of health and honest mind, + Had troubles great to bear whilst here, + Which cut him off, in manhood's bloom, + To where there's neither frown nor tear. + +III. + + His life was lined with works of good + For all who sought his affluent aid; + His life-long acts of charity + Are sure to never pass unpaid. + +IV. + + Sir John Dunfern, whose noble name + Is heard to echo, far and wide, + In homes of honour, truth, and right, + With which he here lies side by side. + +V. + + The wings of love and lasting strength + Shall flap above his hollow bed; + Angelic sounds of sweetest strain + Have chased away all tears he shed. + +VI. + + Then, when the glorious morn shall wake + Each member in this dust of ours, + To give to each the sentence sure + Of everlasting Princely Power-- + +VII. + + He shall not fail to gain a seat + Upon the bench of gloried right, + To don the crown of golden worth + Secured whilst braving Nature's fight. + +After carefully reading these lines the figure of melting woe sat for a +long time in silence until a footstep came up from behind, which alarmed +her not a little. Looking up she beheld the face of a youth whose +expression was very mournful, and asking after her mission, was informed +she had been casting one last look on the monument of her lamented +husband. + +"Mighty Heavens!" exclaimed Sir Hugh Dunfern, "are you the vagrant who +ruined the very existence of him whom you now profess to have loved? +You, the wretch of wicked and wilful treachery, and formerly the wife of +him before whose very bones you falsely kneel! Are you the confirmed +traitoress of the trust reposed in you by my late lamented, dearest, and +most noble of fathers? Are you aware that the hypocrisy you manifested +once has been handed down to me as an heirloom of polluted possession, +and stored within this breast of mine, an indelible stain for life, or, +I might say, during your known and hated existence? + +"False woman! Wicked wife! Detested mother! Bereft widow! + +"How darest thou set foot on the premises your chastity should have +protected and secured! What wind of transparent touch must have blown +its blasts of boldest bravery around your poisoned person and guided you +within miles of the mansion I proudly own? + +"What spirit but that of evil used its influence upon you to dare to +bend your footsteps of foreign tread towards the door through which they +once stole unknown? Ah, woman of sin and stray companion of tutorism, +arise, I demand you, and strike across that grassy centre as quickly as +you can, and never more make your hated face appear within these mighty +walls. I can never own you; I can never call you mother; I cannot extend +the assistance your poor, poverty-stricken attire of false don silently +requests; neither can I ever meet you on this side the grave, before +which you so pityingly kneel!" + +Speechless and dogged did the dishonoured mother steal for ever from the +presence of her son, but not before bestowing one final look at the +brightened eye and angry countenance of him who loaded on her his lordly +abuse. The bowed form of former stateliness left for ever the grounds +she might have owned without even daring to offer one word of repentance +or explanation to her son. + +Walking leisurely along the road that reached Dilworth Castle, how the +trying moments told upon her who shared in pangs of insult and +poverty!--how the thoughts of pleasant days piled themselves with +parched power upon the hilltop of remembrance and died away in the +distance! The whirling brain became more staid as she heard the approach +of horses' feet, and stopping to act the part of Lot's wife, gave such a +haggard stare at the driver of the vehicle as caused him to make a +sudden halt. Asking her to have a seat, the weary woman gladly mounted +upon its cushion with thankfulness, and alighted on reaching its +journey's end, about three miles from Audley Hall. The drive was a long +one, and helped to rest the tired body of temptation. + +Returning thanks to the obliging driver, she marched wearily along until +she reached the home of her first refuge after flight. + +Perceiving the yellow shutters firmly bolted against the light admitters +of Audley Hall, she feared disappointment was also awaiting her. +Knocking loudly twice before any attempt was made to open the door, +there came at last an aged man with halting step and shaking limb. + +"Is Major Iddesleigh at home?" asked the saddened widow. "Oh, madam, he +has been dead almost twelve years, and since then no one has occupied +this Hall save myself, who am caretaker. The Marquis of Orland was +deceived by his nephew, who sold it in an underhand manner to the major, +and he resolved that never again would he allow it to be occupied since +the major's death by any outsider." + +"You are rather lonely," said the widow. "Yes, yes," replied he; "but I +have always been accustomed living alone, being an old bachelor, and +wish to remain so. It is better to live a life of singleness than +torture both body and soul by marrying a woman who doesn't love you, +like the good Sir John Dunfern--a nobleman who lived only some miles +from this, and who died lately broken-hearted--who became so infatuated +with an upstart of unknown parentage, who lived in Dilworth Castle, with +one Lord Dilworth, the previous owner, that he married her offhand, and, +what was the result, my good woman?--why she eventually ran off with a +poor tutor! and brought the hairs of hoary whiteness of Sir John Dunfern +to the grave much sooner than in all probability they would have, had he +remained like me." + +Facing fumes of insult again, thought the listener. And asking after +Major Iddesleigh's will, eagerly awaited his reply. + +Placing one hand upon her shoulder, and pointing with the other, +"Behold," said he, "yonder church? that was his last will--Iddesleigh +Church. It was only when the jaws of death gaped for their prey that the +major was forced to alter his will, having had it previously prepared in +favour of his niece, whose whereabouts could never be traced until after +his death." "Enough--enough, I must go," said the painful listener, and +thanking the old man for his information, which, like her son's, had +screwed its bolts of deadly weight more deeply down on the lid of +abstract need, turned her back on Audley Hall for ever. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +Hope sinks a world of imagination. It in almost every instance never +fails to arm the opponents of justice with weapons of friendly defence, +and gains their final fight with peaceful submission. Life is too often +stripped of its pleasantness by the steps of false assumption, marring +the true path of life-long happiness which should be pebbled with +principle, piety, purity, and peace. + +Next morning, after the trying adventure of the lonely outcast, was the +scene of wonder at Dilworth Castle. Henry Hawkes, the head gardener +under the Marquis of Orland, on approaching the little summer-house in +which Irene Iddesleigh so often sat in days of youth, was horrified to +find the dead body of a woman, apparently a widow, lying prostrate +inside its mossy walls. "Lord, protect me!" shouted poor Hawkes, half +distractedly, and hurried to Dilworth Castle to inform the inmates of +what he had just seen. + +They all rushed towards the little rustic building to verify the +certainty of the gardener's remarks. There she lay, cold, stiff, and +lifeless as Nero, and must have been dead for hours. They advised the +authorities, who were soon on the spot. + +What stinging looks of shame the Marquis cast upon her corpse on being +told that it was that of the once beautiful Lady Dunfern--mother of the +present heir to Dunfern estate! + +Lying close at hand was an old and soiled card, with the words almost +beyond distinction, "Irene Iddesleigh." In an instant her whole history +flashed before the unforgiving mind of the Marquis, and being a sharer +in her devices, through his nephew Oscar Otwell, ordered her body to be +conveyed to the morgue, at the same time intimating to Sir Hugh Dunfern +her demise. + +It transpired at the inquest, held next day, that she was admitted the +previous night to the grounds of Dilworth Castle by the porter at the +lodge, giving her name as "Irene Iddesleigh." + +She must have taken refuge in the little construction planned under her +personal supervision whilst inhabiting Dilworth Castle during her +girlhood, and, haunted with the never-dying desire to visit once more +its lovely grounds, wandered there to die of starvation. + +No notice whatever was taken of her death by her son, who obeyed to the +last letter his father's instructions, and carried them out with +tearless pride. + +The little narrow bed at the lowest corner on the west side of Seaforde +graveyard was the spot chosen for her remains. Thus were laid to rest +the orphan of Colonel Iddesleigh, the adopted daughter and imagined +heiress of Lord and Lady Dilworth, what might have been the proud wife +of Sir John Dunfern, the unlawful wife of Oscar Otwell, the suicidal +outcast, and the despised and rejected mother. + +She who might have swayed society's circle with the sceptre of +nobleness--she who might still have shared in the greatness of her +position and defied the crooked stream of poverty in which she so long +sailed--had she only been, first of all, true to self, then the +honourable name of Sir John Dunfern would have maintained its standard +of pure and noble distinction, without being spotted here and there with +heathenish remarks inflicted by a sarcastic public on the administerer +of proper punishment; then the dignified knight of proud and upright +ancestry would have been spared the pains of incessant insult, the +mockery of equals, the haunted diseases of mental trials, the erring eye +of harshness, and the throbbing twitch of constant criticism. + +It was only the lapse of a few minutes after the widowed waif left +Dunfern Mansion until the arrival of her son from London, who, after +bidding his mother quit the grounds owned by him, blotted her name for +ever from his book of memory; and being strongly prejudiced by a father +of faultless bearing, resolved that the sharers of beauty, youth, and +false love should never have the slightest catch on his affections. + + +The End + + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + +_Errors and Inconsistencies_ + +The printed book was typeset and proofread more carefully than most +books of similar literary quality. Changes listed in the author's Errata +slip (inserted at the beginning of the book) have been made in the +e-text. Unusual spellings, and inconsistent use of "American" and +"British" forms, are unchanged. Some words occur both with and without +hyphen. + + +_Errors Noted by Author_ + + PAGE + 82 Read--"was extended him." + 154 "senk" should read "_seek_." + 156 "took" is unnecessary. + 179 Read "which _calls_ it forth." + 184 "ofthand" should be "offhand." + + +_Additional Errors_ + + The present owner is only son + [_text unchanged: missing "the"?_] + whose pretentions were so cleverly carried out [_spelling unchanged_] + the partakers in drawing-room _tetè-a-tetès_ + [_text unchanged: expected form is "tête-a-têtes" (circumflex + accent on first "e", no acute on second)_] + the impostury of position is petty [imposury] + "Just seven days and I shall be fettered [_open quote missing_] + tempted with her enhancing beauty + [_text unchanged: error for "entrancing"?_] + If my manner have changed in any way + [_text unchanged: "have" may be correct_] + every care and watchfulness was extended him + [_corrected by author from "were extended him"; "were" is + technically correct_] + This Rachel punctually obeyed. + [_text reads "Rachael": name occurs more than 50 times with + consistent spelling_] + he drew from that drawer" here Sir John pointed to the wardrobe, + "a weapon of warlike design + [_missing punctuation before "here"?_] + [_misplaced open quote: printed as_ wardrobe," a weapon] + she swiftly turned to the door [swifty] + who not alone committed the ruffianous act [ruffainous] + It was only when staring her lover's scanty table fully + [_text unchanged: missing word?_] + the house of the Reverend Bertram Edgar, near by. [near by,] + should extend her the aid she now must seek. + [_corrected by author from "senk"_] + entered the room, and taking her accustomed seat to partake of it, + as best she could. + [_corrected by author from "partake of it, took as best she could": + Author may have intended "... taking her accustomed seat, + partook of it as best she could"._] + which she did in a rather trembling voice, + without betraying such signs of grief as anticipated. + [_text transposes . and , at the end of consecutive lines_] + Being beforehand acquaint with [_text unchanged_] + Which calls it forth, no more to die. + [_corrected by author from "call"_] + Is heard to echo, far and wide, [wide;] + that he married her offhand + [_corrected by author from "ofthand": may have intended "out of + hand"_] + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Irene Iddesleigh, by Amanda McKittrick Ros + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IRENE IDDESLEIGH *** + +***** This file should be named 34181-8.txt or 34181-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/1/8/34181/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Meredith Bach and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Irene Iddesleigh + +Author: Amanda McKittrick Ros + +Release Date: October 31, 2010 [EBook #34181] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IRENE IDDESLEIGH *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Meredith Bach and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class = "mynote"> +<p><a name = "start" id = "start">This text</a> uses UTF-8 (Unicode) +file encoding. If the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph +appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable +fonts. First, make sure that your browser’s “character set†or “file +encoding†is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change the +default font.</p> + +<p>Typographical errors are shown in the text with mouse-hover popups +<ins class = "mycorr" title = "corrected by transcriber">like this</ins> +or <ins class = "authcorr" title = "corrected by author">this</ins>. The +author’s original <a href = "#errata">Errata</a> are shown at the end of +the e-text. Unusual spellings, and inconsistent use of “American†and +“British†forms, are unchanged. Some words occur both with and without +hyphen.</p> + +</div> + + +<h1>IRENE IDDESLEIGH.</h1> + + +<div class = "titlepage"> + +<h2>IRENE IDDESLEIGH.</h2> + +<h2 class = "six">BY</h2> + +<h2 class = "four">MRS. AMANDA M‘KITTRICK ROS.</h2> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/titledec.png" width = "107" height = "55" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<p class = "center"> +<img src = "images/belfast.png" width = "73" height = "15" +alt = "Belfast" title = "Belfast"></p> + +<h6><span class = "smallcaps">PRINTED BY W. & G. BAIRD, Limited,<br> +124 Royal Avenue;</span><br> +<span class = "smaller">AND AT LONDON AND DUBLIN.</span><br> +1897.</h6> + +</div> + + +<h3><a name = "contents" id = "contents">CONTENTS.</a></h3> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg7.png" width = "67" height = "11" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<table class = "toc" summary = "table of contents"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class = "number smallroman"> +PAGE.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter I.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapI">9</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter II.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapII">13</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter III.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapIII">20</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter IV.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapIV">25</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter V.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapV">32</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter VI.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapVI">40</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter VII.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapVII">49</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter VIII.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapVIII">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter IX.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapIX">73</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter X.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapX">79</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter XI.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapXI">92</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter XII.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapXII">102</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter XIII.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapXIII">116</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter XIV.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapXIV">126</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter XV.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapXV">138</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter XVI.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapXVI">150</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter XVII.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapXVII">163</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter XVIII.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapXVIII">174</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Chapter XIX.</td> +<td class = "number"><a href = "#chapXIX">186</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_9" id = "page_9">9</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapI" id = "chapI"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg9.png" width = "431" height = "81" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">S</span><span class = +"firstword">ympathise</span> with me, indeed! Ah, no! Cast your sympathy +on the chill waves of troubled waters; fling it on the oases of +futurity; dash it against the rock of gossip; or, better still, allow it +to remain within the false and faithless bosom of buried scorn.</p> + +<p>Such were a few remarks of Irene as she paced the beach of limited +freedom, alone and unprotected. Sympathy can wound the breast of trodden +patience,—it hath no rival to insure the feelings we possess, save +that of sorrow.</p> + +<p>The gloomy mansion stands firmly within the ivy-covered, +stoutly-built walls of Dunfern, vast in proportion and magnificent in +display. It has been built over three hundred years, and its structure +stands respectably distant from modern advancement, and in some degrees +it could boast of architectural +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_10" id = "page_10">10</a></span> +designs rarely, if ever, attempted since its construction.</p> + +<p>The entrance to this beautiful home of Sir Hugh Dunfern, the present +owner, is planned on most antique principles; nothing save an enormous +iron gate meets the gaze of the visitor, who at first is inclined to +think that all public rumours relative to its magnificence are only the +utterances of the boastful and idle; nor until within its winding paths +of finest pebble, studded here and there with huge stones of unpolished +granite, could the mind for a moment conceive or entertain the faintest +idea of its quaint grandeur.</p> + +<p>Beautiful, however, as Dunfern mansion may seem to the anxious eye of +the beholder, yet it is not altogether free from mystery. Whilst many of +its rooms, with walls of crystal, are gorgeously and profusely +furnished, others are locked incessantly against the foot of the +cautious intruder, having in them only a few traditional relics of no +material consequence whatever, or even interest, to any outside the +ancestral line of its occupants.</p> + +<p>It has often been the chief subject of comment amongst the few +distinguished visitors welcomed +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_11" id = "page_11">11</a></span> +within its spacious apartments, why seemingly the finest rooms the +mansion owned were always shut against their eager and scrutinizing +gaze; or why, when referred to by any of them, the matter was always +treated with silence.</p> + +<p>All that can now be done is merely to allow the thought to dwindle +into bleak oblivion, until aroused to that standard of disclosure which +defies hindrance.</p> + +<p>Within the venerable walls surrounding this erection of amazement and +wonder may be seen species of trees rarely, if ever, met with; yea, +within the beaded borders of this grand old mansion the eye of the +privileged beholds the magnificent lake, studded on every side with +stone of costliest cut and finish; the richest vineries, the most +elegant ferns, the daintiest conservatories, the flowers and plants of +almost every clime in abundance, the most fashionable walks, the most +intricate windings that imagination could possibly conceive or genius +contrive. In fact, it has well been named “The Eden of Luxury.â€</p> + +<p>Dunfern mansion was handed down as an heirloom since its purchase by +Walter, third Earl of Dunfern, in 1674; and since then has been tenderly +cared for internally, and carefully guarded externally, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_12" id = "page_12">12</a></span> +by the skilful hands of noted artisans. The present owner is <ins class += "mycorr" title = "text unchanged: missing ‘the’?">only</ins> son of +Sir John Dunfern, by Irene, adopted daughter of Lord and Lady Dilworth, +of Dilworth Castle, County Kent.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg101.png" width = "172" height = "218" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_13" id = "page_13">13</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapII" id = "chapII"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg126.png" width = "430" height = "82" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">T</span><span class = "firstword">he</span> +December sun had hidden its dull rays behind the huge rocks that rose +monstrously high west of Dunfern mansion, and ceased to gladden the +superb apartment Sir John occupied most part of the day. They had +withdrawn their faint reflection from within the mirrored walls of this +solitary chamber to brighten other homes with their never-dying +sheen.</p> + +<p>As the dull, grey evening advanced to such a degree as to render a +look of brightness imperative to the surroundings of its sole occupant, +Sir John requested that his favourite apartment should be made bright as +possible by adding more fuel to the smouldering ashes within the +glistening bars which guarded their remains. This being done, three huge +lamps were lighted, and placed at respectable distances from each other, +when Sir John, with his +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_14" id = "page_14">14</a></span> +accustomed grace, began to peruse some of his evening papers.</p> + +<p>Though a man of forty summers, he never yet had entertained the +thought of yielding up his bacheloric ideas to supplace them with others +which eventually should coincide with those of a different sex; in fact, +he never had bestowed a thought on changing his habits and manner of +living, nor until fully realising his position of birthright, that had +been treasured by his ancestors for such a lengthened period, and which, +sooner or later, must pass into strangers’ hands, did the thought ever +occur to him of entering into the league of the blessed.</p> + +<p>The clock had just chimed nine when a maid entered with a note, +neatly laid on a trim little tray, which she placed on the table close +beside her master, and then retired. It was rather unusual for him to +receive letters so late in the evening, nor until he was in full +possession of its contents he could not form the faintest imagination of +its worth.</p> + +<p>Not far from Dunfern Mansion may be seen situated on a rising hill +the beautiful Castle of Lord and Lady Dilworth, a prominent +building commanding the finest view in the county. It had been +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_15" id = "page_15">15</a></span> +remodelled by the present owner, after inheriting it from his late +maternal uncle—Lord Leyburn; and, although equipped with all +modern improvements and inventions necessary, yet there dwelt a lack of +design and beauty about it possessed by Dunfern Mansion.</p> + +<p>The bountiful owner of Dilworth Castle differed much in many respects +from Sir John Dunfern. He was a nobleman of rare tact and capacities; +a keen sportsman; a Turf frequenter; an ardent politician; +and, in fact, a lover of everything which served to promote the +interests of his extended and varied social circle in particular, and +entire community in general.</p> + +<p>Lady Dilworth, it may here be mentioned, was never of a very robust +nature, and often had she felt the great strain of society press rather +heavily on her weak frame, so much so, as to render the adoption of the +subject of this book indispensable. Drawing his chair closer to the +table, on which one of the great lamps stood, Sir John proceeded to +peruse the contents of the note. It was an invitation from Lord and Lady +Dilworth to attend a ball at Dilworth Castle on 22nd prox., given by +them in honour of the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_16" id = "page_16">16</a></span> +marriage of Henry, fifth Marquis of Hill-Hall, with Ethel, Countess of +Maidstone.</p> + +<p>Lord Dilworth and the Marquis were personal friends of Sir John, and +to accept this kind and courteous invitation would mean a step towards +the summit of the matrimonial ladder, by meeting the majority of the +fully-fledged belles in and around Canterbury, and especially Irene +Iddesleigh, Lord Dilworth’s adopted daughter, more generally known as +“The Southern Beauty.†He slept over the matter that night, with the +result that next morning he wrote accepting the kind invitation, more +through curiosity than desire.</p> + +<p>Although he led a quiet and retired life, generally speaking, still +he did not absent himself totally from a few social meetings +occasionally, and if imagination painted his future in the manner so +artfully designed by Lady Dilworth, no doubt this visit to Dilworth +Castle might convert it into reality.</p> + +<p>Arriving at the elegant castle, with its tower of modern fame, and +spires of Gothic structure, Sir John was met in its great hall by the +genial hostess, who conducted him to the brilliant reception-room, +superbly laid out for the comfort of its guests; and +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_17" id = "page_17">17</a></span> +being the first to arrive, was thus afforded a good opportunity of +inspecting the many valuable relics and works of art that adorned its +huge and velvety walls.</p> + +<p>On the centre wall right opposite where he sat hung a painted +portrait, life-size, an admirable production of the well-known artist, +“Peto,†and not knowing where such an original of perfection and beauty +could be found, he resolved to inquire, when opportunity offered, whose +portrait it might be.</p> + +<p>At this stage the numerous guests began to assemble, including the +majority of the leading gentry in and around Canterbury, as it was +looked upon as the chief social event of the season. Mothers were most +fidgetty that their daughters should don their costliest gowns and +brilliants, as rumour had it that the noble heir to Dunfern estate +should honour the assembly with his august presence.</p> + +<p>Report gained ground that Sir John, having quietly crept out of +boyhood for a lengthened period, would end his days harnessed singly, +but idle gossip, flying at all times kite-high, soon gave place in the +wavering minds of society belles to that of more serious consideration +and welcome expectancy.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_18" id = "page_18">18</a></span> +<p>On being introduced to all those outside his present circle of +acquaintance on this evening, and viewing the dazzling glow of splendour +which shone, through spectacles of wonder, in all its glory, Sir John +felt his past life but a dismal dream, brightened here and there with a +crystal speck of sunshine that had partly hidden its gladdening rays of +bright futurity until compelled to glitter with the daring effect they +soon should produce. But there awaited his view another beam of life’s +bright rays, who, on entering, last of all, commanded the minute +attention of every one present—this was the beautiful Irene +Iddesleigh.</p> + +<p>How the look of jealousy, combined with sarcasm, substituted those of +love and bashfulness! How the titter of tainted mockery rang throughout +the entire apartment, and could hardly fail to catch the ear of her +whose queenly appearance occasioned it! These looks and taunts serving +to convince Sir John of Nature’s fragile cloak which covers too often +the image of indignation and false show, and seals within the breasts of +honour and equality resolutions of an iron mould. On being introduced to +Irene, Sir John concluded instantly, without instituting further +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_19" id = "page_19">19</a></span> +inquiry, that this must be the original of the portrait so warmly +admired by him. There she stood, an image of perfection and divine +beauty, attired in a robe of richest snowy tint, relieved here and there +by a few tiny sprigs of the most dainty maidenhair fern, without any +ornaments whatever, save a diamond necklet of famous sparkling lustre +and priceless value.</p> + +<p>As the evening rolled into the small hours of the morning, the +numerous guests began to repair to their respective homes, none of the +weaker sex having had the slightest advancement in the direction of +their coveted intentions, save Irene, who was fortunate in securing the +attention of Sir John Dunfern during the happy hours that fled so +quickly.</p> + +<p>Immediately before taking his departure he pressed firmly her snowy +hand, and left the pretty-gilded area which surrounded his first hopes +of matrimony to enter what he was beginning to believe the weary +apartments of Dunfern Mansion, that previously had held him bound to +them in hermit-like fashion.</p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_20" id = "page_20">20</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapIII" id = "chapIII"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg174.png" width = "414" height = "81" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">A</span><span class = +"firstword">rouse</span> the seeming deadly creature to that standard of +joy and gladness which should mark his noble path! Endow him with the +dewdrops of affection; cast from him the pangs of the dull past, and +stamp them for ever beneath the waves of troubled waters; brighten his +life as thou wouldst that of a faded flower; and when the hottest ray of +that heavenly orb shall shoot its cheerful charge against the window +panes of Dunfern Mansion, the worthy owner can receive it with true and +profound thankfulness. Three weeks had scarcely passed ere Sir John was +made the recipient of another invitation to Dilworth Castle. This second +effusion of cordiality required neither anxious thought nor prolonged +decision how to act, knowing as he did that it would again serve to +bring his present thoughts into practice by affording him another +opportunity of sharing in the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_21" id = "page_21">21</a></span> +loving looks of one for whom he feared there dwelt a strong inclination +on his part to advance his affection.</p> + +<p>Irene stood looking out on the lake beyond the richly draped window, +ruminating on the days of her childhood, which lent a look of dullness +to the beautiful face that beamed with delight as Sir John Dunfern +entered. The evening was very pleasantly and quietly spent, Irene +commanding the greater part of his time and attention, on account of +Lady Dilworth being slightly ailing, whose health, generally speaking, +at this period was not so robust as formerly, and consequently failed to +warrant too many callers. As the clock struck eleven Sir John began to +think of returning home, feeling quite happy, fancying his great +affection was returned in full by Irene.</p> + +<p>Being very domesticated, and having the stiff ideas of a bachelor of +long standing so firmly imprinted in his nature, he felt very diffident +in asking the object of his visit when next they should meet. But Lady +Dilworth entering before taking his departure, saved him putting the shy +question by placing herself in his position and demanding the required +reply. Sir John promised without further +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_22" id = "page_22">22</a></span> +ceremony to visit them more frequently in future, and left their midst +with hasty step, lingering in the hall to cast another look at the +lovely form which stood not far distant. Leisurely leaning back in his +carriage, and burying himself in his great and costly cloak demanded by +the night’s icy aspect, he rolled along towards his home drowned in +sweet thought of the beautiful girl whom he only recently knew, but +whose regard for her raged with such rambling anxiety as to convince him +of the propriety of making her aware how he meant to play the part of +lover.</p> + +<p>Until now he was inclined to be prejudiced against the snares and +allurements of women, but he strongly resolved to try gradually and +abandon every unkind thought harboured in his mind against them, fearing +lest all his conjured imaginations were both unjust and selfish; and +determined to drown them for ever in the clashing gulf of fate, felt a +prouder and happier mortal than before.</p> + +<p>But time would solve the problem and heal the wound which penetrated +so deeply his bosom. Yea, a short time he hoped would bring his +creeping fever of endearment under the binding stay of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_23" id = "page_23">23</a></span> +appointed authority, and heal its weakening effects with the sacred +salve of truth.</p> + +<p>Not until the horses dashed up the winding avenue with increased +alacrity was he shaken from his meditating attitude, to be ushered once +more into his home of boundless wealth. The lonely stare of grave +bewilderment took the place of happiness that formerly seemed built in +abundance for him within its walls, as he entered the palatial and +gorgeously equipped abode he principally inhabited, feeling the tinge of +the dull past filling him with entire despair, whilst meditating on the +happy future which presented itself to him. How in a trivial period this +lonely spot, he thought, should prove the beacon of never-dying bliss, +when once furnished with the most precious treasure on earth—a +virtuous woman! Ah! the very thought of his embosomed and anticipated +alliance made him nervously happy; and believing a bright and noble +future lay in store for the lonely owner of Dunfern Estate, he resolved +to indulge nature in a few hours of calm repose.</p> + +<p>The days moved along more quickly Sir John believed than formerly; +and possibly he may have imagined this was so, as he felt no longer +fettered +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_24" id = "page_24">24</a></span> +with fear of fighting with his inward friend—obstinacy, whose hand +of drowsy bachelorism seemed for ever closed to his changing charity; he +had at last thrown aside the garb of female dislike, and patronised that +of a warm-hearted lover.</p> + +<p>Irene did not lead Lady Dilworth to believe that she really cared for +Sir John, and, when his name cropped up occasionally, she allowed +herself always to keep the coast of conversation clear that would likely +convict her views most, and managed cleverly thereby to deceive the +friend who came not a day too soon to her rescue. Perhaps had Lady +Dilworth proved less concerned about the orphan charge she freed from a +life of toil, apparently, and instructed her more on the branches of +integrity, then the lovely youthful Irene could have decided more +honorably in all cases of questioning, and would have done justice, not +alone to herself, but to all concerned; but, like many others similarly +surrounded with lovers, battling in the war of extremes, and encompassed +on all sides with apparent luxuries, she was confident she would some +day come off victorious by acting the clever Corinthian.</p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_25" id = "page_25">25</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapIV" id = "chapIV"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg186.png" width = "430" height = "81" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">W</span><span class = "firstword">hen</span> +on the eve of glory, whilst brooding over the prospects of a bright and +happy future, whilst meditating upon the risky right of justice, there +we remain, wanderers on the cloudy surface of mental woe, disappointment +and danger, inhabitants of the grim sphere of anticipated imagery, +partakers of the poisonous dregs of concocted injustice. Yet such is +life.</p> + +<p>Sir John’s visits began now to be numerous at Dilworth Castle, each +visit serving further to strengthen the link of relationship, and bury, +in the heaving breast of seeking solace, the dull delight of the weary +past. As the weeks wore on, he reckoned them only as days, when +comparing their loving length with those of the bleak years he tried to +enjoy alone, before taking such steps—yes, serious steps—as +those fancied by the would-be bachelor.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_26" id = "page_26">26</a></span> +<p>At first he was careless and indifferent to the flowery harangues of +mothers who paid him periodical visits, with their daughters, of +apology, and firmly retained the obstinate qualities of an autocratic +ruler, until softened in the presence of one he found he was learning to +steadily love. He believed now that the chief stripes, +viz.—observation, inclination, advancement and accomplishment, in +the well-spun web of matrimony, must harmonise with the groundwork of +happiness, without which our lives are not worth an unstamped coin.</p> + +<p>Love’s path, on which Sir John was known now to tread with the step +of intensity, seemed smooth as the ice of Inglewood. There were no +obstacles in his way of which he was yet aware, save imagination; this, +also, was chased from his mind by the evident and ample return of +Irene’s polished affection, the foul gloss of which he failed to notice, +and whose <ins class = "mycorr" title = "spelling unchanged">pretentions</ins> +were so cleverly carried out as to defy detection.</p> + +<p>Irene was an accomplished and clever girl, and well able to sustain +her hidden regard throughout for one who for years previous had been +endeavouring to remove the great barrier of position which +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_27" id = "page_27">27</a></span> +blocked his path of approach towards her affection. As yet her parentage +was totally unknown to Sir John; still, he felt it must not have +belonged to the rude and ridiculous, since she possessed all the +qualities, outwardly, and features, of a highly refined race. And when +only a girl of eleven summers, when the worthy hand of benevolence, +friendship, and love clutched the tiny fingers of absolute want, there +visibly seemed nothing lacking in appearance, manner, or education to +solicit the pity or suspicion of her charitable guardian and +protector.</p> + +<p>Sir John Dunfern’s many visits of late to Dilworth Castle had been +creating quite a sensation throughout the quiet corners of costly +curiosity, until an announcement appeared in <i>Mack’s Society +Journal</i> to the following effect:—</p> + +<p>“A marriage is arranged to take place in August between Sir John +Dunfern, of Dunfern Mansion, County Kent, and Irene Iddesleigh, adopted +daughter of Lord and Lady Dilworth, of Dilworth Castle, in same +county.â€</p> + +<p>This notice, no doubt, caused the partakers in drawing-room <ins +class = "mycorr" title = "text unchanged: expected form is ‘tête-a-têtes’"><i>tetè-a-tetès</i></ins> +to share in the pangs of jealousy, with silent resentment. Perplexity, a little, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_28" id = "page_28">28</a></span> +would find refuge within the homes of many who led Society by the string +of superficial show and pompous importance; and during the interval that +elapsed between such an announcement and its important celebration, many +and infamous were the charges poured forth against Irene Iddesleigh.</p> + +<p>The month preceding Irene’s wedding was one of merriment at Dilworth +Castle, Lord and Lady Dilworth extending the social hand of fashionable +folly on four different occasions. They seemed drunk with delight that +Irene, whom they looked upon as their own daughter, should carry off the +palm of purity, whilst affluence, position, and title were for years +waiting with restless pride to triumph at its grasp.</p> + +<p>It was at the second of these social gatherings that the first seed +of jealousy was sown within the breast of Sir John Dunfern, and which +had a tendency to remain until it gradually grew to such a rapid state +of maturity as to be rooted, if possible, for ever from its dusty bed of +ambush.</p> + +<p>Yes, when the merriment was at its height, and the heat too +oppressive to allow much comfort to the corpulent, the espoused of Irene +dropped unexpectedly +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_29" id = "page_29">29</a></span> +out of the midst of the aristocratic throng, and being passionately an +ardent admirer of the fairy-like fruits of the efforts of the +horticulturist, directed his footsteps towards the well-filled +conservatory at the south wing of the building.</p> + +<p>The different-shaded lights which dangled from its roof bestowed a +look of Indian exquisiteness on the many quaint and delicate productions +of nature that rested daintily in their beds of terra-cotta tint.</p> + +<p>But before leaving the room he vaguely scanned the throng to catch a +glimpse of Irene, and failed to notice her amongst the many who danced +so gaily to the well-timed tunes of the celebrated pianist, Charles +Wohden, whose musical touch was always capable of melting the most +hardened sinner into moods of mellow softness, or cheering the most +downcast and raising their drooping look of sadness to that of +high-strung hilarity.</p> + +<p>Sir John wandered in and out through the numerous windings of +sweetest fragrance, until arriving at the farthest corner, of rather +darkened shade, and on a wire couch beheld the object of his pursuit, in +closest conversation with her tutor, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_30" id = "page_30">30</a></span> +whose name he had altogether failed to remember, only having had the +pleasure of his acquaintance a few hours before.</p> + +<p>“Can it be possible?†exclaimed Sir John, in profound astonishment. +“Why, I have been searching for you for some time past, and have +accidentally found you at last!†Irene, rising to her feet in a second, +was utterly dazed, and had the dim lights shewed her proud face to +advantage, the ruddy glow of deepest crimson guilt would have manifested +itself to a much greater degree. Making multitudinous apologies, etc., +she at once joined Sir John, who led her back, in apparent triumph, to +share the next waltz.</p> + +<p>How the true heart beat with growing passion during the remainder of +the merry festivity, and as the final announcement of separation was +whispered from ear to ear, the gradual wane of Love’s lofty right would +fain have dwindled into pompous nothing as the thought kept tickling his +warm enthusiasm with the nimble fingers of jealousy. That she whom he +had ardently hoped should share his future with sheer and loving +caresses of constant companionship +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_31" id = "page_31">31</a></span> +and wife-like wisdom should be trapped in probably vowing to another her +great devotion for him!</p> + +<p>But better allow the sickening thought to die on the eve of insult +rather than live in the breast of him who, at no distant date, would +hear the merry peals of wedding bells ring with gladness, and naturally +rejoice at the object of their origin.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg31.png" width = "157" height = "164" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_32" id = "page_32">32</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapV" id = "chapV"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg32.png" width = "427" height = "67" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">O</span><span class = "firstword">ur</span> +hopes when elevated to that standard of ambition which demands unison +may fall asunder like an ancient ruin. They are no longer fit for +construction unless on an approved principle. They smoulder away like +the ashes of burnt embers, and are cast outwardly from their confined +abode, never more to be found where once they existed only as +smouldering serpents of scorned pride.</p> + +<p>The little chat that Irene apparently enjoyed in the conservatory +would gladly have become an act of forgetfulness on her part had not Sir +John reminded her of its existence a few days afterwards. The spark of +jealous passion had not fully died out after the incident referred to, +and awaiting silently its decease, Sir John almost had grown a mourner +to its imagined demise, following its undying remains so far as the +village of Opportunity, when it was again to revive and shine as +luminously as before.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_33" id = "page_33">33</a></span> +<p>It happened about three weeks preceding the day set apart for their +holy union, on Sir John arriving at the castle, he was informed of +Irene’s recent exit, and gently turning away, he resolved to have a +stroll in the tastefully laid-out gardens with the sole object of +meeting her.</p> + +<p>Walking leisurely along, and stooping to pick up some fallen fruit, +he suddenly heard a faint sound issue amongst the trees. Remaining +breathless for a few seconds, lest he might be deceived by the rippling +sounds of the adjacent waves, he again heard the same sweet strain, but +of much longer duration than before, and quietly moving towards the spot +whence it issued, another sound met his ear in the distance, which +seemed to be the hasty tread of some one making good an escape, before +he got time to view the object he would eagerly have pursued, but +checking his desire somewhat, he allowed the matter to sink into +silence. Boldly moving towards the spot whence the sound of music +issued, how delightfully surprised was he to find a +magnificently-constructed little summer-house, a charming pyramidal +Gothic structure, robed internally with mossy mantles of nature, and +brightened beyond conception with the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_34" id = "page_34">34</a></span> +instrument of humanity which gave origin to such pathetic and sweetened +strains.</p> + +<p>Politely offering an apology for intruding on the private little +palace of Irene, who failed completely to hide her gross confusion from +the keen gaze of her espoused, who never seemed to notice in the least +the sudden change that swept so swiftly over her pallid cheeks at his +unexpected visit, Sir John sat down.</p> + +<p>Irene held in her snowy palms a roll of Italian music, which she +earnestly endeavoured to conceal from his penetrating stare, probably on +account of the words contained therein, which for ever would be unknown +to his varied sphere of knowledge, and which would undoubtedly have +betrayed her feelings, never dreaming that they should strike other ears +than those for whom they practically were intended.</p> + +<p>Perceiving her great excitement at the unexpected appearance of him, +who ever afterwards kept his jealous thoughts in silent motion, he +absolutely evaded making any inquiry whatever, or slightest allusion to +the name and nature of the parchment she so firmly retained. Sir John +chatted gaily until he gained good +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_35" id = "page_35">35</a></span> +ground for delivering to her the message that instinct had so prompted +him to utter.</p> + +<p>“Irene, my beloved one,†he began; “it is now only about a score of +days until I hoped for ever to call you mine; a hope which +unmercifully has haunted me since I fortunately gazed on your lovely +face; a hope which I trusted should be fully appreciated by both +you and me, and which, I now must own, can never be realised until +the clearance of the barrier that since our engagement has been but too +apparent.</p> + +<p>“The sole object of my visit, my dear Irene‗here Sir John +clasped her tender hand in his—“tonight is to elicit from you a +matter that lately has cast a shadowy gloom over my anticipated bright +and cheerful future. I am not one of those mortals who takes +offence at trifles, neither am I a man of hasty temper or +words—quite the contrary, I assure you; but it has, +fortunately or unfortunately, been probably a failing amongst my +ancestors to court sensitiveness in its minutest detail, and, +I must acknowledge, I stray not from any of them in this +particular point.</p> + +<p>“I must acquaint you, though it pains me deeply to do so, that lately +you have not treated me with +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_36" id = "page_36">36</a></span> +such respect or attention as you certainly lavished upon me before the +announcement of our engagement, and for what reason or reasons I now +wish to be apprised. You seem when in company with others to ignore my +remarks to you entirely, and treat them with proud disdain, as if shame +took the place of pride at my wordy approach! I felt and do feel +quite hurt, and am resolved that no such repetition shall take place in +future. I promised to be at the castle last night, but +unfortunately I felt indisposed, and only that I wished to have a +thorough understanding relative to your recent conduct, and which has +pained me acutely, I should not have ventured out of doors this +evening either. I was, in consequence, obliged to write you last +night, asking a written reply, which you failed to give! And this +evening, instead of being doubly rejoiced at my presence, you, on the +contrary, seem doubly annoyed! I therefore pray, my dearest Irene, +that you will, and I am persuaded honestly, not hesitate to satisfy me +regarding this unpleasantness, that should anything of which you are now +aware cause your conduct to be changed towards me, do not allow it a +lair within your breast, but confide in me as thou wouldst in a +dearly-trusted and faithful lover.â€</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_37" id = "page_37">37</a></span> +<p>At this stage Irene began to consider seriously the earnestness that +accompanied the words of Sir John, knowing well she had been guilty, +grossly guilty, of the charges with which he impeached her, and which +were mixed with child-like simplicity, descriptive only of a world-famed +bachelor. She pondered whether or not honesty should take the place of +deceit—too often practised in women—and concluded to adopt +the latter weapon of defence. Raising her hazel eyes to his, and +clearing the weft of truth that had been mixing with the warp of +falsehood to form an answer of plausible texture, fringed with different +shades of love, she thus began:</p> + +<p>“My dearest and much beloved, I assure you your remarks have +astounded me not a little! Your words sting like a wasp, though, +I am quite convinced, unintentionally. You are well aware that +within a short period I will be marked out publicly as mistress of +Dunfern mansion—an honour revered in every respect by me; an +honour to which I at one time dare never aspire; an honour coveted by +many much more worthy than I, whose parentage is as yet bathed in the +ocean of oblivious ostentation, until some future day, when I trust it +shall stand out +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_38" id = "page_38">38</a></span> +boldly upon the brink of disclosure to dry its saturated form and watery +wear with the heat of equality. You are about to place me in a position +which cannot fail to wring from jealousy and covetousness their flaming +torch of abuse. Yes, Sir John, on me you have not ceased to lavish every +available treasure and token of your unbounded love. You have been to me +not only a loyal admirer, but a thoroughly upright and estimable example +of life’s purest treasures. You have resolved to place me by your side +as your equal, whilst wealth in boundless store is thirsting for your +touch. You have elevated my unknown position to such a pitch as to defy +taunt or jeer, and at any time if I may have, seemingly, ignored your +advances, it was purely want of thought, and not through any underhand +motive or scheme whatever.</p> + +<p>“I assure you your allusion to my verbal answer last night is very +pronounced, and may be overlooked on the ground of pure disappointment. +Our time of singleness is now short, and begging your forgiveness for my +seeming neglect or indifference, I hope the tide, which until now +has flown so gently, may not be stayed on the eve of entering the +harbour of harmony, peace, and love.â€</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_39" id = "page_39">39</a></span> +<p>At the commencement of Irene’s answer of lavishing praises and flimsy +apologies, her affianced moved to the opposite corner of the rustic +building to scan the features of her he wholly worshipped and +reluctantly doubted. Every sentence the able and beautiful girl uttered +caused Sir John to shift his apparently uncomfortable person nearer and +nearer, watching at the same time minutely the divine picture of +innocence, until at last, when her reply was ended, he found himself, +altogether unconsciously, clasping her to his bosom, whilst the ruby +rims which so recently proclaimed accusations and innocence met with +unearthly sweetness, chasing every fault over the hills of doubt, until +hidden in the hollow of immediate hate.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg91.png" width = "165" height = "52" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_40" id = "page_40">40</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapVI" id = "chapVI"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg138.png" width = "428" height = "54" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">T</span><span class = "firstword">he</span> +silvery touch of fortune is too often gilt with betrayal: the meddling +mouth of extravagance swallows every desire, and eats the heart of +honesty with pickled pride: the <ins class = "mycorr" title = +"text reads ‘imposury’">impostury</ins> of position is petty, and ends, +as it should commence, with stirring strife. But conversion of feminine +opinions tries the touchy temper of opposition, and too seldom +terminates victoriously.</p> + +<p>“Great mercy! Only another week and I shall almost cease to be a free +thinker! Just seven days more and what!—I shall openly have to +confess to the world an untruth! Would there be any means of flight from +the dangerous dragon that haunts me night and day? Could anything +possible be done to save myself from false alliance? Too late!—too +late!</p> + +<p>“Only seven days and this beautiful boudoir shall own me no more, +with its walls of purest white and gilded borders!</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_41" id = "page_41">41</a></span> +<p><ins class = "mycorr" title = "open quote missing">“Just</ins> seven +days and I shall be fettered with chains of dragging dislike and +disappointment! Only seven days and thus shall end my cherished hopes, +my girlish pride, my most ardent wish, but, alas! not my love! Seven +days more shall see my own darling Os‗— Suddenly Irene was +aroused by the ringing of the breakfast bell, before she got time to +finish the sentence that troubled her weary brain for months before. +Dressing herself with frantic expertness, she dashed down the winding +staircase with an alacrity better imagined than described, and rushing +into the breakfast room where Lord and Lady Dilworth eagerly awaited +her, presented the outward mocking appearance of being the happiest of +mortals. Her beloved benefactors, who had been the prime movers in the +matter of matrimony, saw plainly a saddened look about the lovely face, +which Irene tried hard to suppress, and asking why it appeared at this +gay time, was answered evasively. Indeed, Lord and Lady Dilworth were +wholly ignorant of the present state of affairs, nor did Irene reveal at +any time to Lady Dilworth her great hatred for Sir John, or her maddened +desire to become the wife of a poor tutor.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_42" id = "page_42">42</a></span> +<p>Had she only taken into her confidence her whose wise counsel and +motherly example were at all times a prompt step to decision; or had she +only hinted to Lady Dilworth her manifest inability to return Sir John’s +great affection, matters would probably have reached another climax. But +owing to the present precarious position in which Lord and Lady Dilworth +stood, and as yet unknown to both Irene and other most intimate +acquaintances, great was Lady Dilworth’s desire to see Irene permanently +settled, knowing as she did that ere the sun of another August day would +flash its shimmering rays against the crystal stays of Dilworth Castle +she would be beyond easy access to Irene either in time of rejoicing or +sorrowing.</p> + +<p>Preparations were at last almost completed for such an auspicious +event. Invitations were issued numerously for the reception to be held +at Dilworth Castle after Irene’s marriage, but sparingly during the +ceremony; all of which were mostly accepted. Costly, multiplying, and +varied were the gifts received by Irene; enough to make a princess stare +with startling bewilderment.</p> + +<p>Amongst the many, none came from Irene’s tutor, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_43" id = "page_43">43</a></span> +Oscar Otwell! And although he was the first to whom Lady Dilworth +addressed an invitation, still there was no reply, much to the annoyance +and astonishment of hostess on the one hand and knowledge of Irene on +the other; as, verily, it was not unknown to Irene that absolute +indifference to facts, seemingly of domestic importance, was a positive +point in Oscar, and never better exemplified than in the present +existing state of affairs, which, sickly as it proved to Irene, was +deadly so to Oscar.</p> + +<p>But future facts had to be solved, which undoubtedly would be treated +with more comparative reverence than heretofore, by him who suffered +severely—yea, acutely—from the blow struck him on the eve of +aspiration and achievement. Love, alas! when smitten with the sword of +indifference, dieth soon, but once struck on the tunnelled cheek of +secrecy with the hand of pity there leaves a scar of indelible +intolerance, until wiped out for ever with the curative balsam of +battled freedom.</p> + +<p>Sir John and Irene met in Dilworth Castle for the last time on the +morning of the third day of August, being the day set apart for the +celebration of their marriage. It commenced with the ringing +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_44" id = "page_44">44</a></span> +of the village bells; the sun shone forth in all his universal glory; +emblems of the approaching festivity did not fail to appear on the +housetops of the humblest village peasant; gladness reigned throughout +the household, and all hearts, save two, rejoiced with unabated +activity.</p> + +<p>It was a morning never to be forgotten by Lord and Lady Dilworth, +who, on that day, would be robbed of the treasure held firm and fast by +them for the lengthened period of nine years, and which they yielded up +with hearts of sorrow, not because of the change in which Irene should +have taken deep interest, but on account of the burthen of trouble which +loaded them with leaden weights of which they could not possibly free +themselves. The intense excitement that for weeks before had found such +refuge within their cherished and much-loved home had not long now to +live: it would die on the doorstep of apparent bereavement never more to +appear within Dilworth Castle under similar circumstances. They knew +well that the gnawing jaws of poverty, which for years had failed to +expose their grinding power, had reached the last and only bite of +sudden termination, and thereby stamped their +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_45" id = "page_45">45</a></span> +marks of melancholy so impressively upon the noble brows of the worthy +owners of Dilworth Castle, that time could never blot them from +observation. As before stated few were those invited to be present at +the wedding ceremony, which was to take place about twelve o’clock +noon.</p> + +<p>Sir John arrived at the Castle shortly before that time, looking +charming indeed, whilst Irene, though departing from the rules laid down +by Lady Dilworth, demanded from all present remarks bordering on +similarity. She looked nervously pale, but queenly, and mastered +thoroughly the exposure of the painful agony through which she was +passing, knowing as she did and fully believed that “all is not gold +that glitters.â€</p> + +<p>It may interest some to know that Irene silently and secretly +resolved not to array herself in white; she was reconciled that neither +the marriage robe of purity nor the too beaming wedding face was to +appear before such devout and reverential Church dignitaries as the +Bishop of Barelegs and Canon Foot, with highly impressed and open +falsehood, as that practised by her in the absence of labouring under +such a solemn vow.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_46" id = "page_46">46</a></span> +<p>What must have been the breathless surprise of Lady Dilworth chiefly, +and those present also, who, only the evening previous, had been pouring +such praises over the magnificent duchesse satin gown, which eligible +Parisian dressmakers pronounced their chief production of the season, +when Irene appeared arrayed in an Irish poplin of the darkest visible +shade of green, without either train or flower of distinction, not even +a speck of ribbon or border of lace, and no ornament only the valued +necklet which graced her pearly throat when first Sir John was tempted +with her <ins class = "mycorr" title = "text unchanged: error for ‘entrancing’?">enhancing</ins> +beauty to bestow upon her his choice +collection of love’s purest fragrance, which should cast the sweetest +scent of mutual relationship throughout the dazzling apartments of the +mansion she was about to grace.</p> + +<p>So thunderstruck and grievously horrified did Lady Dilworth seem at +the vague departure of Irene from her orders, that she dare not trust +herself to offer her the first motherly embrace! Irene, perceiving the +great embarrassment of her beloved Lady Dilworth, glided across the +room, and sitting down to the right of her upon whom she had that day +flung, in the face of devotion, the last dregs of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_47" id = "page_47">47</a></span> +defiance, “begged to offer an apology for such unruly conduct,†and +added “that all would be revealed at a future date when least +expected.â€</p> + +<p>In the very room where Sir John was first puzzled concerning the +beautiful portrait, was he now made the recipient of the original. After +the important ceremony was performed, and the register signed, Sir John +and Lady Dunfern, when the usual congratulations were ended, left by the +one o’clock train <i>en route</i> for the Continent. Thus were joined +two hearts of widely different beat—one of intense love, which +hearsay never could shake; the other of dire dislike, which reason could +never alter.</p> + +<p>“Born under a lucky star,†was the whispered echo throughout the +distinguished guests who sat down to breakfast after the junction of +opposites. Yea, this was a remark of truth visibly, and might have kept +good during the remainder of their lives had not the tuitional click of +bygone attachment kept moving with measured pace, until stopped after +months, or it may be, small years of constant swinging.</p> + +<p>Did Lady Dunfern ever dream that her apology for disobedience to Lady +Dilworth’s orders, in not +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_48" id = "page_48">48</a></span> +arraying herself in the garb of glistening glory, could ever be +accepted, even by the kind and loving Lady Dilworth?</p> + +<p>Did she imagine for a moment that she, to whom she owed anything but +disobedience, even in its simplest form, should be wrested from her arms +of companionship ere her return to Dunfern Mansion? Did the thought ever +flash through her mind that never again would she be able to pour into +the ear of her trusted helper the secrets of the heart of deception, +which, for the past seven months, had raged so furiously within her?</p> + +<p>Better leave her to the freedom of a will that ere long would sink +the ship of opulence in the sea of penury, and wring from her the +words:—“Leave me now, deceptive demon of deluded mockery; lurk no +more around the vale of vanity, like a vindictive viper; strike the lyre +of living deception to the strains of dull deadness, despair and doubt; +and bury on the brink of benevolence every false vow, every unkind +thought, every trifle of selfishness and scathing dislike, occasioned by +treachery in its mildest form!â€</p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_49" id = "page_49">49</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapVII" id = "chapVII"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg126.png" width = "430" height = "82" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">D</span><span class = +"firstword">istant</span> shores have great attractions and large +expectations. They harbour around their beaches the exile and patriot, +the king and peasant, the lawyer and artisan, the rising swindler and +ruined prince. Spotted throughout the unclaimed area of bared soil may +be seen the roughly-constructed huts and lofty homes of honest industry. +Yes, and concealed therein are hearts yearning for the land of nativity +and national freedom; hearts which sorrow after bygone days, and sink +low when brooding over the future tide of fortune which already has +stopped its gentle flow.</p> + +<p>The reception on the evening of Irene’s marriage was glorious and +brilliant, as were all those given by Lord and Lady Dilworth, and, +although attended by society’s cream alone, there appeared a visible and +unhidden vacancy in the absence of her who +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_50" id = "page_50">50</a></span> +so often lent a glow of gaiety to the high-toned throng.</p> + +<p>There seemed to be no rival now of buried lineage to mar their +desire, or incur the jealousy of would-be opponents; no one to share +sympathetically with the afflicted sister of equality and worth; nor was +there any one present of such knightly and commanding dignity as he, +who, not many hours previous, had taken upon him the sad duty of +delivering up the keys of devotion to her who kept the door of ardent +adoration locked against his approach.</p> + +<p>It would probably be a long time ere such a scene of silly jealousy +and ire would take place as that witnessed, in which the greater +majority of those present were then partakers! And, further, it would +surely be a much longer period before these guests would again share +alike in the generosity so often extended them by Lord and Lady +Dilworth.</p> + +<p>Next day after Irene’s marriage was a busy one at Dilworth Castle; +hasty and numerous were the preparations for desolation and departure. +Weeks preceding the joyful event, or what should have been, were +leisurely devoted to the artistic arrangements +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_51" id = "page_51">51</a></span> +in every room within the lordly manor. But, alas! so sudden now was +joy’s termination, that hours alone were the boundary of command.</p> + +<p>It may be stated that Lord Dilworth owned three very extensive +estates, namely—Dilworth, Ayrtown, and Howden. The first-mentioned +extended around the castle of that name, encompassing a spacious tract +of soil indeed, and might have done justice to moderation in its most +expensive form. The Ayrtown Estate, which entirely covers the southern +portion of Cheshire, owns a magnificent Hall, the residence of the Earl +of Tukesham, and, although not considered so lucrative as Dilworth, may +be estimated a handsome dowry for the son of any rising nobleman in the +realm. The Howden Estate, on which are elegantly formed two buildings of +note—namely, Blandford Castle and Lauderdale Lodge, both exquisite +constructions of architecture and skilled workmanship, and occupied +respectively by Sir Sydney Hector and Admiral Charles Depew—lies +chiefly around the south-west of Yorkshire, and is not quite so +desirable or adapted for agriculture as the two first mentioned, being +mostly rented for grazing purposes by the numerous and varied owners +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_52" id = "page_52">52</a></span> +of its rugged plots. These estates became so heavily mortgaged that +prompt sale was indispensable, and, the matter being quietly arranged +six months beforehand, the sixth day of August was the day set apart for +the disposal of same.</p> + +<p>Bidders were numerous and offers low. Eventually the purchasers were +as follow:—The Marquis of Orland bought Dilworth Estate; Lord +Henry Headen purchased Ayrtown Estate, whilst the lot of Howden fell +upon Sir Rowland Joyce, the famous historian and national bard.</p> + +<p>Thus were wrested from Lord and Lady Dilworth their luxurious living. +They were driven from their nursery of rich and complicated comforts, +their castle of indolence and ease. They were now thrown upon the +shivering waters of want, without a word of sympathy in the dreadful +hour of their great affliction, without home or friend to extend shelter +or sustenance, and cast afloat upon the ocean of oscillating chance to +speed across it as best they could.</p> + +<p>Was Lord Dilworth therefore to be pitied? Were the torrents of gold +which were bound to trickle from these enormous lands and dwellings, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_53" id = "page_53">53</a></span> +manufactories and villages, too trifling for his use? Not a morsel of +pity was offered either him or Lady Dilworth as their circumstances +became known in the homes of their associates, who so often fed on the +fat of their folly and graced their well-lined tables always covered +with dainties of deserving censure.</p> + +<p>Could human mind contemplate that she who reigned supreme amongst +society, she who gave the ball in honor of Irene Iddesleigh’s marriage, +should ere four days be a penniless pauper? Yet such was fact, not +fiction.</p> + +<p>The seventh day of August saw Lord and Lady Dilworth titled beggars, +steering their course along the blue and slippery waves of the Atlantic, +to be participators in the loathing poverty which always exists in homes +sought after destruction, degradation, and reckless extravagance.</p> + +<p>So soon may the house of gladness and mirth be turned into deepest +grief! How the wealthiest, through sheer folly, are made to drink the +very essence of poverty and affliction in its purest form! How the +golden dust of luxury can be blown about with the wind of events, and is +afterwards found buried +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_54" id = "page_54">54</a></span> +in the fields of industry and thrift! Their names, which were as a +household word, would now be heard no more, and should sink into abject +silence and drowned renown, leaving them to battle against the raging +war of ruin and hunger, and retire into secluded remorse.</p> + +<p>On the return of Sir John and Lady Dunfern from their honeymoon, +after four weeks sojourn, what was her ladyship’s consternation on +perceiving Dilworth Castle in darkness as she and Sir John swept past +its avenue on their way to their own brilliantly-lighted mansion? She +was rather more taciturn on the night of her return than even during her +stay in Florence, and it was only on her approaching her former place of +temporary retreat and touchy remembrances that words began to fall from +her ruby lips in torrents.</p> + +<p>“Tell me, I implore of you, Sir John and husband, why the once blithe +and cheerful spot of peace is now apparently a dismal dungeon on the +night of our home-coming, when all should have been a mass of dazzling +glow and splendour?</p> + +<p>“Can it be that she who proffered such ecstacy for months before, on +the eve of our return, is now no more? or can it be possible that we +have crossed +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_55" id = "page_55">55</a></span> +each other on the wide waters of tossing triumph or wanton woe?</p> + +<p>“Speak at once, for pity’s sake! and do not hide from me the answer +of truth and honest knowledge? Oh, merciful heavens!â€</p> + +<p>Here Lady Dunfern drooped her head before Sir John got time to even +answer a word, and drawing from his pocket a silver flask, proceeded to +open its contents, when the horses suddenly stopped, and a gentle hand +politely opened the carriage door to eagerly await the exit of his +master and future mistress from its cushioned corners of costly comfort +and ease.</p> + +<p>“Tom,†cried Sir John, in great and rending agony, “kindly wait for a +few minutes, as her ladyship has been frightfully overcome only a short +time ago by the blank appearance in and around Dilworth Castle. She +fears something dreadful must surely have happened Lady Dilworth in her +absence, since she has failed to make the occasion of our home-coming a +merry torchlight of rejoicing.†Tom, who had been in Sir John’s service +for the past twenty years, was about to testify to the truth of his +remarks, when he was joined by other members of the household, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_56" id = "page_56">56</a></span> +who rushed to welcome their beloved master home once more, accompanied +by his beautiful bride, of whom they all had heard so much.</p> + +<p>Sir John saw that delay was dangerous, and helping to remove his +darling Irene from the seat on which she unconsciously reclined, +succeeded in placing her on a low couch in the very room he so often +silently prayed for her presence. Bathing her highly-heated temples with +a sprinkling of cooling liquid concealed in his flask, Sir John lost no +time in summoning the village doctor, who, on arrival, pronounced Lady +Dunfern to have slightly recovered, and giving the necessary orders left +the room.</p> + +<p>It was fully two hours ere she partly recovered from her ghastly +swoon, to find herself the object of numerous onlookers of the household +of which she was now future mistress.</p> + +<p>Pale and death-like did she appear in the eyes of her husband, who +was utterly overcome with grief at the sudden collapse of his wife under +such a stroke of anticipated sorrow; and more grieved was he still when +he found on inquiry that the removal of Lord and Lady Dilworth from +their heightened haunt of highborn socialism must sooner or later be +revealed to +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_57" id = "page_57">57</a></span> +her, who, as yet, had only tasted partly of the bitter cup of divided +intercourse and separated companionship.</p> + +<p>Many, many were the questions asked by Lady Dunfern relative to Lady +Dilworth when Dr. Corbett arrived next morning to pronounce her almost +recovered, and, strange, yet true, that no one could possibly have +humoured her in such a manner to warrant recovery as the village doctor, +until she felt really strong enough to battle against the sorrowful tale +of woe with which Sir John should shortly make her cognisant.</p> + +<p>On learning from his lips, so soon as her ability occasioned, the +real state of affairs concerning the emigrants who were now compelled to +wander on the track of trouble, she received the truth with awe and +smothered distress. The new sphere in which Lady Dunfern was about to +move seemed to her strange; the binding duty which tied her firmly to +honour and obedience was kept prominently in vague view; the staff of +menials would probably find the rules of her husband more in accordance +with their wishes than those which she was beginning to already arrange. +She commenced her married life with falsehood, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_58" id = "page_58">58</a></span> +and she was fully determined to prove this feature more and more as the +weeks and months rolled along. She was not now afraid of the censure of +one whose face she may never more behold, and who was the sole +instigation of plunging her into a union she inwardly abhorred. Perhaps, +had she never been trained under the loving guidance of Oscar Otwell, +her revered tutor, she would only have been too eager to proclaim her +ecstacy at her present position more vigorously. But all fetters of +power were visibly broken which she wished should remain united, leaving +her mother of her future premeditated movements.</p> + +<p>As time moved on, Sir John and Lady Dunfern seemed to differ daily in +many respects, which occasioned dislike in the breasts of both, and +caused the once handsome, cheerful face of the much-respected owner of +Dunfern to assume a look of seriousness.</p> + +<p>These differences arose chiefly through his great disinclination to +attend the numerous social gatherings which awaited them after their +marriage. Sir John, finding it almost impossible to stare socialism in +the face, seemed inclined rather to stick to the old rule +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_59" id = "page_59">59</a></span> +of domestic enjoyment, never forgetting to share fully his cheerful +conversation with his wife, when so desired, which, sorrowful to relate, +was too seldom.</p> + +<p>Now that Lady Dunfern was an acknowledged branch of society, her +elegant presence would have been courted by all those who so often +favoured Lady Dilworth with their distinguished patronage, but her +social hopes being nipped in the bud by her retiring husband, she dare +not resent, and determined, in consequence, to make herself an object of +dislike in her home, and cherish her imprisoned thoughts until released, +for good or evil.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg149.png" width = "224" height = "119" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_60" id = "page_60">60</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapVIII" id = "chapVIII"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg60.png" width = "454" height = "82" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">A</span><span class = "firstword"> +word</span> of warning tends to great advantage when issued reverently +from the lips of the estimable. It serves to allay the danger pending on +reticence, and substantiates in a measure the confidence which has +hitherto existed between the parties concerned. Again, a judicious +advice, extended to the stubborn and self-willed, proves futile, and +incurs the further malice and fiery indignation of the regardless, the +reckless, and the uncharitable.</p> + +<p>Lady Dunfern began now to grow both cross and careless, and seemed +not to interest herself so much (since her propositions were so +emphatically denounced by her husband) concerning the management of the +household staff. She grew daily more retired, and often has her conduct +been so preposterously strange as to cause alarm both to Sir John and +all over whom he had immediate control.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_61" id = "page_61">61</a></span> +<p>Indeed, three months of married life scarcely elapsed until she cast +a glow of despair within the breast which too often heaved for her with +true piety and love. And what was meant by such strange conduct on her +part, her husband often wondered. Only the mighty cessation of +friendship caused by the flight of her beloved guardians, never +attributing such silence and stubbornness to any fault he justly +committed.</p> + +<p>Yes, the duped husband, when being fished for with the rod of seeming +simplicity and concealed character, and quickly caught on the hook of +ingenuity, with deception for a bait, was altogether unable to fathom +its shallowest meaning. Was he not, therefore, to be sympathised with, +who so charitably extended the hand of honour and adoration to the +offspring of unknown parents, and placed her in position equal to any +lady of title and boasted parentage within the boundary of County Kent? +Should Sir John Dunfern not have been almost worshipped by a wife whose +binding duty it was to reverence her husband in all things pertaining to +good? No doubt this would have been so had he gained the affections he +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_62" id = "page_62">62</a></span> +imagined he possessed, but later on he would inevitably be made aware of +matters which as yet only bordered on supposition.</p> + +<p>Day after day Lady Dunfern pined like a prisoner in her boudoir, and +scarcely ever shared a word with the great and good Sir John, who many +times wished in former days that she had occupied his home and all its +joys. She formed an inward resolution that if prohibited from enjoying +life, to which she was accustomed at Dilworth Castle, she would make her +husband, whom she knew too well made her his idol, feel the smart, by +keeping herself aloof from his caresses as much as possible.</p> + +<p>Often would he be found half asleep in deep thought, not having any +friend of immediate intimacy in whom he could confide or trust, or to +whom he could unbosom the conduct of his wife, whose actions now he was +beginning to detest.</p> + +<p>The thoughts of disappointment and shame were building for themselves +a home of shelter within him—disappointment on account of +cherished hopes which unmistakably were crushed to atoms beneath the +feet of her who was the sole instigation of their origin; shame, in all +probability, lest the love he +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_63" id = "page_63">63</a></span> +sought and bought with the price of self might not be his after all! and +may still be reserved against his right and kept for another much less +worthy! The little jealous spark again revived and prompted him to renew +its lustre, which had been hidden for a length of time behind the cloud +of dread so silently awaiting the liberty of covering the hill of +happiness.</p> + +<p>Quietly ruminating over his wife’s manner before marriage, about +which he was compelled, through observation, to demand an explanation, +and pondering carefully her strange and silent habits since it, he +became resolved to probe the wound that had swollen so enormously as to +demand immediate relief. Ringing furiously for a maid, he handed her a +note, to be delivered without delay to Lady Dunfern, the nature of which +might well be suspected. Be that as it may, its contents were +instrumental in demanding immediate attention.</p> + +<p>Soon after its delivery a slight tap was heard at the door of Sir +John’s study, this room being always his favourite haunt, where he sat +beside a bright and glowing fire, engaged in sullen thought; and with an +imperious “Come in!†he still remained in the same +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_64" id = "page_64">64</a></span> +thinking posture; nor was he aware, for fully five minutes or so, that +his intruder was no other than she whom he so recently ordered into his +presence!</p> + +<p>Gazing up in a manner which startled the cold-hearted woman not a +little, he requested her “to have a seat right opposite his,†to which +she instantly complied. At this moment the snow was wafting its flaky +handfuls thickly against the barred enclosures of Dunfern Mansion, and +chilly as nature appeared outside, it was similarly so indoors for the +fond and far-famed husband of Lord Dilworth’s charge.</p> + +<p>Matters had appeared so unpleasant and altogether bewildering of late +that Sir John formed a resolution to bring them to a crisis. Looking +fully into the face that seemed so lovely just now, with the dainty +spots of blazing ire enlivening the pale cheeks of creeping sin, Sir +John began—</p> + +<p>“Irene, if I may use such familiarity, I have summoned you hither, it +may be to undergo a stricter examination than your present condition +probably permits; but knowing, as you should, my life must be miserable +under this growing cloud of unfathomed dislike, I became resolved +to end, if within my power, such contentious and unladylike +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_65" id = "page_65">65</a></span> +conduct as that practised by you towards me of late. It is now quite six +months—yea, weary months—since I shielded you from open +penury and insult, which were bound to follow you, as well as your +much-loved protectors, who sheltered you from the pangs of penniless +orphanage; and during these six months, which naturally should have been +the pet period of nuptial harmony, it has proved the hideous period of +howling dislike!</p> + +<p>“I, as you see, am tinged with slightly snowy tufts, the result of +stifled sorrow and care concerning you alone; and on the memorable day +of our alliance, as you are well aware, the black and glossy locks of +glistening glory crowned my brow. There dwelt then, just six months this +day, no trace of sorrow or smothered woe—no variety of colour +where it is and shall be so long as I exist—no furrows of grief +could then be traced upon my visage. But, alas! now I feel so changed! +And why?</p> + +<p>“Because I have dastardly and doggedly been made a tool of treason in +the hands of the traitoress and unworthy! I was enticed to believe +that an angel was always hovering around my footsteps, when moodily +engaged in resolving to acquaint you +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_66" id = "page_66">66</a></span> +of my great love, and undying desire to place you upon the highest +pinnacle possible of praise and purity within my power to bestow!</p> + +<p>“I was led to believe that your unbounded joy and happiness were +never at such a par as when sharing them with me. Was I falsely informed +of your ways and worth? Was I duped to ascend the ladder of liberty, the +hill of harmony, the tree of triumph, and the rock of regard, and when +wildly manifesting my act of ascension, was I to be informed of treading +still in the valley of defeat?</p> + +<p>“Am I, who for nearly forty years was idolised by a mother of +untainted and great Christian bearing, to be treated now like a slave? +Why and for what am I thus dealt with?</p> + +<p>“Am I to foster the opinion that you treat me thus on account of not +sharing so fully in your confidence as it may be, another?</p> + +<p>“Or is it, can it be, imaginative that you have reluctantly shared, +only shared, with me that which I have bought and paid for fully?</p> + +<p>“Can it be that your attention has ever been, or is still, attracted +by another, who, by some artifice or other, had the audacity to steal +your desire for me +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_67" id = "page_67">67</a></span> +and hide it beneath his pillaged pillow of poverty, there to conceal it +until demanded with my ransom?</p> + +<p>“Speak! Irene! Wife! Woman! Do not sit in silence and allow the blood +that now boils in my veins to ooze through cavities of unrestrained +passion and trickle down to drench me with its crimson hue!</p> + +<p>“Speak, I implore you, for my sake, and act no more the deceitful +Duchess of Nanté, who, when taken to task by the great Napoleon for +refusing to dance with him at a State ball, replied, ‘You honoured me +too highly’—acting the hypocrite to his very face. Are you doing +likewise?†Here Sir John, whose flushed face, swollen temples, and fiery +looks were the image of indignation, restlessly awaited her reply.</p> + +<p>Lady Dunfern began now to stare her position fully in the face. On +this interview, she thought, largely depended her future welfare, if +viewed properly. Should she make her husband cognisant of her inward +feelings, matters were sure to end very unsatisfactorily. These she kept +barred against his entrance in the past, and she was fully determined +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_68" id = "page_68">68</a></span> +should remain so now, until forced from their home of refuge by spirited +action.</p> + +<p>Let it be thoroughly understood that Lady Dunfern was forced into a +union she never honestly countenanced. She was almost compelled, through +the glittering polish Lady Dilworth put on matters, to silently resign +the hand of one whose adoration was amply returned, and enter into a +contract which she could never properly complete. All she could now do +was to plunge herself into the lake of evasion and answer him as best +she could.</p> + +<p>“Sir and husband,†she said, with great nervousness at first, “you +have summoned me hither to lash your rebuke unmercifully upon me, +provoked, it may be, by underhand intercourse. You accordingly, in the +course of your remarks, fail not to tamper with a character which as yet +defies your scathing criticism. Only this week have I been made the +recipient of news concerning my deceased parents, of whom I never before +obtained the slightest clue, and armed with equality, I am in a +position fit to treat some of your stingy remarks with the scorn they +merit.</p> + +<p>“You may not already be aware of the fact that I, whom you insinuate +you wrested from beggary, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_69" id = "page_69">69</a></span> +am the only child of the late Colonel Iddesleigh, who fell a victim to a +gunshot wound inflicted by the hand of his wife, who had fallen into the +pit of intemperance. Yes, Earl Peden’s daughter was his wife and my +mother, and only that this vice so actuated her movements, I might +still have lent to Society the object it dare not now claim, and thereby +would have shunned the iron rule of being bound down to exist for months +at a time within such a small space of the world’s great bed.</p> + +<p>“If my manner <ins class = "mycorr" title = "text unchanged: ‘have’ may be correct">have</ins> +changed in any way since our union, of it I +am not aware, and fail to be persuaded of any existing difference, only +what might be attributed to Lady Dilworth’s sudden and unexpected +removal from our midst, which occasioned me grief indeed.</p> + +<p>“It behoves elderly men like you to rule their wives with jealous +supervision, especially if the latter tread on the fields of youth. Such +is often fictitious and unfounded altogether, and should be treated with +marked silence.</p> + +<p>“I may here say I was mistress, in a measure, of my movements whilst +under the meek rule of Lady Dilworth; nor was I ever thwarted in any way +from +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_70" id = "page_70">70</a></span> +acting throughout her entire household as I best thought fit, and since +I have taken upon me to hold the reins of similarity within these walls, +I find they are much more difficult to manage. I, more than once, +have given orders which were completely prohibited from being executed. +By whom, might I ask, and why? Taking everything into consideration, +I am quite justified in acquainting you that, instead of being the +oppressor, I feel I am the oppressed.</p> + +<p>“Relative to my affections, pray have those courted by me in the past +aught to do with the present existing state of affairs? I am fully +persuaded to answer, ‘Nothing whatever.’</p> + +<p>“You speak of your snowy tufts appearing where once there dwelt locks +of glossy jet. Well, I am convinced they never originated through +me, and must surely have been threatening to appear before taking the +step which links me with their origin.</p> + +<p>“I now wish to retire, feeling greatly fatigued, and trusting our +relations shall remain friendly and mutual, I bid thee +good-night.â€</p> + +<p>Lady Dunfern swept out of the room, and hurrying to her own +apartment, burst into an uncontrollable fit of grief.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_71" id = "page_71">71</a></span> +<p>She had surely been awaked from her reverie by Sir John, and felt +sharply the sting of his remarks, which were truly applied, indeed. She +now resolved to let matters move along as quietly as possible until +after she should pass the most critical period of her existence. She was +prepared to manifest her innocence throughout, without detection if +possible. But amongst the household there moved a matron under whose +hawk-like eye Lady Dunfern was almost inclined to shrink. She felt when +in her presence to be facing an enemy of unbounded experience. She +abhorred her stealing tread, but not without cause. It was to this dame +she so often issued orders that never were carried out; and when +intimating to Sir John the necessity of instantly dismissing such a +tyrant, he quietly “rebelled,†adding “that she had been almost twenty +years in his service, and presently could not think of parting with such +a valued and much-trusted friend.â€</p> + +<p>This woman’s name was Rachel Hyde, and proved the secret channel of +intercourse between Sir John and Lady Dunfern, evidently paving the way +for her ladyship’s downfall; as Rachel, being mistress for such a period +over Dunfern Mansion, could never step +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_72" id = "page_72">72</a></span> +the fence leading to abolition of power, which she so unwillingly tried +to mount since Sir John’s marriage, and failing totally in her attempt, +was lifted and thrown over by her mistress, an act she could never +forget, and consequently carried all news, trivial or serious, +concerning Lady Dunfern to her master, and delivered it in such an +exaggerated form as to incur his wrath, which already had been slightly +heated.</p> + +<p>A few months elapsed again, during which time matters went on much as +usual, until an event happened that should have chased the darkest cloud +of doubt and infidelity from the noble brow of the mighty and revered +master of Dunfern Mansion.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg162.png" width = "255" height = "124" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_73" id = "page_73">73</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapIX" id = "chapIX"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg9.png" width = "431" height = "81" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">T</span><span class = "firstword">he</span> +thickest stroke of sadness can be effaced in an instant, and substituted +with deeper traces of joy. The heart of honest ages, though blackened at +times with domestic troubles, rejoices when those troubles are +surmounted with blessings which proclaim future happiness.</p> + +<p>On the tenth day of June, following Lady Dunfern’s interview with her +husband, she gave birth to a son and heir. This great event brought with +it entire forgiveness on the part of Sir John of his wife’s recent +conduct. It served for a short time only, a trivial portion too, to +stifle the alienation which existed between them, and to heal the sore +of evident separation that marred their happiness for months before.</p> + +<p>The glad and happy father was only too eager now to snatch a smile +from his wife’s face, and anxious was he to bury any little obstacle +that may have existed in the past, and expel it for ever from its +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_74" id = "page_74">74</a></span> +lurking corner of tempting repose. He saw that Lady Dunfern’s life was +hanging by a flimsy hair, and who could, for an instant, depict the +great despair of her husband when told that all hope must be +abandoned!</p> + +<p>The frantic father wrung his hands in a frenzy of momentary madness, +and in spite of authoritative advice he timidly moved in the direction +of the bed on which his beloved lay, and knelt beside it to fervently +offer up a prayer “for the speedy recovery of her who was the chief +object of his existence.†Raising himself up and clasping his darling in +his arms, he whispered in her ear a word of encouragement, and gently +laying her highly-heated head on the silken pillow he again prayed, in +deepest and gravest earnestness, “that she might be spared only a little +longer.â€</p> + +<p>No doubt his prayer was no sooner offered than answered, as she at +this stage slightly rallied, and appeared somewhat strengthened. Day by +day the still fond and loving husband sat by the bedside of the invalid +until strong enough to battle fully against the weakening hand of her +malady; and at the very time Sir John sat beside the bed of sickness, +inwardly “showering blame upon himself for hindering his +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_75" id = "page_75">75</a></span> +wife’s social enjoyment, and for which he believed he acted wrongly;†+she, on the contrary, was outwardly pouring rebuke on her own head “for +ever entering into a league of life-long punishment by marrying a man +she simply abhorred, and leaving her noble and well-learned tutor, Oscar +Otwell, whom she yet loved, to wander in a world of blighted bliss!â€</p> + +<p>Ah! to be sure! It was during these days of unremitting attention +that he was afforded an opportunity of storing up a multitude of touchy +remarks uttered by his wife when the relapse of raging fever reached its +defiant height! She never ceased to talk in a most gentle manner of +“Oscar Otwell,†“her darling and much-loved tutor.†She even expressed +sorrow, in the course of her broken remarks, “at the false step she had +taken to satisfy, not herself by any means, but Lady Dilworth!†She +strongly protested her “hatred for him†who sat listening, with grave +intensity, to every word that escaped her lips! She even spoke of +“a cavity in her jewel-case in which was safely deposited a ring, +given her by Oscar during her happy period of instruction under his +guidance,†adding, in her painful discourse, that “she loved it as well +as himself,†etc., etc.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_76" id = "page_76">76</a></span> +<p>These rambling statements when ended, in an instant caused Sir John’s +resolutions, made by him so recently, to become worthless remarks; and +if partly charged with jealousy before, he was doubly so now.</p> + +<p>No onlooker could fail in the least to pity the sneered husband, +whose livid countenance during the course of her remarks, rambling +though they were, was a sight never to be forgotten. How he gazed with +astonished indifference at the invalid so charged with deceit! She who +acted the emblem of innocence at all times, and attempted to attach +entire blame to her husband! She who partly promised peace in future to +him who never again could enjoy it!</p> + +<p>How his manner became so abrupt and his speech so scanty within such +a short period was verily a proof of the belief he fostered relative to +his wife’s statements, which were yet to her unknown.</p> + +<p>The doctors in attendance endeavoured strongly to imprint upon Sir +John the fact that “such remarks as those uttered by his wife should be +treated with silence and downright indifference,†adding that “patients +smitten with fever, of what kind soever, were no more responsible for +their sayings than the most outrageous victim to insanity.â€</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_77" id = "page_77">77</a></span> +<p>Sir John listened attentively to their statements, but failed to be +altogether convinced as to their truth. Wondering what sin could be +attached to an act he felt was his duty to perform, he moved softly to +the bedside of his wife, and being in a sleepy mood, he resolved to sift +some of her remarks to the very bottom.</p> + +<p>Entering the room she so often occupied, and taking from a chink in +her dressing-table a key of admittance to the jewel-case she spoke of, +he lost no time in viewing its valuable contents; and, in the very spot +in which she vowed dwelt her tutor’s gift, there it lay! A golden +band with pearl centre, and immediately underneath it there rested a +note. At first he felt rather diffident about perusing its contents, but +instinct so prompted his curiosity that he yielded to its tempting +touch. It ran thus:—</p> + +<div class = "letter"> +<p class = "right four">“Hedley,</p> + +<p class = "right three">Berks,</p> + +<p class = "right">July 3rd.</p> + +<p>“Ever beloved Irene,</p> + +<p>“I am after reading your gentle yet sorrowful epistle. You cannot +possibly retract the step you so publicly have taken without incurring +the malice of Lord and Lady Dilworth, who have sheltered you from every +sorrow and care with which you otherwise were bound to come in +contact.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_78" id = "page_78">78</a></span> +<p>“They received you into their elegant home, and shielded you, by so +doing, from the tyrannical rule of Miss Lamont of ‘The Orphanage,’ in +which you were placed for a period of eight years. They failed not to +give you a thorough and practical education, which in itself would +enable you to achieve independence, if necessary, or so desired.</p> + +<p>“This you received under one whose heart now beats with raging +jealousy and vehement hatred towards the object of Lady Dilworth’s +choice, being well convinced, through your numerous letters to me +lately, it never was yours.</p> + +<p>“Dearest Irene, the thought of parting from you for ever is partly +sustained with the hope of yet calling you mine! Through time you +suggest an elopement, which as yet can only be viewed in the hazy +distance; but it seems quite clear to me, dearest, and surely evident, +that you abhor the very name of him who a month hence shall place you in +a position considerably more elevated and lucrative than that which I +now could bestow. But Irene, my beloved, my all! reluctantly I yield my +precious treasure to him who, it may be this moment, is rejoicing at his +capture.</p> + +<p>“I shall ever remain forlorn, dejected, and ruined until such time as +we suitably can accomplish the clearance of the cloud of dissatisfaction +under which you are about to live. Please write by return.</p> + +<p class = "midway">“Ever your own</p> + +<p class = "right">“<span class = "smallcaps">Oscar</span>.</p> + +<p>“Miss Iddesleigh,</p> + +<p class = "inset">Dilworth Castle.â€</p> +</div> + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_79" id = "page_79">79</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapX" id = "chapX"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg174.png" width = "414" height = "81" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">W</span><span class = "firstword">hen</span> +dreading the light of day contentment hath fled; imagination oftentimes +proves a forerunner to reality; corners of horror shelter themselves +within the castles of the queenly, the palaces of the powerful, the +monuments of the mighty, and the cottages of the caretaker; but sunshine +brings universal joy wherever its beams are wont to dazzle, and often +allays the anxiety which precedes its appearance.</p> + +<p>“Great heaven!†murmured Sir John, as the tutor’s note fell from his +nervous grasp, “Am I blind to touch or truth? Am I at last to labour +under the fact that my wife loves another! she who only some months +since protested her innocence in such strains as to cause the most +doubtful to stay alarm. Here is the ring, and there lies the +note—the note of him who claims to be not only her tutor but +suitor. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_80" id = "page_80">80</a></span> +Why did she accept the former or cause the latter to be written?â€</p> + +<p>“Then, the date! Just one month exactly before our marriage; and how +I pined for it to elapse whilst another would eagerly have prolonged it. +Oh, Irene!—false and low woman! Think you that any longer I can +own you as wife or treat you with the respect a wife deserves!†Sir +John, ever open to forgiveness, tried hard to master the dreadful spirit +of jealousy which arrived at last at its highest point, if he could feel +convinced that his wife’s correspondence with her tutor ceased after her +marriage, believing if still it continued that other proofs of their +dastardly plots would be forthcoming. Thrusting his hand again into the +aperture from which he took the two tributes of his wife’s tutor, there +appeared nothing to arouse further suspicion, save a Christmas card, +written with the same bold hand. The lines were these:—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>“Accept my warmest greeting, friendship, love,</p> +<p>Thou art my charming Irene, pet and dove;</p> +<p>Although another claims thee for a time,</p> +<p>I trust to call you some day ever mine.</p> +<p>Oh! pray for parting soon with fettered chains,</p> +<p>To live and move regardless of those reins</p> +<p>That bind your Christmas sprigs of worldly woe</p> +<p>To him, whom you have hated long ago.â€</p> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_81" id = "page_81">81</a></span> +<p>This was a second effusion of Otwell’s, and must have been received +by Lady Dunfern since her marriage; and, thought he who held it clutched +in his trembling hand, Why did she deposit this card amongst her +valuables—had she not held it as a treasure of priceless +worth?</p> + +<p>Nothing more was wanting now to convince the distracted husband of +his wife’s infidelity. Depositing the note, card, and ring in the drawer +whence he had taken them, Sir John at once proceeded to Lady Dunfern’s +bedroom, and found her awake. Being a nobleman of sterling worth, and +one on whose word the greatest dependence was always manifested, he +could scarcely fail to inform her of the great and trying scene he had +just come through. Struggling, however, manfully from mentioning +anything that would serve to retard her recovery, he moved towards the +bed on which she lay, and before a word was uttered by him he suddenly +staggered and fell.</p> + +<p>Who could then perceive the wan and haggard appearance of him who +apparently lay lifeless without being totally +terror-stricken—could she, whom he bathed in golden comfort, +behold this outstretched form with calm silence? Surely not!</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_82" id = "page_82">82</a></span> +<p>Instantly ordering a maid to send for Doctor Doherty, the false +invalid lay back on her pillow, appearing not much concerned. On the +doctor’s arrival he applied restoratives, but without the desired +effect. Then he ordered his instant removal to his bed-chamber, where +every care and watchfulness <ins class = "authcorr" title = +"corrected by author from ‘were’">was</ins> extended him by Rachel Hyde.</p> + +<p>It was nearly two hours ere he manifested the remotest symptoms of +animation, and on inquiry the doctor pronounced the sudden shock he had +nervously sustained to be grave indeed. Sir John lay in an unconscious +condition until next morning, when his first inquiry was relative to his +son.</p> + +<p>Gradually regaining strength, and venturing in the doctor’s absence +out of bed, he walked slowly into his wife’s room to make personal his +recovery. He looked pale, and much annoyed, and could only with +difficulty refrain from acquainting her of what he had in store to +communicate. Each day found both invalids, just and unjust, rapidly +recovering, and a few weeks found both completely restored to health and +strength.</p> + +<p>Lady Dunfern could not help noticing the strange and frozen manner of +her husband since the eve of his +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_83" id = "page_83">83</a></span> +illness. At first she was inclined to fear his approach, but gradually +she felt convinced he was slightly affected with a mild form of +insanity; and making minute inquiries from the oldest inhabitants in the +neighbourhood and adjoining village as to the accuracy of her fears, she +was informed that “such never existed amongst his ancestors, so far as +they knew or heard.â€</p> + +<p>Was it strange that Sir John felt a changed man towards her who was +so fully charged with deceit? Would it have been acting in accordance +with his conscience to overlook her wily artifice? Could the once fond +and loving husband, the brave and gallant knight, still trust in her +whom he felt convinced would bring a world of disgrace, not alone upon +himself, but upon one who in after years, he trusted, would proudly +sustain the honourable reputation of his race?</p> + +<p>Ah! no matter in what light he viewed her conduct now he was brought +to loathe her very look, and was fully determined to shut her in from +the gaze of an outside world, or the cunning tricks of a trifling tutor. +He was resolved, so far as lay in his power, to treat her with the +conduct she merited, and never +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_84" id = "page_84">84</a></span> +again allow himself to be persuaded to postpone the visitation of his +anger by her villainous pitiful appeals.</p> + +<p>After serious thought, Sir John began to act; he was inclined to +think delay would be dangerous, and on approaching his breakfast table +one morning soon after his recovery, he hinted to his housekeeper that +he “wished a private interview with her after his morning repast.†This +<ins class = "mycorr" title = "text reads ‘Rachael’ (name occurs more than 50 times with consistent spelling)">Rachel</ins> +punctually obeyed.</p> + +<p>Seeing her master’s trembling hand twitch the tips of his beard, she +feared something dreadful must surely be disturbing his peace of mind, +and commanding her to “lock the door†lest they should be interrupted, +he informed her of all that had happened.</p> + +<p>Rachel, ever ready to sow doubt in the mind of her master regarding +his wife, manifested her want of surprise by relating some incidents +which occurred under her notice. Nothing, however monstrous, could +astonish Sir John at this time regarding his wife’s movements, and +informing Rachel of his intention he ordered the key of one of the rooms +that yet had been shut against the entrance of Lady Dunfern.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_85" id = "page_85">85</a></span> +<p>Hastening to fulfil her master’s order, Rachel returned with the +mighty key, and handed it to Sir John, who moved to the door, and +thrusting the rusty key into its aperture, succeeded with great +difficulty in effecting an entrance. Rachel followed, and both entered, +locking the heavy-panelled oak door from within. “This,†said Sir John, +“is the room of mycorr, the room of death. It defies escape or +secretion. It has been so long as I remember held in abhorrence by my +late lamented parents, and, so far as I can understand, by many of my +ancestors.</p> + +<p>“First of all, the lady who shared its midst was a born imbecile, the +eldest daughter of my great great grandfather—Sir Sydney Dunfern. +She was nursed and tenderly cared for within these walls for a period of +thirty-six years, and through the instantaneous insanity of her ward, +was marked a victim for his murderous hand. Yes, it has been related +that during midnight, when she was fast asleep, he drew from that <ins +class = "mycorr" title = "text unchanged: missing punctuation?">drawer†+here </ins>Sir John pointed to the <ins class = "mycorr" title = "text has misplaced open quote: wardrobe,’ a">wardrobe, +“a</ins> weapon of warlike design, and severed her head almost +from her body, causing instant death.</p> + +<p>“It was not known until next day about noon that anything +extraordinary had happened. It was first +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_86" id = "page_86">86</a></span> +detected by Sir Sydney himself, who became alarmed at not having seen +Wade—the ward’s name was Hector Wade—as usual at ten +o’clock, and tapping at the door, was surprised to hear some noise issue +from within. Being of a hasty temper, he became indignant at the ward’s +indifference, and calling loudly, finally gained admittance.</p> + +<p>“The murderer had her stretched on this floor, and every article +capable of being removed piled upon her corpse. Horrified at such a +sight, Sir Sydney became wild with grief, and at once handed the pitiful +lunatic over to those in authority.</p> + +<p>“The next inhabitant doomed to share in its dull delight was +Kathleen, wife of my beloved grandfather, a beautiful woman, whose +portrait you now see. She, I am sorry to relate, proved more an +accomplice than the honoured wife of him who added so much to the +welfare of those who now benefit by his great economy. The hand of death +visited her here likewise with its separating touch.</p> + +<p>“The last person inhabiting its cheerless enclosure was a distant +relative of my mother, a gentleman named Rodney Rupert, who fell +from the path of virtue and trod the field of vice, until confined +within +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_87" id = "page_87">87</a></span> +this prison of pathetic account, and who, in a moment of passion, ended +his days with that pistol which hangs on yonder hook, and on that bed +all these lay, and which shall again be made use of by a traitoress of +no mean account either.â€</p> + +<p>Sir John then proceeded to give orders to “have the room made as +comfortable as its scanty furniture permitted,†which consisted only of +one small table, one chair, and an old-fashioned wardrobe, with several +small drawers attached, one dressing-table and wash-stand, all of which +were magnificently carved oak and richly panelled.</p> + +<p>There was only one large window, made up of iron bars and a multitude +of small panes of glass not larger than three inches square, all of +equal dimensions, and inside this window were strong bars of iron looped +on every side and firmly fastened.</p> + +<p>The cocoa matting which served as a carpet, parts of which were grim +with gore, was almost worn past recognition. These were all the articles +this badly-lighted room contained, save several oil-paintings of +enormous size. On the whole, it presented the appearance of a private +prison.</p> + +<p>An icy atmosphere pervaded throughout the room, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_88" id = "page_88">88</a></span> +damped with an odour of something inert, which Sir John believed would +be rendered extinct in the presence of a fire.</p> + +<p>Rachel, after receiving orders in confidence from her master, set +matters to right by lighting a fire, dusting the old and much-worn +furniture, airing the bed-clothes, etc., being strictly charged to +admit, on no pretence whatever, now or at any time, any member of the +household or visitor to the mansion.</p> + +<p>When everything was in perfect readiness for the reception of its +guest, Sir John directed Rachel to “bring her Ladyship into his +presence.†What could have astonished Lady Dunfern more on being ushered +into a room which never before was open for her inspection? Nothing save +the information her husband eagerly awaited her to receive. On being +informed of her vast deception, which was proved beyond doubt, and to +which she felt wholly incompetent to reply, she was absolutely +dumb-stricken.</p> + +<p>It required no further questioning now concerning her husband’s +recent strangeness of manner and rigid coolness with which he was forced +to treat her whom he scorned to call wife.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_89" id = "page_89">89</a></span> +<p>“You, madam,†said he, “have by your conduct, both before and after +marriage, forced me to keep you a prisoner within these walls so long as +you live or I exist.</p> + +<p>“You have not failed to act the infamous by kissing me with the lips +of a Judas! You have at last plunged me into deepest disgrace, not alone +me, but him whom you should have been liberated to succour and chastise. +Mocking wretch! your foul deeds shall have plenty of scope here for +improvement, and a prisoner you shall be during the remainder of your +life.â€</p> + +<p>Sir John, without another word, glided from before the presence of +her who once was treated as a goddess by him, and turning the great key +that locked her for ever from his view, handed it to Rachel, who was to +have sole admittance to, and full charge of, his wife.</p> + +<p>When left to herself in the ghostly and spacious closet of crippled +right, which until now she never dare approach, Lady Dunfern, instead of +shewing signs of grief, which Sir John felt assured must burst from its +midst, gloried in being aloof from the occasional rebukes to which she +was subject +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_90" id = "page_90">90</a></span> +whilst occupying the rooms free to her access. She would now have full +opportunity of guiding her thoughts to self-advantage or disadvantage. +She felt free to try and act as she in any case would have done, +regarding very little the shame brought on her husband by her intrigue +with the tutor, whom she simply idolized, never once casting a thought +on her infant, knowing well it would be passionately cared for.</p> + +<p>Oceans of thought took hold on her as she vacantly viewed the damp +and darkened walls of her monstrous cell, now and then moving forward to +inspect the many paintings of great and historic worth which hung from +their lofty support, mostly all more or less resembling him who probably +should ere long add to their number.</p> + +<p>Lady Dunfern allowed the weeks and months to pass unheeded until +afforded ample opportunity of resorting to some means that might not +alone free her from such death-like surroundings, but snap the chain of +obligation in two which presently connected her with a husband she cared +not for.</p> + +<p>She longed for the hour of flight from the dismal shelter under which +she was doomed to dwell. She +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_91" id = "page_91">91</a></span> +yearned for the days that had fled, and more so for her who had shared +in their pleasure. She pined for him whom she so long lived to adore, +and hesitated not to do so still.</p> + +<p>Could she only acquaint him of her husband’s cruelty, how he might +assist her in effecting her release. What could be done, she frequently +asked herself, to brighten her future only a little?</p> + +<p>Could she possibly escape? She feared not.</p> + +<p>Every two hours that villainous woman entered during the day since +first she was snared in the net of revenge and compelled to remain +within its enclosures of shivering fear. Still, she never lost hope of +flight, and cheered with the thought of future stratagem, she tried to +remain somewhat consoled.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg91.png" width = "165" height = "52" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_92" id = "page_92">92</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapXI" id = "chapXI"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg138.png" width = "428" height = "54" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">T</span><span class = "firstword">he</span> +trickling tide of fortune sometimes ebbs slowly. It meets with +occasional barriers of boisterous worth, and reaches its haven of intent +too often with obstruction. Its waters drip on the proud and humble, the +mighty and pitiful, the meek and unholy, and refuse to overlook even the +weary and careworn confined in the cell. It ceases not to store within +its waters of wonder intricate windings of wealth and poverty, triumph +and torture, joy and misery, and does not hesitate at any time to safely +deposit its various burthens on the numerous beaches along which it must +pass.</p> + +<p>When almost a year of Lady Dunfern’s private imprisonment was about +drawing to a close, she was beginning to partly believe the truth of her +husband’s dogmatic remarks. She had strongly been endeavouring during +this time to arrive at some possible means of communication with Marjory +Mason, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_93" id = "page_93">93</a></span> +her much-loved maid, whose services Sir John still retained; but every +endeavour she yet formed proved absolutely vain. She often thought had +she been attended by any of the household staff, only her on whom she +never could dream to rely, she might have made good her escape long +since; but being watched and visited so regularly by Rachel Hyde, she +felt her task much more difficult of performance than at first imagined. +Sometimes she would bring her table close to the window and mount on its +shaky leaf, then step into the great window-sill, pull out her +handkerchief and rub the puny panes to try and catch a glimpse of nature +and probably chance to see some of the servants pass.</p> + +<p>This heavily-barred window stood considerably high, and if viewed +from a distance, or even from the ground adjacent, seemed small in +consequence. It was, therefore, very difficult for her to recognise one +menial from another, yet she often imagined she could not be mistaken in +perceiving a form in the garden, right opposite, that surely strongly +resembled her favourite maid.</p> + +<p>What course was she, then, to adopt in order to discover the accuracy +of her thoughts? How could she manage to be positive regarding Marjory’s +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_94" id = "page_94">94</a></span> +appearance? She felt it almost miraculous to identify her who trod so +far beneath her heightened gaze. Each day she resolved to mount the +window at the same hour, believing her constant watching might through +time convince her who the object of her anxiety might be.</p> + +<p>But the distance between them still remained the same, and ended with +the same disappointing result. A thought at last crowned her +precious efforts. She fancied if she could succeed in breaking one of +the small window panes she could, with the aid of a telescope found in +one of the drawers, define exactly who the maid might chance +to be.</p> + +<p>The same hour each day found the eager mistress and anxious maid in +their respective places, the former mounted on the window-sill, the +latter gazing pitifully towards the window of her mistress’s hateful +cell. But discernment was altogether impossible for Lady Dunfern, who +was resolved not to be baffled much longer in ascertaining who the +constant visitor was. Snapping from her finger an exquisite diamond +ring, and studying which pane of glass would be least noticed, she +arrived at the wise conclusion of extracting the lowest corner pane, +which she cleverly and +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_95" id = "page_95">95</a></span> +effectually succeeded in doing. Wondering, first of all, how she would +hide the opening from the cute eye of her who proved her only visitor, +she placed her fleecy wrap carelessly against it, and resuming her seat, +was persuaded fully to believe she had successfully accomplished the +first step to her freedom.</p> + +<p>Rachel, arriving now with luncheon, failed to notice, or if noticed, +to mention the article in the window. Next day, with great confidence, +Lady Dunfern was found in her usual recess, and drawing forth the +telescope, viewed keenly the object of her constant search, and to her +wild delight she at once beheld Marjory Mason with grave face staring, +she fancied, at her. At last, her Ladyship had achieved a mighty work, +indeed, which she hoped would yet prove of more practical +importance.</p> + +<p>It may be mentioned that Marjory Mason visited the same plot of +ground at the same hour every available morning since she was robbed of +the pleasure of waiting on her mistress, merely to get a glimpse of the +window she knew must belong to her Ladyship’s haunt of hardship; and +could honest Marjory have only seen the handkerchief that every day was +pointed to its little transparent enclosures, how she +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_96" id = "page_96">96</a></span> +would so gladly have waved hers in return. But other means had to be +resorted to, through Lady Dunfern’s great perspicacity, to try and +establish a line of communication with one she could trust. This being +now arrived at cast a world of grief from the mind of her who, under +such a roof of suspense as that beneath which she existed, felt if aid +were not forthcoming, she would shortly have to yield to the imperative +command of the King of Conquering Divines.</p> + +<p>Who could now recognise the “Southern Beauty†of Dilworth Castle? Who +could visit the once beautiful bride of Dunfern Mansion without +naturally betraying signs of heartfelt sorrow? She who so often graced +the assemblies of the proud and famous; she who adorned society with her +majestic presence; she who, by her charming manner and elegant bearing, +failed not to steal the affection of him who treated her so, was an +object of abject commiseration where her conduct wasn’t questioned. She +was no longer the cheerful associate, the bright converser, the lively, +robust Irene Iddesleigh. She, the pride of her guardians, the once +adored of her husband, the envied object of socialism, must bear to +exist, though by any means within her power, not where she +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_97" id = "page_97">97</a></span> +existed presently. The next part to be enacted was to attract Marjory’s +attention. This could easily be tried, and tying her cambric square +firmly round the top of a small poker, she timidly sent it through the +cavity, at the same time viewing Marjory by means of her telescope. At +first Marjory was seen to shade her eyes with her hand, and move a +little forward, then suddenly stop. She would again move slightly nearer +to the wafting emblem of despair, and quickly advancing, until she +neared the spot where best the snowy sign could be seen, instantly +concluded that she must be observed by her ladyship.</p> + +<p>When Lady Dunfern perceived that Marjory could by no means be closer +to her, she pulled the flag of victory back, leaving her maid in +breathless confusion, never for an instant flinching until she might +again have an opportunity of rendering her assistance whom she +worshipped.</p> + +<p>In less than five minutes another signal appeared through the open +space in the form of a small piece of paper, the meaning of which +Marjory knew well. It appeared to be making its way with wonderful +alacrity towards her, who now was in nervous despair lest she should be +detected by her master, or +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_98" id = "page_98">98</a></span> +some of the other members of his staff. At last the missive reached its +destination, and, wildly grasping it, Marjory loosed the cord, that was +swiftly drawn back, and plainly written by her mistress’s hand were the +words, “To Marjory, my trusted maid.†Shrieking with delight, she pushed +the note into her pocket, and, speedily hastening to the mansion, +entered her own room. Securing the door from within, she instantly tore +asunder the cover, and read with tearful eyes as follows:—</p> + +<div class = "letter"> +<p class = "right">“Room No. 10.</p> + +<p>“Dearest Marjory and Friend,</p> + +<p>“You at last have proof of the confidence reposed in you by me. How I +have thought of you since I was severed from you no one knows. That you +have been aware of my imprisonment I can no longer doubt. However, +I shall not presently give you any particulars, but beg to say that +if you could by any means you thought safe let me hear if you have ever +received any letters for me from Oscar, I should ever feel grateful +and reward you accordingly. My reason for such inquiry I shall explain +further on. Dear Marjory, keep this dark. Might I suggest that you slip +a note under my door this evening at five o’clock precisely. This you +can do I believe at this hour with safety. Trusting you are keeping +strong, and hoping soon to thank you personally for such secret +kindness,</p> + +<p class = "third">“Believe me,</p> + +<p class = "midway">“Sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class = "right">“<span class = "smallcaps">Irene.</span></p> + +<p>“To Marjory.â€</p> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_99" id = "page_99">99</a></span> +<p>This note was ample explanation of the confidence Lady Dunfern had in +her maid. She well knew from previous experience how she could trust +her, and felt assured she was not a victim to misplaced confidence. +Marjory would sooner have suffered death than betray her whom she had +served so long at Dilworth Castle, and so short a time at Dunfern +Mansion, and, carefully folding the note she held in her hand, proceeded +to reply.</p> + +<p>Lady Dunfern, at the hour appointed, stood in agony behind the +massive door, underneath which she soon felt sure of receiving news that +would either increase or diminish her varied stock of fears. Nor was she +disappointed. At the very hour referred to, the note appeared. Who could +picture the ecstatic relief of Lady Dunfern as she paced her prison +floor, whilst carefully scanning the contents of Marjory’s note. In it +she stated that her husband received all letters direct, not alone for +himself, but for all his servants, and delivered them personally to +each, this only happening since she was subject to his cruel +treatment.</p> + +<p>Lady Dunfern was a little surprised at not receiving through Marjory +some news of Oscar. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_100" id = +"page_100">100</a></span> +But when informed of her husband being the recipient of all letters, she +felt confident his were amongst the many for his inspection, and would +not therefore aid his aspect of matters much. Safely depositing the +prayed-for epistle of Marjory in her drawer, she seemed to suddenly grow +quite cheerful and animated, so much so that Rachel, on entering some +short time afterwards, was so struck with the change as to acknowledge +that her ladyship must surely appreciate the book she held in her hand +to an extraordinary extent, since it had altered her +demeanour so.</p> + +<p>Could this attendant only have known the true nature of Lady +Dunfern’s much-changed manner, how, with a conquering air, she would so +soon have conveyed the tidings to Sir John. This, however, was not to +be. Lady Dunfern believed that such a line of intercourse as that which +she had so artfully managed with one on whom she could ever place +implicit confidence, must surely yet be the means of freeing her from +the fetters of a fierce and prejudiced race.</p> + +<p>Every morning, at the same hour, mistress and maid were at their +respective posts, the former, with +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_101" id = +"page_101">101</a></span> +brightened eye, mounted on her favourite pedestal of triumphant account +and gazing intently on the object of rescue; the latter, casting that +grave and careworn look in the direction of the niched signboard of +distress, stood firmly and faithfully until she received the watchword +of action and warning.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg101.png" width = "172" height = "218" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_102" id = +"page_102">102</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapXII" id = "chapXII"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg186.png" width = "430" height = "81" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">T</span><span class = +"firstword">orture</span> trifleth not. It manifests in many instances +the deserving censure imposed upon its stinging touch. It acts like the +poisonous fangs of the serpent, unless extracted from its burning crypt +of chastisement by hands of wily witchcraft. So frightened did Lady +Dunfern become lest the eye of the straggler might chance more than once +to catch the meaning of Marjory’s loitering about the grounds +immediately below her window, that she deemed it imperative to alter her +arrangements, and, acquainting Marjory in the usual way, appointed an +hour that would almost defy matters to be made conspicuous. This change +made both of them more free to act, and proved a decided success.</p> + +<p>Only some weeks elapsed since Lady Dunfern’s first missive reached +Marjory until word was forthcoming from Oscar Otwell. Her heart beat +wildly +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_103" id = +"page_103">103</a></span> +with joy on reading the following, slipped to her in the usual +way:—</p> + +<div class = "letter"> +<p class = "right two">“Hedley,</p> + +<p class = "right">Berks.</p> + +<p>“Dearest Lady Dunfern,</p> + +<p>“You may well guess my gross astonishment on receipt of your long +looked-for note, and the dire news it contained. My heart bleeds for +you, and believe me, no stone shall be left unturned until your release +from that heathenish cell of woe shall be proclaimed. Often have I +looked for an answer to my letters from you, but, alas! in vain. +I began to be convinced that something must have driven your love +for me into hate. I am further surprised that my uncle, who +purchased Dilworth Estate, and who permanently resides at the castle +with his wife and daughters, never alluded in any way in his letters to +me to your retirement as it were from public life. His answers to my +many questions concerning you he entirely evaded, and never having had +an opportunity of a personal interview with him since I entered +Chitworth College, I unfor­tunately have been debarred from +rendering long since the aid you now seek.</p> + +<p>“Your suggestion shall undoubtedly have my prompt attention, and I’ll +now say no more, until I rejoice in your freedom.</p> + +<p class = "third">“Ever your loving</p> + +<p class = "right two">“<span class = "smallcaps">Oscar.</span>â€</p> +</div> + +<p>The mind of him who was in full possession of the facts regarding +Lady Dunfern’s present position became perfectly distracted, and on +entering College next morning, after receiving her note, was so +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_104" id = +"page_104">104</a></span> +overcome with grief as to cause grave alarm amongst the many students +who benefitted so much by his strenuous efforts to insure success. +Doctor O’Sullivan, the eminent President of the College, on seeing +Oscar, whom he lately observed was labouring under some weight of +sorrow, in such a state of despair, strongly advised a change of air, at +the same time kindly offering him a substitute for four weeks, at the +end of which time, if he still found himself unable to resume his +tuitions, he would prolong his vacation by two weeks. This was the very +thing Oscar wanted—absence from duty—and he gladly availed +himself of the worthy president’s generous offer.</p> + +<p>How Oscar quitted the college on receiving the news which liberated +him, not only for four weeks, but for ever!—how he sped along to +his room in Upper Joy Street, and there wrote a few words to her who +longed for his presence and aid, wondering how the clever trick, so ably +concocted by Lady Dunfern, would be accomplished, or if attempted, would +succeed!—better leave it to her who had so well managed to even +reach the length of liberty which marked her heroism already.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_105" id = +"page_105">105</a></span> +<p>Lady Dunfern was busily engaged, during her hours of uninterruption, +in marking notes, with great caution and clearness, on paper for +Marjory’s use; and well guarded and guided must the steps be that should +again lead her into the open field of freedom and health.</p> + +<p>The heavy rain beat furiously against the darkened window of Lady +Dunfern’s confined and much-detested abode as Rachel approached her with +supper on the night of 24th December.</p> + +<p>As the next day brought many touching remembrances with it, Rachel, +this iron-willed attendant, spoke in rather soothing strains to her whom +more than once she tried to betray. Lady Dunfern, being so fully charged +with thoughts edging on her flight, remained in perfect indifference to +all her cunning remarks, never betraying the least outward symptom of +the excitement that then raged so terribly within her; she was resolved +that no word of any description whatever should be conveyed to him who +so eagerly awaited Rachel’s retracing footsteps outside the cell.</p> + +<p>Prompted strongly by Sir John before entering, Rachel carried with +her messages of a rather condoling +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_106" id = +"page_106">106</a></span> +character, to be delivered to her ladyship in such pitiful phrases as to +twist from her remarks for the use of him who feared that something +dreadful was about to happen owing to a miserable dream he had only a +couple of nights before.</p> + +<p>But Lady Dunfern was too watchful to allow even one word to escape +her lips that might innocently convict her; and steadfastly guarding +against the tongue of the treacherous maiden, remained in silence. The +evil-intended Rachel lingered around the room fully fifteen minutes, +thus affording Lady Dunfern every opportunity of saying something, but +all of no avail; and angrily snatching up the large silver tray, bounced +out of the room, banging the great door after her, probably in order to +frighten her mistress, but not a nerve did the rude and audacious act +disturb.</p> + +<p>Turning the light very low, the confined woman slipped on tip-toe +behind the defiant door, and heard faint sounds proceed from the +adjoining corridor, the voices she well knew to be those of both her +husband and Rachel. Her heart sank somewhat at the discourse that +followed Rachel’s recent visit, lest it might be concerning either +herself or Marjory; or, worse still, she thought, relative to her +intended +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_107" id = +"page_107">107</a></span> +flight within five hours, which she earnestly implored should not be +prevented.</p> + +<p>The voices, however, after a lengthy conversation, suddenly ceased, +and gently moving to the fire, she sat quietly down to heat her icy +limbs, that were almost benumbed with cold.</p> + +<p>The thoughts which she allowed to disturb her anxious mind she found +were very numerous, the principal one being that of flight, which she +trusted strenuously should be fully accomplished within the time +specified. The first hour slipped in, the second moved round too, +likewise the third; and, gazing in wild despair in the direction of her +dainty-jewelled watch, which she kept suspended from a trivial hook +above the mantelpiece of richly carved oak, could scarcely refrain from +tears.</p> + +<p>The smallest hand of her little timekeeper could not fail to show +that the hour of eleven had just been reached; this was precisely the +time all the household retired, including Sir John, on whose part it was +not a case of command, but option.</p> + +<p>On this particular night the staff of servants was not so fully +represented as usual. Marjory Mason had not been amongst the number who +sought sleep, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_108" id = +"page_108">108</a></span> +neither was it known by any one whether or not she was in her own +room.</p> + +<p>Immediately adjoining Marjory’s room was Rachel Hyde’s, both of which +it was Marjory’s duty always to keep in perfect order, thus affording +the great friend of Lady Dunfern a daily opportunity of viewing the +drawer in which the great key of her ladyship’s room was at rest.</p> + +<p>It was a habit with Rachel to sleep with her bedroom door ajar, by +order of her master, lest a fire might originate during the hours of +repose, or burglars enter and carry with them some valuables of no +slight worth or interest.</p> + +<p>About ten o’clock, an hour before Marjory’s usual time to retire, she +ably feigned a very severe attack of indigestion, and, trying to look as +dejected and sick as she could in consequence, requested that she might +be permitted to go to her own room for the night; a request which +Rachel readily granted, as Marjory and she always travelled by the +express train of friendship. Rachel added that she would act in her +stead by clearing her master’s supper table herself.</p> + +<p>No sooner had Rachel granted Marjory’s request than she dashed up the +many and winding steps of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_109" id = +"page_109">109</a></span> +ascent until she reached the object of her premeditated scheme by boldly +entering the housekeeper’s room and taking therefrom the choicest +treasure it contained—namely, the key which was so soon to prove +the nature of the severe illness she so capitally assumed.</p> + +<p>Rachel, on entering the room in which Sir John sat, was quickly asked +where Marjory was; and after satisfying him as to her illness, she +hastily removed the articles used at supper, and repaired to rest. When +passing Marjory’s door, Rachel tapped lightly, and failing to gain +admission, called on her to admit her with a cup of hot milk. Still no +reply came from within. Then, slowly turning the handle, she tried to +admit herself without awaking Marjory, feeling sure that she must be +sound asleep.</p> + +<p>It was only during her third attempt to seek entrance that she found +the door locked. Moving into her own room, she muttered something that +did not distinctly reach the ear of her who was safely secreted +underneath the housekeeper’s bed. Divesting herself of her clothing, +Rachel soon put herself in a position to guarantee slumber. She wrapped +herself well within the fleecy folds of nature, and in less than +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_110" id = +"page_110">110</a></span> +ten minutes was safely sailing in the boat of dreamland.</p> + +<p>Marjory, for it was she who lay stretched under the bed of her who +never at any time doubted her word or actions, when fully convinced of +Rachel’s safe retirement, crept along the carpeted floor on hands and +knees, carrying with her the key to victory. Proudly and much agitated +did Marjory steal her way along the many winding corridors of carpeted +comfort, until at last she came to the bottom of the ghost-like marble +steps which led to her mistress; and swiftly running up the icy heights, +until reaching the door of danger and blood-thirsty revenge, she, with +the caution of a murderess, thrust with great and exceptional care the +key into its much-used opening, and heroically succeeded in gaining +admittance.</p> + +<p>Behind the door lay Lady Dunfern, as if dead. With great presence of +mind Marjory locked the door from within, struck a match, and tried to +light the lamp, which had been extinguished not long before; this with +difficulty she nervously did. Then, turning to her mistress, whose +changed countenance was a sight Marjory never forgot until her dying +day, she tried every effort to arouse her who so soon was likely +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_111" id = +"page_111">111</a></span> +to track the path of powerful pursuit. It was fully some minutes until +she saw the faintest glimpse of animation, and gently raising the +shadowy form in her strong arms, used every means in her power to +quickly prepare her for the most trying part of all.</p> + +<p>At last Marjory’s efforts were completely baffled; and knowing it was +approaching the time at which Oscar was to be in readiness at the gate +farthest away from the mansion, that was seldom or never used, the poor +trembling girl had now enough to bear. She believed the cup of sorrow +had been drained to its last dregs; still she hoped on, never giving +place to the remotest trace of doubt, being fully assured of achieving +the topmost tier of triumph.</p> + +<p>Lady Dunfern had, through pure fear of being caught in her adventure, +stood an hour or so behind the door before Marjory’s welcome steps were +heard, and momentarily on hearing her trusted maid’s nimble tread make +such rapid strides towards her release was with overjoy so quickly +stricken down, at a time when two-fold energy was most required, that +she utterly failed to regain the slightest strength; and in this sad +state her helper found her!</p> + +<p>The moments were passing more quickly now +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_112" id = +"page_112">112</a></span> +than Marjory wished, and bestowing one final look at her ladyship’s +watch so firmly clutched in her fingers, was about to break down in +despair, when she was suddenly aroused by a dash of sandy pebble thrown +against the window, which unmistakably announced the arrival of him who +so soon was to shield the shaken form of her once lovely mistress from +the snares of jealousy and intrigue.</p> + +<p>Oscar, who stood at the gate appointed, was very uneasy, no doubt, as +the hour slowly approached that should make him the recipient of the +treasure he at first should have honestly secured, and fearing lest the +escape might be detected in time for rescue, he was unable to remain any +longer where he was. Mounting the iron gate, he soon flung himself over +its speary top, and hurriedly making his way towards Lady Dunfern’s +window, where he perceived the dim light, he announced his arrival in +the manner described.</p> + +<p>Wringing her hands in wild despair, Marjory touchingly prayed for +speedy release from such cruel torture, and opening the door for the +last time she carried her mistress into the corridor, and there +deposited her until again locking the giant block of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_113" id = +"page_113">113</a></span> +oak, then she lightly tripped down the ashen steps, along the corridors, +until at last she reached the open door of Rachel’s room. Pausing for a +moment lest the housekeeper might be awake, she satisfied herself this +was not so. She then courageously entered and safely deposited the key +in the exact spot whence she took it, retracing in a wonderfully quiet +manner her shaking footsteps until arriving to convey her precious +charge to a place of safety. Clasping Lady Dunfern once more in her +arms, she crept down the chilly steps of fate along the well-padded +paths of tapestry, down numerous flights of wiry-carpeted stairs, until +finally reaching the lofty hall, where she paused for an instant, being +a complete example of exhaustion, and dreading the least delay, +approached the door with safety. She then deposited her ladyship on a +lounge that lay right behind it until she secured the key which from +previous observation she noted, in case of emergency, hung on a silver +hook not eight feet distant.</p> + +<p>With the air of a duchess, Marjory dashed open the outer door, at the +left wing of the building, and, with her liberated load of love, swept +for ever from its touch. Blowing faintly a whistle she bought for +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_114" id = +"page_114">114</a></span> +the purpose, she soon was released of her charge by him who instantly +appeared to shield them both from the breezy blast which bitterly swept +that night o’er hill and dale.</p> + +<p>Taking Lady Dunfern in his arms, Oscar paced the broad and pebbled +walks, speedily arriving at the spot where stood a vehicle in readiness +to convey them to their destiny. Not a word was spoken by Oscar, neither +did Lady Dunfern betray the slightest symptoms of recovery until safely +driven to the pretty home Oscar had previously arranged for her rescue, +some twenty miles distant from Dunfern Mansion.</p> + +<p>It was situated nearly in the centre of Dilworth Park, and generously +handed over to Oscar as a conditional gift from his uncle, the Marquis +of Orland, who owned its many acres. Marjory’s joy at this stage fully +balanced her previous hours of sorrowful and dangerous adventure. She +could hardly refrain from tears as she viewed the weary night before +through the telescope of trickery. She seemed confident of having +performed a great and good work by liberating from the pangs of +emotional imprisonment the weak and forlorn, who so soon would have been +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_115" id = +"page_115">115</a></span> +ordered to separate herself from a closet of chastisement to enter the +home of joy everlasting, which ever has its door of gladness open to the +ring of the repentant and contrite.</p> + +<p>After leaving Lady Dunfern in the careful charge of Marjory, Oscar +proceeded to handsomely reward his uncle’s coachman, who drove them so +quickly from Dunfern Mansion to Audley Hall, requesting him at the same +time to treat the matter with profound silence.</p> + +<p>The rescued form now opened her eyes, and suddenly a convulsive +twitch shook her feeble frame. Casting her heavily-laden orbs of blinded +brilliancy around the cosy well-lighted room, had not to be informed by +any one what had happened; she gasped, “Thank Heaven, I’m safe!â€</p> + +<p>Oscar, tenderly bidding Lady Dunfern “Good night,†instructed Marjory +to carefully administer to her wants until daybreak.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg115.png" width = "154" height = "52" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_116" id = +"page_116">116</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapXIII" id = "chapXIII"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg32.png" width = "427" height = "67" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">I</span><span class = "firstword">t</span> is +astounding to view the smallest article through a magnifying glass; how +large and lustrous an atom of silver appears; how fat and fair the +withered finger seems; how monstrously mighty an orange; how +immeasurably great the football of youth; but these are as nought when +the naked eye beholds the boulder of barred strength—a mountain of +mystery.</p> + +<p>The usual hour for arousing the inmates of Dunfern Mansion was +designated by the ringing of a bell, constructed at the back part of the +building, and connected by means of a wire with the room of the footman, +whose duty it was to ring fully three minutes every morning at the hour +of seven o’clock in winter and six in summer.</p> + +<p>On Christmas morning, only a short time after Lady Dunfern’s escape +was effected, it rang somewhat +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_117" id = +"page_117">117</a></span> +later, arousing from sleep all the servants, with the exception of +Marjory Mason, who failed entirely to put in an appearance, even when +called thrice by Rachel. However, believing that she was still fast +asleep, Rachel ceased to further call on her until after serving her +ladyship’s breakfast.</p> + +<p>On this festive day the breakfast served in the servants’ spacious +hall was a sumptuous repast, truly, and required longer time to prepare +than was customary. This being so, evidently delayed the housekeeper a +considerable time in attending to the wants of her mistress, whose +breakfast was always punctually served at nine o’clock. This rule was +violated to the extent of about half an hour on the memorable morning of +Lady Dunfern’s flight.</p> + +<p>Sir John breakfasted at fifteen minutes after nine, and looked both +careworn and sad, intimating to Rachel his inability to sleep the +previous night. Ordering her to prepare a dainty dish for Lady Dunfern, +he proceeded to read the daily paper, that had been so customary for +years. Rachel, hastily executing her master’s orders, and having all in +readiness for her mistress, hurried to her room for the key. Sharply +telling the usual maid to follow her with the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_118" id = +"page_118">118</a></span> +tray, she wended her way towards the door that twice had been locked +since her last visit. Unlocking it, turning the handle and pushing it +open, she took from the servant the tray, as was her custom, by strict +orders of her master, never allowing the maid further than the door.</p> + +<p>Depositing it upon the table, she <ins class = "mycorr" title = +"text reads ‘swifty’">swiftly</ins> turned to the door, and locking it +from within, began to gaze around for Lady Dunfern, who sometimes breakfasted +in bed. Moving in its direction with tray in hand, no Lady Dunfern +appeared! The bed remained unused since she settled it the previous day. +Wildly shouting with momentary pain, Rachel let fall the tray, smashing +the china, &c., and thickly spotting the matting in some places with +its contents. In deep despair she cast one delirious stare around the +room, but all to no effect. Heaven help me! has she fled? Oh, +what!—what shall I do? Thinking that she might have hidden under +the couch of rest, she threw herself on the floor to try and catch only +a glance of her hidden form, but was disappointed once more.</p> + +<p>Running to the door and frantically opening it, she ran to Marjory’s +room. Failing to be admitted, she hurried down to acquaint some of the +men, who +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_119" id = +"page_119">119</a></span> +attempted to open Marjory’s door, but all their masculine efforts to +arouse her were futile. What was there left to be done, save to acquaint +Sir John of the matter. Agitated did Rachel enter without signifying her +approach to her master, who sat in silence. “Oh, sir,†cried she, +drowned in tears, and uttered in broken accents the words, “Your wife +has escaped—she is not in her room!†“What!†gasped Sir John. “It +cannot be!â€</p> + +<p>Following Rachel to the room of terror he found her information too +true. “How on earth has this happened?†asked the horrified husband. +“Had you the key?†he fiercely asked of Rachel. Ever ready to substitute +the truth with a lie, where the former especially would convict her, she +replied, with a stamp of her foot, “that it never was out of her drawer +of safe deposit.†Thinking probably she may have trifled with the +window, Sir John moved forward, and the wrap never being removed, he +thought it had not in any way been tampered with until Rachel espied the +corner pane. “Ah!†said she, “this is the clue to her cursed craft. This +must have had something to do with her escape.†Then the thought of +Marjory’s room being still closed to view she fancied +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_120" id = +"page_120">120</a></span> +might have something also to do with the mysterious and marvellous mark +of ingenious intrigue.</p> + +<p>Both Sir John and Rachel tottered to Marjory’s door, and demanding it +to be broken open, Sir John entered to be further astonished at her +absence, to be sure. On her bed she cannot have lain the previous night, +which was proof positive that she was an announced accomplice. But the +mystery had yet to be solved as to the action of their flight. Guilt +took strong hold on Rachel. She knew the key was always kept in a drawer +in her own room, which drawer was constantly kept locked by her and the +key hidden inside the little clock that ticked so gently on the +mantel-piece in her room; but on second thought, she was so busily +engaged during the Christmas season that actually she forgot to lock the +drawer the whole week. Never dreaming that this overlook on her part was +so cleverly taken notice of by her who not alone committed the <ins +class = "mycorr" title = "text reads ‘ruffainous’">ruffianous</ins> act, +but caused all the blame to be thrown on the party in charge. The +housekeeper, who felt sadly and very much annoyed about the affair, +grasped the whole thing—first, she thought of Marjory’s professed +illness the evening previous, then how she tried her door before going +to +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_121" id = +"page_121">121</a></span> +bed, and in this attempt to enter was unsuccessful, and that very +morning there was no answer, and, finally, she was missing as well as +Lady Dunfern. The well-arranged plot pictured itself in a most vivid +manner to her who in one respect, regarding the key’s safety, was +entirely to blame.</p> + +<p>Sir John, summoning all his men, ordered them to go at once and +intimate to the officers of the law the sudden flight of the miscreants, +and to try and find out their whereabouts; but no trace of them was as +yet nigh at hand.</p> + +<p>The deceived husband appeared greatly crushed under such a weight of +sorrow, and wondering whether or not they could be found, or if Oscar +Otwell, he who so often wrote to his wife during her period of +imprisonment, had ought to do with her daring adventure, aided by +Marjory Mason! It is no longer an unsolved problem that Oscar Otwell was +from first to last the chief irritating item of Sir John Dunfern’s +unhappiness, and whose supposed underhand communications with Lady +Dunfern were the principal features depicted in this escape.</p> + +<p>These letters of Otwell’s Sir John still retained, never reaching her +for whom they were intended. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_122" id = +"page_122">122</a></span> +Opening his large Davenport that stood close by, he extracted therefrom +all the letters of the vaguish tutor, and coming to the one received +lastly, found it bore the address, “Chitworth College, Hedley, Berks.†+This was so much information regarding the rascal who was the sole means +of separating Sir John Dunfern and his wife.</p> + +<p>The husband, paralysed with sorrow, instantly wrote to Doctor +O’Sullivan, the President of the College, who in youthful years was his +most intimate acquaintance, and whose name appeared so often in Oscar’s +letters, making the necessary inquiries relative to one of the teaching +staff named “Oscar Otwell.â€</p> + +<p>This he sealed in an envelope, and walked to the village to post it +himself. After two days’ rending agony and suspense, he received the +following reply:—</p> + +<div class = "letter"> +<p class = "right">“Chitworth College,</p> + +<p class = "right three">Berks.</p> + +<p>“Dear Sir John,</p> + +<p>“I am very sorry to inform you that, owing to a grave despondency +which of late troubled Oscar Otwell, one of my able and talented +assistants, I was compelled, though reluctantly, to allow him +either one month’s leave of absence or six weeks’ if he so desired, in +order to recruit him somewhat. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_123" id = +"page_123">123</a></span> +I strongly advised him to seek a change of air, which I believe he +did. I myself, on receipt of your note, visited his lodgings to +ascertain from his landlady when he was likely to return. She informs me +she has never heard from him since he left, and cannot give the least +clue as to his present quarters. She adds that he took all his +belongings with him.—Trusting you enjoy good health.</p> + +<p class = "third">“Believe me,</p> + +<p class = "midway">“Very sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class = "right">“<span class = "smallcaps">D. O’Sullivan,</span></p> + +<p class = "right two">Pres.â€</p> +</div> + +<p>“Merciful Father!†exclaimed Sir John, as he finished reading the +President’s note, which he laid on the table. “God strengthen me to bear +this un-Christian-like calamity. Oh, my son, my son! What disgrace shall +this not bring upon you, my child, my all!â€</p> + +<p>Pacing the floor in profound agony, Sir John rang for his housekeeper +to convey the tidings he had just received. Rachel suspected this +beforehand, but dare not even hint at such a thing to him, who had +already enough to bear. Speaking in terms which shewed manifest symptoms +of sorrow, combined with rage and perplexity, he ordered her for ever +from his service. “You,†said he, “are solely to blame. Of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_124" id = +"page_124">124</a></span> +this I am positively convinced, and through that door march, as I never +wish again to set eyes on such a worthless woman.†Here Rachel, who was +grievously affected, passed for ever from the presence of him who dared +to be questioned.</p> + +<p>Next of all, he ordered the footman, Tom Hepworth, into his room. +“You,†said he, “are well aware of my present calamity, and might I ask +of you how my wife and Marjory Mason effected their escape from below? +Had you not the hall doors locked and likewise all the others?†Replying +in the affirmative, the footman shook like a poplar, knowing well that +instead of having in his room during the hours of repose all the keys of +the various doors which led to the outside, he allowed them to remain +where they were during the day. “Had you all those keys in your own room +at night, according to my orders since Lady Dunfern was obliged to be +dealt with in the manner already described?†demanded Sir John angrily. +The honest-hearted footman, being trapped, frankly acknowledged he had +not.</p> + +<p>“Go, then,†said his master “and seek employment elsewhere. You are +no longer fit to be here. You have neglected to carry out my orders, +therefore +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_125" id = +"page_125">125</a></span> +you must go.†So saying, the sturdy footman bowed and retired.</p> + +<p>It no doubt caused Sir John a vast amount of pain to part with two +such helps as Rachel Hyde and Tom Hepworth; but once he formed a +resolution, nothing save death itself would break it.</p> + +<p>Terror seized every dependent in the mansion lest Sir John would +visit his anger on each and all in like manner. However, this was not +so, as Rachel and Tom, being longer in his service than any of the +others, caused him to intrust them with the chief care of matters of +importance in preference. And when he found out that they had so +carelessly disobeyed his injunctions, they were then compelled to reap +the result.</p> + +<p>Tom and Rachel, in less than an hour after their master issued his +words of censure and dismissal, left the beautiful home, of such lengthy +shelter, in which they had shared their help so willingly, to plough the +field of adventure on which they now might wander.</p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_126" id = +"page_126">126</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapXIV" id = "chapXIV"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg126.png" width = "430" height = "82" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">T</span><span class = "firstword">he</span> +affections of youth never die. They live sometimes to lift the drooping +head, and help to chase sorrow from the heart of the oppressed. If +fostered unduly they generally prove to be more closely interwoven than +if retained through honesty alone, and fight the battle of union with +cannon strength until gained for good or evil.</p> + +<p>Awaking from the deep sleep she so much enjoyed after her troublesome +adventures in the past, Christmas Day seemed wreathed with flowers of +heavenly fragrance for the once fair bride of Dunfern Mansion. She now +felt free to act as she thought best without undergoing an examination +which demanded answers of evasive tact—free from the hovering +cloud of dislike under which she so solemnly moved since her marriage +day—free from the wild gaze of that detestable of mortals, Rachel +Hyde, who proved as false as she was foul—free from reposing on +the suicidal +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_127" id = +"page_127">127</a></span> +couch of distrust and distress—free from the surveillance of a +so-called philanthropist; and free from the traps of tyrannical +power.</p> + +<p>She had no longer to fear the opening door of creaking custody or +crushed hopes, and well might she now enjoy her Christmas dinner with +rural relish and savoury zest. She found in Audley Hall every simple and +inexpensive comfort, and rejoiced once more to be under the gentle rule +of him whom she would have died to serve. She seemed now to have reached +joy’s greatest height, and never hoped that she should again be dashed +into the dam of denounced riches, where love was an absenter to its +silvery depth; since she had aspired to and achieved the greatest aim of +her ambition.</p> + +<p>Oscar Otwell’s happiness knew no bounds. The trusted tutor had at +last secured the only hope he ever wished realised, although gained with +daring enterprise and false advances. He believed that life at last +possessed some charms for him, viewing matters lightly. But behind the +silvery rock of fortune there lies a hollow filled with darkened traces +of fate.</p> + +<p>The love dream of youth had hardly time to be +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_128" id = +"page_128">128</a></span> +told until the future dream of wonder and dread was about to be +prophesied. A couple of months or so after Lady Dunfern took up her +residence at Audley Hall found her more a dependent than a patroness. +She had recently fled from a dungeon, still it was not one of either +starvation or poverty. Whilst occupying its darkened midst she never had +any cause for complaint regarding food or attendance, both of which +could not possibly have been excelled. It was only when <ins class = +"mycorr" title = "text unchanged: missing word?">staring her lover’s +scanty table</ins> fully that thoughts of any nature, save cruelty, +haunted her and caused a sad expression to appear which before seemed +invisible.</p> + +<p>Oscar, who had no means whatever of a private nature, soon commenced +to feel the touch of want as well as Lady Dunfern. He had no situation, +neither had he the means to afford the homeliest fare, and although made +owner of his present habitation, yet it was only conditionally he +obtained it from his uncle. Must not the great love they naturally had +for each other have been of very superlative strength, since it bade +adieu to boundless wealth on the one hand and a comfortable allowance on +the other, to face the future with penniless pride!</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_129" id = +"page_129">129</a></span> +<p>Advertisements were often seen in the leading journals for a +situation, and once the name “Oscar Otwell†appeared below. It was +treated with muffled silence, so much so that after a month’s daily +appealing to a praiseworthy public, the result proved a decided +failure.</p> + +<p>Did he imagine his conduct in robbing Sir John Dunfern of his +youthful wife would be appreciated by a public band of critics? Did he +by his various attempts to enter the minds of the needy ever think to +solicit their assistance or gain their confidence by tearing asunder the +lawful bond of superficial union and right, casting it upon the sieve of +shattered shelter to separate the corn of crowded comfort from the chaff +of crafty want?</p> + +<p>Oscar Otwell, whose literary abilities were proved beyond doubt, and +which were the sole source of his existence, was, by his conduct and +craving desire, driven into the pit of trifling tenure and allowed to +lie dormant until again aroused in a clime to which he soon must wend +his wasted way.</p> + +<p>It was now that the heated passion of youth’s folly became abated as +Oscar was beginning to near his purse’s wrinkled bottom, and failing in +his +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_130" id = +"page_130">130</a></span> +strenuous efforts to secure a tutorship, was smartly made to feel that +he must visit a land of strangers, where height of ability and depth of +character were alike unquestioned. It was at this stage, too, that Lady +Dunfern was made to taste of the dish of fanciful wish in which she +often dipped her slender fingers to sprinkle her body of dishonesty. She +got time now to brood over her actions of silly execution and hatch them +with heated hunger. The orphan, the pampered, the honoured was at this +period the deluded, the mocked, the hungered.</p> + +<p>This was only the beginning of what must follow; and where did the +blame attachable rest? But on the shoulders of her who had edged the +road of unreasonable revenge, and stripped herself of the covering of +coveted cost to array herself in linen of loose lore and lengthy wear, +and die, it may be, on the wayside of want.</p> + +<p>The shaft of poverty still kept striking the inmates of Audley Hall, +until forced to withdraw its clumsy blow. There was evidently now plenty +of scope for the talent of the learned Oscar to develop; he must plan +how to arrive at an idea that would bring to the occupants of his +temporary home the necessaries +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_131" id = +"page_131">131</a></span> +of which they stood immediately in need. Failing in his efforts to gain +one step towards relief, Lady Dunfern advised the disposal of Audley +Hall privately, which, she strongly hinted to Oscar, was their only path +of safety from the door of starvation. To this suggestion she succeeded +in gaining his consent.</p> + +<p>He accordingly, acting upon her advice, wrote to Doctor O’Sullivan, +President of Chitworth College, intimating to him his present +circumstances and intention, and begged of him to use his best efforts +in sending him a purchaser, the sale to be kept strictly private for +reasons which, presently, he felt too delicate to explain.</p> + +<p>In a week or so after, a gentleman was seen approach the door of +Oscar’s home, and making the necessary inquiries regarding the price +Oscar meant to accept for it, offered the sum of one thousand pounds, +which, needless to say, was gladly accepted.</p> + +<p>The purchaser was rather an elderly gentleman, with chiselled +features, tall and straight, and seemed to have borne the melting heat +of a far-off clime to a large extent. He informed Oscar that being a +retired army pensioner, named Major Iddesleigh, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_132" id = +"page_132">132</a></span> +he chose to leave the foreign land in which he sojourned for upwards of +thirty-five years and reside in his native county, adding that he was a +widower, having had two sons, both of whom predeceased him, and +preferred a home of his own rather than take up quarters he could not +solely claim.</p> + +<p>He went on to say he had an only brother, a colonel, who formerly +resided at Flixton, a quaint little town on the east coast of Kent. +He had not heard from him for many years, and was resolved on arriving +in England to lose no time in finding out his whereabouts, and, much to +his grave disappointment and vexation, he was informed, whilst staying +for a few days with President O’Sullivan, that he and his wife had long +since been dead, leaving an only daughter, of whom he was now in earnest +pursuit. Oscar’s deadly countenance during the latter part of Major +Iddesleigh’s remarks filled the mind of the purchaser of Audley Hall +with thoughts of wonder, and on casting a sharp and penetrating stare at +her who passed as Oscar’s wife, he was similarly struck with intense awe +at the sudden change that swept over her handsome face.</p> + +<p>Her brain whirled with dire excitement on being +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_133" id = +"page_133">133</a></span> +at last informed of him who for years previous she considered had been a +member of the missing majority.</p> + +<p>“Great and Merciful Forgiver!†thought Lady Dunfern, “am I at last +face to face with Major Iddesleigh, whose name has been so often the +subject of conversation with both Lord and Lady Dilworth?†Gathering her +thoughts and submitting them to subjection, she tried to subdue her +shattered nerves and lock them under proper restraint, until her uncle +should safely be out of sight on his way back to the home of the +kind-hearted President of Chitworth College.</p> + +<p>She had not, however, the slightest thought of making him cognisant +of the fact that she was the proud and lovely daughter of his brother, +the late Colonel Iddesleigh—the once-adored wife of the widely +respected and generous owner of Dunfern Estate, and now the tempted tool +of emigration.</p> + +<p>She prayed in her bewilderment that she might escape unknown to him, +rather than make him aware of the disgrace into which her past conduct +had unmistakably plunged her. Bidding Oscar and her “Adieu,†Major +Iddesleigh left what was to be his +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_134" id = +"page_134">134</a></span> +future home, and returned to Doctor O’Sullivan to acquaint him of his +purchase.</p> + +<p>Before he had even reached the College on his way from Audley Hall, +Oscar Otwell, Lady Dunfern, and Marjory had booked for New York, on +board the “Delwyn,†and when the worthy President was informed of the +purchase, the dashing waves of Atlantic waters were raising themselves +to a considerable height before the eyes of the fugitives, who nervously +paced the deck of danger in despair and deepest thought of their foul +transaction and Major Iddesleigh, lest before they reached their destiny +he would be made possessor of his niece’s conduct, and, with the warlike +will of a soldier of strength, follow her, and bring her back to Audley +Hall to administer to his many wants and comforts, and bequeath to her +all he possessed.</p> + +<p>Nor did Oscar Otwell, whose nerves were reaching their shaky height, +feel free until safely ensconsed in a trim little cottage on the +outskirts of Dobbs Ferry, some miles distant from the suburbs of New +York. Oscar’s first thought, after being quietly settled in his new +home, was to bind himself for life to be the husband of her who had +risked so much to bring +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_135" id = +"page_135">135</a></span> +him the joy he long sought after; and within one month after their safe +arrival in New York borders, the pretty little church, situated at the +east end of Dobbs Ferry, was the scene of a charming group of wealthy +sight-seers and warm admirers of the handsome bride of Oscar Otwell, who +had lately regained some of her former spirits, which enlivened her to a +pleasing extent, and manifested signs of joy where lines of sorrow so +lately lived.</p> + +<p>It was for this celebration that Lady Dunfern arrayed herself in the +gorgeous gown of purest duchesse satin, which bore such a train of past +remembrances. Why its puffs of pearly wealth surrounded her well-formed +figure on the celebration of her marriage with him who long ago should +have claimed its shining folds, may be considered mysterious. But in +this, as well as in many other instances, the busy brain of Marjory +Mason was prime mover.</p> + +<p>During Lady Dunfern’s confinement in the mansion over which she +unjustly was appointed mistress, Sir John Dunfern, never suspecting the +maid of her on whom he was driven to lavish mycorr, appointed Marjory +mistress of her ladyship’s +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_136" id = +"page_136">136</a></span> +wardrobe, and it was during her term of office that she stole from its +midst the box containing the beautiful Parisian outfit which failed to +put in an appearance on Lady Dunfern’s previous wedding-day. This +Marjory kept, until safe in the shady cot of comfort which encompassed +within its wooden walls the trio of adventure. Lady Dunfern resolved +that this gown should be kept a prisoner until either worn with a face +of happiness and prided ambition or never worn at all.</p> + +<p>On entering the church on the morning of her marriage with Oscar, how +every eye was turned towards the beautiful woman whose radiant smile +gained the hearts of each and all of its occupants. There she stood +before the holy altar with calm resolution and undaunted fear, and her +elegant bearing and manner throughout the trying ceremony were +thoroughly appreciated by the assembly.</p> + +<p>Oscar bore slight traces of nervousness throughout the oratorical +ordeal, and was rejoiced indeed as he turned to leave the scene of such +outbursts of praise, taking with him her who was to be his coveted +partner for life; her, whose footsteps he so often worshipped in days +gone by; her, who entered into +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_137" id = +"page_137">137</a></span> +treaty legally with a man she never could learn to love; her, whom he +now claimed as his own, and for whom he stumbled over many an awkward +and winding stile, until at last his footsteps had reached the path of +level tread, on which he hoped to travel until his journey would be +ended to that distant land where strife is a stranger.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg31.png" width = "157" height = "164" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_138" id = +"page_138">138</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapXV" id = "chapXV"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg138.png" width = "428" height = "54" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">T</span><span class = "firstword">he</span> +wealthy, the haughty, the noble must alike taste of disappointment. They +court ideas whilst surrounded with bountiful store to be fostered and +fed with heaven-bordered hopes which nothing save denial could thwart. +The meek, the humble, the poor share equally in its visitation, and +learn not to frown at its unwelcome intrusion while they bear the load +of blighted hopes with unshrinking modesty.</p> + +<p>At Dunfern Mansion matters seemed at a standstill, since that +Christmas Day which began with such sunshine and ended with such misery. +Energy had fled from the able-bodied staff of servants who occupied its +rooms of plentiful repast. Each and all of them seemed as if death had +entered their midst and snapped from amongst them their sole +support.</p> + +<p>Was it because of Rachel Hyde’s hasty departure? No! They had now no +domineering inflicter of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_139" id = +"page_139">139</a></span> +petticoat power to check their honest actions or words; no eyes of +dreaded terror viewing through spectacles of sin their little faults, +and submitting them, in exaggerated form, to the ear of him who now lay +so dangerously ill; no false face masked in brasen mould, nor tongue of +touchy cut to divide their friendship. Rachel Hyde, whose word, nay, +look, was law, was driven from the presence of him who too long was +blind to her false approaches, and who always treated her with more +leniency and consideration than she really deserved, never again to +mount a pinnacle of trust and truth, or share in the confidence of such +a just and true specimen of humanity as Sir John Dunfern. She had been +made to reap the crops of cunning falsehood, sown so oft in the fields +of honour and true worth, and pocket the result of their flimsy income. +She, by her long service of artifice, had scattered the seeds of +scepticism so thickly around the corners of harmony, goodwill, and peace +as to almost defy their speedy removal; but time would swamp their +silent growth and supplant in their stead roots of integrity, justice, +and benevolence. She had at last been cast on the mercy of a world of +icy indifference to facts of long +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_140" id = +"page_140">140</a></span> +standing, and made to taste of the stagnant waters of pity, which flung +their muddy drops of rancid rascality on the face of dogmatic dread, +until crushed beneath their constant clash she yielded her paltry right +to Him Whose order must never be disobeyed.</p> + +<p>Tom Hepworth, whose absence was partly the cause of sorrow within the +breasts of his fellow-workers in Dunfern Mansion, was much to be pitied; +he was the very soul of honour, and was highly respected by all who knew +him. In his presence every care vanished like snow in sunshine; the +pitiful look that shot from the eye of the down-trodden in Rachel Hyde’s +presence was thrown aside when Tom appeared. He acted as a father and +friend on all occasions where trouble reigned supreme, and never failed +to hear the light laugh of youth proceed from its hidden bed, where it +too often reposed untouched.</p> + +<p>Tom Hepworth, whose race was nearly run, when leaving Dunfern Mansion +took refuge in the home of Mrs. Durand, his sister, who lived only a +short distance from where he had spent more than a third part of his +existence. A few months only elapsed whilst under her roof when he +was seized with a fit of apoplexy, terminating in a few hours a life of +usefulness +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_141" id = +"page_141">141</a></span> +and blameless bearing. The shock of his sudden demise, when conveyed to +his master, whom he revered, brought on a severe attack of hemorrhage, +under which Sir John Dunfern now lay prostrate.</p> + +<p>Not a week passed after Lady Dunfern took up residence at Audley Hall +until Sir John was informed of her whereabouts. Had her escape been +effected unknown to Oscar Otwell, it would scarcely have taken such hold +on the mind of him who, unfortunately, claimed her as his wife; but to +think he had again been duped by a rascally pauper tutor was a pill too +difficult to swallow without being moderately reduced. The troubles that +visit the just are many, and of these Sir John had ample share. He knew, +when too late, that he had jumped the drain of devotion with too much +intensity to gain a worthless reward.</p> + +<p>He was tempted to invest in the polluted stocks of magnified +extension, and when their banks seemed swollen with rotten gear, +gathered too often from the winds of wilful wrong, how the misty dust +blinded his sense of sight and drove him through the field of fashion +and feeble effeminacy, which he once never meant to tread, landing him +on the slippery rock of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_142" id = +"page_142">142</a></span> +smutty touch, to wander into its hidden cavities of ancient fame, there +to remain a blinded son of injustice and unparallelled wrong! All these +thoughts seized the blighted protector of the late Colonel Iddesleigh’s +orphan daughter; and being gradually augmented by many others of private +and public importance, rose, like a tumour of superfluous matter, and +burst asunder on receiving the last blow relative to poor old Tom +Hepworth.</p> + +<p>Sir John in a few weeks gradually grew stronger, until finally he +baffled his severe illness with Christian bravery, and was again able to +keep the ball of industry moving in the direction indicated during his +years of singleness, on which he now looked back, alas! not with sorrow, +but pride.</p> + +<p>During all this trying time, however, it must be admitted there shone +one bright star of filial attraction which seemed to shoot its reflected +lines of loving brightness towards him, whose face always beamed with +delight in return. Yes, his little son Hugh, who had been placed under +the care of Madam Fulham, since Lady Dunfern, by her conduct, could no +longer fill the post of mother, had grown to be a bright child, able to +totter around his nursery toys of cost +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_143" id = +"page_143">143</a></span> +and variety. He always seemed a cheerful, intelligent boy, and extremely +beautiful, but inclined to be slightly self-willed, a trait which +developed itself more and more as years rolled on.</p> + +<p>At the age of six, Sir John, abhorring the advice of his many friends +to procure for him a tutor, had him sent to Canterbury High School, +where he remained for a period of five years as boarder, under the +careful charge of Professor Smeath, a man of the highest literary +attainments, and whose exemplary training of the many youths placed +under his august rule was so pronounced as to leave no room for doubt in +the minds of the many parents who intrusted their respective charges to +him. Each week during this period found Sir John a visitor at +Canterbury; he gave every instruction necessary to Professor Smeath that +would serve to interest his son in any way, and strictly prohibited him +from allowing any outsider whatever, male or female, an interview with +his boy, always treating with dread the wily ways of her who claimed to +be once his partner, and who had brought a shower of everlasting shame +upon himself and child. This order had only to be issued once to the +stern professor carrying out on all possible occasions any +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_144" id = +"page_144">144</a></span> +instructions received from the parents of the pupils under his control +with unflinching and undeniable reliance.</p> + +<p>During these five years of Hugh Dunfern’s instruction at Canterbury, +Sir John was seen to gradually grow careless and despondent. The healthy +glow of youth disappeared daily since domestic affliction entered his +home, and wrote its living lines of disgust with steady hand on the brow +which was now thickly marked with them. He got too much time to meditate +on the immediate past, which was considerably augmented by the absence +of his son.</p> + +<p>He was known to sit for hours at a time in deep and painful thought, +and it was only when aroused by Madam Fulham that he ever cared to stir +from his much-frequented couch of rest; she whom he appointed +housekeeper in Rachel Hyde’s stead, and who acted as well mother to his +little son until removed to school—she extended him every +attention, of which he stood in great need, after his severe attack of +illness and trial, bodily and mentally.</p> + +<p>Time rolled along until his son’s return from Canterbury, whose very +presence should have healed the gaping wounds his absence inflicted, and +chased +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_145" id = +"page_145">145</a></span> +away all gloomy cavities from the mind of Sir John. On the day of Hugh’s +home-coming, after five years’ training under Professor Smeath, which +should have been a day of gladness and rejoicing throughout Dunfern +Mansion, it was only one of sadness for the heart-broken father.</p> + +<p>Bouncing into the room with boyish pride, Hugh ran and proudly +embraced him, who, in return, stood face to face with the very image of +her whom he could never again own.</p> + +<p>There were the rounded forehead, the aquiline nose, the hazel eyes, +the nut-brown hair, the ruby lips, the pearly teeth, the dimpled cheeks +and tiny chin of his mother, who probably was grappling at the crumbs of +pauperism! However, Sir John manfully tried to hide from his boy the +source of his grave looks, until some day of revelation would demand +their blackened origin to be boldly announced to him who as yet was +solely ignorant of his mother being alive.</p> + +<p>Six weeks’ holiday passed too quickly, Hugh thought, until he would +another time be compelled to quit his home of unbounded luxury and enter +Chitworth College, Berks, for a further period of instruction, the +length of which events alone would define.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_146" id = +"page_146">146</a></span> +<p>Although the very name of Chitworth College brought reminiscences of +dislike to him who suffered so much from one of its former staff, yet +those days had fled, and with them the footsteps of flaming +stratagem.</p> + +<p>Being a personal friend of Professor O’Sullivan, Sir John preferred +his son to reside with him, and receive under his able control all the +necessary acquirements devolving upon a son of such a proud and +distinguished race. The morning at last arrived for Hugh to start on his +college career, and, accompanied by his father, was not long in +completing the journey.</p> + +<p>The interview between Sir John and his attached friend, Doctor +O’Sullivan, was affecting in the extreme, so much so that Hugh, being an +entire stranger to such outbursts of grief, and not being prepared for +such sudden emotional and silent greeting as that now witnessed by him, +began to feel it impossible to refrain from joining in their sorrow.</p> + +<p>Throwing his youthful arms around his father’s neck, he sobbed +hysterically, and could only be quieted when his father again appeared +cheerful.</p> + +<p>Leaving his son in charge of Doctor O’Sullivan, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_147" id = +"page_147">147</a></span> +the latter retired from duty that day, and begged Sir John to remain +over-night, adding that he would so much like to have a chat with him +over matters he had known, and was persuaded to believe caused heartfelt +pity to be secreted where once there dwelt heartfelt pride. To this +proposal Sir John consented willingly, not caring to leave his gentle +and much-loved boy so soon after such a trying meeting as that which he +not alone witnessed between friends of old standing, but in which he +modestly and sympathetically joined.</p> + +<p>All the past gravity which marred Sir John Dunfern’s mirth and +usefulness, and which he kept attracted to one common centre, crept from +its crazy cell on this evening. So soon as dinner was over the President +and Sir John retired to a room of seclusion, and the intense relief it +gave the trodden and blighted messenger of manhood to at last have a +friend in whom he could confide no one could half imagine!</p> + +<p>For fully five hours both sat talking confidentially to each other +and sympathising when necessary, and it was only during this +conversation that Sir John was first made acquaint either of his wife’s +marriage with Oscar or her present abode, neither of which, in +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_148" id = +"page_148">148</a></span> +the President’s estimation, moved the husband of treachery in its most +mischievous form much.</p> + +<p>The news of his wife being Mrs. Otwell, instead of the honourable +name her conduct ordered her to bury, only served to cast for ever the +gentle words of practical remembrance Sir John had in his last will and +testament concerning her into an unknown chasm. Until now the forgiving +husband, the meek adviser, the patient sufferer, the wounded knight, the +once attached partner, the loving father, and the son of justice, +gratitude, and chastity was ready to share a little of his ransom with +her whom he thought he may have probably wronged by too rigorous +punishment. But President O’Sullivan, whose well-guided words and +fatherly advice had on this evening so sealed the mind of forgiveness +with the wax of disinterested intent that Sir John, on his arrival home, +at once sent for his solicitors, Messrs. Hutchinson & Harper, and +ordering his will to be produced, demanded there and then that the pen +of persuasion be dipped into the ink of revenge and spread thickly along +the paragraph of blood-related charity to blank the intolerable words +that referred to the woman he was now convinced, beyond doubt, had +braved the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_149" id = +"page_149">149</a></span> +bridge of bigamy. Some slight alterations, in consequence, were +necessary to be made, and these being righted, the will of Sir John +Dunfern remained a prisoner until released on the day of execution, +which as yet could not possibly be named.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg149.png" width = "224" height = "119" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_150" id = +"page_150">150</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapXVI" id = "chapXVI"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg60.png" width = "454" height = "82" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">H</span><span class = "firstword">ark</span>! +The bell tolled its death-like strains, faint as the far-off fatherland, +steady as the starlight, and sweet as the scent of the blooming +woodbine. The hour of departure is sure and settled, the loss is sharply +felt, the gain completed, and vigorous attempts to retain both are +oftentimes multiplying on the exertions of the benefitted.</p> + +<p>During all these years of revolution the wheel of action rounded its +roads of revelling, riot, and separation. Shandon Cottage, the little +house of Oscar Otwell, where he took up residence when first a visitor +to the land of laudable ingenuity, was a pretty structure, and would +doubtless have proved a little palace of peace to two such lovers had +the means been forthcoming to keep the glare of poverty within its bed +of stillness, and prohibit its visitation where least desired.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_151" id = +"page_151">151</a></span> +<p>Oscar, who, during his English career, never was possessor of aught +but a slight pittance derived from the sources of his mental labours, +and who courted the vain idea, on being made the recipient of £1,000, +which he pocketed under false pretences by the underhand sale of Audley +Hall, that he was a man of wealth for life, and when safely settled in +his trim little cottage, squandered his trifle in a very short time, +leaving himself and wife on the mercy of strangers’ sympathy, which more +or less presents an icy aspect to the eye of the needy.</p> + +<p>Marjory Mason, who just spent twelve months under Oscar’s roof, was +fortunate in securing a husband, whose calling kept her during her short +lifetime aloof from the imaginative pinches of the uncertain future.</p> + +<p>It was only when Oscar was forced to evade starvation that he deemed +it imperative to accept an appointment in a public school, at the yearly +income of one thousand dollars, an office he retained until compelled to +resign through courting too great love for the all-powerful monster of +mangled might—Intemperance. After a number of years the partaker +of maddened love was the imparter of maddened might.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_152" id = +"page_152">152</a></span> +<p>With beastly force did Oscar Otwell enter Shandon Cottage on the +night of his open dismissal from Waketown Public School, and arousing +from sleep his wife, with monster oaths inflicted upon her strokes of +abuse which time could never efface.</p> + +<p>Ah! it was now the actions of youthful frivolity stood before her +mountain high and baffled her sickly retort. It was now she pored over +her journal of events, which seemed a burthen unbearable for such a +fragile frame, and begged the credit side to be for ever closed to her +view, whilst she prayed that the debit be left open until she would +enter therein all her past debts to him whom she deceived, deluded, +denounced, and despised.</p> + +<p>Next morning mended matters little for Oscar Otwell’s wife. Still +raging with drunken horror, he lavished upon her torrents of +insinuations, which she found impossible to overlook, and which forced +her to take refuge in the house of the Reverend Bertram Edgar, near <ins +class = "mycorr" title = "text has , for .">by.</ins> This man of true +piety, at whose church she had occasionally worshipped, extended the +refuge she presently implored, and proved instrumental in securing for +her the position of governess in a nobleman’s family some miles +distant.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_153" id = +"page_153">153</a></span> +<p>Disposing of all the household effects, Oscar pocketed their dainty +worth, and left Shandon Cottage in earnest pursuit of his wife, +intending to again return to their native county in England.</p> + +<p>His various inquiries regarding her whereabouts proved vain as the +vanishing shadow of Venus, and finally, when completely overcome with +sober thoughts of his riotous conduct towards the loving and faithful +object of his choice, who had risked so much for him, he cursed his very +existence.</p> + +<p>A few weeks found him in utter destitution, without either house or +chattels to illegally dispose of in case of emergency, and line his +pockets of pauperism with coin of dishonest stamp and flashing forgery. +Unsuccessful in his worthless attempts to further manifest a standing in +the literary world, and being driven almost crazy in his eager efforts +to ascertain whither his wife had bent her footsteps, he, in a moment of +madness, resolved to resign himself to that ever-anxious defender of +Satanic rights who prowls about in ambush until safely securing his prey +with the crooked claws of callous craft.</p> + +<p>Walking along in the moonlight in the direction of Afton Lake, which +sometimes offers its deep +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_154" id = +"page_154">154</a></span> +waters too freely to victims of sin and suffering, Oscar Otwell resolved +to bathe his body of perilous adventure in its darkened waters of +deepest death, never more to face the troubles and trials of weak man +and share them with weaker woman—never again to approach the wife +of his bosom with language of lowest type or lift to her the hand which +he so often had sworn should extend her the aid she now must <ins class += "authcorr" title = "corrected by author from ‘senk’">seek</ins>.</p> + +<p>Arriving at the water’s edge, Oscar Otwell divested himself of his +scanty attire, and in another moment was struggling in the freezing +element which soon should shroud his future with robe of blackest +doubt.</p> + +<p>Dunraven Hall was situated only a mile from Afton Lake, and was +inhabited by the Honourable Eric Eustace, a nobleman of unbounded +wealth, whose extension of charity was both wide and varied. It was in +this family that Mrs. Otwell was fortunate enough in securing the +position before referred to through the instrumentality of her spiritual +adviser.</p> + +<p>On the night that Oscar Otwell resigned his worldly career, there +beat one heart in Dunraven Hall with wild emotion. Mrs. Otwell, retiring +to bed +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_155" id = +"page_155">155</a></span> +as usual, found sleep had altogether fled, and rising from her springy +structure of restlessness, dressed herself and paced the bedroom floor +enveloped in dread. She was convinced something was about to happen, and +struggling in her great efforts to baffle the fear that haunted her +night and day lately, she resolved, so soon as daybreak peeped its +cheerful face through her window, to take a walk along the road in order +to cast her fears upon the highway of forgetfulness.</p> + +<p>Wrapping herself in her warmest cloak, she soon was found walking +rapidly along in silence on the road that swept round Afton Lake. She +had not gone far when people were seen to mount the fence that conducted +them to the nearest point of its watery expanse, which lay about fifty +perches from the main road.</p> + +<p>Courting her curiosity with nervous fear, she walked along, wondering +what had happened to attract such crowds. And finding it rather +difficult to refrain from making inquiry from some of the gathering, who +by this time had hurriedly been retracing their flighty footsteps from +the imaginative scene of death, Mrs. Otwell, modestly approaching a +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_156" id = +"page_156">156</a></span> +female who swiftly hopped over the fence in tears, asked what had +happened.</p> + +<p>“Oh, madam,†cried the woman, “the clothing of a gentleman was seen +early this morning as David Gillespie, a labourer, was engaged at a +drain hard by. It was neatly folded and deposited on the brink. Surely +some one must have been demented and drowned himself in Afton Lake. The +authorities are now on the spot and refuse to mention who the +gentleman is.â€</p> + +<p>Thanking her for kindly informing her of what she had both seen and +heard, Mrs. Otwell hurried back to Dunraven Hall in nervous +astonishment, and hastily proceeded to her bedroom to prepare herself +for what soon must follow.</p> + +<p>The breakfast being shortly afterwards announced, Mrs. Otwell, pale +as death, entered the room, and taking her accustomed seat to partake of it, +<ins class = "authcorr" title = "corrected by author from ‘took as’">as</ins> +best she could. She had scarcely got properly seated ere +two officers of the law were seen approach Dunraven Hall. Ringing +furiously, they demanded an interview with the Hon. Eric Eustace.</p> + +<p>Satisfied as to the name of his present governess, they wished to be +allowed to see her, which request +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_157" id = +"page_157">157</a></span> +was willingly granted. Being told that morning by the gardener at +Dunraven Hall, who ran to the spot on hearing the news, that a lady +named Mrs. Otwell permanently resided at the Hall as governess, the +authorities immediately grasped the fact that she might be the +unfortunate widow, and on putting the usual questions to her concerning +her husband, they were still further convinced as to her identity. +Drawing from his pocket a parcel containing Oscar’s card, photo, and a +letter addressed to Mrs. Oscar Otwell, the officer in charge asked her +to read it aloud, which she did in a rather trembling <ins class = +"mycorr" title = "text has . for , at line-end">voice,</ins> without +betraying such signs of grief as <ins class = "mycorr" title = +"text has , for . at line-end">anticipated.</ins> The letter ran +thus:—</p> + +<div class = "letter"> +<p class = "right four">“Dobbs’ Ferry,</p> + +<p class = "right three">Friday Night,</p> + +<p class = "right">11 p.m.</p> + +<p>“Dearest Irene and Wife,—</p> + +<p>“Should ever this reach your length, I trust you will pardon me for +the rash act I am about to commit.</p> + +<p>“Since the morning you left me at Shandon Cottage my sorrow has been +greater than my present frame of mind can well support. I, therefore, +have decided on ending my days of starvation by hiding for ever beneath +the glassy surface of Alton Lake to shield my wicked body from further +inflicting upon you the wrongs I have perpetrated in the past, and for +which I am grievously tormented.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_158" id = +"page_158">158</a></span> +<p>“Dearest Irene, I hope you, in your past great warmth of devotion for +me (your poor tutor and husband), will forgive my late ungentlemanly +conduct in striking you so cowardly on the eve of my downfall, and +thereby breaking the confidence you reposed in me for such a lengthened +period of our existence.</p> + +<p>“From what I know of your noble character, I have every faith in your +forgiveness, and rest assured, I never mean to face death without +imploring you to rectify, if ever in your power, the wrong you +accomplished, partly at my request, in breaking the holy cord of union +which bound you during your natural existence to Sir John Dunfern, and +again uniting it under foul auspices.</p> + +<p>“Had I been so fortunate as to secure you first of all, my +conscience, certainly, would at this moment be both clear and unclouded. +But feeling persuaded I have robbed that nobleman who now possibly is +pining for separation from a world of shame and sorrow underneath the +lordly roof of Dunfern Mansion, I am positively convinced, under +such dangling dishonour, that never more can this world of sin extend to +me the comfort I in vain have tried to seek.</p> + +<p>“Awake, then, my beloved, to whom I attach not the slightest blame, +to a sense of feeling and justice, and go, I implore of you, and +cast yourself at the feet of him and beg his forgiveness, who loved you +with a love unspeakable—who severed nearly all his self-indulgence +with the instrument of intensity and hesitated not to lavish it upon the +head of her to whom I offer my last advice. Then shall you meet the +messenger—death—not with shrinking fear (like me), but +daring bravery.</p> + +<p>“Of your present position or abode I am totally unaware, but, dearest +wife, I trust your race of penury is almost run, and +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_159" id = +"page_159">159</a></span> +that your latter years may be crowned with Christian fortitude and ease, +and freed from the thorny dart of the wicked, in whose grave I must soon +lie unwept.</p> + +<p class = "third">“Good bye, for ever!</p> + +<p class = "midway">From your affectionate</p> + +<p class = "right two">“<span class = "smallcaps">Oscar</span>.</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Oscar Otwell</p> + +<p class = "inset">(Address unknown).â€</p> +</div> + +<p>Folding the letter, and handing it to the officers, together with +Oscar’s card and photograph—all of which would prove indispensable +for their future use—Mrs. Otwell quietly moved again to the +breakfast room, and, strange to say, finished her meal in silence.</p> + +<p>Then turning to him in whose service she was, intimated her intention +to sail for England when the missing body would be recovered, which she +meant to bury in Greenwood Cemetery. She lingered on in eager +expectation of casting one final look at her husband, but week after +week died away without any sign of it being forthcoming, and all hope +being fled, Mrs. Otwell resolved to lose no further time in returning to +her home of nativity, in order to obey the last instructions from the +hand of Oscar Otwell, from whom she was reluctantly obliged to part in +the manner described.</p> + +<p>Another side the picture of futurity presented for +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_160" id = +"page_160">160</a></span> +the anxious mother, and that was to try and obtain an interview with her +son, who at this period must be a boy of some fifteen summers. Having +everything in readiness for her journey to her native land, Mrs. Otwell +left Dunraven Hall amidst torrents of sympathy and warm expressions from +every member of the family; and it was when driving past Afton Lake for +the last time on her way to the deck of the “Delwyn†that the crushed +widow of Oscar Otwell and legal wife of Sir John Dunfern was made to +taste of the unlimited sorrow of her sad career.</p> + +<p>There she was, a stranger in a foreign land—an outcast to the +society she shone so brilliantly amongst during years that were now no +more, the fostered orphan, the adopted daughter of heiressed nothing, +the wife of devotional distinction, the illegal partner of crutchy +poverty, and the penniless widow of undeniable woe.</p> + +<p>She was not even granted the ghostly pleasure of viewing her lover’s +lifeless body, that would have ended her thoughts relative to him, at +least for a time, but as matters stood encircled in doubt, there was +nothing left save trouble and anxiety for her whose futurity must ever +be shaded.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_161" id = +"page_161">161</a></span> +<p>On approaching the harbour of New York, her attention was attracted +by a tall gentleman standing not many yards distant, and being so long +familiar with his appearance, she found the object of attraction to be +no other than Lord Dilworth. Ordering the cabman to a standstill, she +popped her head out in utter astonishment, and shouted in such a strain +as to instantly attract his attention. Alighting with ardent enthusiasm +in the very midst of her troubles, she soon found herself in the arms of +Lord Dilworth, who appeared utterly dazed.</p> + +<p>“Protector of Powers? can it be Irene? Lady Dunfern, I mean?†gasped +he in bewilderment. To which she bowed, blinded in tears, and in as few +words as possible, he related a short narrative concerning both himself +and Lady Dilworth, who had long since been dead. On hearing of the death +of the once noble mistress of Dilworth Castle, Mrs. Otwell seemed as +lifeless as a marble statue, and trying vigorously to regain strength +after such a sudden shock, she, in a few broken snatches, related her +plotted career; but misery having likewise carpeted Lord Dilworth’s +floors of fate so much of late, he consequently did not seem so +astonished as imagined.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_162" id = +"page_162">162</a></span> +<p>Leaving Mrs. Otwell so far as his time permitted, he pathetically +took his final farewell, and shortly after was busy pouring over his +books in Franklin Street, office No. 715, where he was employed as a +clerk at five hundred dollars a year.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the mighty ocean palace was steering firmly +against the clashing breakers with unobstructed speed, acting as +protector and friend to all those who entrusted themselves to its +unsettled shelter.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg162.png" width = "255" height = "124" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_163" id = +"page_163">163</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapXVII" id = "chapXVII"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg9.png" width = "431" height = "81" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">T</span><span class = "firstword">he</span> +mighty orb of gladness spreads its divine halo over many a harrowed +home—it encircles the great expanse of foreign adventure and +home-hoarded enterprise, and wields its awakening influence against the +burthened boroughs of bigotry and lightened land of liberty to a sense +of gilded surprise.</p> + +<p>The laurels of separation were twining their oily leaves and speedily +constructing a crown for the brow of Sir John Dunfern. After returning +from Chitworth College, and ordering the last few finishing touches to +be made in his will, he grew more drooped and heartless every year, and +seemed almost indifferent to life’s ploughing changes.</p> + +<p>He felt acutely the information imparted to him by President +O’Sullivan regarding the wife he now for ever despised, and who +unlawfully belonged to Oscar Otwell. He even felt more severely the +effect of such +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_164" id = +"page_164">164</a></span> +on account of his beloved boy, who was steadily endeavouring to increase +his slight store of knowledge under the watchful eye of the most +scholarly personage of the day.</p> + +<p>He knew ere long—owing to his present state of health, brought +to such a low ebb by the mother of his son—that he would be +obliged to open to Hugh the book of nature as it stood past and present, +and instruct him in its disagreeable pages.</p> + +<p>The thought of opening up the past, with its stains of dissipation, +perhaps acted on the mind of Sir John more severely than the reality. +Yet he must brave himself for the trial when opportunity offered, lest +it might be too late.</p> + +<p>The time for Hugh Dunfern’s fourth summer vacation was close at hand. +The boy’s genial manner, affability, and frankness, gained for him hosts +of friends at Chitworth College, and equally numerous were the sharers +in his sorrow on receiving a telegram a very short time before his +summer holidays commenced to the effect that his father had taken +suddenly ill, and asking him to delay as little as he possibly could +during his journey to Dunfern Mansion, which must commence +immediately.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_165" id = +"page_165">165</a></span> +<p>The poor, sorrow-stricken boy, who was deeply attached to his father, +was quite overcome with grief. Bidding “Good bye†to all his college +companions, and taking affectionate leave of his masters and President +O’Sullivan, he left the much-loved seat of learning, never more to +compete in its classes of clever instruction and high moral +bearing—never again to watch with craving eye the distribution of +letters, and rejoice on observing his father’s crested envelope being +gently reached him by the President; and no more to share in the many +innocent games of youth, at some of which he was an unequalled +expert.</p> + +<p>The dull hum of voices in the hall of his home met his anxious ear on +the eve of his home-coming, and told a tale without further inquiry. +Meeting the three most eminent London physicians—namely, Doctors +Killen, Crombie, and Smiley, in the library, where they held a long +consultation, Hugh was nerved somewhat before entering the chamber of +death with words of truth regarding his father’s hopeless condition; +and, on moving quietly to his father’s bed, how the lad of tender years +was struck with awe at the bleached resemblance of what used to be a +rosy, healthy father!</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_166" id = +"page_166">166</a></span> +<p>Perceiving his son’s bent and weeping form hang over him with meekest +resignation, Sir John cast aside the bedclothes, and, extending his +hand, caught firm hold of his son’s. Hugh spoke not a word, by order of +the doctors, lest his father, who was now bereft of speech, would feel +the pain of not being able to reply in return.</p> + +<p>The suffering patient lingered on in this dumb condition for six +weeks, when suddenly he regained speech partly, but only for some +hours—a great dispensation of the Almighty, no doubt, in answer to +the silent prayers of the invalid. It was first noticed by Madam Fulham, +who proved a mighty help to Sir John since his wife’s flight.</p> + +<p>On entering the chamber of sickness one morning with a new bottle of +medicine, sent direct from London, Sir John raised himself slightly on +his left elbow and made inquiry about his son.</p> + +<p>With hurried and gladdened step was Madam Fulham seen to glide from +the presence of her master, and hasten to find Hugh, who was noticed to +pace the topmost corridor in agony.</p> + +<p>On observing his father had regained speech after his paralytic +attack had somewhat abated, how great +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_167" id = +"page_167">167</a></span> +was his son’s delight! Drawing forth a chair to the bedside of the +august patient, Hugh, quite unprepared, received the awful intelligence +of his mother’s conduct and life from the lips of the afflicted, who, in +broken accents, related the tale of trouble which for years had kept him +a prisoner to its influence.</p> + +<p>Taking his son’s hand in his, Sir John Dunfern, after audibly, yet a +little indistinctly, offering up a prayer of thanks to Him Who never +overlooks the words of the just, for His great mercy in again enabling +him to regain his sense of speech, of which he so lately had been +deprived, began:—</p> + +<p>“My much-loved and faithful son, I, your father, am now stricken down +in the middle almost of manhood, and am sensitive to the fact that a +short space of time—yea, a short space too—must +inevitably elapse until I shall be ordered from this temporary abode, +which now to me seems only a floating speck of shelter in the great +ocean of time. I am more than thankful that recovery of speech has +been granted me for many reasons, which, I fear, my strength cannot +permit to be fully explained. However, my great wish to acquaint you of +my +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_168" id = +"page_168">168</a></span> +miserable married career shall, I trust, not be barred from your +knowledge by any further visitation of Kingly Power.</p> + +<p>“You are aware, my son, that this mansion which soon shall own me no +more has been the scene of my frolicking boyhood, my joyful manhood, +and, I must now tell you, the undying trouble of a blighted married +life.</p> + +<p>“Your mother’s name was Irene Iddesleigh, the orphan daughter, +I understand, of one Colonel Iddesleigh, of Flixton, in this +county. Her father and mother both died about the same time, leaving +their daughter absolutely unprovided for. She was taken to an orphanage +at the early age of three years, and there remained for a period of +eight more, when, through the kindness of one Lord Dilworth, of Dilworth +Castle, of whose existence I have already acquainted you, she was +brought under his charge, and remained as his adopted daughter until, +unfortunately, I brought her here as my wife.</p> + +<p>“I cannot help informing you that she was the most beautiful and +prepossessing young lady I ever met, and, on making her acquaintance at +a ball given by Lord and Lady Dilworth, at Dilworth Castle, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_169" id = +"page_169">169</a></span> +not far distant, as you know, I became so intoxicated with her +looks of refinement and undoubted beauty that I never regained sobriety +until she promised to become my wife!</p> + +<p>“The beginning of our married career was bright enough, I dare say, +for some weeks only, when she grew very strange in her manner towards +me. So remarkably strange, that I was reluctantly compelled to demand an +explanation. Being satisfied with her false apologies, used as a way out +of her difficulty, I remained content. She still continued +nevertheless to maintain the same cold indifference towards me until +your birth.</p> + +<p>“Knowing that a son was born to me, who, if spared, would still keep +up the good old name of Dunfern, I became altogether a foreigner to +her past conduct, and it was only when recovering from her illness, +after your birth, that I caught hold of the trap of deception she had +laid since long before our marriage.</p> + +<p>“She was found out to be the idolized of one man named Oscar Otwell, +who occupied the position of tutor to her during her years of adoption; +and not even did her love in return for him cease when I +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_170" id = +"page_170">170</a></span> +claimed her as my lawful wife, but continued, so far as I know, until +now!</p> + +<p>“I was therefore obliged through her mal-practices to shut her in +from the gaze of outsiders, and also from my own. I chose Room No. +10 of this building as her confined apartment. You were only a child +then of some two months, and, since, I have never beheld her face, +which was false as it was lovely.</p> + +<p>“My rage was boundless on the day I ordered her into my presence in +that room, and, labouring under the passion of a jealous husband, +I told her I would confine her within its walls so long as she +existed.</p> + +<p>“Over a year passed along, every month of which I grew more and more +repentant, until the second Christmas of her seclusion, when I fully +resolved to free her once more; at the same time, never again to share +in my society or companionship.</p> + +<p>“But, behold! the mischievous hand of her maid, Marjory Mason, whose +services I retained after her imprisonment, was busy working its way for +her escape, which she nimbly succeeded in effecting, exactly on the +morning of Christmas Day, by stealing from the room of Rachel Hyde, +Madam Fulham’s +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_171" id = +"page_171">171</a></span> +predecessor, the key of her door, and thereby released your mother. Ah! +my son, from that hour my life has been a worthless coin, the harp of +hideous helplessness struck forth its tunes of turmoil, trouble, and +trial, and poured its mixed strains of life and death so vividly in my +ear, that since I have, in a measure, been only a wanderer between their +striking sounds of extremes.</p> + +<p>“I shortly afterwards learned she took refuge in Audley Hall, +a residence on the estate of its present owner—the Marquis of +Orland, and situated some twenty miles distant, and, horrifying to +relate, had been living with Oscar Otwell!</p> + +<p>“The dreadful news of her conduct irritated me so that I only, in my +last will and testament, bequeathed to her what would grant the ordinary +comforts of life, provided I predeceased her. This reference to her +remained until I accompanied you to Chitworth College, when President +O’Sullivan revealed to me in silent friendship the fact of which I was +wholly unaware, viz.—that she had long since sailed for America, +at the same time handing me a <i>New York Herald</i> sent him by Otwell, +and there I beheld the announcement of her marriage with him +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_172" id = +"page_172">172</a></span> +who ruined my life, and who has been the means of driving me into the +pit of tearful tremor, out of which I never more shall climb.</p> + +<p>“On returning home from Chitworth College I at once blanked the +reference to her in my will, and never more wished to behold the face +that swore to me such vows of villainy; the face that blasted my +happiness for life; the mother of you, whom I now earnestly implore +never to acknowledge, and who possesses every feature she outwardly +bore.</p> + +<p>“It may be yours to meet her face to face ere she leave this +tabernacle of torment; but, my child, for my sake avoid her cunning ways +and works, and never allow her shelter underneath this roof she +dishonoured and despised. And I trust God in His great mercy shall +forgive her errors, and grant you the blessing of a Father of Love.â€</p> + +<p>Sir John Dunfern now lay back exhausted on his pillow, and muttered +quietly “Thank God.â€</p> + +<p>Next morning the Angel of Death was seen to spread its snowy wings +over his wasted form, and convey the departed spirit into that region of +bliss where sorrow, sighing, sin, and suffering are cast for ever from +its rooms of glory.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_173" id = +"page_173">173</a></span> +<p>Thus passed away another link of a worthy ancestral chain, who, +during his tender years of training, had been guided by the charitable +Christian example of a mother of devotion, and who was, during the +brighter battle of her son’s creeping years of care and caution, +summoned before the Invisible Throne of purity, peace, and praise +everlasting, shrouded in hopes of sunshine concerning his future +happiness, which, never after his marriage, was known to twinkle in +Dunfern Mansion.</p> + + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_174" id = +"page_174">174</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapXVIII" id = "chapXVIII"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg174.png" width = "414" height = "81" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">M</span><span class = +"firstword">ocking</span> Angel! The trials of a tortured throng are +naught when weighed in the balance of future anticipations. The living +sometimes learn the touchy tricks of the traitor, the tardy, and the +tempted; the dead have evaded the flighty earthly future, and form to +swell the retinue of retired rights, the righteous school of the +invisible, and the rebellious roar of raging nothing.</p> + +<p>The night was dark and tempestuous; the hill rather inclined to be +steep; the clouds were bathed in wrinkled furrows of vapoury smoke; the +traffic on the quiet and lonely roads surrounding Dunfern Mansion was +utterly stopped, and nature seemed a block of obstruction to the eye of +the foreigner who drudged so wearily up the slope that led to the home +of Mrs. Durand, who had been confined to bed +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_175" id = +"page_175">175</a></span> +for the past three years, a sufferer from rheumatism.</p> + +<p>Perceiving the faint flicker of light that occasionally flung its +feeble rays against the dim fanlight of faithful Fanny’s home—the +aged sister of the late Tom Hepworth—the two-fold widowed +wanderer, with trembling step, faltered to the door of uncertain refuge, +and, tapping against it with fingers cold and stiff, on such a night of +howling wind and beating rain, asked, in weakened accents, the woman who +opened to her the door, “If she could be allowed to remain for the +night?‗a request that was granted through charity alone. After +relieving herself of some outer garments, and partaking of the slight +homely fare kindly ordered by Mrs. Durand, the widow of Oscar Otwell and +Sir John Dunfern warmed herself and dried her saturated clothing before +going to bed. She had just arrived the day previous, and hastened to +take up her abode as near her former home of exquisiteness as she could, +without detection.</p> + +<p>On extinguishing the light before retiring, and casting one glance in +the direction of the little window, the innumerable recollections of the +abundant +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_176" id = +"page_176">176</a></span> +past swept across the mind of the snowy-haired widow, and were further +augmented by the different starlike lights which shone from the numerous +windows in Dunfern Mansion, directly opposite where she lay.</p> + +<p>A couple of days found her almost rested after such a trying night as +that on which she arrived, and observing the sharpest reticence lest she +might be known, she nerved herself to appear next day at Dunfern +Mansion, to accomplish the last wish of her late lover and husband, for +whom she ventured so much and gained so little, and particularly to try +and see her son.</p> + +<p>The morning was warm and fine; numerous birds kept chirping outside +the little cottage of Mrs. Durand. The widow, with swollen eyes and face +of faded fear, prepared herself for the trying moment, which she was +certain of achieving. Partaking of a very slight breakfast, she told +Mrs. Durand not to expect her for dinner.</p> + +<p>Marching down the hill’s face, she soon set foot on the main road +that led direct to Dunfern Mansion. Being admitted by Nancy Bennet, +a prim old dame, who had been in charge of the lodge for +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_177" id = +"page_177">177</a></span> +the last eighteen years, the forlorn widow, whose heart sank in despair +as she slowly walked up the great and winding avenue she once claimed, +reached the huge door through which she had been unconsciously carried +by Marjory Mason a good many years ago.</p> + +<p>Gently ringing the bell, the door was attended by a strange face. +Reverently asking to have an interview with Sir John Dunfern, how the +death-like glare fell over the eyes of the disappointed as the footman +informed her of his demise! “Madam, if you cast your eyes +thence—[here the sturdy footman pointed to the family graveyard, +lying quite adjacent, and in which the offcast of effrontery had +oftentimes trodden]—you can with ease behold the rising symbol of +death which the young nobleman, Sir Hugh Dunfern, has lavishly and +unscrupulously erected to his fond memory.â€</p> + +<p>The crushed hopes of an interview with the man she brought with head +of bowed and battered bruises, of blasted untruths and astounding +actions, to a grave of premature solitude were further crumbled to atoms +in an instant. They were driven beyond retention, never again to be +fostered with feverish fancy. After +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_178" id = +"page_178">178</a></span> +the deplorable news of her rightful husband’s death had been conveyed to +the sly and shameless questioner, who tried hard to balance her faintish +frame unobserved, she asked an interview with Sir Hugh Dunfern. This +also was denied, on the ground of absence from home.</p> + +<p>Heavily laden with the garb of disappointment did the wandering woman +of wayward wrong retrace her footsteps from the door for ever, and +leisurely walked down the artistic avenue of carpeted care, never more +to face the furrowed frowns of friends who, in years gone by, bestowed +on her the praises of poetic powers. Forgetful almost of her present +movements, the dangerous signal of widowhood was seen to float along the +family graveyard of the Dunferns.</p> + +<p>Being beforehand <ins class = "mycorr" title = "text unchanged">acquaint</ins> +with the numerous and costly tombstones +erected individually, regardless of price, the wearied and sickly woman +of former healthy tread was not long in observing the latest tablet, of +towering height, at the north-east end of the sacred plot.</p> + +<p>There seemed a touchy stream of gilded letters carefully cut on its +marble face, and on reading them +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_179" id = +"page_179">179</a></span> +with watery eye and stooping form, was it anything remarkable that a +flood of tears bathed the verdure that peeped above the soil?</p> + +<p>The lines were these:—</p> + +<div class = "verse"> + +<h5>I.</h5> + +<p>The hand of death hath once more brought</p> +<p class = "indent">The lifeless body here to lie,</p> +<p>Until aroused with angels’ voice,</p> +<p class = "indent">Which <ins class = "authcorr" title = +"corrected by author from ‘call’">calls</ins> it forth, no more to die.</p> + +<h5>II.</h5> + +<p>This man, of health and honest mind,</p> +<p class = "indent">Had troubles great to bear whilst here,</p> +<p>Which cut him off, in manhood’s bloom,</p> +<p class = "indent">To where there’s neither frown nor tear.</p> + +<h5>III.</h5> + +<p>His life was lined with works of good</p> +<p class = "indent">For all who sought his affluent aid;</p> +<p>His life-long acts of charity</p> +<p class = "indent">Are sure to never pass unpaid.</p> + +<h5>IV.</h5> + +<p>Sir John Dunfern, whose noble name</p> +<p class = "indent">Is heard to echo, far and <ins class = "mycorr" +title = "; for ,">wide,</ins></p> +<p>In homes of honour, truth, and right,</p> +<p class = "indent">With which he here lies side by side.</p> + +<h5>V.</h5> + +<p>The wings of love and lasting strength</p> +<p class = "indent">Shall flap above his hollow bed;</p> +<p>Angelic sounds of sweetest strain</p> +<p class = "indent">Have chased away all tears he shed.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_180" id = +"page_180">180</a></span> +<h5>VI.</h5> + +<p>Then, when the glorious morn shall wake</p> +<p class = "indent">Each member in this dust of ours,</p> +<p>To give to each the sentence sure</p> +<p class = "indent">Of everlasting Princely Power—</p> + +<h5>VII.</h5> + +<p>He shall not fail to gain a seat</p> +<p class = "indent">Upon the bench of gloried right,</p> +<p>To don the crown of golden worth</p> +<p class = "indent">Secured whilst braving Nature’s fight.</p> +</div> + +<p>After carefully reading these lines the figure of melting woe sat for +a long time in silence until a footstep came up from behind, which +alarmed her not a little. Looking up she beheld the face of a youth +whose expression was very mournful, and asking after her mission, was +informed she had been casting one last look on the monument of her +lamented husband.</p> + +<p>“Mighty Heavens!†exclaimed Sir Hugh Dunfern, “are you the vagrant +who ruined the very existence of him whom you now profess to have loved? +You, the wretch of wicked and wilful treachery, and formerly the wife of +him before whose very bones you falsely kneel! Are you the confirmed +traitoress of the trust reposed in you by my late lamented, dearest, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_181" id = +"page_181">181</a></span> +and most noble of fathers? Are you aware that the hypocrisy you +manifested once has been handed down to me as an heirloom of polluted +possession, and stored within this breast of mine, an indelible stain +for life, or, I might say, during your known and hated +existence?</p> + +<p>“False woman! Wicked wife! Detested mother! Bereft widow!</p> + +<p>“How darest thou set foot on the premises your chastity should have +protected and secured! What wind of transparent touch must have blown +its blasts of boldest bravery around your poisoned person and guided you +within miles of the mansion I proudly own?</p> + +<p>“What spirit but that of evil used its influence upon you to dare to +bend your footsteps of foreign tread towards the door through which they +once stole unknown? Ah, woman of sin and stray companion of tutorism, +arise, I demand you, and strike across that grassy centre as +quickly as you can, and never more make your hated face appear within +these mighty walls. I can never own you; I can never call you +mother; I cannot extend the assistance your poor, poverty-stricken +attire of false don silently +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_182" id = +"page_182">182</a></span> +requests; neither can I ever meet you on this side the grave, before +which you so pityingly kneel!â€</p> + +<p>Speechless and dogged did the dishonoured mother steal for ever from +the presence of her son, but not before bestowing one final look at the +brightened eye and angry countenance of him who loaded on her his lordly +abuse. The bowed form of former stateliness left for ever the grounds +she might have owned without even daring to offer one word of repentance +or explanation to her son.</p> + +<p>Walking leisurely along the road that reached Dilworth Castle, how +the trying moments told upon her who shared in pangs of insult and +poverty!—how the thoughts of pleasant days piled themselves with +parched power upon the hilltop of remembrance and died away in the +distance! The whirling brain became more staid as she heard the approach +of horses’ feet, and stopping to act the part of Lot’s wife, gave such a +haggard stare at the driver of the vehicle as caused him to make a +sudden halt. Asking her to have a seat, the weary woman gladly mounted +upon its cushion with thankfulness, and alighted on reaching its +journey’s end, about three miles from +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_183" id = +"page_183">183</a></span> +Audley Hall. The drive was a long one, and helped to rest the tired body +of temptation.</p> + +<p>Returning thanks to the obliging driver, she marched wearily along +until she reached the home of her first refuge after flight.</p> + +<p>Perceiving the yellow shutters firmly bolted against the light +admitters of Audley Hall, she feared disappointment was also awaiting +her. Knocking loudly twice before any attempt was made to open the door, +there came at last an aged man with halting step and shaking limb.</p> + +<p>“Is Major Iddesleigh at home?†asked the saddened widow. “Oh, madam, +he has been dead almost twelve years, and since then no one has occupied +this Hall save myself, who am caretaker. The Marquis of Orland was +deceived by his nephew, who sold it in an underhand manner to the major, +and he resolved that never again would he allow it to be occupied since +the major’s death by any outsider.â€</p> + +<p>“You are rather lonely,†said the widow. “Yes, yes,†replied he; “but +I have always been accustomed living alone, being an old bachelor, and +wish to remain so. It is better to live a life of singleness +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_184" id = +"page_184">184</a></span> +than torture both body and soul by marrying a woman who doesn’t love +you, like the good Sir John Dunfern—a nobleman who lived only some +miles from this, and who died lately broken-hearted—who became so +infatuated with an upstart of unknown parentage, who lived in Dilworth +Castle, with one Lord Dilworth, the previous owner, that he married her +<ins class = "authcorr" title = "corrected by author from ‘ofthand’">offhand</ins>, +and, what was the result, my good woman?—why she eventually ran +off with a poor tutor! and brought the hairs of hoary whiteness of Sir +John Dunfern to the grave much sooner than in all probability they would +have, had he remained like me.â€</p> + +<p>Facing fumes of insult again, thought the listener. And asking after +Major Iddesleigh’s will, eagerly awaited his reply.</p> + +<p>Placing one hand upon her shoulder, and pointing with the other, +“Behold,†said he, “yonder church? that was his last +will—Iddesleigh Church. It was only when the jaws of death gaped +for their prey that the major was forced to alter his will, having had +it previously prepared in favour of his niece, whose whereabouts could +never be traced until after his death.†“Enough—enough, +I must go,†said the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_185" id = +"page_185">185</a></span> +painful listener, and thanking the old man for his information, which, +like her son’s, had screwed its bolts of deadly weight more deeply down +on the lid of abstract need, turned her back on Audley Hall for +ever.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pg185.png" width = "261" height = "86" +alt = "decoration"></p> + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_186" id = +"page_186">186</a></span> + +<p class = "illustration chapter"> +<a name = "chapXIX" id = "chapXIX"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/pg186.png" width = "430" height = "81" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIX.</h3> + + +<p><span class = "dropcap">H</span><span class = "firstword">ope</span> +sinks a world of imagination. It in almost every instance never fails to +arm the opponents of justice with weapons of friendly defence, and gains +their final fight with peaceful submission. Life is too often stripped +of its pleasantness by the steps of false assumption, marring the true +path of life-long happiness which should be pebbled with principle, +piety, purity, and peace.</p> + +<p>Next morning, after the trying adventure of the lonely outcast, was +the scene of wonder at Dilworth Castle. Henry Hawkes, the head gardener +under the Marquis of Orland, on approaching the little summer-house in +which Irene Iddesleigh so often sat in days of youth, was horrified to +find the dead body of a woman, apparently a widow, lying prostrate +inside its mossy walls. “Lord, protect me!†shouted poor Hawkes, half +distractedly, and hurried to Dilworth +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_187" id = +"page_187">187</a></span> +Castle to inform the inmates of what he had just seen.</p> + +<p>They all rushed towards the little rustic building to verify the +certainty of the gardener’s remarks. There she lay, cold, stiff, and +lifeless as Nero, and must have been dead for hours. They advised the +authorities, who were soon on the spot.</p> + +<p>What stinging looks of shame the Marquis cast upon her corpse on +being told that it was that of the once beautiful Lady +Dunfern—mother of the present heir to Dunfern estate!</p> + +<p>Lying close at hand was an old and soiled card, with the words almost +beyond distinction, “Irene Iddesleigh.†In an instant her whole history +flashed before the unforgiving mind of the Marquis, and being a sharer +in her devices, through his nephew Oscar Otwell, ordered her body to be +conveyed to the morgue, at the same time intimating to Sir Hugh Dunfern +her demise.</p> + +<p>It transpired at the inquest, held next day, that she was admitted +the previous night to the grounds of Dilworth Castle by the porter at +the lodge, giving her name as “Irene Iddesleigh.â€</p> + +<p>She must have taken refuge in the little construction +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_188" id = +"page_188">188</a></span> +planned under her personal supervision whilst inhabiting Dilworth Castle +during her girlhood, and, haunted with the never-dying desire to visit +once more its lovely grounds, wandered there to die of starvation.</p> + +<p>No notice whatever was taken of her death by her son, who obeyed to +the last letter his father’s instructions, and carried them out with +tearless pride.</p> + +<p>The little narrow bed at the lowest corner on the west side of +Seaforde graveyard was the spot chosen for her remains. Thus were laid +to rest the orphan of Colonel Iddesleigh, the adopted daughter and +imagined heiress of Lord and Lady Dilworth, what might have been the +proud wife of Sir John Dunfern, the unlawful wife of Oscar Otwell, the +suicidal outcast, and the despised and rejected mother.</p> + +<p>She who might have swayed society’s circle with the sceptre of +nobleness—she who might still have shared in the greatness of her +position and defied the crooked stream of poverty in which she so long +sailed—had she only been, first of all, true to self, then the +honourable name of Sir John Dunfern would have maintained its standard +of pure and noble distinction, without being spotted here and there with +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page_189" id = +"page_189">189</a></span> +heathenish remarks inflicted by a sarcastic public on the administerer +of proper punishment; then the dignified knight of proud and upright +ancestry would have been spared the pains of incessant insult, the +mockery of equals, the haunted diseases of mental trials, the erring eye +of harshness, and the throbbing twitch of constant criticism.</p> + +<p>It was only the lapse of a few minutes after the widowed waif left +Dunfern Mansion until the arrival of her son from London, who, after +bidding his mother quit the grounds owned by him, blotted her name for +ever from his book of memory; and being strongly prejudiced by a father +of faultless bearing, resolved that the sharers of beauty, youth, and +false love should never have the slightest catch on his affections.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/the_end.png" width = "298" height = "162" +alt = "The End" title = "The End"></p> + + +<div class = "endnote"> + +<h4><a name = "errata" id = "errata">ERRATA.</a></h4> + +<p>The printed book was typeset and proofread more carefully than most +books of similar literary quality. The author’s Errata slip was attached +to the beginning of the book. It is included here for completeness; all +listed changes have been made in the text. Notes in the final column are +added by the transcriber.</p> + +<table class = "inline" summary = "author’s errata"> +<tr> +<td class = "smallroman">PAGE</td> +<td> </td> +<td width = "60%"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">82</td> +<td>Read—“was extended him.â€</td> +<td><i>Original form (“were†for “was†with two subjects) is technically +correct.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">154</td> +<td>“senk†should read “<i>seek</i>.â€</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">156</td> +<td>“took†is unnecessary.</td> +<td><i>Context:</i><br> +entered the room, and taking her accustomed seat to partake of it, +<del title = "author’s deletion">took</del> as best she could.<br> +<i>Author may have intended “... taking her accus­tomed seat, +partook of it as best she couldâ€.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">179</td> +<td>Read “which <i>calls</i> it forth.â€</td> +<td></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "number">184</td> +<td>“ofthand†should be “offhand.â€</td> +<td><i>Author may have intended “out of handâ€.</i></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Irene Iddesleigh, by Amanda McKittrick Ros + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IRENE IDDESLEIGH *** + +***** This file should be named 34181-h.htm or 34181-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/1/8/34181/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Meredith Bach and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Irene Iddesleigh + +Author: Amanda McKittrick Ros + +Release Date: October 31, 2010 [EBook #34181] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IRENE IDDESLEIGH *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Meredith Bach and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Typographical errors and some unusual forms are listed at the +end of the e-text.] + + + * * * * * + + IRENE IDDESLEIGH. + + * * * * * + + + IRENE IDDESLEIGH. + + by + + MRS. AMANDA M'KITTRICK ROS. + + + Belfast: + + PRINTED BY W. & G. BAIRD, Limited, + 124 Royal Avenue; + and at London and Dublin. + 1897. + + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS. + + Page. + + CHAPTER I. 9 + + CHAPTER II. 13 + + CHAPTER III. 20 + + CHAPTER IV. 25 + + CHAPTER V. 32 + + CHAPTER VI. 40 + + CHAPTER VII. 49 + + CHAPTER VIII. 60 + + CHAPTER IX. 73 + + CHAPTER X. 79 + + CHAPTER XI. 92 + + CHAPTER XII. 102 + + CHAPTER XIII. 116 + + CHAPTER XIV. 126 + + CHAPTER XV. 138 + + CHAPTER XVI. 150 + + CHAPTER XVII. 163 + + CHAPTER XVIII. 174 + + CHAPTER XIX. 186 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Sympathise with me, indeed! Ah, no! Cast your sympathy on the chill +waves of troubled waters; fling it on the oases of futurity; dash it +against the rock of gossip; or, better still, allow it to remain within +the false and faithless bosom of buried scorn. + +Such were a few remarks of Irene as she paced the beach of limited +freedom, alone and unprotected. Sympathy can wound the breast of trodden +patience,--it hath no rival to insure the feelings we possess, save that +of sorrow. + +The gloomy mansion stands firmly within the ivy-covered, stoutly-built +walls of Dunfern, vast in proportion and magnificent in display. It has +been built over three hundred years, and its structure stands +respectably distant from modern advancement, and in some degrees it +could boast of architectural designs rarely, if ever, attempted since +its construction. + +The entrance to this beautiful home of Sir Hugh Dunfern, the present +owner, is planned on most antique principles; nothing save an enormous +iron gate meets the gaze of the visitor, who at first is inclined to +think that all public rumours relative to its magnificence are only the +utterances of the boastful and idle; nor until within its winding paths +of finest pebble, studded here and there with huge stones of unpolished +granite, could the mind for a moment conceive or entertain the faintest +idea of its quaint grandeur. + +Beautiful, however, as Dunfern mansion may seem to the anxious eye of +the beholder, yet it is not altogether free from mystery. Whilst many of +its rooms, with walls of crystal, are gorgeously and profusely +furnished, others are locked incessantly against the foot of the +cautious intruder, having in them only a few traditional relics of no +material consequence whatever, or even interest, to any outside the +ancestral line of its occupants. + +It has often been the chief subject of comment amongst the few +distinguished visitors welcomed within its spacious apartments, why +seemingly the finest rooms the mansion owned were always shut against +their eager and scrutinizing gaze; or why, when referred to by any of +them, the matter was always treated with silence. + +All that can now be done is merely to allow the thought to dwindle into +bleak oblivion, until aroused to that standard of disclosure which +defies hindrance. + +Within the venerable walls surrounding this erection of amazement and +wonder may be seen species of trees rarely, if ever, met with; yea, +within the beaded borders of this grand old mansion the eye of the +privileged beholds the magnificent lake, studded on every side with +stone of costliest cut and finish; the richest vineries, the most +elegant ferns, the daintiest conservatories, the flowers and plants of +almost every clime in abundance, the most fashionable walks, the most +intricate windings that imagination could possibly conceive or genius +contrive. In fact, it has well been named "The Eden of Luxury." + +Dunfern mansion was handed down as an heirloom since its purchase by +Walter, third Earl of Dunfern, in 1674; and since then has been tenderly +cared for internally, and carefully guarded externally, by the skilful +hands of noted artisans. The present owner is only son of Sir John +Dunfern, by Irene, adopted daughter of Lord and Lady Dilworth, of +Dilworth Castle, County Kent. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The December sun had hidden its dull rays behind the huge rocks that +rose monstrously high west of Dunfern mansion, and ceased to gladden the +superb apartment Sir John occupied most part of the day. They had +withdrawn their faint reflection from within the mirrored walls of this +solitary chamber to brighten other homes with their never-dying sheen. + +As the dull, grey evening advanced to such a degree as to render a look +of brightness imperative to the surroundings of its sole occupant, Sir +John requested that his favourite apartment should be made bright as +possible by adding more fuel to the smouldering ashes within the +glistening bars which guarded their remains. This being done, three huge +lamps were lighted, and placed at respectable distances from each other, +when Sir John, with his accustomed grace, began to peruse some of his +evening papers. + +Though a man of forty summers, he never yet had entertained the thought +of yielding up his bacheloric ideas to supplace them with others which +eventually should coincide with those of a different sex; in fact, +he never had bestowed a thought on changing his habits and manner of +living, nor until fully realising his position of birthright, that had +been treasured by his ancestors for such a lengthened period, and which, +sooner or later, must pass into strangers' hands, did the thought ever +occur to him of entering into the league of the blessed. + +The clock had just chimed nine when a maid entered with a note, neatly +laid on a trim little tray, which she placed on the table close beside +her master, and then retired. It was rather unusual for him to receive +letters so late in the evening, nor until he was in full possession of +its contents he could not form the faintest imagination of its worth. + +Not far from Dunfern Mansion may be seen situated on a rising hill the +beautiful Castle of Lord and Lady Dilworth, a prominent building +commanding the finest view in the county. It had been remodelled by the +present owner, after inheriting it from his late maternal uncle--Lord +Leyburn; and, although equipped with all modern improvements and +inventions necessary, yet there dwelt a lack of design and beauty about +it possessed by Dunfern Mansion. + +The bountiful owner of Dilworth Castle differed much in many respects +from Sir John Dunfern. He was a nobleman of rare tact and capacities; +a keen sportsman; a Turf frequenter; an ardent politician; and, in fact, +a lover of everything which served to promote the interests of his +extended and varied social circle in particular, and entire community in +general. + +Lady Dilworth, it may here be mentioned, was never of a very robust +nature, and often had she felt the great strain of society press rather +heavily on her weak frame, so much so, as to render the adoption of the +subject of this book indispensable. Drawing his chair closer to the +table, on which one of the great lamps stood, Sir John proceeded to +peruse the contents of the note. It was an invitation from Lord and Lady +Dilworth to attend a ball at Dilworth Castle on 22nd prox., given by +them in honour of the marriage of Henry, fifth Marquis of Hill-Hall, +with Ethel, Countess of Maidstone. + +Lord Dilworth and the Marquis were personal friends of Sir John, and to +accept this kind and courteous invitation would mean a step towards the +summit of the matrimonial ladder, by meeting the majority of the +fully-fledged belles in and around Canterbury, and especially Irene +Iddesleigh, Lord Dilworth's adopted daughter, more generally known as +"The Southern Beauty." He slept over the matter that night, with the +result that next morning he wrote accepting the kind invitation, more +through curiosity than desire. + +Although he led a quiet and retired life, generally speaking, still he +did not absent himself totally from a few social meetings occasionally, +and if imagination painted his future in the manner so artfully designed +by Lady Dilworth, no doubt this visit to Dilworth Castle might convert +it into reality. + +Arriving at the elegant castle, with its tower of modern fame, and +spires of Gothic structure, Sir John was met in its great hall by the +genial hostess, who conducted him to the brilliant reception-room, +superbly laid out for the comfort of its guests; and being the first to +arrive, was thus afforded a good opportunity of inspecting the many +valuable relics and works of art that adorned its huge and velvety +walls. + +On the centre wall right opposite where he sat hung a painted portrait, +life-size, an admirable production of the well-known artist, "Peto," and +not knowing where such an original of perfection and beauty could be +found, he resolved to inquire, when opportunity offered, whose portrait +it might be. + +At this stage the numerous guests began to assemble, including the +majority of the leading gentry in and around Canterbury, as it was +looked upon as the chief social event of the season. Mothers were most +fidgetty that their daughters should don their costliest gowns and +brilliants, as rumour had it that the noble heir to Dunfern estate +should honour the assembly with his august presence. + +Report gained ground that Sir John, having quietly crept out of boyhood +for a lengthened period, would end his days harnessed singly, but idle +gossip, flying at all times kite-high, soon gave place in the wavering +minds of society belles to that of more serious consideration and +welcome expectancy. + +On being introduced to all those outside his present circle of +acquaintance on this evening, and viewing the dazzling glow of splendour +which shone, through spectacles of wonder, in all its glory, Sir John +felt his past life but a dismal dream, brightened here and there with a +crystal speck of sunshine that had partly hidden its gladdening rays of +bright futurity until compelled to glitter with the daring effect they +soon should produce. But there awaited his view another beam of life's +bright rays, who, on entering, last of all, commanded the minute +attention of every one present--this was the beautiful Irene Iddesleigh. + +How the look of jealousy, combined with sarcasm, substituted those of +love and bashfulness! How the titter of tainted mockery rang throughout +the entire apartment, and could hardly fail to catch the ear of her +whose queenly appearance occasioned it! These looks and taunts serving +to convince Sir John of Nature's fragile cloak which covers too often +the image of indignation and false show, and seals within the breasts of +honour and equality resolutions of an iron mould. On being introduced to +Irene, Sir John concluded instantly, without instituting further +inquiry, that this must be the original of the portrait so warmly +admired by him. There she stood, an image of perfection and divine +beauty, attired in a robe of richest snowy tint, relieved here and there +by a few tiny sprigs of the most dainty maidenhair fern, without any +ornaments whatever, save a diamond necklet of famous sparkling lustre +and priceless value. + +As the evening rolled into the small hours of the morning, the numerous +guests began to repair to their respective homes, none of the weaker sex +having had the slightest advancement in the direction of their coveted +intentions, save Irene, who was fortunate in securing the attention of +Sir John Dunfern during the happy hours that fled so quickly. + +Immediately before taking his departure he pressed firmly her snowy +hand, and left the pretty-gilded area which surrounded his first hopes +of matrimony to enter what he was beginning to believe the weary +apartments of Dunfern Mansion, that previously had held him bound to +them in hermit-like fashion. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Arouse the seeming deadly creature to that standard of joy and gladness +which should mark his noble path! Endow him with the dewdrops of +affection; cast from him the pangs of the dull past, and stamp them for +ever beneath the waves of troubled waters; brighten his life as thou +wouldst that of a faded flower; and when the hottest ray of that +heavenly orb shall shoot its cheerful charge against the window panes of +Dunfern Mansion, the worthy owner can receive it with true and profound +thankfulness. Three weeks had scarcely passed ere Sir John was made the +recipient of another invitation to Dilworth Castle. This second effusion +of cordiality required neither anxious thought nor prolonged decision +how to act, knowing as he did that it would again serve to bring his +present thoughts into practice by affording him another opportunity of +sharing in the loving looks of one for whom he feared there dwelt a +strong inclination on his part to advance his affection. + +Irene stood looking out on the lake beyond the richly draped window, +ruminating on the days of her childhood, which lent a look of dullness +to the beautiful face that beamed with delight as Sir John Dunfern +entered. The evening was very pleasantly and quietly spent, Irene +commanding the greater part of his time and attention, on account of +Lady Dilworth being slightly ailing, whose health, generally speaking, +at this period was not so robust as formerly, and consequently failed to +warrant too many callers. As the clock struck eleven Sir John began to +think of returning home, feeling quite happy, fancying his great +affection was returned in full by Irene. + +Being very domesticated, and having the stiff ideas of a bachelor of +long standing so firmly imprinted in his nature, he felt very diffident +in asking the object of his visit when next they should meet. But Lady +Dilworth entering before taking his departure, saved him putting the shy +question by placing herself in his position and demanding the required +reply. Sir John promised without further ceremony to visit them more +frequently in future, and left their midst with hasty step, lingering in +the hall to cast another look at the lovely form which stood not far +distant. Leisurely leaning back in his carriage, and burying himself in +his great and costly cloak demanded by the night's icy aspect, he rolled +along towards his home drowned in sweet thought of the beautiful girl +whom he only recently knew, but whose regard for her raged with such +rambling anxiety as to convince him of the propriety of making her aware +how he meant to play the part of lover. + +Until now he was inclined to be prejudiced against the snares and +allurements of women, but he strongly resolved to try gradually and +abandon every unkind thought harboured in his mind against them, fearing +lest all his conjured imaginations were both unjust and selfish; and +determined to drown them for ever in the clashing gulf of fate, felt a +prouder and happier mortal than before. + +But time would solve the problem and heal the wound which penetrated so +deeply his bosom. Yea, a short time he hoped would bring his creeping +fever of endearment under the binding stay of appointed authority, and +heal its weakening effects with the sacred salve of truth. + +Not until the horses dashed up the winding avenue with increased +alacrity was he shaken from his meditating attitude, to be ushered once +more into his home of boundless wealth. The lonely stare of grave +bewilderment took the place of happiness that formerly seemed built in +abundance for him within its walls, as he entered the palatial and +gorgeously equipped abode he principally inhabited, feeling the tinge of +the dull past filling him with entire despair, whilst meditating on the +happy future which presented itself to him. How in a trivial period this +lonely spot, he thought, should prove the beacon of never-dying bliss, +when once furnished with the most precious treasure on earth--a virtuous +woman! Ah! the very thought of his embosomed and anticipated alliance +made him nervously happy; and believing a bright and noble future lay in +store for the lonely owner of Dunfern Estate, he resolved to indulge +nature in a few hours of calm repose. + +The days moved along more quickly Sir John believed than formerly; and +possibly he may have imagined this was so, as he felt no longer fettered +with fear of fighting with his inward friend--obstinacy, whose hand of +drowsy bachelorism seemed for ever closed to his changing charity; he +had at last thrown aside the garb of female dislike, and patronised that +of a warm-hearted lover. + +Irene did not lead Lady Dilworth to believe that she really cared for +Sir John, and, when his name cropped up occasionally, she allowed +herself always to keep the coast of conversation clear that would likely +convict her views most, and managed cleverly thereby to deceive the +friend who came not a day too soon to her rescue. Perhaps had Lady +Dilworth proved less concerned about the orphan charge she freed from a +life of toil, apparently, and instructed her more on the branches of +integrity, then the lovely youthful Irene could have decided more +honorably in all cases of questioning, and would have done justice, not +alone to herself, but to all concerned; but, like many others similarly +surrounded with lovers, battling in the war of extremes, and encompassed +on all sides with apparent luxuries, she was confident she would some +day come off victorious by acting the clever Corinthian. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +When on the eve of glory, whilst brooding over the prospects of a bright +and happy future, whilst meditating upon the risky right of justice, +there we remain, wanderers on the cloudy surface of mental woe, +disappointment and danger, inhabitants of the grim sphere of anticipated +imagery, partakers of the poisonous dregs of concocted injustice. Yet +such is life. + +Sir John's visits began now to be numerous at Dilworth Castle, each +visit serving further to strengthen the link of relationship, and bury, +in the heaving breast of seeking solace, the dull delight of the weary +past. As the weeks wore on, he reckoned them only as days, when +comparing their loving length with those of the bleak years he tried to +enjoy alone, before taking such steps--yes, serious steps--as those +fancied by the would-be bachelor. + +At first he was careless and indifferent to the flowery harangues of +mothers who paid him periodical visits, with their daughters, of +apology, and firmly retained the obstinate qualities of an autocratic +ruler, until softened in the presence of one he found he was learning to +steadily love. He believed now that the chief stripes, +viz.--observation, inclination, advancement and accomplishment, in the +well-spun web of matrimony, must harmonise with the groundwork of +happiness, without which our lives are not worth an unstamped coin. + +Love's path, on which Sir John was known now to tread with the step of +intensity, seemed smooth as the ice of Inglewood. There were no +obstacles in his way of which he was yet aware, save imagination; this, +also, was chased from his mind by the evident and ample return of +Irene's polished affection, the foul gloss of which he failed to notice, +and whose pretentions were so cleverly carried out as to defy detection. + +Irene was an accomplished and clever girl, and well able to sustain her +hidden regard throughout for one who for years previous had been +endeavouring to remove the great barrier of position which blocked his +path of approach towards her affection. As yet her parentage was totally +unknown to Sir John; still, he felt it must not have belonged to the +rude and ridiculous, since she possessed all the qualities, outwardly, +and features, of a highly refined race. And when only a girl of eleven +summers, when the worthy hand of benevolence, friendship, and love +clutched the tiny fingers of absolute want, there visibly seemed nothing +lacking in appearance, manner, or education to solicit the pity or +suspicion of her charitable guardian and protector. + +Sir John Dunfern's many visits of late to Dilworth Castle had been +creating quite a sensation throughout the quiet corners of costly +curiosity, until an announcement appeared in _Mack's Society Journal_ to +the following effect:-- + +"A marriage is arranged to take place in August between Sir John +Dunfern, of Dunfern Mansion, County Kent, and Irene Iddesleigh, adopted +daughter of Lord and Lady Dilworth, of Dilworth Castle, in same county." + +This notice, no doubt, caused the partakers in drawing-room +_tete-a-tetes_ to share in the pangs of jealousy, with silent +resentment. Perplexity, a little, would find refuge within the homes of +many who led Society by the string of superficial show and pompous +importance; and during the interval that elapsed between such an +announcement and its important celebration, many and infamous were the +charges poured forth against Irene Iddesleigh. + +The month preceding Irene's wedding was one of merriment at Dilworth +Castle, Lord and Lady Dilworth extending the social hand of fashionable +folly on four different occasions. They seemed drunk with delight that +Irene, whom they looked upon as their own daughter, should carry off the +palm of purity, whilst affluence, position, and title were for years +waiting with restless pride to triumph at its grasp. + +It was at the second of these social gatherings that the first seed of +jealousy was sown within the breast of Sir John Dunfern, and which had a +tendency to remain until it gradually grew to such a rapid state of +maturity as to be rooted, if possible, for ever from its dusty bed of +ambush. + +Yes, when the merriment was at its height, and the heat too oppressive +to allow much comfort to the corpulent, the espoused of Irene dropped +unexpectedly out of the midst of the aristocratic throng, and being +passionately an ardent admirer of the fairy-like fruits of the efforts +of the horticulturist, directed his footsteps towards the well-filled +conservatory at the south wing of the building. + +The different-shaded lights which dangled from its roof bestowed a look +of Indian exquisiteness on the many quaint and delicate productions of +nature that rested daintily in their beds of terra-cotta tint. + +But before leaving the room he vaguely scanned the throng to catch a +glimpse of Irene, and failed to notice her amongst the many who danced +so gaily to the well-timed tunes of the celebrated pianist, Charles +Wohden, whose musical touch was always capable of melting the most +hardened sinner into moods of mellow softness, or cheering the most +downcast and raising their drooping look of sadness to that of +high-strung hilarity. + +Sir John wandered in and out through the numerous windings of sweetest +fragrance, until arriving at the farthest corner, of rather darkened +shade, and on a wire couch beheld the object of his pursuit, in closest +conversation with her tutor, whose name he had altogether failed to +remember, only having had the pleasure of his acquaintance a few hours +before. + +"Can it be possible?" exclaimed Sir John, in profound astonishment. +"Why, I have been searching for you for some time past, and have +accidentally found you at last!" Irene, rising to her feet in a second, +was utterly dazed, and had the dim lights shewed her proud face to +advantage, the ruddy glow of deepest crimson guilt would have manifested +itself to a much greater degree. Making multitudinous apologies, etc., +she at once joined Sir John, who led her back, in apparent triumph, to +share the next waltz. + +How the true heart beat with growing passion during the remainder of the +merry festivity, and as the final announcement of separation was +whispered from ear to ear, the gradual wane of Love's lofty right would +fain have dwindled into pompous nothing as the thought kept tickling his +warm enthusiasm with the nimble fingers of jealousy. That she whom he +had ardently hoped should share his future with sheer and loving +caresses of constant companionship and wife-like wisdom should be +trapped in probably vowing to another her great devotion for him! + +But better allow the sickening thought to die on the eve of insult +rather than live in the breast of him who, at no distant date, would +hear the merry peals of wedding bells ring with gladness, and naturally +rejoice at the object of their origin. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Our hopes when elevated to that standard of ambition which demands +unison may fall asunder like an ancient ruin. They are no longer fit for +construction unless on an approved principle. They smoulder away like +the ashes of burnt embers, and are cast outwardly from their confined +abode, never more to be found where once they existed only as +smouldering serpents of scorned pride. + +The little chat that Irene apparently enjoyed in the conservatory would +gladly have become an act of forgetfulness on her part had not Sir John +reminded her of its existence a few days afterwards. The spark of +jealous passion had not fully died out after the incident referred to, +and awaiting silently its decease, Sir John almost had grown a mourner +to its imagined demise, following its undying remains so far as the +village of Opportunity, when it was again to revive and shine as +luminously as before. + +It happened about three weeks preceding the day set apart for their holy +union, on Sir John arriving at the castle, he was informed of Irene's +recent exit, and gently turning away, he resolved to have a stroll in +the tastefully laid-out gardens with the sole object of meeting her. + +Walking leisurely along, and stooping to pick up some fallen fruit, +he suddenly heard a faint sound issue amongst the trees. Remaining +breathless for a few seconds, lest he might be deceived by the rippling +sounds of the adjacent waves, he again heard the same sweet strain, but +of much longer duration than before, and quietly moving towards the spot +whence it issued, another sound met his ear in the distance, which +seemed to be the hasty tread of some one making good an escape, before +he got time to view the object he would eagerly have pursued, but +checking his desire somewhat, he allowed the matter to sink into +silence. Boldly moving towards the spot whence the sound of music +issued, how delightfully surprised was he to find a +magnificently-constructed little summer-house, a charming pyramidal +Gothic structure, robed internally with mossy mantles of nature, and +brightened beyond conception with the instrument of humanity which gave +origin to such pathetic and sweetened strains. + +Politely offering an apology for intruding on the private little palace +of Irene, who failed completely to hide her gross confusion from the +keen gaze of her espoused, who never seemed to notice in the least the +sudden change that swept so swiftly over her pallid cheeks at his +unexpected visit, Sir John sat down. + +Irene held in her snowy palms a roll of Italian music, which she +earnestly endeavoured to conceal from his penetrating stare, probably on +account of the words contained therein, which for ever would be unknown +to his varied sphere of knowledge, and which would undoubtedly have +betrayed her feelings, never dreaming that they should strike other ears +than those for whom they practically were intended. + +Perceiving her great excitement at the unexpected appearance of him, +who ever afterwards kept his jealous thoughts in silent motion, he +absolutely evaded making any inquiry whatever, or slightest allusion to +the name and nature of the parchment she so firmly retained. Sir John +chatted gaily until he gained good ground for delivering to her the +message that instinct had so prompted him to utter. + +"Irene, my beloved one," he began; "it is now only about a score of days +until I hoped for ever to call you mine; a hope which unmercifully has +haunted me since I fortunately gazed on your lovely face; a hope which I +trusted should be fully appreciated by both you and me, and which, I now +must own, can never be realised until the clearance of the barrier that +since our engagement has been but too apparent. + +"The sole object of my visit, my dear Irene"--here Sir John clasped her +tender hand in his--"tonight is to elicit from you a matter that lately +has cast a shadowy gloom over my anticipated bright and cheerful future. +I am not one of those mortals who takes offence at trifles, neither am I +a man of hasty temper or words--quite the contrary, I assure you; but it +has, fortunately or unfortunately, been probably a failing amongst my +ancestors to court sensitiveness in its minutest detail, and, I must +acknowledge, I stray not from any of them in this particular point. + +"I must acquaint you, though it pains me deeply to do so, that lately +you have not treated me with such respect or attention as you certainly +lavished upon me before the announcement of our engagement, and for what +reason or reasons I now wish to be apprised. You seem when in company +with others to ignore my remarks to you entirely, and treat them with +proud disdain, as if shame took the place of pride at my wordy approach! +I felt and do feel quite hurt, and am resolved that no such repetition +shall take place in future. I promised to be at the castle last night, +but unfortunately I felt indisposed, and only that I wished to have a +thorough understanding relative to your recent conduct, and which has +pained me acutely, I should not have ventured out of doors this evening +either. I was, in consequence, obliged to write you last night, asking a +written reply, which you failed to give! And this evening, instead of +being doubly rejoiced at my presence, you, on the contrary, seem doubly +annoyed! I therefore pray, my dearest Irene, that you will, and I am +persuaded honestly, not hesitate to satisfy me regarding this +unpleasantness, that should anything of which you are now aware cause +your conduct to be changed towards me, do not allow it a lair within +your breast, but confide in me as thou wouldst in a dearly-trusted and +faithful lover." + +At this stage Irene began to consider seriously the earnestness that +accompanied the words of Sir John, knowing well she had been guilty, +grossly guilty, of the charges with which he impeached her, and which +were mixed with child-like simplicity, descriptive only of a world-famed +bachelor. She pondered whether or not honesty should take the place of +deceit--too often practised in women--and concluded to adopt the latter +weapon of defence. Raising her hazel eyes to his, and clearing the weft +of truth that had been mixing with the warp of falsehood to form an +answer of plausible texture, fringed with different shades of love, +she thus began: + +"My dearest and much beloved, I assure you your remarks have astounded +me not a little! Your words sting like a wasp, though, I am quite +convinced, unintentionally. You are well aware that within a short +period I will be marked out publicly as mistress of Dunfern mansion--an +honour revered in every respect by me; an honour to which I at one time +dare never aspire; an honour coveted by many much more worthy than I, +whose parentage is as yet bathed in the ocean of oblivious ostentation, +until some future day, when I trust it shall stand out boldly upon the +brink of disclosure to dry its saturated form and watery wear with the +heat of equality. You are about to place me in a position which cannot +fail to wring from jealousy and covetousness their flaming torch of +abuse. Yes, Sir John, on me you have not ceased to lavish every +available treasure and token of your unbounded love. You have been to me +not only a loyal admirer, but a thoroughly upright and estimable example +of life's purest treasures. You have resolved to place me by your side +as your equal, whilst wealth in boundless store is thirsting for your +touch. You have elevated my unknown position to such a pitch as to defy +taunt or jeer, and at any time if I may have, seemingly, ignored your +advances, it was purely want of thought, and not through any underhand +motive or scheme whatever. + +"I assure you your allusion to my verbal answer last night is very +pronounced, and may be overlooked on the ground of pure disappointment. +Our time of singleness is now short, and begging your forgiveness for my +seeming neglect or indifference, I hope the tide, which until now has +flown so gently, may not be stayed on the eve of entering the harbour of +harmony, peace, and love." + +At the commencement of Irene's answer of lavishing praises and flimsy +apologies, her affianced moved to the opposite corner of the rustic +building to scan the features of her he wholly worshipped and +reluctantly doubted. Every sentence the able and beautiful girl uttered +caused Sir John to shift his apparently uncomfortable person nearer and +nearer, watching at the same time minutely the divine picture of +innocence, until at last, when her reply was ended, he found himself, +altogether unconsciously, clasping her to his bosom, whilst the ruby +rims which so recently proclaimed accusations and innocence met with +unearthly sweetness, chasing every fault over the hills of doubt, until +hidden in the hollow of immediate hate. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The silvery touch of fortune is too often gilt with betrayal: the +meddling mouth of extravagance swallows every desire, and eats the heart +of honesty with pickled pride: the impostury of position is petty, and +ends, as it should commence, with stirring strife. But conversion of +feminine opinions tries the touchy temper of opposition, and too seldom +terminates victoriously. + +"Great mercy! Only another week and I shall almost cease to be a free +thinker! Just seven days more and what!--I shall openly have to confess +to the world an untruth! Would there be any means of flight from the +dangerous dragon that haunts me night and day? Could anything possible +be done to save myself from false alliance? Too late!--too late! + +"Only seven days and this beautiful boudoir shall own me no more, with +its walls of purest white and gilded borders! + +"Just seven days and I shall be fettered with chains of dragging dislike +and disappointment! Only seven days and thus shall end my cherished +hopes, my girlish pride, my most ardent wish, but, alas! not my love! +Seven days more shall see my own darling Os"---- Suddenly Irene was +aroused by the ringing of the breakfast bell, before she got time to +finish the sentence that troubled her weary brain for months before. +Dressing herself with frantic expertness, she dashed down the winding +staircase with an alacrity better imagined than described, and rushing +into the breakfast room where Lord and Lady Dilworth eagerly awaited +her, presented the outward mocking appearance of being the happiest of +mortals. Her beloved benefactors, who had been the prime movers in the +matter of matrimony, saw plainly a saddened look about the lovely face, +which Irene tried hard to suppress, and asking why it appeared at this +gay time, was answered evasively. Indeed, Lord and Lady Dilworth were +wholly ignorant of the present state of affairs, nor did Irene reveal at +any time to Lady Dilworth her great hatred for Sir John, or her maddened +desire to become the wife of a poor tutor. + +Had she only taken into her confidence her whose wise counsel and +motherly example were at all times a prompt step to decision; or had she +only hinted to Lady Dilworth her manifest inability to return Sir John's +great affection, matters would probably have reached another climax. But +owing to the present precarious position in which Lord and Lady Dilworth +stood, and as yet unknown to both Irene and other most intimate +acquaintances, great was Lady Dilworth's desire to see Irene permanently +settled, knowing as she did that ere the sun of another August day would +flash its shimmering rays against the crystal stays of Dilworth Castle +she would be beyond easy access to Irene either in time of rejoicing or +sorrowing. + +Preparations were at last almost completed for such an auspicious event. +Invitations were issued numerously for the reception to be held at +Dilworth Castle after Irene's marriage, but sparingly during the +ceremony; all of which were mostly accepted. Costly, multiplying, and +varied were the gifts received by Irene; enough to make a princess stare +with startling bewilderment. + +Amongst the many, none came from Irene's tutor, Oscar Otwell! And +although he was the first to whom Lady Dilworth addressed an invitation, +still there was no reply, much to the annoyance and astonishment of +hostess on the one hand and knowledge of Irene on the other; as, verily, +it was not unknown to Irene that absolute indifference to facts, +seemingly of domestic importance, was a positive point in Oscar, and +never better exemplified than in the present existing state of affairs, +which, sickly as it proved to Irene, was deadly so to Oscar. + +But future facts had to be solved, which undoubtedly would be treated +with more comparative reverence than heretofore, by him who suffered +severely--yea, acutely--from the blow struck him on the eve of +aspiration and achievement. Love, alas! when smitten with the sword of +indifference, dieth soon, but once struck on the tunnelled cheek of +secrecy with the hand of pity there leaves a scar of indelible +intolerance, until wiped out for ever with the curative balsam of +battled freedom. + +Sir John and Irene met in Dilworth Castle for the last time on the +morning of the third day of August, being the day set apart for the +celebration of their marriage. It commenced with the ringing of the +village bells; the sun shone forth in all his universal glory; emblems +of the approaching festivity did not fail to appear on the housetops of +the humblest village peasant; gladness reigned throughout the household, +and all hearts, save two, rejoiced with unabated activity. + +It was a morning never to be forgotten by Lord and Lady Dilworth, who, +on that day, would be robbed of the treasure held firm and fast by them +for the lengthened period of nine years, and which they yielded up with +hearts of sorrow, not because of the change in which Irene should have +taken deep interest, but on account of the burthen of trouble which +loaded them with leaden weights of which they could not possibly free +themselves. The intense excitement that for weeks before had found such +refuge within their cherished and much-loved home had not long now to +live: it would die on the doorstep of apparent bereavement never more to +appear within Dilworth Castle under similar circumstances. They knew +well that the gnawing jaws of poverty, which for years had failed to +expose their grinding power, had reached the last and only bite of +sudden termination, and thereby stamped their marks of melancholy so +impressively upon the noble brows of the worthy owners of Dilworth +Castle, that time could never blot them from observation. As before +stated few were those invited to be present at the wedding ceremony, +which was to take place about twelve o'clock noon. + +Sir John arrived at the Castle shortly before that time, looking +charming indeed, whilst Irene, though departing from the rules laid down +by Lady Dilworth, demanded from all present remarks bordering on +similarity. She looked nervously pale, but queenly, and mastered +thoroughly the exposure of the painful agony through which she was +passing, knowing as she did and fully believed that "all is not gold +that glitters." + +It may interest some to know that Irene silently and secretly resolved +not to array herself in white; she was reconciled that neither the +marriage robe of purity nor the too beaming wedding face was to appear +before such devout and reverential Church dignitaries as the Bishop of +Barelegs and Canon Foot, with highly impressed and open falsehood, as +that practised by her in the absence of labouring under such a solemn +vow. + +What must have been the breathless surprise of Lady Dilworth chiefly, +and those present also, who, only the evening previous, had been pouring +such praises over the magnificent duchesse satin gown, which eligible +Parisian dressmakers pronounced their chief production of the season, +when Irene appeared arrayed in an Irish poplin of the darkest visible +shade of green, without either train or flower of distinction, not even +a speck of ribbon or border of lace, and no ornament only the valued +necklet which graced her pearly throat when first Sir John was tempted +with her enhancing beauty to bestow upon her his choice collection of +love's purest fragrance, which should cast the sweetest scent of mutual +relationship throughout the dazzling apartments of the mansion she was +about to grace. + +So thunderstruck and grievously horrified did Lady Dilworth seem at the +vague departure of Irene from her orders, that she dare not trust +herself to offer her the first motherly embrace! Irene, perceiving the +great embarrassment of her beloved Lady Dilworth, glided across the +room, and sitting down to the right of her upon whom she had that day +flung, in the face of devotion, the last dregs of defiance, "begged to +offer an apology for such unruly conduct," and added "that all would be +revealed at a future date when least expected." + +In the very room where Sir John was first puzzled concerning the +beautiful portrait, was he now made the recipient of the original. After +the important ceremony was performed, and the register signed, Sir John +and Lady Dunfern, when the usual congratulations were ended, left by the +one o'clock train _en route_ for the Continent. Thus were joined two +hearts of widely different beat--one of intense love, which hearsay +never could shake; the other of dire dislike, which reason could never +alter. + +"Born under a lucky star," was the whispered echo throughout the +distinguished guests who sat down to breakfast after the junction of +opposites. Yea, this was a remark of truth visibly, and might have kept +good during the remainder of their lives had not the tuitional click of +bygone attachment kept moving with measured pace, until stopped after +months, or it may be, small years of constant swinging. + +Did Lady Dunfern ever dream that her apology for disobedience to Lady +Dilworth's orders, in not arraying herself in the garb of glistening +glory, could ever be accepted, even by the kind and loving Lady +Dilworth? + +Did she imagine for a moment that she, to whom she owed anything but +disobedience, even in its simplest form, should be wrested from her arms +of companionship ere her return to Dunfern Mansion? Did the thought ever +flash through her mind that never again would she be able to pour into +the ear of her trusted helper the secrets of the heart of deception, +which, for the past seven months, had raged so furiously within her? + +Better leave her to the freedom of a will that ere long would sink the +ship of opulence in the sea of penury, and wring from her the +words:--"Leave me now, deceptive demon of deluded mockery; lurk no more +around the vale of vanity, like a vindictive viper; strike the lyre of +living deception to the strains of dull deadness, despair and doubt; and +bury on the brink of benevolence every false vow, every unkind thought, +every trifle of selfishness and scathing dislike, occasioned by +treachery in its mildest form!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Distant shores have great attractions and large expectations. They +harbour around their beaches the exile and patriot, the king and +peasant, the lawyer and artisan, the rising swindler and ruined prince. +Spotted throughout the unclaimed area of bared soil may be seen the +roughly-constructed huts and lofty homes of honest industry. Yes, and +concealed therein are hearts yearning for the land of nativity and +national freedom; hearts which sorrow after bygone days, and sink low +when brooding over the future tide of fortune which already has stopped +its gentle flow. + +The reception on the evening of Irene's marriage was glorious and +brilliant, as were all those given by Lord and Lady Dilworth, and, +although attended by society's cream alone, there appeared a visible and +unhidden vacancy in the absence of her who so often lent a glow of +gaiety to the high-toned throng. + +There seemed to be no rival now of buried lineage to mar their desire, +or incur the jealousy of would-be opponents; no one to share +sympathetically with the afflicted sister of equality and worth; nor was +there any one present of such knightly and commanding dignity as he, +who, not many hours previous, had taken upon him the sad duty of +delivering up the keys of devotion to her who kept the door of ardent +adoration locked against his approach. + +It would probably be a long time ere such a scene of silly jealousy and +ire would take place as that witnessed, in which the greater majority of +those present were then partakers! And, further, it would surely be a +much longer period before these guests would again share alike in the +generosity so often extended them by Lord and Lady Dilworth. + +Next day after Irene's marriage was a busy one at Dilworth Castle; hasty +and numerous were the preparations for desolation and departure. Weeks +preceding the joyful event, or what should have been, were leisurely +devoted to the artistic arrangements in every room within the lordly +manor. But, alas! so sudden now was joy's termination, that hours alone +were the boundary of command. + +It may be stated that Lord Dilworth owned three very extensive estates, +namely--Dilworth, Ayrtown, and Howden. The first-mentioned extended +around the castle of that name, encompassing a spacious tract of soil +indeed, and might have done justice to moderation in its most expensive +form. The Ayrtown Estate, which entirely covers the southern portion of +Cheshire, owns a magnificent Hall, the residence of the Earl of +Tukesham, and, although not considered so lucrative as Dilworth, may be +estimated a handsome dowry for the son of any rising nobleman in the +realm. The Howden Estate, on which are elegantly formed two buildings of +note--namely, Blandford Castle and Lauderdale Lodge, both exquisite +constructions of architecture and skilled workmanship, and occupied +respectively by Sir Sydney Hector and Admiral Charles Depew--lies +chiefly around the south-west of Yorkshire, and is not quite so +desirable or adapted for agriculture as the two first mentioned, being +mostly rented for grazing purposes by the numerous and varied owners of +its rugged plots. These estates became so heavily mortgaged that prompt +sale was indispensable, and, the matter being quietly arranged six +months beforehand, the sixth day of August was the day set apart for the +disposal of same. + +Bidders were numerous and offers low. Eventually the purchasers were as +follow:--The Marquis of Orland bought Dilworth Estate; Lord Henry Headen +purchased Ayrtown Estate, whilst the lot of Howden fell upon Sir Rowland +Joyce, the famous historian and national bard. + +Thus were wrested from Lord and Lady Dilworth their luxurious living. +They were driven from their nursery of rich and complicated comforts, +their castle of indolence and ease. They were now thrown upon the +shivering waters of want, without a word of sympathy in the dreadful +hour of their great affliction, without home or friend to extend shelter +or sustenance, and cast afloat upon the ocean of oscillating chance to +speed across it as best they could. + +Was Lord Dilworth therefore to be pitied? Were the torrents of gold +which were bound to trickle from these enormous lands and dwellings, +manufactories and villages, too trifling for his use? Not a morsel of +pity was offered either him or Lady Dilworth as their circumstances +became known in the homes of their associates, who so often fed on the +fat of their folly and graced their well-lined tables always covered +with dainties of deserving censure. + +Could human mind contemplate that she who reigned supreme amongst +society, she who gave the ball in honor of Irene Iddesleigh's marriage, +should ere four days be a penniless pauper? Yet such was fact, not +fiction. + +The seventh day of August saw Lord and Lady Dilworth titled beggars, +steering their course along the blue and slippery waves of the Atlantic, +to be participators in the loathing poverty which always exists in homes +sought after destruction, degradation, and reckless extravagance. + +So soon may the house of gladness and mirth be turned into deepest +grief! How the wealthiest, through sheer folly, are made to drink the +very essence of poverty and affliction in its purest form! How the +golden dust of luxury can be blown about with the wind of events, and is +afterwards found buried in the fields of industry and thrift! Their +names, which were as a household word, would now be heard no more, and +should sink into abject silence and drowned renown, leaving them to +battle against the raging war of ruin and hunger, and retire into +secluded remorse. + +On the return of Sir John and Lady Dunfern from their honeymoon, after +four weeks sojourn, what was her ladyship's consternation on perceiving +Dilworth Castle in darkness as she and Sir John swept past its avenue on +their way to their own brilliantly-lighted mansion? She was rather more +taciturn on the night of her return than even during her stay in +Florence, and it was only on her approaching her former place of +temporary retreat and touchy remembrances that words began to fall from +her ruby lips in torrents. + +"Tell me, I implore of you, Sir John and husband, why the once blithe +and cheerful spot of peace is now apparently a dismal dungeon on the +night of our home-coming, when all should have been a mass of dazzling +glow and splendour? + +"Can it be that she who proffered such ecstacy for months before, on the +eve of our return, is now no more? or can it be possible that we have +crossed each other on the wide waters of tossing triumph or wanton woe? + +"Speak at once, for pity's sake! and do not hide from me the answer of +truth and honest knowledge? Oh, merciful heavens!" + +Here Lady Dunfern drooped her head before Sir John got time to even +answer a word, and drawing from his pocket a silver flask, proceeded to +open its contents, when the horses suddenly stopped, and a gentle hand +politely opened the carriage door to eagerly await the exit of his +master and future mistress from its cushioned corners of costly comfort +and ease. + +"Tom," cried Sir John, in great and rending agony, "kindly wait for a +few minutes, as her ladyship has been frightfully overcome only a short +time ago by the blank appearance in and around Dilworth Castle. She +fears something dreadful must surely have happened Lady Dilworth in her +absence, since she has failed to make the occasion of our home-coming a +merry torchlight of rejoicing." Tom, who had been in Sir John's service +for the past twenty years, was about to testify to the truth of his +remarks, when he was joined by other members of the household, who +rushed to welcome their beloved master home once more, accompanied by +his beautiful bride, of whom they all had heard so much. + +Sir John saw that delay was dangerous, and helping to remove his darling +Irene from the seat on which she unconsciously reclined, succeeded in +placing her on a low couch in the very room he so often silently prayed +for her presence. Bathing her highly-heated temples with a sprinkling of +cooling liquid concealed in his flask, Sir John lost no time in +summoning the village doctor, who, on arrival, pronounced Lady Dunfern +to have slightly recovered, and giving the necessary orders left the +room. + +It was fully two hours ere she partly recovered from her ghastly swoon, +to find herself the object of numerous onlookers of the household of +which she was now future mistress. + +Pale and death-like did she appear in the eyes of her husband, who was +utterly overcome with grief at the sudden collapse of his wife under +such a stroke of anticipated sorrow; and more grieved was he still when +he found on inquiry that the removal of Lord and Lady Dilworth from +their heightened haunt of highborn socialism must sooner or later be +revealed to her, who, as yet, had only tasted partly of the bitter cup +of divided intercourse and separated companionship. + +Many, many were the questions asked by Lady Dunfern relative to Lady +Dilworth when Dr. Corbett arrived next morning to pronounce her almost +recovered, and, strange, yet true, that no one could possibly have +humoured her in such a manner to warrant recovery as the village doctor, +until she felt really strong enough to battle against the sorrowful tale +of woe with which Sir John should shortly make her cognisant. + +On learning from his lips, so soon as her ability occasioned, the real +state of affairs concerning the emigrants who were now compelled to +wander on the track of trouble, she received the truth with awe and +smothered distress. The new sphere in which Lady Dunfern was about to +move seemed to her strange; the binding duty which tied her firmly to +honour and obedience was kept prominently in vague view; the staff of +menials would probably find the rules of her husband more in accordance +with their wishes than those which she was beginning to already arrange. +She commenced her married life with falsehood, and she was fully +determined to prove this feature more and more as the weeks and months +rolled along. She was not now afraid of the censure of one whose face +she may never more behold, and who was the sole instigation of plunging +her into a union she inwardly abhorred. Perhaps, had she never been +trained under the loving guidance of Oscar Otwell, her revered tutor, +she would only have been too eager to proclaim her ecstacy at her +present position more vigorously. But all fetters of power were visibly +broken which she wished should remain united, leaving her mother of her +future premeditated movements. + +As time moved on, Sir John and Lady Dunfern seemed to differ daily in +many respects, which occasioned dislike in the breasts of both, and +caused the once handsome, cheerful face of the much-respected owner of +Dunfern to assume a look of seriousness. + +These differences arose chiefly through his great disinclination to +attend the numerous social gatherings which awaited them after their +marriage. Sir John, finding it almost impossible to stare socialism in +the face, seemed inclined rather to stick to the old rule of domestic +enjoyment, never forgetting to share fully his cheerful conversation +with his wife, when so desired, which, sorrowful to relate, was too +seldom. + +Now that Lady Dunfern was an acknowledged branch of society, her elegant +presence would have been courted by all those who so often favoured Lady +Dilworth with their distinguished patronage, but her social hopes being +nipped in the bud by her retiring husband, she dare not resent, and +determined, in consequence, to make herself an object of dislike in her +home, and cherish her imprisoned thoughts until released, for good or +evil. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +A word of warning tends to great advantage when issued reverently from +the lips of the estimable. It serves to allay the danger pending on +reticence, and substantiates in a measure the confidence which has +hitherto existed between the parties concerned. Again, a judicious +advice, extended to the stubborn and self-willed, proves futile, and +incurs the further malice and fiery indignation of the regardless, the +reckless, and the uncharitable. + +Lady Dunfern began now to grow both cross and careless, and seemed not +to interest herself so much (since her propositions were so emphatically +denounced by her husband) concerning the management of the household +staff. She grew daily more retired, and often has her conduct been so +preposterously strange as to cause alarm both to Sir John and all over +whom he had immediate control. + +Indeed, three months of married life scarcely elapsed until she cast a +glow of despair within the breast which too often heaved for her with +true piety and love. And what was meant by such strange conduct on her +part, her husband often wondered. Only the mighty cessation of +friendship caused by the flight of her beloved guardians, never +attributing such silence and stubbornness to any fault he justly +committed. + +Yes, the duped husband, when being fished for with the rod of seeming +simplicity and concealed character, and quickly caught on the hook of +ingenuity, with deception for a bait, was altogether unable to fathom +its shallowest meaning. Was he not, therefore, to be sympathised with, +who so charitably extended the hand of honour and adoration to the +offspring of unknown parents, and placed her in position equal to any +lady of title and boasted parentage within the boundary of County Kent? +Should Sir John Dunfern not have been almost worshipped by a wife whose +binding duty it was to reverence her husband in all things pertaining to +good? No doubt this would have been so had he gained the affections he +imagined he possessed, but later on he would inevitably be made aware of +matters which as yet only bordered on supposition. + +Day after day Lady Dunfern pined like a prisoner in her boudoir, and +scarcely ever shared a word with the great and good Sir John, who many +times wished in former days that she had occupied his home and all its +joys. She formed an inward resolution that if prohibited from enjoying +life, to which she was accustomed at Dilworth Castle, she would make her +husband, whom she knew too well made her his idol, feel the smart, by +keeping herself aloof from his caresses as much as possible. + +Often would he be found half asleep in deep thought, not having any +friend of immediate intimacy in whom he could confide or trust, or to +whom he could unbosom the conduct of his wife, whose actions now he was +beginning to detest. + +The thoughts of disappointment and shame were building for themselves a +home of shelter within him--disappointment on account of cherished hopes +which unmistakably were crushed to atoms beneath the feet of her who was +the sole instigation of their origin; shame, in all probability, lest +the love he sought and bought with the price of self might not be his +after all! and may still be reserved against his right and kept for +another much less worthy! The little jealous spark again revived and +prompted him to renew its lustre, which had been hidden for a length of +time behind the cloud of dread so silently awaiting the liberty of +covering the hill of happiness. + +Quietly ruminating over his wife's manner before marriage, about which +he was compelled, through observation, to demand an explanation, and +pondering carefully her strange and silent habits since it, he became +resolved to probe the wound that had swollen so enormously as to demand +immediate relief. Ringing furiously for a maid, he handed her a note, to +be delivered without delay to Lady Dunfern, the nature of which might +well be suspected. Be that as it may, its contents were instrumental in +demanding immediate attention. + +Soon after its delivery a slight tap was heard at the door of Sir John's +study, this room being always his favourite haunt, where he sat beside a +bright and glowing fire, engaged in sullen thought; and with an +imperious "Come in!" he still remained in the same thinking posture; +nor was he aware, for fully five minutes or so, that his intruder was no +other than she whom he so recently ordered into his presence! + +Gazing up in a manner which startled the cold-hearted woman not a +little, he requested her "to have a seat right opposite his," to which +she instantly complied. At this moment the snow was wafting its flaky +handfuls thickly against the barred enclosures of Dunfern Mansion, and +chilly as nature appeared outside, it was similarly so indoors for the +fond and far-famed husband of Lord Dilworth's charge. + +Matters had appeared so unpleasant and altogether bewildering of late +that Sir John formed a resolution to bring them to a crisis. Looking +fully into the face that seemed so lovely just now, with the dainty +spots of blazing ire enlivening the pale cheeks of creeping sin, Sir +John began-- + +"Irene, if I may use such familiarity, I have summoned you hither, it +may be to undergo a stricter examination than your present condition +probably permits; but knowing, as you should, my life must be miserable +under this growing cloud of unfathomed dislike, I became resolved to +end, if within my power, such contentious and unladylike conduct as that +practised by you towards me of late. It is now quite six months--yea, +weary months--since I shielded you from open penury and insult, which +were bound to follow you, as well as your much-loved protectors, who +sheltered you from the pangs of penniless orphanage; and during these +six months, which naturally should have been the pet period of nuptial +harmony, it has proved the hideous period of howling dislike! + +"I, as you see, am tinged with slightly snowy tufts, the result of +stifled sorrow and care concerning you alone; and on the memorable day +of our alliance, as you are well aware, the black and glossy locks of +glistening glory crowned my brow. There dwelt then, just six months this +day, no trace of sorrow or smothered woe--no variety of colour where it +is and shall be so long as I exist--no furrows of grief could then be +traced upon my visage. But, alas! now I feel so changed! And why? + +"Because I have dastardly and doggedly been made a tool of treason in +the hands of the traitoress and unworthy! I was enticed to believe that +an angel was always hovering around my footsteps, when moodily engaged +in resolving to acquaint you of my great love, and undying desire to +place you upon the highest pinnacle possible of praise and purity within +my power to bestow! + +"I was led to believe that your unbounded joy and happiness were never +at such a par as when sharing them with me. Was I falsely informed of +your ways and worth? Was I duped to ascend the ladder of liberty, the +hill of harmony, the tree of triumph, and the rock of regard, and when +wildly manifesting my act of ascension, was I to be informed of treading +still in the valley of defeat? + +"Am I, who for nearly forty years was idolised by a mother of untainted +and great Christian bearing, to be treated now like a slave? Why and for +what am I thus dealt with? + +"Am I to foster the opinion that you treat me thus on account of not +sharing so fully in your confidence as it may be, another? + +"Or is it, can it be, imaginative that you have reluctantly shared, only +shared, with me that which I have bought and paid for fully? + +"Can it be that your attention has ever been, or is still, attracted by +another, who, by some artifice or other, had the audacity to steal your +desire for me and hide it beneath his pillaged pillow of poverty, there +to conceal it until demanded with my ransom? + +"Speak! Irene! Wife! Woman! Do not sit in silence and allow the blood +that now boils in my veins to ooze through cavities of unrestrained +passion and trickle down to drench me with its crimson hue! + +"Speak, I implore you, for my sake, and act no more the deceitful +Duchess of Nante, who, when taken to task by the great Napoleon for +refusing to dance with him at a State ball, replied, 'You honoured me +too highly'--acting the hypocrite to his very face. Are you doing +likewise?" Here Sir John, whose flushed face, swollen temples, and fiery +looks were the image of indignation, restlessly awaited her reply. + +Lady Dunfern began now to stare her position fully in the face. On this +interview, she thought, largely depended her future welfare, if viewed +properly. Should she make her husband cognisant of her inward feelings, +matters were sure to end very unsatisfactorily. These she kept barred +against his entrance in the past, and she was fully determined should +remain so now, until forced from their home of refuge by spirited +action. + +Let it be thoroughly understood that Lady Dunfern was forced into a +union she never honestly countenanced. She was almost compelled, through +the glittering polish Lady Dilworth put on matters, to silently resign +the hand of one whose adoration was amply returned, and enter into a +contract which she could never properly complete. All she could now do +was to plunge herself into the lake of evasion and answer him as best +she could. + +"Sir and husband," she said, with great nervousness at first, "you have +summoned me hither to lash your rebuke unmercifully upon me, provoked, +it may be, by underhand intercourse. You accordingly, in the course of +your remarks, fail not to tamper with a character which as yet defies +your scathing criticism. Only this week have I been made the recipient +of news concerning my deceased parents, of whom I never before obtained +the slightest clue, and armed with equality, I am in a position fit to +treat some of your stingy remarks with the scorn they merit. + +"You may not already be aware of the fact that I, whom you insinuate you +wrested from beggary, am the only child of the late Colonel Iddesleigh, +who fell a victim to a gunshot wound inflicted by the hand of his wife, +who had fallen into the pit of intemperance. Yes, Earl Peden's daughter +was his wife and my mother, and only that this vice so actuated her +movements, I might still have lent to Society the object it dare not now +claim, and thereby would have shunned the iron rule of being bound down +to exist for months at a time within such a small space of the world's +great bed. + +"If my manner have changed in any way since our union, of it I am not +aware, and fail to be persuaded of any existing difference, only what +might be attributed to Lady Dilworth's sudden and unexpected removal +from our midst, which occasioned me grief indeed. + +"It behoves elderly men like you to rule their wives with jealous +supervision, especially if the latter tread on the fields of youth. Such +is often fictitious and unfounded altogether, and should be treated with +marked silence. + +"I may here say I was mistress, in a measure, of my movements whilst +under the meek rule of Lady Dilworth; nor was I ever thwarted in any way +from acting throughout her entire household as I best thought fit, and +since I have taken upon me to hold the reins of similarity within these +walls, I find they are much more difficult to manage. I, more than once, +have given orders which were completely prohibited from being executed. +By whom, might I ask, and why? Taking everything into consideration, +I am quite justified in acquainting you that, instead of being the +oppressor, I feel I am the oppressed. + +"Relative to my affections, pray have those courted by me in the past +aught to do with the present existing state of affairs? I am fully +persuaded to answer, 'Nothing whatever.' + +"You speak of your snowy tufts appearing where once there dwelt locks of +glossy jet. Well, I am convinced they never originated through me, and +must surely have been threatening to appear before taking the step which +links me with their origin. + +"I now wish to retire, feeling greatly fatigued, and trusting our +relations shall remain friendly and mutual, I bid thee good-night." + +Lady Dunfern swept out of the room, and hurrying to her own apartment, +burst into an uncontrollable fit of grief. + +She had surely been awaked from her reverie by Sir John, and felt +sharply the sting of his remarks, which were truly applied, indeed. +She now resolved to let matters move along as quietly as possible until +after she should pass the most critical period of her existence. She was +prepared to manifest her innocence throughout, without detection if +possible. But amongst the household there moved a matron under whose +hawk-like eye Lady Dunfern was almost inclined to shrink. She felt when +in her presence to be facing an enemy of unbounded experience. She +abhorred her stealing tread, but not without cause. It was to this dame +she so often issued orders that never were carried out; and when +intimating to Sir John the necessity of instantly dismissing such a +tyrant, he quietly "rebelled," adding "that she had been almost twenty +years in his service, and presently could not think of parting with such +a valued and much-trusted friend." + +This woman's name was Rachel Hyde, and proved the secret channel of +intercourse between Sir John and Lady Dunfern, evidently paving the way +for her ladyship's downfall; as Rachel, being mistress for such a period +over Dunfern Mansion, could never step the fence leading to abolition of +power, which she so unwillingly tried to mount since Sir John's +marriage, and failing totally in her attempt, was lifted and thrown over +by her mistress, an act she could never forget, and consequently carried +all news, trivial or serious, concerning Lady Dunfern to her master, and +delivered it in such an exaggerated form as to incur his wrath, which +already had been slightly heated. + +A few months elapsed again, during which time matters went on much as +usual, until an event happened that should have chased the darkest cloud +of doubt and infidelity from the noble brow of the mighty and revered +master of Dunfern Mansion. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +The thickest stroke of sadness can be effaced in an instant, and +substituted with deeper traces of joy. The heart of honest ages, though +blackened at times with domestic troubles, rejoices when those troubles +are surmounted with blessings which proclaim future happiness. + +On the tenth day of June, following Lady Dunfern's interview with her +husband, she gave birth to a son and heir. This great event brought with +it entire forgiveness on the part of Sir John of his wife's recent +conduct. It served for a short time only, a trivial portion too, to +stifle the alienation which existed between them, and to heal the sore +of evident separation that marred their happiness for months before. + +The glad and happy father was only too eager now to snatch a smile from +his wife's face, and anxious was he to bury any little obstacle that may +have existed in the past, and expel it for ever from its lurking corner +of tempting repose. He saw that Lady Dunfern's life was hanging by a +flimsy hair, and who could, for an instant, depict the great despair of +her husband when told that all hope must be abandoned! + +The frantic father wrung his hands in a frenzy of momentary madness, and +in spite of authoritative advice he timidly moved in the direction of +the bed on which his beloved lay, and knelt beside it to fervently offer +up a prayer "for the speedy recovery of her who was the chief object of +his existence." Raising himself up and clasping his darling in his arms, +he whispered in her ear a word of encouragement, and gently laying her +highly-heated head on the silken pillow he again prayed, in deepest and +gravest earnestness, "that she might be spared only a little longer." + +No doubt his prayer was no sooner offered than answered, as she at this +stage slightly rallied, and appeared somewhat strengthened. Day by day +the still fond and loving husband sat by the bedside of the invalid +until strong enough to battle fully against the weakening hand of her +malady; and at the very time Sir John sat beside the bed of sickness, +inwardly "showering blame upon himself for hindering his wife's social +enjoyment, and for which he believed he acted wrongly;" she, on the +contrary, was outwardly pouring rebuke on her own head "for ever +entering into a league of life-long punishment by marrying a man she +simply abhorred, and leaving her noble and well-learned tutor, Oscar +Otwell, whom she yet loved, to wander in a world of blighted bliss!" + +Ah! to be sure! It was during these days of unremitting attention that +he was afforded an opportunity of storing up a multitude of touchy +remarks uttered by his wife when the relapse of raging fever reached its +defiant height! She never ceased to talk in a most gentle manner of +"Oscar Otwell," "her darling and much-loved tutor." She even expressed +sorrow, in the course of her broken remarks, "at the false step she had +taken to satisfy, not herself by any means, but Lady Dilworth!" She +strongly protested her "hatred for him" who sat listening, with grave +intensity, to every word that escaped her lips! She even spoke of +"a cavity in her jewel-case in which was safely deposited a ring, given +her by Oscar during her happy period of instruction under his guidance," +adding, in her painful discourse, that "she loved it as well as +himself," etc., etc. + +These rambling statements when ended, in an instant caused Sir John's +resolutions, made by him so recently, to become worthless remarks; and +if partly charged with jealousy before, he was doubly so now. + +No onlooker could fail in the least to pity the sneered husband, whose +livid countenance during the course of her remarks, rambling though they +were, was a sight never to be forgotten. How he gazed with astonished +indifference at the invalid so charged with deceit! She who acted the +emblem of innocence at all times, and attempted to attach entire blame +to her husband! She who partly promised peace in future to him who never +again could enjoy it! + +How his manner became so abrupt and his speech so scanty within such a +short period was verily a proof of the belief he fostered relative to +his wife's statements, which were yet to her unknown. + +The doctors in attendance endeavoured strongly to imprint upon Sir John +the fact that "such remarks as those uttered by his wife should be +treated with silence and downright indifference," adding that "patients +smitten with fever, of what kind soever, were no more responsible for +their sayings than the most outrageous victim to insanity." + +Sir John listened attentively to their statements, but failed to be +altogether convinced as to their truth. Wondering what sin could be +attached to an act he felt was his duty to perform, he moved softly to +the bedside of his wife, and being in a sleepy mood, he resolved to sift +some of her remarks to the very bottom. + +Entering the room she so often occupied, and taking from a chink in her +dressing-table a key of admittance to the jewel-case she spoke of, he +lost no time in viewing its valuable contents; and, in the very spot in +which she vowed dwelt her tutor's gift, there it lay! A golden band with +pearl centre, and immediately underneath it there rested a note. At +first he felt rather diffident about perusing its contents, but instinct +so prompted his curiosity that he yielded to its tempting touch. It ran +thus:-- + + "Hedley, + Berks, + July 3rd. + + "Ever beloved Irene, + + "I am after reading your gentle yet sorrowful epistle. You cannot + possibly retract the step you so publicly have taken without + incurring the malice of Lord and Lady Dilworth, who have sheltered + you from every sorrow and care with which you otherwise were bound + to come in contact. + + "They received you into their elegant home, and shielded you, + by so doing, from the tyrannical rule of Miss Lamont of 'The + Orphanage,' in which you were placed for a period of eight years. + They failed not to give you a thorough and practical education, + which in itself would enable you to achieve independence, if + necessary, or so desired. + + "This you received under one whose heart now beats with raging + jealousy and vehement hatred towards the object of Lady Dilworth's + choice, being well convinced, through your numerous letters to me + lately, it never was yours. + + "Dearest Irene, the thought of parting from you for ever is partly + sustained with the hope of yet calling you mine! Through time you + suggest an elopement, which as yet can only be viewed in the hazy + distance; but it seems quite clear to me, dearest, and surely + evident, that you abhor the very name of him who a month hence + shall place you in a position considerably more elevated and + lucrative than that which I now could bestow. But Irene, my + beloved, my all! reluctantly I yield my precious treasure to him + who, it may be this moment, is rejoicing at his capture. + + "I shall ever remain forlorn, dejected, and ruined until such time + as we suitably can accomplish the clearance of the cloud of + dissatisfaction under which you are about to live. Please write by + return. + + "Ever your own + + "OSCAR. + + "Miss Iddesleigh, + + Dilworth Castle." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +When dreading the light of day contentment hath fled; imagination +oftentimes proves a forerunner to reality; corners of horror shelter +themselves within the castles of the queenly, the palaces of the +powerful, the monuments of the mighty, and the cottages of the +caretaker; but sunshine brings universal joy wherever its beams are wont +to dazzle, and often allays the anxiety which precedes its appearance. + +"Great heaven!" murmured Sir John, as the tutor's note fell from his +nervous grasp, "Am I blind to touch or truth? Am I at last to labour +under the fact that my wife loves another! she who only some months +since protested her innocence in such strains as to cause the most +doubtful to stay alarm. Here is the ring, and there lies the note--the +note of him who claims to be not only her tutor but suitor. Why did she +accept the former or cause the latter to be written?" + +"Then, the date! Just one month exactly before our marriage; and how I +pined for it to elapse whilst another would eagerly have prolonged it. +Oh, Irene!--false and low woman! Think you that any longer I can own you +as wife or treat you with the respect a wife deserves!" Sir John, ever +open to forgiveness, tried hard to master the dreadful spirit of +jealousy which arrived at last at its highest point, if he could feel +convinced that his wife's correspondence with her tutor ceased after her +marriage, believing if still it continued that other proofs of their +dastardly plots would be forthcoming. Thrusting his hand again into the +aperture from which he took the two tributes of his wife's tutor, there +appeared nothing to arouse further suspicion, save a Christmas card, +written with the same bold hand. The lines were these:-- + + "Accept my warmest greeting, friendship, love, + Thou art my charming Irene, pet and dove; + Although another claims thee for a time, + I trust to call you some day ever mine. + Oh! pray for parting soon with fettered chains, + To live and move regardless of those reins + That bind your Christmas sprigs of worldly woe + To him, whom you have hated long ago." + +This was a second effusion of Otwell's, and must have been received by +Lady Dunfern since her marriage; and, thought he who held it clutched in +his trembling hand, Why did she deposit this card amongst her +valuables--had she not held it as a treasure of priceless worth? + +Nothing more was wanting now to convince the distracted husband of his +wife's infidelity. Depositing the note, card, and ring in the drawer +whence he had taken them, Sir John at once proceeded to Lady Dunfern's +bedroom, and found her awake. Being a nobleman of sterling worth, and +one on whose word the greatest dependence was always manifested, he +could scarcely fail to inform her of the great and trying scene he had +just come through. Struggling, however, manfully from mentioning +anything that would serve to retard her recovery, he moved towards the +bed on which she lay, and before a word was uttered by him he suddenly +staggered and fell. + +Who could then perceive the wan and haggard appearance of him who +apparently lay lifeless without being totally terror-stricken--could +she, whom he bathed in golden comfort, behold this outstretched form +with calm silence? Surely not! + +Instantly ordering a maid to send for Doctor Doherty, the false invalid +lay back on her pillow, appearing not much concerned. On the doctor's +arrival he applied restoratives, but without the desired effect. Then he +ordered his instant removal to his bed-chamber, where every care and +watchfulness was extended him by Rachel Hyde. + +It was nearly two hours ere he manifested the remotest symptoms of +animation, and on inquiry the doctor pronounced the sudden shock he had +nervously sustained to be grave indeed. Sir John lay in an unconscious +condition until next morning, when his first inquiry was relative to his +son. + +Gradually regaining strength, and venturing in the doctor's absence out +of bed, he walked slowly into his wife's room to make personal his +recovery. He looked pale, and much annoyed, and could only with +difficulty refrain from acquainting her of what he had in store to +communicate. Each day found both invalids, just and unjust, rapidly +recovering, and a few weeks found both completely restored to health and +strength. + +Lady Dunfern could not help noticing the strange and frozen manner of +her husband since the eve of his illness. At first she was inclined to +fear his approach, but gradually she felt convinced he was slightly +affected with a mild form of insanity; and making minute inquiries from +the oldest inhabitants in the neighbourhood and adjoining village as to +the accuracy of her fears, she was informed that "such never existed +amongst his ancestors, so far as they knew or heard." + +Was it strange that Sir John felt a changed man towards her who was so +fully charged with deceit? Would it have been acting in accordance with +his conscience to overlook her wily artifice? Could the once fond and +loving husband, the brave and gallant knight, still trust in her whom he +felt convinced would bring a world of disgrace, not alone upon himself, +but upon one who in after years, he trusted, would proudly sustain the +honourable reputation of his race? + +Ah! no matter in what light he viewed her conduct now he was brought to +loathe her very look, and was fully determined to shut her in from the +gaze of an outside world, or the cunning tricks of a trifling tutor. He +was resolved, so far as lay in his power, to treat her with the conduct +she merited, and never again allow himself to be persuaded to postpone +the visitation of his anger by her villainous pitiful appeals. + +After serious thought, Sir John began to act; he was inclined to think +delay would be dangerous, and on approaching his breakfast table one +morning soon after his recovery, he hinted to his housekeeper that he +"wished a private interview with her after his morning repast." This +Rachel punctually obeyed. + +Seeing her master's trembling hand twitch the tips of his beard, she +feared something dreadful must surely be disturbing his peace of mind, +and commanding her to "lock the door" lest they should be interrupted, +he informed her of all that had happened. + +Rachel, ever ready to sow doubt in the mind of her master regarding his +wife, manifested her want of surprise by relating some incidents which +occurred under her notice. Nothing, however monstrous, could astonish +Sir John at this time regarding his wife's movements, and informing +Rachel of his intention he ordered the key of one of the rooms that yet +had been shut against the entrance of Lady Dunfern. + +Hastening to fulfil her master's order, Rachel returned with the mighty +key, and handed it to Sir John, who moved to the door, and thrusting the +rusty key into its aperture, succeeded with great difficulty in +effecting an entrance. Rachel followed, and both entered, locking the +heavy-panelled oak door from within. "This," said Sir John, "is the room +of correction, the room of death. It defies escape or secretion. It has +been so long as I remember held in abhorrence by my late lamented +parents, and, so far as I can understand, by many of my ancestors. + +"First of all, the lady who shared its midst was a born imbecile, the +eldest daughter of my great great grandfather--Sir Sydney Dunfern. She +was nursed and tenderly cared for within these walls for a period of +thirty-six years, and through the instantaneous insanity of her ward, +was marked a victim for his murderous hand. Yes, it has been related +that during midnight, when she was fast asleep, he drew from that +drawer" here Sir John pointed to the wardrobe, "a weapon of warlike +design, and severed her head almost from her body, causing instant +death. + +"It was not known until next day about noon that anything extraordinary +had happened. It was first detected by Sir Sydney himself, who became +alarmed at not having seen Wade--the ward's name was Hector Wade--as +usual at ten o'clock, and tapping at the door, was surprised to hear +some noise issue from within. Being of a hasty temper, he became +indignant at the ward's indifference, and calling loudly, finally gained +admittance. + +"The murderer had her stretched on this floor, and every article capable +of being removed piled upon her corpse. Horrified at such a sight, Sir +Sydney became wild with grief, and at once handed the pitiful lunatic +over to those in authority. + +"The next inhabitant doomed to share in its dull delight was Kathleen, +wife of my beloved grandfather, a beautiful woman, whose portrait you +now see. She, I am sorry to relate, proved more an accomplice than the +honoured wife of him who added so much to the welfare of those who now +benefit by his great economy. The hand of death visited her here +likewise with its separating touch. + +"The last person inhabiting its cheerless enclosure was a distant +relative of my mother, a gentleman named Rodney Rupert, who fell from +the path of virtue and trod the field of vice, until confined within +this prison of pathetic account, and who, in a moment of passion, ended +his days with that pistol which hangs on yonder hook, and on that bed +all these lay, and which shall again be made use of by a traitoress of +no mean account either." + +Sir John then proceeded to give orders to "have the room made as +comfortable as its scanty furniture permitted," which consisted only of +one small table, one chair, and an old-fashioned wardrobe, with several +small drawers attached, one dressing-table and wash-stand, all of which +were magnificently carved oak and richly panelled. + +There was only one large window, made up of iron bars and a multitude of +small panes of glass not larger than three inches square, all of equal +dimensions, and inside this window were strong bars of iron looped on +every side and firmly fastened. + +The cocoa matting which served as a carpet, parts of which were grim +with gore, was almost worn past recognition. These were all the articles +this badly-lighted room contained, save several oil-paintings of +enormous size. On the whole, it presented the appearance of a private +prison. + +An icy atmosphere pervaded throughout the room, damped with an odour of +something inert, which Sir John believed would be rendered extinct in +the presence of a fire. + +Rachel, after receiving orders in confidence from her master, set +matters to right by lighting a fire, dusting the old and much-worn +furniture, airing the bed-clothes, etc., being strictly charged to +admit, on no pretence whatever, now or at any time, any member of the +household or visitor to the mansion. + +When everything was in perfect readiness for the reception of its guest, +Sir John directed Rachel to "bring her Ladyship into his presence." What +could have astonished Lady Dunfern more on being ushered into a room +which never before was open for her inspection? Nothing save the +information her husband eagerly awaited her to receive. On being +informed of her vast deception, which was proved beyond doubt, and to +which she felt wholly incompetent to reply, she was absolutely +dumb-stricken. + +It required no further questioning now concerning her husband's recent +strangeness of manner and rigid coolness with which he was forced to +treat her whom he scorned to call wife. + +"You, madam," said he, "have by your conduct, both before and after +marriage, forced me to keep you a prisoner within these walls so long as +you live or I exist. + +"You have not failed to act the infamous by kissing me with the lips of +a Judas! You have at last plunged me into deepest disgrace, not alone +me, but him whom you should have been liberated to succour and chastise. +Mocking wretch! your foul deeds shall have plenty of scope here for +improvement, and a prisoner you shall be during the remainder of your +life." + +Sir John, without another word, glided from before the presence of her +who once was treated as a goddess by him, and turning the great key that +locked her for ever from his view, handed it to Rachel, who was to have +sole admittance to, and full charge of, his wife. + +When left to herself in the ghostly and spacious closet of crippled +right, which until now she never dare approach, Lady Dunfern, instead of +shewing signs of grief, which Sir John felt assured must burst from its +midst, gloried in being aloof from the occasional rebukes to which she +was subject whilst occupying the rooms free to her access. She would now +have full opportunity of guiding her thoughts to self-advantage or +disadvantage. She felt free to try and act as she in any case would have +done, regarding very little the shame brought on her husband by her +intrigue with the tutor, whom she simply idolized, never once casting a +thought on her infant, knowing well it would be passionately cared for. + +Oceans of thought took hold on her as she vacantly viewed the damp and +darkened walls of her monstrous cell, now and then moving forward to +inspect the many paintings of great and historic worth which hung from +their lofty support, mostly all more or less resembling him who probably +should ere long add to their number. + +Lady Dunfern allowed the weeks and months to pass unheeded until +afforded ample opportunity of resorting to some means that might not +alone free her from such death-like surroundings, but snap the chain of +obligation in two which presently connected her with a husband she cared +not for. + +She longed for the hour of flight from the dismal shelter under which +she was doomed to dwell. She yearned for the days that had fled, and +more so for her who had shared in their pleasure. She pined for him whom +she so long lived to adore, and hesitated not to do so still. + +Could she only acquaint him of her husband's cruelty, how he might +assist her in effecting her release. What could be done, she frequently +asked herself, to brighten her future only a little? + +Could she possibly escape? She feared not. + +Every two hours that villainous woman entered during the day since first +she was snared in the net of revenge and compelled to remain within its +enclosures of shivering fear. Still, she never lost hope of flight, and +cheered with the thought of future stratagem, she tried to remain +somewhat consoled. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The trickling tide of fortune sometimes ebbs slowly. It meets with +occasional barriers of boisterous worth, and reaches its haven of intent +too often with obstruction. Its waters drip on the proud and humble, the +mighty and pitiful, the meek and unholy, and refuse to overlook even the +weary and careworn confined in the cell. It ceases not to store within +its waters of wonder intricate windings of wealth and poverty, triumph +and torture, joy and misery, and does not hesitate at any time to safely +deposit its various burthens on the numerous beaches along which it must +pass. + +When almost a year of Lady Dunfern's private imprisonment was about +drawing to a close, she was beginning to partly believe the truth of her +husband's dogmatic remarks. She had strongly been endeavouring during +this time to arrive at some possible means of communication with Marjory +Mason, her much-loved maid, whose services Sir John still retained; but +every endeavour she yet formed proved absolutely vain. She often thought +had she been attended by any of the household staff, only her on whom +she never could dream to rely, she might have made good her escape long +since; but being watched and visited so regularly by Rachel Hyde, she +felt her task much more difficult of performance than at first imagined. +Sometimes she would bring her table close to the window and mount on its +shaky leaf, then step into the great window-sill, pull out her +handkerchief and rub the puny panes to try and catch a glimpse of nature +and probably chance to see some of the servants pass. + +This heavily-barred window stood considerably high, and if viewed from a +distance, or even from the ground adjacent, seemed small in consequence. +It was, therefore, very difficult for her to recognise one menial from +another, yet she often imagined she could not be mistaken in perceiving +a form in the garden, right opposite, that surely strongly resembled her +favourite maid. + +What course was she, then, to adopt in order to discover the accuracy of +her thoughts? How could she manage to be positive regarding Marjory's +appearance? She felt it almost miraculous to identify her who trod so +far beneath her heightened gaze. Each day she resolved to mount the +window at the same hour, believing her constant watching might through +time convince her who the object of her anxiety might be. + +But the distance between them still remained the same, and ended with +the same disappointing result. A thought at last crowned her precious +efforts. She fancied if she could succeed in breaking one of the small +window panes she could, with the aid of a telescope found in one of the +drawers, define exactly who the maid might chance to be. + +The same hour each day found the eager mistress and anxious maid in +their respective places, the former mounted on the window-sill, the +latter gazing pitifully towards the window of her mistress's hateful +cell. But discernment was altogether impossible for Lady Dunfern, who +was resolved not to be baffled much longer in ascertaining who the +constant visitor was. Snapping from her finger an exquisite diamond +ring, and studying which pane of glass would be least noticed, she +arrived at the wise conclusion of extracting the lowest corner pane, +which she cleverly and effectually succeeded in doing. Wondering, first +of all, how she would hide the opening from the cute eye of her who +proved her only visitor, she placed her fleecy wrap carelessly against +it, and resuming her seat, was persuaded fully to believe she had +successfully accomplished the first step to her freedom. + +Rachel, arriving now with luncheon, failed to notice, or if noticed, to +mention the article in the window. Next day, with great confidence, Lady +Dunfern was found in her usual recess, and drawing forth the telescope, +viewed keenly the object of her constant search, and to her wild delight +she at once beheld Marjory Mason with grave face staring, she fancied, +at her. At last, her Ladyship had achieved a mighty work, indeed, which +she hoped would yet prove of more practical importance. + +It may be mentioned that Marjory Mason visited the same plot of ground +at the same hour every available morning since she was robbed of the +pleasure of waiting on her mistress, merely to get a glimpse of the +window she knew must belong to her Ladyship's haunt of hardship; and +could honest Marjory have only seen the handkerchief that every day was +pointed to its little transparent enclosures, how she would so gladly +have waved hers in return. But other means had to be resorted to, +through Lady Dunfern's great perspicacity, to try and establish a line +of communication with one she could trust. This being now arrived at +cast a world of grief from the mind of her who, under such a roof of +suspense as that beneath which she existed, felt if aid were not +forthcoming, she would shortly have to yield to the imperative command +of the King of Conquering Divines. + +Who could now recognise the "Southern Beauty" of Dilworth Castle? +Who could visit the once beautiful bride of Dunfern Mansion without +naturally betraying signs of heartfelt sorrow? She who so often graced +the assemblies of the proud and famous; she who adorned society with her +majestic presence; she who, by her charming manner and elegant bearing, +failed not to steal the affection of him who treated her so, was an +object of abject commiseration where her conduct wasn't questioned. She +was no longer the cheerful associate, the bright converser, the lively, +robust Irene Iddesleigh. She, the pride of her guardians, the once +adored of her husband, the envied object of socialism, must bear to +exist, though by any means within her power, not where she existed +presently. The next part to be enacted was to attract Marjory's +attention. This could easily be tried, and tying her cambric square +firmly round the top of a small poker, she timidly sent it through the +cavity, at the same time viewing Marjory by means of her telescope. +At first Marjory was seen to shade her eyes with her hand, and move a +little forward, then suddenly stop. She would again move slightly nearer +to the wafting emblem of despair, and quickly advancing, until she +neared the spot where best the snowy sign could be seen, instantly +concluded that she must be observed by her ladyship. + +When Lady Dunfern perceived that Marjory could by no means be closer to +her, she pulled the flag of victory back, leaving her maid in breathless +confusion, never for an instant flinching until she might again have an +opportunity of rendering her assistance whom she worshipped. + +In less than five minutes another signal appeared through the open space +in the form of a small piece of paper, the meaning of which Marjory knew +well. It appeared to be making its way with wonderful alacrity towards +her, who now was in nervous despair lest she should be detected by her +master, or some of the other members of his staff. At last the missive +reached its destination, and, wildly grasping it, Marjory loosed the +cord, that was swiftly drawn back, and plainly written by her mistress's +hand were the words, "To Marjory, my trusted maid." Shrieking with +delight, she pushed the note into her pocket, and, speedily hastening to +the mansion, entered her own room. Securing the door from within, she +instantly tore asunder the cover, and read with tearful eyes as +follows:-- + + "Room No. 10. + + "Dearest Marjory and Friend, + + "You at last have proof of the confidence reposed in you by me. + How I have thought of you since I was severed from you no one + knows. That you have been aware of my imprisonment I can no longer + doubt. However, I shall not presently give you any particulars, + but beg to say that if you could by any means you thought safe let + me hear if you have ever received any letters for me from Oscar, + I should ever feel grateful and reward you accordingly. My reason + for such inquiry I shall explain further on. Dear Marjory, keep + this dark. Might I suggest that you slip a note under my door this + evening at five o'clock precisely. This you can do I believe at + this hour with safety. Trusting you are keeping strong, and hoping + soon to thank you personally for such secret kindness, + + "Believe me, + + "Sincerely yours, + + "IRENE. + + "To Marjory." + +This note was ample explanation of the confidence Lady Dunfern had in +her maid. She well knew from previous experience how she could trust +her, and felt assured she was not a victim to misplaced confidence. +Marjory would sooner have suffered death than betray her whom she had +served so long at Dilworth Castle, and so short a time at Dunfern +Mansion, and, carefully folding the note she held in her hand, proceeded +to reply. + +Lady Dunfern, at the hour appointed, stood in agony behind the massive +door, underneath which she soon felt sure of receiving news that would +either increase or diminish her varied stock of fears. Nor was she +disappointed. At the very hour referred to, the note appeared. Who could +picture the ecstatic relief of Lady Dunfern as she paced her prison +floor, whilst carefully scanning the contents of Marjory's note. In it +she stated that her husband received all letters direct, not alone for +himself, but for all his servants, and delivered them personally to +each, this only happening since she was subject to his cruel treatment. + +Lady Dunfern was a little surprised at not receiving through Marjory +some news of Oscar. But when informed of her husband being the recipient +of all letters, she felt confident his were amongst the many for his +inspection, and would not therefore aid his aspect of matters much. +Safely depositing the prayed-for epistle of Marjory in her drawer, she +seemed to suddenly grow quite cheerful and animated, so much so that +Rachel, on entering some short time afterwards, was so struck with the +change as to acknowledge that her ladyship must surely appreciate the +book she held in her hand to an extraordinary extent, since it had +altered her demeanour so. + +Could this attendant only have known the true nature of Lady Dunfern's +much-changed manner, how, with a conquering air, she would so soon have +conveyed the tidings to Sir John. This, however, was not to be. Lady +Dunfern believed that such a line of intercourse as that which she had +so artfully managed with one on whom she could ever place implicit +confidence, must surely yet be the means of freeing her from the fetters +of a fierce and prejudiced race. + +Every morning, at the same hour, mistress and maid were at their +respective posts, the former, with brightened eye, mounted on her +favourite pedestal of triumphant account and gazing intently on the +object of rescue; the latter, casting that grave and careworn look in +the direction of the niched signboard of distress, stood firmly and +faithfully until she received the watchword of action and warning. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Torture trifleth not. It manifests in many instances the deserving +censure imposed upon its stinging touch. It acts like the poisonous +fangs of the serpent, unless extracted from its burning crypt of +chastisement by hands of wily witchcraft. So frightened did Lady Dunfern +become lest the eye of the straggler might chance more than once to +catch the meaning of Marjory's loitering about the grounds immediately +below her window, that she deemed it imperative to alter her +arrangements, and, acquainting Marjory in the usual way, appointed an +hour that would almost defy matters to be made conspicuous. This change +made both of them more free to act, and proved a decided success. + +Only some weeks elapsed since Lady Dunfern's first missive reached +Marjory until word was forthcoming from Oscar Otwell. Her heart beat +wildly with joy on reading the following, slipped to her in the usual +way:-- + + "Hedley, + + Berks. + + "Dearest Lady Dunfern, + + "You may well guess my gross astonishment on receipt of your long + looked-for note, and the dire news it contained. My heart bleeds + for you, and believe me, no stone shall be left unturned until + your release from that heathenish cell of woe shall be proclaimed. + Often have I looked for an answer to my letters from you, but, + alas! in vain. I began to be convinced that something must have + driven your love for me into hate. I am further surprised that my + uncle, who purchased Dilworth Estate, and who permanently resides + at the castle with his wife and daughters, never alluded in any + way in his letters to me to your retirement as it were from public + life. His answers to my many questions concerning you he entirely + evaded, and never having had an opportunity of a personal + interview with him since I entered Chitworth College, + I unfortunately have been debarred from rendering long since the + aid you now seek. + + "Your suggestion shall undoubtedly have my prompt attention, and + I'll now say no more, until I rejoice in your freedom. + + "Ever your loving + + "OSCAR." + +The mind of him who was in full possession of the facts regarding Lady +Dunfern's present position became perfectly distracted, and on entering +College next morning, after receiving her note, was so overcome with +grief as to cause grave alarm amongst the many students who benefitted +so much by his strenuous efforts to insure success. Doctor O'Sullivan, +the eminent President of the College, on seeing Oscar, whom he lately +observed was labouring under some weight of sorrow, in such a state of +despair, strongly advised a change of air, at the same time kindly +offering him a substitute for four weeks, at the end of which time, if +he still found himself unable to resume his tuitions, he would prolong +his vacation by two weeks. This was the very thing Oscar wanted--absence +from duty--and he gladly availed himself of the worthy president's +generous offer. + +How Oscar quitted the college on receiving the news which liberated him, +not only for four weeks, but for ever!--how he sped along to his room in +Upper Joy Street, and there wrote a few words to her who longed for his +presence and aid, wondering how the clever trick, so ably concocted by +Lady Dunfern, would be accomplished, or if attempted, would +succeed!--better leave it to her who had so well managed to even reach +the length of liberty which marked her heroism already. + +Lady Dunfern was busily engaged, during her hours of uninterruption, in +marking notes, with great caution and clearness, on paper for Marjory's +use; and well guarded and guided must the steps be that should again +lead her into the open field of freedom and health. + +The heavy rain beat furiously against the darkened window of Lady +Dunfern's confined and much-detested abode as Rachel approached her with +supper on the night of 24th December. + +As the next day brought many touching remembrances with it, Rachel, this +iron-willed attendant, spoke in rather soothing strains to her whom more +than once she tried to betray. Lady Dunfern, being so fully charged with +thoughts edging on her flight, remained in perfect indifference to all +her cunning remarks, never betraying the least outward symptom of the +excitement that then raged so terribly within her; she was resolved that +no word of any description whatever should be conveyed to him who so +eagerly awaited Rachel's retracing footsteps outside the cell. + +Prompted strongly by Sir John before entering, Rachel carried with her +messages of a rather condoling character, to be delivered to her +ladyship in such pitiful phrases as to twist from her remarks for the +use of him who feared that something dreadful was about to happen owing +to a miserable dream he had only a couple of nights before. + +But Lady Dunfern was too watchful to allow even one word to escape her +lips that might innocently convict her; and steadfastly guarding against +the tongue of the treacherous maiden, remained in silence. The +evil-intended Rachel lingered around the room fully fifteen minutes, +thus affording Lady Dunfern every opportunity of saying something, but +all of no avail; and angrily snatching up the large silver tray, bounced +out of the room, banging the great door after her, probably in order to +frighten her mistress, but not a nerve did the rude and audacious act +disturb. + +Turning the light very low, the confined woman slipped on tip-toe behind +the defiant door, and heard faint sounds proceed from the adjoining +corridor, the voices she well knew to be those of both her husband and +Rachel. Her heart sank somewhat at the discourse that followed Rachel's +recent visit, lest it might be concerning either herself or Marjory; or, +worse still, she thought, relative to her intended flight within five +hours, which she earnestly implored should not be prevented. + +The voices, however, after a lengthy conversation, suddenly ceased, and +gently moving to the fire, she sat quietly down to heat her icy limbs, +that were almost benumbed with cold. + +The thoughts which she allowed to disturb her anxious mind she found +were very numerous, the principal one being that of flight, which she +trusted strenuously should be fully accomplished within the time +specified. The first hour slipped in, the second moved round too, +likewise the third; and, gazing in wild despair in the direction of her +dainty-jewelled watch, which she kept suspended from a trivial hook +above the mantelpiece of richly carved oak, could scarcely refrain from +tears. + +The smallest hand of her little timekeeper could not fail to show that +the hour of eleven had just been reached; this was precisely the time +all the household retired, including Sir John, on whose part it was not +a case of command, but option. + +On this particular night the staff of servants was not so fully +represented as usual. Marjory Mason had not been amongst the number who +sought sleep, neither was it known by any one whether or not she was in +her own room. + +Immediately adjoining Marjory's room was Rachel Hyde's, both of which it +was Marjory's duty always to keep in perfect order, thus affording the +great friend of Lady Dunfern a daily opportunity of viewing the drawer +in which the great key of her ladyship's room was at rest. + +It was a habit with Rachel to sleep with her bedroom door ajar, by order +of her master, lest a fire might originate during the hours of repose, +or burglars enter and carry with them some valuables of no slight worth +or interest. + +About ten o'clock, an hour before Marjory's usual time to retire, she +ably feigned a very severe attack of indigestion, and, trying to look as +dejected and sick as she could in consequence, requested that she might +be permitted to go to her own room for the night; a request which Rachel +readily granted, as Marjory and she always travelled by the express +train of friendship. Rachel added that she would act in her stead by +clearing her master's supper table herself. + +No sooner had Rachel granted Marjory's request than she dashed up the +many and winding steps of ascent until she reached the object of her +premeditated scheme by boldly entering the housekeeper's room and taking +therefrom the choicest treasure it contained--namely, the key which was +so soon to prove the nature of the severe illness she so capitally +assumed. + +Rachel, on entering the room in which Sir John sat, was quickly asked +where Marjory was; and after satisfying him as to her illness, she +hastily removed the articles used at supper, and repaired to rest. When +passing Marjory's door, Rachel tapped lightly, and failing to gain +admission, called on her to admit her with a cup of hot milk. Still no +reply came from within. Then, slowly turning the handle, she tried to +admit herself without awaking Marjory, feeling sure that she must be +sound asleep. + +It was only during her third attempt to seek entrance that she found the +door locked. Moving into her own room, she muttered something that did +not distinctly reach the ear of her who was safely secreted underneath +the housekeeper's bed. Divesting herself of her clothing, Rachel soon +put herself in a position to guarantee slumber. She wrapped herself well +within the fleecy folds of nature, and in less than ten minutes was +safely sailing in the boat of dreamland. + +Marjory, for it was she who lay stretched under the bed of her who never +at any time doubted her word or actions, when fully convinced of +Rachel's safe retirement, crept along the carpeted floor on hands and +knees, carrying with her the key to victory. Proudly and much agitated +did Marjory steal her way along the many winding corridors of carpeted +comfort, until at last she came to the bottom of the ghost-like marble +steps which led to her mistress; and swiftly running up the icy heights, +until reaching the door of danger and blood-thirsty revenge, she, with +the caution of a murderess, thrust with great and exceptional care the +key into its much-used opening, and heroically succeeded in gaining +admittance. + +Behind the door lay Lady Dunfern, as if dead. With great presence of +mind Marjory locked the door from within, struck a match, and tried to +light the lamp, which had been extinguished not long before; this with +difficulty she nervously did. Then, turning to her mistress, whose +changed countenance was a sight Marjory never forgot until her dying +day, she tried every effort to arouse her who so soon was likely to +track the path of powerful pursuit. It was fully some minutes until she +saw the faintest glimpse of animation, and gently raising the shadowy +form in her strong arms, used every means in her power to quickly +prepare her for the most trying part of all. + +At last Marjory's efforts were completely baffled; and knowing it was +approaching the time at which Oscar was to be in readiness at the gate +farthest away from the mansion, that was seldom or never used, the poor +trembling girl had now enough to bear. She believed the cup of sorrow +had been drained to its last dregs; still she hoped on, never giving +place to the remotest trace of doubt, being fully assured of achieving +the topmost tier of triumph. + +Lady Dunfern had, through pure fear of being caught in her adventure, +stood an hour or so behind the door before Marjory's welcome steps were +heard, and momentarily on hearing her trusted maid's nimble tread make +such rapid strides towards her release was with overjoy so quickly +stricken down, at a time when two-fold energy was most required, that +she utterly failed to regain the slightest strength; and in this sad +state her helper found her! + +The moments were passing more quickly now than Marjory wished, and +bestowing one final look at her ladyship's watch so firmly clutched in +her fingers, was about to break down in despair, when she was suddenly +aroused by a dash of sandy pebble thrown against the window, which +unmistakably announced the arrival of him who so soon was to shield the +shaken form of her once lovely mistress from the snares of jealousy and +intrigue. + +Oscar, who stood at the gate appointed, was very uneasy, no doubt, as +the hour slowly approached that should make him the recipient of the +treasure he at first should have honestly secured, and fearing lest the +escape might be detected in time for rescue, he was unable to remain any +longer where he was. Mounting the iron gate, he soon flung himself over +its speary top, and hurriedly making his way towards Lady Dunfern's +window, where he perceived the dim light, he announced his arrival in +the manner described. + +Wringing her hands in wild despair, Marjory touchingly prayed for speedy +release from such cruel torture, and opening the door for the last time +she carried her mistress into the corridor, and there deposited her +until again locking the giant block of oak, then she lightly tripped +down the ashen steps, along the corridors, until at last she reached the +open door of Rachel's room. Pausing for a moment lest the housekeeper +might be awake, she satisfied herself this was not so. She then +courageously entered and safely deposited the key in the exact spot +whence she took it, retracing in a wonderfully quiet manner her shaking +footsteps until arriving to convey her precious charge to a place of +safety. Clasping Lady Dunfern once more in her arms, she crept down the +chilly steps of fate along the well-padded paths of tapestry, down +numerous flights of wiry-carpeted stairs, until finally reaching the +lofty hall, where she paused for an instant, being a complete example of +exhaustion, and dreading the least delay, approached the door with +safety. She then deposited her ladyship on a lounge that lay right +behind it until she secured the key which from previous observation she +noted, in case of emergency, hung on a silver hook not eight feet +distant. + +With the air of a duchess, Marjory dashed open the outer door, at the +left wing of the building, and, with her liberated load of love, swept +for ever from its touch. Blowing faintly a whistle she bought for the +purpose, she soon was released of her charge by him who instantly +appeared to shield them both from the breezy blast which bitterly swept +that night o'er hill and dale. + +Taking Lady Dunfern in his arms, Oscar paced the broad and pebbled +walks, speedily arriving at the spot where stood a vehicle in readiness +to convey them to their destiny. Not a word was spoken by Oscar, neither +did Lady Dunfern betray the slightest symptoms of recovery until safely +driven to the pretty home Oscar had previously arranged for her rescue, +some twenty miles distant from Dunfern Mansion. + +It was situated nearly in the centre of Dilworth Park, and generously +handed over to Oscar as a conditional gift from his uncle, the Marquis +of Orland, who owned its many acres. Marjory's joy at this stage fully +balanced her previous hours of sorrowful and dangerous adventure. She +could hardly refrain from tears as she viewed the weary night before +through the telescope of trickery. She seemed confident of having +performed a great and good work by liberating from the pangs of +emotional imprisonment the weak and forlorn, who so soon would have been +ordered to separate herself from a closet of chastisement to enter the +home of joy everlasting, which ever has its door of gladness open to the +ring of the repentant and contrite. + +After leaving Lady Dunfern in the careful charge of Marjory, Oscar +proceeded to handsomely reward his uncle's coachman, who drove them so +quickly from Dunfern Mansion to Audley Hall, requesting him at the same +time to treat the matter with profound silence. + +The rescued form now opened her eyes, and suddenly a convulsive twitch +shook her feeble frame. Casting her heavily-laden orbs of blinded +brilliancy around the cosy well-lighted room, had not to be informed by +any one what had happened; she gasped, "Thank Heaven, I'm safe!" + +Oscar, tenderly bidding Lady Dunfern "Good night," instructed Marjory to +carefully administer to her wants until daybreak. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +It is astounding to view the smallest article through a magnifying +glass; how large and lustrous an atom of silver appears; how fat and +fair the withered finger seems; how monstrously mighty an orange; how +immeasurably great the football of youth; but these are as nought when +the naked eye beholds the boulder of barred strength--a mountain of +mystery. + +The usual hour for arousing the inmates of Dunfern Mansion was +designated by the ringing of a bell, constructed at the back part of the +building, and connected by means of a wire with the room of the footman, +whose duty it was to ring fully three minutes every morning at the hour +of seven o'clock in winter and six in summer. + +On Christmas morning, only a short time after Lady Dunfern's escape was +effected, it rang somewhat later, arousing from sleep all the servants, +with the exception of Marjory Mason, who failed entirely to put in an +appearance, even when called thrice by Rachel. However, believing that +she was still fast asleep, Rachel ceased to further call on her until +after serving her ladyship's breakfast. + +On this festive day the breakfast served in the servants' spacious hall +was a sumptuous repast, truly, and required longer time to prepare than +was customary. This being so, evidently delayed the housekeeper a +considerable time in attending to the wants of her mistress, whose +breakfast was always punctually served at nine o'clock. This rule was +violated to the extent of about half an hour on the memorable morning of +Lady Dunfern's flight. + +Sir John breakfasted at fifteen minutes after nine, and looked both +careworn and sad, intimating to Rachel his inability to sleep the +previous night. Ordering her to prepare a dainty dish for Lady Dunfern, +he proceeded to read the daily paper, that had been so customary for +years. Rachel, hastily executing her master's orders, and having all in +readiness for her mistress, hurried to her room for the key. Sharply +telling the usual maid to follow her with the tray, she wended her way +towards the door that twice had been locked since her last visit. +Unlocking it, turning the handle and pushing it open, she took from the +servant the tray, as was her custom, by strict orders of her master, +never allowing the maid further than the door. + +Depositing it upon the table, she swiftly turned to the door, and +locking it from within, began to gaze around for Lady Dunfern, who +sometimes breakfasted in bed. Moving in its direction with tray in hand, +no Lady Dunfern appeared! The bed remained unused since she settled it +the previous day. Wildly shouting with momentary pain, Rachel let fall +the tray, smashing the china, &c., and thickly spotting the matting in +some places with its contents. In deep despair she cast one delirious +stare around the room, but all to no effect. Heaven help me! has she +fled? Oh, what!--what shall I do? Thinking that she might have hidden +under the couch of rest, she threw herself on the floor to try and catch +only a glance of her hidden form, but was disappointed once more. + +Running to the door and frantically opening it, she ran to Marjory's +room. Failing to be admitted, she hurried down to acquaint some of the +men, who attempted to open Marjory's door, but all their masculine +efforts to arouse her were futile. What was there left to be done, save +to acquaint Sir John of the matter. Agitated did Rachel enter without +signifying her approach to her master, who sat in silence. "Oh, sir," +cried she, drowned in tears, and uttered in broken accents the words, +"Your wife has escaped--she is not in her room!" "What!" gasped Sir +John. "It cannot be!" + +Following Rachel to the room of terror he found her information too +true. "How on earth has this happened?" asked the horrified husband. +"Had you the key?" he fiercely asked of Rachel. Ever ready to substitute +the truth with a lie, where the former especially would convict her, she +replied, with a stamp of her foot, "that it never was out of her drawer +of safe deposit." Thinking probably she may have trifled with the +window, Sir John moved forward, and the wrap never being removed, he +thought it had not in any way been tampered with until Rachel espied the +corner pane. "Ah!" said she, "this is the clue to her cursed craft. This +must have had something to do with her escape." Then the thought of +Marjory's room being still closed to view she fancied might have +something also to do with the mysterious and marvellous mark of +ingenious intrigue. + +Both Sir John and Rachel tottered to Marjory's door, and demanding it to +be broken open, Sir John entered to be further astonished at her +absence, to be sure. On her bed she cannot have lain the previous night, +which was proof positive that she was an announced accomplice. But the +mystery had yet to be solved as to the action of their flight. Guilt +took strong hold on Rachel. She knew the key was always kept in a drawer +in her own room, which drawer was constantly kept locked by her and the +key hidden inside the little clock that ticked so gently on the +mantel-piece in her room; but on second thought, she was so busily +engaged during the Christmas season that actually she forgot to lock the +drawer the whole week. Never dreaming that this overlook on her part was +so cleverly taken notice of by her who not alone committed the +ruffianous act, but caused all the blame to be thrown on the party in +charge. The housekeeper, who felt sadly and very much annoyed about the +affair, grasped the whole thing--first, she thought of Marjory's +professed illness the evening previous, then how she tried her door +before going to bed, and in this attempt to enter was unsuccessful, and +that very morning there was no answer, and, finally, she was missing as +well as Lady Dunfern. The well-arranged plot pictured itself in a most +vivid manner to her who in one respect, regarding the key's safety, was +entirely to blame. + +Sir John, summoning all his men, ordered them to go at once and intimate +to the officers of the law the sudden flight of the miscreants, and to +try and find out their whereabouts; but no trace of them was as yet nigh +at hand. + +The deceived husband appeared greatly crushed under such a weight of +sorrow, and wondering whether or not they could be found, or if Oscar +Otwell, he who so often wrote to his wife during her period of +imprisonment, had ought to do with her daring adventure, aided by +Marjory Mason! It is no longer an unsolved problem that Oscar Otwell was +from first to last the chief irritating item of Sir John Dunfern's +unhappiness, and whose supposed underhand communications with Lady +Dunfern were the principal features depicted in this escape. + +These letters of Otwell's Sir John still retained, never reaching her +for whom they were intended. Opening his large Davenport that stood +close by, he extracted therefrom all the letters of the vaguish tutor, +and coming to the one received lastly, found it bore the address, +"Chitworth College, Hedley, Berks." This was so much information +regarding the rascal who was the sole means of separating Sir John +Dunfern and his wife. + +The husband, paralysed with sorrow, instantly wrote to Doctor +O'Sullivan, the President of the College, who in youthful years was his +most intimate acquaintance, and whose name appeared so often in Oscar's +letters, making the necessary inquiries relative to one of the teaching +staff named "Oscar Otwell." + +This he sealed in an envelope, and walked to the village to post it +himself. After two days' rending agony and suspense, he received the +following reply:-- + + "Chitworth College, + + Berks. + + "Dear Sir John, + + "I am very sorry to inform you that, owing to a grave despondency + which of late troubled Oscar Otwell, one of my able and talented + assistants, I was compelled, though reluctantly, to allow him + either one month's leave of absence or six weeks' if he so + desired, in order to recruit him somewhat. I strongly advised him + to seek a change of air, which I believe he did. I myself, on + receipt of your note, visited his lodgings to ascertain from his + landlady when he was likely to return. She informs me she has + never heard from him since he left, and cannot give the least + clue as to his present quarters. She adds that he took all his + belongings with him.--Trusting you enjoy good health. + + "Believe me, + + "Very sincerely yours, + + "D. O'SULLIVAN, + + Pres." + +"Merciful Father!" exclaimed Sir John, as he finished reading the +President's note, which he laid on the table. "God strengthen me to bear +this un-Christian-like calamity. Oh, my son, my son! What disgrace shall +this not bring upon you, my child, my all!" + +Pacing the floor in profound agony, Sir John rang for his housekeeper to +convey the tidings he had just received. Rachel suspected this +beforehand, but dare not even hint at such a thing to him, who had +already enough to bear. Speaking in terms which shewed manifest symptoms +of sorrow, combined with rage and perplexity, he ordered her for ever +from his service. "You," said he, "are solely to blame. Of this I am +positively convinced, and through that door march, as I never wish again +to set eyes on such a worthless woman." Here Rachel, who was grievously +affected, passed for ever from the presence of him who dared to be +questioned. + +Next of all, he ordered the footman, Tom Hepworth, into his room. "You," +said he, "are well aware of my present calamity, and might I ask of you +how my wife and Marjory Mason effected their escape from below? Had you +not the hall doors locked and likewise all the others?" Replying in the +affirmative, the footman shook like a poplar, knowing well that instead +of having in his room during the hours of repose all the keys of the +various doors which led to the outside, he allowed them to remain where +they were during the day. "Had you all those keys in your own room at +night, according to my orders since Lady Dunfern was obliged to be dealt +with in the manner already described?" demanded Sir John angrily. The +honest-hearted footman, being trapped, frankly acknowledged he had not. + +"Go, then," said his master "and seek employment elsewhere. You are no +longer fit to be here. You have neglected to carry out my orders, +therefore you must go." So saying, the sturdy footman bowed and retired. + +It no doubt caused Sir John a vast amount of pain to part with two such +helps as Rachel Hyde and Tom Hepworth; but once he formed a resolution, +nothing save death itself would break it. + +Terror seized every dependent in the mansion lest Sir John would visit +his anger on each and all in like manner. However, this was not so, +as Rachel and Tom, being longer in his service than any of the others, +caused him to intrust them with the chief care of matters of importance +in preference. And when he found out that they had so carelessly +disobeyed his injunctions, they were then compelled to reap the result. + +Tom and Rachel, in less than an hour after their master issued his words +of censure and dismissal, left the beautiful home, of such lengthy +shelter, in which they had shared their help so willingly, to plough the +field of adventure on which they now might wander. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +The affections of youth never die. They live sometimes to lift the +drooping head, and help to chase sorrow from the heart of the oppressed. +If fostered unduly they generally prove to be more closely interwoven +than if retained through honesty alone, and fight the battle of union +with cannon strength until gained for good or evil. + +Awaking from the deep sleep she so much enjoyed after her troublesome +adventures in the past, Christmas Day seemed wreathed with flowers of +heavenly fragrance for the once fair bride of Dunfern Mansion. She now +felt free to act as she thought best without undergoing an examination +which demanded answers of evasive tact--free from the hovering cloud of +dislike under which she so solemnly moved since her marriage day--free +from the wild gaze of that detestable of mortals, Rachel Hyde, who +proved as false as she was foul--free from reposing on the suicidal +couch of distrust and distress--free from the surveillance of a +so-called philanthropist; and free from the traps of tyrannical power. + +She had no longer to fear the opening door of creaking custody or +crushed hopes, and well might she now enjoy her Christmas dinner with +rural relish and savoury zest. She found in Audley Hall every simple and +inexpensive comfort, and rejoiced once more to be under the gentle rule +of him whom she would have died to serve. She seemed now to have reached +joy's greatest height, and never hoped that she should again be dashed +into the dam of denounced riches, where love was an absenter to its +silvery depth; since she had aspired to and achieved the greatest aim of +her ambition. + +Oscar Otwell's happiness knew no bounds. The trusted tutor had at last +secured the only hope he ever wished realised, although gained with +daring enterprise and false advances. He believed that life at last +possessed some charms for him, viewing matters lightly. But behind the +silvery rock of fortune there lies a hollow filled with darkened traces +of fate. + +The love dream of youth had hardly time to be told until the future +dream of wonder and dread was about to be prophesied. A couple of months +or so after Lady Dunfern took up her residence at Audley Hall found her +more a dependent than a patroness. She had recently fled from a dungeon, +still it was not one of either starvation or poverty. Whilst occupying +its darkened midst she never had any cause for complaint regarding food +or attendance, both of which could not possibly have been excelled. It +was only when staring her lover's scanty table fully that thoughts of +any nature, save cruelty, haunted her and caused a sad expression to +appear which before seemed invisible. + +Oscar, who had no means whatever of a private nature, soon commenced to +feel the touch of want as well as Lady Dunfern. He had no situation, +neither had he the means to afford the homeliest fare, and although made +owner of his present habitation, yet it was only conditionally he +obtained it from his uncle. Must not the great love they naturally had +for each other have been of very superlative strength, since it bade +adieu to boundless wealth on the one hand and a comfortable allowance on +the other, to face the future with penniless pride! + +Advertisements were often seen in the leading journals for a situation, +and once the name "Oscar Otwell" appeared below. It was treated with +muffled silence, so much so that after a month's daily appealing to a +praiseworthy public, the result proved a decided failure. + +Did he imagine his conduct in robbing Sir John Dunfern of his youthful +wife would be appreciated by a public band of critics? Did he by his +various attempts to enter the minds of the needy ever think to solicit +their assistance or gain their confidence by tearing asunder the lawful +bond of superficial union and right, casting it upon the sieve of +shattered shelter to separate the corn of crowded comfort from the chaff +of crafty want? + +Oscar Otwell, whose literary abilities were proved beyond doubt, and +which were the sole source of his existence, was, by his conduct and +craving desire, driven into the pit of trifling tenure and allowed to +lie dormant until again aroused in a clime to which he soon must wend +his wasted way. + +It was now that the heated passion of youth's folly became abated as +Oscar was beginning to near his purse's wrinkled bottom, and failing in +his strenuous efforts to secure a tutorship, was smartly made to feel +that he must visit a land of strangers, where height of ability and +depth of character were alike unquestioned. It was at this stage, too, +that Lady Dunfern was made to taste of the dish of fanciful wish in +which she often dipped her slender fingers to sprinkle her body of +dishonesty. She got time now to brood over her actions of silly +execution and hatch them with heated hunger. The orphan, the pampered, +the honoured was at this period the deluded, the mocked, the hungered. + +This was only the beginning of what must follow; and where did the blame +attachable rest? But on the shoulders of her who had edged the road of +unreasonable revenge, and stripped herself of the covering of coveted +cost to array herself in linen of loose lore and lengthy wear, and die, +it may be, on the wayside of want. + +The shaft of poverty still kept striking the inmates of Audley Hall, +until forced to withdraw its clumsy blow. There was evidently now plenty +of scope for the talent of the learned Oscar to develop; he must plan +how to arrive at an idea that would bring to the occupants of his +temporary home the necessaries of which they stood immediately in need. +Failing in his efforts to gain one step towards relief, Lady Dunfern +advised the disposal of Audley Hall privately, which, she strongly +hinted to Oscar, was their only path of safety from the door of +starvation. To this suggestion she succeeded in gaining his consent. + +He accordingly, acting upon her advice, wrote to Doctor O'Sullivan, +President of Chitworth College, intimating to him his present +circumstances and intention, and begged of him to use his best efforts +in sending him a purchaser, the sale to be kept strictly private for +reasons which, presently, he felt too delicate to explain. + +In a week or so after, a gentleman was seen approach the door of Oscar's +home, and making the necessary inquiries regarding the price Oscar meant +to accept for it, offered the sum of one thousand pounds, which, +needless to say, was gladly accepted. + +The purchaser was rather an elderly gentleman, with chiselled features, +tall and straight, and seemed to have borne the melting heat of a +far-off clime to a large extent. He informed Oscar that being a retired +army pensioner, named Major Iddesleigh, he chose to leave the foreign +land in which he sojourned for upwards of thirty-five years and reside +in his native county, adding that he was a widower, having had two sons, +both of whom predeceased him, and preferred a home of his own rather +than take up quarters he could not solely claim. + +He went on to say he had an only brother, a colonel, who formerly +resided at Flixton, a quaint little town on the east coast of Kent. He +had not heard from him for many years, and was resolved on arriving in +England to lose no time in finding out his whereabouts, and, much to his +grave disappointment and vexation, he was informed, whilst staying for a +few days with President O'Sullivan, that he and his wife had long since +been dead, leaving an only daughter, of whom he was now in earnest +pursuit. Oscar's deadly countenance during the latter part of Major +Iddesleigh's remarks filled the mind of the purchaser of Audley Hall +with thoughts of wonder, and on casting a sharp and penetrating stare at +her who passed as Oscar's wife, he was similarly struck with intense awe +at the sudden change that swept over her handsome face. + +Her brain whirled with dire excitement on being at last informed of him +who for years previous she considered had been a member of the missing +majority. + +"Great and Merciful Forgiver!" thought Lady Dunfern, "am I at last face +to face with Major Iddesleigh, whose name has been so often the subject +of conversation with both Lord and Lady Dilworth?" Gathering her +thoughts and submitting them to subjection, she tried to subdue her +shattered nerves and lock them under proper restraint, until her uncle +should safely be out of sight on his way back to the home of the +kind-hearted President of Chitworth College. + +She had not, however, the slightest thought of making him cognisant of +the fact that she was the proud and lovely daughter of his brother, the +late Colonel Iddesleigh--the once-adored wife of the widely respected +and generous owner of Dunfern Estate, and now the tempted tool of +emigration. + +She prayed in her bewilderment that she might escape unknown to him, +rather than make him aware of the disgrace into which her past conduct +had unmistakably plunged her. Bidding Oscar and her "Adieu," Major +Iddesleigh left what was to be his future home, and returned to Doctor +O'Sullivan to acquaint him of his purchase. + +Before he had even reached the College on his way from Audley Hall, +Oscar Otwell, Lady Dunfern, and Marjory had booked for New York, on +board the "Delwyn," and when the worthy President was informed of the +purchase, the dashing waves of Atlantic waters were raising themselves +to a considerable height before the eyes of the fugitives, who nervously +paced the deck of danger in despair and deepest thought of their foul +transaction and Major Iddesleigh, lest before they reached their destiny +he would be made possessor of his niece's conduct, and, with the warlike +will of a soldier of strength, follow her, and bring her back to Audley +Hall to administer to his many wants and comforts, and bequeath to her +all he possessed. + +Nor did Oscar Otwell, whose nerves were reaching their shaky height, +feel free until safely ensconsed in a trim little cottage on the +outskirts of Dobbs Ferry, some miles distant from the suburbs of New +York. Oscar's first thought, after being quietly settled in his new +home, was to bind himself for life to be the husband of her who had +risked so much to bring him the joy he long sought after; and within one +month after their safe arrival in New York borders, the pretty little +church, situated at the east end of Dobbs Ferry, was the scene of a +charming group of wealthy sight-seers and warm admirers of the handsome +bride of Oscar Otwell, who had lately regained some of her former +spirits, which enlivened her to a pleasing extent, and manifested signs +of joy where lines of sorrow so lately lived. + +It was for this celebration that Lady Dunfern arrayed herself in the +gorgeous gown of purest duchesse satin, which bore such a train of past +remembrances. Why its puffs of pearly wealth surrounded her well-formed +figure on the celebration of her marriage with him who long ago should +have claimed its shining folds, may be considered mysterious. But in +this, as well as in many other instances, the busy brain of Marjory +Mason was prime mover. + +During Lady Dunfern's confinement in the mansion over which she unjustly +was appointed mistress, Sir John Dunfern, never suspecting the maid of +her on whom he was driven to lavish correction, appointed Marjory +mistress of her ladyship's wardrobe, and it was during her term of +office that she stole from its midst the box containing the beautiful +Parisian outfit which failed to put in an appearance on Lady Dunfern's +previous wedding-day. This Marjory kept, until safe in the shady cot of +comfort which encompassed within its wooden walls the trio of adventure. +Lady Dunfern resolved that this gown should be kept a prisoner until +either worn with a face of happiness and prided ambition or never worn +at all. + +On entering the church on the morning of her marriage with Oscar, how +every eye was turned towards the beautiful woman whose radiant smile +gained the hearts of each and all of its occupants. There she stood +before the holy altar with calm resolution and undaunted fear, and her +elegant bearing and manner throughout the trying ceremony were +thoroughly appreciated by the assembly. + +Oscar bore slight traces of nervousness throughout the oratorical +ordeal, and was rejoiced indeed as he turned to leave the scene of such +outbursts of praise, taking with him her who was to be his coveted +partner for life; her, whose footsteps he so often worshipped in days +gone by; her, who entered into treaty legally with a man she never could +learn to love; her, whom he now claimed as his own, and for whom he +stumbled over many an awkward and winding stile, until at last his +footsteps had reached the path of level tread, on which he hoped to +travel until his journey would be ended to that distant land where +strife is a stranger. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +The wealthy, the haughty, the noble must alike taste of disappointment. +They court ideas whilst surrounded with bountiful store to be fostered +and fed with heaven-bordered hopes which nothing save denial could +thwart. The meek, the humble, the poor share equally in its visitation, +and learn not to frown at its unwelcome intrusion while they bear the +load of blighted hopes with unshrinking modesty. + +At Dunfern Mansion matters seemed at a standstill, since that Christmas +Day which began with such sunshine and ended with such misery. Energy +had fled from the able-bodied staff of servants who occupied its rooms +of plentiful repast. Each and all of them seemed as if death had entered +their midst and snapped from amongst them their sole support. + +Was it because of Rachel Hyde's hasty departure? No! They had now no +domineering inflicter of petticoat power to check their honest actions +or words; no eyes of dreaded terror viewing through spectacles of sin +their little faults, and submitting them, in exaggerated form, to the +ear of him who now lay so dangerously ill; no false face masked in +brasen mould, nor tongue of touchy cut to divide their friendship. +Rachel Hyde, whose word, nay, look, was law, was driven from the +presence of him who too long was blind to her false approaches, and who +always treated her with more leniency and consideration than she really +deserved, never again to mount a pinnacle of trust and truth, or share +in the confidence of such a just and true specimen of humanity as Sir +John Dunfern. She had been made to reap the crops of cunning falsehood, +sown so oft in the fields of honour and true worth, and pocket the +result of their flimsy income. She, by her long service of artifice, +had scattered the seeds of scepticism so thickly around the corners of +harmony, goodwill, and peace as to almost defy their speedy removal; but +time would swamp their silent growth and supplant in their stead roots +of integrity, justice, and benevolence. She had at last been cast on the +mercy of a world of icy indifference to facts of long standing, and made +to taste of the stagnant waters of pity, which flung their muddy drops +of rancid rascality on the face of dogmatic dread, until crushed beneath +their constant clash she yielded her paltry right to Him Whose order +must never be disobeyed. + +Tom Hepworth, whose absence was partly the cause of sorrow within the +breasts of his fellow-workers in Dunfern Mansion, was much to be pitied; +he was the very soul of honour, and was highly respected by all who knew +him. In his presence every care vanished like snow in sunshine; the +pitiful look that shot from the eye of the down-trodden in Rachel Hyde's +presence was thrown aside when Tom appeared. He acted as a father and +friend on all occasions where trouble reigned supreme, and never failed +to hear the light laugh of youth proceed from its hidden bed, where it +too often reposed untouched. + +Tom Hepworth, whose race was nearly run, when leaving Dunfern Mansion +took refuge in the home of Mrs. Durand, his sister, who lived only a +short distance from where he had spent more than a third part of his +existence. A few months only elapsed whilst under her roof when he was +seized with a fit of apoplexy, terminating in a few hours a life of +usefulness and blameless bearing. The shock of his sudden demise, when +conveyed to his master, whom he revered, brought on a severe attack of +hemorrhage, under which Sir John Dunfern now lay prostrate. + +Not a week passed after Lady Dunfern took up residence at Audley Hall +until Sir John was informed of her whereabouts. Had her escape been +effected unknown to Oscar Otwell, it would scarcely have taken such hold +on the mind of him who, unfortunately, claimed her as his wife; but to +think he had again been duped by a rascally pauper tutor was a pill too +difficult to swallow without being moderately reduced. The troubles that +visit the just are many, and of these Sir John had ample share. He knew, +when too late, that he had jumped the drain of devotion with too much +intensity to gain a worthless reward. + +He was tempted to invest in the polluted stocks of magnified extension, +and when their banks seemed swollen with rotten gear, gathered too often +from the winds of wilful wrong, how the misty dust blinded his sense of +sight and drove him through the field of fashion and feeble effeminacy, +which he once never meant to tread, landing him on the slippery rock of +smutty touch, to wander into its hidden cavities of ancient fame, there +to remain a blinded son of injustice and unparallelled wrong! All these +thoughts seized the blighted protector of the late Colonel Iddesleigh's +orphan daughter; and being gradually augmented by many others of private +and public importance, rose, like a tumour of superfluous matter, and +burst asunder on receiving the last blow relative to poor old Tom +Hepworth. + +Sir John in a few weeks gradually grew stronger, until finally he +baffled his severe illness with Christian bravery, and was again able to +keep the ball of industry moving in the direction indicated during his +years of singleness, on which he now looked back, alas! not with sorrow, +but pride. + +During all this trying time, however, it must be admitted there shone +one bright star of filial attraction which seemed to shoot its reflected +lines of loving brightness towards him, whose face always beamed with +delight in return. Yes, his little son Hugh, who had been placed under +the care of Madam Fulham, since Lady Dunfern, by her conduct, could no +longer fill the post of mother, had grown to be a bright child, able to +totter around his nursery toys of cost and variety. He always seemed a +cheerful, intelligent boy, and extremely beautiful, but inclined to be +slightly self-willed, a trait which developed itself more and more as +years rolled on. + +At the age of six, Sir John, abhorring the advice of his many friends to +procure for him a tutor, had him sent to Canterbury High School, where +he remained for a period of five years as boarder, under the careful +charge of Professor Smeath, a man of the highest literary attainments, +and whose exemplary training of the many youths placed under his august +rule was so pronounced as to leave no room for doubt in the minds of the +many parents who intrusted their respective charges to him. Each week +during this period found Sir John a visitor at Canterbury; he gave every +instruction necessary to Professor Smeath that would serve to interest +his son in any way, and strictly prohibited him from allowing any +outsider whatever, male or female, an interview with his boy, always +treating with dread the wily ways of her who claimed to be once his +partner, and who had brought a shower of everlasting shame upon himself +and child. This order had only to be issued once to the stern professor +carrying out on all possible occasions any instructions received from +the parents of the pupils under his control with unflinching and +undeniable reliance. + +During these five years of Hugh Dunfern's instruction at Canterbury, Sir +John was seen to gradually grow careless and despondent. The healthy +glow of youth disappeared daily since domestic affliction entered his +home, and wrote its living lines of disgust with steady hand on the brow +which was now thickly marked with them. He got too much time to meditate +on the immediate past, which was considerably augmented by the absence +of his son. + +He was known to sit for hours at a time in deep and painful thought, and +it was only when aroused by Madam Fulham that he ever cared to stir from +his much-frequented couch of rest; she whom he appointed housekeeper in +Rachel Hyde's stead, and who acted as well mother to his little son +until removed to school--she extended him every attention, of which he +stood in great need, after his severe attack of illness and trial, +bodily and mentally. + +Time rolled along until his son's return from Canterbury, whose very +presence should have healed the gaping wounds his absence inflicted, and +chased away all gloomy cavities from the mind of Sir John. On the day of +Hugh's home-coming, after five years' training under Professor Smeath, +which should have been a day of gladness and rejoicing throughout +Dunfern Mansion, it was only one of sadness for the heart-broken father. + +Bouncing into the room with boyish pride, Hugh ran and proudly embraced +him, who, in return, stood face to face with the very image of her whom +he could never again own. + +There were the rounded forehead, the aquiline nose, the hazel eyes, the +nut-brown hair, the ruby lips, the pearly teeth, the dimpled cheeks and +tiny chin of his mother, who probably was grappling at the crumbs of +pauperism! However, Sir John manfully tried to hide from his boy the +source of his grave looks, until some day of revelation would demand +their blackened origin to be boldly announced to him who as yet was +solely ignorant of his mother being alive. + +Six weeks' holiday passed too quickly, Hugh thought, until he would +another time be compelled to quit his home of unbounded luxury and enter +Chitworth College, Berks, for a further period of instruction, the +length of which events alone would define. + +Although the very name of Chitworth College brought reminiscences of +dislike to him who suffered so much from one of its former staff, yet +those days had fled, and with them the footsteps of flaming stratagem. + +Being a personal friend of Professor O'Sullivan, Sir John preferred his +son to reside with him, and receive under his able control all the +necessary acquirements devolving upon a son of such a proud and +distinguished race. The morning at last arrived for Hugh to start on his +college career, and, accompanied by his father, was not long in +completing the journey. + +The interview between Sir John and his attached friend, Doctor +O'Sullivan, was affecting in the extreme, so much so that Hugh, being an +entire stranger to such outbursts of grief, and not being prepared for +such sudden emotional and silent greeting as that now witnessed by him, +began to feel it impossible to refrain from joining in their sorrow. + +Throwing his youthful arms around his father's neck, he sobbed +hysterically, and could only be quieted when his father again appeared +cheerful. + +Leaving his son in charge of Doctor O'Sullivan, the latter retired from +duty that day, and begged Sir John to remain over-night, adding that he +would so much like to have a chat with him over matters he had known, +and was persuaded to believe caused heartfelt pity to be secreted where +once there dwelt heartfelt pride. To this proposal Sir John consented +willingly, not caring to leave his gentle and much-loved boy so soon +after such a trying meeting as that which he not alone witnessed between +friends of old standing, but in which he modestly and sympathetically +joined. + +All the past gravity which marred Sir John Dunfern's mirth and +usefulness, and which he kept attracted to one common centre, crept from +its crazy cell on this evening. So soon as dinner was over the President +and Sir John retired to a room of seclusion, and the intense relief it +gave the trodden and blighted messenger of manhood to at last have a +friend in whom he could confide no one could half imagine! + +For fully five hours both sat talking confidentially to each other and +sympathising when necessary, and it was only during this conversation +that Sir John was first made acquaint either of his wife's marriage with +Oscar or her present abode, neither of which, in the President's +estimation, moved the husband of treachery in its most mischievous form +much. + +The news of his wife being Mrs. Otwell, instead of the honourable name +her conduct ordered her to bury, only served to cast for ever the gentle +words of practical remembrance Sir John had in his last will and +testament concerning her into an unknown chasm. Until now the forgiving +husband, the meek adviser, the patient sufferer, the wounded knight, +the once attached partner, the loving father, and the son of justice, +gratitude, and chastity was ready to share a little of his ransom with +her whom he thought he may have probably wronged by too rigorous +punishment. But President O'Sullivan, whose well-guided words and +fatherly advice had on this evening so sealed the mind of forgiveness +with the wax of disinterested intent that Sir John, on his arrival home, +at once sent for his solicitors, Messrs. Hutchinson & Harper, and +ordering his will to be produced, demanded there and then that the pen +of persuasion be dipped into the ink of revenge and spread thickly along +the paragraph of blood-related charity to blank the intolerable words +that referred to the woman he was now convinced, beyond doubt, had +braved the bridge of bigamy. Some slight alterations, in consequence, +were necessary to be made, and these being righted, the will of Sir John +Dunfern remained a prisoner until released on the day of execution, +which as yet could not possibly be named. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Hark! The bell tolled its death-like strains, faint as the far-off +fatherland, steady as the starlight, and sweet as the scent of the +blooming woodbine. The hour of departure is sure and settled, the loss +is sharply felt, the gain completed, and vigorous attempts to retain +both are oftentimes multiplying on the exertions of the benefitted. + +During all these years of revolution the wheel of action rounded its +roads of revelling, riot, and separation. Shandon Cottage, the little +house of Oscar Otwell, where he took up residence when first a visitor +to the land of laudable ingenuity, was a pretty structure, and would +doubtless have proved a little palace of peace to two such lovers had +the means been forthcoming to keep the glare of poverty within its bed +of stillness, and prohibit its visitation where least desired. + +Oscar, who, during his English career, never was possessor of aught but +a slight pittance derived from the sources of his mental labours, and +who courted the vain idea, on being made the recipient of L1,000, which +he pocketed under false pretences by the underhand sale of Audley Hall, +that he was a man of wealth for life, and when safely settled in his +trim little cottage, squandered his trifle in a very short time, leaving +himself and wife on the mercy of strangers' sympathy, which more or less +presents an icy aspect to the eye of the needy. + +Marjory Mason, who just spent twelve months under Oscar's roof, was +fortunate in securing a husband, whose calling kept her during her short +lifetime aloof from the imaginative pinches of the uncertain future. + +It was only when Oscar was forced to evade starvation that he deemed it +imperative to accept an appointment in a public school, at the yearly +income of one thousand dollars, an office he retained until compelled to +resign through courting too great love for the all-powerful monster of +mangled might--Intemperance. After a number of years the partaker of +maddened love was the imparter of maddened might. + +With beastly force did Oscar Otwell enter Shandon Cottage on the night +of his open dismissal from Waketown Public School, and arousing from +sleep his wife, with monster oaths inflicted upon her strokes of abuse +which time could never efface. + +Ah! it was now the actions of youthful frivolity stood before her +mountain high and baffled her sickly retort. It was now she pored over +her journal of events, which seemed a burthen unbearable for such a +fragile frame, and begged the credit side to be for ever closed to her +view, whilst she prayed that the debit be left open until she would +enter therein all her past debts to him whom she deceived, deluded, +denounced, and despised. + +Next morning mended matters little for Oscar Otwell's wife. Still raging +with drunken horror, he lavished upon her torrents of insinuations, +which she found impossible to overlook, and which forced her to take +refuge in the house of the Reverend Bertram Edgar, near by. This man of +true piety, at whose church she had occasionally worshipped, extended +the refuge she presently implored, and proved instrumental in securing +for her the position of governess in a nobleman's family some miles +distant. + +Disposing of all the household effects, Oscar pocketed their dainty +worth, and left Shandon Cottage in earnest pursuit of his wife, +intending to again return to their native county in England. + +His various inquiries regarding her whereabouts proved vain as the +vanishing shadow of Venus, and finally, when completely overcome with +sober thoughts of his riotous conduct towards the loving and faithful +object of his choice, who had risked so much for him, he cursed his very +existence. + +A few weeks found him in utter destitution, without either house or +chattels to illegally dispose of in case of emergency, and line his +pockets of pauperism with coin of dishonest stamp and flashing forgery. +Unsuccessful in his worthless attempts to further manifest a standing in +the literary world, and being driven almost crazy in his eager efforts +to ascertain whither his wife had bent her footsteps, he, in a moment of +madness, resolved to resign himself to that ever-anxious defender of +Satanic rights who prowls about in ambush until safely securing his prey +with the crooked claws of callous craft. + +Walking along in the moonlight in the direction of Afton Lake, which +sometimes offers its deep waters too freely to victims of sin and +suffering, Oscar Otwell resolved to bathe his body of perilous adventure +in its darkened waters of deepest death, never more to face the troubles +and trials of weak man and share them with weaker woman--never again to +approach the wife of his bosom with language of lowest type or lift to +her the hand which he so often had sworn should extend her the aid she +now must seek. + +Arriving at the water's edge, Oscar Otwell divested himself of his +scanty attire, and in another moment was struggling in the freezing +element which soon should shroud his future with robe of blackest doubt. + +Dunraven Hall was situated only a mile from Afton Lake, and was +inhabited by the Honourable Eric Eustace, a nobleman of unbounded +wealth, whose extension of charity was both wide and varied. It was in +this family that Mrs. Otwell was fortunate enough in securing the +position before referred to through the instrumentality of her spiritual +adviser. + +On the night that Oscar Otwell resigned his worldly career, there beat +one heart in Dunraven Hall with wild emotion. Mrs. Otwell, retiring to +bed as usual, found sleep had altogether fled, and rising from her +springy structure of restlessness, dressed herself and paced the bedroom +floor enveloped in dread. She was convinced something was about to +happen, and struggling in her great efforts to baffle the fear that +haunted her night and day lately, she resolved, so soon as daybreak +peeped its cheerful face through her window, to take a walk along the +road in order to cast her fears upon the highway of forgetfulness. + +Wrapping herself in her warmest cloak, she soon was found walking +rapidly along in silence on the road that swept round Afton Lake. She +had not gone far when people were seen to mount the fence that conducted +them to the nearest point of its watery expanse, which lay about fifty +perches from the main road. + +Courting her curiosity with nervous fear, she walked along, wondering +what had happened to attract such crowds. And finding it rather +difficult to refrain from making inquiry from some of the gathering, who +by this time had hurriedly been retracing their flighty footsteps from +the imaginative scene of death, Mrs. Otwell, modestly approaching a +female who swiftly hopped over the fence in tears, asked what had +happened. + +"Oh, madam," cried the woman, "the clothing of a gentleman was seen +early this morning as David Gillespie, a labourer, was engaged at a +drain hard by. It was neatly folded and deposited on the brink. Surely +some one must have been demented and drowned himself in Afton Lake. +The authorities are now on the spot and refuse to mention who the +gentleman is." + +Thanking her for kindly informing her of what she had both seen and +heard, Mrs. Otwell hurried back to Dunraven Hall in nervous +astonishment, and hastily proceeded to her bedroom to prepare herself +for what soon must follow. + +The breakfast being shortly afterwards announced, Mrs. Otwell, pale as +death, entered the room, and taking her accustomed seat to partake of +it, as best she could. She had scarcely got properly seated ere two +officers of the law were seen approach Dunraven Hall. Ringing furiously, +they demanded an interview with the Hon. Eric Eustace. + +Satisfied as to the name of his present governess, they wished to be +allowed to see her, which request was willingly granted. Being told that +morning by the gardener at Dunraven Hall, who ran to the spot on hearing +the news, that a lady named Mrs. Otwell permanently resided at the Hall +as governess, the authorities immediately grasped the fact that she +might be the unfortunate widow, and on putting the usual questions to +her concerning her husband, they were still further convinced as to her +identity. Drawing from his pocket a parcel containing Oscar's card, +photo, and a letter addressed to Mrs. Oscar Otwell, the officer in +charge asked her to read it aloud, which she did in a rather trembling +voice, without betraying such signs of grief as anticipated. The letter +ran thus:-- + + "Dobbs' Ferry, + + Friday Night, + + 11 p.m. + + "Dearest Irene and Wife,-- + + "Should ever this reach your length, I trust you will pardon me + for the rash act I am about to commit. + + "Since the morning you left me at Shandon Cottage my sorrow has + been greater than my present frame of mind can well support. I, + therefore, have decided on ending my days of starvation by hiding + for ever beneath the glassy surface of Alton Lake to shield my + wicked body from further inflicting upon you the wrongs I have + perpetrated in the past, and for which I am grievously tormented. + + "Dearest Irene, I hope you, in your past great warmth of devotion + for me (your poor tutor and husband), will forgive my late + ungentlemanly conduct in striking you so cowardly on the eve of my + downfall, and thereby breaking the confidence you reposed in me + for such a lengthened period of our existence. + + "From what I know of your noble character, I have every faith in + your forgiveness, and rest assured, I never mean to face death + without imploring you to rectify, if ever in your power, the wrong + you accomplished, partly at my request, in breaking the holy cord + of union which bound you during your natural existence to Sir John + Dunfern, and again uniting it under foul auspices. + + "Had I been so fortunate as to secure you first of all, my + conscience, certainly, would at this moment be both clear and + unclouded. But feeling persuaded I have robbed that nobleman who + now possibly is pining for separation from a world of shame and + sorrow underneath the lordly roof of Dunfern Mansion, I am + positively convinced, under such dangling dishonour, that never + more can this world of sin extend to me the comfort I in vain have + tried to seek. + + "Awake, then, my beloved, to whom I attach not the slightest + blame, to a sense of feeling and justice, and go, I implore of + you, and cast yourself at the feet of him and beg his forgiveness, + who loved you with a love unspeakable--who severed nearly all his + self-indulgence with the instrument of intensity and hesitated not + to lavish it upon the head of her to whom I offer my last advice. + Then shall you meet the messenger--death--not with shrinking fear + (like me), but daring bravery. + + "Of your present position or abode I am totally unaware, but, + dearest wife, I trust your race of penury is almost run, and that + your latter years may be crowned with Christian fortitude and + ease, and freed from the thorny dart of the wicked, in whose grave + I must soon lie unwept. + + "Good bye, for ever! + + From your affectionate + + "OSCAR. + + "Mrs. Oscar Otwell + + (Address unknown)." + +Folding the letter, and handing it to the officers, together with +Oscar's card and photograph--all of which would prove indispensable for +their future use--Mrs. Otwell quietly moved again to the breakfast room, +and, strange to say, finished her meal in silence. + +Then turning to him in whose service she was, intimated her intention to +sail for England when the missing body would be recovered, which she +meant to bury in Greenwood Cemetery. She lingered on in eager +expectation of casting one final look at her husband, but week after +week died away without any sign of it being forthcoming, and all hope +being fled, Mrs. Otwell resolved to lose no further time in returning to +her home of nativity, in order to obey the last instructions from the +hand of Oscar Otwell, from whom she was reluctantly obliged to part in +the manner described. + +Another side the picture of futurity presented for the anxious mother, +and that was to try and obtain an interview with her son, who at this +period must be a boy of some fifteen summers. Having everything in +readiness for her journey to her native land, Mrs. Otwell left Dunraven +Hall amidst torrents of sympathy and warm expressions from every member +of the family; and it was when driving past Afton Lake for the last time +on her way to the deck of the "Delwyn" that the crushed widow of Oscar +Otwell and legal wife of Sir John Dunfern was made to taste of the +unlimited sorrow of her sad career. + +There she was, a stranger in a foreign land--an outcast to the society +she shone so brilliantly amongst during years that were now no more, the +fostered orphan, the adopted daughter of heiressed nothing, the wife of +devotional distinction, the illegal partner of crutchy poverty, and the +penniless widow of undeniable woe. + +She was not even granted the ghostly pleasure of viewing her lover's +lifeless body, that would have ended her thoughts relative to him, at +least for a time, but as matters stood encircled in doubt, there was +nothing left save trouble and anxiety for her whose futurity must ever +be shaded. + +On approaching the harbour of New York, her attention was attracted by a +tall gentleman standing not many yards distant, and being so long +familiar with his appearance, she found the object of attraction to be +no other than Lord Dilworth. Ordering the cabman to a standstill, she +popped her head out in utter astonishment, and shouted in such a strain +as to instantly attract his attention. Alighting with ardent enthusiasm +in the very midst of her troubles, she soon found herself in the arms of +Lord Dilworth, who appeared utterly dazed. + +"Protector of Powers? can it be Irene? Lady Dunfern, I mean?" gasped he +in bewilderment. To which she bowed, blinded in tears, and in as few +words as possible, he related a short narrative concerning both himself +and Lady Dilworth, who had long since been dead. On hearing of the death +of the once noble mistress of Dilworth Castle, Mrs. Otwell seemed as +lifeless as a marble statue, and trying vigorously to regain strength +after such a sudden shock, she, in a few broken snatches, related her +plotted career; but misery having likewise carpeted Lord Dilworth's +floors of fate so much of late, he consequently did not seem so +astonished as imagined. + +Leaving Mrs. Otwell so far as his time permitted, he pathetically took +his final farewell, and shortly after was busy pouring over his books in +Franklin Street, office No. 715, where he was employed as a clerk at +five hundred dollars a year. + +On the other hand, the mighty ocean palace was steering firmly against +the clashing breakers with unobstructed speed, acting as protector and +friend to all those who entrusted themselves to its unsettled shelter. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +The mighty orb of gladness spreads its divine halo over many a harrowed +home--it encircles the great expanse of foreign adventure and +home-hoarded enterprise, and wields its awakening influence against the +burthened boroughs of bigotry and lightened land of liberty to a sense +of gilded surprise. + +The laurels of separation were twining their oily leaves and speedily +constructing a crown for the brow of Sir John Dunfern. After returning +from Chitworth College, and ordering the last few finishing touches to +be made in his will, he grew more drooped and heartless every year, and +seemed almost indifferent to life's ploughing changes. + +He felt acutely the information imparted to him by President O'Sullivan +regarding the wife he now for ever despised, and who unlawfully belonged +to Oscar Otwell. He even felt more severely the effect of such on +account of his beloved boy, who was steadily endeavouring to increase +his slight store of knowledge under the watchful eye of the most +scholarly personage of the day. + +He knew ere long--owing to his present state of health, brought to such +a low ebb by the mother of his son--that he would be obliged to open to +Hugh the book of nature as it stood past and present, and instruct him +in its disagreeable pages. + +The thought of opening up the past, with its stains of dissipation, +perhaps acted on the mind of Sir John more severely than the reality. +Yet he must brave himself for the trial when opportunity offered, lest +it might be too late. + +The time for Hugh Dunfern's fourth summer vacation was close at hand. +The boy's genial manner, affability, and frankness, gained for him hosts +of friends at Chitworth College, and equally numerous were the sharers +in his sorrow on receiving a telegram a very short time before his +summer holidays commenced to the effect that his father had taken +suddenly ill, and asking him to delay as little as he possibly could +during his journey to Dunfern Mansion, which must commence immediately. + +The poor, sorrow-stricken boy, who was deeply attached to his father, +was quite overcome with grief. Bidding "Good bye" to all his college +companions, and taking affectionate leave of his masters and President +O'Sullivan, he left the much-loved seat of learning, never more to +compete in its classes of clever instruction and high moral +bearing--never again to watch with craving eye the distribution of +letters, and rejoice on observing his father's crested envelope being +gently reached him by the President; and no more to share in the many +innocent games of youth, at some of which he was an unequalled expert. + +The dull hum of voices in the hall of his home met his anxious ear on +the eve of his home-coming, and told a tale without further inquiry. +Meeting the three most eminent London physicians--namely, Doctors +Killen, Crombie, and Smiley, in the library, where they held a long +consultation, Hugh was nerved somewhat before entering the chamber of +death with words of truth regarding his father's hopeless condition; +and, on moving quietly to his father's bed, how the lad of tender years +was struck with awe at the bleached resemblance of what used to be a +rosy, healthy father! + +Perceiving his son's bent and weeping form hang over him with meekest +resignation, Sir John cast aside the bedclothes, and, extending his +hand, caught firm hold of his son's. Hugh spoke not a word, by order of +the doctors, lest his father, who was now bereft of speech, would feel +the pain of not being able to reply in return. + +The suffering patient lingered on in this dumb condition for six weeks, +when suddenly he regained speech partly, but only for some hours--a +great dispensation of the Almighty, no doubt, in answer to the silent +prayers of the invalid. It was first noticed by Madam Fulham, who proved +a mighty help to Sir John since his wife's flight. + +On entering the chamber of sickness one morning with a new bottle of +medicine, sent direct from London, Sir John raised himself slightly on +his left elbow and made inquiry about his son. + +With hurried and gladdened step was Madam Fulham seen to glide from the +presence of her master, and hasten to find Hugh, who was noticed to pace +the topmost corridor in agony. + +On observing his father had regained speech after his paralytic attack +had somewhat abated, how great was his son's delight! Drawing forth a +chair to the bedside of the august patient, Hugh, quite unprepared, +received the awful intelligence of his mother's conduct and life from +the lips of the afflicted, who, in broken accents, related the tale of +trouble which for years had kept him a prisoner to its influence. + +Taking his son's hand in his, Sir John Dunfern, after audibly, yet a +little indistinctly, offering up a prayer of thanks to Him Who never +overlooks the words of the just, for His great mercy in again enabling +him to regain his sense of speech, of which he so lately had been +deprived, began:-- + +"My much-loved and faithful son, I, your father, am now stricken down in +the middle almost of manhood, and am sensitive to the fact that a short +space of time--yea, a short space too--must inevitably elapse until I +shall be ordered from this temporary abode, which now to me seems only a +floating speck of shelter in the great ocean of time. I am more than +thankful that recovery of speech has been granted me for many reasons, +which, I fear, my strength cannot permit to be fully explained. However, +my great wish to acquaint you of my miserable married career shall, +I trust, not be barred from your knowledge by any further visitation of +Kingly Power. + +"You are aware, my son, that this mansion which soon shall own me no +more has been the scene of my frolicking boyhood, my joyful manhood, +and, I must now tell you, the undying trouble of a blighted married +life. + +"Your mother's name was Irene Iddesleigh, the orphan daughter, +I understand, of one Colonel Iddesleigh, of Flixton, in this county. Her +father and mother both died about the same time, leaving their daughter +absolutely unprovided for. She was taken to an orphanage at the early +age of three years, and there remained for a period of eight more, when, +through the kindness of one Lord Dilworth, of Dilworth Castle, of whose +existence I have already acquainted you, she was brought under his +charge, and remained as his adopted daughter until, unfortunately, +I brought her here as my wife. + +"I cannot help informing you that she was the most beautiful and +prepossessing young lady I ever met, and, on making her acquaintance at +a ball given by Lord and Lady Dilworth, at Dilworth Castle, not far +distant, as you know, I became so intoxicated with her looks of +refinement and undoubted beauty that I never regained sobriety until she +promised to become my wife! + +"The beginning of our married career was bright enough, I dare say, for +some weeks only, when she grew very strange in her manner towards me. +So remarkably strange, that I was reluctantly compelled to demand an +explanation. Being satisfied with her false apologies, used as a way out +of her difficulty, I remained content. She still continued nevertheless +to maintain the same cold indifference towards me until your birth. + +"Knowing that a son was born to me, who, if spared, would still keep up +the good old name of Dunfern, I became altogether a foreigner to her +past conduct, and it was only when recovering from her illness, after +your birth, that I caught hold of the trap of deception she had laid +since long before our marriage. + +"She was found out to be the idolized of one man named Oscar Otwell, who +occupied the position of tutor to her during her years of adoption; and +not even did her love in return for him cease when I claimed her as my +lawful wife, but continued, so far as I know, until now! + +"I was therefore obliged through her mal-practices to shut her in from +the gaze of outsiders, and also from my own. I chose Room No. 10 of this +building as her confined apartment. You were only a child then of some +two months, and, since, I have never beheld her face, which was false as +it was lovely. + +"My rage was boundless on the day I ordered her into my presence in that +room, and, labouring under the passion of a jealous husband, I told her +I would confine her within its walls so long as she existed. + +"Over a year passed along, every month of which I grew more and more +repentant, until the second Christmas of her seclusion, when I fully +resolved to free her once more; at the same time, never again to share +in my society or companionship. + +"But, behold! the mischievous hand of her maid, Marjory Mason, whose +services I retained after her imprisonment, was busy working its way for +her escape, which she nimbly succeeded in effecting, exactly on the +morning of Christmas Day, by stealing from the room of Rachel Hyde, +Madam Fulham's predecessor, the key of her door, and thereby released +your mother. Ah! my son, from that hour my life has been a worthless +coin, the harp of hideous helplessness struck forth its tunes of +turmoil, trouble, and trial, and poured its mixed strains of life and +death so vividly in my ear, that since I have, in a measure, been only a +wanderer between their striking sounds of extremes. + +"I shortly afterwards learned she took refuge in Audley Hall, +a residence on the estate of its present owner--the Marquis of Orland, +and situated some twenty miles distant, and, horrifying to relate, had +been living with Oscar Otwell! + +"The dreadful news of her conduct irritated me so that I only, in my +last will and testament, bequeathed to her what would grant the ordinary +comforts of life, provided I predeceased her. This reference to her +remained until I accompanied you to Chitworth College, when President +O'Sullivan revealed to me in silent friendship the fact of which I was +wholly unaware, viz.--that she had long since sailed for America, at the +same time handing me a _New York Herald_ sent him by Otwell, and there I +beheld the announcement of her marriage with him who ruined my life, and +who has been the means of driving me into the pit of tearful tremor, out +of which I never more shall climb. + +"On returning home from Chitworth College I at once blanked the +reference to her in my will, and never more wished to behold the face +that swore to me such vows of villainy; the face that blasted my +happiness for life; the mother of you, whom I now earnestly implore +never to acknowledge, and who possesses every feature she outwardly +bore. + +"It may be yours to meet her face to face ere she leave this tabernacle +of torment; but, my child, for my sake avoid her cunning ways and works, +and never allow her shelter underneath this roof she dishonoured and +despised. And I trust God in His great mercy shall forgive her errors, +and grant you the blessing of a Father of Love." + +Sir John Dunfern now lay back exhausted on his pillow, and muttered +quietly "Thank God." + +Next morning the Angel of Death was seen to spread its snowy wings over +his wasted form, and convey the departed spirit into that region of +bliss where sorrow, sighing, sin, and suffering are cast for ever from +its rooms of glory. + +Thus passed away another link of a worthy ancestral chain, who, during +his tender years of training, had been guided by the charitable +Christian example of a mother of devotion, and who was, during the +brighter battle of her son's creeping years of care and caution, +summoned before the Invisible Throne of purity, peace, and praise +everlasting, shrouded in hopes of sunshine concerning his future +happiness, which, never after his marriage, was known to twinkle in +Dunfern Mansion. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Mocking Angel! The trials of a tortured throng are naught when weighed +in the balance of future anticipations. The living sometimes learn the +touchy tricks of the traitor, the tardy, and the tempted; the dead have +evaded the flighty earthly future, and form to swell the retinue of +retired rights, the righteous school of the invisible, and the +rebellious roar of raging nothing. + +The night was dark and tempestuous; the hill rather inclined to be +steep; the clouds were bathed in wrinkled furrows of vapoury smoke; the +traffic on the quiet and lonely roads surrounding Dunfern Mansion was +utterly stopped, and nature seemed a block of obstruction to the eye of +the foreigner who drudged so wearily up the slope that led to the home +of Mrs. Durand, who had been confined to bed for the past three years, +a sufferer from rheumatism. + +Perceiving the faint flicker of light that occasionally flung its feeble +rays against the dim fanlight of faithful Fanny's home--the aged sister +of the late Tom Hepworth--the two-fold widowed wanderer, with trembling +step, faltered to the door of uncertain refuge, and, tapping against it +with fingers cold and stiff, on such a night of howling wind and beating +rain, asked, in weakened accents, the woman who opened to her the door, +"If she could be allowed to remain for the night?"--a request that was +granted through charity alone. After relieving herself of some outer +garments, and partaking of the slight homely fare kindly ordered by Mrs. +Durand, the widow of Oscar Otwell and Sir John Dunfern warmed herself +and dried her saturated clothing before going to bed. She had just +arrived the day previous, and hastened to take up her abode as near her +former home of exquisiteness as she could, without detection. + +On extinguishing the light before retiring, and casting one glance in +the direction of the little window, the innumerable recollections of the +abundant past swept across the mind of the snowy-haired widow, and were +further augmented by the different starlike lights which shone from the +numerous windows in Dunfern Mansion, directly opposite where she lay. + +A couple of days found her almost rested after such a trying night as +that on which she arrived, and observing the sharpest reticence lest she +might be known, she nerved herself to appear next day at Dunfern +Mansion, to accomplish the last wish of her late lover and husband, for +whom she ventured so much and gained so little, and particularly to try +and see her son. + +The morning was warm and fine; numerous birds kept chirping outside the +little cottage of Mrs. Durand. The widow, with swollen eyes and face of +faded fear, prepared herself for the trying moment, which she was +certain of achieving. Partaking of a very slight breakfast, she told +Mrs. Durand not to expect her for dinner. + +Marching down the hill's face, she soon set foot on the main road that +led direct to Dunfern Mansion. Being admitted by Nancy Bennet, a prim +old dame, who had been in charge of the lodge for the last eighteen +years, the forlorn widow, whose heart sank in despair as she slowly +walked up the great and winding avenue she once claimed, reached the +huge door through which she had been unconsciously carried by Marjory +Mason a good many years ago. + +Gently ringing the bell, the door was attended by a strange face. +Reverently asking to have an interview with Sir John Dunfern, how the +death-like glare fell over the eyes of the disappointed as the footman +informed her of his demise! "Madam, if you cast your eyes thence--[here +the sturdy footman pointed to the family graveyard, lying quite +adjacent, and in which the offcast of effrontery had oftentimes +trodden]--you can with ease behold the rising symbol of death which the +young nobleman, Sir Hugh Dunfern, has lavishly and unscrupulously +erected to his fond memory." + +The crushed hopes of an interview with the man she brought with head of +bowed and battered bruises, of blasted untruths and astounding actions, +to a grave of premature solitude were further crumbled to atoms in an +instant. They were driven beyond retention, never again to be fostered +with feverish fancy. After the deplorable news of her rightful husband's +death had been conveyed to the sly and shameless questioner, who tried +hard to balance her faintish frame unobserved, she asked an interview +with Sir Hugh Dunfern. This also was denied, on the ground of absence +from home. + +Heavily laden with the garb of disappointment did the wandering woman of +wayward wrong retrace her footsteps from the door for ever, and +leisurely walked down the artistic avenue of carpeted care, never more +to face the furrowed frowns of friends who, in years gone by, bestowed +on her the praises of poetic powers. Forgetful almost of her present +movements, the dangerous signal of widowhood was seen to float along the +family graveyard of the Dunferns. + +Being beforehand acquaint with the numerous and costly tombstones +erected individually, regardless of price, the wearied and sickly woman +of former healthy tread was not long in observing the latest tablet, of +towering height, at the north-east end of the sacred plot. + +There seemed a touchy stream of gilded letters carefully cut on its +marble face, and on reading them with watery eye and stooping form, was +it anything remarkable that a flood of tears bathed the verdure that +peeped above the soil? + +The lines were these:-- + +I. + + The hand of death hath once more brought + The lifeless body here to lie, + Until aroused with angels' voice, + Which call it forth, no more to die. + +II. + + This man, of health and honest mind, + Had troubles great to bear whilst here, + Which cut him off, in manhood's bloom, + To where there's neither frown nor tear. + +III. + + His life was lined with works of good + For all who sought his affluent aid; + His life-long acts of charity + Are sure to never pass unpaid. + +IV. + + Sir John Dunfern, whose noble name + Is heard to echo, far and wide, + In homes of honour, truth, and right, + With which he here lies side by side. + +V. + + The wings of love and lasting strength + Shall flap above his hollow bed; + Angelic sounds of sweetest strain + Have chased away all tears he shed. + +VI. + + Then, when the glorious morn shall wake + Each member in this dust of ours, + To give to each the sentence sure + Of everlasting Princely Power-- + +VII. + + He shall not fail to gain a seat + Upon the bench of gloried right, + To don the crown of golden worth + Secured whilst braving Nature's fight. + +After carefully reading these lines the figure of melting woe sat for a +long time in silence until a footstep came up from behind, which alarmed +her not a little. Looking up she beheld the face of a youth whose +expression was very mournful, and asking after her mission, was informed +she had been casting one last look on the monument of her lamented +husband. + +"Mighty Heavens!" exclaimed Sir Hugh Dunfern, "are you the vagrant who +ruined the very existence of him whom you now profess to have loved? +You, the wretch of wicked and wilful treachery, and formerly the wife of +him before whose very bones you falsely kneel! Are you the confirmed +traitoress of the trust reposed in you by my late lamented, dearest, and +most noble of fathers? Are you aware that the hypocrisy you manifested +once has been handed down to me as an heirloom of polluted possession, +and stored within this breast of mine, an indelible stain for life, or, +I might say, during your known and hated existence? + +"False woman! Wicked wife! Detested mother! Bereft widow! + +"How darest thou set foot on the premises your chastity should have +protected and secured! What wind of transparent touch must have blown +its blasts of boldest bravery around your poisoned person and guided you +within miles of the mansion I proudly own? + +"What spirit but that of evil used its influence upon you to dare to +bend your footsteps of foreign tread towards the door through which they +once stole unknown? Ah, woman of sin and stray companion of tutorism, +arise, I demand you, and strike across that grassy centre as quickly as +you can, and never more make your hated face appear within these mighty +walls. I can never own you; I can never call you mother; I cannot extend +the assistance your poor, poverty-stricken attire of false don silently +requests; neither can I ever meet you on this side the grave, before +which you so pityingly kneel!" + +Speechless and dogged did the dishonoured mother steal for ever from the +presence of her son, but not before bestowing one final look at the +brightened eye and angry countenance of him who loaded on her his lordly +abuse. The bowed form of former stateliness left for ever the grounds +she might have owned without even daring to offer one word of repentance +or explanation to her son. + +Walking leisurely along the road that reached Dilworth Castle, how the +trying moments told upon her who shared in pangs of insult and +poverty!--how the thoughts of pleasant days piled themselves with +parched power upon the hilltop of remembrance and died away in the +distance! The whirling brain became more staid as she heard the approach +of horses' feet, and stopping to act the part of Lot's wife, gave such a +haggard stare at the driver of the vehicle as caused him to make a +sudden halt. Asking her to have a seat, the weary woman gladly mounted +upon its cushion with thankfulness, and alighted on reaching its +journey's end, about three miles from Audley Hall. The drive was a long +one, and helped to rest the tired body of temptation. + +Returning thanks to the obliging driver, she marched wearily along until +she reached the home of her first refuge after flight. + +Perceiving the yellow shutters firmly bolted against the light admitters +of Audley Hall, she feared disappointment was also awaiting her. +Knocking loudly twice before any attempt was made to open the door, +there came at last an aged man with halting step and shaking limb. + +"Is Major Iddesleigh at home?" asked the saddened widow. "Oh, madam, he +has been dead almost twelve years, and since then no one has occupied +this Hall save myself, who am caretaker. The Marquis of Orland was +deceived by his nephew, who sold it in an underhand manner to the major, +and he resolved that never again would he allow it to be occupied since +the major's death by any outsider." + +"You are rather lonely," said the widow. "Yes, yes," replied he; "but I +have always been accustomed living alone, being an old bachelor, and +wish to remain so. It is better to live a life of singleness than +torture both body and soul by marrying a woman who doesn't love you, +like the good Sir John Dunfern--a nobleman who lived only some miles +from this, and who died lately broken-hearted--who became so infatuated +with an upstart of unknown parentage, who lived in Dilworth Castle, with +one Lord Dilworth, the previous owner, that he married her offhand, and, +what was the result, my good woman?--why she eventually ran off with a +poor tutor! and brought the hairs of hoary whiteness of Sir John Dunfern +to the grave much sooner than in all probability they would have, had he +remained like me." + +Facing fumes of insult again, thought the listener. And asking after +Major Iddesleigh's will, eagerly awaited his reply. + +Placing one hand upon her shoulder, and pointing with the other, +"Behold," said he, "yonder church? that was his last will--Iddesleigh +Church. It was only when the jaws of death gaped for their prey that the +major was forced to alter his will, having had it previously prepared in +favour of his niece, whose whereabouts could never be traced until after +his death." "Enough--enough, I must go," said the painful listener, and +thanking the old man for his information, which, like her son's, had +screwed its bolts of deadly weight more deeply down on the lid of +abstract need, turned her back on Audley Hall for ever. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +Hope sinks a world of imagination. It in almost every instance never +fails to arm the opponents of justice with weapons of friendly defence, +and gains their final fight with peaceful submission. Life is too often +stripped of its pleasantness by the steps of false assumption, marring +the true path of life-long happiness which should be pebbled with +principle, piety, purity, and peace. + +Next morning, after the trying adventure of the lonely outcast, was the +scene of wonder at Dilworth Castle. Henry Hawkes, the head gardener +under the Marquis of Orland, on approaching the little summer-house in +which Irene Iddesleigh so often sat in days of youth, was horrified to +find the dead body of a woman, apparently a widow, lying prostrate +inside its mossy walls. "Lord, protect me!" shouted poor Hawkes, half +distractedly, and hurried to Dilworth Castle to inform the inmates of +what he had just seen. + +They all rushed towards the little rustic building to verify the +certainty of the gardener's remarks. There she lay, cold, stiff, and +lifeless as Nero, and must have been dead for hours. They advised the +authorities, who were soon on the spot. + +What stinging looks of shame the Marquis cast upon her corpse on being +told that it was that of the once beautiful Lady Dunfern--mother of the +present heir to Dunfern estate! + +Lying close at hand was an old and soiled card, with the words almost +beyond distinction, "Irene Iddesleigh." In an instant her whole history +flashed before the unforgiving mind of the Marquis, and being a sharer +in her devices, through his nephew Oscar Otwell, ordered her body to be +conveyed to the morgue, at the same time intimating to Sir Hugh Dunfern +her demise. + +It transpired at the inquest, held next day, that she was admitted the +previous night to the grounds of Dilworth Castle by the porter at the +lodge, giving her name as "Irene Iddesleigh." + +She must have taken refuge in the little construction planned under her +personal supervision whilst inhabiting Dilworth Castle during her +girlhood, and, haunted with the never-dying desire to visit once more +its lovely grounds, wandered there to die of starvation. + +No notice whatever was taken of her death by her son, who obeyed to the +last letter his father's instructions, and carried them out with +tearless pride. + +The little narrow bed at the lowest corner on the west side of Seaforde +graveyard was the spot chosen for her remains. Thus were laid to rest +the orphan of Colonel Iddesleigh, the adopted daughter and imagined +heiress of Lord and Lady Dilworth, what might have been the proud wife +of Sir John Dunfern, the unlawful wife of Oscar Otwell, the suicidal +outcast, and the despised and rejected mother. + +She who might have swayed society's circle with the sceptre of +nobleness--she who might still have shared in the greatness of her +position and defied the crooked stream of poverty in which she so long +sailed--had she only been, first of all, true to self, then the +honourable name of Sir John Dunfern would have maintained its standard +of pure and noble distinction, without being spotted here and there with +heathenish remarks inflicted by a sarcastic public on the administerer +of proper punishment; then the dignified knight of proud and upright +ancestry would have been spared the pains of incessant insult, the +mockery of equals, the haunted diseases of mental trials, the erring eye +of harshness, and the throbbing twitch of constant criticism. + +It was only the lapse of a few minutes after the widowed waif left +Dunfern Mansion until the arrival of her son from London, who, after +bidding his mother quit the grounds owned by him, blotted her name for +ever from his book of memory; and being strongly prejudiced by a father +of faultless bearing, resolved that the sharers of beauty, youth, and +false love should never have the slightest catch on his affections. + + +The End + + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + +_Errors and Inconsistencies_ + +The printed book was typeset and proofread more carefully than most +books of similar literary quality. Changes listed in the author's Errata +slip (inserted at the beginning of the book) have been made in the +e-text. Unusual spellings, and inconsistent use of "American" and +"British" forms, are unchanged. Some words occur both with and without +hyphen. + + +_Errors Noted by Author_ + + PAGE + 82 Read--"was extended him." + 154 "senk" should read "_seek_." + 156 "took" is unnecessary. + 179 Read "which _calls_ it forth." + 184 "ofthand" should be "offhand." + + +_Additional Errors_ + + The present owner is only son + [_text unchanged: missing "the"?_] + whose pretentions were so cleverly carried out [_spelling unchanged_] + the partakers in drawing-room _tete-a-tetes_ + [_text unchanged: expected form is "tete-a-tetes" (circumflex + accent on first "e", no acute on second)_] + the impostury of position is petty [imposury] + "Just seven days and I shall be fettered [_open quote missing_] + tempted with her enhancing beauty + [_text unchanged: error for "entrancing"?_] + If my manner have changed in any way + [_text unchanged: "have" may be correct_] + every care and watchfulness was extended him + [_corrected by author from "were extended him"; "were" is + technically correct_] + This Rachel punctually obeyed. + [_text reads "Rachael": name occurs more than 50 times with + consistent spelling_] + he drew from that drawer" here Sir John pointed to the wardrobe, + "a weapon of warlike design + [_missing punctuation before "here"?_] + [_misplaced open quote: printed as_ wardrobe," a weapon] + she swiftly turned to the door [swifty] + who not alone committed the ruffianous act [ruffainous] + It was only when staring her lover's scanty table fully + [_text unchanged: missing word?_] + the house of the Reverend Bertram Edgar, near by. [near by,] + should extend her the aid she now must seek. + [_corrected by author from "senk"_] + entered the room, and taking her accustomed seat to partake of it, + as best she could. + [_corrected by author from "partake of it, took as best she could": + Author may have intended "... taking her accustomed seat, + partook of it as best she could"._] + which she did in a rather trembling voice, + without betraying such signs of grief as anticipated. + [_text transposes . and , at the end of consecutive lines_] + Being beforehand acquaint with [_text unchanged_] + Which calls it forth, no more to die. + [_corrected by author from "call"_] + Is heard to echo, far and wide, [wide;] + that he married her offhand + [_corrected by author from "ofthand": may have intended "out of + hand"_] + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Irene Iddesleigh, by Amanda McKittrick Ros + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IRENE IDDESLEIGH *** + +***** This file should be named 34181.txt or 34181.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/1/8/34181/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Meredith Bach and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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